I Can't Paint my Nails, but I am a Real Teacher Now.

Well it's still snowing here in the tundra, previously known as Erie. We did have a short period of hope where all of the snow melted and the birds started signing, but alas those sweet moments are just distant memories that I can barely remember. If I remember correctly the color of grass is green.

I guess I haven't posted lately because I have nothing new to report. I haven't had the time to experiment with any new makeup (although I do want to experiment with winged eyeliner soon, I just have to wait for a day where I'm not doing anything important). And we all know that I am clearly not at the point where I can do any make-up tutorials because then it would just be filled with the internet shamefully shaking their head saying, "honey, no...".

I also haven't bought anything new to review or haul. Actually I did do a haul last week, but I still don't feel confident enough to review anything yet.

Actually I take that back. We all know I love the NYX butter gloss. However I still am not sure what uses the NYX wonder pencil has, and I will forever fail at the art of painting my nails. I did try painting them again, but they still look awful. I just can't. I washed my nails and pushed back my cuticles and everything. I think I am just destined for horrible nail painting skills.

I bought the NYX Intense butter gloss in Tres Leches. Basically it's like a winter nude. I quickly put some on right now while I was thinking about it so you could get a color swatch. Keep in mind I just woke up and that is yesterday's mascara on my eyes. So please ignore my amateur blogging skills. I'm trying people, but this is the best you get for now.

 

In other exciting news, my thirty-one bag came in yesterday.

 

I am pleased to announce that after all of these years, I am finally a teacher.

I would like to thank my mom and dad, for all of the support they have given me. I would like to thank my husband, for always pushing me to study, I would like to thank my dogs for giving me well needed homework breaks, and I would like to thank my two friends who invited me to the thirty one-party. All without I would not be a real teacher.

 

Weekend Haul

 

 

I did what I do best this weekend, and I spent money. I'm not going to review anything I bought yet because I haven't used them enough to really get a good feel for them. Especially that nail polish.

 

The first thing I bought is the e.l.f ELSA Snow and Ice Disney Frozen Blush pallet. They only sell it at Walgreens, and I had to go to two different Walgreens before I found it. Basically it comes with a blush, a highlight, and a bronzer. I'm not to wild about the idea of contouring my whole face, but I really like the idea of highlighting my cheekbones since I have dark circles under my eyes. So I thought a simple pallet like this would be perfect. I have never seen Frozen, but I as a second grade teacher I truly feel no need. I can sing you every song and tell you the whole plot with my eyes closed and hanging upside down. The joys of being me.

 

I also bought another intense butter gloss, a blush pallet, a $3 contouring pallet, and a concealer pencil.

 

Finally, I was at Wegmans yesterday and I saw they had gel nail polish. Now I know I vowed to everyone that I was going to only wear all natural nail polish. But it looks like I clearly lied to everyone on the internet. I have never tried gel and I was so intrigued that I broke my personal vow and purchased it anyways.

 

Well everyone, I present to you karma. As I went home to put on my newest nail polish, I noticed that the bottle said, "Step 1". Thinking how funny it was that nail polish had steps, I googled it to see what on earth I was missing. Well, apparently there are steps in the world of gel nail polish. The first coat does little good unless you purchase the top coat. Annoyed that they failed to sell the two polishes together, I trekked back to Wal*Mart and bought the second bottle. Which made me even more annoyed because now we are looking at a total of $14 that I just spent in nail polish, and quite frankly, that's nuts.

 

So in my annoyance I  quickly splashed on the nail polish and went to bed. Well as usual I neglected to read the directions on the website, and apparently after you put on the final coat you are supposed to use the natural light to create the gel look. Now did I do that? No, I went to bed, remember. So now my nails will be chip free and ridiculous looking for two whole weeks. Awesome.

