Spring Beauty Must Haves

The warmer months mean more skin & open toed shoes.  These are my top three spring beauty must haves (besides my new favorite deodorant of course).

1. Organic Coconut Oil has anti-microbial, anti-fungal & anti-bacterial properties that make it a great skin conditioner especially when you're baring more skin in this hot weather we've been having.  So many of those trendy beauty oils now have coconut oil as one of their main ingredients & they offer it in a tiny vial for beaucoup when you can pick up a 14 oz jar in your grocery store for less then ten bucks.  I keep a jar of this in my shower & use it as a shaving oil, eye makeup remover, moisturizer & zit zapper. It also smells like coconuts - which is heavenly in my book.
2. Zoya Nail Polish is free of toluene, formaldehyde, DBP (phthalates) & camphor  or in other words the really bad stuff that can be found in a lot of nail polishes.  Zoya has tons of gorgeous colors. I'm currently sporting this pretty coral color, Kara, on my toes. Oh & if I couldn't love it more it's really really long-lasting.
3. Lily Organics Skin Care Seaweed Balancing Facial Cleanser - I'll be honest I'd never heard of this stuff but I'm so glad that the sweet folks at Lily reached out & brought it to my attention.  This facial cleanser like all of Lily products uses organically grown ingredients from their certified organic farm with USDA certified organic manufacturing methods.  They've been pioneering organic skin care in Colorado since 1986 - can you believe it's taken me this long to find them… or for them to find me! This cleanser balances &  nourishes skin with seaweed & essential oils which is ideal for my combination skin that's prone to breakouts. The antibacterial properties of tea tree oil & rosemary are ideal for combating acne.  It's super gentle & leaves skin feeling clean & never dry like some acne fighting formulas can.

What products are you obsessing over lately? I love more recommendations.

PS: Happy Birthday to my fabulously gorgeous friend Ashley! Hope this is the best year yet! xx

Last Day to Win!

pumpkin: lacquer; booties; bracelet; bag; collar; dress.  fushia: dress: top; belt; flats; lacquer.  oxblood: lacquer; necklace; bag; sweater; booties; jeans.

Happy Halloween! Today is the last day to enter my Pin To Win Sheswai Lacquer Contest!

How to win:

1. follow sheswai on twitter (@sheswai) & pinterest (pinterest.com/sheswai) 
2. pin the above image on pinterest.com  & add #sheswaigiveaway #heatheromade"to your description.
3. or tweet "i want to win some dark & lovely Sheswai Lacquer. #sheswaigiveaway #heatheromade"

Who will win:

• 3 winners will be selected to win one (1) bottle of Sheswai Lacquer each.  
• You have until Wednesday, October 31st, 2012 to enter.  Contest ends October 31st, 2012 at 11:59pm EST. 
• Winners will be announced Friday, November 2nd, 2012 on HeatherOMade.Blogspot.com. 
•  No cash value.  
• NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS CONTEST. BY ENTERING THIS CONTEST, ENTRANTS ACCEPT & AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE OFFICIAL RULES. 
• Terms & Conditions apply, please click through for complete rules.

French Tip Sticker Manicure

The Sally Hansen Salon Effects manicure is really the manicure that keeps on giving. It lasted for 5 days with minimal wear on the tips. So I decided to stretch it's lifespan out a couple more days by  sprucing up the tips with this polish!

Quick, Long Lasting, No Dry Manicure

I know the nail sticker trend has been around for a bit, but I'm still in puppy love with it. Seriously, it's the best way to get a great manicure, plus it lasts longer than any salon manicure I've ever had. I used these. I've tried some other brands but Sally Hansen's work best for me & they always have them on some kind of sale in CVS.

Did I mention that these don't smell, don't have any drying time & if you have small nail beds like me you can get two nails out of each strip. Yep, I'm hooked.

Click through for a mini tutorial!

Nude & Shimmer Manicure

Yesterday I gave you a peek into my latest spring/summer makeup bag must-haves.  Today, I give you the why.  This sheswai laquer is just so pretty, no really that's the shade's name.

Back in our freshly post-collegiate days my gal Maggie & I decided that the best way to look literally "polished" on our merely shoe string budgets was with a DIY nude manicure for a couple reasons. (1) Nude shades are really timeless & (2) they're the most forgiving either when you smudge them brushing them on or chip them later, the mistakes are just a little less noticeable.  I still live by this rule today.

If you're feeling adventurous, brush on a couple coats of this shimmery lacquer on top of your nude base.  I think it's fun to pick just one finger to jazz up but you could really go all out & do all ten.

Ranunculus Color Play

The photos from our trip to the market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco strike back with this photo of colorful ranunculus for sale.  I used these to pull inspiration for the spring/summer makeup you can find in my makeup bag this spring.

What's in your makeup bag?

glittery nail polish (traffic-stopper copper by sephora),
tangerine lip stain (spirited by tarte),
maracuja creaseless concealer (light by tarte),
pure bb cream (alex, read about why it's so great here!),
argan color stick (poppy by joise maran), 
classic nude polish (so pretty by sheswai)

P dot S: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MISS ASHLEY MCGEE!! Love you!