An Amateur's Dictionary of Makeup Terminology

This year, in an effort to have more 'me' time, I plan to spend more time getting ready in the morning, both in preparing better breakfasts for myself and also by upping the ante with my skincare and makeup routines. I'm waiting on some makeup and brushes to arrive, so I've started reading beauty/makeup blogs to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into!

The world of makeup can be really intimidating, especially for someone like me who has spent my adulthood just doing the mascara-and-lip-product thing. I find all the beauty tutorials, websites, products, and most of all terminology totally overwhelming! Since even the 'basic tutorials' talk in a foreign beauty language that I'm only slowly learning, I thought I'd explain what terminology is new to me and what I've learned about it in case any of my readers are also similarly baffled!

(image courtesy of Indian Beauty Forever)

Thus, I present to you: A Dictionary of Makeup Terminology: 

• Contour: to shade the face according to natural shadow lines so as to make your face appear more sculpted/to play up your best features. Usually achieved by using a bronzer or a foundation a couple of shades darker than your natural skintone and applying the product under the cheekbones, forehead, temples, and jawline.  The opposite of highlighting. Another use of 'contour' is to refer to the area of the eye where the eyelid creases. 
• Crease: portion of the eye where your eyelid folds--essentially where your eyeball meets your skin (aka contour). Another use of 'crease' is when your eyeshadow 'creases,' or falls into your crease in an uneven manner rather than staying put over the entire lid.
• Cut crease: when you apply a shadow to your lid, then a contrasting (typically darker) shadow just in the eyelid's crease. Used to create a 'higher drama' look. See here for a good example.
• Dewy: a type of makeup finish to make the skin look hydrated and slightly glowy
• Duochrome/duo finish: products with multiple colors, especially eyeshadows. So a taupe eyeshadow may be duochrome if it has green and red particles within the taupe shadow.
• EOTD/FOTD: "Eye of the Day" and "Face of the Day" respectively. Usually accompanied by images/descriptions of how a person did their eye makeup or entire face that day. 
• Fallout: when eyeshadow, or a particle within an eyeshadow, falls from the eyelid to other parts of your face like your cheeks. Some shadows (like very highly pigmented ones) or aspects of shadows (like glitter or sparkle) are more prone to this than others and require a primer to prevent fallout
• Foiled eyeshadow: to 'foil' your eyeshadow is to apply it wet. This makes it apply heavier/more opaque and often more vibrantly. Here's a good tutorial on foiling eyeshadow.
• Full (or medium, or minimal) coverage: describes the degree to which a makeup product, usually foundation or concealer, covers your skin. Full coverage makeup is basically opaque--if you have freckles or blemishes, full coverage makeup will completely cover these. Minimal coverage makeup evens out your skin tone but doesn't address blemishes or major pigmentation issues, while medium coverage makeup is more concealing than minimal coverage but may not fully cover blemishes. 
• Highlight: use a product that's lighter than your skin tone to brighten up the area, such as the inner corners of your eyes, cupid's bow, bridge of your nose, cheekbones, etc. The opposite of contouring (in which you follow shadow lines to make portions of the face recede), highlighting works to brighten areas where the sun naturally hits your face, bringing them forward visually.
• Illuminator: I think of illuminators as highlighters with a bit of glow or glimmer or shimmer. 
• Interference: I can't find a great definition of this, but my understanding is it usually refers to a property of eyeshadows, as in the subtle colors seen within a shadow. Similar to duochrome, only interference doesn't have to be two different finishes. So a taupe shadow could have a purple sheen to it and the purple particles imparting that sheen would be the purple interference.
• Mineral makeup: makeup made from minerals, typically mica for eyeshadows, and typically in powder form. Mineral foundations and concealers are popular too. 
• Outer 'V': when doing eye makeup, the 'outer V' is the shape you draw with an eyeshadow on the outside portion of your eyelid; the V is tipped on its side with the point towards your ear, as seen in this post, which gives an excellent description/diagrams of various eye-related terms.
• Pigments: particles used to give color to product. Highly pigmented eyeshadows are typically very bright or dark and a little goes a long way. Very highly pigmented products tend to have more problems with fallout.
• Primer: a cream, powder, or liquid that you apply to your skin before applying other makeup like foundation or eyeshadows to make those products stick and last longer. This is particularly important with highly pigmented eyeshadows and helps to avoid your makeup from wearing away or smudging into your eyelid's creases or wrinkles.
• Stipple: Did you ever do stipple art in elementary school? Grabbed a pen and started dotting your paper to create an image? Same concept here, but with foundation typically. Seems like lots of people use a brush like a kabuki brush to apply their foundation, dotting their face with product until it is well-blended.
• Suede, shimmer, matte, glitter: descriptions of how shimmery/glittery a product is, typically used to describe eyeshadows. Glitter products are full-on sparkly, shimmer products tend to have smaller reflective particles so have less glimmer than glitter products, matte shadows have no glitter or reflection, and suede shadows are between shimmer and matte (slight reflective properties but not glittery at all).
• Swatch: to apply makeup for the purposes of demonstrating its color. Like putting a strip of 3 different eyeshadows on your arm to show how they compare to each other.
• Tightline: applying eyeliner on the underside/between the lashes for a more natural lined eye look.
• Waterline: the portion of your eye between your lower lashes and your eyeball--the flat area where many women apply eyeliner (others apply it to the lash line itself)

