Birthday Beauty Haul!

I had an amazing time turning 26 this year. My boyfriend flew across the country to come see me, and we ate lots of great food, did some sightseeing, and then topped it off with a night of fun with some of my best friends.

I wanted to share with you guys some of the fun beauty items that I received!

My boyfriend knows that one of my favorite scents is Bath and Body Works' holiday scent Twisted Peppermint so he got me a ton of goodies from that line, which just recently re-launched this year. It is a gorgeous candy cane scent - peppermint with a hint of sugar and vanilla, so that it just leaves your skin smelling like cotton candy!

I got this adorable hand soap and lotion set:

I haven't had a chance to try the hand soap yet, but I've used their hand soaps before, and love them. I couldn't resist tearing into the hand lotion, though, and it's amazing! I wish they sold this separately - it is smooth and thick, gorgeously scented, and sinks in quickly without leaving any greasy residue. I also like the handy pump packaging - it causes me to moisturize my hands more often (always a good thing as I tend to neglect them).

He also got me the matching body wash and antibacterial foaming hand wash:

I don't know if it's just me but I just love foaming products - there is something so decadent and luxurious about them. I also love that it's antibacterial - nobody likes germs!

My bf also spoiled me by getting me Creed Spring Flowers and Philosophy's Gingerbread Man scrub!

I've been lusting after this perfume forever but always balked at the high price tag. It was designed for Audrey Hepburn's wedding and smells absolutely amazing - the website describes it as having top notes of peach, melon, apple; middle notes of jasmine and rose; and base notes of musk and ambergris. It smells really feminine and gorgeous without smelling too young.

I also really wanted the gingerbread man scrub as I love everything gingerbread cookie related since I love the holidays and love the way gingerbread cookies smell! Philosophy scrubs work really well, so I can't wait to use this sometime soon.

My friend Jo also got me a bunch of goodies - one of which was this adorable mini cupcake lipgloss set! They're just too cute to use - they have different scents and they are just ridiculously cute. I have been wanting to buy something like this for a while but couldn't bring myself to buy it because it seems like such a frivolous item. I love looking at these though - they make me happy!

Overall, it was one of the best birthdays ever, and I couldn't have asked for anything more!

Now I'm just waiting on my Sephora FF package to arrive - it's supposed to get here tomorrow. I only got a Dior e/s quint in Mystic Smokys since I got just about everything else I want at my birthday! I am thinking of making a few more orders to buy some Christmas presents though.

What about you guys? Are you waiting on anything in the mail? I've been going crazy with tons of shopping from F21 lately, but I'm trying to be good now!

(BBW product photos are from their website)

Perfume collection

I decided to do a post on my perfume collection because I'm newly falling in love with smelling nice this year. (hopefully I'll get used to it, because, as you can see, I own a ton of perfume but always forget to wear it!)

This is my collection: (I'm sorry my vanity is so dirty! This is the vanity at my parents' home and I haven't been here in 3 months!)

My collection consists of: VS Dream Angels Heavenly, Comptoir Sud Pacifique vanille abricot, EA True Love (OMG this is so old, I should throw this away), Clinique Happy, EL Pleasures, DKNY DKNY, Lolita Lempicka, CK Euphoria Blossom, Burberry and Burberry Weekend, Gucci II, Ferragamo Incanto Dream, Dior Addict 2, Ralph Lauren Rocks, Chanel Coco Mlle, Amarige by Givenchy, and CK In2U.

Like I mentioned previously, the Chanel Coco Mlle is my fav winter scent and probably my fav scent overall. However, I'm thinking of varying my scents a bit more, because there's just so many gorgeous scents out there and I want to wear more of them!

The fragrances I wear the most often are:

(from L-R: Gucci II, Ferragamo Incanto Dream, Dior Addict 2, RL Rocks, Chanel Coco Mlle, VS heavenly, CSP vanille abricot, and CK In2U.)

I'm thinking of pulling out the Happy and Pleasures and wearing them more for spring, though, since they're also such pretty scents.

I'll go through the ones I wear most often first, since I'm more familiar with them. I love the Gucci II year round because it's a very sweet floral scent - a lot of sweet scents smell too teeny bopperish in my opinion, but this one seems like a more mature sweet scent that's not too sweet.

The Ferragamo Incanto Dream is a young scent that I only like wearing in the spring or summer. It's a fruity floral that's also rather sweet and light. It's too light of a scent for fall or winter for me, but I do love it for warmer weather.

Dior Addict 2 is my fav spring scent. It's also a fruity floral but not as sweet as the Ferragamo, and more floral. It smells more sophisticated and grown-up in my opinion.

Ralph Lauren Rocks is a scent I like more for outdoorsy activities or the summer. It's a very light floral scent but it smells a little too green for my taste. I got it as a gift and it's pleasant enough, and I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.

Chanel Coco Mlle is my fav for winter and fall because it's a heavier scent, and such a gorgeous sophisticated oriental scent that's still not too heavy. I want to get Chanel No. 5 next.

VS Dream Angels Heavenly is more of a powdery scent that I only wear in the winter. It has a pretty strong vanilla base that makes it a gorgeous warm scent perfect for wintertime.

Next is my Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Abricot - this one's a very sweet vanilla scent. It's too sweet for me to wear on its own but I love to layer it with some of my oriental fragrances, and even some of my floral perfumes to deepen them for nighttime.

Another scent that I received as a gift is CK In2U. This is a warm milky scent that I haven't really found a perfect occasion for, but it's a nice pleasant scent that I like for more casual events.

From the other scents in my collection, I don't wear DKNY DKNY, Givenchy Amarige, EA True Love, or CK Euphoria Blossom (they're all gifts that just aren't quite "me").

However, I do like to occasionally wear the rest.

I love Burberry Classic for the fall. It's a gorgeous oriental that kind of reminds me of fall foliage and crisp weather.

Burberry Weekend, which is now discontinued, is a lighter oriental. It's a very pretty scent but I don't wear it very often because it doesn't work with my body chemistry. It starts to smell kind of musty?

Clinique Happy is a fairly well known citrusy scent that really lives up to its name - it really does uplift your mood and make you happy! I like this scent when I need a pick me up.

EL Pleasures is another gorgeous floral scent that I'm rediscovering. It's an amazing sophisticated feminine scent that I like to wear when I feel more girly.

The last one in my collection is Lolita Lempicka, which is a woody oriental with a strong vanilla base. I used to ADORE this scent but it's becoming a little too sweet for my tastes and I just found out that my bf's not a very big fan of this one, so I'm not sure what to do with this one at this point. Maybe it'll grow on him? LOL, we'll see.

I'm hoping to use up at least ONE bottle before I make another fragrance purchase! Other perfumes I'm eyeing are Versace Bright Crystal, Nina by Nina Ricci, Fracas, Chanel No. 5, and Marc Jacobs Perfume. What are your perfume favs? Any you hate?