Pat McGrath Labs is making all my lip gloss dreams come true with 18 new shades of LUST Gloss for spring 2019. They retail for $28 each and come in three different finishes she calls High Shine, Shimmer and Glitter. I reviewed some shades when they initially launched last May. They’re among my favorite formula because they are smooth, have no scent, aren’t sticky and have a pretty shine to them. I’m thrilled to share swatches of all the new spring colors! As a neutral lip lover I feel like she made so many amazing colors that are wearable alone or mixed with a lipstick/liner. There are a lot of fresh glowing soft shades. Most of these have sheer to medium coverage. There are a couple that have higher medium pigment, but the vast majority of these will have a soft finish.
These come with a beveled sponge tip applicator. They’re easy to apply and glide on the lips nicely. A couple layers will add enough color to cover my lips.
Close ups and descriptions of each color. I tried grouping them by finish, but some of the shine shades seem to have a tiny bit of pearl in them.
Left to right:
Nude Negligee is a sheer cream light beige
Wicked Whisper is a medium nude peach
Prima Donna is a soft glowy pale petal pink
Heavy Petal is a pigmented bold bright warm pink
Flesh6 is a medium warm brown cream
Up next are the shimmers:
Love Potion is a sheer pale pink with a hint of shimmer, alone this settles into lip lines a little
Faux Real is beige nude tan with a pearly finish
Peach Perversion is a pale peach with a pearly glow
Belladonna is a medium warm pink with a sheen
Sunset Rose is a perfect medium neutral rose with soft gold shimmer
Secret Lover is a deeper rose with a hint of warm pearl
Last are the sparkles, all of these are smooth in finish. There’s no gritty feel. Even with the sparkles I cannot feel any texture. I highly recommend referring to the Pat McGrath website for more swatches. Some of the shimmers are hard for me to capture with my flash. All of these are wearable even for conservative makeup wearers.
Future Femme is a pale pastel sparkling pink with silver flecks
Earth Angel is a sparkling clear base loaded with champagne, pink and copper pearl
Bronze Divinity is a smooth shimmery bronze rose nude
Bronze Venus is a sparkling iridescent bronze sparkle
Carnal Desire is a sheer red pink with loads of sparkle
Astral Flash Dance is a sheer violet purple with blue and pink sparkles
Astral Moon Flower is a sheer duochrome blue iridescent sparkle
Side by sides, all of these lip swatches were done on my bare lips. For skintone reference on the face I’m wearing Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion Foundation in Buff.
I fit as many swatch comparisons as I could on my arm to the other LUST Glosses I own. I swatched the neutral lighter shades side by side:
Bottom line love! If you like smooth natural medium-sheer color you’ll love these. I just received these in the mail this week so I haven’t had a chance to extensively test all 18 new colors. First impressions on testing a few for extended periods is that they are all just as good as the initial launch. Some have more color payoff than others but in general it’s on the natural side. Even though they are sheer the color shows up well on my bare lips. Lasting power is average for a smooth sheer gloss. They’re not going to be budge proof or transfer proof. You’ll have to reapply but it’s something I really don’t mind.
You can find the Pat McGrath LUST Gloss online at Pat McGrath. There are also some bundles and sets available on her website as well. She’s offering a 10% off new gloss shades through end of the day 1/19 with code SHINE at checkout.
“10% discount on ONLY Lust Gloss new shades. Promo code is SHINE – update, extended through end of Sunday 1/19!”
Have you tried the LUST Gloss formula yet? What did you think? Are any of the new shades on your radar?
Many thanks to the Pat McGrath team for sending the new shades for review.
Marc Jacobs Beauty launched a new mini set of lip colors with the Sugar High Nude Lip Trio ($25, limited-edition). This is the third variation of their cult classic lip gloss shade Sugar Sugar. Last year they launched a new color called Cream and Sugar in a mini trio which I really loved (and still do). They later launched all three in full-sizes. This year they have the perfect brightening peachy pink neutral called Sugar High. I have high hopes they will have these in full sizes because the colors are PERFECT! The colors give the lips the perfect brightening effect with a gorgeous pinky peachy mix.
