Beauty Splurge

The beauty market is a multi billion dollar industry.  I have contributed many hundreds, maybe even thousands (ugh...) of dollars over my 28 years to it and so have many others.  A little fact for your brain...drugstore brands like L'Oreal are also the same brand responsible for high end companies like Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, and Urban Decay to name a few.  So how do we know what products to shell out the big bucks for?  I've narrowed down my picks on some things that I think are worthy of a splurge.



1. Makeup Brushes:  A good quality makeup brush can really go the distance if you take care of them.  I make sure to clean mine with olive oil and antibacterial soap once a week to ensure their longevity.  Sigma Makeup Brushes are a good quality brand.

2. Foundation:  Now don't get me wrong...I think there are a few drugstore foundations that are amazing, I even use a few myself BUT after I purchased my first high end version it all made sense to me.  I have found through many foundation trial and errors (and many is an understatement) that the value for money is well worth the splurge.  Typically drugstore foundations usually last me 2 months tops, whereas high end formulations can stretch to 6 months.  My top two favorites are NARS Sheer Glow and Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua.

3. Good Skin Care: My mom has always taught me to take good care of my skin.  I think it's important to have one product in your routine that is a splurge.  If not for the luxury feeling you get when you use it but also for the ingredients packed into it.  More and more beauty oils are making a name for themselves and I have been on this bandwagon myself for years now. My go to is Josie Maran Argan Oil (duh).  Another splurge item I use is an eye cream.  Although I think a lot of the age process is genetic but I cannot say enough about prevention, prevention, prevention!  This bad boy is currently in my lineup, Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Eye Cream. 

4. Signature Scent: This one is simple.  Find a perfume you love and wear it everywhere.  Every girl needs a signature scent.  To me CHANEL is H.B.I.C. (head b*tch in charge)  for feminine and classic scents and mine is Chanel Chance.

5. Concealer:  I'm still on the search to find a drugstore concealer that can replace my coveted MAC Studio Finish Concealer. I def. don't use this one under my eyes but this product is perfection when it comes to concealing any spots on the face.

Until next time....Happy Holidays!

Get Your Health On

Well...well...well...we meet again.  I'm not even going to start this blog with another excuse why it's been so long since my last post but I'm back!  Anyways...we've made it to fall!  Not my favorite season but it still remains the runner up.  I love the leaves changing colors, the ridiculous amount of pumpkin flavored things, feeling a little cozier at home, and definitely the fall fashion.  Now that we've put away the tank tops, bathing suits, and shorts, it's also the time of year when we start to let ourselves go a little bit.  That's right, I'm on to you...but don't worry I'm here to give some quick tips on how to maintain a healthy outlook.  These are the simple things I live and swear by:

• Eat breakfast!  Everyday and no I'm not just talking about a banana on your way to work.  Breakfast is the time when you need a pretty hefty amount of protein and calories.  Not only will it help keep you from having mid-morning cravings but it sets you up to start your day off with a ton of energy. My go to breakfast is rolled oats with almond milk, cinnamon, blueberries and peanut butter and a banana on the side.

• DO NOT skip meals.  I know a lot of people may think that this may help overall with losing weight and that is completely wrong.  Not only does this slow down your metabolism making it harder for you to lose pounds (if that's your goal) it also seriously alters your energy levels. Food is fuel so make sure your eating 3 good size portions a day or 5 smaller meals to keep your body in check.

• Green tea is your friend.  I could go on forever about the benefits of green tea, I love it!  A few of it's super powers include antioxidant, brain booster, helps burn fat, and strengthens immunity.  I try to incorporate at least 1 cup if not more everyday.

• Fast food is not your friend.  It is poison, really it is.

• Treat exercise like having to brush your teeth.  I know that's a weird statement but what I mean is it should be something you don't have to consciously think about doing, it just comes automatic to you.  That doesn't mean that you have to obsessively be on the treadmill or lifting weights every single day. On the days that you aren't doing those take the dog for a walk, go shopping, hike a trail, swim, just BE ACTIVE!

• Don't over think it.  Nothing sucks more than having to plan out a diet.  Just thinking about all the things you can't have makes you want them that much more, so just don't do it. Everyone has enough common sense to figure out that more fruits and veggies and less fried food is good. The more you start to incorporate the goods things the easier it becomes to maintain them.

Having a healthy lifestyle can do wonders with our outer appearance. For me it's just as important as to what it does for the inside as well.  I want to live as long as possible, like vampire life span, but obviously that isn't necessarily in the cards for just a mere human like myself,  so eating healthy and exercising is my way of contributing to longevity.  Hope this post was more helpful than annoying!

Real women have cellulite

This post is strictly directed towards women. Men are welcome to read, but you will not relate, sympathize, or even understand half of what I'm about to talk about (that should be the slogan for all woman/man relationships, lol).

