some great designed headphones + music that i'm crushing on

 

Feast your eyes ladies! It's like musical jewelry for your, uh, beautiful heads and ears!

I'm definitely digging these white and rosegold headphones and yellow gold and white ear buds by Frends from urban outfitters. However, the cheap girl in me has a hard time forking over $99-$150 for them. Did I mention I'm cheap? Meanwhile, the that's so adorable! girl in me can't stop looking at them. I mean, come on the headphones have memory foam for your ears delight! They also fold almost completely flat and are made with pretty genuine leather. But no matter how cool and cute they are I need to summon my sensible girl and find a pair that's while priced. Although, you do get what you pay for and I've heard good things about it's sound quality so I'm sure it's worth the investment. Maybe I'll have a garage sale haha!

If you know me you know that music is a big part of my life. Music is my happy place. I sing, hum & chirp to help myself to get through the day. When I sing or listen to my favorite music it crowds out all the supposed to be's, should have done's, and not good enoughs and always just leaves me in better spirits.


Here are some artists that I'm just loving right now so make sure and check them out!

For my workouts: Zedd

my favorite songs from Zedd- Find you & Spectrum

Zedd mixes mainstream pop vocals with amazing electronic dubstep backgrounds. Dubstep can often times get just a smidge too chaotic for me so his music definitely is the kind of dubstep I can listen to over and over again without it stressing me out.

For just a good music listening time!: Kina Grannis

my favs from Kina- My own & her cover of Safe and Sound
I love, love, love this girl. She definitely is a BIG musical inspiration to me with her style and presence when she sings. I definitely relate with her style. Very soulful and gentle. She focuses on the pretty subtleties of her voice rather then belting everything out. She's an independant artist and has youtube as her fan base so check her out!

So what are your current favorite songs or artists? Are there some non-mainstream artists you just love?

Have a super great weekend guys! :)

PRODUCT REVIEW : MASKCARA MAKEUP

One of my favorite bloggers recently released her very own makeup line. Cara from maskcara.com focuses on many different amazing techniques on applying makeup, one of which includes looks that are fresh and natural. I had the opportunity to meet and chat with her at a Pinners' Conference Salt Lake City, Utah; which featured different popular bloggers who live in Utah. These cute bloggers taught classes that went along with what they post on their blogs. Cara's class was a hit with her insights of makeup application. I also have to tell you that she is one of the most genuine people I've ever met and I look up to her a lot. 

So I decided to share with you my thoughts on her new released makeup which includes foundation, (which couples together foundation, highlighting & contouring all in one compact), a cream blush and illuminator.

IIID Foundation
Let me first tell you that Cara's makeup is something that I've been looking for a long, long time without even realizing it! I just about died when she first explained the concept before she released her makeup. Foundation, contour and highlight all in one. Yes! Yes! Please yes! Please, DO combine all those steps into one!, I thought. 

The way it works is that you first apply the darker shade to your brush and apply it to the hallow part of your cheeks, temples and sides of your nose and wherever else you would normally apply your contour. Then you apply the highlight everywhere else and blend everything together. To watch her explanation on how to apply the foundation, click here. Her foundation comes in 3 shades: light, medium and dark. I use the dark shade because I have a darker olive complexion. I assume its called an 'olive' complexion because it means your skin resembles olive oil? Never quite understood the term. The highlight color is both warm and complimenting! It brightens the look of your skin and gives you such an amazing, natural looking glow. You feel like a sunbeam walking out of the house.

The darker contour color defines your face without making you look orange which can happen when you use bronzer; which is what I used to use to contour with. As you can see from the picture I've gone through the darker, contour color a lot more quickly than the highlight color. Maybe it's because I like to have more contour to add more contrast to my face. This makeup has lasted me almost 2 and a half months up to this point. I figure the darker shade may last me another month or more if I make it stretch. The highlighter will probably last me another 2 and half months.

Cream Blush
I just love, love, love, LOVE this cream blush! I've always just used powder blush and without fail they always made my skin look super cakey. This is the strawberry shortcake color and it blends great! Also, it wears amazingly! I could never get any of my other blushes to stay on the whole day. The container and applicator are exactly like a lipgloss; which makes it really easy to apply. I'm not quite sure how much I've used so far because it's hard to look inside and tell.