Sugar High Lip Creme (1.7 g/0.05 oz) is a cream full coverage peachy pink
Sugar High Enamored Hi-Shine Gloss (1.7 ml/0.05 fl oz) is a peachy pink with a hint of shimmer, on the lips it’s not frosty, it has medium coverage with a high shine, no sticky feel
Sugar High (P)outliner (0.3 g/0.01 oz) is a twist up pencil that’s also peachy pink, but more muted and matte in finish
Together the three layer nicely but the lipstick and liner are really opaque so for me having all three layered gives my already full lips an extra lush plump look. I tried these a few different ways since ordering the trio. I like the gloss alone or on top of the liner. Or the liner + lipstick. Below some close ups + swatches:
Bottom line perfect. I’m obsessed with the gloss and lipstick for this color. I think the formula from Marc Jacobs for the lipgloss is one of my favorites because they have a cushiony feel without the tacky sticky finish. I keep forgetting about the lipstick creme formula because of all the other launches but they are among the best for full coverage creams. The only item in the trio I’m not that crazy about is the liner, but I still think it’s a good one. It stays put and is pretty much budge-proof once it sets so if you need something to help extend your lip color check out their other shades. These days I find that I don’t wear a lot of lip liner. The one I reach for the most is the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk because it layers well with everything (also worn with the Fenty Glosses in my holiday glow post).
You can find the Sugar High Lip Trio now at Sephora. It’s limited-edition. I’m hoping they’ll launch these in the full sizes eventually. For now I might get a backup of these because I think the gloss is perfect. Also with the size I know they’ll be easy to use up!
NARS recently launched a couple new things including their Skin Deep Eye Palette ($59 for 12 x 0.12 oz/ 3.5 g) + Super Radiant Booster ($30 for 30 ml/1 fl oz). I bought them the minute they launched and they are both really lovely. Thoughts, review + swatches on each one below. I think the products and formula are excellent with naturally flattering easy to wear colors.
Super Radiant Booster in Isola Rossa
The Super Radiant Booster in Isola Rossa is a fluid highlighter that is a soft gold shimmer. It’s described as “a universal rose gold” shade but to me it’s more golden on me, I barely see any rose. It has a very lightweight texture, it’s easy to blend and layer and dries fairly fast on my skin. Finish is luminous but dry down leaves little to no moisture which is a plus if you have oily skin. It almost has a powder dry down but it’s not dry or super matte.
I tried this as a highlighter. You can definitely mix it in with foundation but these days I wear medium to full coverage finishes. The added radiance will be more noticeable when mixing if you mix it with sheerer finish formulas. It was really easy to apply and blend with finger tips. I tried it over just foundation and on top of a foundation + powdered face. It applies nicely without disturbing or rubbing away your base which is a plus.
Swatched out of the tube vs blended:
There’s no detectable scent to me. It goes on smoothly, there’s no streaking, no emphasizing of pores, it’s a beautiful color and product. Lasting power is really good, it stays put all day. The only thing I wish is that it came in the same packaging as their regular Illuminators so you can see how much is left/gone. There is a small clear strip at the base which is nice so you can see the color of the actual product. I’m not entirely sure what the difference is between this new Super Radiant Booster versus their original Illuminators. I personally feel this new one has a little more pigment and more radiance, but they seem really similar.
Fresh Instant Glow Luminizer in Sunset (this looks the closest to the NARS straight out of the tube, but this is heavily scented and more dewy and sheers out on the skin more)
Look wearing just the Super Radiant Skin Booster on cheeks to show you how it looks alone. More color added in the look if you scroll down. Also wearing:
Next is the Skin Deep Eye Palette. I ran to my local stores to try and buy this as soon as it launched but none of the counters or stores near me had it. I ordered sight unseen online and it’s swatches a little different than all the promotional photos I’ve seen but I still really love it. NARS launched a few videos showing how this looks on a few different skin tones which I think are great to give you ideas on how to use. I fall somewhere in the middle of skin tone range and this pulls warm but not too warm. If you’re fair this will pull significantly more warm on you. If you’re deeper in skin tone I think this will be a winner and still show up on your skin. A couple of the colors have a similar vibe to the Loaded Eyeshadow Palette from a while ago. This year’s Skin Deep Eye Palette is a more modern rosy version.
This new palette has a mix of new and existing colors. All the shades performed really well with smooth even coverage and good pigment. Blending is easy and even though this pulls warm I still find it very wearable. I’m normally a little irritated when brands repeat a lot of shades but I think these are nice options to own.
