today's nails: china glaze for audrey.

clearly i am longing either for spring or for a tiffany's box...

{ bought this @ sally beauty supply // $6 }

i'm my own valentine this year -- and look what a good one i am, letting myself buy two new essie polishes on the way home from work! :)

on the left we've got lapis of luxury, a really pretty wedgwood-blue color; on the right, a crewed interest, an almost perfect peach. just looking at them makes me feel like spring!

(erm, i may have also been a really good valentine and let myself take advantage of the butter london sale today: get a "snog" lacquer free with a $40 purchase. it's on the way to my house with "victoriana" and "tea with the queen." put snog in your cart, use the code "XOXO" at checkout. yay!)

(eta: and i maybe also was a really, really good valentine and got a free red polish from zoya -- you can get this deal with any purchase; i spent $4 on a little 2 oz. polish remover and got the polish free!)

{ bought these @ walgreens // $8 each }

got a package from lush in the mail on friday with various goodies, including the rub rub rub shower scrub.

this is seriously my new favorite thing. i can't even explain the consistency, but it's just so much fun to use, and it actually gets off quite a bit of dead skin in the shower.

thumbs up from me! and it smells like super fresh and amazing -- yessss.

{ bought this @ lush online // $20 }

i had really high hopes for this month's birchbox -- january's box was great, and birchbox had been retweeting people's excitement over getting a beauty blender this month.

but, alas, i think my box was my least favorite so far, and i've been a subscriber for over a year.

no beauty blender -- instead, i got two makeup remover wipes (eh), a teensy-tiny face cream sample (eh), a pre-powdered "travel puff" (eh), and stick-on eyeliner strips (serious eh). not interested in the products, and not great value for the 10 bucks this time. (the music downloads/nail file didn't thrill me either -- have seen that band live/have nail files.)

a truly mediocre showing, especially when others got beauty blenders and jouer tinted moisturizer samples. if i didn't have a year-long subscription already, this might have been my last box. get it together next month, birchbox! :(

{ bought from birchbox // $10 a month }

today's nails: butter london wallis.

a glittery golden olive green that makes me think of old hollywood, the emerald city, and, of course, the duchess of windsor.

{ bought this @ ebay // $14 }

the gorgeous hardback editions of the penguin classics series are my newest collectibles. here's pride and prejudice -- you can't go wrong with austen!

these are all over the place, and although i got this one as a gift, i know it came from tj maxx.

be on the lookout in the book section next time you're there if you like these!

{ received as a gift }

i know it's kind of cliché by this point, but my biggest style inspiration of the year has been the duchess of cambridge.

her conservative-yet-chic outfits are totally the kind i'd like to rock, and i love that they don't cost megabucks.

i mean, how gorgeous is this grey herringbone coatdress? and the hair!

{ photo by dan kitwood/getty images }

lesson learned: i am powerless to resist a walgreens buy one/get one 50% off sale.

two more maybelline color tattoo eyeshadows, this time in tough as taupe (35) and bold gold (45). the rest of the colors were a bit too odd -- orange eyeshadow and i don't mix!

{ bought @ walgreens // $7 for one, $3.50 for the second }

one of my holy grail skincare products is definitely the befine exfoliating cleanser.

it smells amazing, it's gritty but not painful, and as you use it the rough bits melt away into the creamiest, nicest cleanser. (this works best if it's used in the shower.) heaven!

first tried this when i got a sample in a birchbox, and i've been hooked for almost a year.

{ bought it @ ebay // various prices }

got sucked in by maybelline this weekend: dream bouncy blush and color tattoo eyeshadow.

the blush is pink plum (40) and the eyeshadow is bad to the bronze (25).

i love love love the eyeshadow (it really doesn't crease, with primer). but i have learned that i am bad at cream blushes.

{ bought the blush @ target // $7 }

{ bought the eyeshadow @ walmart // $6 }

a little kindle splurge tonight: deanna raybourn's lady julia grey bundle.

covers look like bodice rippers, but they're really victorian mysteries. have been looking at these for a while, excited to get going.

oh, and the author's on twitter!

{ bought them @ amazon kindle store // $9 }

got lush dream cream for myself while buying christmas presents.

(shhh, don't tell!)

moisturizes like crazy with an eensie-weensie dollop. smells like, well, the organic aisle at my grocery store. but it's worth it.

{ bought it @ lush online // $26 }

just finished a crimson warning, the most recent of tasha alexander's lady emily mysteries.

i'd like another one, please! i need more colin hargreaves, stat.

{ bought it @ amazon kindle store // $12 }

today's nails: essie chinchilly.

one of my all-time favorite greys. creamy, smooth, and with a hint of lavender.

{ bought this @ target a million years ago // $8 }