One Lovely Blog Award!

Thanks to Suzanne from Laughing Scholar for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award. I'm happy to become more involved in the blogging community and learn about great new products from all of you!


The One Lovely Blog Award nominations are chosen by fellow bloggers for those newer and up-and-coming bloggers. The goal is to help give recognition and also to help the new blogger to reach more viewers. It also recognizes blogs that are considered to be “lovely” by the fellow bloggers who choose them. This award recognizes bloggers who share their story or thoughts in a beautiful manner to connect with viewers and followers. In order to “accept” the award the nominated blogger must complete five steps.


Steps to Accept the Award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
(My link: http://sarissweetlife.blogspot.com)
2. List the rules and display the award logo in your post.
3. Add 7 facts about yourself.
4. Nominate other bloggers you want to know better.
5. Follow the person who nominated you on bloglovin'.


7 facts about Sari:


1. I'm from Michigan and am a proud MSU alum! Go Spartans!


2. I recently graduated with my MBA. #YouCanCallMeMaster


3. I've been in a long distance relationship for 4 years.


4. I love makeup and spend tons of money purchasing new products. Ulta is basically my favorite store.


5. I've recently become involved with Influenster, Brand Backer, Allure and Birchbox Bloggers. I'm excited to discover new bloggers.


6. I never leave my house without my concealer and eyeliner on.


7. I have a great purse collection. I love Tory Burch, Kate Spade, Henri Bendel & Louis Vuitton. I currently live in walking distance from a mall. #trouble



Nominations:
Carley at This Must Be What Heaven Smells Like

Brittney at Quirky Britches 

Brooke at Mudpipes and Glitter

Lauren at Elle Kae

Jessie at The Cluttered Counter  

Ariel at Thrifting and Bitching

Stephanie at Stephanie Jade Wong 

Sunrise in Baltimore!

Snapped this sunrise pic at the airport on the way to Aruba. 

The iPhone 6 Arrives

I just got my new iPhone 6 today in the mail after waiting nearly a month! I am so excited to have the latest iPhone I can't even tell you.

Here it is: gold 64gb, ready to capture my every moment... Pictures, texts, snaps, instas. I'm super excited for the extra storage space and for the gold color! It was love at first sight. 

One of the first differences I noticed was the finger scanner. This was confusing but very cool! Hopefully it will be useful and decrease theft and data being compromised. Apple pay also seems great. I'm a huge fan of the Starbucks app so to be able to pay for other things by phone sounds convenient. 

Here is the case I chose. It's something new and different. I liked that it had a magnetic cover. Kind of like a mini iPad case! I'm all about protection but I like a light case usually a soft silicone one. This case is the best of both worlds. It has gel sides and a hard back, half see through and the magnetic cover is bonus protection. 

Do you have an iPhone 6 yet? What's you favorite thing about it?

Resource Natural Spring Water

I got a bottle of Resource Natural Spring water in my vox box and was excited to try it because of the electrolytes. I really like the crisp, clean taste of this water. I also admire that the bottle is made to be environmentally friendly (it's made with 50% recycled materials) but when I opened the bottle, water came pouring out at me. This would be a serious issue for me if I were to drink this in the car or on my way to anywhere important. 

I like the water but I think the packaging is off or the water is filled too high. 

*Product provided to me compliments of Influenster.

#refreshwithresource

Rimmel Scandaleyes Rockin' Curves Mascara, Moisture Renew Lipstick and Lipliner

This is the 3rd Rimmel mascara I have tried to date. I received this product in my newest Influenster Vox Box. The first one I tried was the Retro Glam one. I wasn't crazy about it. The second one I tried was another one from the Scandaleyes collection and I quite liked it. This one, however, is my very favorite. The Rockin' Curves mascara has a very unique shaped wand as pictures above. 

The wand makes it easy to apply to the top and bottom lashes especially without smearing under your eye. I love this feature. I use this mascara by itself or also to layer over other mascaras for a thicker lash look. I definitely recommend this product and will repurchase it!

Rimmel Moisture Renew 505 Red Alert

I also got a new red lipstick which feels very smooth on my lips. Moisture Renew is definitely how I would describe this lipstick. It is the opposite of dry. It goes on like a lipstick but it feels more like a gloss, which I prefer.

Rimmel Moisture Renew Transparent Lipliner

The Moisture Renew Transparent Lipliner is absolutely a must when wearing red lips or any other bright color. It helps keep the lipstick in place on your lips and reduces the dreaded smearing that can be very awkward with a red lipstick. So glad to have received it. 

