I Love Spring Tag!

Hello my dears I decided today even though I was not tagged to do this I really wanted to do the " I Love Spring Tag" Because let's face it, I have blown off the handle a bit in anticipation for Spring to finally be here! and now that it is here I want to relish it. 

Anyone who reads this and wants to do this tag is welcome to do so! Consider yourself   officially tagged! 

Let's get cracking!

1. Favorite spring nail polish?

I think spring nail color palettes are my 

favorites of all time because I love wearing 

light and 

milky nail colors. 

My Current favorites are: 

Essie -- Bring Me An Oasis- a really milky 

light blue color.

Sally Hensen Hard As Nails -- Mint Sorbet- 

"minty fresh!"

Nails Inc-- Porechester Sq.- Beautiful

neutrel taupe with a light hint of purple. 

2. What is your must-have lip color this spring?

I may have mentioned this before but my standard is usually a red lip no matter the season. However then Revlon came along and brought me their matte balm stain 

in a light mauve color called--Sultry. 

Which I think is so beautiful on the lips and a little more toned down in comparison to red. 

My other favorite that I have been wearing a lot is the Sephora Collection Rouge Infusion Lip Stain in the shade -- Red Essence 

which I lightly apply on my lips and it gives them a really pretty hint of color. 

3. Show us your favorite spring dress!

I recently got this dress from Ruche, after having it open in a tab for weeks and weeks on end! and I know I featured it in A "Fancy Friday Findings Post" as well. 
Even though I think where I live this dress is best worn in late spring, early summer I think its the prettiest dress I own at the moment. 
( And I own quite a few pretty dresses.) 
The quality of the fabric is superb and hangs beautifully on the body. I also love the "trapeze" cut at the bottom of the dress that makes me look extra ethereal. Whenever I look at this dress and I feel a wave of warmth come over me as I dream about wearing this on a really warm spring afternoon. 





4. What's your favorite flower?

ohhhhh... ( hummm!) this is one is a toughie because I love all flowers so much! But I suppose it comes down to three..favorites.

1.Lilacs

2. Hydrangea's

3. Peonies/Gardenias

I notice that all of the flowers I chose have really big or multiple blooms. Does that say something about me? I am unsure but Lilacs are my favorite scent in a flower. Last year I went to a lilac festival just so I could stick my nose into their heavenly scent. Also, whenever the lilacs start blooming I get extra excited. I make a gutteral whisper "LILACS" and press my hands against the car window because usually I see them while driving somewhere. My girlfriends find it fairly amusing.

5. Favorite spring scarf/accessory?

I am quite fond of wearing my homemade 

flower crown~

I wanna make one!

6. What spring trend(s) are you most 

excited about this year? ( makeup, 

fashion or both!) 

FLORALS FLORALS FLORALS!!

( did I mention florals?)

I am aware that comes as a surprise to no one. 

When spring comes everyone is about the floral prints. 
However, I have come a long way. A couple years back all I was sporting was " all black everything all year long" that was my motto and I was stubborn about it. 

Although, I still love being shrouded in black, this spring in particular, I have gone madfor floral's and fashion pieces that play to my girly and whimsical side. 

In the makeup world I have been excited everything. All sorts of launches have come out this season and since I still feel like I am just emerging and growing as a beauty blogger--( thus a #beauty hoarder) every new makeup product that I swatch or read about or buy is SUPER exciting to me. Though I am really fond of glowy skin in the warm weather. 
Which is when I pull out my glowy staples 
--Mary Lou-Manizer from The Balm and Girl Meets Pearl Highlight by Benefit and pop that combination on my face for glowy and dewy skin. 

7. Favorite spring candle?

I would say its pretty obvious, I bet if you read my blog just often enough you would be 

able to guess right off..

If your guess was Bath and Body Works Peach 

Macaron Candle you would be right! Even 

though I have not burned this extra I ranted 

in one of my previous point about how this 

scent was limited edition. I plowed through 

the big one I had and now I only have this 

extra to savor and perhaps never burn!

( but that would be rather silly of me 

wouldn't it? I will burn it eventually but

for now I will just savor its warm, sweet 

scent.



8. Favorite body spray/perfume for spring?


I have been getting quite a bit of use of my 

mini perfume from NEST in the scent Midnight 

Fleur and I also have been using Tokyo Milk's 

La Vie En Mort a whole bunch. I like both of 

them equally. Been in the market for new 

scents though. Leave any suggestions in the comments!~

9. What is spring like where you live?

In Maine, often we call Spring " Mud Season" it's funny but sadly true. After our massive amounts of snow melt and the ground unfreezes often yards and fields flood over and we start gaining new "lakes" where I have witnessed ducks swim in before. 

It also takes forever to warm up and sometimes we get a few more sneaky blows of snow. It does not really feel spring like till right now in late April. 

April, is the magical month where in Maine you can walk outside without a coat, pull the windows down and finally watch the flowers blossom and hear the peepers emerge. 

Sometimes, I feel I am not really suited to live in Maine forever because Winter is too long to bear, but, once it finally warms up here. It almost feels worth it because it is so serene and beautiful.

10. What's your favorite thing about spring?

- My Birthday is in Spring ( May 1st!! This 

Thursday! EEK!) I love pretty much everything 

about spring. The colors, the world livening 

again I just feel so happy when the spring 

finally arrives! 


I hope you all enjoyed reading through my take 

on the " I Love Spring Tag" 
Remember! IF you read this and want to do this 
tag you are here by tagged! 
and you can send me your answers via the comments or tweet them 

to me! 
@AllegraShortill  

I hope you all are having a happy Sunday! 

See ya later.

