Hello! This past Tuesday was a doozy of a day but my nails were looking fierce all the while thanks to my monthly break time fill. It was so nice to have some calm before the storm before running here, there, and everywhere! I was also most excited about this fill because at my last one, I learned that there were brand new colors to choose from but I bypassed it at the time as I already loved what I picked out. This time around, I went straight to the new color book instead of the intimidating nail polish wall and decided on a pretty in purple motif. Check it out:
Normally, I have no problem picking out my new nail polish colors with each fill. My job was much harder at this one because ALL of the new colors were just so fun. There were plenty of sparkly glitter options, punchy and bright summer colors, and the promise of a combination that I’ve never used before. It was intoxicating! Despite all of the poppy summer hues, my eyes were immediately drawn to a rich plum shade. Purple is my niece’s favorite color (Or as she would call it when she was teeny tiny “purdle”) and I knew that she would be obsessed when she saw it! To compliment the plum, I chose a lavender glitter polish that literally shines bright like a diamond (Love you, Rihanna!). With that, I was ready for the pampering to begin!
When I am getting my nails done, there typically comes a point when I just like to sit back and enjoy. However, my tech and I had SO much to catch up on because she wasn’t available to do my fill at my last appointment. I honestly wasn’t even paying attention to my nails because it was a full on gab sesh! When I thought to look down, I was always shocked by the progress made: A repair for a broken nail, the sharpening, and shaping were done as quickly as our conversation was moving. Before I knew it, it was time for polish and it was truly before I knew it because my tech set a new record for herself! It was the absolute best time and I wish I could have stayed at the salon all day. ❤
My work day post fill was crazy but my nails were looking crazy good and it definitely provided the pep in my step I needed to make it through!
What color of nail polish are you rocking? What should I get done next? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hello! During my hand soap restock at Bath & Body Works that you saw yesterday, I also got to pick out a free travel size item for my birthday. I absolutely love cashing in on those birthday offers and it’s so nice to get a little treat from the stores that I frequent. While I did have some difficulty selecting my hand soaps, my birthday freebie was a no brainer. I am a HUGE fan of the Gingham line from B&BW and when I saw that there was a new addition to the collection, it was game over! Check it out:
Literally every time the Gingham line is updated, I have to see what that’s all about lol. I have tried every single Gingham expansion and have no plans on stopping now, as you can see. Although nothing will ever be better than the OG, Gingham All-American is a really nice addition. The packaging screams red, white, and blue but the fragrance notes of “juicy red fruits, white freesia, and blueberry sugar” do all the talking! 😀
Gingham All-American is a fresh summer berry delight. I primarily can pick up on raspberry and strawberry with just the slightest hint of the freesia. I am not a floral scent fan, but I find that the flowers in the Gingham line almost feel like an afterthought and you really have to work to pick up on it. That is perfectly fine by me! This scent is juicy, a little tart from the raspberries, and gives all of the summer fruit salad vibes. What a fabulous birthday gift to get a new fragrance from my favorite line!
If you are a Gingham fan too, RUN – don’t walk to give All-American a try. You will definitely be in for a treat!
What is your go to fragrance? What is your favorite scent from the Gingham line? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club! In a spoiler free setting, as always, we are going to be discussing Freida McFadden’s newest book called The Tenant. I have a love/hate relationship with McFadden’s books. I absolutely loved The Housemaid series, however, the other books I have read by her definitely did not meet my expectations. Unfortunately, The Tenant was another instance of that and fell under my usual critique of McFadden – “good but not great”. Before we begin our Book Club meeting, I will be placing a trigger warning on The Tenant for violence and disturbing content. Now, let’s get to it:
Blake and Krista are newly engaged and happy as can be. They live in a charming brownstown in New York City and Blake has just accepted a hotshot new position as VP of Marketing at the company he works for. Everything is going picture perfect, until Blake’s world comes crashing down. Shortly after settling into his fancy new office, Blake is fired for selling the company’s marketing campaigns. This is an offense that Blake isn’t even aware he made and has no idea what his boss is talking about. He feels confident that this was all some kind of misunderstanding and will have his job back before the week is out.
That week turns into months of unemployment and Blake and Krista are barely scraping by as Krista’s wages at a laundromat pale in comparison to their mortgage. If they don’t get their money problem solved ASAP, they will be on the streets and Blake finally agrees to Krista’s big idea: Have a tenant move in to help with bills. As they go about the interviewing process, every candidate is borderline crazy and they are ready to give up. Blessedly, Whitney shows up for her interview and is… normal. She’s pretty, has great references, and had her first and last month’s rent ready to go. They were sold.
The first week or so with Whitney goes swimmingly and Blake even has a new temp gig. Embarrassing, yes, but every little bit from the paycheck helps. Then, little things start to happen at the brownstone that never occurred before Whitney moved in. There are loud noises all throughout the night, the kitchen is filled with fruit flies, and Blake breaks into an inexplicable and painful rash. With no other plausible explanation, Blake blames Whitney wholeheartedly and is convinced that she is not who she says she is.
As more and more offenses against Whitney tally up and become even more disturbing, Blake quickly descends into a paranoid state. He can’t trust anyone and barely trusts himself as he repeats the claims in his head. All he knows is that he and Krista don’t know Whitney at all and she could be dangerous. In fact, she could be the reason Blake lost his cushy new job in the first place. But, is she? Or does Blake have his sights set on the wrong person entirely? Read The Tenant to find out!!
