Beautifully Simple: December 2014

Monday, December 22, 2014

Christmas Cookies

This weekend I had to get my sugar cookie dough rolled out and the cookies baked, so all I would have to do this week is decorate them! Trust me doing it this way makes your life so much easier. Baking them ahead of time and then freezing them till your ready also makes them easier to frost!

Anyway, I had to get this done and my niece and nephew happened to come over and this is what took place!!

So Proud! Check out how thick that star is! I literally had to bake it and then flip it over and bake it again!!

Beautiful cookies!

All baked!...

and decorated!

Enjoying their hard work!

It was so much more fun than just having to do it by myself and I think they also had a blast!! Love them so much! Merry Christmas!!

Sigma "Basic Eyes Kit"

SIGMA BASIC EYES KIT

I just purchased the Sigma Basic Eyes Kit. I had been wanting to get my brush collection off to a good start, and with the recent sale of 20% off your entire purchase, I decided to pull the trigger, and boy am I glad I did!

I knew they would be good, but WOW! I want them all now!

First of all, can we say SOFT?! Amazing! Second of all they are just so pretty displayed on my make-up "station". They blend everything perfectly, deposit color where you want it, and pack it on where you need it!

They do not "shed" and are not rough on your eyes!

The price of the Basic Eyes Kit is $79.00. You get 7 Eye brushes included. Not the cheapest brushes you will buy, but not the most expensive either. They are great quality and as long as you take care of them, they will last you a long time. To me, it is worth the splurge!

Here is what comes in the kit:

Medium Angled Shading--E70

Large Shader--E60

Small Angle--E65

Eye Shading--E55

Tapered Blending--E40

Pencil--E30

Eyeliner--E05

This is an amazing kit to get your high quality brush collection started! Would also make a wonderful gift for Christmas or a Birthday! You guys will love this set!

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette Review

I know this isn't the newest palette on the market but it is new to my collection so, review it is!

Let me just start off by saying that this palette literally smells like chocolate. Reason enough for any woman to buy it, no?

It that doesn't sell you, than the colors and formula of these shadows will! AMAZING!

Beautiful, Pigmented and Blendable! All the things you looks for in eyeshadows, and the variety of colors that you get in this palette is great! Amazing everyday colors, as well as some fun ones for those special occasions!

What I look for in a palette is something that I can grab in the morning and do a complete eye look with. Something I don't constantly have to be grabbing for something else because "it doesn't have that "crease color I want", "it doesn't have a brow bone color", so on and so forth.

This is one of those palettes I can do it all with. It comes stocked with 16 colors, 2 of which are neutral in color and larger than the others.

From left to right: Gilded Ganache; White Chocolate; Milk Chocolate; Black Forest Truffle; Triple Fudge; Salted Caramel; Marzipann; Semi-Sweet; Strawberry Bon Bon; and Candied Violet

From left to right: Amaretto; Hazlenut; Creme Brulee; Haute Chocolate; and Champagne Truffle **Missing is Cherry Cordial (see above for picture)

The triple fudge is perfect for that soft eyeliner when used wet, and the Champagne Truffle (Bottom Right--can't see name because of flash--Ooops) is the perfect brow highlight. It just has everything. I cannot say enough good things about it.

They all blend beautifully together to get you a perfectly blended and blown out look!

Do not walk, run to get this palette! This palette retails for $49.00, so it is up there in price, but completely worth it.

I know they just came out with the new Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette (review to come--i'm sure it is just as good), but try this one first!...Then go get the other one too! :)

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Christmas Decorations 2014

Here is a look into our home at Christmas this year, 2014!

I bought quite a few new things this year, and it looks great!

Here it is:

KITCHEN:

Bath and Body Works Candle (duh...)

Dollar General Lantern!

Bath and Body Works candle--of course!! Love the new packaging on these! and a Pottery Barn ceramic bowl!

(How cute are these guys!?--Hobby Lobby)

WOODLAND TREE!:

This was such a fun one to do! All DOLLAR STORE decorations, including the tree itself, the ribbon and Mr. Bear next to it!! The tree skirt I got from Hobby Lobby for 50% off! I am so excited about how it turned out!

WINE CORK TREE!:
(In the Kitchen)

This one was so much fun too! I have wanted to do one of these for the past few years, but just didn't get around to doing it. I finally did, and I love it! It was a fun afternoon of making all the ornaments, and getting extremely creative!!