2016 in Review

January
Well, I took an unplanned blogging break in January. Not because I didn't want to blog, but because I really had absolutely nothing to blog about! We didn't do anything interesting or blog-worthy, and I was pretty busy at work and didn't have too much time for anything else!

February
February didn't have a whole lot of posts either. I shared a Currently post, I talked about travel souvenirs, and an Influenster Target Dry Spray Voxbox review.

March
In March I shared my reviews on a couple of beauty boxes. The March Target Beauty box and the March Ipsy Glambag.

I also shared some scrapbooking pages as well as an Instagram roundup.

April
In April I shared my first Love With Food box review.

We went hiking at Camelsback park.

And I shared pictures from our trip to Washington! We visited the Roozengaarde Tulip Farm, Pike Place Market, Kerry Park, Gas Works Park, the Ballard Locks, and the Museum of Flight!

May
There were a lot of review posts in May! As well as an Ikea haul and some lilac pictures!

Review-wise, I posted some reviews of the April Love With Food box, the April Ipsy Glam Bag, the April Target Beauty Box, and Wonderland - A Coloring Book by Amily Shen.

June
In June I shared some subscription box reviews including the May Ipsy glam bag, June Target beauty box, the first-ever Target mens' box, and the June Love With Food box.

I also shared some pictures of the late spring flowers, my first confessions post, and a father's day weekend recap!

July
In July I shared a couple review posts, which included the July Love With Food box and the June Ipsy glam bag.

I also shared a recipe for strawberry spinach salad. Which is SO GOOD and you should try it!

And last but not least, some pictures from our visit to a lavender farm.

August
In August I shared the July Ipsy glam bag, some pictures from the Tacoma Museum of Glass, and a Target haul!

September
In September I shared reviews of the August Ipsy glam bag, August Love With Food box, and August Target beauty box.

I also shared the rest of the pictures I took while we were in Washington; which included pictures from Ruby Beach and La Push!

October
In October, I shared my review of the September Ipsy glam bag, Target beauty box, and Love With Food box.

I also shared some pictures from the Portland Farmers' market and some of the pretty fall colors!

November
In November I shared a review of my October Ipsy glam bag as well as a review of the October Sephora Play bag.

December

In December I didn't do too much blogging, but I did share a review of the November Ipsy glam bag and November Sephora Play bag. In non-review related posts, I shared a Christmas decoration home tour!

So that was my 2016 in review! 
You can also check out my 2015 in review!

December Ipsy Glam Bag Review

Hikari Cosmetics  Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Iris: I don't know quite what to say about this eyeliner, except maybe that it was just okay. I liked the color, but it's very very subtle. I tested it out on my wrist and it was sort of a darkish purple, but when I applied it as an eyeliner it was so subtle it was almost unnoticeable. It goes on okay, and while I like purple, (which would work with my green eyes) overall the color is just too light. It just didn't work for me.

NYX Professional Makeup Prismatic Shadow in Fireball: To be totally honest, I hate this color. This is a shade I would never wear, it is way too orange and shimmery and just not a great color. I had already gotten a similar shade before and I didn't like that, so not sure why I received this. I really only wear neutral shadows, so this was not a good pick for me. 

Ciaté London Liquid Velvet Matte Liquid Lipstick in Pin Up: I liked the color okay in the tube, but I didn't think it looked very good on me. It's more of a dusty rose/brown that didn't work with my skin tone. I found the formula to be gloopy and I didn't like how my lips felt when it dried. It just made my lips feel super chapped.

Jersey Shore Cosmetics Peppermint Moisture Rich Hydrating Balm: I really did not like this lip balm. VERY strong peppermint scent and flavor. The peppermint was so strong it felt like my lips were burning. Not a minty tingly feel, but actually a burning sensation. I applied this before bed, and, while the formula seems very creamy, the next morning my lips were really really dry. Definitely wouldn't recommend.

tarte cosmetics deluxe maracuja oil: This oil has tons of good reviews, but I just didn't really care for it. I don't like oils on my skin in general, so this wasn't any different. I applied it to my face and it just sat on top of my skin and didn't absorb in. It just left my face feeling oily. 

