March Favorites!

I know I often say it, but this year is flying by. How is tomorrow already the start of April?! I'm starting to believe what the adults would say when I was younger about time going faster when you're older. Holy moly! :P

The favorites from this month pretty much sums up all that I used aside from a day or two. I went for basics and gave my skin a bit of a break from heavier products.

- YSL Rouge Volupte in #2 (Sensual Silk)
- NARS Bellissima eyeshadow duo
- NARS Albatross blush (highlighter)
- NARS Laguna bronzer
- Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Bourbon
- L'Oreal Voluminous mascara
- MAC MSF Natural
- Eve Pearl Salmon Concealer
- MAC Well Dressed blush

What were some of your favorites? Tell me in the comments or if you already have a post, please link me to it. :)

Our Fifth Wedding Anniversary

My husband and I had a great anniversary trip! We rented a cabin in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York. We rented the Pinewood Cabin through The Quiet Place. Upon looking into booking it, I googled for more pictures and reviews and came up empty-handed. Not being able to find anything myself when I was looking made me want to share my own pictures and review for people searching in the future. :)

All of the woodwork and cabinets in the cabin were done by the actual cabin owner and it was so well-done and breathtaking. The pictures online did not give this place enough justice. The kitchen was huge with updated appliances, a giant island in the middle, and lots of counter space. If I could have packed up that kitchen and brought it with me, I would have!

The living room had a comfortable couch, flat screen TV, and an electric fireplace. You can see the deck that goes out to the two-person hot tub. My only problem were that the windows to the right did not have blinds on them and there is a road on that side. It kind of creeps me out when I think people can see in and I can't see out.

The bedroom was a loft area. And it was so spacious! They had a sitting area, a cute chess area, and the queen-sized bed. I'm definitely upgrading to a queen or a king mattress the next time we move, because hotels and the like have spoiled me and my husband. I loved the slanted ceiling!

It was a secluded and relaxing weekend! By secluded I mean there was no cable, internet, or even a phone in the cabin. They do provide you with an emergency cell, if you need it. The owners and business really thought of everything. We were given a fresh loaf of baked bread when we arrived. Pots, pans, utensils, tin foil, Tupperware, you name it...it was all provided. And the cabin is near bigger cities that offer Walmart, Wegmans, Target, and chain restaurants. Though we found a great local food place in the closest Sunoco (surprisingly!) that offered great homemade food items!

I would absolutely recommend this cabin for a couple getaway. The business offers other bigger cabins and cottages for bigger groups. This was a great trip all-around. The best part? I came back super relaxed and free of stress. Not sure how long it will last, but I'm taking joy in it! ;)

Anniversary Presents

If there is one thing my husband has learned during our five years of marriage, it is the way to my heart. He surprised me with a few goodies off of my Sephora wishlist! :)

^VIB gift, Too Faced Naked Eye palette, Too Faced Romantic Eye palette, Sephora OPI nail polish, MUFE Tres Vichy palette, and Laura Mercier Secret Concealer. I'm actually exchanging the concealer, because it is very similar to the Eve Pearl Salmon concealer that I already own. Not sure what I might exchange it for yet! And I'm open to ideas, if you want to throw one my way. :)



^ The Very Important Beauty Insider gift was a full-sized Porefessional and a deluxe sample of the moisturizer from Benefit's new skin line.

^ Swatches and individual reviews are coming!

^ Swatches and individual review is coming! The packaging on this is so adorable!

^ Sephora by OPI's The Way TuTu His Heart from the Urban Ballerina Collection. It's a very pretty light pink. I'm really loving pastel colors right now. I think this is a great color for spring.

A haul from my trip will be coming up, as well as pictures and a review of the cabin that we stayed at for our anniversary. I have lots of different posts planned (I should update the "upcoming posts" page at the top)! And I'm only three subscribers away from my next giveaway. Every single one of you puts a smile on my face. Have a great rest of the day!

Short Hiatus

Just letting you guys know that I won't be updating again until Monday! My husband and I will be celebrating five years of marriage on Friday, so we've rented a cabin in upstate New York for the next few days. :) We'll be leaving in the morning! I would give a better update today, but in true procrastinator fashion, I still have to finish packing our suitcase and cleaning up around the house. I also have to do anything online that needs to be done, because the cabin does not have internet. I'm having to dig deep into my survival skills to get over that major hump in the road. No internet? I might just have withdrawal symptoms!

Thanks to my MIL coming over while we are gone, we won't have to worry about the cats being lonely or running out of food and water. I've warned her of Jade's boxing match with my face. I told her that she might want to wear either a suit of armor or bring a ten foot pole and wear a mask! Haha! That's the first time (and hopefully last!) that Jade has ever done that and leave it to me to be the darn victim. :P

See you all again on Monday. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!

How To: Depot MAC's Old Quads

Today's post is coming a little late. Our cat decided to use me as a punching bag and attacked my left cheek right under the eye with her claws. So my eye has been swollen, burning, and all of that fun stuff since the early afternoon. Yayyyy. The swelling is finally going down enough to see a bit more, so I'm putting down the ice pack to type this entry.

