Happy Easter!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have a Happy Easter! Or a Happy Sunday!!
=^_^=
I know I am putting this up a day early and I actually had some blog posts planned, but right now. I'm going to take a break until Monday. I got some VERY disheartening news last night and just can't concentrate on much of anything.
Last night I found out that my Grandfather (My Dad's Father) has terminal brain cancer. It can't be operated on and he can't do chemo-therapy because of his heart. I'm not saying this because I want sympathy. I am saying it because I want you all to know that yes, there is actually a human being behind writing this blog and right now I just want to take a couple of days break and just enjoy the Holiday with my family.
My Grandfather is an EXTREMELY strong willed man and he has been through hell and back, but this might be his last Easter and I want to make the best of it.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!! <3

This is a picture from the wedding. Not my favorite picture but it has my Grandfather and well my Dad's side of the familia in it. My Grandfather is in the center row. I'm sure you can guess which one :)

And with that I leave.

Happy Easter/Sunday everyone!


Autumn

Cult Nails In The Garden Pre-Sale!

Hey everyone!

I wanted to do a quick post and tell you that Cult Nails is having a pre-sale of her newest collection!!!!

I wish I had the money to buy all of these! Omg they are gorgeous! I LOVE her Wax finish polishes... and her polishes in general. 

Go HERE to view the collection! I can't post the pictures of her polishes because I don't have permission to use them. So I am going to link you to Phyrra's post she has pictures of the polishes up on her post.

The collection is on pre-sale for $40! Individually it would retail for $60, so definitely jump on the pre-sale NOW!!!

ORLY/Hard Candy Comparison

Hey Hey ladies!
I hope you all are doing well!!!

Today I have a comparison post for you.

Since the ORLY Cosmic FX collection came out back in 2010, I've been trying to find a dupe to it since it's hard to find. Welp Hard Candy came out with Beetle, but that was discontinued and then with their new collections that just came out they released Crush On Lava.
Click to read more and see the pictures!

Ipsy March 2013 : The Great Escape

Hello Hello!

This months bag was exciting for me. Mostly because it was nautical themed. I grew up on boats and on the water, so the actual bag spoke to me and made me happy. The contents of the bag however, I'm content with them. I'll explain in a minuto. 

The first thing in the bag is the Juice Beauty Hydrating Mist. 

This isn't full sized, but it is still pretty damn big for a sample. This is 1 fl. oz and the full size is 6.75 fl. oz. This does have a floral, kind of grannyish scent to it and honestly, I don't think I can use it. While I'm not allergic to Rose's, I have a problem with rose scented products. Only because it really messes with my nose. Allergy wise it doesn't bother me, but this is strong enough that it could potentially set off a reaction. While it has a lot of good ingredients in it, myself personally am too afraid to try it. Shame :(

Yaby eye shadow refill in Azalea Petal & Seashell.

While I was excited to try these Yaby shadows, I can tell you that I was highly disappointed. You may remember a few months ago when I talked about the Balm Meet Matt(e) shadow that I got had fingerprints in it like someone swatched it then put it in the bag anyways. Well, my Yaby Azalea Petal had been opened, there were gouges in the shadow and someone had stuck their finger in it. Then tried to seal it back up to make it look unopened. I did contact Ipsy and they offered to send me a replacement and I honestly just don't want it. This is the second product I've received from them that was used. I know you can't really tell in the picture. My camera is not wanting to cooperate at the present moment :(.

Seashell I've not tried either, I did try and swatch it and it wasn't that pigmented. It can be a good thing. You can get a slight highlight or what not without it looking gawdy. So far, I'm not impressed with Yaby. I'm going to see if I can try a few more of their shadows and make my final decision then.

LA Fresh Travel Lite Makeup Remover Towelettes. 

I've never tried LA Fresh products before, I mean I have ONE towelette that I got from Beauty Army so many months ago, but I've not used it yet honestly. Shame on me I know. I am excited to try these though because you can never have too many makeup towelettes! 

Glam RX Mini Freestyle Palette 

This is what I was the MOST excited about. I've been wanting to try Z Palettes out but haven't had the extra money to order them, so I'm pretty excited about this. It's a little bigger than a business card, so it is perfect for travel. It has a nice sized mirror and is magnetized. So glad to have this!

That was this months bag. For me, not so exciting. I'm probably going to take the Juice Beauty mist to the CFbeauty bloggers meetup this weekend. I'm sure someone will be able to use it :) What did you think of this months bag?!