- A 

March Favorites 2014

Hello my dears, it's that time again for my monthly favorites!

March seemed to fly by faster than February in my opinion and now we are going to be in April! wow! warm weather will be upon us in no time. Where I live I am just now noticing the first signs of greener looking grass and tiny little sprouts here and there. It's rather exciting!

Now, down to my favorites.

I don't have a ton of beauty favorites this month, only two are makeup related. 

 

  Milani Illuminating Face Powder in Amber Nectar

 A rather random impulse buy turned into a favorite this month. It's little rose pattern and pretty colors attracted my eye. When I gave it a try I really loved the instant warmth it gave. It's a trio of a highlight, bronzer and a peachy blush. It's really wonderful, plus a great introduction to Milani products in general. I mentioned this in my last post where I show my current daily makeup routine. X

Stila Single Eyeshadow -- Kitten

 Another product I mentioned in my makeup routine post. This eye-shadow is just amazing. Its a champagne with a tinge of rose gold. It looks amazing all over the lids and also on the brow bone for a bit of highlight. I just keep reaching for it. It's amazing!! 

Blender Cleanser Solid

This product was originally meant for the Beauty Blender sponge but I got it for my brushes. I know I am not the only one that just dreads the chore of cleaning makeup brushes it seems to take so long to wash all that gunk out. This "solid" bar of soap essentially makes cleaning brushes a breeze. It is sorcery! When my stippling brush is starting to look rather filthy I just swipe the brush around the soap,rinse with some water and WA LA! the brush looks bloody BRAND NEW! its remarkable. I highly recommend this product to be in your beauty arsenal. 

 

I suppose I should have counted skincare in the beauty favorites but I only have one skincare favorite this month;

  

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

Recently I discovered that instead of having oily combo skin I have more dry combo skin. Also due to some more drying products I have been using to treat my really bad skin demons. My skin was dying for some moisture so I decided to go with this based on a suggestion I got on instagram. I really like this product a lot. It is very soothing and almost has a light minty scent that cools down all angry face demons and keeps your face moisturized in the harsh wintry conditions. I think I want to try out more products from First Aid Beauty, if you have any suggestions leave them in the comments below! 

My next set of favorites are my random favorites for the month of March.

Bath&Body Works Raspberry Peach Macaron Candle

I really wish I had not caught the tail end of this line. I picked up the larger version of this candle and I became OBSESSED with its scent. When I used it up and went to get more they only had the mason jars of it left so I grabbed one and intend to hoard it and only smell it, not burn it. Unless they decide to bring this scent back which I was told that they most likely would not. :( But the scent of this candle is just heavenly: Sweet just like a macaron~

English Breakfast Tea

For the longest time my favorite at home tea was Bigelow's Caramel Chai and it still is. However, my grocery store decided it would be a grand idea to stop selling Caramel Chai in the store. In dismay I decided one day to  turn back to the traditional English Breakfast tea and I have really been enjoying it. It's hard to beat. I got that tea tin from a host family my sister and I were staying with when we last visited England. 

Ten Pound Kettlebell + Kettlebell Workouts 

Like many, one of my 2014 resolutions was to get healthy and fit and I have continued rather well on this goal. One thing I have been enjoying is the kettlebell. Its the perfect way to blend strength training in with some cardio workouts. That is one way to blast calories and get into shape. I was really impassioned to get on the kettlebell boat after reading this article from the FitSugar blog. X

 Rifle Paper Co Notebooks

Thanks to Instagram I have been exposed to beautiful designers such as the wife and husband team Anna and Nathan Bond that are Rifle Paper Co. After lusting over their beautiful designs I saw a pack of notebooks at Target. In no blink of an eye they were mine and I love them. Especially the green one because it is my favorite color. I love to jot down all my blog ideas and important lists they keep my jostled mind organized. 

And that is it folks! Tell me, what are your monthly favorites this month? 

See you next time! 

- A 

Show and Tell : Collective Haul

  

Whenever I see or watch a haul, my mind harks back to elementary school when we had show and tell. I think that was one of my favorite activities besides story time. I think we all like sharing a part of ourselves with others. The things we buy have reasoning behind them and are catered to our likes and personality. So, I see hauls as a very interesting and positive sharing experience. 

The weather gave us a nice, warm reprieve from snow storms this past weekend.

( aka : opportunity to get outside and also shop around!)

The first batch of things I got are shown in the picture above.

Boater Hat --- Forever 21

"Hipstery Glasses"--- Claires

Tokyo Milk Dark: La Vie La Mort Eau Du Parfaum --- Sephora

It's been a while since I have picked up accessories for myself 

I am pretty sure those glasses have changed my life! 

( I kid! I kid..)

I just really loved how they look on me. No matter how "hipstery" they look I just feel so good and cute in them. They are plastic lenses so they do get dirty quickly but I just never want to take them off my face!

Not soon after, a trip was made to Bath and Body Works where I took advantage of their famous two for $22 deal. 

Raspberry Peach Macaron

&

Renew and Refresh 

( Just two more beautiful smelling beauties to add to my ever growing candle collection.) 

      And lastly, I got two fashion bits!
        These are new stretches for my wardrobe and I love             the two pieces together and separate.
         
    ( Also the burlap bunny garland is also new~ -- Target) 
      
    Navy Polka Dot Cropped Top --- Forever 21
 Grey Striped Button Up ---Target


The end of February is near. 
I can feel some spring like energy underneath the ground and in the air. Birds chirping, warmer winds and a bit more blue sky than normal.
Its all rather exciting!
Hurry up spring! 

I hope you are all doing well.
Have you made any recent and exciting purchases lately?
Let me know in the comments! I would love to hear from you.


-A