With January basically over, this is the time a lot of the new year’s motivation for a fresh start begins to dwindle. I asked my favorite fitness blogger to share with us her top 10 tips for making 2013 your … Continue reading
Happy new year! To ring in the first day of 2013, I’m sharing my 5 most popular posts on Pinterest in 2012. These posts have been shared several hundred to thousands of times on Pinterest! Here they are in order … Continue reading
The lovely Lauryn Evarts is back! You may remember her as my June Beauty of the Month. I’ve been admiring that AH-MAZING hair of hers and asked Lauryn back to Gourmet Beauty to let us in on how she gets those stunning hippie chic locks. … Continue reading
I have quite the collection of perfumes, some that I only wear during certain seasons and some that are year-round. I’ve always liked the idea of having a signature scent but I switch it up too much for this to happen. I’ve recently acquired two new perfumes and I’ve been rotating between just these two lately. They literally smell so good that I consistently smell myself throughout the day trying to soak up all the goodness. I think Jon loves these two new scents more than I do. He’s always leaning in to get more of the fragrance and telling me how awesome I smell. These are now a part of my year-round perfume collection since they’re both light enough for the warmer months and rich enough for cooler seasons.
While I could keep these scents to myself so I’m the only one who smells this good, I thought I’d do the nice thing and pass these little treasures along to you. You’re welcome! 🙂
The first of these perfumes is Prada Candy. My June Beauty of the Month, Lauryn Evarts, listed this as one of her top 5 beauty essentials she can’t live without. I was hesitant to buy it because, as I’ve mentioned many times before, I get headaches really easily from perfumes so I’m not very adventurous when it comes to trying new scents. Especially ones that sound like they are going to be really sweet. I got a sample first and fell in love with the first spritz.
The top note is caramel and gives the seductive aspect to the scent. The powdery musk of the middle note adds the sophistication that the perfume boasts and the vanilla base note enhances the sensuality of the perfume.
I definitely smell the caramel and vanilla but it’s so much more than a sweet perfume. It has a very slight edge to it that keeps you from smelling like a dessert. Jon describes it as sexy and feminine and I agree. This is by far the sexiest, warmest, girliest scent I’ve ever worn. Allure voted it “Best Sweet Scent” in the 2011 Best of Beauty issue. One of my favorite things about this perfume is how light it is for being so warm and rich. It’s not overpowering at all when it’s on and you have to be fairly close to smell it. The staying power of the fragrance isn’t as great as some of the other perfumes I own but the scent is one-of-a-kind and worth every penny.
My friend Shay works as an aesthetician at Blush Beauty Bar in Portland (in addition to being on the Portland Trailblazers Stunt Team!). She has the skinny on all the best beauty products and has gotten me hooked on Tokyo Milk. They make the richest, delightfully scented hand creams and they also have matching perfumes that are surprisingly affordable ($36 per bottle!). I have several Tokyo Milk perfumes but Shay recently brought me Tainted Love during her visit last month and it’s divine. Shay absolutely loves this perfume and now I do too.
The notes in this scent are dark vanilla bean, orchid, white tea and sandalwood. The vanilla and sandalwood make the scent rich and sultry while the orchid and white tea lighten it up and make it as fresh and girly as it is sexy and warm. The staying power on this scent is similar to Prada Candy. By the end of the day I hardly smell it anymore. However, for the price and the scent quality it’s worth the purchase. Also, the bottle is small enough that you can carry it in your purse for easy re-application (2 oz).
Jon’s always raving about this one as well. I think the lesson here is that perfumes with notes of vanilla are bound to make you smell appealing to the opposite sex.
What perfume makes you feel irresistible?
I’m not sure why I haven’t been doing this my whole life. My June Beauty of the Month, Lauryn Evarts, shares her best kept beauty secret, priming her lashes! I purchased MAC Prep Prime Lash to try this little trick out and I’m in love. My lashes are fairly thick but they aren’t long at all. I’m always trying to get my lashes long, thick, dark and lush looking without getting them spidery and this totally achieves that look for me.
I do my eye makeup first, then swipe lashes with 2-3 coats of primer. I then apply several coats of my FAVORITE mascara EVER, L’Oreal Voluminous. The primer makes a great base for the mascara to glide onto easily without clumping. It also prevents the mascara from flaking and it conditions the lashes. It makes the lashes fatter and longer than mascara does alone.
Here are my lashes without anything on them:
Here are my lashes after priming and using the Voluminous mascara:
Don’t they look awesome?! They look fake! As you can see, I like dramatic lashes. You can definitely get a more natural look using primer by applying one coat of mascara. I apply several. Whatever your preference on natural, dramatic, etc., the primer gives the mascara a perfect base for building length and volume while staying all day without flakes.
Do you prime your lashes?
I recently interviewed Lauryn Evarts, a fitness instructor, model and author of The Skinny Confidential. I’ve been really wanting to try one of her healthy recipes and her low-carb pasta was at the top of my list. I invited a … Continue reading
Happy Friday! I’m looking forward to a weekend full of old friends. I have my 10-year reunion tonight (gasp!) and a BBQ with some high school friends on Saturday that are in town for the reunion. I can’t wait to see everyone and hope to squeeze in some serious lounging around as well. Here are a few things that made me happy this week. All photos are from Instagram (username: GourmetBeauty).
{Spending Monday evening with my GPop. He lives in Indiana and was on a road trip back from Utah so he stayed in Albuquerque for the night. His health has been declining and visiting Utah was on his bucket list. He is one of my absolute favorite people so this was the highlight of my week.}
{My new J. Crew Mila cap-toe flats, a lovely gift from my Dad}
{This guy. Because seriously, just look at him.}
{My gorgeous new journal from Anthropologie for jotting down blog ideas & to-do lists}
{The perfect warm, summery, nude lip: MAC Honeylove lipstick with Victoria’s Secret gloss in Simmer}
{Interviewing The Skinny Confidential’s Lauryn Evarts on my blog & the fact that I hit 600 followers this week!}
What are you a few things that made you smile this week?
OMG, I am so so so excited for today’s post. Starting this month, I’ll be doing monthly beauty interviews with my favorite bloggers, women in the beauty industry, product junkies, etc., about their product essentials and beauty philosophy. I’m always really … Continue reading
Gourmet Beauty 