I'm not a huge fan of New Year's Eve. I feel like there is so much pressure to have a good time, go super big and fabulous, that it's more likely to be a disappointment than the best night of the year. But I am starting to get excited for tonight. My friends roped me into going to one of the big, fancy, over-the-top parties in SF. I am mostly excited to get all dolled up, drink bubbly with my girls, and pretend we are fabulously wealthy and important (there is even a red carpet and everything at this party!). 
I am wearing the same dress I wore to my company holiday party, since I got so many compliments and hardly anyone saw me. It is a fabulous royal blue coctail dress that just shines in pictures, especially when everyone else is wearing LBDs, as they often do. I got some fab pewter patent leather pumps and a gorgeous smokey jewelled necklace to go with, but I am most excited about the new eyeliner I picked up (of course!). It is Urban Decay's Liquid Eyeliner in Radium, a metallic royal blue, because it matches my dress perfectly! I am a little nervous to try out a new look for tonight but I figure, why not?! I'm thinking a smokey eye that incorporates the bright blue liner, and lots of shimmer and sparkle. I'll let you know how it goes.




A month after my last haircut, my ends were already fried. I knew it was time to move up to the next level. This new dryer is awesome. It has 2 speeds and 3 heat settings, and a cool shot. It comes with three attachments: an adjustable diffuser, a straightening comb attachment, and a slot concentrator attachment. The tourmaline ceramic drys my hair faster, without feeling excessively hot. So I end up with less damage, shorter drying time, and a great volume. Very important since I can't seem to have a good hair day without blow drying, everyday. Sometimes twice... Bad, I know!
While the nice saleswoman was wrapping up the set all pretty, I got to testing out their other products and I knew I was in trouble. I ending up picking up a pot of their excellently smelling 

Here is my verdict: Fairly good formula for a drugstore mascara, its is volumizing without clumping hardly at all. It is a slightly less dramatic look that my MAC ZoomLash, which is good some days. The brush is rather large, as they designed it to be so, and the bristles are very different that anything I've seen before. But I don't find it hard to apply or get to the side lashes at all.
My major complaint is the bottle! It is this huge tube, much fatter that any other mascaras I own, and it takes up way too much space in my mascara container! I don't think I'll buy it again, just for this reason. Package is important to me, and I get that they were trying to be out there and different, but the form should be functional as well.

Needless to say, I am hurting a little this morning. So all I can muster up is a little link love to my fellow beauty bloggers:
I got
I also picked up a small bottle of Smashbox's famed
I also got a
Along with my purchases, I got to pick three sample products. I picked three perfumes because they are the biggest samples available, and as I just pointed out, its best to sample a perfume a few times before purchasing a whole bottle! Well, my favorite one is 


















