Friday Favorites!!

Happy Friday!!! Lindsey aka Bargain Blonde is re-resurrecting her Friday Favorites linkup and since she is one of my favorite bloggers and hosts one of my FAVE linkups, I couldn't wait to write my post! 
This week's favorites are a nice random assortment...gotta keep it interesting around here!
Favorite shoes

I posted about these Ugg slippers in my birthday post and have finally gotten some good use out of them this week! Temperatures around here have gotten down to the 40s at night so I've been wearing them all around the apartment and to run quick errands. If you want some warm WARM shoes and don't want a full Ugg boot, these are the way to go!
Favorite Drink

After this past fun-filled weekend (or any fun-filled weekend for that matter), my go to food is McDonalds, for a number of reasons. For starters, it's the closest fast food restaurant to my aparment . Secondly, I do believe it's the perfect amount of greasiness without making you feel sick. I always go with the classic McChicken sandwich, medium fries, and a LARGE Diet Coke. Point of this story is I have fallen back in love with McDonalds' Diet Coke. I don't know what they do but their combination of syrup and carbonation is just perfection. I may have had 5+ servings of this liquid gold this week...and we still have Saturday to go.

*on a side note, how the heck was I able to write a whole paragraph about Diet Coke?!?*

Favorite App

Pandora has just not been cutting it for me recently so I downloaded the I Heart Radio app and it's all I've been playing! I love it because I'll just go to whatever music genre I want to listen to (Top 40 for example) and I can scan through all the different radio stations around the country. Best of all I can scan as much as I want and not be limited!! I was listening to the Top 40 station in NYC earlier this week right after Sandy hit and it was really interesting to hear locals talk about it and just how much it shut that city down. 

Favorite Snack

Yall have GOT to try this combo!! The spices on the crackers in combination with the cheese is just SO GOOD! I had to stop myself from eating all the cheese wedges! If you can just eat one wedge, it's actually a pretty healthy snack too! :)
Favorite Beauty Products

One of these is an oldie but a goodie and other I just discovered. Maybelline Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser is the best concealer I have found that works for me, drugstore or high end! I have this in a number of different colors depending on the time of year and an additional highlighter shade, and they are all awesome! My new favorite is Sephora's Retractable Waterproof Eyeliner in Glitter Black, which you can find here. I had to put a link cuz this stuff is AWESOME! I've been playing around with the eyeliners I bought in the Sephora kit I showed in my beauty haul, and this one is surprisingly my favorite thus far! When i went out this weekend I used this on my water line and it did NOT budge!! Dare I say that I like it better than the Makeup Forever Aqua Liner! It's very affordable at $12 and comes in so many colors! Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Well there you have it! My favorites for this week!! Please let me know if you have tried or are gonna try some of these things and link up with Lindsey!

Happy Friday yall!!!

{Late} Weekend Recap

Hello girlies!! Sorry I went MIA for a week and didn't finish up 31 Days of SCG, but the end of last week was filled with working and cleaning my apartment since my bestie came and stayed with me this weekend!! She moved to Charleston earlier this year to do her pharmacy school rotations and has definitely been missed. 

the girls

Jordan and I

Friday night I guess was considered Halloween part 1, so a couple people were dressed up to go out of the town, but the COOLEST THING happened...wait for it...a ZOMBIE flash mob!! We were walking to meet our friends and saw the mob walking to one of the restaurants and wondered who all the people were. Well at the next bar the whole group came and it was AWESOME!! We ended up seeing them twice that night and it was amazing! Here's a video that my friend Caroline took. 

So after our fun-filled night, we woke up relatively early Saturday to go to my Great Uncle's surprise 80th Birthday party. Jordan got to meet my most of my crazy loud **and fashionista-filled according to her** extended family, and I think you'll be able to tell that my uncle was surprised!

I look pissed in this picture but it's all I had in regards to a OOTD pic!

Uncle's first reaction when walking in the door

 Figured it's been a while since the parentals have made an appearance, so here is the adorable couple!

Great Uncle and his immediate family
After the party wined down Jordan and I decided to do a little shopping...which meant going to Ulta and buying nail polish. OPI just came out with their holiday collection and this year's theme is James Bond. I only became a recent James Bond fan when Daniel Craig took over the role (can you say hottie patotie!!)