I'll add to this as I come up with more things that are perplexing to my poor makeup-naive mind :) Tune in tomorrow when I talk about another mystifying area of makeup: brushes!

Side note, I'm fully aware that I'll probably look back on this post and laugh one day about how many things I got wrong, so please feel free to chime in via commenting if I am totally off-base somewhere!

Winter Beauty Regimen

It's about time I posted an update to my natural makeup/skincare regimen. These posts seem to be favorites of my readers and it's fun for me to see how my routine evolves with more experience in the natural beauty world. Last winter was the first real season I spent dabbling in natural beauty, and I had some hits and some misses (past winter beauty regimen can be found here). My biggest problem back then was using products that were too drying for my skin. Here are my new picks, which seem to be working better during this dry Utah winter:

Winter Natural Beauty Regimen 2013 by mjchirpich-1 featuring a deodorant

(As always, clicking on the image will bring you to the product links)

My routine goes a little something like this:

Morning:

• Wash hair with random shampoo/conditioner (still on the lookout for a new favorite since my old standby Acure mint shampoo went bust on me).
• Towel off. Add Rainwater Botanicals Deodorant to my pits. 
• Spritz face with water or whatever random toner I have around (no favorite there either). Pat on Stark Skincare Cyprus Oil over entire face and let sink in.
• Add Devita Solar Protective Moisturizer for SPF and additional moisture. Sometimes I'll add whatever random mineral foundation samples I have laying around to make a tinted moisturizer (currently I'm dabbling with some from Essential Minerals)
• Add Oh Sudz Concealer to undereyes and blemishes. Blend in with a concealer brush (important step! Fingers alone don't blend it as well).
• Line my eyes with eyeliner (currently using up a dirty one). Add Real Purity Mascara in Violet. Once this tube is used up I'll probably look for a different mascara as I'm disappointed in the violet one (although I still like the navy version).
• I'm starting to dabble in eye makeup and have a few shadows on order from Silk Naturals. I have their Gramercy liquid shadow which is idiot-proof and very pretty.
• If I'm feeling fancy I'll add a blush (either W3LL People Universalist Stick in #3 or Silk Naturals Heavenly Glow) and illuminator (W3LL People Universalist Stick in #2). 
• Lately I've started filling in my eyebrows and have been amazed at the subtle but significant impact it makes. I like Silk Naturals Brow Cream in Medium Brown because I have dark blonde hair and it's easy to use. It's a bit too yellow for me though so I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my SN brow cream in Medium Ash.

Night:

• I wash my face with Andalou Naturals Cleansing Milk. Occasionally when my skin is feeling dry I'll use Stark Skincare's Grapefruit Cleansing Balm, but the coconut oil in it makes me break out if I use it too much so it's a day-by-day thing for me. I really like the balm though--it's moisturizing and removes makeup and daily crud easily and well. I wish my skin could handle coconut oil better!
• After my face is clean I spritz my face with water or random toner, then apply my favorite Badger Balm Damascus Rose Beauty Balm and off to sleep I go!

My routine really is pretty simple. Occasionally I'll use Aztec clay plus apple cider vinegar as a mask, but it's pretty drying so I try to keep that to a minimum. All of my other face masks developed mold over the summer so I'm on the lookout for a new favorite! Any suggestions?

Resolutions: 2014 edition

Happy new year everyone! Last night I participated in the most mellow NYE celebration in memory--just my man, my dog, and a couple of friends. It was wonderful!