I already showed how to depot the newer quads, so I thought I'd show how I do the old ones. You can still find quads packaged like this at CCOs. The best part? No heat is required!

-empty palette to put the eyeshadows in
-labels and magnets
-knife
-alcohol

This is my Shadowy Lady quad that I recently purchased.

^Using the knife, wedge it into the line between the inner and outer packaging. I find it easiest to pry up right where the latch is in the front. Twist it around to get the plastic to "pop" out. You'll hear it!

^Now you have the trays out and the little metal casing that holds the eyeshadows. They are glued on. I use a medicine dropper to drop some alcohol around each of the pans. You can choose to just dip your knife in the alcohol and wedge it under the pan to loosen the glue. I choose the dropper method because while I'm working on one shadow, the alcohol can be doing its job on the others.



^It is up to your MAC store, but mine will take back the quad packaging for Back to MAC. The trays fit right back in.

^Then, I slapped magnets and labels on them and put them in my palettes. Easy! And it took less than fifteen minutes!

Hope this helped someone. :) Now, off I go back to the land of ice packs and evil cats!

Z Palettes

I ordered two Z Palettes earlier when there was a 20% off code in addition to the 10% off code that you get for "liking" them on Facebook. You can sign up on their website to get future deals sent to you.

I ordered the large zebra print and the small pink palettes. They have a very strong magnetic tray. Though it is made of cardboard, I find it to be sturdy. The clear window is a nice addition to a typical palette. While I like them, I would not purchase again except maybe with a decent discount code like this past time. I think they cost a little too much for what they are and that, while smaller, MAC palettes are more durable in the long run.

My small pink one was able to fit nine MAC eyeshadows.

I originally tried to put depotted NYX blushes in, but the top would not close over them. I was not pleased with that. So I put in a few MAC blushes and eyeshadows to show how much you can fit in the large size palettes. Not bad!

General verdict: I like the sizes offered and I like being able to see the products in the palette without having to open it. I don't like the price and the fact that it won't hold many brands that have deeper pans than MAC. It's a toss-up, but I think I'll stick to my MAC palettes in the future.

Random, but did you guys see the Super Moon this weekend? It was so beautiful! It being so big and bright finally allowed me to get a decent shot with my camera. :)

MAC Giveaway Winner

The giveaway ended last night and good ol' random.org has helped me choose the winner. There were 23 entries! :)

Congratulations to Miranda! I will be sending you an email for your information so that I can get it out to you soon. Thanks to everyone that entered! Don't be discouraged if you didn't win this time. I'll be having my 200 followers giveaway soon where you'll have multiple chances of winning. :)

Hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day!

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe

I made a buffalo chicken dip tonight and I thought I'd share the recipe that I use. You'll find similar recipes on the internet, but I always tweak them to meet my own needs. So here's the recipe that I use!

*shredded chicken (no set amount- just put as much as you want)- I personally buy a rotisserie chicken at my local grocery store. That way you have chicken left over for another meal! And it takes a lot of the work out of the process by it being already cooked and ready to shred.
*2 bars of cream cheese- room temperature is best
* 1 cup of ranch dressing- I actually use a ranch dip, Ruffles Ranch Dip to be exact. It makes it a bit creamier.
* Frank's Red Hot sauce- I like mine to have a kick, so I use around a cup. If you don't like spicy things, go with a 3/4 cup dose.
* shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a skillet on the stove, add the chicken and Frank's Red Hot sauce. Stir until hot.
3. Mix in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Once the cream cheese is melted, transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish.
4. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top.
5. Put it in the oven for five minutes or until the cheese is melted.

And there you have it! I served it with Ritz crackers, but you can use any bread, cracker, or vegetable. :)

P.S.- Don't forget that my giveaway is open until 11:59 EST tonight! There's still time to enter. Good luck! CLOSED

CCO MAC Haul (Waterloo, NY) Swatches

I posted my haul the other day, so here are the swatches from it. A few of these items are permanent colors with others being repromoted quite often. Obviously, I won't be swatching/reviewing the mascara and mineralized eyeshadow that I got since it's in my giveaway *hint hint*. If you haven't entered, there is still time! Rules are stated in that entry.



^Well Dressed blush, Nymphette lipglass, and Pretty Baby beauty powder.





^Night Manoeuvres eyeshadow, Shadowy Lady quad, Heritage Rouge pigment, and Chamomile eyeshadow. Let me know if you would be interested in a tutorial on how to depot old MAC premade quads! I already have the tutorial up of the newer quads here.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Pi Day (3.14)! ;)

St. Patrick's Day Inspired FOTD

A week from today is St. Patrick's Day! So I thought I'd play around and come up with a green look. The pictures of the look itself came out looking a little blurry/washed out. Sorry about that! It's overcast today and I had to use my flash.

I used: MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Horse Raddish, Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero, Smashbox Bionic mascara, MAC Vanilla Pigment, and my Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 3.

