My first blog contest coming soon!

Mary over at Body and Soul has been hosting contests on her lovely blog since March of this year. I first discovered her contests earlier this month and low and behold, I actually won one of them! Winning stuff is fun so I was inspired to start hosting contests on my blog too.

My monthly contests will be held on the third Wednesday of each month starting with June. I don't have all of the fine details worked out just yet but the prize will include, among other girly goodies, at least 1 full size bath/beauty product, mineral makeup samples, and a stationery item. I've been collecting cute stationery over the years (I can't resist), but one woman can't possibly use all this stationery so I'm passing some of it along to you. Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I'm sure Mary won't mind that my contests may resemble hers in some aspects.

So here are my contest rules:

• You must be a "nester" (aka *follower*) to enter.
• You may enter each contest up to 3 times! In order to enter, you must post about my contest on your blog or other social network site like facebook, twitter or myspace. You must include a valid link to my contest within your post. Then, just e-mail me your name (include your blog id name if that's what I know you as) and the information about where I can find your post(s) about my blog contest with "Robyn's Nest June Contest" in the subject line and I will add your entry(ies) into the contest.
• For this first contest, entries will be accepted beginning the first day I post about the prize (will be coming shortly) and the last entry will be accepted at 11:59 p.m. June 16.
• All valid entries will be placed into a random drawing. The drawing will be held on June 17 and the winner will be announced that same day in a blog post entitled "Wednesday's Winner."

I will get the prize together shortly and post a photo and details of it so you can start getting your entries in. I'm excited about my first blog contest. I hope you are too!

*Here's another great contest from Aromaleigh Mineral Cosmetics you might be interested in: Win a $325 Nu-Face!

Aromaleigh “En Pointe” New 2009 Limited Edition Eye Collection is here!

“En Pointe”… a 2009 Limited Edition Collection.

Inspired by one of my great loves… the ballet.

This is a gathering of lush shades, not just the expected ballet pink. For me, ballet is dramatic, emotional, and full of tragic beauty. With almost 20 years of ballet study, I watch not only dreaming that I could be on the stage, but knowing the iron strength and control that the most ethereal, graceful dancer must have. READ MORE

Color Descriptions:

Arabesque - A refined bluish green with highlight shimmers of green and gold. Multi-facted and rich frost. (Frost)

Odile - A deep and mysterious smooth, lush mauve sheen with iridescent shine of green and blue and earthy undertones. (Smooth frost)

Pirouette - Soft peachy pink plush matte base with hazy blue iridescence. So pretty! (Sheen)

Dulcinea - Rich warm purple plush matte base with unexpected smooth green iridescent highlight. (Sheen)

Serenade - A color inspired by my favorite ballet. Beautiful smooth teal plush matte base with a lush violet iridescent highlight. (Sheen)

Calliope - As lovely as the muse herself, this is a go-to color. A soft plush matte base beholds softly shimmering beige and lilac tones. (Sheen, slight shimmer)

Giselle - A sweet and softly shimmering plush tea rose matte base enhanced with a delicate pink and gold highlight. As precious as the beautiful Giselle. (Sheen)

Waltz - A soft pale green plush matte base with a mysterious blue-green highlight tone. Use wet or over base for more drama! (Sheen, slight shimmer)

Coppelia - A lovely berried plum plush matte base with a dimensional smooth violet highlight. (Sheen)

Terpischore - Another shade fit for a muse... a fawn plush matte base with a magical golden iridescent highlight. (Sheen)

Aurora - A pinky-beige plush matte base scattered with tiny shimmers of blue and pink. Fit for a princess. (Sheen, slight shimmer)

Myrtha - The rich deep blue green of night with an earthy base. Gorgeous dramatic blue-green highlight shimmer. Apply wet for high drama, dry for softer effect. Plush matte base with sheen highlight.

Pavane - A fascinating dimensional cocoa shade. Shimmers travel from pink to gold to blue to green. Ethereal. (Sheen with sparkle)

Elegie - A dark dose of shimmering jewels. Add to other shades to deepen and dramatize, use wet-lined or all-over for a magnificent, glimmering smokey eye.

