Devalish's Journey

Happy 2014! New Start and a New Hobby

2014-01-02T15:30:00.001-05:00

Happy New Years, Happy 2014 to everyone!

I would to wish everyone a great start to the 2014 and hopefully this year I will be more consistent and stay consistent with my blogging. I always get distracted but I really need to get my act together and have some reflections to look back at when I get older. I want to make 2014 a positive year and a year of personal growth and happiness, so I would like to share my journey with you and hopefully you enjoy this journey along with me. I will posting one picture a day either on this blog or my Instagram of a happy moment that bought smiles/happiness to me. Like the saying go, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and it can trigger so much moments just by simply capturing that moment in time. Since yesterday was 1/1/2014, I'm a day off but no worries I will do double for days I do miss. This will be my 365 days picture challenge.

I want to bring more positivity and happiness into my life because in the fast NYC lifestyle, a lot of stuff is taken for granted and I don't want to feel or become like that at such a young age of 26. I would to have a more positive outlook on life even in a city full of crimes, corruptions, fast-paced, rude and much more condescending attributes about New York that others may have. I want to show that life isn't about where you live or the environment you're surrounded, it's about what you make of it and how you can see the positive (even in the smallest aspect).

Please stay tuned for more and may the new year bring more happiness and prosperity into your life and loved ones.

XoXo, A

FREEBIE ALERT!! ESSIE SAMPLE of APRICOT CUTICLE OIL

2013-04-15T17:45:00.000-04:00

GET YOUR BUTT ON THIS URL: https://secure.startsampling.com/sm/eisse/

It's not SPAM or a VIRUS.. it's legit from Essie's facebook page. They are giving aways samples of their famous Apricot Cuticle Oil and let me tell you from experience... this stuff is pretty good smelling and works pretty well. PLUS it's FREE (via the link above) C'MON NOW.. FREEBIE!! GO GET YOURS NOW before you regret! *note: Limit 1 per household, so if you have many addresses, time to use them ;) just a sneaky suggestion!

-DevalishA

My First of Many Sephora Purchase CHICWEEK (15% discount)

2013-04-12T23:01:00.001-04:00

WoOHoO! Excuse my excitement, I love it when Sephora has a sale. If you're a Sephora "Beauty Insider" then you know about the nice 15% off discount for the whole week :) of course with your card and the discount card that was mailed or emailed to you. For us "VIB"s VERY IMPORTANT BEAUTY INSIDERs, we got a freebie on April 11th (one day earlier access to the 15% discount) :) WoOhoo! Yes I'm a VIB because I spent a HELL A LOT of money at Sephora...me being a makeup junkie and all. So I did attend the In-Store event at my local Sephora near my workplace and I picked up a few goodies. I think I did okay for my first purchase of the discounted week... yes I do plan on shopping more at Sephora and online as well. If you want to order online, just simply enter the coupon code "CHICWEEK", remember to login with your beauty insider account.

C'mon it's a discount that is CONTINOUS for all week, unlike those once use only coupons. So anyways, if you are a VIB, attended the in-store event on April 11th and made a purchase, you get a free Sephora tote bag with samples. The samples I wasn't too excited for since it's the same samples you can get from online...nothing was deluxe size. So here is my mini Sephora haul:

- BITE mini lip duo (retail: $12)
- BUXOM mini lip set (retail: $21)
- ALGENIST Multi-Perfecting Detoxifying Exfoliator (retail: $38)

I love this tote bag, it's a medium size with faux leather handles. The tote bag came with the color vision brochure that actually have guides on how to achieve the makeup looks they featured. But wait, they included blank face charts for you to create your own makeup looks as well. I thought this feature was pretty nice, since not much companies offer face charts for free and include blank ones as well. Of course there are many different face charts you can download online or order face charts papers from makeup suppliers.

Well this is my first mini Sephora CHICWEEK haul, let's see how much more money Sephora is gonna get out of my wallet this week. For someone with no self-control, I might have to buy the entire Sephora haha. Is there anything in your Sephora Wishlist that you want to buy but don't want to pay full retail price? Do you have any recommendations on what I should get?

Thanks for reading and hope this mini haul was exciting to you.

IMATS NYC 2013!! My 3rd Year going experience & Haul :)

2013-04-09T00:21:00.000-04:00

So this past weekend (April 6-7th 2013) was the 3rd year of IMATS NYC at Pier 94. I go every year because I love makeup and I love learning from all the makeup artists and getting the great trade show discounts on makeup...duh who doesn't LOVE discounts! :) Anyways I consider myself an IMATS veteran since I go every year and every year it seems like certain things change for the better and the worst. So here is my rant... this year there were less vendors/exhibitors than the year prior. I like the student battle of the brushes competition theme this year though...beauty meets the elements…which was gorgeous. I love all the excitement surrounding IMATS and all the multi-talented makeup artists that appears at these shows. I got to meet some of my favorite Youtube gurus this year, while some of them I didn't actually get a picture with them, at least I have a stalker pic shot of them. LOL yeah I zoomed my camera at them…even if they aren't looking in my direction and are busy taking pictures with other event attendees. Who Cares! I got to actually see them in person instead of behind a computer screen and on YouTube. Anyways, I always come to the makeup shows to support one (or more) of my favorite makeup artists...Koren Zander aka EnkoreMakeup & Kevin James Bennett... these two men are FABULOUS!! I have learned SO much from them. I attended both of their seminars and enjoyed every moment of it. Koren had Christen Nguyen aka xteeener...the youtube beauty guru that I love as well to join him as a guest...which made it EVEN MORE AWESOME! They both did such a great job. If you're ever wondering if you should go to IMATS, you should definitely at least go once, it's truly an experience even if you don't go to buy discounted makeup.

Anyways so overall it was a great experience and I did buy a couple of things...I'm actually very proud of myself for not going crazy (like I was guilty of during the last two years). I bought all of Koren's new brush soaps and I must say THEY SMELL AMAZING!!! It's a soap bar with a loofah on one side that's designed to be used for your makeup brushes... I heard if you want to use it as a regular soap for your body you can too ;) It retails for $6 a bar and you can buy the plastic round container to store it as well. I'll attached some pictures at the end with all my haul. My one regret of not buying from IMATS for the amazing Jesse's Girl new waterproof liquid eyeliner... i can't believe i forgot to head back to their booth before I left.. it was only $5 and from the demo and reviews on Youtube...it's actually an amazing eyeliner...I love my liquid eyeliners!

I did pick up their new Frosted Gumdrop "texture" nail polishes set. Haven't tried it but definitely going to try it out :)

PHOTO DISCLAIMER: ALL OF THESE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN BY ME. COPYING, REUSING OR DISTRIBUTING THESE PHOTOS WITHOUT MY CONSENT OR CREDIT GIVEN TO ME OR THIS BLOG WILL BE REPORTED.

Koren's Brush Soap Bar- They are AMAZING! Smells Awesome and works wonders :D

Jesse's Girl Frosted Gumdrops Textured Nail Polishes- Very Pretty!!

IMAT 2013 Student Competition Theme: Beauty & the Elements.. AMAZING JOBS! I LOVE THE LAST ROW #3.. She is the winner too! :-D

Well thanks for reading my post and hope you found this entertaining. :)

My NYC Life...short & brief...at least I hope so

2013-04-04T17:43:00.000-04:00

I want to start off my blog with my crazy...full of non-sense...and chances of it becoming one LONG run-on sentence with (...). My name is Anita, the capital A as seen in the profile bar...I was born and raised & still live in NYC, New York... yes the BIG CITY, the BIG APPLE, the EMPIRE STATE/ whatever you call it. Who doesn't love NYC...c'mon now!? Living in the city full of characters and personalities and randominess...who doesn't love that!? I DO! I tend to ramble a lot and talk like a true New Yorker. So I'm sure many of you reading this intro, may ask why am I starting this blog now? I'm already a quarter century old (25 yrs old, for those who don't know what a quarter of a century is :-)) I'm at the point of my life right now that I don't know what I want to do for my career, my life path and how to deal with my finances. God knows I'm a HUGE...I MEAN EXTREME Compulsive with no Self-Control... Shopaholic & Hoarder. I just want an outlet to rant or share my thoughts instead of Facebook or Twitter...c'mon I'm sure everyone has a friend or relative on Facebook or Twitter that updates constantly in your feed and you just wanna punch them in the face/gut. Better yet, throw their phone/laptop across the room...Disclaimer: I am not liable for any damages or injuries you decide to take based on my silly suggestion. As you can see, I ramble a lot and tend to have a crazy sense of humor, so hopefully I will be entertaining to everyone. I know there are many bloggers out there and you know what... I DON'T GIVE A CRAP! ;) "I'm doing my thang" (Sidenote, sometimes I act a little gangster or ghetto at times because I grew up in the LES baby!) Well, please stay tune for more ramble & crazy randominess of my NYC life.

Daily NYC Tip: No offense to tourists who comes to visit this beautiful city, you guys REALLY need to learn the walking in the streets etiquettes! DO NOT STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK or BLOCK THE STREET with your large group of family/friends...because you know a true New Yorker would yell at you or get upset with you for being in the way. We travel at the speed of the "New York Minute", so take that tip with you when you or someone you know is planning a trip to NYC.