If you know of Barkev’s then chances are that you think of engagement rings. It is their specialty. They have engagement rings, wedding rings, sets, promise rings and even a design your own ring section on their website. You an build your own set, and even choose from regular diamonds or lab grown diamonds so that you can be certain that you not only get the diamond and the setting you want but that the diamonds you choose match you perfectly, and can concentrate on design rather than sourcing. You can also request a sample and try it on at home if you want to make sure the setting is perfectly suited.
I have rather short stubby fingers if I am honest and my mother has really long slender ones (I got my dad’s hands) and while it really only bothers me that my fingers are short when I am trying to play the piano and stretch farther than is comfortable, it does mean that the rings that look good on her don’t always look good on me, and via versa. Since a wedding set is something you are hopefully going to wear forever, it is nice to make sure it looks right before you commit. (The same also applies to spouses, but that is a whole different process).
And while their engagement rings are stunning, not everyone is looking to get engaged for Valentine’s day. Never fear because they have a stunning array of necklaces, bracelets and earrings to choose from as possible gifts for your sweetie.
I personally go for the rather straightforward items, like the necklace above or the always fabulous halo studs. I find them timeless and classic. they can be worn with anything and they never go out of style. I also like the minimalist approach so that the diamonds themselves can shine.
Barkev’s does feature many items that showcase their diamonds really well, some more minimalist than others. And yes I know the star pattern on the earrings featured to the left are not exactly minimalist but I think they are just stunning. There is something about that shape that I just find so appealing. I love plain studs, but with they have that star like shape to them it is almost like the blue fire of the diamonds is exploding outwards.
If diamonds are not your thing then they have other gemstones on offer. They even have simple platinum letter necklaces (with a singular letter for an initial). well I say platinum, but they do offer them in a variety of metals.
If you are looking for jewelry this year as a valentines present, or even to start a life long commitment, then the Barkev’s website is definitely one to check out. The stones, whether mined or lab grown are top notch, the settings are fantastic and can be ordered in the metal of your choose. You can choose a setting from their offerings or design one of your own. If this is where Valentine’s day takes you, Barkev’s is a good place to start.
Good afternoon my darlings. Yesterday, I might have overdone it on the walks. The weather was just so beautiful and I had the fear of the scale in me. I can’t lie, I went to bed a little footsore. I do feel validated today though as the sky is gray and low and rain is predicted to start tonight and run for a couple of days.
It makes me feel like i planned ahead instead of going crazy for the nice weather like a prisoner suddenly let loose. Yesterday was just one of those perfect walking days and I am now glad I took advantage of it.
And to be fair the rain is a good excuse to restart my indoor workouts up again. Which i know I need to do. I just don’t enjoy it as much as I do walking so I tend to let it slide in favor of walks when I can.
There is nothing like external factors making you do something you know you should have been doing anyway. But before the afternoon indoor workout begins and the makeup comes off, let’s take a look at the makeup I put on today.
I am going to be trying different foundations with the Maybelline perfecter to see how it performs. I don’t think it will ever give me enough coverage to be considered even a light coverage product even though it says you can use it on it’s own. It does make a pretty good primer however. It is a bit glowy which as it is literally called a 4-in-1 Glow shouldn’t be a surprise. It did maintain the glow under the revolution Fast base foundation stick. It isn’t pore filling, but it does some burring which I like. It is is also really light weight which i love. At the moment I am very glad I picked it up to add to my collection. We’ll see how that remains as I continue to mix and match it with products. I will say though that when purchasing, I had better luck matching my shade to the chart in front of the products than I did to the product in the container. I was nervous that this was too dark looking at the actual bottle even though it seemed to be my shade. (I have 1.5 Light Medium). So my advice is to match to the swatch rather than what appears to be in the bottle. That is what i did and it seems to have matched me well.
While I am testing out different foundations with the Maybelline I never really need an excuse to pick up the Fast Base Foundation Stick. I love this formula and I have repurchased it repeatedly over the years. I originally purchased it because I wanted a foundation that wouldn’t leak when traveling and I thought a stick would work. It does, but the formula puts it in my top three foundations. It actually beat out some pricier ones to make the cut. It also helps that this shade just works for me most of the year so I don’t need multiple shades. I have F11 in the mid summer when my tan is the darkest, i need to use a little bronzer to darken it slightly and in the whitest of my depths of winter skin I only need to lighten it with a little setting powder. I am about halfway through this tube but it is a product I will always reorder when i start to run out.