 So..this is all about WOMANHOOD. There's all kinds of formal and informal ways to indicate that you've reached womanhood. I remember being younger and desperately longing for a period and boobs like that was going to magically give me the body of a Victoria's Secret model (teenagers have a delusional way of thinking, don't they?). Little did I know that there are all sorts of weird and uncomfortable changes that I would have to look forward to for years to come.

 I have to say that I haven't hit any major bumps in the road thus far but there is one change that's been creeping up on me in the past few years. It's called CELLULITE and it is nobodies friend! I always assumed that because I eat pretty clean, I drink tons of water and workout regularly that I wouldn't have to worry too much about it. WRONG, here's a fact...healthy bitches get it too! No matter what size you are, a crazy 85% of woman get cellulite at some point. but WHHHYYYY??

 The biggest contributor, GENES. Yo mama got the cellulite then you got it too! Another big one is our hormones. Yep, women can't escape those things either. TRUTH is it's really hard to avoid cellulite all together and even worse... nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can get rid of it for good! All those lotions, potions, and creams only minimize the appearance temporarily, so don't buy into the hype. However I have discovered a couple of ways to help the skin appear smoother:

 Building muscle in the areas you have it, for most woman, including myself this is the back of the legs and butt area. Because your building muscle, your creating a more toned look to those areas, which in return helps reduce cellulite effect.

 Another is exfoliating and massaging the area on a regular basis. By exfoliating your helping to increase lymphatic drainage. An ingredient you want to look for in a body exfoliant is caffeine. It's helps support blood flow allowing for a smoother looking appearance to the skin.

The third tip is  WATER, WATER, WATER. Drink a lot of it. All the time. Period. Water helps flush out toxins in the body that can contribute to cellulite.

And the last helpful tip of mine...EMBRACE IT.  Welcome to Womanhood!

Get Your Matcha On!

Meet my new OBSESSION....

Teavana Matcha Tea

Yep, it was all over the second I tried this stuff!  So what is it?  It's called Matcha and it's a green tea.  Sounds really basic huh?  Well, it's not just any green tea, it's pretty amazing for your insides and just may give you super powers (ok, not really).  Let me give you the run down on this traditional Japanese ceremony tea and why I love this stuff.

• It's lime green, seriously LIME GREEN!
• It packs some serious antioxidant power.  Nearly 10x more than regular tea!
• Helps boost metabolism and lower cholesterol
• Doesn't leave you with that jittery feeling that coffee sometimes can cause.
• One of the highest grade teas on the market, umm...FANCY!
• It's just soooo damn good!

Here's how I drink it.

1. Put 1 teaspoon of Matcha powder and 1 teaspoon of sweetener into your fav. coffee mug.
2. Use a small whisk to mix the two together
3. Whisk 1/4 cup of hot water with Match mix until it's a little foamy on top and well blended
4. Heat up 3/4 cup of almond milk and then add to your Matcha.
5. One final whisk to mix everything together and your ready to enjoy!

And YES it's suppose to look like that...don't be scuuured!

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Have a little faith in me

Hi Everyone!  Well...it's the day before my birthday and like every birthday I've had past the age of 25 I always do a little life reflecting of how each year is different from the one before.  I turn 28 tomorrow, officially in my late 20's, and I have to say that 27 has been one of my most challenging years.  A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same.  This past year I have had many thoughts about religion....yep go ahead and click out of this blog if free speech offends you or just bores you.  I've never been much for religion, the idea of it confuses me and most of it sounds a little ridiculous.  I don't personally pray, in fact I don't think I have since I was like 6, because it makes me quite uncomfortable most of the time.  With that being said, my husband is religious, not like crazy person religious, but he does have faith and I respect him for it.  Awhile ago I asked him if it bothered him that I didn't "believe" the way he does and his response was the most heartbreaking and romantic thing I've probably ever heard from him.  He told me that he hoped someday I would be open to it because he wanted to be assured that when we were both no longer alive that we would be together in the same place.  I was speechless, I had never really looked at it that way.

Most of you reading this already know that we have been trying to have a baby for well over a year now and it's just not happening.   I feel like a lot of times people have kids because that's just the next step. So I made a decision a long time ago that if I ever was going to be a mother that I would make sure I truly wanted to be.  So of course the last 15 months has felt like one big test.  A test of my marriage, my strength, my patience and even my so called faith.  Which is where religion comes in to play.  For the first time in my life I get it.  Having faith in a  higher being and being able to "talk" to them comforts people, it makes them hopeful, it reassures them, as my husband said.  I've realized that life is difficult because it was meant to be.  If it were easy people would take things for granted and have nothing to look forward to.  Maybe our life plan is much bigger than falling in love with the right person and having your shit together. Believing in that makes me a little more hopeful for our future.