It has kind of a bad smell to it too, almost like old used cooking oil. It's not strong, but is noticeable. 

It says you can use it to smooth out your hair, and while I haven't tried that yet, I imagine it would work better for me to use it that way. 

Overall I found this bag to be disappointing. Hopefully the next bag will be better! It seems that every so often I'll get a less-than-great bag, and then after that I'll get a couple of good ones. So odds are the next one will be okay!

Have you tried any of these products? Is there any you would want to try?

Five For Friday

Hello and welcome to my Five for Friday! I am linking up with Cup of Tea , Bright on a Budget, and  Della Devoted!

My first Five for Friday of the new year! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years!

This week was pretty uneventful, so there wasn't too much to talk about today!

1. Well, first thing, I have a new blog layout! If you're new around here, you probably didn't notice, but if you've been here before, I hope you like it! 

I had the previous layout for over a year and figured it was time for a new one! It took me a little while to get it all put together, but I'm happy with how it turned out!

2. We have gotten so much snow this week! We have over a foot! Which is pretty rare around here. Apparently the last time it snowed this much here was in the 1980's. So it's been pretty crazy! Especially since they don't plow the streets around here. So our street has over a foot of snow in the street. 

Luckily for use, I have an SUV and my mom has a Suburban, so we have been okay. But my brother has a car and there is no way he is getting out of our driveway! And we've seen probably close to a dozen people get stuck in the snow. Including the mail truck on Wednesday. They didn't even deliver mail yesterday. So that postal service slogan about neither rain nor snow stopping them is not true! (Not that I blame them. I wouldn't want to be driving around in this either.)

This was after just getting started on shoveling the driveway. We have a huge berm (one part probably around 4 feet tall!) along the driveway from all the snow we've shoveled!

3. And then this morning was pretty cold! Just planning on staying home and inside today!

4. I did absolutely nothing on New Years Eve. I didn't even stay up until midnight. I always feel like I should do something. But then another part of me really doesn't care haha. Did you or do you do anything fun on New Years?

5. In case you missed it, I shared a Currently post on Monday!

Currently

Working on - Well, as you may have noticed I put up a new layout! I spent the last week working hard on it and am very pleased it went up with no problems! Usually there is something that won't size properly, or a coding problem or something. But luckily everything went up easily!

Listening to - I binged listened to the Up and Vanished podcast last week. It's just so good (and creepy) it was hard to turn it off! 

It's a true crime podcast about a lady from a small town in Georgia who disappeared in 2005. I had seen the Disappeared episode about the case years ago, but the guy who is putting the podcast together is determined to solve the case. He's uncovered a bunch of information and talked to a lot of people. It's really really interesting and there is so much weird stuff going on.

It's definitely worth listening to if you are into that sort of thing. 

Watching - Not too much lately. Since most shows are off the air for Winter break. I did watch the Seahawks game yesterday! It sure was nice to see them win after the awful loss last week. Even if it was a little iffy there for a bit!

But I'm looking forward to Madam Secretary and Shark Tank starting again! And, I can't forget to mention, Sherlock was on yesterday! I'm planning on watching it today! Did anyone else watch?

Needing -  To go to Target today. I haven't been there in probably a month and I need a storage container for my Christmas decorations. The one I was using for my Christmas stuff I had to use for my fall stuff because my fall bin was too small. So I had to switch all the bins around for all my decoration and now I don't have one for the Christmas stuff! 

And it will be nice to just get out of the house since the craziness of Christmas is over. Apparently everyone around here waits until the week before Christmas to do their shopping and the stores were so bad it wasn't worth it to even venture out.

Reading - I just finished If I Run by Terri Blackstock and it was pretty good!

What have you been up to lately?