Leopard and Lace

This weekend was the tail end of Detroit Restaurant Week.  What is Restaurant week, you may ask? Well, it's when some of the nicer dining establishments in the downtown Detroit area offer a set menu of 3 courses for the low price of $28/person.  It's a great way to try some fancier fare on a smaller budget.  For me, it's not only a great excuse to try some new delicious foods, but also a great excuse to get all dressed up. I actually got to go twice this year, because I am spoiled :)  But, I didn't get a chance to take very good pictures of my first outfit, but I did for the second one, which I honestly liked a lot better.  I got a compliment from the hostess on my dress, too! Yay!

Sorry the pictures aren't the best. Lighting in my house isn't the greatest for photo shoots, and iPhone photos usually aren't optimal anyway, but you work with what you got, right?

Lace Dress: Target - similar style by Free People here / Necklace: Target/ Bracelet: Baublebar (I'm addicted! You should check them out if you haven't already)/ Leopard Skinny Belt: Target - similar style by Express here/ Suede Pumps: Franco Sarto Cicero

Tuxedo Blazer Luv

Finally remembered to take a picture the last time I got dressed up a little to have a date night with my husband.  Woo hoo!

I'd wanted a tuxedo blazer for awhile, but they were all out of budget for me. Saw this one from Kohls but wasn't sure if I'd like it cropped, but I gotta say, I'm loving it!

Studded Tank: French Connection

Cropped Tuxedo Blazer - Candies from Kohls

Jeans: Levi's Curve bootcut (I'm apparently a slight curve)

Boots: Fergalicious from 6pm

Chain Link Bracelet: Baublebar ;-- click the link to sign up, they're awesome!

I can't wait to find more things to pair this jacket with! What would you wear it with?

Easter Outfit: Frumpy or Flowy Flowery?

As usual, I am fashionably late with this post for my Easter ouftit. Just as I am usually fashionably late to family events, such as Easter Dinner :)  The weather wasn't that spectacular, and I didn't really feel like shaving my legs or donning tights, so I decided to go with this long, flowing floral dress I picked up at the local Meijer store:

 However, I couldn't quite decide if it was pretty and feminine, or overly granny-ish and frumpy.  I love the way it swirled around, and it kept my legs warm.  I paired it with a ruffle sweater I got a year or two ago from Forever 21 that I could never quite find the right outfit to pair with.  It didn't quite match the purples in the dress, but it seemed to go okay.  And none of my other sweaters looked good at all.  I decided to go with a heeled shoe with some studded embellishments to sass-ify the look some and tone down the frump factor, if there indeed was one.  I think the shoes were Unlisted by Kenneth Cole that I got for a steal price at the end of last year's summer season from Famous Footwear. They are really flexible and super comfy - I actually usually dance in them for my belly dance class.  Please excuse the hair. My bang refuse to behave these days,

My girls were dressed in cute little dresses, too, but I completely forgot to take ANY pictures!!! Mommy fail.  I may have to wash the dresses, and re-dress them up so I can do so.  :)

However, I did snap this picture of the Easter Kitteh:

Hope everyone had a good Easter filled with good stuff to eat :)

I Just Don't Understand...

There's a reason I don't read or watch the news very often.  Too many times the news either scares the beejebus out of me, causing anxiety attacks (slight exaggeration), or it makes me so sad, I can't even stand it.  I saw this link in my news section on my igoogle page this morning, and against my better judgement I read it. I ended up hardcore bawling for about 15 minutes over it.  Then hugging my youngest child, (the oldest was at school) for another 15 minutes, still sniffling.  This is the article here.

Kids are very stressing, and when you add being a single parent, lack of sleep and more to the mix, I can see how anger can get the best of you.  I've lashed out at my kids, given them a spank that maybe was unnecessary, or plopped them into their bed for a time out maybe a little too roughly, but I can never in a million years imagine doing what this parent did and take the lives of my children.   The worst part about it is the excuse for the death of the second child, a child who shares the same name as my oldest daughter.  To decide to just take her life, too, to make the cover story for the murder of the first child more plausible, is beyond me.

It's things like this that make me believe there is no karma, no higher power, no balance in the world.   These innocent children did nothing but be children, and they died for it. Sure, Dad got busted and is going to jail; he might even find death himself at the hands of another inmate, but I still don't think it balances out in comparison of what those children went through and what was stolen from them.  I know it's sick, but I can't help but envision what it was like for them - I can see it in my head, much as I wish I couldn't.  That's what sets me off crying every time.  It's things like this that make the idea of having to be approved to have children seem like a fantastic idea.  Yes, I know its a whole slippery slope, but how many innocent lives could be spared if people like this were not allowed to procreate?  Course, who's to say that anyone could ever make a test that would show a result like this is possible. This parent got custody of these children, so a court obviously thought he was a fit parent.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I needed to vent.  Needed to try and release this vision from my mind, though I'm not sure it will for quite awhile.

