July Favorites!

I'm super late to the party, but I just discovered Grav3yardgirl on Youtube and I'm in love with her! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF HER NONSENSE! I also ADORE the idea of posting your favorite products and what-have-you every month. Now especially, since I'm getting back into doing makeup and I'm building up a massive kit for a wedding I'm doing next month! I've come across a ton of amazing products in my quest, and I wanted to share some of them with you!

Hard Candy Sheer Envy Primer available at Walmart ($8.00)

So, I'd never used a primer before, nor had I ever even thought one may be necessary. But after my bestie Sarah recommended it, I had to give it a shot to determine whether or not I'd like to keep it in my traincase. I HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED. Seriously, after wearing this under my makeup a few times, I can't imagine NOT using it. Upon first opening it, I was horrified to find that it had separated in the tube and some liquid squirted out. This was quickly resolved by closing it up and giving it a good shake. It still felt a bit weird, I can't say 'gritty', but definitely more textured than I would have imagined it to be. I rubbed a small amount into my forehead, cheeks, nose and chin, and was astonished to find that this stuff made my skin feel SO AMAZING. My concealer and mineral foundation glided onto my face like a goddamn dream; perfectly even and flawless. I'm totally sold! I'll be getting this for my own use AND to keep in my kit as long as I can find it! (FIVE STARS)

Youngblood Natural Mineral Foundation available at Beauty Bridge ($42)

I have always been intrigued by mineral foundations since those Bare Minerals infomercials started making their rounds. While I'm normally skeptical of anything that has to be sold via television ad, I had also heard from a few people that it was actually amazing. I never did get a chance to try it, but I ended up with a bunch of this stuff from a dear old friend who had a bunch of it left over (unused!) from beauty school. I had never heard of this particular brand, so I looked it up on Beautylish and saw that people LOVED the stuff, but it was super pricey. I tried out the color "Neutral" with the included little foundation brush (which I also love!) and was freaking blown away. I have a ton of discoloration in my skin from old acne scars, dry patches that tend to get red, etc. This provided a total full coverage. Couldn't believe it. It got a tad cakey on my cheeks near my nose where my skin is dry, but I think that's just because I need to get used to applying this particular kind of makeup. Nothing that a little spritz of the next stuff couldn't fix, though... (FOUR STARS)

e.l.f. Makeup Mist and Set available at Target ($3.00)

I really needed a setting spray for my traincase. I was planning on (and still am, just in case) getting a more expensive spray like Model In A Bottle or Urban Decay's All Nighter, but I had read a couple nice things about e.l.f.'s version and figured for $3, you really can't lose. I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn't have a scent like some people claimed. But it does spray out a bit weird, more like a shot than a nice mist, which I unfortunately have to dock some points for. But I'd say 3-5 sprays of this in sections on your face will do great. I used this on a ridiculously busy day when I had a bachelorette party to attend (on a boat on Lake Union!) and a wedding almost immediately afterward. Makeup looked good throughout the boat trip in the blazing sun. At one point I had to change quickly in my blazing hot car on the side of Nickerson in Seattle. I was pouring buckets of sweat, needless to say. My makeup somehow stayed put. I was pretty shocked! My eye makeup didn't even start to crease until WAY later that night, around 9ish. (FOUR STARS)

I hope you guys found this helpful! Have you ever used any of these products? Lemme know what you thought!

DWD Shoes/Discount Womens Dress Shoes Review/Warning

Finally filed a dispute with DWDShoes/Discount Womens Dress Shoes via Paypal because it's been over a month since they received my return package, according to USPS delivery confirmation. No replacement boots, no refund, no nothing. Guys, please don't shop this site. I've been had, a friend has been had, and I can't even imagine how many other people are dealing with this.

Here's my experience in full:

I ordered a pair of boots (the Black PU Francheska-07, referenced at the end of this post) on Sept 14th, which I received on Sept 20th. They were great, but they fit small, so I returned them (with my OWN money, they don't offer return shipping) to the address on the RMA slip included in the package on Sept 21st. They were marked as delivered in the tracking info on Sept 24th. I contacted DWD Shoes on the 26th to inquire about why I hadn't yet heard back, and was told that they had not yet received the package.

After a few more questions over the next week, it turned out that they were in the middle of a move (why didn't they mention that right away?) and that the package was being forwarded from their previous warehouse's address. Also, by this time, the boots I needed to exchange for were completely out of stock. I figured I'd wait a little longer to see if they would restock them. A few weeks later, it didn't seem like anything was being restocked, so I emailed them on Oct 19th, letting them know I would like to exchange for a different pair that they had in stock, the Brown Leopard Suede Francheska-07. Emailed again on Oct 25th to let them know I'd waited far too long and would like the exchange or a refund immediately.

As of November 4th, I still haven't received any correspondence from customer service themselves, even after filing a dispute with Paypal. I had to actually contact the social media manager via Facebook to actually move anything along! She said that she was going to put my exchange request through to the customer service supervisor, and that's all I know thus far. Going to escalate this to a claim if I don't see my package within the week. The Better Business Bureau is also going to hear from me.