Disclaimer: I purchased the MyGlam bag with my own money. All products were inside of the bag. I am not affiliated with any of the above mentioned companies, nor am I being compensated to talk about this. 

French Mermaid NOTD

Hello everyone!

The inspiration of today's nails were that I wanted to use 2 nail polishes from companies I've never tried before. Yesterday (Saturday) was the Central Florida Beauty Bloggers Meetup and there was a swap and I picked up a few nail polishes. I got a couple of brands that I've never tried before and have been lemming over! I've got fake nails on because mine are misshapen and growing back out and my nails just look hideous! Bah.

Anyways, I KNEW I wanted to try the Bettina nail polish that I had gotten from Cristina (Let Them Have Polish)  I had never heard of Bettina before, so I knew I wanted to at least try and get one polish. I had 2 in my hand, but I decided to put the other one back. The second polish is from Julep. I've been wanting to try Julep before but I can't justify a $14 polish at this moment, and I've not signed up for their subscription box. I've almost done it a dozen or so times, but at the checkout I ALWAYS wind up just cancelling it.
I'm so grateful to the ladies who brought them because I couldn't be happier with these two polishes! Thank you so much!! :D (I'm not sure who brought the Julep one honestly :( there was no name on the box)

I didn't use a base coat because I have a pair of imPRESS nails on.

The neutral color is Bettina Jingle Belle. 

The blue is Julep's Piper.

Out The Door Top Coat

I don't know why, but Piper and Jingle Belle together reminded me of mermaids.
Jingle Belle is absolutely PERFECT. I'm in complete love with it and kicking myself in the booty for not getting the other one (it was purple)! This polish has so much depth that it's not funny. I wish my camera would have picked it up! Gah its 100x more gorgeous in person! And the formulas! Gah! Don't even get me started on them! Bloody perfect! I did not have one problem with the formula's of either of these! Oh! The couple of bubbles on the nails were from my top coat, not the polishes!

Piper is a sheet color so it took about 4 coats to build it up to color which is okay. I still love it! Jingle Belle is 3 coats. It's a fantastic everyday manicure in my opinion that has a nice pop of color.

I am so happy with these nail polishes that it's not even funny. I keep starring at the bottles because they are so gorgeous! Oh! Sorry about the cuticles, especially the split one. For some ungodly reason, while we were sitting at the meetup, my cuticle split. :( I spent a majority of the time rubbing it because it hurt and.. well I'm not sure why I rubbed it, but it helped it stop hurting! Bah. I need to bust out my heavy duty moisturizer!


I hope you all are doing well! I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who was at the meetup. I was psyching myself out for no reason, which is why I was terrified. In general meeting new people kind of scares me because it's out of my comfort zone, especially when it's in a larger crowd. It was SO relaxing though! I enjoyed meeting all of you! I promise I'm not normally that timid. Now that I have met you all, I'll be fine! It's just the first time that gets me! Thank you for such a great day and for being so welcoming!

Hey everyone. I just made a facebook page. I'm going to give it another shot. So CLICK HURR  and another page will open :) 

Disclaimer: The Julep and Bettina polish were received in a swap and I bought the top coat with my own money. 

Influenster 2013 Sugar 'n Spice VoxBox

Hello Hello!

I hope you are doing well!

I was so excited when I got the email saying that I was eligible for the Sugar 'n Spice voxbox. It's always really surprising and FUN when you get that email, then you have the anticipation of waiting to see if you actually get approved for it! Bah I love it! Such a rush. :P haha. (the cat keeps knocking boxes over in my closet -_-)

This is what the card reads for this box.

Ingredients for a VoxBox? Sugar and spice and everything nice! Our second box of 2013 was made with love just for you. We threw in a bit of sugar, kicked up the heat and delivered something irresistible to your door. So go on - be naughty, be nice, be an Influenster!

 To read what came in the Sugar 'n Spice VoxBox click Read More! 

Own Lifting Eye Cream Review

Hello Gorgeous ladies and Handsome gents! I hope you all are doing well!!

The review I have for you today is kind of an exciting one for me! I'm really excited to share this product with you all! This was sent to me via iFabbo, which is an International Organization for beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers. This is a members only website and you do have to submit an application (and actually blog regularly instead of occasionally). I actually didn't even know iFabbo did this honestly. Surprise for me! But enough about that!

Check out what I think of this after by clicking Read More!

Mega Blogger Giveaway!!

