It’s official. For me, this is the craziest week in December. Between work, making sure Cupid gets worked properly, making sure the cats receive adequate attention and remembering to get to the orchestra concert on time, I am officially a chicken without its head. Because of this, I do apologize but today you’ll be left with only my feedback on the NYX Lippie Countdown day nine.

Before we get started with today’s color I figured I would share my social media accounts with you in case you wish to follow them. My Facebook for this page is Run, Ride, Read, Repeat. My Twitter is Equestrian Bookworm. My Instagram is Laura under @EquestrianBookworm. Finally, my Pinterest is Laura @RunRideRead. Feel free to follow me there and reach out if you’d like!

When I saw the tab for today I was extremely dismayed. It was another purple. It has been officially decided that I do not look good in purple.

Popping the tab revealed that this was from the NYX Matte lipstick collection, which I was pleased with on the first.

 This shade is called Up The Bass which is super cute and totally appropriate for the last night of Once Upon A Time.

It is a pretty shade but applies unevenly and requires two coats. This is a long wear lip color and only needed reapplication after eating.

I'm one of those crazy planner people. I live out of my planner and panic just a bit if I can't find it. If something isn't in my planner then it isn't a priority, and if something has to be erased from my planner or moved to a different time/day then I get slightly irritated.

Back in high school, we were provided planners, but my biggest issue with them was the lack of time segments. I love planning out my day minute by minute. It helps me stay organized and on top of things if they have a specific time to be worked on and time to be completed by. It took me a few years but I finally found a planner than meets my hourly requirement while still looking cute! Enter the Passion Planner.

The Passion Planner is not your typical planner, it is more of a yearly roadmap and goal map than just a simple planner. The year starts out with the Passion Roadmap which helps you map out your goals for the next three months, the next year, the next three years, and lifetime goals. I love using this roadmap because it helps me figure out where my priorities should be for the entire year.

Each month in the Passion Planner is laid out in an overall month format and a week format. The month format has spaces for the monthly focus, in both personal and work life, people to see, places to go, a not-to-do list, personal projects, work projects, and a blank space for whatever you feel like entering this month. I like using the monthly format to track when major things, like credit card payments, are due, along with figuring out what my focus should be that month with Cupid.

The week format has space for a weekly focus, good things that happen, work and personal projects, and a blank space for other items. It also includes a new quote each week, and some motivational advice. My favorite part of the weekly format is the 30-minute increments under each day between 6:00am and 10:30pm. This has really helped me stay organized between work, running, Cupid, crochet orders, and orchestral rehearsal and performances.

The final unique section of the Passion Planner is the Monthly Reflection. Throughout the month I'll use this to keep track of everything major that happens. At the end of each month, it allows me to sit down and figure out if there is anything I should change or keep the same with what I have been doing.

It's hard to believe that I'm already on day eight of the NYX Lippie Countdown. Today's preview showed a nice pale pink which is almost the complete opposite of yesterday's purple shade.

When I opened the tab I was a bit disappointed to see another butter collection item. This time the lip color was from the Butter Gloss collection.

This shade is called Creme Brulee, and I after thinking about it for a minute I suppose the name does make sense

Once applied this color is a nice, soft, pale pink. It is more of a tinted gloss than a lipstick, but it is very appropriate for almost any situation. This does retain a bit of a tacky feeling for quite awhile, but once that feeling ends it leaves behind a nice soft hint of color. This is not a long-lasting lip color, but because it is so subtle it is not one that is super obvious that it has worn off.

So I do apologize for today's post being another "haul" post. I was planning on reviewing the virtual scavenger hunt that I participated in for a work event, but I'm not sure how to phrase what I thought of it.

So, if you haven't seen from recent Instagram photos, Cupid has begun to crib. She has had a collar put on and had her feed changed from a sweet feed type to something more fiber based. In addition, we've also discussed the possibility of ulcers. Because she does not show any other signs of ulcers, putting her on an ulcer/digestive supplement has been discussed. After much research and discussion, I decided to try Uckele Equine's G.U.T. supplement which was available through SmartPak. I was excited to see this included in their Black Friday sale so quickly threw it in my cart.

Because I try to get free shipping whenever I use SmartPak, and the deals were fairly good, I included a few extra items in this order. The first item was dewormer. Every equestrian dreads having to deworm their horses and I'm no exception. But Cupid is due soon so a tube of Quest Plus was added to my cart. Thankfully, this was included in the sale so the price wasn't as painful as usual.

The third item was also for Cupid. Because she needs to be dewormed I need to get an accurate weight on her. Enter the SmartPak Weight and Height tape. Hopeful, y this will give me a fairly accurate weight on her so we can avoid over or under-dosing with the dewormer. I like that this tape includes height measurement on one side so that I can determine if she really is 14.1 hands or if she's gone from the large pony to a small horse classification.

The final item is something that I've had my eye on for awhile. I love the Kensington SmartPink line and have been trying to gather all the items. So far I have a grooming bag, fly mask with ears, and light turnout sheet (which might be for sale soon as it's a bit too small for Cue). The tall boot bag was discounted and included in the sale which brought the price down a considerable amount. After thinking about it for a few hours I added it to my cart and hit the purchase button. Even though my tall boots are from eBay I would still like to keep them as nice as possible. By storing them in a boot bag they should hopefully avoid unnecessary scratches and bending. I like that this bag has a divider in the middle to keep the boots from rubbing against each other too much.

Today on the NYX Lippie Countdown I was a bit dismayed to see the preview as a bright purple. I'm starting to settle into the fact that purple lipstick will never be a color I can successfully pull off so I wasn' too happy to see that was today's color.

Upon opening the tab I was a bit surprised to see that I liked the purple shade that was on the tube. Between the metallic cap and the collection name, Intense Butter Gloss, I knew this would be a shiny and bright purple.

The shade is called Berry Strudel, and if this were a lipstick from the 90s it would probably be scented. One item that I found a bit strange was that the application is flat on two sides and not a doe foot like NYX typically is.

After applying the color I was surprised to see that I didn't hate it. It is more of a gloss than a lipstick, and the shade is definitely not professional. But this would be a good color for having fun or a costume. It is extremely glossy and does not dry, which means that it gets on every glass that I use and needs to be reapplied several times throughout the day.

Overall, this isn't a color that I would buy again but I do plan on using it while the sample lasts.