Simple Summer Tips For Staying Shine Free

  It's that time of year again ladies...where our hair starts to frizz and our skin gets extra shiny. Sheesh! I wanted to give you some tips for trying to calm some of that shine down on your face during these humid summer days we are having. Let's get to it!!!

1.) For those of you moisturize daily, I just heard a great tip today from top skin care professional Boldijarre Koronczay who is the founder of Eminence Handmade Organic Skincare. When washing your face, make sure to use cold water especially if you have naturally oil skin. It helps shrink down your pores which helps eliminate the oil produced. He also suggested to keep your moisturizer in the fridge because it helps keep your skin matte longer. I never thought of that nor tried it so I'm really excited to try this out.

2.) Keep oil absorbing sheets with you in your purse. For some reason I tend to get really shiny midday at work and so about halfway through my work day I blot my face with these sheets and then apply some powder to help me resist getting greasy looking again before I leave for the day. You can pick these up at your local CVS, Jewel and Walgreens. The prices range from $5.00-$10.00 depending on the brand.

3.) Use Mineral Veil by BareMinerals. I love this stuff! I use these on top of my under-eye concealer to set it and at the end of applying all my makeup I brush this on my T-Zone, chin, and cheeks to finish off my makeup look every day. A little bit goes a long way and it's lasted me a year so far. On the plus side it's one of BareMinerals Top Rated Customer products. You can get this at Sephora or at an BareMinerals counter. This cost $20.00 dollars but is well worth it!

4.) Wash your face with cold water and an oil-free face wash. Neautrogena is still one of the top sellers for this and so I decided to buy the generic version to see for myself. So far so good. I wash my face once or twice a day and it seems to tame my face from getting super greasy. This costs about $5.50+ depending on where you go but you can get it a Target, Jewel, Walgreens and CVS.

5.) Adjust your diet a little. Don't eat a lot of greasy food or salty food. These kinds of foods tend to aggravate the skin.Eat lots of greens, lean meats, fruit and veggies.cucumbers, tomatoes and green leafy vegetables. Also, drink lots of water every day. It's been proven the more water you drink the less oil your body is signaled to produce.

Hope you enjoyed reading and hope you enjoy a SHINE FREE SUMMER! :)

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

I noticed a lot of people were posting this week on their Facebook pages about these "Dove Real Beauty Sketches" videos on YouTube.  It seemed to me that it was mostly women were posting about these videos and everyone seemed really touched by it. I finally checked it out yesterday and it moved me to tears.

The story behind these videos is there is a Forensic Artist who had these random regular women come in and sit behind a sheet so he couldn't see them. One at a time, he began to talk to the individual woman he would be drawing and asked that they describe themselves to him. He asked them to explain to him the shape of their face, their hair, their features and how they looked to themselves. Each woman seemed to do the same thing and focused on their imperfections. A lot of them pointed out the features they didn't like about themselves and didn't speak highly about their features at all. It was really kind of sad.

Once the artist completed his drawings of the individual woman who described themselves to him, he called in the other women who interacted with them before the drawing and he would ask these other women to describe the individual he just drew and each and every time the other person speaking about them would say kind things about how they looked. The ladies being drawn who described themselves having "big chins" or "dark circles" were re-described to the artist by these other women as having "soft features", "a kind smile", "nice hair" and other really kind things.

At the end of that the artist would put his two drawings next to each other and hang them in this huge empty room where the drawings had taken place. The first picture was always the way the woman had described herself and the second picture was of how that woman was described to him from other women's point of views.

It was amazing to see the difference between the two pictures. Watching the women who were drawn see themselves in these two different drawings of themselves was really something. The artist had them describe what they saw was the difference between the two portraits he created of them and one of them women was even crying.