Colors:
Taunt is a medium matte cream beige
Sophia is a warm soft brown
Whipped is a reddish matte brown
Undressed is a soft cool matte light brown taupe
Bali is a matte neutral brown
Icon is a shimmering champagne
Basic Instinct is a shimmering soft rose
Coconut Grove is a deep matte brown
Centerfold is a shimmery metallic grey
Calender Girl is a shimmering bronze gold
Faster Pussycat is a warm copper red shimmer
Unbuttoned is a shimmery deep brown
I really love this one. I think I could probably find similar colors in the palette in my existing stash but I love the overall look and feel of this one, it’s easy to wear and I love the pigment. Since this runs on the dark side I would have loved it if they had other variations like a Light or Medium palette. This one will suit a wide range of skin tones and I think it will show up even on deeper skin tones. I do think if you’re fair you might find this too deep. My favorite neutral eye palettes are still Urban Decay Naked2 and Naked3 but I get a little bored with using the same colors over and over again so this is a nice variation.
Wearing same colors as listed in the above makeup look photo, only difference is this one has the Hourglass Incandescent Electra blush added on cheeks for more color. Top is the One-Shoulder Sweater from Abercrombie.
Closer detail photos of the eye makeup. I’m wearing the colors Taunt all over the eye as a base, Icon and Basic Instinct Mixed applied 1/2 way up the lid, Sophia + Faster Pussycat mixed and applied closer to lash blended up, Faster Pussycat + Coconut Grove applied along lower lash line, Coconut Grove used as a liner.
Bottom line is I love both. The formulas perform really well for me and I’m really liking the overall look and vibe of the palette. Colors for both the eye palette and highlighter aren’t super unique but they work as is without any added mixing required. I think it’s really challenging for brands to create color palettes that are truly “universally” flattering but based on the videos I’ve seen I was really impressed to see how these perform on a wide range of skin tones.
I don’t know that I’d call these must-haves. I own a lot of other palettes and neutrals and I suspect you do as well. If I did some digging I could most likely find dupes. I am really happy with these purchases and have no regrets. The palette applies better than I anticipated. Looking at the compact straight out of the box I thought it would be a little boring and too dark but it turned out to be very wearable for me! I also don’t think we need any more highlighters but I don’t think there’s going to be any slowing down with the new launches. The Super Radiant Booster is really lovely. I love that it adds glow in a visible way without being too frosty. I love the dry down and color. It won’t disrupt your base if you apply on top. It’s a flattering color on my skin tone. So even with the million options I own I think this is a good one, but at this point it’s very hard for me to call any a must given all the other options that have been previously launched.
Today I’m sharing what makeup I packed for a week of travel in December to California! I’ve also included a closer look at three of my favorite makeup bags that I’ve used numerous times for travel. When it comes to travel and makeup I bring more than I need because I’m always testing products even when I’m on vacation! I don’t always manage to blog or post reviews while I’m on-the-go but behind the scenes I’m always testing and trying out product. For those who want to know sweater worn above is the Everlane Cashmere Crew in Light Oatmeal, size I ordered is XS and it’s a perfect fit! The customer reviews online helped me decide what size to pick based on height and weight.
My recent travel skincare favorites are in this post here. Today’s roundup is all about makeup! I fit most of my makeup into 3 key makeup bags that I have used on many trips including:
All three pouches are ones I bought myself and since I ordered them the prices have gone up. If you see different prices on older posts it’s because they have changed! I do think they were all worth the price because all three have held up really well. If you click on the Travel Packing category you can see what I’ve packed on previous trips. I also usually bring a few of the cute Glossier Pouches that come with online orders because they’re nice to have to protect compacts or fragile items.
Beauty spill of items I packed. I brought my Dyson Supersonic Dryer with me because we were going to be staying with family for a large portion of the trip. Both of them were our brothers who have short hair and don’t use dryers because they don’t need to! For brushes I brought the T3 Vented Brush with me.
Truffle Jetset Clarity Case
An overwhelming number of you asked me about the photo I posted on Instagram above, in particular you wanted to know what brand of makeup bag held all the brushes and if they were full size or travel size tools. I always tag items in Instagram photos so all you have to do is tap the photo once to see brand tags. This one is the Truffle Jetset Clarity Case. It measures 7.5 x 5.25 x 2 inches and has one open compartment inside. The top and base has a clear plastic window so you can see what’s inside. I’m able to fit a lot inside, I have a bag spill of everything I was able to put in it.
