August Favorites 2014

I have not been that regular with my monthly favorites blog, but I hope to correct that beginning this month.  Monthly Favorites will be items during the month that I have developed a fondness for.  I will always have cosmetic/makeup items, books I have read, food items that I have discovered, music I have been listening to, and any other things that have caught my eye.

Makeup items for August have been new items and rediscovery of some old brands. 

First up is Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Lychee (from Sephora).  This lovely lip crème is a perfect pinky nude color.  The texture is delightfully light but the lipstick stays on for an amazing length of time.  Bite Beauty is a natural lip care company based in Toronto Canada.  Their lip products are all natural and you could even eat them (not that I would want to).  You can find them at Sephora or online at www.bitebeauty.com. 

NYX Lip Primer in Nude is a new discovery.  This lip primer keeps your lipstick from bleeding or spreading out.  Love this!  I bought mine at Ulta, but it is available at some CVS stores now as well.

Revlon lipcolor is on my radar again thanks to these two items:  Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede lipcolor in It Girl and Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain in Cannes Crush.    It Girl is a lovely bright coral shimmer with a slight pink undertone.  The lipstick by itself is a matte texture which I love but need a little more moisture so I topped the lipstick with the Moisture Stain in Cannes Crush.  Cannes Crush is a lightweight gloss/stain that is perfect over a lipcolor or by itself. 

I rediscovered a Chanel blush this month, Chanel Powder Blush in 02 Rose Bronze.  This color is a perfect neutral blush.  I have used this for contouring and also as blush when I am wearing a deeper eye color.  Delightful!

I have reached for my Lorac Pro2 Palette quite a bit this month.  Sixteen
eyeshadow shades, 8 matte and 8 shimmer/satin that have excellent color payoff.  The colors I have been using are:  Buff, Lt Brown, Cool Gray, Nectar, Black, Rose', Mocha, and Chrome.  While I still love my Lorac Pro Palette,
this one is a nice addition to the Lorac family.


Many of you know that I am a passionate reader.  This month was the arrival of the long-awaited third book in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. The first of the trilogy was A Discovery of Witches published in December 2011, then Shadow Of Night published in May 2013, then
The Book of Life was out on July 15, 2014.  I read this without stopping on the 15th, then put it down for a couple of days and then re-read it while on tour with the Sonshine Choir from my church, Brentwood United Methodist Church.  I love these books for many reasons.  Deb is a History professor at University of Southern California, so for a history geek like me, these books are a treasure trove of history.  Because of these books I belong to a book group on Facebook that holds lively and fascinating discussions about many topics in the books.  This group of people are a never-ending source of delight for me with the amazing things they are able to pull up from History that are actually "Easter Eggs" in Deb's books.  If you read these books, you must start with the first book or you would be totally lost. 

Biographies are my passion and this month I re-read Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson.  This is by far the best Ben Franklin biography I have ever read (and I have read a lot).  Mr Isaacson (former chairman of CNN, managing editor of Time magazine, and president of The Aspen Institute), wrote this as if he had been able to sit with Mr Franklin for actual conversations.  It is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and thorough.  Mr Isaacson has also written biographies about Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Henry Kissinger.  So far I have read all except the one on Henry Kissinger, but you know it is on my To Be Read list!

For a group I belong to at church, we read this interesting book by The Arbinger Institute, The Anatomy of Peace.  This book revealed to me different ways of thinking when dealing with conflict in family, or even on a larger scale.  I think the folks in the Middle East should read this book.


I am a Foodie....I will not deny it, so these are the goodies that caught my fancy this month:

French Petite Palmiere cookies (Costco)
"Waffle" Salad at Publix (no idea why they call it Waffle, but it is in the pre-   made salad section in the deli)
Brach's Candy Corn (serious addiction)
Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos from Bonefish Grill
Pumpkin Ale by Schlafly (high gravity beer that is only available in the fall and only from a liquor store) 

Music I put on repeat this month was Bach: The Cello Suites by Yo-Yo Ma
and on Spotify, the playlists for Deb Harkness' books. 


Looking forward to new discoveries in September!

Much Love.............Kat

January 2014 Favorites

Just a few of my favorites for this month.  I resisted spending a lot of money, but still purchased a few new things to try. Here is my list of favorites in no particular order:

Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Fortifying Shampoo and Fortifying Conditioner:
 This contains Avocado, Olive and Almonds oils to deeply nourish and restore your hair to be stronger, smoother and silkier. I wash with this shampoo every other day and use a very small amount of the conditioner as I don't want it too terribly soft and smooth so my hair will hold curl.  My hair has natural curl and waves so I let it air dry while I apply my makeup and then use a 3/4 inch barrel curling iron to shape up the curls.  After the curling iron I apply my lipstick then shake out my hair and it is soft nice curls.  I love this!  It is so much easier now and my hair is back to being shiny and not dull from using a hair dryer.

Philosophy Miracle Worker Foundation:
I am always searching for the perfect foundation, so when I discovered this at Ulta I decided to give it a try.  It is shown as a "miraculous anti-aging liquid makeup with broad spectrum spf 30 sunscreen."  My color is Shade 5.  The coverage is medium but appears to be buildable to a medium-to-full coverage.  The finish is soft and pretty but not too dewy-looking.  The staying power is maybe about 4 hours.  After lunch it has definitely faded.  I am not completely sold on this yet, but like it so far.

