Brilliant Farmgirl's Beauty Secrets™

It’s time to get shamelessly materialistic as I give a run-down of my July favorites. Of course, I have to start with my favorite dress of the moment. I call this my "swap meet dress" because that's precisely where I got it. Earlier last month, my sister, our lovely friend Susan and I spent an awesome day running around a local swap meet. It was quite an adventure- the 3 of us picked through rusted/cracked/dusty treasures, snacked on free peanuts and haggled our way into great deals. We left with knowledge on how to grow better organic plants and how Cuerritos con Limón taste like. It was a blast. I found my swap meet dress at one of the clothing tents. Susan found a romper that she loved from there too, so we were able to join forces/purchasing power and get the dress and romper for $13 a piece.

My dress looks like a perfectly ladylike dotted dress until you look closer to find unicorns, mushrooms, kitties and sweater-wearing bunnies scattered amongst the polka dots. Yes, you read correctly. See below:

Another lip product I’ve been reaching for nonstop is the Revlon Bitten Lip Stain in Berry Juicy. Not the lip marker that just came out- This was a limited edition item that surfaced a few years back. It’s a liquid lip stain contained in a roller-ball bottle. Just a tiny dab in the center of my lips gives me the perfect see-through flush on my lips. I top it with a gloss like the YSL Lip Twins Orange and it looks like I have nectar on my lips. I was able to snatch this up at my local Ulta last year but I believe you can still find these online.

Another item Fragrancenet.com sent was the Aveda Rosemary Mint Shampoo. I fell in love with this shampoo while staying at a charming, beach-front hotel in Santa Barbara, CA. Instead of providing ambiguous soaps and shampoos that smell like bathroom cleaners, this hotel fits all of their rooms with Aveda toiletries. I’ve since stayed at this hotel numerous times after simply because of the toiletries. And since then, I’ve thought of Aveda Rosemary Mint Shampoo as the quintessential summer shampoo. Nothing comes close to getting that squeaky clean and tingling feeling. I’ve seen many attempted dupes of this scent but no one does it quite like Aveda.

I’ve been so loyal to my 100% Pure Cocoa-pigmented Bronzer that I hit pan on it! I never used to use bronzer before this, the fact that I’ve hit pan on this speaks volumes. The color I have is Brown Sugar and I think I'll try Honey next. It's rumored to be the perfect bronzer for pale skin. Click here to read my original review of this.

I was given an amazing eye shadow duo from Hourglass Cosmetics called Visionaire. I seriously have been reaching for this everyday last month. I have the color Prism, which consists of a blue-toned grey satin (the first and only blue-toned grey I’ve ever been able to wear) and a gorgeous deep black with teal sparkles. The texture of the shadow is just perfect- butter-soft and smooth. The wear is also very impressive.

It is pointless for me to link; the set became completely SOLD OUT a few hours after our purchase. We got 1 of the last 6 sets available- boy, did that tickle me so! I dare say that watching the sets deplete in quantity was even more exciting than hounding Ebay. I now know how those grandmas get addicted to HSN. I was much too excited when I was buying this that it didn’t occur to me that I NEED one too! I’m now sorry I didn’t buy one for myself (oh, how my heart ached a bit when I saw how beautiful the set was in person!). According to the HSN lady, this brand, Sorelle, won’t be coming out with another porcelain tea set for the rest of the year! *cries* Someone please tell me if there’s a way to manually block the HSN website from my computer for the time being- my wallet and I will thank you!