All the brushes I brought are the full size options. Lately I’ve been really loving the Laura Mercier Makeup Brushes*. She redesigned them sometime last year and they’re what I’ve been reaching for the most. They’re synthetic and pick up powders really well for smooth application. I still also really love Wayne Goss Makeup Brushes* because they’re ultra soft and well made. Mine have held up over a few years and many washes. I’ve reviewed them here and here.
It has two zippered compartments, one is deeper than the other. In the top I’m able to stack 2 Hourglass palettes, shadows and several foundations. If you’re packing liquids you’ll most likely have to put this into checked luggage. The bottom fit some Armani eyeshadow singles and the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette perfectly.
Things packed inside include:
2 Hourglass 6-pan Palettes (holiday 2018 editions reviewed here and here)
Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 6.5
Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion Foundation* in Buff
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter (review here)
Fenty Beauty Gloss Bombs in Fenty Glow and Fussy (beauty looks here)
Hourglass Arch Brow Tinted Brow Gel in Soft Brunette*
Tom Ford Boys and Girls Lipstick in River (review here)
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution in Pillow Talk
The Daily Edited Large Cosmetic Case
I’ve owned The Daily Edited Large Cosmetic Case one for a long time now and after using it on many trips and several moves I still find it’s one of my favorites. You can monogram these and I’ve picked the smaller size font sometimes with the blind embossing instead of the gold. A number of you have asked for a review on the Cuyana Makeup bags which I still plan on doing, but for this trip I wanted to bring ones I knew would work for me. This one is roomy and sturdy for all a number of things I want to bring. I sometimes pack a couple to separate and organize products.
Overall I think I packed everything I could have possibly needed for this trip. We tend to travel and dress casually otherwise I would have brought some bolder lip colors. I could have packed a lot more lip gloss or lipstick but I felt like I kept reaching for the light and glossy gloss bombs from Fenty Beauty. The IGK Jet Lag Dry Shampoo was a life saver for me. I’m one who prefers to wash my hair daily but there were a couple days we were so tired by the end of the day all I could do was wash my face before passing out and falling into a deep sleep. The dry shampoo was great for 2nd and 3rd day hair in the mild California climate.
Hope you liked this post! Do you have any go-to travel makeup bags? When I traveled with a couple girl friends I was really surprised to see they use these large canvas zip organizers that unfold and hang to fit all their beauty needs. It literally fits EVERYTHING inside. I like to keep my things separated in little pouches but perhaps I need to investigate the larger beauty organizers for travel.
Press samples have a * next to them. All other items purchased on my own.
I have a roundup of some of my favorite travel skincare items that I brought with me on our trip that I used. I tend to over pack on some beauty items, especially makeup, but for skin care I feel like I can keep my travel picks edited. We were in California for a full week and out of the items I packed these are the things I used! Most of my trips have been shorter ones so I pack minis with me when I can.
I usually pack a few face masks on trips but this round I brought my Foreo UFO and it was perfect! I reviewed in detail here, you can see a quick video demo here. I brought 10 packets of the different sheet formulas and used it every single day of our trip. I also packed it into my carry on bag to use on the plane. My skin tends to be dry at higher altitudes so this was the perfect tool to help replenish moisture quickly in 90 seconds. The weather in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco is also noticeably colder compared to Florida. Climate is also a lot more dry. Having this with me was perfect to hydrate and rebalance my skin. It was super convenient and compact to pack into my travel case.
For moisturizers I used two throughout the week. On most days I felt the Glow Recipe Watermelon Juice Moisturizer mini was sufficient for a lightweight moisturizer. The rest of my skin care routine was enough to balance my skin for something like this one. On a few days and night when I needed more I used the Tatcha Travel Silk Cream.
For lips I packed two items, the Tatcha Kissu Lip Mask (it was limited-edition and currently not available but I hope they bring it back!) and Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask in Champagne. I used the Tatcha Kissu at night and kept the Bite Beauty Lip Mask with me in my purse for on-the-go application. Both are excellent options for dry lips.
Two face mists I ended up bringing were the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist and Omorovicza Queen of Hungary Face Mist. I did not need two but we booked our tickets last minute and I ended up with duplicates with my rush packing job. I ended up using both throughout our travels but found myself reaching more for the Tatcha one. I love that both are travel friendly in size!