L'Oreal True Match Super Blendable Makeup:
I have heard about this foundation for quite awhile but always resisted because no testers are available to select your color.  Luckily, in a magazine, I got one of the cards with all the colors to compare to your skin tone.  As close as I could come was Creamy Natural C3.  I truly like this foundation!  I glides on effortlessly with medium to full coverage, using my Real Techniques Stippling Brush.  I like the way it looks on my skin, but am still surprised I matched to a Cool shade.  I always thought my skin was more neutral. 

MAC Pro-Longwear Concealer: 
I agonized over this and could not decide between the NW20 and the NC20, but ended up with the NW20.  I think NW20 will be my summer shade and I will have to go back and purchase the NW15.  The coverage is great but NW20 oxidizes a little darker.  I also have been using it as my eyeshadow primer and it is great for that!  I don't get the brightening effect with NW20 that I would like.

Philosophy The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash:
This came in a gift when I purchased the Miracle Worker Foundation.  This is the nicest exfoliating wash I have found since the one that Lancôme had back in the 1980's.  There is no fragrance and the exfoliating grains are not too rough.  I am finding my skin texture is improving and makeup looks better on my skin.

NYX Butter Gloss:
Love, Love Love these glosses!  I purchased Crème Brulee and Apple Strudel.  Crème Brulee is a perfect pinky nude that is perfect if you are going with a smokey eye that day and don't want strong lips.  The Apple Strudel is a peachy color that looks amazing over a light orange or tangerine lipstick or even a true nude like Soft Nude from Revlon Colorburst.  I had stayed away from glosses over lipstick for a long time because of lines around my lips (no I don't smoke).  These glosses stay put and do not bleed into those fine lines.  I will definitely be purchasing more colors.


Things I am looking for:
The Pantone color for 2014 is Radiant Orchid and I am watching to see what the makeup houses come  up with.  I have already seen a couple of glosses and lipsticks that fall into that category, but have not found an eyeshadow that knocks my socks off yet.

Beauty Favorites for 2013

I rediscovered my love for cosmetics in 2013 and started following a lot of Beauty Bloggers on YouTube.  Some of my favorites are Jaclyn Hill, Tanya Burr, Wayne Goss, Melmphs, Makeup Geek, Emily at Beauty Broadcast, Andrea Matillano, and others.  Their tutorials and reviews are very well done and have inspired me to try new things that I might now have tried before.  Below are some of the new things I tried and LOVED:

LORAC Pro Pallette - perfect mix of matte and satin finish colors!

LORAC Unzipped Pallette - perfect rose gold colors

CHANEL Inimitable Intense Mascara - it is expensive at $30, but it will rock your world!

BENEFIT They're Real Mascara - I use this along with the Chanel and it is awesome!

MILANI Bakes Blush in Luminoso - perfect dupe of NARS Orgasm Blush and a fraction of the price.

JANE IREDALE Glow Time Mineral BB Cream SPF 25 - I use this as my foundation.  PERFECT!

L'OREAL LA LAQUE - All shades are lovely, but my go-to color is Never Laque-ing a nice soft nude pink.

REVLON - Peach Petal lip gloss

EOS - lip balm - all flavors

2013 FAVORITES

I meant to post this yesterday but this morning is okay.  My favorites things in 2013:

SONSHINE ALUMNI TOUR to Dallas/Ft Worth:
There were just a few of us, but it was an awesome week.  The college age kids cam together during practice week and sang like they had never left.  They knew all the old songs and then learned the new songs so quickly!  What a great group!  I was honored to be able to go and share their ministry at El Buen Samaritano UMC in Ft Worth. 

JUBILATION CHOIR TOUR to St Louis:
Three buses, wonderful music.....the most memorable thing for me was when they sang "I Believe" in the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis.....then a few minutes later James Wells led the college age chaperones in the last verse of "Beautiful Savior"........absolutely breathtaking!

SLI Group at BUMC:
This group has come together on a journey that will be take all of us to places we never imagined in our Christian walk.  I treasure the friends in this group and look forward to our work together.

Disciple III at BUMC:
We are a small group but our weekly meetings are the highlight of my week.  Sharing the Prophets these past few months has been an incredible learning experience for me and I look forward to studying Paul's letters with you in this new year.

So........Sean has been accepted at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama. I am so thrilled he is going to such an awesome school. January 1 begins the real work......filling out the fafsa forms for financial aid. I am going to find all the scholarships I can for him. So.......more later.

Kat

Senior Year

And so it has started. We met some folks from Birmingham-Southern College and Sean is very excited about going there. So we start with applications, ACT exams, scholarship and grant applications. Whew.....this will be quite a year.

Reality. Well......so I am at the age where I must be faced with aging parents and illness. Today we took Daddy to the hospital because he had been coughing for about a week and was feeling terrible. Turns out he has Acute Bronchitis. He feels pretty tough but at the hospital they gave him intravenous antibiotics and steroids. It totally freaks out my mom when he gets sick, but then when he is well she treats him like he is a stupid old man. Can't call her on it though....she is in major denial about how she acts. LMFAO