The other day I had fun reflecting on my 2013 resolutions, so I thought I would share this year's goals! Like last year, I'll include actionable goals to make these resolutions more realistic and attainable!

1. As a person: have more 'me' time!

• At the end of 2013 I started to realize that I no longer do many of the activities I used to love, such as painting, refinishing furniture, and photography. I'd like to spend more time this year doing the things I love
• Actionable goal: For Christmas I asked for and received a photography class from ShootFlyShoot. Not only will I learn how to better use my DSLR, but I can do the class online with my boyfriend! (see Resolution #2). 

2. As a couple: spend less time on the Internet

• The bf and I are completely guilty of vegging out next to each other but on our laptops, in our own little web-based worlds. As much as I love relaxing and reading my favorite blogs, I love my boyfriend more and want to spend more quality time with him
• Actionable goal: no Internet in the bedroom. 

3. As a friend: make new friends!

• I've lived in SLC for over three years now and have always found it hard to make good friends here. I'm realizing that maybe I just need to put myself out there more and step outside my comfort zone.
• Actionable goal: Try out events through SheJumps and Meetup. SheJumps is a cool organization whose goal is to get women active in outdoors activities. They have a Clubhouse  you can sign up for which is essentially match.com but for girls trying to meet others with similar interests (you make a profile, post an activity you'd like to do like 'anyone want to go for a hike on Saturday?' and others can connect with you). Meetup.com is a nationwide site where you can join groups with similar interests--I'm in a Spanish language group, a women's hiking group, etc. 

4. As an athlete: increase my core and upper body strength

• I've been doing physical therapy for hip problems recently and have come to the conclusion that many of my athletic aches and pains could be avoided if I had a stronger core and upper body.
• Actionable goal: To that end, my boyfriend and I plan to do this 100-pushup workout plan. It starts you at however many pushups you're able to do currently (I'm at about 15) and works up over a 6-week period to 100 pushups. There are also plans for situps, pullups, squats, dips, etc. 

What are your goals for 2014?

Best and Worst Natural Beauty Products of 2013

Just like last year, I've put together a roundup of the best and worst natural beauty and skincare products I used in 2013. I always appreciate when bloggers post on not only what works well for them but also what doesn't, so hopefully this is helpful to you!

For reference (to get an idea if these products may work for you), I'm:

• Blonde with blue-green-grey eyes and pale skin.
• I tend to burn easily and then tan. My skin is dry but mystifyingly prone to breakouts. My skin tone is pale and pretty neutral with a slight tendency toward blue undertones (blue-based clothing/makeup look better on me, not yellow-based colors like olive).
• My blonde hair is fine, previously processed, and prone to greasiness/limpness. It isn't frizzy or easily tangled, and it dries quickly and can hold a curl  but is naturally straight.
• I don't have rosacea, eczema, etc, although I do have acne and blackheads.

Best Natural Skincare of 2013:

• Skin Apotheke Ubtan Scrub (my review here) (two-time Best Of winner!)
• I really loved this scrub until I got some water in the container and mold grew :( However, when I went to buy another I saw that the price had increased from $20 when I first bought it to $32 currently! In my opinion that's too much for this scrub so I'm on the search for another, but I really do love this one.
• Stark Skincare Cyprus Oil (my review here)
• My love affair continues with this oil--I'm on my second bottle. It smells divine, adds the perfect amount of dewiness and moisture to my skin, and soothes my skin when it becomes inflamed. When I'm not going anywhere, I'll wash my face and just add this for the day. It's so light and soaks in quickly so I forget I even have it on!
• Devita Solar SPF 30 Protective Moisturizer (apparently I never reviewed this?!)
• Holy Grail product! I'm on my third tube of this moisturizer because it's so fantastic. It's perfectly lightweight, not greasy, but really moisturizes. I've mixed mineral foundations with it as a tinted moisturizer, and I like to layer it over Stark's cyprus oil too. I love that it's SPF 30, and it doesn't break me out.
• Andalou Naturals Glycolic Brightening Pumpkin and Honey Face Mask (my review here)
• I loved this so much I ran out of it! I thought I'd play around with other masks but I find myself missing this one so I'll probably repurchase it sometime soon. 
• Badger's Damascus Rose Beauty Balm (my review here) (two-time Best Of winner!!)
• This balm is a perennial favorite (seriously, it made last year's Best Of list). It's too heavy for me in the summer and during the day, but I love it in the winter as a night cream. It makes a noticeable difference in the moisture of my skin but never causes breakouts. I put this on any time my skin needs a nice drink and I wake up with the softest skin :)
• Devita's Cocoa and Cappuccino Masque (my review here)
• I really really loved this mask until it developed mold (booooo!) The above link takes you to their Cappuccino Cocoa mask, which has a slightly different name and different packaging than the product I bought and I'm not sure if they are the same. Either way, I'd rebuy!
• Andalou Naturals Cleansing Milk:
• I've been loving this cleansing milk as a nightly facewash. It's super gentle and doesn't dry out my already-dry, sensitive skin. It takes off makeup and face grime easily. The consistency is like a runny lotion--not thick at all, and it spreads easily on the face. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's getting everything off my face (like my face feels like it should be more 'stripped) but it really does! This doesn't completely conquer my breakouts but it does reduce the prevalence of them. I'm on the lookout for another similarly gentle cleanser than can kick my acne to the curb, but until then I'll continue using this. 