Check out the video below to see this amazing experiment:

I couldn't help but get sad after seeing this. Why are we so hard on ourselves as women? We are our worst critics. We are obsessed with being perfect, looking perfect and staying flawless that we forget to look in the mirror and admire the beautiful things about ourselves. I have to say that I think a lot of it is our cultures fault. The media can't stress enough how we should stay young, thin and wrinkle free forever by comparing us to celebrities with abnormal lifestyles. It just doesn't seem fair we have this kind of pressure on our shoulders when there are so many other things so much more important than how we look.

It's time to get our confidence back and to stop being so hard on ourselves. We're all beautiful in our own ways and it's time to start recognizing that within ourselves and teaching our daughters the same.
I challenge all of you to do this for yourselves. When you say out loud that your ugly, fat, and unattractive, those bad thoughts and words really settle harshly inside of yourselves and you continue to believe it and continue to say it and it's just a vicious, destructive cycle. Practice saying kind things about yourself and you'll start to feel so much better about yourself.

I'm curious to see what it'd be like if they did this same experiment with men. Would it be similar or would it be completely opposite??? Either way it really had me thinking. I think it'd be interesting to see the similarities and differences.

I'd really love to hear your thoughts on this and perspectives. While I could go on about this subject forever, I think it'd be more interesting to hear your thoughts.

The "Side Part"

Hello my lovelies! Since taking a much needed break from coloring my hair, I have already become bored with it. I got about 3 inches cut off of it about 2 months ago to get rid of the rest of my ombre' to leave me with a pretty blunt cut that sits at my collar bone. I'm not going to lie, it's been really hard not to do something drastic to it.

I've debated chopping it off again, putting highlights in it and even for mere second considered blunt bangs before I remember that bangs looked HORRIBLE on me. I have somehow managed to stop myself every time. It's been almost a year since I colored it which is the longest I've gone in 5 years.

To change things up I have been checking pinterest out, googling spring tends and looking through magazines and the celebrity who's hair I keep gravitating to lately is Jessica Alba. Every time she has her hair styled or down it looks awesome. I've been noticing how she has been pulling off this awesome deep, side party lately and it's super cute on her.

Check her out..

Apparently a deep side part down your hair is actually a trend this year so it's a good time to start playing around with your parts if your interested in this look as well. It looks great a number of ways. 

Here are some ways to try this look now! 

1.) Where it down with curly hair. Pump up the volume with some volumizing hair spray and a tease comb. 

2.) Factor it into a low pony tail by creating a deep side part and slicking it back with an elastic band.

3.) Tuck one side of your hair behind your bands for this cute look.

 Here are two of the tools I suggest using to help you achieve this look:

1.) I use the Monroe Teasing U Brush Model No. 2280 this is a rather inexpensive brush to help achieve some quick volume and the pointy end to help separate my hair. to get a straight part.

 2.) My favorite hairspray is Big Sexy Hair Spray & Play that you can get at most drugstores and Ulta.

Thought I'd share a new look for you ladies to try this Spring if you're as bored with your hair as I am. I even tried this trend (or #1) myself this morning .The look turned out pretty cool! What do you guys think??

Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed!!

My Favorite Beauty Vlogger's

  (For those of you who have never heard the term "Vlog" it stands for "Video Blog".)

I love checking out beauty vlogs online for some of my beauty inspiration. There are so many beauty vloggers out there now a days and they're all over YouTube and are growing in masses. I've seen woman of all ages, races, shapes and sizes putting themselves out there and I gotta say, I give them a lot of credit. It's not easy to put your bare face out there for the world to see and apply make-up the way you like. Especially when some of the time people write the nastiest, rudest responses to these videos.

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite beauty vloggers as well as some of my favorite videos of theirs to check out. These woman are all fantastic and fun to watch.

1.) My first vlogger is Bubz Beauty. "Bubz" as she calls herself is this adorable woman from London. She's has the cutest accent and is super talented. Not only does she have inspirational videos and answers fans questions, DIY projects, videos on her adorable dogs, but she has some really great beauty tips I wouldn't have discovered without her. While it may sound cheesy she is the type of person I feel like I could be super good friends with. She's goofy, funny, and honest and I like that she doesn't take herself too seriously.

