Things Are in Flux

Good morning!  So today is the day that we’ll be working out the kinks for that move over to WordPress I’ve been telling you about all this time – meaning things will probably get a little crazy here on ABS.  In the interim I just have one little request – I’d appreciate it if you could hold off on the comments until Thursday morning, purely because I don’t want to lose any in the move!  Older comments are being transferred over as we speak, but I don’t the newer comments to get lost in the time it takes to shift from blogger to wordpress (which is why I haven’t posted any of my giveaways yet – clever me, huh? =P).  Thanks for all your support and hopefully you’ll see a new and improved ABS within the next 24 hours or so!

Hello world!

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Starry Nights

You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been AWOL lately – no posts, no comment responses, no nothing.  Well that’s all thanks to the lovely power outage I suffered over the past few days, meaning no power and no running water.  So what did this mean for me?  Well let’s just say having no internet and cable were the least of my worries – I was washing my face with bottled water and sitting in front of a crackling fireplace in an otherwise pitch black house.  Thankfully the craziness is over, the power and the water are now back (the storm is over, the fallen trees have been cleared and life is returning to normal), and so am I!   

I’m Still Alive…

For those of you who’ve been wondering, I’m still alive and kicking, although at a much less frenetic pace than usual. I’ve been sick for the past ten days or so and haven’t really had the energy to blog – I’ve basically been spending my days working, sleeping and coughing up a lung. But I’m headed down the road to recovery and I’m ready to get back to bringing you all sorts of fantastic reviews and product info.

Thanks so much to everyone who’s sent me e-mails in my absence, and I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to respond yet! But to make it up to you, keep checking back within the next few days and you should see that super-fun giveaway I promised you a few weeks ago up and running in celebration of ABS surpassing a million page views sometime in February!! 🙂

OPI Designer Series Nail Lacquer in Reserve Review & Some Japanese China

Naughty blogger that I am, these photos are actually from weeks ago (when my friend Cathy – yes the same one I visited in Cali – was actually in NY) but I thought you might all enjoy beholding the beauty that is OPI DS Reserve – just one of the many amazing things Nicole got me for Christmas. Check out additional photos (sadly all taken with my iPhone as I wasn’t at home with my usual camera), the full review and some of the most stunning coffee cups I’ve ever laid eyes on after the jump!


The Designer Series by OPI is a line of nail lacquers with a state-of-the-art formula that combines dazzling diamond dust with saturated pigments to give you a nail color that explodes with brilliant almost holographic shimmer.

Reserve is a gorgeous, easy-to-wear rosy pink shade that’s just exploding with shimmery bits (yet the texture is completely smooth) and truly a stunner. These photos really don’t showcase the beauty of Reserve as the photos have no flash, but trust me, it’s gorgeous.

And on a completely unrelated note, the day that I did my nails in Reserve I ended up going out to this scrumptious little dessert place called ChikaLicious where they had the most delicate, intricate, all-around stunning china sets that I’ve ever laid eyes on.

All I can say is – I want!

Help for Haiti

While things rarely get serious here in the world of ABS, I wanted to take a quick moment to urge each of you to join me in doing what little we can to support the disaster relief efforts currently ongoing in Haiti. As I’m sure you’re all aware, Haiti suffered a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that ravaged its capital city, leaving an estimated 45,000 – 50,000 dead with many many more injured or missing.

I’ve spared you some of the more graphic photos, but the streets are literally full of the dead, the wounded, the orphaned. Offering your assistance is as easy as sending a quick text from your phone:

• Text the word “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 on behalf of the Yéle Foundation, the leading contributor to rebuilding Haiti founded by Wyclef Jean.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 85944 to donate $5 on behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 25383 to donate $5 On behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 On behalf of the Red Cross in the U.S.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 45678 (in Canada only) on behalf of the Salvation Army in Canada.

Or if you’d like to go online and make a donation, here are just a organizations few to which you can contribute:

http://www.yele.org/donation/

http://www.pih.org/home.html

-with many many more listed here. I thought it would be great if we all cut back on just one item we had intended to purchase this month and donated that money towards the disaster relief funds. It could be that Starbucks latte you have every morning, that spring collection lipstick you’ve been wanting, or that new pair of shoes you’ve had your eye on. Please join me in donating what you can to help – in a country in which over four and a half million people live on less than $1 per day, every dollar really does make all the difference.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Happy Thanksgiving ABS Readers!

Hello lovely readers! I know I”ve been MIA for far far too long but I’ve finally gotten my brief all filed away and I’m back just in time to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving! I’m spending the day relaxing at home (and catching up on some sleep) and cooking away – recreating last year’s Thanksgiving menu which was just amazing with the addition of some yummy palmiers.

I’ll be heading out to Woodbury Commons to do some Black Friday shopping later tonight, then I’ll be doing Thanksgiving all over again tomorrow evening at a dinner party I’ve got planned. Wish me luck!

And I promise that next week it will be posts galore :).

Enter for your chance to win a $10,000 Sephora Shopping Spree!

How much stuff could you buy with a $10,000 Sephora Shopping Spree?

Where do we start?! How about 416 DiorShow Mascaras. Or 41 ghd flat irons. Or 51 Clarisonic Skin Care Brushes. The better question is what couldn’t you buy? Answer: Nothing! Enter for your chance to win by writing product reviews on TotalBeauty.com or signing up for TotalBeauty.com’s newsletters, it’s so easy! Find out more here. See how to win

FYI clicking the link above will take you off ABS and to Total Beauty’s site, an amazing resource for product reviews and info (and a fantastic beauty blog network)!

ABS Does YouTube!

Sooo I’ve decided to give YouTube a try to give you a closer look at some of my favorite products, and who knows, it may even grow on me! If it does, I promise you’ll be getting higher-quality videos, but for now please bear with my little YouTube experimentation and be kind, I’m really not used to the whole video thing at all! I’ve done two quickies on the Guerlain Holiday Meteorites (Perles Imperiales) and the new Lancome Oscillation Powderfoundation, with full text reviews and photos to come later. I hope you enjoy them (you can check out my channel HERE)! Oh and I accidentally chopped off the ends to both so they’re a little abrupt =P.

Don’t Forget ~ Sephora’s F&F Starts Today!

Sephora’s F&F runs October 19, 2009 (that’s today!!) through November 2, 2009. Enter code: FF2009 at checkout to receive 20% off your purchases! Are you as giddy with excitement as I am?!

Be sure to share your hauls with me! Finances are a little tight for me this month so I’ll be living vicariously through all of you!

P.S. I have faith that unlike Saks’ site, which was down all of the final day of their short 4 days F&F event, you’ll actually be able to shop on Sephora’s site!