August Favorites

Here’s my August 2014 favorites! If you want to see last month’s click here. I wish they were flashier looking, but at least you know I’m posting them because they do WERK hunny!

1. Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat ($6.95 here ) – I found out about this top coat from one of my new fave YouTubers CoffeeBreakWithDani and she owns a very large cabinet filled with nail polish so I knew I could trust her. This top coat is super fast drying, very shiny, and will definitely keep your polish from chipping! I used to like the cult favorite Seche Vite, but that one gets so thick and goopy! I really like this one.

2. House of Lashes Eyelash Adhesive ($8 here) – So I wish I would have been able to test this more than once so I could give you a more thorough review, but the one time I did use this glue OMG it was everything. Even though I made a post all about how I apply false lashes, I tend to shy away from them when I have to have my face on for a long day because they make my eyes water and then all my eye makeup comes off in the corner of my eyes. This also loosens the glue and they will start to lift in the corners. My eyes also tend to get red and irritated when I wear falsies. This glue however is hypo-allergenic and the glue is latex-free which I think is the key it would make sense that I have a light latex allergy and that is what is causing me problems. Unlike the Duo Lash Adhesive there is an actual applicator with this one so you can use the right amount. It’s also not as thick and goopy as the Duo can be. All in all I wore these lashes for about 10 hours and it was the least annoying falsies have ever been for me I had 0 problems.

3. Merkury Innovations Bluetooth Shower Speaker With Mic ($24.99 here) – This thing is very easy to use and a nice way to entertain myself while grooming (which feels like it takes longer and longer everyday…). I like to listen to podcasts or my latest iTunes playlist.

4. Boots No7 Quick Thinking 4-in-1 Wipes ($6.99 for 30ct here) – You may remember these from my Shopping Haul Sunday post they were recommended to me by one of the Beauty Concierges at Target when I asked her which were her faves. These wipes are super GENTLE they don’t irritate my skin or eyes. They’re fragrance free and have witch hazel and other fancy ingredients to help improve your skin. The one downside of these wipes is that despite what it says, they do not remove waterproof mascara. I’m sure they could if I scrubbed and pulled out all of my eyelashes, but I’m just going to stick to my eye makeup remover that doesn’t do that instead. So for my night time routine I use one of these wipes to take off my face makeup and eyeshadow, I use an eye makeup remover to get off my Tammy Faye amount of mascara, then I wash my face 1-2x with soap (if I’m wearing a ton of makeup I’ll wash twice to make sure I got it all) with a face cloth. I’m not mentioning the specific products right now because they will be in a post in the future!

5. SalonCare Shampoo & Conditioner ($5-6 for a GALLON!! here) – Ok take this recommendation with a little grain of salt because I am someone that never notices a difference when I switch shampoos and conditioners unless the conditioner really sucks and my hair is difficult to untangle post-shower. My hair dresser uses this stuff exclusively. Everytime I see her she asks me what products I’m using and I start listing them and she’s like “no no no you don’t have to spend all that money shampoo and conditioner should be less than $10”. I really liked the products she used on me (how do hairdressers get my hair so much cleaner than I ever can!?!) and she actually washed out 2 empty Starbucks Frappuccino glass bottles and filled them up with the shampoo and conditioner for me to try a while back. She told me all the girls love her shampoo and conditioner and that it’s super cheap at Sally’s so I finally went and picked it up. I actually looked around for reviews to see what other people thought of it, and everyone on the Sally’s website used it to groom dogs lol. I use it to groom my human self and it works no better or no worse than anything I’ve used in the past and it’s super cheap. I use a funnel to put it into empty shampoo and conditioner bottles I have lying around my shower and I don’t dilute it at all. Some people online didn’t like how the shampoo didn’t foam/bubble up and for this I would just recommend washing your hair a second time. My hair dresser has also recommended adding 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 8oz. of shampoo to make a clarifying shampoo and she swears by coconut oil from Sally’s for extra moisture and to help make your ends look nicer. I use either It’s a 10 or a leave in conditioner to detangle my hair.

Are you surprised I didn’t have more makeup products? That’s probably because it was so hot I barely wore makeup this month!! Some of my non-beauty favorites this month: 

I love my king sized bed, but it needed a mini-makeover so I bought some Cynthia Rowley white sheets at HomeGoods for $34.99 and I wasn’t planning on buying a new duvet cover, but I thought this one from Ikea was so cute and it was only $39.99. It’s the Lyckoax bedding in white and lilac, doesn’t it just look very calming and zen?

On my night stand (which is actually a fancy wooden filing cabinet I got a while back at a garage sale for $10) I have Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy Pillow Mist in Lavendar Vanilla ($10 here), Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil ($8 here) no I’m not pregnant this stuff smells so good though and has Vitamin E to help heal any scars, Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask ($26 here) this stuff is stupid expensive I waited until I had a 20% off discount at least to buy it but it’s awesome and is so yummy,  CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (on sale for $12.63 here) this was recommended to me by my dermatologist and I use it on my face and body before I go to sleep it’s really different than any lotion I’ve used before and you can tell by the 5 star review that people love this stuff.

I finally got a desk woo hoo! I actually  went into Ikea looking for a real desk, but then when I saw them in person I realized there really wasn’t enough space for that plus I have storage other places in my room. The best part about this “desk” is that it was less than $20! It’s the Linnmon/Adils table. I also love that it gives me a white surface to take pictures on.

The chair was a bit more, but it was on sale for $79.99 and it’s really nice and I think it fancies up the cheap desk. It’s the Malkolm in Bomstad beige.

The flowers are artificial Chrysanthemums that I also got at Ikea for $0.99 each. I put them in a large tall jar that I already had at home and while cleaning out my closet I found those two frames that I have never used before and they are both from target. On the left is a picture of my Cavalier King Charles named Pixie (see below) that lives with my family in Florida and on the right I had to crop an Ikea Kort Art Card that I had bought they were on sale for 5 for $1 I believe. I can’t find those on the website, but here are some pretty ones. 

What were your favorite or most used products this month?