Inspiration: Master Bedroom

I would love to give you guys a tour and post pics of what I'm working with house-wise but we are still in the purchasing process. After it officially belongs to us, I will post pictures. Until then, let's all just use our imaginations.

I have a pretty clear vision for what we want our house to look like. I've been looking for one piece to embody that style and make it easier to pick things to go along with it. But I haven't found it it yet so I'm just going to throw out some words for you and hope the pics in each inspiration post give you the idea.
For the bedroom, I'm going with blues, slate grey, silver, bone and maybe some sandy colors. We are trying to hit beachy without also going into kitschy. I gravitate more towards modern than traditional and I think that will help prevent it from looking like a beach house.

When I said modern, I meant it! We decided to go with the Malm line of furniture for our bedroom. We already have the Kullen dresser and the Malm desk for my vanity set up. We decided to go with the higher bed and two three drawer chests instead of the two drawer chests for nightstands (the Malm nightstand is not compatible with the higher bed). I wish we could do the rolling headboard storage thing but I don't think that's compatible with the taller bed either. We haven't decided between the longer 6 drawer dresser and the taller 6 drawer dresser yet.

 I'm in love with this duvet from West Elm. The pattern is big without being overly commanding. It's definitely feminine without being so girly that it intimidates my boyfriend. On top of that, the blue is exactly what I was looking for.

I love the look of a couple different throws at the end of a bed, which is good because we have to have one. The boyfriend has a favorite throw and would be devastated if I banished it from our bedroom. It's a slate blue microfiber throw so I think adding an off white or gray chunky knit throw would be beautiful! This one is from Pottery Barn but it would be simple enough to make. I'm undecided on whether I'll buy or make one.

A couple of pieces we already picked up from World Market: the Mediterranean Sea potpourri and this turtle bowl/tray thing (which apparently discontinued? image via Houzz). I know the potpourri looks very beach house but I think it's acceptable since it's not like I'm doing a ton of beach house things. I still need to find a bowl or something to put it in. The turtle tray will be on my vanity, probably holding my project pan stuff! I love turtles but again, trying to keep from venturing into kitschy beach house, so I will be trying to limit myself. I love that this one is silver because I love silver above all other metallics. I just feel like it goes with everything!

As far as artwork, accessories and all of that...I'm at a loss. Maybe a light gray for the walls? I also need to figure out what I want for flooring before we move in. Obviously, I won't be setting out to finish this in a week or two so I've got plenty of time to figure out more of what I want for smaller items. Any suggestions?

Project Pan October Update

Another month down! I've been wearing less makeup lately but I still have some progress to show you.

 I hit pan on the ELF quad and I'm so glad! It's not that I hate this, but I started to miss my other shadows. That far left highlight shade is crap. It's so hard and what I can get from it is not very pigmented and mostly dusty. I'll still use this as I do really get use out of the other three but I subbed in a different highlight all month long.

I've known all month that I need to make a change to this project. Five products doesn't really leave me with many options to branch out, if I use all five for my face of the day. In trying to come up with a product to replace the ELF quad, I was less than thrilled. I was trying to keep it 3 things to use up and 2 to hit pan but ultimately, that's just too restrictive for me. So I figure I have a few options: leave it at 4 products, pick something regardless of it's a pan or use it up product, or try something totally different. For the totally different, I was thinking I could add a side project to this where I challenge myself to use one palette everyday for a month. But once I started trying to figure out the rules for that idea, I scrapped it. It doesn't really go with my whole keep it simple plan. So for now, I'm dropping down to 4 products. I may change that next month but for now, I think that's the way to go.

Let's Chat

As I said in my last post, I'm very aware that I've not blogged with any frequency lately. Part of that is, in fact, technical problems. But combine that with being so freaking busy, I've not been wearing a ton of makeup or even doing my nails this month, well... I just don't have any makeup or beauty related posts to bring you between project pan updates. I'm hoping to rectify that situation in the next few weeks.

Even if I start posting more makeup and nails posts, I have to admit there are several other topics occupying me. We are preparing to move and it's a combination of extremely stressful and super exciting. We will be going from our apartment to first time home ownership! We will get to do all the fun home improvement stuff like painting and decorating but we also have a lot of the not so fun home improvement stuff to take care of as well. I'd like to start writing about that as well.

In an effort to get back on the blogging train, I'm going to be posting once a week about something not makeup or beauty related. I promise than in addition to those posts, I will be working on posts actually about what you are here for. I just don't like being boxed in. There are so many things I enjoy and would love to write about and I don't want to have lots of one topic specific blogs. Maybe one day I will figure out how to separate them via different tabs (and different feeds). But for now we will have a mishmash of what's going on in my head.

Current Wishlist: October 2012

I could make a lot of excuses about why I haven't been blogging lately. I could explain to you that it's difficult to come up with something to write about when you are using the same products over and over. I could even tell you how I've been so busy since fall is our favorite season around here and October is the birth month of MonkeyToes. And if I really wanted to push you over the edge I could lament my computer being 2 years old and the screen dying, forcing us to rig up the boyfriend's 6 year old laptop to just be able to check Facebook. But let's not get into that. :)
With the holidays around the corner I figured I could show you a couple things I've been lusting after lately. Now is the time when my family starts Christmas shopping and my birthday also happens to fall in December. Plus with this limited purchasing thing I've been doing, I have the urge to buy new stuff!

1. OPI's Skyfall Collection
Swatches of these are just starting to appear online and they are incredible! Check them out here and here. I'm going to skip You Only Live Twice because I have something way too similar. But they are looking awesome and I love that OPI did actual Bond names instead of doing silly puns. There are still a couple I want from the Germany collection but as soon as I see these, I'll be picking up a couple.

2. New ELF products
It's been over a year since I've made an ELF order and there are a lot of new things I want to try. No matter how much I'm loving Benefit, MAC and other higher end products, ELF products always attract my attention.

3. Holiday 2012 Gift Sets
Swoon! I love holiday sets! They usually give you a great opportunity to try out a ton of new products for a great price. And of all the holiday sets, I fall the hardest for the Benefit kits. I'm a Benefit fan girl and the packaging is ADORABLE. I've never tried Tarte but I've always wanted to try their blushes and that kit seems like a fantastic place to start. I've also been wanting to try a ton of new perfumes but I can't commit to a full size bottle without using a sample first. The new Sephora sampler has four in particular that I've been wanting to try: Coach Poppy, Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy La Fleur, Marc Jacobs Dot and Prada Candy.

Hopefully my dad can fix my computer so I can get back to blogging regularly. I really kind of missed it. Any other holiday releases that I might have missed and would love?