It is time to be serious about holiday gifts so here are some things I have picked up particularly for the adults:

My DIL will enjoy this brush set - I love this myself but have several others that I have not opened - but this is soooo pretty!!!!

This 2 level wire basket would be perfect in the kitchen or in your dressing room to hold make up.  Now I wish I had bought 2 !!!

It's that time of year - polish the silver!!!!!!

I still have the tea set to do even though we won't use it - we are Southerners so there has to be cold sweet tea on the table!

Stay well - I have had a virus for 2 weeks that has left me exhausted and just returned from the Dr. with antibiotics and pain meds for the kidney stones.  I don't have time for lazing around.  Every time I stand up I can think of something else that needs to be done or at least put on the to-do list!
                                Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

I found this new color of Revlon's Colorstay Gel Envy - High Stakes
It sort of looks like camouflage in the bottle but looks like Christmas tree green on the nails: 

It will be a secondary holiday color but is certainly pretty for this time of year.
I have this velour jacket that coordinates nicely with this color:

 The beautiful Romantics palette from It Cosmetics is home with me!!

                                
I just love all of these colors and the formulations are good for the skin.

I have not brought out the Halloween village for a few years because the Princess just could not resist touching and at 2 & 3 yrs old, it was in too much danger!

The Princess and her little ponies having a doughnut & milk - she is loving kindergarten and is in the advanced class.

 My son has requested something delicious so I am sending him chocolate pound cake:

It's cold here but I am not ready for the snow yet but if you got some I know it was fun!                           
                        Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

The weather here is now officially chilly so I need to change my moisturizing routine.
This is going to be my new play thing:

The reviews I have read were generally positive so hopefully it will work.  It is on order so I look forward to adding it to my line-up.

I tried a new color of Revlon's Colorstay Gel Envy ~ Gambling Heart

I find this too sparkly & sheer for me and leans too closely to a coral shade which I have never been fond of.

This lip balm is a nice product - I am not a fan of grapefruit but in this formulation there is no strong flavor; not really even citrusy:

It is not sticky or too thick and I am glad I tried it.

Thank you for the kind notes about my family - I appreciate your thoughtfulness.  They are healing slowly.

                               Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

Please forgive no new post this week - my son & his family were hit by a drunk driver over the weekend.
They were hurt and the car was totaled. 
I will return when they are settled in.
Please be careful out there.

As a birthday promotion, Ulta sent me a $10 certificate - which I only remembered until the last day!  I used it for a Zoya nail polish in Cinnamon:

I find it too dark chocolate since I am looking for a deeper copper color for fall.
But since I had a copper color that was too light on its own I got the idea to layer it over the darker polish - absolutely love it!  Women are so smart!
It is a subtle difference but enough to make me happy & achieve the almost perfect color I have been searching for.  So glad I did not give up!

My current Ulta order brought some new products I have never tried and a 'goodie' bag of lip products which were mostly full size!

I appreciate the gift but these are not colors I would use, soooooooo, don't you think this would make a nice giveaway??!!!!!!!!!! (I had to open the package so you could see the different products.)  Some are sealed & some are not - many times Ulta sends lip & skin products without any security seal - they should improve that situation.  Let me know what you think about the giveaway.
Here are the other items I received from my Ulta order:

The Clarins Glow Booster is so easy to use:  just add 3 drops to your face moisturizer and press into the face & neck.  It gives a very subtle glow without glitter!  You can use it everyday to build more color or just a couple of times a week for a healthy look.  The No7 advanced serum is wonderful - my sensitive skin is happy with this and it absorbs without any oiliness.  I also use it at night on the back of my hands.
The Hada Labo Hydrator is new to our market and I have not tried it yet so it will be reviewed later.
(All products purchased by me).

I found this pillow sham while looking for something else (of course!)
I have Ralph Lauren sheets in a denim blue on the GC's bed and thought this blue pillow sham would look nice - it will be comfortable as GS sits on the bed and plays games on his tablet.

 And since I was looking for something else, I found these accents pillows to go with the above sham!

 I hope fall is wonderful wherever you are!
                                 Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

My sweet munchkins are coming and one of their favorite treats are cupcakes:
chocolate with chocolate chips!

