Some Current Favorites - Beauty products

Okay, so I have had this post in my drafts for maybe a year.  No lie, I totally forgot about it. However, even though it's an old post, these are still the items I reach for time and time again. So maybe this post is more relevant since I've had almost a year of using and loving these products! So (finally) here are the beauty products I've been reaching for over and over the past few months year.

Clockwise from top:

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur concealer - it just blends so well and gives good coverage without caking. I have used this as a foundation substitute in a pinch when I was travelling.

Tony & Guy Wave Memorising balm - I like the way this worked.  They've discontinued it or changed it or something and I can't find it anymore (the link is to the only version I can find). I'm still partial to this one (which is also becoming impossible to find - of course).

Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum - this is a "holy grail" item for me, it's by far the easiest felt tip pen-type liquid eyeliner I've tried and it's long-lasting!  I've got it in the Black and Ultra-Black.  Not sure about the "lash boosting" aspect of this but that's not why I buy or use it.  The tip keeps it's shape too.

Here's an up close look at the tip.

Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil - I'm so bad at doing my brows, but I don't feel like such a brow idiot when I use this.  The shape and formula make it so easy and natural looking.

Urban Decay De-Slick Makeup Setting Spray - This stuff has changed my life.  Okay that's a bit dramatic, but it has totally helped with keeping my makeup in place throughout the day.  I've already used up the bottle in this picture and re-purchased. And to show how old this photo is, they've redesigned the packaging - lol!

ColourPop Super Shock Eyeshadow in "Bill" - The most beautiful matte mauve.  I've already hit pan on this and will repurchase for sure!

Here it is swatched on my hand.  It's a really lovely mauve.

Small Jewelry Tray (different patterns)

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My Favorite Perfumes

I love perfume, I usually have 2-3 in rotation depending on mood/time of year.   I prefer scents that aren't to sweet or flowery.  These are my favorites that I've worn since I started wearing perfume, you know, back when the Earth was cooling.

1. Vera Wang Princess - in current rotation

2.  Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb - yes, it's men's cologne, but it smells divine. In current rotation

3.  Chanel No.19 - the first perfume I ever wore on a regular basis. Wore it for years.

4.  Gucci Rush - Smells yummy, basically wore this throughout my late 20's

5.  Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb - I LOVE this so much - in current rotation

6.  Burberry Brit - Lovely scent (and bottle), another from my 20's

7.  Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black - will be getting this soon, I smelled a sample and I knew immediately this would be my next perfume.

Are any of these your favorites?  Any ones I should try?

Weekend Recap!

I'm tired.  Super tired after this past weekend of cleaning.  And to top it off my girl got bitten by some sort of creepy crawly on the top of the foot Monday and it swelled up big time.  I kept her home from preschool yesterday so needless to say I got nothing accomplished.  We ran to the doctor just to make sure it wasn't something worse than it was and she asked the doctor for a cast.  That's how she rolls - dramatic to say the least. ;o)

Since I headed out early Friday I didn't have a chance to mention that I shared my favorite Children's clothing tip over on 11 Gray last Friday!  11 Gray is Jessica's (formerly of Lavender and Lilies) great new blog covering all things design, baby, cooking, etc.  Make sure you stop by and say hello!

Back to this past weekend at my Mom's.  We cleaned and sorted and donated and still there's so much more to do. But we got a great start and I found some pretty cool things that I thought I would share (if you're following me on Instagram @Spryonthewall then you've seen a couple of these already).  Check out the treasures:

Vintage Playboy Club ashtray in orange.

A handmade quilt from the '70s that my Great-Aunt made me.  You can't totally tell from the picture but that green is neon and so pretty.  The darn thing looks brand new!  Score!  My daughter has already claimed it as her own.

Vintage Liberty of London silk scarf - I've hung it up to help the wrinkles fall out and to air it out (garage storage = funky smell)

Pretty cool, right?  Have a great Wednesday!

Favorite finds

Found this really great armoir (named "Opus") in an ad in Interior Design magazine (I think) from Wendell Castle Collection. It's designed by Emma Gardner (I am familiar with her gorgeous rugs).

I wish I had a bigger picture, but you get the idea, great soft blue ground with a large graphic koi and Lucite feet. I love the blue with the orange, it's really striking. This picture was the only info I could find out about it, I guess it's so new that they haven't updated the website.

