My Favorite Red Lipstick...For Valentine's Day & Everyday!

For a long time, I shied away from red lipstick.  As a dark-skinned woman, I worried red would look  too clownish with my skin tone.  So, I stuck with safe colors - burgundy and corals.  But, I finally found a red that would add to my retro/vintage look and compliment my skin tone!  And, in a most unexpected place - Wal-Mart!



#5016 Eldorado Red 

I was prepared to venture to the mall and spend big bucks finding the perfect red for darker skin. But, while browsing the makeup aisles at Wal-Mart, came across Black Radiance cosmetics. At only $1.72 each, I bought several tubes of lipstick to test out.  I found the red lipstick of my dreams with "Eldorado Red".  It has great coverage - I don't even use liner with this lipstick.  And, you can't beat the price!

Smooches! xoxo

Mary Ellen

Attention Target Shoppers...Winter Hats On Clearance!

Attention Target shoppers!  The markdown on winter accessories has begun!  On a recent shopping trip to one of our local Target stores, I found some winter items marked down.  I picked up this cute Merona felt cloche hat for just $5.08 :)  The gloves were 50% in our store, but I'm going to wait for those to go 75% off or more.  That's when I typically replenish my supply of gloves, mittens and hats for the kids.  In our house, gloves seem to get lost or lose their mate, so I stock up when they're cheap!

Merona Pink Oversized Flower Felt Cloche

Mary Ellen

Disclosure

Wives with Beehives

Last night while flipping through the channels, I came across a special on TLC called "Wives with Beehives". The special will be aired again tonight (12/28) at midnight on TLC (set your DVRs!). If you haven't watched it yet and don't want to be spoiled, you might want to stop reading now :) Based on the title alone, it totally sounded like something I had to watch! The special focused on four ladies living very 1950s lifestyles. Not only in the way they dressed, but their homes and other aspects of their lives. Of course, I loved, loved, loved their dresses, gloves, hats, hair, makeup and cute retro furnishings! I also found myself in agreement with the ladies about the appeal of the 1950s way of life. It was a time of more traditional roles, with men as the providers and women caring for the homes. It may sound strange to some that as a working woman, I would prefer a time when few women worked outside of the home. But, even within my very modern life, our home and mindset is very traditional. My focus is always homeward, hence the tagline, "Celebrating the domestic side of working motherhood".

Of course, it wouldn't be a reality show without some drama! When a new member joined the scene, it brought out some cattiness from one of the other ladies. But, as one of the ladies stated, living the 1950s lifestyle doesn't make you a perfect angel! I enjoyed the show and hope it returns as a series instead of just a one-time special. It would also be great to see not just this group of ladies, but others who live varying degrees of the 50's lifestyle. Or maybe others living in different decades.

ETA:  One of the ladies that appeared on "Wives with Beehives", Dollie DeVille, has written about her experiences filming the show.  And they were not pleasant at all!  It's a shame because I would have enjoyed watching the ladies lives as they are without any drama or fabricated storylines. 

Did you watch the show last night? What were your thoughts? 

 Mary Ellen

A Sign of Old Age!

My New Glasses!

 

 A few weeks back, I caught myself sitting at my desk doing something really strange - I was squinting!  By the time I got home in the evenings, my eyes were just so tired from staring at a computer screen all day, it was difficult to help the kids' with their reading homework.  So, I went in for an eye exam.  And while my vision was 20/20, I learned that I have astigmatism.  The doctor suggested glasses as a way to reduce the strain on eyes while at work.

As I began looking for frames, I was really excited to try on a pair of cat eye glasses.  To my surprise, I didn't really like how the looked on me.  Dave suggested I continue my search for frames at Costco.  I was pleasantly surprised by their selection and the price of the frames were very reasonable.  I found a cute pair of Lucky Brand frames that had just the right amount of retro for my taste!

Mary Ellen