LUSH Crush

I have been walking past this store front for months at my local mall and I've always wanted to go in but have decided to stop myself. I didn't want to get addicted to the colors, the fun looking products, the smells of natural oils and organic skincare, because I knew myself and because I knew I'd instantly be hooked. Well dammit, I was right. I'm now in love.

I walked into LUSH a week ago to see if they had anything for my itchy skin. Maybe something organic would do the trick. There are so many fillers in our lotions and body washes that probably do more harm than good half the time anyway. Well, I walked in on one of my lunch breaks and was greeted by so many kind people who worked there. Most stores like that freak me out because I really don't like to be bombarded or pressured to buy things when I shop but these people were like old friends from grade school you hadn't seen in years. They were friendly, did demonstrations and told you how and why each and every product was natural and wonderful. I knew I was in trouble when I saw Bath Bombs the size of my head staring back at me in hues of bright pink and blue. Then it took everything I had not to scream in delight when one of the workers there took my arm and a rose smelling body conditioner was draped over my arms filling my nose with relaxation.

Sure enough, on my first visit I had to get something. I got a Peace Massage Bar. A massage bar? I had never heard of something like this. It filled with olive oil, cocoa beans and Shea butters to moisturize and calm skin. They have several different flavors but this one was recommended for my skin. Not only does it feel great on my skin but it smells so good. I love the idea of using natural skin care.

I went back for a second visit and once again felt like I was greeted by old friends. I discovered some new products this time. I wanted to get a some sort of bar of soap to soothe my skin and was recommended to get Putty in your Hands. This is a soap that doesn't actually have SOAP in it. Kinda bizarre I'd say. The product states that it's a combo of oats, lavender, tea tree and chamomile oils. It says online that it's for your hands only but I used it as a regular bar of soap and it was great. The oils are natural antiseptics so you don't actually need soap as these oils clean just as well without drying out the skin.

Here is what it looks like:

My last rave of this blog was the Bath Bomb's. Like I mentioned earlier these huge bath bombs are so colorful and fun looking. There are so many different kinds and scents but I had to chose 2 Butterballs and 1 Rose Queen. While they were $4.95 a piece I was told what great soaks they were and how soft they make your skin feel. They also mentioned you'd smell great the entire day after bathing with these. Before they could finish their words I had 3 in my shopping bag.

I couldn't help but take a bath after all these products I had purchased to try. Tonight I used the Rose Queen. It's a pink bath bomb that smells like roses. When I dropped it in my tub I was delighted by the instant fizzing of pink that was filling my tub. I was even more amazed when hot pink flower petals began exploding out of this bath bomb. I felt like I was at my own one person party and I was so excited.





Check out what my tub looked like:

HOORAY! If anyone knows me, they know how much I love pink and how much I love flowers! My bathroom was filled with the smell of roses and I soaked for a good 10-15 minutes in this loveliness. My only concern was how I was going to get ride of the flower petals but I was too happy in the moment to care. All that matters after a hard week's work is relaxation at any cost, even if a little clean up in involved.

I came out of the tub as soft as a baby and smelling like flowers and it has latest me several hours so far.

While the store is a little pricey, nothing beats wonderful customer service, a colorful environment full of organic cleansing and skin care products. It's a great place to visit to treat yourself from time to time and I'll definitely be a regular customer in the future.

Hope you enjoyed reading! Now go out and visit a LUSH store today!

Real women have CURVES

Please watch this video before reading this blog to understand my point of view. 

While I understand that high fashion prefers emaciated skinny women over curvy women I'm sickened by an anonymous beauty blogger who recently posted a blog online bashing Katy Upton for being "FAT". If your interested in reading this specific blog that has sparked some serious drama see it here Katy Upton is "Well-Marbled"

In the blog written, it states that Katy has "Huge thighs, NO waist, big fat floppy boobs, terrible body definition – she looks like a squishy brick. Is this what American women are “striving” for now? The lazy, lardy look? Have we really gotten so fat in this country that Kate is the best we can aim for? Sorry, but: eww!"

