Pearl Barrettes Autoclip / Karina $6

Twice Baked / Urban Decay $16

Honey / Urban Decay $18

Bare Escentuals Sugar Cookie $15

Pearl & Dream Charm Bracelet / Betsy Johnson $55

Sweetest Hive Earrings / Anthropologie $28

MAC Cosmetics / Golden Nectar $24.50

Lindy Platform Pumps / Forever 21 $22.80

Crochet Tiered Maxi Dress / Charlotte Russe $22.99

Somewhere in my day I remember an old lady or two tell me that a woman should never use more than one perfume. Bullmalarky! With hundreds (or thousands) of amazing scents in the world, how can a young girl chose ONE and ONLY ONE?

After gathering my top scents, I noticed many had similar sweet and warm scents, and I thought I’d share my favorites…

#1 Beyond Paradise – Estee Lauder

I fell in love with this perfume in the winter of 2006 when I bought my first fragrance with Estee Lauder for their huge Holiday Blockbuster. This scent literally makes me feel transported to a lush remote island covered in fresh blooming jasmine. It’s a beautiful, modern, tropical, and LUSH scent great for any age or occasion (office included.)

**TIP** If you can wait, buy this around December when their Holiday Blockbuster set is available. You can take care of all of the women in your family For $100 or less with all of the great deals Estee Lauder offers at that time.

#2 Miss Dior Cherie

This scent made me feel like a red hot (or pink) lady with a whip. It’s deep sweet sensuous notes of jasmine, strawberry, and some amazing thing baking in the oven will have the boys lusting all over your goodies. In my opinion, this scent is too hot for the office, but great for a dinner party, wedding, or a stroll through the South Coast Mall.

#3 Coco Mademoiselle – Chanel

Though Chanel is known for heavier, more mature scents, Coco Mademoiselle (created only in 2001!) is a great perfume for modern hardcore badass fashion chicks who love the fresh orange and jasmine scents…who like smelling expensive! Unlike many perfumes, with Coco Mademoiselle, I catch a new note with every test. This perfume in particular is so special that it should be worn on special occasions only.

#4 Princess – Vera Wang

If you enjoy the feeling of dancing in a tutu trailed with warm, sweet vanilla and other fruity notes…then this is your bag. I’ve lusted after this scent for almost 3 years and finally made the buy a few months ago and have worn it literally everyday.  Appropriately named “Princess,” I feel as if I am spoiling myself with each spray.

**TIP** Do try the exfoliating Body Polish. The 1.7 oz is avaliable with the Body Polish gel and Body Butter lotion. You MUST get the set!

#5 Juicy Couture – Juicy Couture

Last but not least, Juicy. This scent has a unforgeable woody, cherry vanilla scent that makes me feel as if I am dancing in an enchanted forest LOL!  This flirty scent can be worn on any occasion and is a MUST MUST MUST try.

As summer approaches in sunny California, the blue of the ocean, lime green palms, and golden hills never get old. I love all these colors so much in fact, that I want them ALL OVER MY FACE. Thirty-four trips or so to Sephora and Ulta had me more than lusting for every high-end fresh color available. Sephora’s latest catalog clad in mermaids, wearing blues and purple hues by NARS and Urban Decay namely had me online shopping at work more than my boss would like to hear.

Needless to say my lust brought me buying a number of shadows and shadow duos. A hundred or so dollars later I thought it was over…but it was not! Like an idiot, I hit up Nordstrom only to find the last few Urban Decay Box of Shadows selling with 16 shadows…for only $45 MORE dollars!!!! I could HAVE IT ALL for only $45… or so I thought.

My friend Valaree introduced me to the Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Palette, and the flashbacks of swiping my debt card at Sephora almost had me puking in buyer’s remorse. I was skeptical – why was this thing only $24 or so? It had to be bad formula… though no, twas not. The 88 Shimmer Palette’s brother, the 88 Matte Palette though, was another story. Plainly I’ll say SKIP IT. The 88 Shimmer formula is much higher quality, and the pigmentation is fantastic.

After some work, I was able to match over 35 colors so far to Urban Decay mainly, but also Stila and NARS. Of course they aren’t EXACT matches in shade, texture, etc, it is close enough to where even a beginner can start on some great tutorials out there…

Check out my list of color equivalents. Comment any corrections or additions. (Obviously I have no MAC equivalents, which would be great…)

EQUIVALENTS

1. Polyester Bride – Urban Decay
9. Scratch / Scandal  – Urban Decay
10. Half Baked  – Urban Decay
11. Vapor  – Urban Decay
13. Eldorado  – Urban Decay
14. Green Goddess  – Urban Decay
15. Shattered  – Urban Decay
19. Purple Haze  – Urban Decay, Grifter – Urban Decay
21. Maui Wowie  – Urban Decay
22. Uzi  – Urban Decay
25. Acid Rain  – Urban Decay
28. Speed  – Urban Decay
32. YDK  – Urban Decay, Chopper – Urban Decay
33. Strip  – Urban Decay
35. Honey  – Urban Decay
36. URB – Urban Decay
39. Flash – Urban Decay
44. S&M  – Urban Decay
45. Sin – Urban Decay, Kitten – Stila
46. Baked  – Urban Decay
47. Vert  – Urban Decay
48. Flipside  – Urban Decay
49. Mary Jane  – Urban Decay
50. Peace  – Urban Decay
51. Grifter  – Urban Decay
52. Fishnet – Urban Decay
54. Roach  – Urban Decay
56. Blunt  – Urban Decay
59. Protest / Mildew  – Urban Decay
61. Cobalt Blue / R Rated Duo – NARS
63. Last Call – Urban Decay
65. Toasted  – Urban Decay, Smog – Urban Decay
70. Absinthe / Graffiti  – Urban Decay
71. Tropic – NARS
72. Ransom
74. Last Call – Urban Decay
77. Twice Baked  – Urban Decay
86. Gash – Urban Decay
88. Oil Slick / Zero – Urban Decay