My Favorite Mascara and Eyeliner

I've stopped searching for the perfect mascara... because I found it a few years ago. I admit to curiosity when I see other bloggers talk about *their* favorite, and have used others in desperation when I ran out of mine, but I was quickly reminded why this is my favorite.

It's Lash Power Mascara from Clinique. It's about $15 and is worth every penny. It doesn't smudge, doesn't flake, will not offset on to my lid, and it washes off with regular facial soap and water. Basically, it's perfect.

Literally every other mascara I've tried has smudged or offset to my lid. Every. One. Except this. The other thing I absolute love about it is the wand. It's small and detailed and never clumps. It defines and goes on smooth. I can't recommend it enough.

A new favorite is this liquid eyeliner from NYC. I bought it at Target for less than $3 and it's great. The whole liquid eyeliner thing takes some getting used to, and I admit to loving the felt tip marker type, but once you get the hang of the brush, it is perfection. It's waterproof, does not smudge, offset or otherwise act weird. It's easy to correct a mistake when you apply it just by *lightly* wetting a q-tip and running it over the offending area. (I just lick the q-tip rather than mess with water = truth.)

It's an incredible value and I love the way it looks. I have very hooded lids and worried that black liner would close my eyes in. It doesn't I think it adds depth to the lash line and actually makes my eyes look better. I love a smallish winged look with the liner because it almost makes my lashes look longer and does help with opening up my eyes a bit.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but I know what I like. I might someday try a different liner, but I can promise you that I will never try another mascara. If Clinique ever decides to discontinue Lash Power mascara, I'll 1) cry buckets, 2) write nasty/pleading letters 3) buy as much of it as I can get my grubby hands on.

The end.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday - Family

From Father's Day

My husband

The dads: my brother-in-law and my dad

Nana (my mom) and her oldest granddaughter

Sisters, dancing and singing

The youngest, feeding the cows

My sister, on grill duty

(Unfortunately didn't get a good shot of my brother, but he was there!)

p.s. I finally got around to re-coloring my hair. Back to bright red and purple. The purple is underneath, so you can barely see it peeking up from my up-do.

Wordless Wednesday

In The Garden Art Show

I was in an art show! For reals. I entered two paintings and one was selected to be part of the juried show. Alas, I did not win a prize, but I'm just so dang proud of myself for BEING BRAVE and entering. You can read all about it on my art blog over here.

My painting was in the greenhouse. It was perfect. I LOVED having it in there.

"In The Garden" Art Show

My very first art show! Well, as an adult.

I did have some pieces in student shows while in high school, full disclosure.  But that was like a million years ago, so I'm claiming this as my first REAL show. Yes, it was a small one, but I was BRAVE and entered two paintings. One was selected for the juried show. I didn't ever think I would win any of the prizes, I just want to take the plunge and give it shot, you know? (And, no, I didn't win a prize or ribbon, but I don't care - I'm just so glad I did it!)

After all, I DID proclaim Be Brave as my motto, so I'd better step up to the plate. It was disappointing that Dwight's painting was not selected, especially after seeing some of the paintings that were. But all art is subjective, and just two judges did the selecting. It seemed pretty clear they leaned towards watercolors. Granted, there were a LOT of watercolor pieces in the show, so that probably had something to do with it!

The gardens were beautiful! The main area was circular divided into four wedges, each labeled with a season. In the center was a small pond, complete with lilies, goldfish and croaking frogs.

My parents came along and were so proud - awww. *blush*

Aren't they cute?

They had a two-story deck thing so we went up there and I got some shots of the grounds. I love the little buildings! Both the one on the left and the greenhouse on the right (you can sort of make it out in the third photo below) had paintings on display. Mine was in the greenhouse. It was perfect. I loved it in there. I wanted to dig up the entire greenhouse and take the whole thing home with me!

The outer ring of the circle was paved with regular paving blocks along with bricks bearing every day of the year. 

There were vertical post markers at the start of each month. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a giant sundial or what, but it was very clever and absolutely beautiful. I was so impressed with all of the gardens there. 

Pansies and violas - my favorites!

I didn't think to take photos of the winning pieces until a bit later, so I managed to skip right over the "Best in Show" as it was in the first booth. Meant to go back, but spaced it (it was a lovely panoramic watercolor {surprise!} of a farm).  Here are the other winners and a couple of the honorable mentions.

1st Place

Mine next to the 2nd place winner - it was an amazing photo-realistic 

acrylic absolutely deserving of a prize!

3rd Place

A couple of the honorable mentions

Here's to more shows and lots of fun making the pieces I'll enter next time!