While everyone is allowed to have their own opinion on the matter I must say my own opinion is nothing but disgust. We wonder why women today outside of the modeling industry are not only anorexic but depressed as all hell. Look at the standards we are expected to live up to! Katy Upton's measurements are 36-25-34.  That's a normal sized women. It's about time we have women out there confidently modeling who look "NORMAL" for a change. If her thighs are considered huge and her body is considered "LAZY & LARDY" then what does that make the rest of us? I'm happy Sports Illustrated had her as their cover model. Anytime I see women bashing women's bodies and figures it really gets to me (obviously). We weren't all born to look the same or be shaped the same. We're supposed to be supporting each other, not insulting each other. While I feel like our country is starting to come around as to what's considered "beautiful", blogs posted like this just take us a step backwards. It's easy to judge someone when they have half there clothes off but hell, she's obviously doing something right if she's made it as a super model in our "1 size fits all" modeling industry. And I'm happy that we have a girl out there confident to show off her normal figure and be proud of it.

Do's and Dont's of 4th of JULY style!

 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! 

As women we are free to be whatever we want to be in this country. From cooky to wacky. From goth to diva-liscious. Go ahead girl and WORK IT! :)

Let's start with the Eye makeup for the holiday.

DO wear blue eyeshadow. 

Start with a light blue color all over your lid. Blend a darker blue in the corner. Use a highlighter below your eyebrow and really blend it all together so it's clean looking. Finish it off with some black liquid liner and a volumizing mascara.

DON'T color block your eyeshadow into RED, WHITE, AND BLUE and then decide it's a good idea to have your eyeshadow match your lips. BAD IDEA.

Next lets go with what to wear!

DO wear a cute top with red white and blue in it. I think it's cuter to wear a top with red white and blue in it then rock a generic shirt with a flag on it but it's up to you.

DON'T  wear this dress out in public. It's cute to be patriotic but this outfit can wait for Halloween.

As for shoes. Here is a good idea!

DO rock some red, white or blue flats

DON'T ever wear these EVER...because...just please don't. :)

Next is NAILS! My favorite.

DO spend a little more time tonight painting your nails red, white and blue! Paint your nails white and then take red, white and blue nail polish and use a toothpick to create little dots on your nails and let the dry and add layers.

DON'T get cray girl. 

Hope you enjoyed my Do's and Don't's of 4th of July style. I just found a good blog also on 10 songs for your 4th of July playlist if your interested in checking that out, created by one of my favorites...Lauren Conrad.

Stress Affects on Skin

June was a very challenging month for me professionally and personally. What summer in anyone's life isn't crazy? Well, with my company, we are currently short staffed and 6 months into being a supervisor I am interviewing trying to get some additional help for our team. On top of that I had been planning my girlfriends bachelorette party, as well as getting stuff together for her wedding, our company had officially merged into our new company, I volunteered to create a video for a company contest, my brother is moving to Colorado in a few weeks, I'm trying to figure out if I can maintain a new budget and maybe move outbefore I'm 30..and the list continues. It's been insane.

None the less the stress had really gotten to me and I noticed my skin was starting to itch really bad. My scalp, my legs, my arms..I mean everything. For the past 2 years my skin has been acting up really bad. My scalp is super sensitive and my body goes in waves of itching. My mom works for a dermatologist and I had previously gone to see him for help in this matter but besides good lotions there wasn't much I could do. And then a week ago I spoke with my Aunt and she said "Well, Danielle, are you stressed?" and I said "YES!" to which she replied. "Your stress is causing you to itch."

At first I couldn't believe it. How was that possible? I had many stressful times in life but it had never gotten to where I itched. Of course I ran to Google and instantly typed in "Stress and Itchy skin" and all these articles popped up. My aunt was right. My stress/anxiety over the past few weeks had caused me to be itchy.