This is how I am currently storing some of my make up brushes:

But I am not sure how to stand double ended brushes without crushing the bristles.
I guess I could lay them across the top but it might get in the way.
Please share any suggestions.

I love these brushes - apparently it's a limited edition and each brush is labeled for its use: contour, blend and accent:

This would make a nice gift!

I have been using Covergirl Professional mascara and love it!  I only use waterproof and this is the real deal!  It lasts until you take it off.  I will definitely be hoarding this!

I am sort of liking this copper polish that I found at a discount store - the bronze polish on the right is Revlon's Colorstay Gel Envy "Double Down".  I think it may be too light for my pale skin.  Here they are side by side:

I will probably go with a couple more coats of the copper to see if it's a keeper - it was less than $2 so not a great loss if I toss it.

Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

I have been playing with the zillion eye shadows that I own and learned that L'Oreal owns Urban Decay. I own these palettes - La Palette Nude 1 and La Palette Nude 2 so I would not pay the extra difference in price between UD = $54.
The design of the palettes are so similar and since I rarely finish a product it would not make sense for me to spend the extra for the name & I find UD has too much glitter for me.  But Ulta has a version of this type of palette & here are some of the colors:

The Ulta palette:

L'Oreal:

Very similar and I am all about back ups!

I bought this bright eye shadow palette for spring & summer and never used it!
 
 I bought this palette for just a couple of colors ~
So with your permission, I will wait and review it next year!!
I am in love with lavender & plum shades this time of year.

I have not been a fan of the eye pencils (crayons) but this color "Strawberry Milk"
 from NYX has a nice sheen without shimmer - makes it easy to reach the inside corner  of the eyes.

I love these earrings but forgot I had them - the little pearls are the color of the above eye pencil! I love wearing pink with gray which is great for this time of year.

In the post below I shared some of the colors of nail polish I am using & someone wanted to know if they are 'my' nails.  Yes, they are - I broke my back last year and got out of the habit of going to the nail salon -it was just too painful to sit for over an hour to do gel nails.  But if I could find a great salon I could be enticed to return!!

Sept 1 for me is officially time to put out the fall wreath;

I am definitely doing a larger bow next year.  But since I am creating a new design for this year's Christmas tree I have to get started - I realize it seems early to most people but as a daily migraineur I lose a lot of days where nothing gets done.  Luckily most of my family & friends understand when they see a dozen projects scattered around but it just can't be helped.  But honestly I would clean up if you were coming over!!!!!

The leaves are changing in the NC mountains so come and enjoy if you can!

Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

This week I decided to try Revlon's Sky's the Limit in Colorstay Gel Envy, knowing I would be wearing a lot of blue:

 Not sure I am crazy about that color - I think this blue is more my style:

But I think the plum color is still the current favorite.

 I love going into the craft stores this time of year because the holiday items are displayed.  I am going to forgo my shabby chic pink style for the Christmas tree this year and use burgundy, cream & gold accents - these are the colors for the tree top bow:

I always leave some ornaments off so the grands can 'help' - there is nothing like seeing the holidays thru their eyes:

I love them so! He gets all my money & she gets the jewelry and anything designer - she has already picked out her favorite bracelets but at 5 yrs old I am sure this will change over time!

  Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here

I am always a little sad when school starts back because I cannot get the grands any time I want - the school schedule interferes with Mimi time!!
But I enjoy taking them for their back to school hair cuts - thank you Miss Dawn:

                                   

My precious GS had a wonderful Jurassic World birthday - I can't believe he is 10 & in 6 short years he will be driving - I want my baby back!!!!!
I have enjoyed every moment of his life and cannot imagine the world without him.

Little sister helped decorate the cake - always use white t-shirts when little ones are playing with icing - it can be bleached out!

 

I am liking this plum color of polish - it will be a nice fall color.

This is Revlon's Up The Ante Colorstay Gel Envy - I wash my hands a lot and this is holding up to heavy use. I plan to add some more colors when they go on sale.

The leaves up here are already turning to bright yellow - fall is my favorite time of year and the temps are more comfortable.
                                Linking up with these fabulous bloggers here