Etsy Find of the Week: Hazelnut Cookie Brittle

Yes, everyone might be going into New Year, New You detox, but just in case you aren't, check out this amazing Hazelnut Cookie Brittle from CelebrityBakeSale on Etsy. White chocolate, toasted slivered almonds, golden brown sugar, and organic almond extract, topped with praline hazelnuts - doesn't that sound awesome? Nom nom nom. It's $12 for 1/2lb.

Commenting Issue

Hi everyone,

Thanks to a lovely commenter I have discovered that my new blog layout doesn't work for comments for some reason. Urgh. I am too tired right now to fix it, but I do promise that I will over the next couple of days. Bear with me. Bad blogger.

Nails of the Week: Essie Mint Candy Apple

Without flash, natural light

I've been excited about this varnish since I heard about it a couple of months ago. I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago, and got a chance to try it out just before I headed off to Palm Beach. Yup, this is a scheduled post, and when you read this I should be poolside. This cool mint should really suit that Florida sun. I love, love the color, but the consistency of this was a real pain - it was super thick and prone to smudging, even using a super fast top coat. I do still love it though! 

With flash

What's on your nails right now?

Saturday Surfing Round Up

I hope everyone had a great NYE. I flew to West Palm Beach and got to the apartment at 11.55. Just in time to pour drinks and run onto the patio to bring in the New Year in some heat (goodbye NYC snow and sleet!).  As I type this I can see green ocean and hear waves. Lush.

This week has been lots of FOTDs and annual round ups across the beauty blogosphere. Here's some top picks:

• Temptalia has the Reader's Choice awards up. Did your favorites make it?
• My Make Up Reviews has her top items of 2009 listed - I'm definitely going to try Laura Mercier Tinted Moisteriser this year.
• There were a lot of FOTD posts for NYE and my favorite was from STYLESUZI - those eyes, those lips!
• American Apparel has brought out a range of nail varnishes and our trusty swatch-maiden KarlaSugar has them all swatched for us to take a look at.
• It seems that I am not the only one trying to use up my stash. Lipstick Rules is doing 50 days of lipstick to work through her supply of lipsticks.
• Picturesque Makeup also has a round of 2009 products including a mark lipgloss I might just have to check out and Lush! Oatmeal soap. Yum.
• Babbling Brooke has gorgeous designs on her nails for NYE.

Find any awesome beauty posts this week? Write one yourself? Post it in the comments and I'll check it out. 

EOTD Smoky Pinks

Right now I've been going through a real neutrals phase, hence my love for the Warm & Cozy collection. But, every so often, a girl wants to have fun, and what better way to do that than play with pink? As a bonus, I get to tick off a couple of my never used items like MAC Stars and Rockets eye shadow, NYX Black Bean Jumbo Pencil and NYX Candy Pink Glitter Liner.

Products used (all MAC unless stated)

• Paint in Bare Canvas
• NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean
  
• Stars and Rockets Eye Shadow
• Dark Blue shade from Mystic Cool Palette
• NYX Candy Glitter in Pink
• Highlight shade from Mystic Cool Palette
• Feline Pencil
• Covergirl Lashblast mascara
  

I used Bare Canvas as as base, then used Stars and Rockets all over the eye. I took the dark blue from Mystic Cool and used it in the outer third and the crease, blending with the pink to smoke it out. I then highlighted with the cool shimmery white shade in the Mystic Cool Palette. I then used the NYX Pink Glitter liner all over the lid for a glittery sheen. This was something I'd seen A Brilliant Brunette do in a gorgeous dark blue look I lined the waterline with Feline and the lower lashline with Stars and Rockets.

I think I'm slowly getting better at the whole picture taking malarkey, but it's a learning experience!

About Me

Welcome to Jolie Laide Girl!

Jolie Laide is a French expression literally translated as "pretty / ugly", but means a girl who is unconventionally beautiful, or a woman who may not be considered pretty, but makes the most of herself. For me, Jolie Laide is also about a sense of insouciance, of being comfortable with yourself and your sense of beauty and style.

I am a mid-twenties girl living in New York City. I have been interested in fashion and beauty all my life, spending far too much time flicking through magazines and trying on turquoise eye shadows. By day I negotiate the murky world of financial services as an IT manager, and by night I debate I debate MAC versus NARS and Proenza Shouler, with a healthy dose of Topshop and Covergirl thrown in.

Jolie Laide is a blog set up in December 2008 to cover my personal perspective on fashion and beauty. I regularly feature product reviews, make up ideas, outfit posts, and shopping and blog finds across the internet. All posts of my opinion only, and I am not paid to review any product. If I have received a product as a sample for review, a disclaimer is included in my post. I do not guarantee to post on products received, not do I guarantee positive coverage.

I do really love to interact with my readers, so feel free to get in contact with me either via the comments section, following me on twitter, or emailing via jolielaidegirl [at] gmail.com

New Year's Resolutions

New Year, New You, and all that. Every year we try and make ourselves better people. I've got some definite plans to make myself into a more jolie laide girl this year:

Gotta use all this, remember?

1. Learn how to contour my face. You've seen the before and after pictures on 'slebs. Really, cheekbones can be made not born. And I'm sure I can learn how. Contouring and highlighting have not grabbed my attention before as fun eye colors are much more exciting, but I'm a growing (read aging) woman, I need to learn these things stat.
2. Find my HG foundation. I firmly believe that this is every woman's dream. A choice between looking like having amazing skin all the time versus owning the entire Laboutin collection, I really think that skin would win. Contenders in this epic are Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, MAC, NARs and any other recommendations. It needs to make my skin look real, but better. Yeah, nothing new there, but right now it's not happening for me. 
3. Bring more of my never-used into my sometimes used category. Yes, I've mad posted about this already. It's a big one. 
4. Tidy my wardrobe and keep it there. Photos of my wardrobe will not be surfacing on this blog, unless it's maybe in the after stage. But let's just say that I have an excess of clothes and no place to put them. The new bag of Rodarte for Target is not helping matters. 
5. Be less impulsive with clothes shopping, especially for trendy pieces. See Rodarte for Target above. But really, I do need to work on this. I've been proud of myself during the last couple of months for not bringing home too many clothes, and for getting everything I buy on sale. I just gotta keep the momentum going. 
6. Buy heels I can wear. Okay, I can try. 
7. When my nail varnish chips, fix it! I am so bad at this, and then they just taunt me!
8. If I want something, check whether I can get it via ebates and save money rather than impulse shopping. Ohmigod, this kills me. I always remember after the fact. Such a pain. Now I am keeping the tab open and trying to shop less anyway.