What causes this is you have these epidermal layers made up of skin cells forming a strong barrier. Yet when your stressed this layer of skin cells becomes disruptive. Stress actually cases your skins cells to break up and shrink causing harmful bacteria to seep in through those cells causing Eczema and Psoriasis. I in fact have Eczema and never understood why or what caused it and all this stress over the past two years makes perfect sense.

What other things does Stress cause in regards to your skin and health?

1. Bad acne
2. Melonoma or other harmful skin cancers
3. More severe dermatitis
4. Cold sores
5. Frown lines
6. Dryness
7. Dullness

I knew stress was bad for you but I never really thought how severely it impacts your skin. I knew stress effected your insides, your brain, your heart rate but to read up on how it affects your skin has been really interesting to me. 

As a person who doesn't smoke or drink much due to the awful effects it has on your body, I am now more aware that while those two things affect your skin that STRESS is another culprit. In order to squash the stress over the years I made a promise to myself 4 years ago to never stop exercising. As of the past 7 months I have been actively doing Hot Yoga which has had a huge affect on how stress impacts my life. I realized even more so now with the stress I've been having I really need to work out at least 3-4 days a week to maintain a balance. In that balance hopefully I'll find a way to center myself and rid the nonsense from my skin.

I also suggest if you are in the same boat as me to purchase some good anti-itch lotions. There are so many great ones out there that I'm not going to name drop on this blog. Also, go to Groupon and find a massage deal in your area. Haha! A good massage does wonders for stress.

Thanks for reading! Happy 4th of July!

Playing with your hair color and cuts-Dee's Hair Evolution

I feel like as woman we always want what we can't have. If we're tall, we want to be short. If we're short, we want to be tall. If our hair is curly, we want straight hair. If we have straight hair, we want curly hair. You know what I'm talking about. We all do it. 

As I've gotten older I've learned to accept things about myself that I can't change like the size of my thighs, my Italian schnoz, or my thin hair. But I've also learned something really important as well. Have fun with your look. Try different colors you haven't tried. Whether that be nail polish, eye shadow, mascara, blush, lipstick, clothes, shoes, purses or even hair color. The point is..HAVE FUN!

For the longest time I kept my hair long and straight. I hated it curly. By the time I got to college I realized my look was getting old. I wanted to try new things. I wanted to try new hair tools and new colors. I was sick of looking the same all the time. I'm an artist as most of you know so I constantly like to be inspired by new things and new looks. 

Dee's Hair Evolution

The first time I ever colored my hair it got botched. I was a freshman in college on my first Christmas break and I did one of those at home highlighting kits and it came out awful. The color was brassy, streaky and I was pretty disappointed. I decided to leave it alone for awhile. By the time summer came around I decided to do an all over color to my natural color and it came out redder than I had hoped. Then I decided to leave it alone again. Eventually it faded and grew out and I left it alone for a long time.

By the time my first semester of Sophomore year of college ended I decided again at Christmas break to dye my hair a darker brown. I wanted something slightly different but not too drastic. 

The result came out nice!

Once again I left my hair alone for a long time as my hair began to grow out.Come Junior year of college I was ready for a more drastic change. I thought "Hmm..why not go a tad darker." I liked how the darker brown had looked on me so I figured I could pull off something a smidge darker. 

Black hair days!

Black hair was definitely one of the worst looks I tried but I'm glad I did. I wanted something different and this is what I got. It was very hard to pull off a natural looking face with black hair and I felt like I constantly needed a full face of makeup otherwise I'd look super washed out. This was still a fun look none the less and I kept this going for about a year.

By the time I was over my black hair I went back to brown. 

WARNING: Black hair color is hard to strip out of hair and the process took a good 4-5 hours before my hair was back to brown. 

Soon I graduated from college and was ready for a more grown up look. Many people stuck with long hair all of college and by the time I left I needed to leave some old looks behind as well. My hair had gotten so long and so drab that I wanted to do something drastic. The whole "Posh Bob" trend was so intriguing to me that I sat on chopping my hair off for months. Finally one day I went into a salon on whim and told them to cut it off.

I really loved it!