 



NYX Intense Buttergloss Review with a Slight Historical Fiction Tangent...It Happens

So as we all know I am a new found passionate lover of the NYX make-up line. Why you ask? Because it is a one stop shop where I can get everything I need, where I trust the quality to be great, and it's totally affordable.

Other drugstore brands like Cover Girl or Revlon are nice, however they do not have everything I am looking for, such as tinted moisturizer, as well as a highlighter, and a finishing powder. I have noticed that the other brands have some of this and some of that, however they don't have EVERYTHING that I am looking for, whereas NYX has you covered for all of your make-up needs.

Now as I said, I also love the price. I am starting from nothing in my make-up collection, so I want to save as much money as I can since I'm already spending a lot to begin with. Perhaps when my collection is more established then I will venture back into Sephora with high end make-up in mind. However until then I figured NYX will probably be my go to make-up. But please keep the recommendations rolling because I am loving what people recommend me!

So this weekend as Steve was working, I went to the library to check out a book. My next book in the current series I am reading is about Margaret of Anjou, and let me be honest with you. I can't stand that woman. Now while I do feel for her since she had to rule beside a mentally insane king, I just think she was bad news bears for the people of England. I truly feel no desire to hear her fictional side of the War of Roses. Both Margaret and Richard the III just make me plain salty. I was watching a documentary on finding Richard the III's skeleton, and I kept getting angry at the television because apparently there is a Richard the III fan club out there, and I just don't see how people can stand him.

So there you see my dilemma. I can skip this book, however then the next book in the series is about Anne Neville. And if there is one person in history who I like less than Richard the III, it would be his wife, Anne Neville. So after much debate I have decided to put the Warring Cousins series on hold, and I checked out a book about Marie Antoinette. Because if there is one true lover of good cake out there, it's me. While I completely understand why the French wanted her head, I feel like some good cake would have lifted their spirits and made them think more clearly. So need not fear Marie, because over 200 years later a silly little American has got your back.

Now on to my point. I was at the library. Well what store happens to be next to the library? Ulta Beauty happens to be next to the library. So I mosey on in there and begin to strictly window shop. Well window shopping turned into purchasing as it nearly always does when I saw that NYX came out with an intense butter gloss. Now I love myself a good butter gloss, so when I saw that there is now an intense version I let all hopes of window shopping go and purchased two to start out with.

The pink one is Sorbet and the red one is Apple Crisp.

I put on Sorbet in the car, and at my first glance I had to laugh because it was so bright I thought I looked like a baby prostitute. So I took a picture to show you guys for a good laugh, however then when I looked at the picture I noticed that it photographed really well. So I went a little bit selfie crazy in the car, so much so that then when Steve went to take my picture later that night, he was full of nothing but judgment when he saw all of the selfies that were on my phone.  

However then I realized that it wasn't that the butter gloss photographed well, the butter gloss had actually just calmed itself down after two minutes, (I think it needed time to dry). It was absolutely gorgeous for the rest of the day! That is what it looked like without any chap stick or lipstick underneath it or anything. Simply gorgeous.

 

 

 

Again the top two pictures are Sorbet and the bottom two pictures are Apple Crisp.

Pi Day

It was a big weekend at the Gresh residence this weekend! On Friday Muggle and Blaze attended their first birthday party. Muggle had himself a great time and Blaze just stood on my lap and growled at every dog that came near him.

 

The picture I have aren't the greatest. I mostly took videos of the boys playing, which you can see on my Instagram. However I have no idea how to put videos on this, so blurry pictures of Muggle eating carrot and brown rice cake is all you get.

 

Then on Saturday was the ultimate Pi Day. So Steve and I proudly wore our Pi Day shirts out to dinner and ordered ourselves some excellent pie. We took a moment to appreciate all of the circles in our life, especially those circles which take the form of pipes that produce running water, and gave Archimedes a moment of silence. Now I always heard the story that Archimedes was killed by Roman soldiers as he was peacefully drawing circles in the dirt, but I just looked online and I couldn't find the story! Could I be filling the world with lies!?!? Regardless, I hope everyone was able to celebrate their irrational side yesterday and consume copious amounts of rounded shaped desserts.