You all have NO idea how excited I am to be a part of this giveaway! There are some AH-MAZING bloggers associated with this! I must say, I am kind of jealous! This prize is amazing! I envy the winner! :P 

Definitely check out all of the other lovely ladies' blogs who are a part of this! I love all of their blogs and I know you all will as well! I put in the Skinn duo boost set and the Sugarpill stuff! I hope you all have fun and definitely check out Aimee's blog! She just re-did and relaunched it! Good luck everyone!!! xx

To check out this awesome giveaway Click Read More!! 

Chit Chat!

Hey loves.

This is definitely going to be a different type of post. If you have noticed, I have been a bit lax on all social media lately. I'm not gonna lie, I lost a bit of my uumph. I'm starting to get that fire under my tushy back though, which is good. Lately I know that I have definitely been lax. It's allergy season and it's not been very kind to me! I'm allergic to EVERY-THING that is outside, I'm allergic to my cat, my dogs, etc.. normally it doesn't bother me but oh my gall the pollen has been insane! Then ontop of it, I caught the flu. Bloody hell! I almost got lucky, I practically avoided everyone who was sick, THEN my niece and nephew got sick and BAM I got the flu. Pfffttt! So I've definitely been down and out, I've not been playing with makeup because obviously I don't want to infect everything with my germs... so I definitely am waiting until I feel better to do any of that.

I did start a new skincare regime, so I definitely will catch you all up on that very soon, it's going pretty damn well if I must say! I've also decided to try a self tanning thing from Beautisol. It's a Tea Tan so I am hoping it will go well, I've seen a few people use it and have liked the results, so we shall see how it goes!

I also wanted to mention that I was accepted into i-Fabbo! I was so freaking excited when I saw that! Not only that but I was also accepted into the Central Florida Beauty Bloggers group! Gah! March started off really damn well for me! :D :D I am going to fiddle with my layout a bit because I have to add the CFBbloggers button to my side bar, but I also have to add my bloglovin' button. In June or July (I can't remember) Google is getting rid of GFC! -_- That is one of the reason's that I came BACK to Blogger. Le sigh. So please please follow me on Bloglovin', Hello Cotton, or by email. It would mean the absolute world to me! I do know that it is going to screw with a LOT of other bloggers....well it's going to really screw everyone over. I don't know why Google decided to get rid of it!

I also wanted to mention to all of you bloggers out there that the FTC updated their stuff and there are new guidelines that are supposed to be followed so PLEASE check out. Phyrra's blog post about it. So that is really screwing everything up! Bloggers are really being thrown for a curveball lately. I've always disclosed multiple times in my blog posts that I have been given a product for free and what not and where it came from, so I know I am adhering to that aspect of the whole damn thing. But I do know some bloggers that don't even disclose at all and that personally bothers me. A couple of blogs in particular I have been able to tell when they were given something for free, just by the way they talk about the products. Which is a shame because then it makes them look biased. So please, for your sake and everyone else's disclose if you got it for free and what not.

Like I said earlier, I am going to be updating some stuff on my sidebars, and I do want to state right here that I do have an affiliate link on my sidebar, it is stated that I am an affiliate, and I do get a VERY small commission from it when someone BUYS from their website. That's it.

I've not announced it yet but I have chosen the winner for my giveaway, I've not emailed her as of yet but congrats to Rena! I will be emailing you shortly.!! :)

So, just to reiterate, PLEASE follow me via email, hello cotton or bloglovin' because Google is getting rid of GFC :(

I hope you all are doing well!!!!


<3 Autty

Beauty Blogger Tag

So, I know I know. I'm slacking so hard that it's not even funny. I ALWAYS am saying that I am going to set time aside and crank out some blogs, it NEVER happens. Today I had plans to move the living room around and my Brother was going to come over and him and Chris were going to play video games. Well, my brother came over and we wound up watching disaster movies (and Men In Black 3) Le sigh. I am honestly sorry that I've been so bad at blogging lately. :( Too dang much going on! But I've had this sitting in my email since February 23. I saw Oh So Kansas do this and was like OMG want to do it and I figured NOW is the time! :P

To read the questions and my answers click Read More!

Niece & Nephew Bath Time Haul

Hello Loves!

So, this is definitely going to be a different kind of haul. I know I JUST did a Walmart haul, but I promised my Nephew I would get him these and I'm a woman of my word, especially when it comes to my Nephew and Niece. Chris and I don't have any kids of our own so my Nephew and Niece are my world and I would do anything and everything I could for them if I were able too. So when my parents moved into their new place, I knew instantly what to get for my Nephew and Niece since they are over there a lot.

Check out what I purchased for my Niece and Nephew after the break!

