Hello everyone!  I hope you are still basking in the excitement of our brand new, full of possibility (and opportunity and potential) year!  🙂  I know I am!!

I had a number of Christmas posts to share pre-holiday, but of course things fell by the wayside amidst the buzz and bustle leading up to the day.  I may still share those with you, but in the meanwhile I thought I’d share a little installment of “fab finds” highlighting some of the most fabulous things I found under the Christmas tree a few weeks ago!  If you are looking to treat yourself with a little special something, here are some wonderful candidates!

1. rescue beauty lounge nail polishes

grunge & bikini bottom

I have to thank (blame??  ;-)) my fabulous client, T, for introducing me to Rescue Beauty Lounge.  Tina knew (from reading my blog) that i was a nail polish junkie.  I love painting my nails!!  (I’m currently wearing OPI gargantuan green grape, if you’re curious.  It’s exactly the color of a melon bar, for you Korean dessert fiends out there!)  At our very first meeting, T brought me a Christmas present!  She wrapped up two of her favorite RBL polishes up for me in beautiful blue & white toile fabric. adorable!! RBL polishes have cult-status for their incredibly long wear, silky smooth application and impressive opacity. The two colors she brought for me are “grunge” (a moody lavender-mushroom-y color) and “om” (a mauve-ish dusty rose).  Both look fantastic on, and applied beautifully in one coat (although I have to do two coats because I’m OCD like that). Best of all, they wear SO SO well.  I went 7+ days without any chips!!  Crazy.  This coming from a girl who does dishes everyday sans gloves, peels labels off of boxes, etc.  I am very hard on my nails!

At $18 a pop, they are not as easy to swipe up without a thought, but for the long wear and fabulous colors, I think it’s a worthy splurge! The ones on my current wishlist are coral, bikini bottom (a springy light blue — from her sponge bob inspired collection!!) and stormy (dark gray).

2. boygirlparty mini notes

I love sending snail mail!  It delights me to receive it, so I like to take the extra care in sending it, too!  From hand-addressing the envelopes to choosing the ideal postage stamps, I love it all!  I received a cute stocking stuffer from my aunt in the form of these cute mini-notes!  The set comes with three note card styles and three corresponding envelope types.  at about 2.5″ x 3.75″, they are teeny and perfect for adding into envelopes with contracts.  🙂  At least that’s how I used the first few! Illustrations are by susie ghahremani of boygirlparty.com.  Check out all of the adorable products on her site!  (p.s. her online shop is closed through january 16th but re-opens january 17th — make sure to check back!!)

3. domino – the book of decorating

I love interior design and enjoy day dreaming about how I might decorate a new house, a baby nursery, a library, a sun room… Since I was a little girl, I’ve loved poring over issues of architectural digest, elle décor and house beautiful. Erik picked up this domino book for me and I’ve already consumed it from cover to cover.  (It is from the makers of the now-defunct magazine and website… there isn’t even a site for me to link you to except this wikipedia article explaining the zine’s demise…)  It is filled with lovely inspiration photos and little tidbits on mixing and matching fabrics and furniture.  There isn’t a single picture that i would want to replicate 100%, but there also isn’t a single picture that doesn’t inspire me in some way. Great eye candy and a perfect coffee table book.

4. sonicare toothbrushes

Yeah… I’m listing a toothbrush as a fab find.  🙂  Before you leave this post laughing, let me just tell you that the sonicare toothbrush is an INCREDIBLE gadget.  Mom and Raj got them for us this year (along with some other fun gifts), and I, for one, was thrilled.  Erik and I both have never had a single cavity, and we’d like to keep it that way.  🙂  The sonicare leaves your mouth with an ultra-clean just-came-from-the-dentist feeling, and my favorite function is the 2 minute timer (with 30-second increment buzzers to let you know when to move from one quadrant of your mouth to another! ).  Genius!

5. versace versense perfume

If you know me, you know i love perfume.  I had an old favorite (Versace’s Bright Crystal) on my wish list, but my mother-in-law bought me this lovely fragrance instead.  I had never seen it (or smelled it!) before, so I was honestly a bit wary when I saw the box.  When I opened it up, however, I was delightfully surprised!  This was a serendipitous find!!  Versense is light, clean, fresh, fruity and floral, yet not cloyingly sweet.  Key notes include: bergamot, green mandarin, citrus, prickly pear, fig, and sea daffodil.  Yum yum!  This is one to try next time you’re at the fragrance counter!  😉

I hope you enjoyed this random rundown!  Feel free to share any of your favorite fab finds with me in the comments section; I looove making new discoveries!  If you’re in SoCal, enjoy this *rare* rainy day!  xoxo, Angel