Everything was packed up in a few travel pouches including my Away Mini Travel Case and the Truffle Jetset Clarity Case. Both versatile and nice for traveling. I kept a few things to carry on the plane with me but for the most part checked the rest of the liquids in one of our medium suitcases.
There will be a few more packing posts to follow on my travel makeup and more but for now I hope you enjoyed reading about my skincare picks! I think I packed well. I could have skipped was the Baby Facial and packed 1 face mist instead of 2. We were only gone for a week but this was an open ended trip and there was a possibility we were going to be traveling for a while longer. I did feel like I was missing two key things. One was a good eye cream, but I felt my moisturizer did the job for the week. I also did not pack any acne spot treatments, but thankfully I had no breakouts this trip to worry about! I feel the best things I packed for skincare included the Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask and Foreo UFO Smartmask. I now consider those travel essentials and definitely plan on bringing those with me on future trips!
Do you have any favorite travel skincare essentials? Do you tend to pack for shorter trips (1 week or shorter) or longer vacations? Would love to hear about your favorites!
Post sponsored by Foreo. Press samples featured include the Foreo UFO, Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist, Away Travel Case. Other items purchased by me. As always all opinions are my own.
We planned a spur of the moment trip to California the last week of 2018 and had such a great time. Andrew had some meetings on the West Coast so I decided to tag along to keep him company and to also visit family and friends. We decided to hit up three cities in one week including San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I was beyond thrilled to go back. We didn’t have any concrete plans beyond our flight dates. It was all about catching up with loved ones and packing in as much eating and shopping as we could! A number of you messaged me asking how I manage to stay fit while having an “amazing appetite” and it made me laugh so hard I started to cry. After months of sticking to mostly clean eating I decided to live life to the fullest and not care about the calories for the last week of the year. It was 100% worth it. Also with all the walking we did neither of us gained any weight during the trip.
San Diego
Above Left: Flying out of Tampa International Airport overlooking St. Pete Beach, Right: Landed in San Diego with the Away Luggage in Bigger Carry On and two Everywhere Bags (c/o), rest of our luggage was at baggage claim, wearing Madewell Sweater, Joie Jacket (older style), jeans worn are Frame Denim, sneakers are Converse Shoes
We took a red eye from Tampa to San Diego and packed our Away Luggage with 1 Medium Suitcase, 2 Bigger Carry-Ons and 2 Everywhere Bags. Full review + packing posts to follow in separate features as this one is pretty lengthy with 3 cities. I will say that the Medium Luggage was perfect for us and that we are both incredibly impressed with the Everywhere Bags. In San Diego Andrew booked us a room at Hotel Republic near downtown. It was around 12 minutes walking distance from Little Italy and in a relatively safe area. We enjoyed our stay! The rooms were clean, modern and very comfortable. We would definitely consider staying here again.
We stopped by some of our favorite food places and tried one new spot. The first morning Andrew had to rush to meetings so we had breakfast in the hotel which was decent but there are better options in town. Our favorites:
Mission Cafe in North Park / Hillcrest – There are several locations around the city and this one is our favorite. They have the best rosemary potatoes and coffee in town. If you are going on the weekends go early, the wait can sometimes be longer 45 minutes!
In-N-Out Burger – I used to eat this weekly. There are no other burgers like this. If you like to eat healthy then I’d say avoid this, but I love it. My brother has offered so freeze and ship them to me from California.
Indigo Grill – One of our favorite dinner spots in Little Italy. We met up with a good friend here for dinner. If you try it I highly recommend you try out the brie appetizer. Their ribs are also pretty good.
Pho on 5th – This is a little hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, we’ve tried a lot in town and there are so many good ones. This one is our favorite.
Other food places I’d recommend by area:
Little Italy – Crack Shack, Ballast Point, Pappalecco (for coffee and desserts), Ironside, PrepKitchen
Hillcrest / Balboa Park – Cucina Urbana
La Jolla – PrepKitchen, Coffee Cup La Jolla, Whisknladle, Herringbone, Piatti
We stopped by Coronado a couple times to visit family and walk around the beach. Compared to Tampa, the beaches in Coronado seemed freezing this time of year! We still love it here.
I also made a point to stop by one of my favorite coffee shops in town. Communal Coffee has really interesting floral lattes (and regular ones too). Their light bites are very good as well. They have a cute flower shop inside which is a little spendy to build your own bouquet but they always have the prettiest fresh cut flowers. The shop is not just Instagram friendly. They actually have very good coffee and food.