Let me start off by saying that I really liked the general story line of The Tenant. Happy couple, hard times, a stranger moves in, and the shit hits the fan. It really is a perfect combination and fits Johnny’s description of “LifeTime movie books” to the T lol. I just wish I liked the book more!! The tension that was building in the brownstone was delicious, a little slow moving at times, but my interest was piqued. Then, the twist happened, which I saw coming from a mile away but it just felt… random. It felt like a lot of build up for a twist that didn’t necessarily need to happen but simply was put there for shock value. This is actually a complaint that I have had with past McFadden books as well, like the plot changed fully on a dime and it wasn’t thought through completely.
On top of feeling wishy washy about The Tenant as a whole, none of the characters were particularly likeable. This book was told from Blake’s point of view and it was interesting to read a LifeTime movie book from the male perspective. BUT, Blake was a major a-hole and it was hard to feel sympathetic for him in the entirety of the read. Once my sympathy ran out, I was ready for The Tenant to be done because it was the only saving grace that the main character had. I can’t say that I felt strongly in favor of any of the characters and that’s not a good thing as I want to feel that connection when I read. The Tenant definitely missed the mark big time.
Overall, I am going to rate The Tenant with a three out of ten stars. If you are a diehard Freida McFadden fan, I am sure you will give it a read anyways. You are not missing out on anything if you don’t, though!
What are you currently reading? What is your favorite Freida McFadden book? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new OOTD here on lifewithlilred! I spent a wonderful afternoon a couple of weekends a go at Playhouse Square seeing Peter Pan with my sister and nieces. The show was so so but the company can’t be beat! As to be expected, the audience was donned in a sea of green and I just had to follow suit. It was Peter Pan, after all! Take a look and peep that freshly dyed hair too:
Green is one of my favorite colors but, surprisingly, my options for this look were very limited. I have a lot of spring and summer clothes in green but the weather on the day of the show was anything but warm! And, when I said my options were limited, I meant that there was literally only one thing that I could wear to brave the cold in: My green shawl with a faux fur collar. It really is the perfect shade of forest green, the faux fur added some drama for the theater, and hey – it made styling this outfit a breeze!
With no other weather appropriate green clothes to consider, all that was left to do was build the base and accessorize. The shawl is most definitely a statement piece so to keep that shining, I employed the All Black Everything approach. I put on a black sweater, a crispy new pair of black skinnies, and that was that. With such a minimal palette, it made the shawl even more striking and the collar seemed larger than life. I always love showing out at Playhouse Square and just one eye catching piece had me feeling like a star.
Finally, it was onto shoes and accessories. For shoes, I wanted to add a bit of gold fairy dust and went for one of my favorite pairs of heeled boots by Bamboo. They flowed with the jeans perfectly and I can’t get enough of that shiny gold baroque pattern that provided the most delicious pop of color. As there was no open real estate for jewelry, I put on the prettiest pair of flower earrings that look like stained glass. The color palette mimicked my new hair so closely and gave an extra dose of sparkle and shine. With that, it was off to the show!
I had so much fun stepping out in my Going Green OOTD! It was perfect for a matinee of Peter Pan – not too showy as if it were an evening viewing but just right to show off some fashion flare!
What is your favorite color to wear? What is your favorite shade of green? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Howdy! I get a plethora of TJMaxx gift cards for Christmas every year and it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. TJs is where I find true and perfect peace and after a lot of holiday shopping for my big family, it is so nice to have a good haul for myself – free of charge. It is my tradition to do a skin care restock with my gift cards because those products are something I will absolutely need and use. A few weeks ago, my mom and I enjoyed a shopping trip together so I could do just that as well as pick up a few fun odds and ends. And, surprisingly, I didn’t go over budget and STILL have gift cards left. That never happens! Check it out:
When I am shopping skin care, I have my method down to the T with standards that I have perfected over time. 1) First and foremost, each item I select must be cruelty free or it will not be coming home with me. 2) I will happily buy old favorites but am always looking for new products to review and enjoy. And 3) I like to get at least a three month supply of product to sustain me for a while. As much as I would love to go to TJs every time I need a restock, it would be very damaging to my wallet lol.
For this skin care haul, I needed everything but the kitchen sink. We’re talking cleansers, serums, moisturizers, eye cream, and micellar water. I was ecstatic to have found a couple of my go to Evoluderm micellar waters in a huge pump bottle, which I have never seen before. I bought the lot and a few small bottles for good measure. I was also able to restock my eye cream with a tried and true favorite of Vital Beauty’s Cooling Eye Gel AND find a brightening eye cream of the same brand too – something else that I haven’t seen before. The final familiar brand I revisited was with a face scrub by ValJean Labs. This is a new to me product but I am currently using a cleanser from this brand and am loving it. I am definitely in for a treat if this scrub is half as good as the cleanser!
As far as moisturizers and serums go, the selection was pretty bare in terms of what I could buy according to my standards. A majority of the offerings were not cruelty free, which was a bummer. What remained was brands that I have never used before so I am very interested in trying them out and seeing what’s the what. I’m particularly looking forward to the bottles of Precision Beauty serum for no reason other than that the packaging is really pretty lol. It was a cold AF day during this shopping trip and the colors reminded me of sunshine which is probably why I gravitated towards them. And, in case you were wondering, NO. I am NOT okay over the fact that “wrinkle reducing” is now a key component in the moisturizers I choose. But, hey, here’s to *hopefully* slowing down that process. 😀
I have a stockpile full of goodies waiting for me so keep it locked for brand new product reviews coming soon!
Have you used any of the above products before? What did you think about them? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
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