Wearing Rimmel Red Alert & loving it! 

*products received via Influenster and Rimmel for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

#influenster #modavoxbox #Rimmel #RockIn #MoistureRenew

Influenster Moda Vox Box

So excited to have received another voxbox from Influenster! So let's discuss what's inside:

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Rockin' Curves Mascara

Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lipstick

Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lip Liner

Puffs Soft Pack Tissues

Hair Food Moisture Hair Mask

Swiss Miss Simply Cocoa

Jergens Ultra Healing Skin Moisturizer 

Resource Spring Water

I can't wait to try all these products out compliments of Influenster. 

Fall Foods

One of my fall traditions is going to the cider mill. The cider mill seems to have gotten really hip as of lately and they now sell a lot more than cider and doughnuts. They have an apple orchard, pumpkin patch, Mackinac fudge, cider slushies and even homemade bread. Such a fun fall day. 

Here are my favorite fall foods:

homemade cinnamon rolls, frosted to perfection

white wine (Moscato is my fave) with a good message! 

peanut butter and apples with some hot tea

*how cute are those individual peanut butter packs?*

My Go To Concealers

I've had dark circles under my eyes ever since I can remember and I'm always on the hunt for a new miracle product. Here are a few of my favorites:

NYX Hi Def Photo concealer. This one is the cheapest at $4.99. I've been experimenting with NYX products a lot lately and I feel that they are a great value. This concealer is very comparable to the one I use from Clinique. It gives great coverage and goes on smooth.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser is a drug store buy. I especially like the twist top puff applicator. Applying concealer is half of the battle. This puff is soft on the eyes.

Clinique Line Smoothing Concealer is a great department store concealer. It is especially great because it goes on smooth and doesn't bring attention to any fine lines, which is so important when using concealer. 

Benefit's Erase Paste is a great concealer that blends and camoflages. The one thing I don't like is that the product comes in a very small container and is pretty expensive at $26 for the pot. I also find that there is no good way to apply this one except for with your fingers and I really hate to do that.  

One product that is a game changer for applying concealer is the Beauty Blender. I use this product daily and I find that it works better than using your fingers or any other makeup brush. I have purchased 3 of these and don't know how I did my makeup without them! 

Project Repat T-Shirt Quilt

Special thanks to Project Repat who helped me turn a bunch of my old favorite t-shirts into a t-shirt quilt that I can snuggle up with and savor. My quilt has t-shirts from my camp days through college and grad school. This makes a great gift for yourself or a friend.

Be prepared to spend some money and do some pre quilt work. T-shirt quilts are pricey. Try slicing up a few double sided shirts and you will see what you are paying for. The finished product is very good quality and very well made. I highly recommend this service!

*I paid for this quilt. No services or discounts were given to me. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Bad Experience with US Airways via Priceline

I'm a frequent flyer but am not really so brand loyal. I have a Spirit card but I rarely fly Spirit these days I am all about price and convenience. With that said, I had the absolute worst experience on my connecting flight from Philadelphia to Detroit tonight. The entire thing was a disaster. I had booked the flight roundtrip on Priceline because Priceline told me flights from DC to DTW were direct 100% of the time when you bid. Feeling like I couldn't go wrong, I bid on Priceline trying to save some money. Not a good plan. I ended up with not one connecting, flight but two. I did complain but apparently the fine print allows them to give you any flight and they would not help me out at all. I flight that should have taken 1 hour total ended up taking me 7.5 hours with travel time to and from the airport and connections/delays. Both flights I was given were connecting in Philadelphia and that wasn't even the worst part.

It was unlike anything that I have ever experienced on a flight. I was boarding my second flight and as I was boarding the plane, there was a loud angry, drunk lady complaining and obviously out of it. She was drunk and maybe on something. The guy behind her even glanced at me and said "I hope she's not sitting next to me." He was lucky and I was not because she ended up sitting in my row with no one in the middle seat to help. She tried to sit in first class when her ticket clearly showed her seat was near the back of the plane so the flight attendants were well aware that this lady was a problem waiting to happen. She had sat down on the the ground prior to boarding the flight. She was complaining about waiting in the line. She was sitting in the window seat and I had the aisle. At first she was sleeping in 2/3 of the seats in our row. I had the aisle seat so I didn't mind but I found it odd that no one reprimanded her or asked her to fasten her seat belt.