  Ok now that you've wiped your drool, back to nail polish...

{via}

All the colors in the collection are beautiful, but I ended up getting the Bondettes Mini Kit with the colors...

*disclaimer: All swatch pictures are courtesy of Jen at The PolishAholic. She runs my all-time favorite nail polish blog and you NEED to go follow her if you love nail polish as much as I do! Thank you Jen for letting me use your wonderful pictures!*

GoldenEye, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough, Live and Let Die

I've come to find that buying the mini sets of OPI is a much better way for me to grab some of my favorite colors in a collection without spending a ton of money. And with the number of polishes I have (it's insane how many I have!) there is no way I'll ever finish a bottle! I mainly bought this set for the last 2 colors, but the other 2 are gorgeous as well and can't wait to try them out!

I bough two full size polishes from the collection cuz I just couldn't leave these little babies behind. 

The Living Daylights and On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Most of my nail polish collection are glitters and shimmers, but I thought these two were unique and unlike anything I have seen. The Living Daylights has beautiful teal and copper hexagonal glitters. I usually just layer up my glitters and Jen said this wasn't a thick formula so I can't wait to see what that looks like! And On Her Majesty's Secret Service is so much prettier in person, a beautiful purple and blue shimmer.

All of these polishes are great and I highly encourage you check them out

...AND NOW BACK TO THE RECAP OF MY WEEKEND...

So after a little shopping we met up with everyone for some Mexican, then went back to my apartment to rest up a bit and get ready for another night out! I don't have any pics from that night, we were all exhausted from our early mornings (other girls went to the noon Carolina game) so half the group peaced out at 11pm while Jordan, Caroline, and me closed the night out!

Sunday was spent in a complete vegetative state, which was the perfect ending to an awesome weekend!! 

This weekend on the other hand is going to be VERY low key! I just got my wisdom teeth out this morning so the next couple days will be spent resting, catching up on tv shows and dining on mashed potatoes and ice cream! 

Anyone have any exciting plans for the weekend??

31 Days of SCG: Day 22 - Monday Questionnaire

Happy Monday! I am working on a couple posts to recap the weekend, but I thought I would start the week off with a nice questionnaire. I got these questions once again from Amarixe. Feel free to join and answer the questions!

1. Mood : calm. tired.

2. What was the best part of your weekend? Color Me Rad 5K!! (recap post to come!)

3. If you HAD to choose one: drastic hair color change, or drastic hair cut? drastic hair color...always wanted to know what I would look like as a blonde haha

4. Current nail polish: fingers: none toes: essie skirting the issue 

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5. You're carving a pumpkin...what do you carve? monogram!

6. Current outfit: yoga pants and gamecock national champ tshirt

7. Are there any TV shows you are really loving at the moment? Castle, L&O:SVU, and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders!!

8. Do you change your makeup routine with the seasons? How is it different for fall? not too drastically. sometimes switch to a heavier foundation and darker eye makeup 

9. Are you dressing up for Halloween this year? considering I'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out the next morning and working until 10pm Halloween night...no

10. Weekly goals: finish all my laundry, start cosmetic microbiology midterm, clean apartment cuz bestie is coming to stay with me for the weekend!!!

31 Days of SCG: Day 19 - Sephora Haul

Discussing all my favorite things at Sephora led to small purchase! I've used all the products a couple times and like each of them so far, but definitely need to use them for a couple more weeks before I form final opinions. Hope you enjoy the video!!

31 Days of SCG: Day 18 - Sephora Friends & Family

Hello lovelies! I don't know about you but I am SO happy it's almost the weekend! Tomorrow I'll be at Sephora for a small shift then Saturday morning I'll be participating in my first 5K! And by participate I mean more walking than running, which is ok since it's the Color Me Rad 5K! I'm on a team with some of my favorite twitter girls so I'm sure we'll be having a great time!

Speaking of Sephora, today was the start of their Friends & Family sale. Unlike years past, in order to participate this year you have to know a Sephora associate who can give you an online code to use. So email me if you wanna pick up some goodies!!

I've had a couple people ask for suggestions as to what to pick up during the sale, so below are a few of my favorites that I may be snagging as well in the near future!