I wanted to believe that this was all circumstantial because of their major move they're in the middle of, but after some quick research I came up with complaints dating as far back as 2011. Check it out:

Jan 12th, 2011: http://rockchicstyle.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/discount-womens-dress-shoes-com-review-horrible/

Feb 24th, 2011: http://www.therealchattypatty.com/2011/02/discounted-womens-dress-shoes-review.html

Epinions reviews dating back to January 2011: http://www.epinions.com/Discount_Womens_Dress_Shoes_Online_Store/display_~reviews?sb=1

29 complaints filed with the BBB: http://www.la.bbb.org/business-reviews/General-Merchandise-Retail-By-Internet/Discount-Womens-Dress-Shoes-in-City-of-Industry-CA-100100962

Not to mention they started citing hurricane Sandy as a possible reason why their email was bouncing, when it was happening weeks before that! Check it out:

After digging a little deeper, I found that they also run an ebay store under the name *v*boots2shoes*v*. Negative feedback? 72 in the last month. Just throwin' that out there.

I usually want to keep this a positive place where everybody on a budget like myself can find awesome shoes and boots, but after this gnarly experience, I just can't not do anything to warn you guys. Please stay away from this company, or, if you feel like you must, order with EXTREME caution!

I'll update this post as things develop.


UPDATE, NOV. 7TH: I finally received a phone call on Nov. 6th. I was told that my return package had likely been lost, but they were going to ship me a pair of replacement boots anyhow. I was emailed a tracking number shortly after, and the boots are scheduled to arrive tomorrow (Nov. 8th). I'm very pleased with this outcome, however, I'm still in total disbelief of just how long it took to resolve.

My final verdict is to shop with extreme caution, if you feel you must. Hopefully this is all just circumstantial, but I guess only time will tell.

If you're still positively ACHING for some Vintage Francheskas, but are wary of these guys, have no fear! You can pick them up at Zooshoo, Boutique To You, UrbanOG, AMI Clubwear, Shiekh Shoes, and Make Me Chic! I've got your backs <3

I also want to take the time to apologize if any of you ordered from these guys and had any issues after my recommendation. I am so, so sorry. I feel your pain, seriously. I especially feel the need to say this because I also referred a friend who had a much larger order (her father ordered a haul of boots for her birthday) and had an outcome similar to mine. A pair in her order somehow went out of stock, she was never notified, and ended up having to wait three weeks to get the remaining boots that were still in stock as well as the refund for the boots that were out of stock (harassing them via email the whole time and largely being ignored, mind you). So just be careful, guys.

UPDATE, NOV. 8TH: I received my boots today and all is well. I'll be dropping the Paypal dispute, but I'm still not going to recommend this site.

Privileged "Solemate" Test Drive/Review

Striped dolman: Kohl's Jeans: Ross Wedges:  c/o YCMC.com

Now, I'm by no means any sort of photographer, but I knew I had to build an outfit around these insane, massive heelless shoes (my first pair!!!) and document it for the world. I had some downtime during Jade's nap on Monday, so I figured I'd take advantage of my Gramma's fancypants front porch during a rare overcast afternoon.

Peep-toe with exposed wood platform detail (please excuse my pedicure).

This is my favorite sweater, ever. Evereverever.

So, these shoes are nuts. They most definitely take some getting used to. As I understand it, the wedge on these is a lot narrower lengthwise than the usual heelless shoes. If you compare them to the shoe these are inspired by, the Jeffrey Campbell "Rockstar", you'll see how the bottom of the sculpted wedge on that particular shoe flares to the back a bit more, meaning there's more overall surface area to the sole. That being said, for the first little while you wear these, you are hyper-aware of the fact that there's no heel and walk a little funny to compensate, but once you realize they're totally stable, you'll ease off a bit. Just don't put too much weight on your heels, for the love of god! Other than that, these are surprisingly lightweight, true to size and pretty darn comfortable, considering just how high the arch is. I can't wait to take these for a spin at my local gay bar, haha!

SPECS

• Platform: 2 inches
• "Heel" height: 6.5 inches
• Fit: true to size
• Man-made materials

Most retailers have been out of the popular sizes in this shoe for months, but YCMC has a considerable amount left in black, coral, and taupe here. Best of all, they're on sale AND you can take 15% off with the code BYTHETHROAT! Woooo!

Review - Gelish Gel Polish System

I didn't go into this so I could blog about it initially, Chev and I were just hanging out and drinking at our friends Ryan and Stefanie's house last Friday night and Chev was pretty much handing out manicures with her fancy Gelish system. She asked if I'd like my nails done after Stef's were finished, and I agreed. My nails were in desperate need of some kind of flourish. Being the mother of a crazy toddler and in a seemingly endless state of dishwashing not only wreaks havoc on my nails, but leaves me with virtually no time to do them. Also, unlike a lot of women I know, I'm not an "OMG LET'S GO GET OUR NAILS DONE!!!!1" type of gal; I'd much prefer to do them myself, ha! I'm a control freak in that way, but I knew that Chev was pretty fiercely devoted to Gelish and was very experienced with the process. Now I'm super glad I had her do it for my first time not only because of how amazing this stuff is, but because it probably would have taken me twice the amount of time if I had done it myself, what with the layers of polish and having to alternate my hands under the UV lamp for two minutes each (apparently LED lamps cure the polish quicker, though- in 30 seconds!).