Walmart Haul

So I am not going to lie. I guess I have no logical excuse for why I have not blogged. There's been A LOT going on in my personal life. The stress and everything else that has been going on has been insane. I've got blogs writen up but honestly I've just not been feeling up to blogging. It's been horrid I feel like I am letting y'all down. With that being said. I've got a haul for you!

I went to Walmart in the hopes of picking up some FLOWER cosmetics, but honestly I had a mascara in my hand and just wound up putting it back after carrying it around for 15 minutes. I've got one of the nail polishes, but we aren't going to talk about it right now..'nough said about that.

I did however pick up a few nail polishes! You know I had to jump on the new Hard Candy polishes! Holla! I've been holding out since they came out because I know myself. I'll eventually end up with them all because they are GORGEOUS. I am LOVING their new bottles designs, I honestly wasn't a fan of the old ones, which is why I didn't have many.

Check out what I picked up from Walmart by clicking Read More!

Formula 10.0.6 Seriously Shine Free Mattifying Oil-Free Moisturizer

Is allergy season starting anywhere else in the world besides Florida? It's only the VERY beginning of March and allergy season has started. The sheer amount of pollen..it's knocking me off my game, especially being allergic to ever-single-thing-outdoors..which is why this review is up late! D:

First, the sheer name of this product is a mouthful! Sheesh! :P

I had heard about this company before on another blog, but for the life of me I can't remember which one! Shame on me. While roaming Ulta the last time I was there I stumbled upon their products. I literally SAT on the floor of Ulta starring and trying to decide if I wanted this moisturizer or one from another company. I was sitting there for a good 10 minutes, poor Chris! :P The moisturizer sounded better than the other one that I had in my hand and I decided to take the risk and try something new with my skincare. I mean, why not? Life is too short to play everything safe. 

This moisturizer claims to get a matte finish to the skin when it is applied. It does to a point. It doesn't completely mattify all of the places on my face, but ya know, I'm okay with that. I don't need an entirely matte face, and if I did, that is what a foundation is for. This is also supposed to keep you shine free for the entire day, but we will get into that in a minute. Formula 10.0.6 uses bamboo extract to help absorb the extra sebum (that's what the oil is called) on your face and it also has Aloe Very to help soften your skin. 

As per the all day shine-free, I really don't believe that it holds up to that. I do get a few hours of shine-free-ness, maybe 4 at the most but it's not all day. If I really wanted an all day matte face though, like I said earlier I would use a foundation or I would use this in conjunction with other mattifying products. The bamboo extract does an extremely good job of soaking up the extra sebum in my more oily place (like my nose and cheeks) and I definitely can tell a difference with the aloe vera. 

I do think that this is a bloody fan-freaking-tastic moisturizer though! Heck, my Mum even likes it and that is really saying something. She doesn't like much. I really do feel that this does help balance the sebum on my face better than the moisturizers that I have used in the past. Boy o boy my face does appreciate this, especially with my face having developed some dry spots. It does say to avoid the eye area with this, but I don't have any issues with using it there. Even though I don't suggest it, because it does warn against it. I've got an eye cream I am testing out, so definitely no more putting this on the eyes for me! :P (even though it does a fantastic job on my oily lids!)

Oh! For how it smells, to me it smells like a regular moisturizer. It doesn't really have a strong scent at all, at least nothing that lingers. It's not even noticeable unless you actually smell it. (guilty) This also will last you a long while because you definitely do not need much at all!

This retails for $6.99

2.54 fl. oz (75 mL)

I think that is a FANTASTIC prices for a drugstore moisturizer, especially with it working as well as it does. This can be purchased at Ulta or on Ulta.com .

You can also purchase it on the Formula 10.0.6 website http://products.formula1006.com/

Formula 10.0.6 is cruelty free, even though there is nothing printed on their packaging. Since it is an Australian company, animal testing is illegal there. They don't have print the cruelty free logo on their products and they choose not to put it on their packaging. That is coming from their facebook page. 

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Aloe Barbaden Leaf Juice, Caprylic/Capric Triglyverides, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceterarth-20, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat., Lecithin, Epilobium Angustifolium Extract, Trapaeolum Majus Extract, Terminalia Chebula Extract, Porphyridium Cruentum Extract, Hydroxyethel Ethylcellulose, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Bambusa Arundinacea (Bamboo) Stem Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Slicylic Acid, Sodium Salicylate, Tocopherol, Echinacea, Angustifolia Extract, Pathenol, Fragrance/Parfum, Cyclopentasiloxane, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.