Clarisonic Mia 2 with Josie Maran Set - $149

A Clarisonic is a great item to pick up during the sale! These almost NEVER go on sale, so a 20% discount is a great deal. If you're looking to revamp your skin regimen, a bundle kit like this Josie Maran set is a great way to go!

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - $50

Urban Decay is famous for their eyeshadow palettes, and for good reason! I use my original Naked palette every single day and get so many looks out of it. The higher price tags sometime deter people, but think about it: you're getting TWELVE FULL SIZE eyeshadows!! So in reality it's quite a bargain ;)

Sephora Draw The Line Set - $28

One of the many reasons to love the holidays is all the fun sets Sephora comes out with! I'll be picking this one up tomorrow since I am still on the hunt for a eyeliner that stays on my waterline! Three of these are full size!

Sephora In The Glow Set - $45

This is another kit I will probably end up purchasing. My all time favorite bronzer is Nars Laguna and my full size one that has lasted almost 2 years is on its last leg. This kit has a mini Laguna along with 2 other bronzers, 3 blushes, and 3 highlighters. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the Sephora sampler kits. Also a lot of the brands are selling high-valued kits since Christmas is close!

Sephora Collection Advanced Airbrush Set - $65

Another great thing to invest in while you have a discount are some beauty tools. You can have the greatest makeup products on the planet but having great tools is just as essential. They can also elevate your so-so products and make them more manageable! This is just one of the many brush kits Sephora offers, but I do own a couple of these airbrush brushes and they are fantastic! 

Bliss Steep Clean Mask - $55

I've been wanting to try this Bliss mask for a while now, but even I can admit it's hard for me to spend $50+ on a single item. But if you're anything like me having a discount code makes justifying a hefty purchase like this MUCH easier!! :)

Hope these suggestions help those of you out who are puzzled as to where to begin on Sephora's website. There are SOOO many more great things to choose from. Let me know what fun purchases you decide on!

31 Days of SCG: Day 17 - Christmas Lust List

Happy Wednesday! The last couple weeks Mom has been bugging me for my birthday/Christmas list so she can get to shopping!! Well my birthday has come and gone so now it's on the big list making! We all know that presents aren't the important part of Christmas, but it is fun to dream a little! So as part of Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday I thought I would share my Christmas list, long shots and all!!

Source: toryburch.com via Natalie on Pinterest

I've been wanting a pair of Revas for YEARS now! Now is as good a time as ever to snag some up since I can justify wearing them to both jobs!

Source: toms.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Gamecock Toms!

Source: us.burberry.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: lyst.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: davidyurman.com via Natalie on Pinterest

MAJOR long shot, but it's just so pretty!!

Source: gap.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Gap has been seriously knocking it out of the park lately! All my casual everyday clothes have been coming from them! Love this polka dot sweater and their boyfriend oxfords are SOO comfy!

Source: gap.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Natalie on Pinterest

These boots are a little bit of a cheat since I know I'm already getting these. Mom and I bought these a couple months ago on our Charlotte shopping trip but I just couldn't not share these pretties! Can't wait to wear them!

What is on your Christmas list?? 

PS- Tomorrow the Sephora Friends & Family sale officially starts in stores & online. However, unlike years past you must have an online code or invite from an employee to participate! If you would like an email leave me a comment or email me! I'll be sharing what my favorite picks are for the sale!

swtcarolinagrl {at} gmail {dot} com

31 Days of SCG: Day 16 - Birthdays {catch up}

Last Thursday I turned the big 2-3!! Woohoo haha. And in true Natalie style I was sick on my birthday :( Sick enough in fact to make a wonderful trip to the doctor and get blood work done. But thankfully I've been feeling much better since then and got to celebrate with a couple birthday dinners with my family. And of course a birthday wouldn't be complete without some presents!!

As I get older and mom keeps asking for birthday/Christmas gift suggestions, I find it harder and harder to come up with things. What I really wanted was new bedding, but of course I can't seem to find exactly what I want or even decide on what the new look for my room to be. But of course Mom did a wonderful job with the gifts for my birthday, and I just can't help but share!

from left going clockwise

Ugg Dakota Slippers - here

JCrew Factory Stripe Blouse - here

Gap Nautical dress - similar here

Kate Spade Portola Valley Darla wallet - similar here