Los Angeles
Our next stop was LA! On the way up we stopped in between San Diego and Los Angeles to see Rachel of Beauty Professor! I posted a photo of us with her beautiful baby on Instagram in case you missed it! We drove up that evening to LA and we stayed with my brother while we were in town. View from my brother’s house:
We did one touristy thing while in town which was to visit the street where you can see the Hollywood Sign on Windsor Boulevard between 4th and 5th Street. Also shown in this post here.
We managed to pack in a lot of shopping at The Grove, Beverly Center, Americana at Brand and Westfield Century City. I would say the best spot to shop is Century City. The Grove is always fun, but with the recent changes and upgrades, you will find a lot more options at Century City or Americana At Brand. Melrose is also a super cute area for the smaller boutiques and restaurants. Quick thank you to the sweet readers who stopped me to say hello while we were out and about! It really made my day that you took the time to stop and say hi 🙂
Highlights Below:
Westfield Century City has Eataly is super cute inside! I think the one in New York is better, but the one in Los Angeles isn’t bad. We bought some bite-sized pastries and espresso to refuel and re-energize in between all of our walking and running around.
Sugarfina stores aren’t anywhere in Tampa (yet), they have a small selection here and there at a few stores, but no free standing location. I stocked up on their holiday santa cookies and gummies!
Compartes Chocolates has some of the cutest chocolate bars, I usually go to the one on Melrose but we didn’t make it there this time. Luckily there was a cute store in Century City!
Gjusta is my brother’s favorite place to eat so we met up with him there. This was my second time here and it is always amazing! We also really love Gjelina in Venice (restaurant and take out) but for dinner they often require reservations which we didn’t plan in advance for. We were in town Christmas week and knowing how busy they are we didn’t even try to go.
Other eats and tries:
Butcher, Baker, Cappuccino Maker was a spot we tried for the first time in West Hollywood, Andrew’s breakfast sandwich was amazing but my avocado toast was just ok. The coffee was delicious though!
Egg Slut – We met up with my bestie here for the first time and loved it. Andrew was convinced we were going to Shake Shack next door and still hasn’t forgiven me that we didn’t stop by this trip.
Dominique Ansel at The Grove – We had a few pastries here and the cronuts. The one in NYC is better but the Los Angeles location is still very good.
Din Tai Fung (not shown) – We were so excited about this we forgot to take any photos! My family is from Taiwan and when I was in college, I spent a summer there. I ate at Din Tai Fung in Taipei every week. I don’t think any of the locations in the US are quite like the original ones, but it’s still very very good! It was Andrew’s first time trying it and he was very impressed.
Our last stop was San Francisco. We arrived in town Christmas Eve and stayed a few more days at my brother-in-law’s house. One of our good friends gave us a tour of the new Facebook facility in San Francisco. He’s based in campus in Menlo Park but was still able to give us a tour of the new building. The views from the top floors were amazing!
My must-sees for San Francisco were Tartine Bakery and Tartine Manufactory. I would eat at both places on a daily basis if I could. The bread and pastries are the best I’ve ever had! I live for the Tartine Morning Buns.
We also tried a few other cute places which I didn’t get pictures of. Most of the restaurants were closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas but we managed to find some open restaurants. On Christmas Eve we stopped by a ramen place called Iza Ramen which was really cute! On Christmas evening we decided not to cook at home and instead went out for Chinese dumplings. Three of us put in our names at both Kingdom of Dumpling and Dumpling Kitchen (they’re both on the same street) and waited nearly 45 minutes for a table. Kingdom of Dumpling opened up first. It’s a very tiny restaurant inside with maybe only 8 tables. Even though the wait was long and space was a little cramped, we had the most entertaining memorable Christmas there. We would 100% go back.
A few more snapshots of our trip. I have the worst fear of heights and it’s an ordeal for me to walk down steep hills. I would almost rather stop drop and roll down any steep hill, it’s that bad. Andrew held my hand the entire time. We walked through Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Lombard Street and it was so packed for the holidays! We eventually made our way down to Boudin’s at Fisherman’s Wharf to grab some coffee and just took our time to enjoy the city.
On our last day before we flew back to Tampa, we stopped by a hole in the wall Banh Mi shop called Dinosaurs in the Castro. It was excellent! It’s tiny but the food was delicious.