Using Horse Raddish as a base, it makes the green shades stand out more. I used Kush on the lid, Loaded in the outer corner and crease, and Suspect as the transition color. Vanilla pigment was used as my brow highlight and to brighten my inner corner.



When I do colorful eye looks, I always go with a nude lip. In this case, I used MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2 lipstick and lipglass duo.

I definitely think I'll be wearing this look if I go out anywhere next Thursday! Nice and festive! :) If I do, I'll try to coincide it with an OOTD post. What are your plans for the holiday? Does your city do anything special to celebrate?

New Layout + Giveaway! - CLOSED

Hey guys! I changed up my layout again. I get bored so easily. Spring is quickly approaching and I wanted something bright and fresh. Hopefully it is loading properly for you! If not, please let me know so I can try to fix it. :)

I want to thank all of my wonderful subscribers who continue to read my entries. I know I have an upcoming contest when I hit the 200 mark, but I want to thank you NOW with just a little something. I'll still be doing the other contest and have all of the prizes ready and waiting for whoever wins them!

These two MAC items were in the Look in a Box I just purchased while I was in the States. I assure you that I have not opened them, because I knew when I got them what I wanted to do with them. ;) They don't have original boxes since they were part of a set. The prize is a Zoom Fast Black Lash mascara and a Mercurial mineralized eyeshadow!

All you have to do to have a chance to win? Leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite season is and a way to get in touch with you. This is open to everyone who follows my blog (I will check!). Winner will be chosen by random.org. You have until March 16, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST to enter. That's a week from today! CLOSED

*As always, when the giveaway closes I will privatize the comments as to protect your email addresses from any future spam that could come your way. I do recommend using a "spam" email! EDIT: Winner has been notified and comments are closed. Thanks for entering!

Something Serious

First, let me start off by saying I'm a bit behind on catching up on comments. I hope to reply to you all tonight. :) I do not like to be one of those bloggers who doesn't respond to the comments, because I like it when I get answers too!

This post is taking a lot of courage for me to write, because the problem I'm talking about affects me physically, mentally, and emotionally. I started losing my hair in the crown area last year. I had thin hair to start with, but I was still able to wear my hair down with no problem. Because I had thin hair already, it took me a little longer to notice what was happening.

I have grown very self-conscious of it with my self-esteem taking a huge tumble. I only wear my hair in two ways now for the most part- half up/half down or ponytail. I went to my dermatologist who was able to do bloodwork and rule out quite a few things it could be (PCOS, thyroids, etc.). She gave me a lotion to try called Betaderm Valerate. While I don't notice much of a difference, she says it is working. It could be months before I actually see hair growth, which is completely devastating.

On top of that, she has recommended I start taking a daily multi-vitamin and use tea tree oil shampoo (which I ordered from Kiehl's). I suffer from Psoriasis on the scalp, which is what she thinks mainly affected my hair growth or lack of. Why am I telling you this? Well, I want you to know that if any of you are going through this...you're not alone. Many girls will suffer from thinning hair and it can be a battle to determine what is causing it, what will help, etc. I'm not sure that I have found a winning formula yet and it could take months, but it is all trial and error.

If you have lost your hair or it has thinned out, please know I'm available to talk. My email is wendy@fashionableheart.com. I have been my own support system through this, partly because it can be embarrassing to talk about and partly because I don't know anyone personally who has gone through this. I know this post is off-topic to my normal posts, but I feel like we girls should be able to talk openly about things like this.

Target Haul- New Hartford, NY

One of the first places I stop the minute I'm in the States is Target! It's one of my favorite places and Canada will finally be getting a few starting in 2013 (ugh to waiting so long). I got a few things there, so I thought I would share some of the ones that are at least a little relevant to this blog.

I grabbed up a mini You Curl, because I usually use my straightener to curl my hair and I don't like to have a lot of styling tools crowding my bathroom counter. This miniature one looked perfect since it would fit in my cabinet without taking too much room. And this was under $20. Thumbs up! Even better that it came in pink... ;)

None of these were over $20. I spotted the last Boy Meets World Season 1 DVD on the shelf and it was only $15. I had to have it. Feeny! Please tell me I'm not the only one who still loves to watch that show. Haha!

I love almost every "Keep Calm and..." quote. I have a matching notebook with this quote that I keep my blog lists in and I knew this would fit in perfectly at my makeup station. I'm still working on dressing up my area and getting everything organized, but as soon as I get it right I'll do a video on it.

I found these little guys in the dollar zone. They offered other patterns. They fit blushes nicely, so I put a few of my loose ones in them and tucked them into my shelves. It brightens up the shelf and organizes at the same time. Win!

I really had no interest in trying The Falsies, but it was on sale and I figured I'd bite the bullet. I've only tried it once so far, but I do not feel that it is worth of holy grail status. It did not do much for my lashes and feels like it would be easy to clump. I'll give it a chance. The Sonia Kashuk brush is fantastic! It's soft but dense, so my foundation or cream products don't get lost in the bristles. And the handle is a really cool shape!