• Rainwater Botanicals deodorant (my review here)
• Since discovering this deodorant I think I've gone through 3 sticks. I love the lavender sage and lemongrass scents! I also tried the Jasmine Wind scent but for some reason it was really ineffective for me. I worried that the shop owner had changed the formula but I bought another stick of Lavender Sage and it works just as well as ever. So if you try out this deodorant and it doesn't work for you, try another scent and it may work better! She even has a great sample package so it's easy to find your best fit :)

Best Natural Makeup of 2013:

• W3LL People Universalist #2 and #8 (my review of #2 here)
• I love number two "Moonstone Glow" as an illuminator--I put it in the inner corner of my eye, on my cupid's bow, and on my cheekbones for a little extra touch that perks me right up! Number 8 "creamy dusty rose" is a perfect coral/pink color that looks great as a subtle blush. I don't typically use this on my lips but it's designed for both. Since these are cream-based products, I do have to reapply mid-day but it's a pleasure to do so anyway so I don't mind :)
• Real Purity mascara in navy (not in purple!) (my review here)
• I really loved this product in navy. It was great at darkening, lengthening, and curling my lashes. It still doesn't hold up to my former 'dirty' mascaras in performance but it's a good everyday staple. 
• Oh Sudz concealer (my review here) (two-time Best Of winner!!)
• This concealer continues to be my favorite, especially once I figured out that it's better to blend it with a concealer brush than my fingers. It has lasting power and blends flawlessly into my skin. My stick has lasted all year!
• Silk Naturals Heavenly mineral glow
• I bought a sample of this just before Christmas and plan to buy a full size. This glow is essentially a powder blush--it's a gorgeous subtle shimmer and looks very natural brushed across my cheeks. It's perfect for those 'no-makeup' looks and, with a tan in the summer, would make a great replacement for bronzer.

Worst Natural Beauty Products of 2013:

• Real Purity mascara in violet
• I'm not sure what went wrong here, since RP's mascara in navy is my current favorite natural mascara. It's like the violet one has an entirely different ingredient list! The violet is much too light, for one--it barely darkens my naturally light-brown lashes. On top of that, the violet version does nothing to lengthen or curl my lashes. At $15 a pop I expect more out of this product and will never repurchase it in this color.
• Acure organics dry shampoo (my review here)
• As I stated in my review, this was a rare fail for Acure in my opinion. I love many of their products, but this powder was really ineffective for me. In fact, I returned it and have since just used cornstarch, which is more effective than this product. 
• Acure Organics Mint Shampoo (my review here)
• I used to love this shampoo, but somehow over time it lost its efficacy on my hair and I started to notice that my hair looked greasier and greasier after using this. I'm bummed, because it used to be a Holy Grail product for me. I've switched to another tea-tree based shampoo and don't love it, but it performs better than this mint shampoo did at the end. Still on the hunt for a perfect replacement!

What are your favorite products of 2013? Any big fails I should avoid?

Best of I'm Glad I Exist 2013!

It's insane that tomorrow is the last day of 2013--this year flew by! Like last year, I thought I'd post my most popular and/or favorite posts of the year. Here goes!

Most Popular (1,000+ views):

DIY Hair Masks 

Special thanks to the No More Dirty Looks crowd for stopping by to view this post!

Andalou Naturals Get Started Brightening Kit Review 
Thanks to a 2012 Christmas gift from a good friend, I was able to dabble for the first time in Andalou Naturals...instant love!

