New and Exciting Things Ahead

Hello my loves, happy Sunday!

I have some exciting news to share with you.

After much consideration and some back and forth I have decided to take the leap and buy my own domain on Word Press. I wanted to have more options and more control over my blog and I felt Word Press was the best way to achieve that.

My amazing, (not to mention talented) friend Jessica took time in her extremely busy schedule to help me with some web designing and helped get it off the ground. Now I am still in the early stages of the design and layout so please bare with me for a little while. I am sure I will need many more sessions with Jessica in "Web Design 101". 

Blogger's platform has been pretty good to me especially for just starting out, but I feel like this is a step in the right direction. I'm hoping this will encourage me to continue to develop my blog and get it to where I really want it to be. But don't worry, I'm still focusing on beauty and being a twenty-something singe in the modern world. I will be putting up new posts every other Sunday so be on the lookout.

If you've read my posts on here please go over to brunettebias.com and check out the new and improved blog! I hope you will follow me as I continue to grow. Thank you to everyone who has been apart of this so far.

Catch ya on the flip side!

love you_mean it.

Summer Faves

Hello my lovies, It's almost August and it's going to be hot hot hot! I've put together my summer makeup go-tos to help battle the heat:

1. L'Oreal True Match Foundation- This is the first liquid foundation I ever tried. I used to be scared of liquid, so I stuck with my Bare Minerals powder. But once I bought my Sigma F80 foundation brush, I was all about the liquid. L'Oreal has a ton of colors to choose from and it offers a medium-full coverage that is buildable.

2. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer- I will admit, I only bought this because Jaclyn Hill said she loved it. But once I tried it, I was hooked. It is exactly how the name describes it. It is truly weightless, I don't feel like I am even putting anything on my face. It also is full coverage and it doesn't crease. A lot of times I don't even set it with a powder. The only thing is I wish they had a bigger color selection. I had to get the lightest color (Fair Neutral) because the next color option was darker than my foundation. The Fair Neutral works, I just have to balance it out by putting it on my forehead and chin as well.

3. Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer- I really like cream bronzers for summer time, it gives your face that healthy sun-kissed glow. I do set this with my Hoola powder at times just in case, but it still works. This is a tad on the pricier side for bronzers (I mean it is Chanel) but I had been wanting it forever and finally when I was shopping in Chicago I just had to grab it. But I did use a gift card! :)

4. Becca & Jaclyn Hill's Champagne Pop Highlighter- You already know I bought this highlighter as soon as it became available on Sephora.com. I love Becca's Opal highlighter and Jaclyn helped create this one so it was a done deal. (This is Limited Edition and selling out FAST) I will have a more in depth review of this in an upcoming post.

5. Covergirl Super Sizer Lash Blast Mascara- When I opened this and saw the wand was thin and tiny I was so upset because I like mine to be wider and fluffy, but once I swiped it through my lashes I was pleasantly surprised with the results. It creates great volume and the small wand allows you to get every lash.

That's all, stay cool! Fall is just around the corner and I cannot wait! (Don't kill me...) 

Love you_Mean it

Bloggin' Ain't Easy...

picture via

It has been quite some time since my last post and I felt like I should probably explain why. I have run into a sort of "writer's block", nothing was really inspiring me anymore to write. So I wanted to kind of share the back story on how and why I started blogging.

I originally started this blog because I have always loved to write. I wanted to be a Journalism major when I first started college. I aspired to be Andie Anderson: How-To Girl from How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days. I always had that fantasy of working at a magazine, like Cosmopolitan, and living a fabulous life in New York City (I blame the entertainment industry for this). I quickly realized I really only enjoyed writing when it was for fun, not when it was for work. 

Then, about 2 or 3 years ago I started watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. Mainly Jaclyn Hill, which I'm sure comes as no surprise to most of you. I instantly became obsessed with makeup and beauty products. Gradually, I also became obsessed with Lifestyle and Beauty blogs. I wanted to have that. I loved the sleek designs of them, but mostly the fun and interesting things they wrote about. It was like having your girlfriends there to talk about love, celebrities, and life hacks all in one convenient place that I could access whenever I wanted to. It made me realize I wasn't alone in my obsessions and that felt nice. So I thought a blog would be a good fit for me. I could do this. I could write about beauty products I loved and share the random things that brought a smile to my face each day. A perfect creative outlet for someone like me. 

So that brought me here: Brunette Bias. Once I started really researching blogs and how to do them I became slightly overwhelmed. There is SO much more to blogging than just writing. Which platform to use? What format or background theme do you want? What font? What color? and what the heck is SEO? etc, etc. It is a bit daunting. I started writing anyway but I kept comparing my blog to other well-known blogs and got discouraged.There are just so many lifestyle blogs these days, which is great, but I want to make mine different. I want it to be a place where readers come to get advice or suggestions on the things they are interested in. I want to be on their level of experience. I need to learn that comparison is the root of all frustration and that is what was happening to me.

I know basically the only people who read my blog are my immediate family and then a few select friends of mine. And I know a blog following doesn't develop overnight, it is something that takes time and something that a major amount of work goes into. I realize I need to be patient and just keep trying and writing what comes naturally to me or this will never work. 

I am making it my goal to do more research on blogs, how they work, and what I can do to develop and make mine better. I am hoping to even go to a blogging conference with my friend and future fellow blogger, Annie, in September to really get into it. Until then, I hope to be back VERY soon with some new and exciting posts

If you are still reading this: thanks for sticking it out with me!

Love you_Mean it.

Currently Obsessed: April 2015

It's already May. Wow. April flew by. But I digress, lets get right down to it shall we?