I'm so glad I chopped my hair. Not only was it completely freeing but it was so fun to play with a new style. I highlighted it, put pink in it, cut it shorter, left it curly and had so much fun with this look.

Highlights

Little bit of pink at the ends

I kept my hair short for about 2 years. I varied different lengths of it throughout those two years and even tried to grow it back in about 2 or 3 times but every time I did I'd get a really awkward length.

What really got me wanting longer hair was when I saw the new "Ombre'" trend that was becoming popular in early 2010. What also sealed it for me was all these pretty wavy looks that were being seen everywhere. Soon I found myself missing my long curly hair and wanting to move on to something new. 

It took another 2 years of growing my hair out to get it to where I wanted it. While it grew I continued to play with it's color. I dyed it dark brown and put some black low lights in it and then by Summer of 2011 I finally got it long enough to get some really pretty high lights in it.

I forgot how much I missed my hair long and naturally curly.

At this point in my life I really have accepted the natural curliness of my hair. I have really grown to love it when I leave it alone. I've also really learned to love a natural face of makeup as well. Maybe this is apart of growing up and learning to love and accept yourself but either way I've embraced what I look like naturally.

Bye bye dark brown hair!

HELLO OMBRE!

What I hope to get across to all you wonderful ladies is to HAVE FUN with your looks. I'm not suggesting you change yourself in any way by posting this but reminding you to have fun with what's out there. Once you try it once you'll realize nothing is permanent (unless your getting a tattoo..ha ha). Trying new things will open you up to a world of possibilities and it will rejuvenate you.

Most importantly, please remember...don't do it for anyone else but YOU!

Thanks for reading! :)

Which bridesmaid do' should I do? POLL

I'm the maid of honor in one of my closest friends weddings next month and I wanted to take a poll of which hairdo I should do for my friends special day!

We are wearing black, strapless, a-line dresses with a little bit of a sweetheart top and bright red heels.

Here are the looks I found that I really like. Her theme is a classy 50's/60's Hollywood vibe.

See the looks below I found and let me know which you think would be best!


Thanks for your help my beautiful Beauty Blog readers! :)

What is your favorite do'??

Number ONE

Number TWO

                                                         

Number THREE

                                                        

Number FOUR

Number FIVE

Number SIX

 

Number SEVEN

Fimo nail art TRIALS

I finally got my FIMO nail pieces in the mail recently. I received my little wheel of different colored bows and a day later received a wheel of colorful fruit pieces. I was so excited to try them that I ran around the house collecting my nail stuff to do a manicure almost immediately. I'm a goofball when it comes to beauty products obviously.

I decided on starting with the bows. I painted my nails white and then took nail glue to my nail and tried with my fingers (bad idea) to place the bows on where I had put the glue. I HIGHLY suggest using tweezers. It's much easier to place these tiny pieces on your nails and saves the glue from getting all over the place. Sorry for the bad picture but this is what it looked like.

 My first mistake was not using tweezers and my second mistake was not making sure the little pieces were lying flat on my nails. Trying to put my hair up in a pony tail was quite an experience with these suckers on there sticking up.

Basically, my whole first attempt at creating this look was a huge FAIL but I figured out what you need to do in order to get these pieces to stay on and lie FLAT on your nail.


1.) After applying your base coat and nail polish color, use your tweezers to place your fimos on your nail while your nail polish is still wet. No nail glue is necessary.


2.) Place as many pieces down as quick as you can. I used another nail tool to help press the pieces into my drying nail polish so they lied flat.


3.) After pressing them down with a tool, I used a really good base coat on top and applied 2 or 3 layers of it. 

The result...

HOW FUN IS THIS MANICURE!? 

Although this whole look did take me awhile to achieve, the manicure last me about a week. I was determined on my second attempt to make sure I did it right and I had a good hour of free time to spend on it so it became my art project for the weekend.

Hope I was able to share some good tips if you are looking to create a fun summer manicure. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding this look. I'd be happy to help!

Thanks for reading!