November Favorites
Another busy month has come and gone, now we’re right in the middle of holiday season. Because of the renovations we did in our house recently, I didn’t really have the chance to decorate for Fall. We’re almost at a stopping point (for now) and I can’t wait to get my Christmas decor up and see everything finally all coming together. Makeup was kept to a minimum this month, so we’ll be having another fun post that includes mostly random lifestyle favorites.
I’ve told y’all how amazing our wedding photographers are (Phocus Photography) and this first favorite just goes to prove my point even more. They gifted us the most beautiful book ever!! As soon as I opened the box and saw what it was, tears started running down my face. Even before the wedding, I knew I wanted to make something like this for us with their professional pictures. I hadn’t ever said anything to them about it and they picked the perfect gift. They’ve become wonderful friends that we’re so grateful for! ♥
I included this office space in last month’s favorites also. In that post, I was specifically focusing on my new Ikea Micke desk and how much more space I have to work with now. And while I am still totally in love with it, I’m including it this month for the wall color. If you saw the previous picture, I’m sure you could understand how much more relaxing of an area this is to work in now. The pink really started bothering my eyes and I couldn’t wait to paint! The color is called Desert Fortress by Valspar. This was part of that huge renovation project I keep talking about!
I knew two years ago when we moved in this house that I wanted to brighten up all the walls, but was really holding off until the time was right. That time finally came! We waited until after the wedding and honeymoon, and until I had a shade that I stopped changing my mind about. I’m horrible at making decisions, especially one as big as this! We ended up going with Cream in my Coffee by Valspar for the whole house aside from the bedrooms, which were all painted the Desert Fortress shade.The two colors look almost identical on the walls, but Desert Fortress is just one shade darker. It took us twelve straight days of painting, but it’s finally done and I am so in love with how much brighter and bigger everything looks.
Okay, this one’s kinda embarrassing and I have no idea why I even want to admit it on the internet but I’m going to...I’m turning 25 in a month and just now got my very first smartphone. Don’t worry, it’s okay to laugh. I just never really needed one enough to merit spending so much extra money a month. We tried for months to go with Google Fi as a more affordable option than bigger companies, but they clearly didn’t want our business. Thanks to a recommendation from our friend (Tim, with Phocus Photography), we ended up getting me a line with Straight Talk. We purchased a Samsung S7 from eBay (case is from Amazon) and everything has been amazing so far. I’m so much happier and would highly recommend it!
Remember in my Black Friday post how I mentioned that Target has quickly become my new favorite store for the most comfortable basic shirts? Yea, I’m in love! These are by the brand called A New Day and they’re just called the fitted long sleeve crew neck t-shirt. I have this striped one, this gray one, and just bought another one (wearing a medium) that will be in a Black Friday Haul post. I’ve never worn many long sleeves because I always found them to be too uncomfortable, but I don’t ever wanna take these off! I’m so glad I found these at the beginning of Winter. I'm gonna stay warm and comfortable this year!
I’ve talked about Smile Brilliant before and posted a more detailed review of their products earlier this year. Because I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even whitened since May! The results I got from the first set definitely lasted an extremely long time, but it’s about that time to get back at it again. I just got a new set and have been enjoying myself with these products all over again. Seriously, if you’re looking for a high-quality teeth whitening system that won’t cause sensitivity you need to get some of this! It’s changed my coffee-obsessed smile’s life! You can even use the code christinaschiccorner20 to receive $20 off any tray set on their site.
In case you missed Monday’s post, then this picture and hack might not be familiar to you. I have extremely oily skin and I’ve never been able to find something, whether it be a product, a hack, whatever to control my oil throughout the day. After application, I can barely go two hours without looking like I dumped my face in a bowl of coconut oil. It’s disgusting and I can’t stand it! But with this new powder hack that I just discovered, I no longer have that problem. Just apply a light dusting of powder over primer and under foundation, and you’ll be set all day. Visit my previous post for all the details!
Like I said at the beginning, makeup has been at a minimum this month. Most days, I was literally only wearing concealer on any blemishes, some mascara, and a little bit of eyebrow pencil. Clearly, I needed something fast and this Ulta Brow Duo pencil was great for that. I got the Light Brown shade a few years ago and they still have it in stores now, especially during this time right before Christmas. The pencil is creamy and big enough that I don’t have to spend much time messing around getting my brows filled in. I don’t think it’s necessarily something I’d use every single day, but it gets the job done well when I need it in a hurry. I never use the highlighter side, though, only the brown.
This Ofra Pro palette has been amazing. I freaked out when I got it in my Boxycharm over a year ago and I’m still so in love with it. I keep my favorite Makeup Geek blushes, bronzers, and eyeshadows in it to create a quick look whenever I don’t have time to think about grabbing for product. It’s clearly gotten a lot of love. I can’t find this on their website anywhere and I wish I knew where to find it because I’d definitely buy more!
I rediscovered a lip product this month that I used to love earlier in the year. It somehow got forgotten about and it just caught my eye when I was looking through my collection this month. This is Ulta’s Lip Butter in the shade Enticing. The formula on this is amazing and the color is one of my absolute favorites for my skintone all year long. The shade actually looks much different in the swatch for some reason, but you can see it on my lips in both of the t-shirt pictures featured above.
I have no idea why, but I’ve never used Essence nail polishes until now and I am so upset at myself about it. I just got my first two shades and am so impressed with everything about it that I almost don’t even know what to do with myself. I kept staring at my nails after the first coat of this Perfect Match wondering what kind of magic is in it. For only $1.99 a piece, I’m definitely going back for more and putting it on my Christmas list!
Let me know what you think of posts like these! I kind of almost prefer including more random lifestyle favorites in these posts and getting to share with you the things I’ve been enjoying aside from makeup. Regardless of that, though, these are all favorites that I love so much. I couldn’t even pick a single favorite if I had to.
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them for me in the comments below. Have you used any of these products before? What are some of your favorites this month?
~Christina~
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