I hope you enjoyed our California Travel Diary! We are not good at planning but we always manage to have a good time even on spur of the moment adventures. I hope in 2019 we’ll be better and plan our trips more in advance. I’m currently researching places to visit in the upcoming months. We have so much on our travel bucket list it’s hard to pick a destination!
Do you have any favorite spots in California? Or any travel plans for the upcoming year? I’d love to hear about them! Packing posts are what most of you have been asking me for. I’m breaking it down into a 3 part series so stay tuned! I’ll let you know what I brought with me, what I could have skipped and also the list of things I felt like I missed.
For 2019 I made a list of goals I wanted to share as I’d love to hear about yours as well! I’ve taken a lot of your feedback to heart. I asked in a recent poll what you would like to see more of here on The Beauty Look Book. The things you’ve asked to see more of aligns with what I want to cover as well! I tend to make an evolving list of personal goals throughout the year. I feel like it’s a great way to grow. Topics I want to focus more on and goals for 2019:
Health, Wellness and Fitness – So many of you asked for more posts about health and wellness along with fitness beauty favorites. I’ve received a number of e-mails from readers about recent blog posts saying I look healthy and happy! It’s been a work in progress but both Andrew and I have never felt better because we have focused on our personal health and well being. This has been a major focus in my life in general. I haven’t write much about it but in the months leading up to our move to Florida a couple years ago I was not healthy. I had high stress, high blood pressure and a physical indicated I wasn’t in the best shape. 2017 was a stressful year with our additional moves/exploring and by the first portion of 2018 my health suffered after getting sick multiple times. Both Andrew and I made a conscious effort to take better care of ourselves. We’ve been consistently exercising, building strength and started weight training. We’ve also changed our diet to incorporate clean eating. It’s taken months to create good habits. I didn’t want to adopt anything drastic or temporary just to lose weight or get fit quick. I wanted to incorporate things I knew I could sustain. More on these topics soon! For now some of my fitness favorites can be found here in this post.
Tutorials and How-To’s – I always want to evolve and change to be a better beauty resource for you and tutorials are something I know can be more helpful than just swatches. I’ve incorporated more looks this past year but I do want to take it to the next level with video and photo tutorials. I’ll be experimenting with both!
Hair Posts – I was touched by all the love you gave me on getting the highlights! It was a big step for me but I think it was a good one. I literally felt like I had my own cheerleading squad with all the love from you! There have also been a large number of requests for curling tutorials, more hair dryer reviews, and more hair products/tools in general. More coming your way this year! I will say that I’ve still been using the Harry Josh and Dyson regularly and still really like them both.
Budget Beauty Brands – You loved the Budget Beauty Post #1 and I wanted to do more but never got around to doing more round ups. I’ll be focusing more on affordable beauty and try to find more dupes this year. So far L’Oreal and OPI remain my favorites but I’m going to try out more options this year to review for you. Let me know what your favorite budget brands are 🙂
Daily Looks – As a beauty blogger I’ve focused mainly on product reviews as I feel like the easiest way to present them. A large number of you want more look posts with a mix of what I’m wearing or using or loving like my Sweater + Red Lip Post and my Holiday Glow Looks feature. I’ll be sure to do more of these!
Regular Favorites Posts – My favorites rotate as the weather shifts and seasons change and also as new formulas come out I discover new loves. I’m asked on a weekly basis what my ABSOLUTE tried and true daily go-to favorites are. I’ll try to compile an updated list of my ride or die beauty favorites each month.
Lifestyle and Travel – Even though this is a beauty focused blog, LOTS of you have asked for more travel posts! Particularly the travel diaries with the places we eat, stayed and shopped. Full California travel diary coming your way soon from our recent trip. I hope that we will travel more frequently this year. For lifestyle you’ve asked for more home decor and organization posts. Organization is something I struggle with on a daily basis but I have found some things I think are essential for keeping things more put together and easily accessible. More on all of this to follow this year!
I’ll still be doing a lot of the same product reviews and swatches so if you love those don’t worry, those aren’t going anywhere! I want to be a better resource and share more things beyond makeup swatches and flatlays. I’m really excited for the new year! I have nothing but high hopes looking forward.
As always I’d love to hear what your 2019 goals are! Do you make a New Year’s Resolution list or have any goals? They can be big or small!
I fit as many swatch comparisons as I could on my arm to the other LUST Glosses I own. I swatched the neutral lighter shades side by side:
