We made it to the quarter of a century

On December 19, I finally turned 25! 

For some odd reason 25 sounds like a more defining birthday than 18 or 21. I guess I have always pictured it as an age when you really are an adult. This year I opted for a more family oriented party which included my favorite cake, ice cream and presents. More than anything, I had all my family with me. I'll probably post more pictures as they keep coming. Let hope that we make it to half a century with so much fun and happiness.

You see, baby, I'm the worrying kind!

I was really determined to start blogging at probably the worst time ever!

2013 is coming to an end and I can seriously classify this year as the most life changing so far. I am finally done with my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, passed my license exam and joined the work force. It is a little overwhelming considering that all of these occurred in just once summer. Its been hard to transition from student to professional but such things take time and I keep my head held high. Unfortunately with all the changes comes the staying behind of some people. Some will be missed while others are better off in their new path in life. I myself have changed a lot but there is a little part of me that wishes many of the people in my life will stay for the long term.

While I determine what exactly to do with my new life situation, I will try to blog about the things I like. Not necessarily focus on one subject but in a wide range of topics. One never knows what their new love will be :)

But the future holds many new projects so hold on to your seats!

Select the intervention that the nurse should perform first...

And I will have to select "study" as the first intervention to be performed :(

Its been rather quiet here in the past couple of weeks (maybe even a month but I have no time to check) due to life getting busy and busy. As of last week I have chosen a date for my NCLEX exam and will have to overload with studying if I want to become a Registered Nurse. My life goal is less than 2 weeks away from me!

I know I picked an awful time to start a blog but I'm sure I will keep going, I'm too opinionated to keep quiet. There are several posts on the pipe line and after August 30th, I'm sure there will be a lot more.

The only thing I update religiously is my Instagram. If you really want to know what occurs in my boring life, follow me @gabrielleanaiis

We need to talk about Taupe...

No Taupe here!

Or maybe we need to stop talking about it?

I have been a avid beauty blog reader for almost two years and even before that one of my favorite things about grocery shopping was walking up an down the cosmetics aisle and admire the vivid colors looking back at me. What was there no to love about eye shadows in the most delicious shades of purple and greens that looked like gems?  Just say electric blue eye liner and I will be there. Isn't makeup just a wonderful world of opportunities to play the actress that we have inside?

To my dismay, it seems that I'm one of the few. I am becoming quiet bored of some beauty blogs as of late. How many taupe eye shadows can you actually review? Is there really a need to have a thousand shades of boring brown? There are tons of opportunities out there to try and doing one and a million looks with brown just seems so constraining. Not that I myself don't wear brown in my day to day makeup (I want to pull a Lady Vengeance but I don't think my boss would like it..) but if you want t be a beauty guru, please appeal to the stuff I can only wear once in a while. You are the one that should take risks and encourage me to try that bright orange blush or that electric blue mascara! I will take my everyday makeup lessons from my mother.

Actually, talking about my mother, I think she takes more risks in the beauty department than all those beauty gurus put together. She was actually the one who encouraged me to buy the eye shadow quad above and wear it one night out. Yellow eye-shadow was not the preferred look by my fellow ladies that night but who cares? The world didn't stop, the sun came up from the east and no mothers would run to cover their baby's eyes in fear of their lives.

You can all keep all the taupes, beige and browns you want. I think that yellow does make my eyes pop.  

You Blue Me Away...

Vintage pearl and Swarovski crystal bracelet from my mother, Nivea A Kiss of Smoothness, Wet'n'Wild Fastdry nail color in Bling It On, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail color in Pacific Blue, Dior Midnight Poison Perfume,  Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tenacious Teal, Rimmel Glam'eyes in Posh Peacock, L'Oreal Bright Shadow Duo in 224 Showy, Hard Candy Eye Candy in Electra, blue birthday stone ring from my mother.

As I'm sure many of you can tell, I have a weakness for blue.

My fascination with blue started thanks to a very elegant lady: Barbie. As a child I remember the pastel blue eye shadow and navy blue liner of my Barbies and wonder if one day I would be able to wear that. Fast forward to me age 12 and the image was not pretty. Mom allowed me to wear makeup and got me to choose an eye shadow duo from the Avon catalog. Naturally I gravitated towards a duo of sparkly white and baby blue shadows and the disaster began. Not only did I cover my whole eyelid with baby blue but that color was not for me. It looked more like I've tried to recreate a raccoon eye with with blue chalk. Whenever I question my mother about allowing such thing she tells me what she has always told me: "Don't you prefer to learn from mistakes when you are young? Make up is trial and error but remember always fun."  If only I could use that phrase to get away with all those disastrous outfits I wore....

Now that I know better (or like to think I do), I've been able to overcome the traumatizing experience with baby blue eye shadow. I've steered away from pastel colors in favor of turquoise and cobalt blue. From the too chalky to the matte and shimmering textured that actually look good. For that blue disco glitter above? All I can say is that RuPaul does influence me quiet a bit. I've also come to discover that blue can be worn on nails without looking like a corpse (once again, alert with all the pastels). Being that blue is my favorite I tend to chose everything based on that. Even my favorite perfume was bought because I could not leave a blue bottle behind. In the end, I learned the valuable lesson that not just because you like it does it mean its for you. Maybe I will never be able to pull out that pastel blue on my lids and the perfect beach body but one thing is for sure:  Blues is not just for Barbie. 

There is always a beginning...

Tiffany &Co. double heart necklace, Anaïs Anaïs Eau de Parfum, Chanel Rouge Coco in 19 Gabrielle

  Oh but where to begin! Let's start with the basics: My name is Gabrielle Anaïs and I was born and raised in Texas, USA. I'm 5'1" in a good day and getting so close to the 30's that I'll just stay in the mid 20's forever.  I'm a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing who has a humongous love for cosmetics. When I state such thing I'm not being the least bit exaggerated. My collection has taken up so much space that I should be in Hoarders :( My other passion is vintage jewelry which isn't any better...

Ahh so introduction aside, what do I expect of this blog? I guess most of all to give an excuse to my insane addiction and to share my up and downs of being a cosmetic hoarder. I'm also hoping for a little getaway from 12 hour shift if only for a moment! My only previews experiences with blogs was documenting chemical experiments but I'm pretty sure no one wants to read that (I will post the link one day: Me in a lab coat and goggles was not pretty). I hope you enjoy it here and laugh, cry and be entertained by me making a fool of myself. 

Coming Soon

Many things are on their way and this is one of them. Stay tuned