What I am currently obsessed with:

1. The Jaclyn Hill's Favorites palette by Morphe

 You guys!!!! When this first came out and sold out before I could get it I was not happy but I finally got my hands on it the 2nd time around after stalking Morphe's Instagram. Anything Jaclyn Hill does I feel like I need to purchase it. When she actually comes out with her own makeup line I am going to go happily broke and it will be all her fault. But this eye shadow palette is amazeballs. It has every color you will ever want or need and they are just gorgeous. That is all I can say.

2. Lush Eau Roma Water Facial Spray

So Annie gave this to me as part of my birthday present and I am now obsessed. I am no stranger to facial sprays but I had never tried this one from Lush. It is awesome though, it is just so refreshing on your face and it has a smell to it that I can't really place but for some reason makes me think of being on a beach vacation so when I spray it I feel calm and happy (I'm weird I know, thanks).

3.  Reflections by Misterwives.

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I don't even know why I love this song right now considering I can't really understand half of what they are saying--but the beat in chorus is just so fun and dance-worthy that I just can't help myself. Windows down, volume up for this one.

4. Scandal

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I want to be Olivia Pope. Then again, who doesn't? Her style is flawless, she is a badass business woman, and she doesn't take crap from anyone. This show literally sucks you in with the first episode and does not let you go. I have been watching it on Netflix and I have 2 episodes left in season 3 and I am savoring them because I just don't want it to end and have to wait for the new season to come out. Hurry up Netflix!!

5. Flowers

I don't know if it is just because it is Spring or what but lately I have just been loving flowers. They are so pretty!! I recently went and bought flowers for my condo to brighten it up for Spring. (Full Disclosure: They are fake flowers, I don't claim to be able to keep anything alive). But I just have the urge to buy even more, all kinds…and maybe I will.

That's it for this edition on "Currently Obsessed", hope you enjoyed it. Let me know some of your current obsessions on the comments!

Love you_Mean it,
Michelle

Spring Playlist--Put Your Records On

It is Sunny and 75 here in Cincinnati today and it's absolutely gorgeous! In that spirit, I wanted to share a couple of songs I am currently obsessed with that remind me of Spring. One of my favorite things to do is drive around in my car and listen to music, so I put together 12 of my favorite songs that get me in the mood for Springtime.

Spring Playlist:

1. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae

2. Nobody Love - Tori Kelly

3. Blank Space/Style Mashup - Louisa Wendorff

4. Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding

5. Earned It - The Weeknd

6. Talking Body - Tove Lo

7. Closer - Tegan & Sara

8. Sugar - Maroon 5

9. Make It Rain - Ed Sheeran

10. Fire N Gold - Bea Miller

11. Nostalgic - Kelly Clarkson

12. New Romantics - Taylor Swift

Let me know your favorite songs at the moment in the comments below!!

xoxo,
Michelle

April Showers-Spring Update/Catchup

Happy Spring!!


It is finally April and that means it's my birthday month! I usually take my birthday pretty seriously and try to celebrate all month long. :) I will be 25 this year--yikes! That is a quarter century old...*shiver*...but hey, maybe this age will impart some wisdom. I could use it, it has been a trying past couple of months. Nonetheless--it is Spring, a new season and a new outlook.

I have been itching for a new spring wardrobe but I am trying to budget my money better so I am doing my best to resist the urge to shop, extremely hard for most girls. I fill online shopping carts all day long and then begrudgingly exit out of the website before I can checkout. This routine makes me more and more upset every morning when I don't suddenly wake up a millionaire. If only every outfit I pinned on Pinterest just magically showed up in my closet when I got home from work, for free (ahh, a perfect world...)

Anyhoo--I just wanted to give you guys an update on the things I have going on. I have been spending a lot of time getting things together in my new condo still. I am currently working on getting my moving experience up for you guys and hopefully some pictures, even though it isn't fully decorated yet. SO hopefully I get it together soon.

I also had an idea for a new blog series called "Currently Obsessed" which is exactly what is sounds like. Short blog posts about things I am currently obsessing over at the moment. I might do it like a "Friday Favorites" kind of thing where I do a post each week. That is my goal, but I tend to stay obsessed with the same things for a while so I will have to mix it up a bit!

My amazing friend, Annie, and I are trying to learn more about the fundamentals of blogging and hopefully we will learn some good things and I can improve this blog and really get it going. I will keep you posted.

Until next time...

xoxo,
Michelle

Foodie Five Update: Cucinova

Cucinova 

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to write about my new found love: Cucinova. It is a new restaurant that opened up across from Kenwood Mall by Currito and the new Blown Salon. I think it can be best described as "Chipotle style" Italian. You can either choose pizza, pasta, or salad. Once you make your selection you can choose what sauce, cheese, and toppings (if you are getting pizza). Now I have never gotten the pasta or salad but they have different options of pastas and sauces and different choices of lettuce and toppings. But their pizza is really where it is at. To say that we are obsessed here at work would be a drastic understatement, we legitimately go there once a week usually.

Now if you know me at all, you probably know that when I normally get pizza I just get plain cheese but I don't know if it is my co-workers encouraging me to try new things or what but when I go to Cucinova I get spinach, mushrooms, Peppadew peppers (like roasted red peppers but a tad spicier, also my new obsession!) pepperoni, and green peppers. I also get ranch on the side because honestly, what is pizza without ranch? After you add all your toppings they throw it in a fire oven for about 3 minutes and you are good to go. The pizza's a decent size and only $6.99 no matter how many toppings you get.

They do serve some alcohol and have some happy hour deals. Tuesdays you can get 2 pizzas for $10 between 4 and 6.

You can check out everything on their website here.

Just talking about it makes me want to go there. It is almost lunch time... :)