a lovely saturday.

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As usual, the weekend couldn’t have come at a better time. After a couple of crazy weeks with planning to move, Speakable, etc., I was so ready to have a few days to relax and spend time with my friends!

If I’m being honest, the days I work from home are spent makeup-less with my hair in a ponytail, so yesterday I took the opportunity to get a bit more dolled up.

Aaaaand POUT.

Then I met up with the girls for brunch at Diablo Royale in the West Village.

I had been wanting to go there forever, and it was great! I loved the look and feel there, and you can never go wrong with Mexican.

Afterward we went to Hudson Clearwater, where we ended up spending the remainder of the overcast day. I tried to be all fancy with my new camera by snapping Monica’s espresso shot…

…I’m getting there, right? ;)

But don’t worry, I’ll never be above taking selfies.

The night ended early for me since I had a busy day (today), so I wrapped Saturday up by watching documentaries on Netflix. I’m cool like that.

Last but not least is this great devo from yesterday. “Gain happiness by letting go of this life…”

(from the daily devotional God’s Promises Day by Day)

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How did you spend your Saturday? See any good documentaries lately?

what i’m loving right now.

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clarins double serum.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m kinda sorta a skincare freak. So when I saw this Clarins serum all over a ton of “best skin products” lists, it went straight to the top of my Christmas list.

So far, I love it! I haven’t been using it long enough to notice any results, but it goes on so smoothly and leaves my face feeling healthy and refreshed.

pom pom beanies.
I’ve mentioned before how much I love pom pom beanies, but I had so much trouble finding the perfect one! I looked everywhere, but it was lying right under my nose at good old H&M.

back-draping necklaces.
I fell in love with these necklaces since Jennifer Lawrence dawned one at the Oscars. Since then they’ve been all over Pinterest, and have come out in more casual forms – like this one from Urban Outfitters (also something I got for Christmas, yay!).

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What are you loving right now? Get any of them for Christmas this year?

{natural} smokey eye makeup.

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Lately I’ve really been enjoying experimenting with new makeup looks. I don’t know if it’s because of the holidays or just getting bored with my normal routine, but trying new colors, brands, and makeup techniques is just so much fun!

I often go with a dramatic smokey eyes for a night out, but I recently saw this tutorial on Refinery29, and it inspired me to try a more natural take on my favorite eye makeup look.

To achieve the look was pretty simple. I used three shadows -

FOXY and FAINT from the Urban Decay NAKED Basics palette:

and the bottom, golden shade from the Almay Intense i-color Bold Nudes kit (for blue eyes):

6 steps to a natural smokey eye:

1. I started by applying a base of the Faint shade on my eyelids with a medium-sized eye shadow brush.

2. Then I used a smaller eye shadow brush to apply Faint under my eyes.
It’s trickier applying to the bottom (which is why you want to use a smaller brush) – try to keep it from going past the ends of your eyelashes to avoid looking like you have a black eye.

3. Then I went over the top and bottom with a light dusting of the gold-toned Almay shadow.

4. I applied the final, lightest shade (Foxy) right under my brow for an extra pop.

5. Eyeliner is optional. I used a light brown (Cover Girl) liner.

6. Finish the eyes with mascara. I swear by Rimmel Lash Accelerator.

To make the look complete I kept it simple with some bronzer and a nude lip.

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What’s your go-to eye makeup look?
What makeup styles/techniques have you been wanting to experiment with?