Piqué - A lovely mauved purply brown with light-changing lustre, travels from purply-blue to blue-green. (Sheen)

Clara - Festive warm purple with a twist... an unexpected smokey base and a sweet blue and pink traveling iridescent highlight. (Frost)

Tutu - Soft pink violet plush matte base with an effervescent golden copper highlight. (Sheen)

Sylph - Add a touch of shimmering tiara glamour to any shade to add sparkly and shine... brilliant sparkling jewels in a white plush matte base.

Glissé - Lush cocoa plush matte base with bordeaux tones... and a surprising green and blue shimmer highlight. (Sheen, slight sparkle)

Promenade - Romantic violet plush matte base with an intriguing blue-violet iridescent highlight. (Sheen)

I've learned to always purchase a full size sample set of the limited edition colors because like Kristen (Aromaleigh's owner and creator of all these lovely eye shadows) said, "The photos of these colors barely touch what they truly are like in person." With that said, my top 5 based on my first impression are: Arabesque, Odile, Dulcinea, Pavane and Sylph. What are your favorites?

Nature on my front porch...

I've been adding regular posts to the Aromaleigh "Furry Friends" area of the forum about the birds who decided to make our front porch flower arrangement their new home. But today, Aromaleigh needed to make space on their site so they deleted a few lesser used areas of the forum (including Furry Friends). Needless to say, my most recent post about the birds was deleted in the process. So in a nutshell, here's a recap of what's been going on...

Here's the decoration on our front porch where the doves decided to nest.

To give you some perspective, here's the front of our house showing the location of the decoration to the left of the front door.

Close-up of the mama bird on the nest.

Two eggs in the nest.

They're getting bigger!

All gone.

Anyone have ideas on what I could do with the nest? I thought about bringing it inside the house to use as a decoration but wasn't sure about the "kootie factor" with a live nest.

Let me know your thoughts.

Edited post to add: I'm thinking of putting the nest under a cloche with some other nature items like my friend posted about over at The Nesting Place.

I gave Cameron a mini-mohawk...

Cameron was due for a haircut anyway so he and I decided on a mohawk just for fun. We figured if he didn't like it, I could just cut the hair on top to match the sides and it would be just like the regular haircut I give him every month. So I got out the clippers and went for it.

Now, I've been giving clipper cuts for years (DH taught me how to do his fades for about 10 years before he started shaving his head completely bald) so the only part that was new for me was the mohawk itself. But cutting wavy/curly hair into a straight line is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. The hair kind of wants to lay the way it wants. I think I did a pretty good job for my first time and Cameron is very pleased. I did the cut yesterday but he wouldn't let me gel it until today. Here are the results...

No gel.

No gel.

With gel. Cameron says he likes it like this the best.

Anyone know where these came from?

I received these samples a couple of weeks ago and let them sit on my desk and get piled over with stacks of papers. I just dug them out today and I don't remember what company they're from. Do you?

You'd think if a company wants you to reorder products from them, they'd put their name on the label. With the sad little sticker dots on them, these samples look like they came from someone's yard sale.

Edit to add: I just found a note on my desk from The She Space. That must be who they're from. Mystery solved.

Have any of you tried these colors yet? If so, what are your thoughts?

Color Names:

sparkle pearl
cabana boy
goddess called pam
lesli in leather
peggy pushed polly
queenie of the cats
love that lynne
shot the messenger

Family update...

For those of you who don't follow me on twitter or facebook or know me personally, you may not be aware that Jason (my husband), broke his collar bone this past Saturday. He was playing basketball, went up for a shot, someone fouled him mid-air and he crashed into the gym wall head and shoulder first. Long story short, he's home recovering and the new responsibility has been keeping me busy. He probably won't need surgery but we'll know more in a couple more weeks when he sees his Ortho again.

So if I don't answer your comments to my posts in a timely fashion or comment regularly on your wonderful blogs, it's only because I hardly have a minute to myself these days. I'm still trying to adjust to life as it is now.

I just wanted you all to know that I think about you every day and that I'm with you all in spirit. As soon as life gets somewhat back to normal, I'll get back into my regular groove and you'll be hearing from me more often.

Inspiration...

High fashion inspiration...

Jewelry inspiration...

Shopping inspiration...

Fantasy makeup inspiration...

Thanks for looking. Are you inspired by these beautiful creatures?

Click here and here to check out some peacock inspired makeup looks by my friend over at Decorative Diva!

