Loving Right Now :::

Photos: Caratsandcake.com, RebelGreen.com, me of my Marc Jacobs lip balm, 

BedBathandBeyond.com, BumbleandBumble.com, Truprotection.com

1::: Kinda loving this site Carats & Cake! It's a beautifully designed, and very well executed, wedding community to help you find amazing local vendors. They also show off amazing real weddings that give epic inspiration to any bride (or any vendor, for that matter!)  Loving all the new resources in the wedding industry lately!

Side note--just last week, Meg Biram did a fantastic "Behind the Biz" series post on Jess Levin, the beautiful woman who started and maintains this gorgeous site, and it's worth a read! 


2::: A while back I ran out of FIT wash, and had a hell of a time finding it in any store to replenish the bottle and replace the bottle I had with a broken sprayer, so I started looking for a replacement. A friend of mine living the organic life mentioned that I try the one she gets at Whole Foods, Rebel Green. I picked up a bottle a few days after our chat and I have been using it since, and actually prefer it to the FIT brand I formerly used.  I love that it's a green product, in a much more functional pump and in a larger (and super retro-cute) sprayer bottle than the FIT came in. If it's not sold in a Whole Foods near you, you can get it in their online store for about $7 a bottle. I think it was a little less at Whole Foods, and is occasionally on sale.


3::: Marc Jacobs Lip Lock Moisture Balm.  I am SO guilty of an impulse buy on this one...I had some time to kill last week and what better or worse place to kill some time than a Sephora? I touched up my makeup with never-been-touched Marc Jacobs eye palettes (fyi: amazing wear and payoff from the vamp palette...), played with some Becca products since they're finally in one of our local stores, and made three laps around this balm in the process, which I had played with last time I checked out this line, and told myself it wasn't worth the money to try to kill the lemming inside me. Well..it was and it is... Lemming fail!  

I don't do a lot in the lip department, but it's quite moisturizing, and above all, I am not allergic to anything in it. I tend to apply it right out of the shower and that traps the moisture in perfectly, and in the morning I will apply one more time. I love this stuff.  I will note that there's a "warning" on the label to not keep it in hot places or sunlight, and my assumption is that it's because it's essentially a giant blob of oil just waiting to destroy your bag.  Good stuff.  I see him making this in tints in the not too distant future.


4::: ThirstyStone Coasters are kind of amazing. The husband mentioned a few months ago that he was kind of over my folded napkin under drinks "situation" and would like some actual coasters. I set out to find something that looked nice, but wouldn't have it's own ring of condensation piling up on top of it. I noticed that my sister had a set of monogrammed ThirstyStone coasters, and when riding in my dad's car, noticed he had a set for his car cupholders by the same brand, aptly named CarSters. Clever.  I was able to find the regular coasters at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and picked up a set with a coupon, however the car coasters were unavailable.  I poked on ThirstyStone's (less than ideal) website and found a website authorized to sell their items, where I found an enormous selection of their products, CarSters and regular Coasters included. We've only been using them about a week, and so far, they're amazing. No puddles from condensation on top of the coaster, and no piles of soggy napkins left behind by me. (I still fail to see the problem...)


5::: Bumble & Bumble Surf Collection I have been intrigued by the idea of a surf spray for quite some time, but the idea of crunchy hair, or worse, a bigger rat's nest than I already have in a day's time, was not exactly appealing to me. I was hoping for a travel size variant of the spray for quite a while, and finally that product has come to fruition, along with a matching shampoo and conditioner.  I tested it out over the weekend and was pretty pleased at how much zhush my hair had, though I am thankful that I was warned in advance about the conditioner containing a small amount of the "spray" product, and that if I need more moisture from a conditioner to use my regular one first, then the Surf conditioner over that. If I hadn't, detangling might've been an issue! After I curled the ends with a curling iron, I scrunched in a little of the Surf Spray and the result was kind of worn-in wavy and the remaining curl held well all day.   The shampoo is going to be one of those "later in the coloring cycle" kinds of products for me, but that's fine, since maybe the boost in the root will help conceal the roots a little.


6::: Because it's almost "go time" on my favorite holiday of the year, iPhone release day, I am stocking up on my screen protectors, cases and pouches (I am a triple-dipper!) One of my favorite makers of dry apply* screen protectors is TruProtection (formerly known as PowerSupport) and I noticed while poking around their site, that they have an option for the new TruFit application device.  You essentially put the screen protector in the perfectly sized gizmo, then put your phone in face down, press and viola, it's in. Pretty snazzy for lining it up! I am going to keep an eye on whether or not it's available in their crystal film set, because I prefer the shiny versions to the dull anti-glare ones. Besides the screen protectors, I already have my Speck Candyshell ready to go, and I am combing Etsy right now for a replacement pouch since my prior vendor is no longer making them. I don't want to have to rock a sock again...

*There are typically two "kinds" of screen protectors, those that require no solution/water to apply and activate the adhesive, and those that do.  Prior to now I would flip flop on which I used, often using Zagg Invisible Shield, which is wet apply.  Because the new iPhone includes this new sensor in the home button, I am likely not going to go with a wet apply protector any longer because I don't want liquid getting into that. Zagg does make dry apply films but they don't give you a second one in the package like most other brands, and they cost a fortune by comparison, so if you screw up putting it on, you have to go through warranty replacements (which they DO have by comparison) and wait til you get your new one to put something on...I don't like that.  Another dry apply I like is Spigen's UltraCrystal Steinheil films. They have anti-glare and finger-print resistant versions as well, but I like it to look like nothing is on the screen, but I do not like the dry-apply "glass" screen protectors very much, probably because I feel like I need a screen protector for my screen protector...

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