 

 

 

Jamberry Nails

I went to a Thirty-One/Jamberry party yesterday. I am now going to be a real life teacher soon because I bought the stereotypical Thirty-One bag that EVERY teacher in America has. Because my certification means nothing you know. The State of Pennsylvania may have considered me to be a certified teacher for the last two years, however in real life it will only become official once I own that bag.

I am clearly joking. But really, ask any of the teacher friends that you know about a Thirty-One bag and they will probably show you theirs. So I joined that bandwagon and now I too will own the classic teaching bag. I will post a picture when I get it.

I also brought my Jamberrys in hopes that they could teach me how to but them on. This is what I bought a few months ago.

 

However then my friend had the genius idea to have them show me how to put them on with a sample, so then I can basically get a free accent nail and put these little beauties on my nails later.

 

So please do not mind my nails. I paint them like a child.

 

 

 

And on the Fourteenth Day there was Water

Excellent news from the Gresh household everyone! God must have heard my parent's prayers (not mine of course, I was quite enjoying myself there) and he blessed us all with a visit from the Erie Water Works Company coming out to thaw our pipes today! So blessedly we have water again! Steve had to leave work in the middle of the day to let the man in, and he sent me this little beauty around lunch time. Praise baby Jesus!

Contouring Pallets and Eyebrow Pencils

I don't think anyone could be more excited for this upcoming weekend then me. It's the ultimate pi day on Saturday being 3.14.15 on 9:26:53  and my friend bought me an ultimate pi day shirt to celebrate. I am so excited about it I plan on wearing it all weekend! So if you see me parading around town in my pi day shirt on Friday and Sunday, please do not judge me as an idiot who does not know the correct date. Judge me as an idiot who is way too excited to wear this shirt just once. Steve is now ridiculously jealous because I now have two pi day t-shirts, and he doesn't even have one. Last night in shear envy he bust out the extra paint we used in the extra bedroom and made himself his own shirt. I have to admit, it is pretty good.

 

This one is my ultimate pi day shirt!

 

This is my normal every year pi day shirt!

And this is Steve's homemade pi day shirt!

Also, Muggle and Blaze were invited to their very first birthday party on Friday night. There is going to be doggy cake and everything. Then Muggle starts obedience school the next week, so pardon my tears as I reminisce about how fast they are growing up. I can promise you a slew of first day of school pictures to be splashed across my Instagram.

Changing gears, I have noticed in the past few weeks that everyone is talking about contouring pallets. I think they sound terrifying. Does anyone have any advice? I saw there are quite a few high end pallets out there, however I am not thrilled with the idea of spending a lot of money on a product in which I am going to make myself look like a moldy orange.

My friend is coming into town on Saturday for the day, and I think we are going to go to Ulta. She got the Anastasia contour pallet, and another friend of mine got the Two-Face contouring pallet. I figured I will check them out, but I am weary to spend so much money on something I don't know how to use. My friend also wants to go and have them help us with our eyebrows. I have also heard fabulous things about the Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil. I might actually have to check that one out. So far a lot of the brow pencils I see are like regular pencils where you have to sharpen them. Honestly my pencil sharpening skills suck. Which is shocking considering I am basically a professional pencil sharpener being a second grade teacher and all. At work I complain about sharpening pencils and everyone probably thinks that I have poor sharpeners in my room. However I am acutely aware that I could be 99% of the problem. The wood always becomes jagged and the lead always falls out. Now this becomes a huge problem with my eyebrow pencils because I feel like I always get a stray eyebrow hair stuck in the wood. I feel like I shouldn't worry about this, however when your eyebrows are as thin as mine, every soldier counts in the quest for high arches! So I am hoping that I can find a way to do my eyebrows without having to put a pencil up to my face. Nothing good ever comes out of that, let me tell you.