3 beauty product reviews

Thanks to being a member of bzzagent, I was given the chance to try out a few new-er makeup products on the market.  I got to try out L'Oreal Studio Secrets One Sweep Eye Shadow, L'Oreal Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara, and Maybelline SuperStay 2 step lip color.

First, I'll Start with the L'Oreal One Sweep Shadow. I had seen the L'oreal One Sweep, and though the premise was interesting, but thought it could never work due to various eye shapes and getting to layer properly in the right places.  But, since I got a free sample to try for free, I had nothing to lose! Here's the one I got to try out:

The instructions tell you to use the special included applicator to sweep in a certain direction across the shadows for each eye. Then, using the tip, you blend it to your desired look.  I did have to sweep it about 3 times on each lid to get the desired darkness of the shadow, but it did seem to go into the areas it was supposed to pretty well.  I did do a little blending with the tip using the lightest color in the package to assist, but it would've looked fine without blending.  I didn't use any primer, so by the end of a few hours, it did crease, but the color did last. Here's some pictures of the process. 1st, the before picture -- please excuse the messy brows, I'm overdue for a tweezing ;)

Here's with the shadow applied - no other makeup - eyes open and closed.

After I did the shadow, I decided to give the L'Oreal Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara a try.  There was two ends - one with the color, and one with the illuminating sparkled color.  I had black with black, but there is black with bronze, and brown with bronze and such also available.

The instructions say to do the plain, long wanded color only end first, and I really liked how long it made my lashes before I even applied the illuminating side. You can see the difference between the eye on the left with mascara and the one on the right without.

The second step  was to apply the short wanded side with the illumination sparkles on top of the regular color.  It was suggested on the package to do it as quickly as possible after applying the first side. But, this  made it all clumpy - I had to spend some time separating the lashes and removing the clumps.  It said to just do the tips for a little sparkle, or the whole lash for dramatic illumination, but I didn't notice much of a difference either way.  And you can't really see the "illumination" unless you're up really close. Not sure why the sparkle isn't just in with the black mascara in the first place anyway. Why do we really need the second step in a whole separate wand?  Maybe it makes more of a difference with the other color combos.  So, I liked the mascara itself, but found the illumination wand and step to be a bit of a fail.  Here's how it looked on both eyes, finished application.

Finally, I got to try the Maybelline SuperStay 24hr lip color.  I chose the rose color since it was very close to my natural lip shade, since I wasn't sure how deep the other color samples I got would be, and I didn't want to have to wash it off and start over if it was overly dark.

Application was simple.  You apply the color with the wand with the sponge tipped applicator, and give it a few minutes to dry before applying the clear gloss end stick over it. I loved that it didn't feel overly dry or sticky.  You can see how it looks applied to just my lower lip, compared to my bare upper lip:

  It had a pretty good lasting power.  I went out to dinner and ate and drank without any re-applying, and when I got back, it was still there, albeit a little faded towards the inside part of lip.Here it is after I applied it to both lips, and how it looked at the end of the night after I wiped of the left half with a makeup removing cloth.

I did like the SuperStay color because it felt non-drying and non-sticky, and had decent staying power, though, obviously it did fade after eating and drinking.

Have you tried out any of these products yet?  Any opinions to add about them?

You should be able to find these products at most mass retailers like Target if interested in picking them up.

Thanks for reading!

My gold and plum smokey eye makeup for a Belly Dance show.

Is this 'email story racist? Or just uninformed and stupid?

I received this email forward from my cousin, containing this joke or whatever title you can give this type of email:
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John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am.

While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG).

He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA)

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today.

After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) filled it with GAS (from Saudi Arabia) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (Made In Malaysia), Joe decided to relax for a while.

He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA and hopes to get help from a President MADE IN KENYA.
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So what do you think? Is the made in Kenya comment racist or some other type of -ist? Obama was born in Hawaii, and raised there for much of his youth by either his American mother or American grandparents, only seeing his Kenyan father once after the father left the family when Barack was 2.

I understand the sentiment that all of our products we use day in and day out are not physically assembled/ made here in the US. And I believe that was really the point of the story in the beginning. Of course I have my own opinion on that, but I am not going there right now! Though I think people who complain about other not buying american should try to actually do it for EVERYTHING in their home for a while, and see how hard it is. Heck, my cousin works at a Wal-mart, the home of "made in china", who is she to spread this type of email about?

Anyway, just wondering if my drop jaw reaction to the president comment was unfounded or not. I'm open to input.

~Amber