The next morning.

I opted for a bright purple with leopard spots, naturally. The latter had the craziest process: you get these little metal plates with various designs engraved into them, paint the polish over whatever design you want, scrape off the excess, transfer the design onto a crazy stamp-like thing, then quickly push the stamp across your nail. The whole process is super arduous, but what I'm trying to get to here is that it's totally worth it. My normal manicures take less than a day to chip or get those super annoying indents in them. I've had the Gelish manicure for FIVE DAYS and it still looks totally amazing! And that's through cleaning three different houses! I'm pretty sure I'm sold on this stuff!

Day 5! Also, yes, my nails really did grow that fast D:

Obviously, removing it may be the only issue, but that looks like a fairly simple process in which you just soak your nails in an acetone-based remover for 15 minutes.

If you wanted to go into a nail salon and get this manicure (be sure to Yelp "Gelish", 'cause not a ton of places do it in my general region, just Seattle), it'd probably run you about $50 for a new manicure, and $35 to fill an existing one (but who wouldn't want to change it up?!). I'm pretty tempted to get the system myself, which would run me about $135, but it really pays for itself within like 2 1/2 manicures!

If you're a DIY kinda gal like me, you can get a starter kit with bonding agent, foundation, topcoat, gelish nourish, mini cleanser, and mini remover for $49.95, gel polish in a plethora of colors for $14.95 each, and a mini LED lamp for $69.95 (all available at Sally Beauty Supply). Design plates ($6.50 each) and stamp/scraper set ($4.50) can be purchased through Konad. Honestly, you're probably gonna have to make a night of it if you do it yourself, but I think it's a decent trade-off for having a gorgeous manicure for up to 3 weeks with no chipping!

I'm so mad I didn't know about this stuff when I was working in retail! Hangers are SO gnarly on manicures (and your hands in general), so I often went without. This stuff would have powered through that, and I probably would have broken less nails!

Have any of you ever had a Gelish manicure? What did you think?

Sugarpill lust!

MAN. It has really been a while! Lame! This week was a pretty light school week, too, I guess I've just been super preoccupied with Jade. I just wanted to pop in and push some stuff on you guys :D I finally caved and bought that Sugarpill Sweetheart palette from that birthday wishlist I shared with you guys last month! Yaaayyyy!!!

Yessssss! I have to say that I've wanted these shadows for about a year, but was pretty hesitant to buy a palette at first because of how much it cost (I'm a fan of high-end makeup, but I tend to buy single items over long periods of time!), but when I got it in my hot little hands and realized how HUGE these pans are, I was blown away! SOOOO much product here, the pans are about the size of a MAC blush pan!

I was super excited about Dollipop (pink) and Afterparty (blue), but after playing around with it a bunch, it turns out I'm all about Midori (green)! I just got rid of my pink and purple bangs, but I LOVED how this color contrasted with them and made my eyes pop!

Quickie blurry shot from a few weeks ago, nothing too fancy. Midori and Tako (white).

The color payoff is amazing, as well, and the lasting power is great. If you've been thinking about getting anything Sugarpill like I was, I say go for it! More than worth it! Not to mention the creator/owner, Amy, is so adorable <3

I'll do a more interesting look in the future and share it with you guys!

Sugarpill Shop - Facebook - Twitter

Go get some!!!

xoxo,
Bre!

Belkin BZ111200-06 11-Outlet Conceal Surge Protector LOVE!

Hey guys, this post doesn't really fall under any normal category (and this is definitely not sponsored or anything), but I'm so stoked about this surge protector I bought from Amazon that I HAVE to share!

Somehow, I've managed to keep the same power strip from my first computer I ever had when I was 11 years old. This means I've had all my important data relying on a piece of garbage that was about 16 years old and was probably going to not only fry my beloved electronics, but probably catch something on fire. DON'T ASK, I really don't know! Replacing a power strip was really not something I ever thought or worried about, until Jade started scooting around on his own. Then my cable mess became a HUGE concern. Last week I got a pretty substantial check from what was left over from my financial aid, so I figured, "why not?" Even better, I found one that actually concealed all my cables for the most part! It's a Belkin BZ111200-06 11-Outlet Conceal Surge Protector, and it's $24 at Amazon. Worth every penny! I forgot to take a before picture to show you how gnarly it really was (because I was so excited to get everything set up!), but in this picture taken in our old apartment, you pretty much get the idea:

Holy hell! How nasty is that? Also, AWWWW. Jade loves when dad plays guitar!

And here's what it looks like now!

Does my heart good to see this look so tidy! And in case you're wondering about the 16 year old beast of a power strip:

D: D: D: Those are 10 years worth of nicotine stains. I used to smoke something fierce, you guys have no idea.

Still need to get some of those cable zipper cord organizers, but until then, this is a VAST improvement. LOVE IT!

Anyone buy anything simple lately that improved their lives dramatically?

xoxo,
Bre!