One In, One Out: Choosing Skincare Products 
More experience in natural beauty products has led to a different combination of items than what I used when I first started out with natural products. 

Initial Impressions: Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum and Sib Sea Buckthorn Oil 

Update: I no longer use either of these products. Overall I don't think that the Mad Hippie serum made much of a difference in my skin, and while I liked the Sibu oil I much prefer Stark's Cyprus oil (see link below for my review of the Stark oil!)

My Favorite Posts: Fashion 

Packing a Week's Worth of Business Casual in a Carryon 
An October business trip to LA necessitated a post on how I pack lots of outfits into one small carryon. 

Hot Pink Madness Continues: Flowy Trousers 4 Ways 
Bought 'em, love 'em, have worn all of these outfits already.

Wedding Guest Attire: Remixing Wedding Clothes! 
Here are some tips on how to make wedding clothes stretch to other events!

Mix and Match: Green Leather Skirt 
Another item from my "One Item Four Ways" series that I ended up buying myself!

Feel-Good Go-To Summer Work Outfits
This popular posts is an easy way for me to pull together attractive outfits without having to think too hard in the early morning. Maybe I should do a post on my winter go-to's?

Feel-Good Go-To Summer Outfits for Play

If I'm going to post on my go-to work outfits, I'd better show what I use for playtime too right?

My Favorite Posts: Beauty

My beauty/skincare posts are by far the most popular posts on my blog. I've somewhat settled into a great routine for me so I'm not trying as many products as I used to, but in 2014 I'm going to dabble more in natural makeup products--stay tuned!

Ask the Experts: Product Order 

(No image for this one, but it's one of my all-time favorite posts)

Current Natural Beauty Shopping List 
Here's one of my early natural beauty routines. I don't use the same regimen anymore, but I still like all of the products listed!

Summer Beauty Regimen plus mini-reviews! 
Here's a more recent post on my skincare regimen--although things have changed even since then. Winter Beauty Regimen post is in the works so check back soon!

Product Review: Stark Skincare's Cypress Purity and Defense Oil! 
This face oil is a key player in my current skincare routine--I'm on my second bottle!

Rainwater Botanicals Deodorant Review 
Another product I've repurchased multiple times, this deodorant (in "Lavender Sage" or "Lemongrass") is my favorite natural, non-irritating deodorant. 

My Favorite Posts: Interiors

Living Room Redesign: Take Two 

I've redesigned my plan for our living room so many times now I lose track of what I wanted originally. This is the closest to how the room actually looks, although I still have lots of work to do before I get to a final look.

Living Room Firewood Storage DIY Plan
Quick DIY I dreamed up for firewood storage.

Bedroom Design Board 
We've slowly upgraded our bedroom, and I should really take pics to show you--we stayed pretty true to this design board for once! Just need lampshades and then I'll post on the improved bedroom :)

Nature-Luxe Living Room 
Essentially my dream living room. 

Small Space Solutions
This was a popular post on how to make the best of a small space. As a former dweller of a 245-square-foot studio, I've learned a thing or two about living small!

This Is How My Brain Works: DIY I Have Yet to DIY

This is actually a pretty popular pin from my Pinterest DIY board--has anyone attempted it?

Surprise! Bathroom Reno! (Current and Future Plans)

We are still mid-renovation on our bathroom (some key pieces for the shower are on back-order) but things are looking good and once again, this board is a fairly accurate representation of the look we've ended up with!

Lady Lair for my Best Friend

I had fun imaging what my best friend's home would look like if she had limitless capital. She approved!

You May Be a Design Blogger If...
I actually really liked this post, although it didn't get much reader attention. Which of these hot items do you have in your home?

Any favorite posts of yours that I missed?

Happy holidays everyone!

Revisiting 2013's Resolutions

With the turn of the year comes the inevitable new batch of resolutions. I'd like to revisit last year's resolutions to see how well I did and what I should improve upon in the new year.

Last year's resolutions: 

1. Cook more/eat out less: My boyfriend is a wonderful cook and actually went full-time with his food truck this year (shameless plug: Off the Grid SLC is his truck--if you're in the SLC area check it out!). So between those two facts, we actually did lots better about eating in and cooking healthy. We also made more vegetarian meals than we did in past years.  

2. Drink more tea than coffee: I did so-so on this resolution. I did drink more tea than last year, but I also drank more coffee. My friend gave me a new tea mug for Christmas though--it's from Teavana and you brew it in the cup, so hopefully I'll improve upon this resolution in the new year.