Before the plane took off, she was sifting through her bag looking for cigarettes. I thought this was odd but tried to ignore her. While we were waiting to take off, there was a maintenance issue on our flight and then a delay of about an hour. The already strange lady, who was clearly under the influence of drugs and alcohol, began to get upset and talk very loudly about a lot of nonsense. She said that if there's an electrical issue on the plane, they should let everyone off so the plane doesn't blow up. This was very disturbing as a passenger on the plane. People around were definitely annoyed but no one wanted to cause any trouble. The lady than went on to tell me she was a nurse and then a doctor and went on and on about stories that no one asked about. 

After being on the plane for about 1.5 hours, she screamed at the flight attendant and demanded to be let off the plane. When the flight attendant told her we were about to take off, she declared that she was a part of the "witness protection program." She then took out her pack of cigarettes, like she was going to light one and demanded to be let off the flight with or without her luggage. The flight attendant finally took notice of the situation and they let her off the plane. The damage was done though. Apparently, she told someone else up front "she was in the CIA." Third lie of the night. She ruined my flight and caused a huge disturbance to the back of the plane. The flight was also extremely turbulent and unsettling. I can not believe the crew would allow this behavior to go on for well over a hour and a half. It is unsettling to me.

Victoria's Secret: Take 2

So because Influenster said the sport bra you received could be exchanged in store, I decided to take the Incredible back and see what the other options were like. As I posted in my last post, the Incredible offered maximum support but was slightly over padded for my tastes (especially for a sports bra.)

First thing I did was wait in line at the cashier to make sure they would allow me to exchange it with no receipt. I had email from Influenster that said I could do this without a problem but something told me it wasn't going to be this easy. The first person I talked to had never heard of this and kept asking for my credit card number so she could look up the purchase. When I tried to explain to her it came from Influenster and that I was gifted it, she just starred at me with confusion. She asked another person, who also was not familiar with Influenster and she contacted the manager. When she came back, she was semi apologetic and explained to the other cashier that Influenster was for "bloggers" to blog about the product. [[YUP! I'm considered a real blogger now. (CLAPS!)]] I think both cashiers were slightly concerned that they didn't know about this and had almost refused to honor my exchange, even though I had showed them email proof that I was supposed to be allowed to exchange the bra.

Anyways, after being told I could exchange the Incredible for any other sport bra, I went to town pulling 5 other sports bras to try on. I thought I wanted one that zipped up the front but had read some so-so reviews online. I was almost about to get another style with less padding and less coverage when an "Angel" named Delilah came to the fitting room and suggested I try one more style.

Cue the new Knockout by Victoria's Secret Front Close Sport Bra. It was love at first sight. This is almost like a bra within a bra. Wish they would make bathing suit tops like this. It is such a good fit and provides great support when working out. It also is tight without being suffocating like some of the other bras I tried on here. I'm very happy with my choice and can't wait to work out in it. Thanks #Influenster and #VictoriasSecret!

My Rimmel Product Review!

 I won this great box of Rimmel products via Influenster and am writing a review by choice.

First things first, I have not used many Rimmel products before and was quite pleased with their eye liners. The ScandalEyes eye liners are both waterproof and both were very precise. The Scandaleyes Precision Micro Eyeliner was like using a very fine sharpie to draw on your eyeliner. I thought it was very easy to use and looked great. I also liked the Scandaleyes Thick and Thin eyeliner. This eyeliner is also like a marker but with a tip that you can use to make a thick or a thinner line. This eyeliner was also easy to use but I think I preferred the first one personally.

The two lip lacquers I received were from the Rimmel Show Off collection. I received 600 Nude Eclipse, which was honestly the perfect nude lip gloss and 400 Big Bang, which was the complete opposite: a bright RED! I plan to wear both of these and am excited to be gifted a new shade of red. I'm not one to wear a red lip often but having this, I will certainly give it a try! I also really liked the texture and the look of this product.

The last product I received was the Rimmel Lash Accelerator in Extreme Black, which is supposed to grab every lash. I quite liked this product. The first thing I noticed about it was the two tone color of the package. When I took the mascara wand out, I could feel every bristle being pulled passed the opening of the mascara. I really liked this because it makes the mascara less clumpy when you put it on your lashes. I will definitely use this mascara. I liked it a lot more than the Rimmel Retro Glam mascara I received in my last Voxbox.

*I was gifted these products by Influenster and Rimmel. All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own. #InfluensterChamp #Rimmel