E.L.F lip stain review

As I was getting ready to type this I noticed that almost every blog begins with the word, "so". I guess, "so" is just my word of choice for when diving in on a great story or too. Actually this blog isn't so funny and more on the serious side because I made a great discovery over the weekend and I can't wait to share it to the world.

One day on a Walmart run I wanted to try a lip stain, but I didn't want to commit to anything if I didn't like it, so I picked up an E.L.F. brand lip stain for only $2 thinking that if I liked it I would move on to bigger and better brands, like my new and beloved NYX.

Now not to sound stuck up or anything, but I have never purchased anything from E.L.F. before simply because it is so cheap. I guess I thought that because it was ridiculously cheap that the quality was terrible. I feel that one can understand why I would feel that way if you have ever ventured into a dollar store, but oh how wrong I was about E.L.F.! I ended up loving the lip stain so much that I picked up two more colors, and I plan on purchasing every color that they have.

Now the lip stain itself looks a little odd on its own, but if you put some clear lip gloss over it then oh my do you have yourself some fancy lips.

 

This is a picture of the lip stain with only two minor touch ups after working ten hours.

 

 

Not bad at all!

 

Also, I stopped wearing nail polish but my nails are chipping even worse then before. Does anyone have any advice?

 

Thanks!

Eyebrows and Nail Polish

Just an update, Deborah said she isn't going to pack my lunch. She also wants me to clarify that she is my mother, and she prefers to go by Deb. But I think Deborah is far fancier.

I stopped calling her mom about three or four years ago. We were working together at a nature center and she was a volunteer coordinator and I was in the front desk. I figured it would be super unprofessional to shout, "MOM" every time someone asked for her, so I started calling her Deborah. Strictly for professional reasons. After I graduated college and quit working there it just kind of stuck. So Deborah forever and always she will be!

Anyways, Deborah told me I need to keep working on my eyebrows, but my friend told me that they were looking on point yesterday. So you tell me what you think.

I trust Deborah's opinion more than anything, but my friend used to work at Sephora, so in my book she is basically a make-up artist.

In other news I also bought some Jamberry nails yesterday, so I will have to give those a try. Alas I forgot to get a picture of them, and they are currently at home in a house with no water. And I am currently at my parents house, in a home with plenty of water. So there they will stay.

Someone sent me a message and told me about all of the chemicals in nail polish, and she gave me some great brands to try such as OPI and Zoya that don't have the awful chemicals. She said most nail polish contains formaldehyde and that is what can ruin your nails. So I figured I will try those out, and in the meantime I am going to also give Jamberry a try since it's just a nail wrap and not liquid. We'll see!

Frozen Water Lines

Mad drama in the Gresh household everyone.

Mother Nature read my post where I made fun of the arctic temperatures and she thought that she should really give me something to laugh about. So she froze our pipes and left us without any form of running water. And as if that wasn't funny enough, she also froze half of Erie's water pipes. So the waiting list for a plumber to get out to our house is looking at about over a week long. At this point the ground might naturally thaw before the plumber can get out here, but who am I kidding. Old Man winter will keep his grip on Erie for just a little bit longer, and he will make us spend thousands of dollars in plumbing just for his own entertainment.

So in the mean time we have moved in with Tom and Deb. We packed up the dogs and I am sure that Tippy is less than pleased that now he has Blaze spinning at all hours of the day until further notice.

You know my poor parents can't catch a break. My brother moved out of the house on Saturday morning and they were officially supposed to be empty nesters. However in true Mean Girls fashion, the moment Jamie pulled out of the driveway; Steve and I pulled in with a carload full of dirty laundry and two barking dogs.

However if I must say so myself, not having to be an adult these last few days have been fantastic. This morning I slept in and Deborah made crepes for breakfast. Let's keep our fingers crossed that she packs my lunch tomorrow too.