Image from Wendell Castle Collection

Favorite finds

One of my dear friends attended ICFF recently and sent me a brochure of some fabulous wallpapers from Madison & Grow. I really fell in love with two patterns in particular with a (surprise!) beachy vibe. Apparently I'm using this blog to furnish my nonexistent beach house.

"Margo" in the "full moon over the bluffs" colorway
"Maggie" (wishing they had a spa blue or light teal colorway)

Both are from the appropriately named "Martha's Vineyard" collection. The "Manhattan" collection has some really fab patterns too. Check their stuff out here.

Images from Madison & Grow

Favorite Finds

This is really a great find. I ran across it at the Liberty Antiques Festival in Liberty, NC (right outside of Greensboro - held twice a year in April and September). I was on the fence about purchasing, but I'm so glad I did. It's a very groovy, 50's style boomerang dish with the signs of the Zodiac around the edge with this atomic world/clock thing in the middle. The shape grabbed me first followed by the colors, lovely spa teals (almost grey). It's just a fun piece in fabulous condition. It now lives in the master bedroom, right beside this cup.

Favorite Finds

In the Spring of 2006, while we were living in Cumberland, MD, I found out that we lived just about an hour away from Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece Fallingwater. Well as soon as I got directions and reserved my tickets I made the pilgrimage. What an amazing house, what an amazing experience! We've all seen the pictures of this house perched over a waterfall, but to actually see it in person is breathtaking. It truly was one of those life changing things for me, I left so inspired and recharged. (I would post pictures, but they are really protective of the images and out of respect I will not do so - and yes I have some good ones). I'm getting excited just writing this - I can't put into words how much I loved it.

When the tour of the main house and the guest house (who knew there was a guest house - whose interior I fell in love with along with the gorgeous wisteria hanging off the roof) was over I made a beeline for the gift shop ready to spend. And spend I did - books, cards and best of all these wonderful earrings:

They are wonderful because suspended in each one is a piece of concrete saved during the restoration of Fallingwater (the rest is acrylic and silver - they not at all heavy). I can't tell you how many people have commented on them when I wear them, and I just love telling the story. How fantastic to have a piece of this house that you can wear - they also make pendants and cuff links too. They are one of my prized possessions and my "go to" earrings that look great with everything. They are a special souvenir of a great day and a great piece of architecture!

Image from Fallingwater store

Favorite Finds

I picked up this nifty little salad-sized plate at an antiques store in Greensboro, NC (where I'm from). I almost walked away from it, but I'm so glad I didn't. I love the orange and the blue as well as the great island theme! It proudly sits on my desk holding my lip balm and a small tube of hand cream. Love it!

Favorite Finds

I'm gonna double up today because this is fun!

I found this cup - I'm guessing that's what it is because it's not really big at all, it's a little bigger than a shot glass - in an antiques store in Berkeley Springs, WVA. I was attracted to the colors as well as the way the picture is drawn. It's from Denmark and is numbered. I didn't pay much for it at all, but I think it's a really special find. You almost get lost just looking at all the things going on in the drawing. I wonder if it's part of a set or something of that nature. Anyway, it now lives in the master bedroom on the chest of drawers.

Favorite Finds

In the spirit of appreciating what you already own, I'm going to start doing some posts from time to time featuring things that I have that I love. These are things that I didn't just walk into a mass market store and buy, these are things that I've turned up at antique festivals, rummage sales, second hands stores/sites, etc. Things that are unique and make me happy. Things that lived a life before I purchased them. Here's the first:

I purchased these shoes at a second hand site (the same one I got that Manolo Blahnik pillow from). I first saw these Prada shoes in Harper's Bazaar in 1998 on Cameron Diaz (if memory serves) and it was love at first sight. Of course, them being Prada and me being 24, they were waaaay out of my price range. But the memory of them lingered (as did the memory of that entire collection - one of Prada's best in my opinion). Lo and behold, I ran across them on that site a few years later and snapped them up so fast it made my own head spin. They are more spectacular in person, honestly like art. Okay, they look like a pain to wear, but are really quite comfortable, that crazy heel makes them very stable. I don't wear them much, but when I do, people run over and ask me where I got them, are they hard to walk in, do they hurt? They are one of my prized possessions and attest to the genius of Miuccia Prada.