3. Learn to use a sewing machine: Complete and utter fail. Never opened our sewing machine, never read/watched any tutorials on how to use it. Next year's goal!

4. Spend less time on the internet: Sadly, this was overall a fail as well. I did better at first but by the end of the year I fell back into old habits. I plan to get a gym or yoga membership this year, which will help keep me busy and off the interwebs. Hopefully!

5. Floss more: Another relative fail. I'm flossing more, but still not as much as I should be. 

All in all, I did improve on several things but failed to really capitalize on all my goals. This does make setting next year's goals easier! ;)

Weekly Wishlist: My Christmas/Birthday Wishlist

As a kid, I was always jealous of people who were born in the summer. They get to receive seasonally-appropriate gifts twice a year! Me, as a January baby...I get lots of wintery gear and cancelled birthday parties due to snowstorms. And (#firstworldproblems) it's also hard to think up a long enough gift list to get you through 2 celebrations back-to-back!

This year I started a running Pinterest wishlist early on so that when my family asks me what I want, I can tell them gifts that I've been wanting all year long, instead of scrambling like I do every year ("ummmm....I don't know.....that tshirt! These shoes? I don't know!"). So here's a sort of 'best of the best' of things I'd like for the holidays. As always, clicking on the image will bring you to the Polyvore board where all of the sources are linked.

Christmas/Birthday Wishlist by mjchirpich-1 featuring stoneware mugs

• Blue decanter: This decanter is created in Mexico at a workshop that employs artisans with disabilities. This is a topic near and dear to my heart, so I love supporting artisans while getting a pretty pitcher for my bedside! This product can be purchased at The Little Market, a shop created by Lauren Conrad to support female artisans internationally.
• Astrology calendar: I love this little Etsy shop and its beautiful astrology calendar. Use it throughout the year, then frame them all en masse with the calendar portion cut off! The gift that keeps giving...
• Remix: every year I put an interior design book on my wishlist. This looks like a great resource to show you how to use what you have to a beautiful effect.
• Candle holder: This Pottery Barn candle holder is perfectly simplistic and slim. I plan to hang it on an awkwardly-sized wall between two doors. 
• Anthro mug: So pretty! Perfect to help me wake up with a cuppa joe every morning at work.
• Ikea end table: I love this new Trysil line, including the 3-drawer dresser version. This end table is screaming for an Ikea hack, and it's only $40!
• Green Gypsya rug: for $72 this local-to-SLC artist will hand-knot this amazing rug in a 2x3 size. I'm lusting over it for our new bathroom!
• Small painting: This week 8x8" painting reminds me of home and would be great as part of a floating-shelf gallery wall.
• Rope bag: I don't know if you know, but rock climbing ropes are super heavy. This bag has a great tarp attached that you can spread your rope on (to limit damage to the rope).
• Dakine backpack: I have a small backpack that's usually stuffed with my climbing gear, so I'd like another pack for all the other activities I do! This pack is highly rated and can carry a water bladder, skis, or a snowboard, plus pockets for goggles and other goodies.
• Remote starter: Maybe I'm just a wuss, but this winter is already beating me down cold-wise. Every time I have to get out of my toasty bed to warm up my car in the literally freezing cold, I curse the fact that I don't have remote start on my car. The ultimate Utah luxury!
• Dangle earrings: These earrings are perfectly simple-yet-eye-catching. From the same beautiful store as the ring I featured in my last BESTY post.  So essentially, I'm obsessed with this shop. 
• Tulle skirt: I want to do my best Carrie Bradshaw and wear this with tshirts and a sparkly necklace. Or a sweater and flats. Or boots and a long-sleeve tee with an infinity scarf. Or just everything I own.
• W3LL People Universalist #8: the perfect coraly pink, this stick works well on lips or cheeks.
• Infinity scarf: to pair with my new tulle skirt, obviously. See also: keeping warm in Utah wintertime.
• Gap striped skirt: because stripes go with everything, and so will this skirt.
• Gold earrings: These fun mismatched gold earrings are unique enough to make every outfit better, but simple enough to wear on a daily basis. Only $31 for this closet staple!

Disclaimer: I fully realize that this post is very 'first-world problems'-y. It should be noted that I feel very blessed to have the life I do and realize that many people don't ever get gifts, much less back-to-back :)