 I challenge everyone reading this to end their day by saying one positive thing that happened that day.  My advice is to wear your difficult times proudly because in the end they have a way of making you a better person. And if your going through a tough road, read the Alchemist...that shit will change your life, lol.

Until next time..."It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting." Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

A challenge of the FACE!

It's FRIDAY everyone!!  The weather's been looking up here in Ohio and I am on a small break from classes...summer is around the corner and some much needed relaxation and QT with my hubby is on the horizon!  Because I have an amazing husband that takes care of us through and through, he has had a second job for quite some time now to save some extra cash for...well...life.  So long story short, I feel like we see each other for a couple hours at a time in which most of those hours are either spent sorting out building our first house and not going broke in the process, trying to create a human being, running circles around our high maintenance dog, maintaining our sanity and keeping the rest of our shit together and whatever time is left...sleeping.  So it will be nice to get my husband back for awhile or at least until he decides to throw something else on his plate.

Now that I have rambled on...I will get to today's post!  My skin has been in a meltdown for quite some time now.  Nothing I seem to do to is helping and like the true woman I am....I bitch about it!  While in bitching mode one day my clever husband says to me, "have you ever thought that it's because you use way too many products on your face...why don't you just try using less." I will admit that my day and night skincare routine somewhat resembles a spa treatment with a ridiculous amount of products but isn't that how all woman attempt to stay young and beautiful??  So like the makeup/skincare geek that I am, I went online and started researching the ingredients that were in the products I use and I found nothing positive.  Come to find out that almost every single thing I use has some sort of pore clogging or skin irritating ingredient in it.  So I've decided to entertain the idea of a minimalist face routine for the next week and a half to see if I have truly been sabotaging my own face.  I will update with before and after pictures when the verdict is in. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other" -Audrey Hepburn

Spring Trending: LIPS

Well it's starting to actually reflect Spring time here in Ohio, for now, but I'll take whatever I can get!  Keeping up with my spring makeup trends, I'm talking all about lips in this post.  I'm a nut for bright lips and of course I was excited to see that they are spring worthy.  It's not just any old bright colors that are in full effect but neon, electric, in your face colors I have been seeing a lot of.  So like any good makeup junkie I set out to hunt down for some lipsticks to rock myself.  Here are my top two finds...

The first I picked up is a L'Oreal Color Caresse Wet Shine Stain in Coral Tattoo.  It's is an orange/coral color and it's a little more subtle of the two BUT it wasn't necessarily the color that got me about this one.  The formula is much different from anything I've ever used and it's kind of genius!     It's a wet stain, so the more you layer it, the brighter the color pay off is. I was most surprised at the lasting power of this thing and definitely a perfect find!

The next is a Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Fuchsia Forever.  I just have to say that when I first saw this color I was scared.   I thought it was a gorgeous color but did not think it was something I was going to be able to pull off.  If I've learned anything from my many makeup trial and errors it's that the only way of knowing if you are going to like something is to try it on, soooo....I got it!  I stepped out of my comfort zone and it was worth it, I am in love.

Until next post..."Happy girls are the prettiest." -Audrey Hepburn

Spring Trending - Brows

Like the beginning of all seasons I have been looking and searching through makeup trends that are expected to be on many faces for the next few months.  Makeup trends are usually hit or miss with me, in the past I have found a lot of them just don't translate in "real" life very well and some are just way over the top.  With that being said this year I am definitely going to be eating my words!  For the next few weeks I have decided to post the Spring makeup trends I personally love and will be experimenting with.

First up is eyebrows....truth, I am a freak about eyebrows.  It's probably the first thing I look at on other women and I am obsessed with my own.  Yes it's a bit weird but eyebrows can make a huge difference in your facial features as well as the makeup you are wearing.  A big spring trend this season is something that can only be given credit to Miss Audrey Hepburn herself and that's thick-full on brows.  Don't worry if you weren't born with Princess Jasmine-esque brows, these are reasonably easy to pull off with the right products.

These are the products I use.

Maybelline Clear Mascara, NYX brow powder, and Anatasia Brow Wiz

First I line the outer edges of my brows with a wax brow pencil, going a little thicker than my natural brows. This just helps as a guide to where you'll need to fill in.  Use light small strokes as if you were mimicking the look of actual eyebrow hairs.  Next I use powder and an angled eyeliner brush and fill in any sparse areas inside of the area that is outlined.  An eye shadow that is similar in color to your brows will work just as well for this step too.  The last step is to run clear mascara (YES mascara) or a color eye brow gel over the hairs, making sure to brush upwards.  This gives brows texture so they look less drawn on and more like your own brows.

So they are a little high maintenance BUT they are fun if your looking to change up your look for the day!

Face of the Day #1

This is how I put on my face.

I was getting ready for an interview and decided to turn on the camera and record it.  These are my favorite type of videos to watch on YouTube....I am obsessed!  Watch it to see a neutral but put together look or just to make fun of my putting on makeup faces!