Illuminator
Honestly, I really don't use the illuminator very much just because I have oily skin and I feel that the illuminator makes my skin a little too shiny instead of more matte. Again, it's still another great piece to her makeup line and wears well. The illuminator also comes in a lipgloss-like container.


RECAP

1. Combining foundation, contour & highlighter makes applying quick and easy.
2. The different shades, including the blush, match my skin tone perfectly.
3. Everything wears great all day.
4. Price: pretty reasonable considering there is nothing like it on the market.
5. Has worked great on my acne prone skin. Doesn't dry out my skin out or makes it more oily.


So all in all I give the Maskcara makeup line.....drum roll please...

4.999 OUT OF 5 PAINTBRUSHES!

I have to say that I love this product and am grateful for Cara who I know worked hard to bring this product about. She wasn't afraid of coming out with something really different and new. I didn't give it the full 5 paintbrush rating just because it didn't last quite as long as I thought it would and I would have loved the contour shade to have been a smidge darker. However, I do know it varies with everyone. Thanks so much for reading my product review and hopefully it was helpful. I definitely recommend you get some and you will fall in love with it as much as I have.

THE YEAR OF THE HORSE

What do these people have in common? They are all horses!

If you were were born in the year 1919, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, or 2002 then you are a horse...on the chinese zodiac.

I'm so excited that this year is the year of the horse! It only comes around every 12 years. And if you're not a horse, don't worry your year will come or maybe you just had your year. For kicks, if you want to learn more about your sign click here. 
Horses are often described as being popular, good speakers, self-reliant and great for motivating others. Horses can be also stubborn and impatient when working with others. I hope I resemble the good horse qualities and not so much the bad.

So in honor of the year of the horse I decided to showcase some of my favorite horse interior designs and decor.


First off, I had to share these examples of horse fashion with you. As you can see there are a lots of great choices of apparel to show your horse pride. If you want a long horse mane on your sleeve you can buy this sweater by JC de Castelbejc for $725. If you like this sweater say Yay!, if not, say Neigh!. The sweater on the right I really love and is something I would wear. I think it's kind of funny that her hair is covering the horse's face in the picture.

via

This horse statue is great! It reminds me of the knight chess piece and would make a great bookend! You know me, I'm all about utility.

via

You know what I love about indoor barn doors? Everything. The look of the natural wood, the clean lines, all while having a rustic charm. It also reminds me of a western version of Japanese sliding doors. Even though there are no real horses behind these doors, they easily welcome any great horse decor item to compliment their attractive architectural features.

Call me crazy, but I think this horse lamp by MOOOI is amazing! Just look at the size of the thing! I probably would put it in an office setting with a large window instead of a living room myself. I know it's a bit unnecessary and a little silly with the lamp shade right above its head but I think it's super fun. You can only buy this lamp from a distributor which means its a pricey, designer lamp but I am tempted to find some way to make my own replica! It's probably beyond far beyond any skill I possess but it would sure be neat to make one.
   
 
It was sure fun to learn more about my horse sign and to be able to focus on the charm that can come with adding horse elements to the home. I even want to get a horse item for my desk at work now! As for the horse sign itself I've always I felt that the zodiac signs never define any one person. Some characteristics about the horse does match my personality but a lot of them do not. I'm married to a rabbit which is supposedly a big no-no because we are supposed to not get along, which couldn't be farther from the truth! It just comes to show you that there is no cookie cutter mold that can define any group of people. We are all our own individual selves with different talents and abilities. We are all different down to the smallest pony.

 via

People at top of post:

Top row, left to right: Jackie Chan (love Jackie Chan!), Emma Watson (amazing actress), Albert Einstein (genius & true to himself)

Bottom row, left to right: Nicole Curtis (host of the Rehab Addict on HGTV, fabulous down-to-earth gal), Denzel Washington (love his movies), Oprah Winfrey (very inspirational lady)