I borrowed these photos from the web. If they are your copyrighted property and you would like me to remove them from my blog, please let me know and I will gladly oblige.

Necklace by Ameron Coor

My latest Aromaleigh haul...

Okay, so lots of women on the Aromaleigh forum raaaave about the taklon brushes. So much so that I finally caved in and bought myself several. Ummm, how did I not realize until now how inexpensive these brushes are (details on the price is posted below). I also couldn't resist buying a few more full sizes of the now discontinued L'Orchidee limited edition eyeshadow collection (I own 11 of the 20 offered). It's just so hard to say no to something you MAY NEVER EVER SEE AGAIN IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE! Do you know what I mean? Of course you do. Okay, so let's get on with the details of my haul...

Wonderful goodies all wrapped up "pretty in pink"!

I always appreciate the attention to detail in the packaging.

Taklon Brush Details

• large rounded face: reg $22.50. It was on sale for 25% off!
• angled sculptor: $5.85
• large all-over: $5.55
• small all-over: $5.55

I'm very satisfied with the eye shadow brushes I currently use (a combo of Target and Sonja Kashuk), but couldn't resist the wonderful reviews of these "luxurious taklon brushes." So when I opened them up and saw that the eyeshadow brushes are rather flat, I wasn't sure if they were going to measure up to my plumper brushes. What I found is that I don't need all those extra fibers to achieve a good eye shadow application. With the taklon brushes, I feel that I get less fall-out and waste less product. It'll just take some getting used to after using the same brushes for over a year. With that said, I'm not sure that I feel the same way about the large rounded face brush. The fibers are very dense and I'm used to a much looser brush (for both blush and powder). I think I'm going to have to work with that brush a bit more before I make a decision on it.

My 3 free samples

From left to right: chatterbox, mariposa, showy and shadow witch

(direct sunlight)

(indirect natural light)

Color Descriptions:

• Chatterbox - Rich, multi-dimensional brownish mauve smoke with frosted shimmer
• Mariposa - Brilliant red/wine frost with shimmering red sparks of depth
• Showy - Lovely cool pink frost with blue iridescent sparkles
• Shadow Witch - Midnight smoked blue with surprising golden sparks
  
  

Picture of the day...

Sierra and I went shopping after school today and Dad and Cameron stayed home. When we got home, the house was very quiet and this is what we saw...

Apparently, Dad fell asleep watching t.v. in the bedroom. Since the t.v. in the family was on cartoons when we got home, it appears Cameron did the same thing (like father like son). I thought it was kind of an odd spot where Cameron chose to lay down though because it's in the middle of the walkway and he doesn't have a clear view of the television from there.

*Our packages from shopping are still on the kitchen floor. I didn't have a chance to put them away because I wanted to grab the camera quickly in case he woke up.

FOTD: "Tormented Fraud"

Aromaleigh Elemental Lustres:

"This unique collection is based on pigments that are, well... purely elemental! One glance at the colors in this collection and you can see the depths of the earth and the heights of the stratosphere. This range of chromatic glimmers has as many surprises as Mother Nature herself.

The products are crafted from lustrous shades which are actual copper, bronze and aluminum powders. Definitely not your average minerals!!! The effects are rich, elegant and simply devastating! You'll find that these amazing pigments are nothing like traditional mica "mineral" pigments... and you'll be hooked on our new "Elemental Lustres" line! Advanced encapsulation technology makes it possible for the gorgeous mirror shine of these elemental metals to be captured and preserved within silica. These cosmetic grade metallic powders are produced for cosmetic use and are FDA approved for cosmetic use.

Choose from Elemental Lustres eyeshadows in 26 shades, Cheek Glistens and Nourishing Color Creme for lips."

Here's what I did today:

*All makeup is Aromaleigh unless otherwise specified

• Aromaleigh shadow base/primer - all over
• Fraud elemental lustre - lid
• Torment elemental lustre - crease/v
• Sunny Disposition eye plush - brow bone & to blend all edges
• Drama Topaz pure drama mineral liner - mixed w/ sealant and lined on upper lash line
• Chocolate Mousse indelible gel liner - smudged outer 3/4 of lower lashes
• Medium pure bronze - cheeks
• Limbo elemental lustre nourishing color creme - lips
  

Thanks for checking out my look!