Red lips in the daytime

Hi everyone!  Since I've recently cut my hair short I've realized that I can get away with  playing up my makeup a little more in the daytime.  I've really been experimenting with bright lips but I have to say red lips in particular have been my go to color.  I am definitely guilty of feeling like maybe wearing a red lip in the middle of the afternoon might seem a little too much!  BUT I've discovered it can be pulled off and it can look amazing on EVERYONE!  Here are some tips and tricks that I think are worth knowing.

1.  Skin should look like your skin.  By this I mean very little foundation needs to be used.  I usually go for a tinted moisturizer or a very light layer of foundation.

2.  Minimal eye makeup looks more relaxed and casual.   A light cream color or skin toned eye shadow, maybe with a little shimmer, all over the lid and some black mascara does the trick.

3.  ALWAYS line your lips!  This goes for any bright color lipstick and red lips are no exception.  Apply a lip liner all over your lips will help the lipsticks staying power as well.

4.  Layer, Layer, Layer, and more Layering.  This is so key if you want your red lips to last for a long time.  Apply a thin coat of your red lip of choice and use a lip brush to spread and cover all over your lips.  Once you've done that blot your lips with a tissue.  Repeat application and blotting a few times until you get the color intensity you want.

5.  Confidence is key.  If you walk out of the house and feel awkward, you will no doubt look awkward!  I think you'd be surprised at the positive reactions you will get from your bold red lips.  So just channel your inner Gwen Stefani and have fun with it!

Warning:  Pictures you are about to see contain my no makeup face, haha.

BEFORE

AFTER

Thank goodness for makeup!  Happy Monday!

Spicy Tofu Surprise

Happy February everyone!  To start February off I thought I'd post a recipe since it's been awhile.  So one day it was dinner time and I was hungry...(haha) there wasn't much in the fridge or pantry so I had to get creative.  I chopped, mixed, sprinkled, and sauteed to my inner chef's desire and came up with something I will call Spicy Tofu Surprise!  I took my first bite, gave myself a pat on the back and shoveled the rest in my mouth promptly!  To make sure I wasn't imagining the goodness of my dish, I made it again another night for my husband and he confirmed that it was worthy of a blog post.  SO here it is!

What you'll need (makes about 2 to 3 servings):

-1/2 a medium onion, chopped
-1/2 cup brown rice, cooked as instructed on box
-1 1/2 cups frozen carrots, thawed out
-3 slices of tofu (extra firm), about half inch each, then cubbed
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 oregano (I used dried but I suggest using fresh if you have it on hand)
-1/2 tsp parsley (again fresh would be better)
-1/2 tsp cumin
-2 pinches of garlic powder
-2 pinches of cayenne pepper (more or less if you like)
- salt
-pepper
-3/4 cup spaghetti sauce
-Red or White wine

(Sauteed mushrooms would also be good added into this as well)

Step 1:  Pour yourself a glass of wine and take a sip, cooking is much more fun this way!

Step 2: Pour olive oil in pan and turn stove to medium-high heat.

Step 3:  Add your onions and saute for about 2 minutes

Step 4:  Add tofu and saute for another 2 minutes

Step 5:  Add carrots, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, cayenne, and cumin.  Stir and saute for another 2 minutes.

Step 6:  Add cooked rice and spaghetti sauce and stir to mix everything together.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 7:  Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes.

This is what your end product will look like, a little like mush, but GOOD mush!  Enjoy!

Lip Product Love

Hi Everyone!  So my only two New Years Resolution this year was to be less stressed and be a better blogger and I'm already failing miserably at both!  To be quite honest I just haven't been very inspired by much as of late.  I've gone on a no makeup buy until I use up some of my old products.  My cooking has been very unadventurous.  Hubby and I haven't gotten much QT (quality time) together recently and another semester of school has arrived! UGH!  I also blame my slump on the cold-ish weather, it really does make me unmotivated.  BUT enough with the whining...I was going through some of my stuff trying to get some ideas of a post and came across some oldie but goodie lip products.  Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains.

(L-R) 001 Honey, 025 Sweetheart, 040 Rendezvous, 030 Smitten

I picked one of these up probably six months or so ago and immediately went back to get more.  I'm a big fan of a bright lip but sometimes I feel like full on lipstick during the day can be a little too much which is why these are so perfect.  There marketed as a balm which I agree with as they are very moisturizing and a much lighter consistency than lipstick.  Another good thing about these is that they stain your lips so the color lasts  much longer without having to retouch every hour. 

There are 12 shades total,  ranging from light to dark colors.  As you can see they are fairly sheer but with a good color payoff.  I definitely recommend these if your curious about wearing a bright lip but are hesitant to make the leap.  As soon as my no makeup buy is other I will be purchasing more of these myself!