Whaaaa what? a new post?

You always have to start fresh somewhere and since the last post was the kids' first day of school, I thought I'd do a comparison - what a difference a year makes! They're both a few inches taller and the tooth situation is clearly more complicated... Poor Max had 4 teeth removed since the picture was taken and Lily's snaggle tooth is growing in. What an awkward age this is. But I love em! aaaand one more for fun!

They both are enjoying being back at school. Lily has the teacher she spent the entire summer wishing for and Max is realizing that 3rd grade means that he actually has to try for the first time in his short academic career. Get used to it buddy! After the initial hiccups were out of the way, he seems to have found his groove again. The lovely school organized a back to school dance which wasn't so much a dance as an excuse for the kids to buy candy and go wild in the gym to VERY LOUD MUSIC. I went along as a surprise to eat lunch and then boogie a bit. I'm surprised my hearing is still in tact. Here's a very happy boy eating with his mom - I'm relishing the years that mom showing up at school is still cool!

 
 And here is my baby girl hanging with her current BFF of the week (they rotate weekly in 1st grade apparently). They were inseparable but he has since been replaced.

  Hope you and yours are well and settling into the new school year.

First day of school - 2011/2012

Aren't they gorgeous!!? They really shot up this summer and look so very tall and skinny all of a sudden!

We're in a new school district now and they are on a 4 day school week. So far we're loving what basically amounts to a 3 day weekend every week! The flip side is more homework and a little more advanced lessons than our previous school district, all things that in my book are quite positive. Oh - and hooray for school uniform.

The kids also love their new school!

A quick update

So far this year we have moved house, I have completed a third of my training towards a brand new career and the kids have grown a few inches each. Being a full-time student, a wife and mom, I haven't had any spare time for blogging, trying out lots of new recipes or exercising. Due to the kids' school schedules I have to take some time off and focus on them, so hopefully I'll have more time for other things!!

NYX - Champagne and Caviar

I've been wanting the Urban Decay Naked palette for a while, but it is so popular UD are having supply issues and it's very hard to find in stores. NYX do a palette called Champagne and Caviar that has similar colors. For $9.99 it seemed like a good deal.




The shadows are just lovely, nothing too daring but lots of very useful colors. I was a tad disappointed at the matte colors as they didn't seem quite as pigmented as the shimmers and satins and felt a little chalky. Not all of the shades are blow-you-away pigmented but you don't always want full on color, sometimes you just want blending colors and neutrals.




All of the shadows benefit from being applied on top of an eyeshadow primer, particularly the matte shadows - difinitely the pure black and white. The swatches to the left are on top of ELF mineral eye shadow primer. The swatches to the right are on bare skin.




Another noteworthy feature is that the mirror is the same size as the entire compact - no squinting in teeny mirrors here - BIG plus. The palette is compact but you get a decent amount of each shadow, 14g total.

I can't wait to create a look for you. I think these shadows will combine really well with the jumbo eye pencils as a base.

NYX Cosmetics - Jumbo eye pencils

Having heard and read (and seen on YouTube) all about NYX, I was eager to try them out. I'm not a fan of shopping online as you can't touch or swatch the products so when I found out that my local Ulta store (www.ulta.com) stock NYX I was excited to go shopping. I started out with two (Milk and Cottage Cheese) so I could see if I liked the product.

Despite the names -I mean who wants to put cottage cheese on their eyes? eww - I just loved them. They are very creamy. They glide on smoothly and don't drag the delicate eye area at all.





Milk is a very opaque white and Cottage Cheese is a lovely iridescent white, perfect for highlighting the inner corner of the eye, giving that nice wide awake look.

Happy with the formula I went back for more... I bought Pure Gold, exactly what the name states; French Fries, a luscious bronze to use as a base for my favorite Urban Decay eyeshadow Smog; Black Bean, an intense black; and Rocky Mountain Green, a shade I don't really need but it was just so PRETTY!






I don't know how well the black will do as an eyeliner as it's very big and you might be able to see on the photo that it bleeds a little (click the photo to enlarge). I plan on mostly using them as a base for eye shadows, they make it last so much longer than normal primers and they boost the color really well. At around $4 a pop, they are a very affordable, versatile product that I use a lot and will definitely repurchase.

A little makeup review

So anyone that knows me, knows that I love makeup! Shallow as it may be, I just love all the amazing colors and the satisfaction of leaving something looking better than I found it. I'm not good at drawing or painting but makeup allows me to be a little creative without all of the raw talent!

Anyway, I was shopping at my local Ulta yesterday and realised that I keep going back to certain brands. I don't like to spend a lot of money on products so I try to search out the best value and the brands that offer a bang for my stay-at-home mom buck.

So in the next few days I'll be reviewing my top picks from specific brands that are very affordable. I hope you find it useful.

Cheeky Beauty's amazing giveaway

My friend Stina has an amazing beauty blog. She frequently updates with helpful makeup, beauty and product reviews and includes lots of stunning photos (it helps that she's gorgeous!) Right now she is generously giving away some lovely products. Please check out her blog!

http://sweetcheeksramblings.blogspot.com/