Since I do have half a tube left I didn’t reorder it in my recent Revolution order. I should have a package coming from them later today actually. I ordered the Coraline Palette. The colors just looked fantastic and I just couldn’t resist. Of course I ordered it and then a few days later I saw that the Beetlejuice line has now been restocked. (it was out when I ordered). So there may be a future order. For now though I am looking forward to the Coraline Palette. It has been a while since i have ordered any of their eyeshadows actually. But that is for the future. Moving on…
I went with the ABH bronzer today mostly because it is a highly pigmented bronzer. I like it, but it is a very bold bronze. It does blend out nicely with my normal makeup tools. I am testing out the AOA brushes at the moment and I wanted to see how they handled blending out a more pigmented bronzer. with the light look I used yesterday it wasn’t much effort. I was pleased with how well they worked today. Some brushes aren’t substantial enough for highly pigmented products. This worked today. and I love the tones of this bronzer. It just requires either a light hand or a good blending brush.
Today I use the Benefit Gold Rush Blush. I strongly suspect that it has been discontinued. It has been out of stock for a long time (since the new blush releases actually, which makes sense). so the above link will just take you to the blush page for benefit Cosmetics. I really like their blushes. This was one of my favorites and I have actually hit pan on it. I am going to try to finish it up before the end of the year. I want to try out some of the new ones or possibly go for a blush palette from them (because i like their formulas) but i want to use this up before i allow myself to purchase it. I was hoping to have it done by the time the holiday kits came out, but I got distracted. I was hoping to order the new blush(s) when I picked out the holiday kit i wanted this year (I tend to pick up one each year. well one for me, I tend to order several and then give them as gifts, but I usually end up adding whichever one features the Bad Gal Bang Mascara to the order for myself.) Looking for Gold Rush to see if it was actually discontinued or not I found the Holiday Kits and Advent Calendars are already out. (they look great by the way). So now my goal is to finish out this blush by the end of the year.
My setting powder today was the By Terry Hyaluronic Hydra Powder and honestly I was blown away by how well it worked and felt against the skin. It dimmed the shine from greasy to glow without looking powdery and it feels great against the skin. I know I sound surprised it works so well when there are loads of people who rave about the brand, but prior to this the only thing I tried from the brand was the rose lip gloss. It is intensely rose scented feels amazing on the lips and leaves them wonderfully healthy looking but tastes like you are sucking on a perfume bottle. And while you shouldn’t really judge makeup on taste, with lip products it is hard not to. It was a product i loved and hated all at the same time. This powder, I just love. It sets beautifully without looking powdery.
all four shades in the quad were used but the two silvers blended together in the middle. The lighter silver shade looks whitish/pinkish in the pan if you are looking at the palette
I had an interesting time with the AOA palette today. I recently picked up all four of the Orbit Quads from AOA (as each was only $1 it isn’t as decadent as it sounds). Yesterday I used mercury which was super easy to use and blended like a dream. Today was Neptune’s chance on the lids. I don’t like it as much. I think part of it was first use dislike though. The silvery shades I had to work with the brush to get it loose enough to go on the brush. I don’t know if it was pressed hard, or a quality of the metallic silver. It might have been an over spray. After I played with it a bit i did get it to apply well.
the quad. Once past the top pressed layer things got a bit messy
This quad has three shimmers and one Matte. I think all four of them are set up that way. While I didn’t feel I needed a second matte with the Mercury palette, here I felt like an additional matte would have been a good idea. Especially as the two silvers are virtually indistinguishable once on the eye lid. there was also more fall out this time (there was none from yesterday’s palette). but again, that could just be the silver. I will continue through the quads and see how the other two perform and then do a wrap up with all four. But at this point I don’t like Neptune as much as I like Mercury.
Every time i reach for the Patrick Ta Major Volume I feel like it is misnamed. It gives great length but it isn’t really great on volume. It is a comfortable mascara to wear on a daily basis, but it is more a lengthening than a volumizing product.
And finally today I use the NARS Lipstick. It has been a while since I used a traditional lipstick from NARS. The color and quality was always there but they were a little drying. This NARS Lipstick is a revamp. The same classic colors but a new formula. This one came in Boxy and it is fantastic. the fab color is there but the dryness is gone from the formula. It is amazingly comfortable to wear. The trade off is that it will transfer. It never dries down completely. So there will be some lip prints However the prints lighten and disappear as you wear the lipstick throughout the day, but the color remains on your lips. I love a good red lip and this is just fantastic.
And so my darlings, that is me today. I know i blathered on a bit more than usual but what can I say, there was a lot to talk about. Hopefully I didn’t lose you before the lipstick. But alas it is back to work for me now. Have a great rest of the day.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 