One of my favorite blogs of hers was "How to get a Slimmer Face" on facial massage and some helpful tips how to massage the face to get the stress and puffiness out of it. Check it out!

2.) Another vlogger I'd like to share with you is MMandLShow. Michelle Money was on the Bachelor a few seasons back and while she was targeted as the "mean girl" on the show, I remember her always having the greatest hair and make-up out of all of the girls on it. Haha! Turns out she is a hair stylist and her and her best friend Laura began this blog in 2011. I came across this vlog randomly and figured I'd check it out. These ladies are another group of girls who don't take themselves too seriously but once again have some really great tips on drugstore make-up and brand names. I always enjoy seeing super close friends together. They play of each other's goofiness and always give me a good laugh.

I love their video "The Laura Curl-Sexy Curl Hair Tutorial".

(I really want to buy this wand their using cause it looks amazing but I did buy this dry shampoo and it is pretty awesome.)

3.) I've been a loyal fan of Michelle Phan for a few years now. She was one of the first beauty vloggers I've seen to really pave the way for beauty in social media. She also started her own company called IPSY which is a monthly beauty bag you can sign up for to get monthly for $10. I'm a subscriber and it's like Christmas every month when I get my glam bag of samples. Basically, I want her life. She's a really sweet girl with great beauty looks for Halloween, weddings, inspired beauty looks from movies and music videos, as well as some great DIY ideas and she makes it look SO EASY but she is really easy to follow.

This look she shows here is gorgeous. "Summer Sunset Eyes"

Hope these women help inspire you as much as they inspire me!!! Thanks for reading!

Morning Make-up MUSTS!

Every morning during the week I hop out of bed and start my morning routine. It's pretty much exactly the same every day. I put my eye cream and day creams on before I choose my outfit and by the time I'm dressed my eye cream and day cream have been absorbed and I'm ready for makeup and hair.

My moisturizers I use in the morning are:

Clinique's "All about Eyes" and Aveeno's "Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer"
 

Clinque has great eye creams and Aveeno has worked really well for me for a day cream. Both products seem to reduce the puffiness in my face in the morning and it's also important for me to have SPF in my day cream.  I used to use Intervene products by Elizabeth Arden but it was getting too expensive to have my day cream and my night cream be department store brands so I went the less expensive route but am still pretty happy with the results. For me it's more important to have an awesome night cream that repairs my skin while I sleep so in that case I'm willing to spend a little more money.

I'm currently a Supervisor for a Client Services Department and sit behind a cube all day so my daily makeup routine has gotten pretty boring but it's amazing how just a few make-up products will instantly make me look more awake or feel better about my morning face!

My "Morning Make-up Musts" are as follows and are applied in this order:

• Concealer
• Mascara
• Bronzer

CONCEALER

For concealer here is what I'm currently using:

Make-up Forever 5 Camouflage Cream Palette No. 1 ($38.00)





I love this concealer for multiple reasons. I used to use a cream concealer by The Balm but they discontinued it and so it' it's place I wanted to find a good product to replace it that was still cream based. While it stinks this concealer is expensive, this palette has lasted me almost a year and there is still lots left to use. A little bit really goes a long way and it's blendable and not tacky like some cream based concealers can be. Also, when transitioning from my summery, tan skin, I had lighter concealer choices to choose from instead of running back out to the store. Also, it comes with the green color correcter for red spots. I don't typically wear daily foundation so when it comes to covering up additional problem areas this is a great palette to mix and use different colors from cause as we all should know, different areas of the face are different colors. Being an artist this palette has been fun for me to use.


AND....

NYX Concealer Wand ($5.00)





For those of you who are just looking for 1 color, a more affordable option and not much to mess with I suggest trying this. It was $5.00 at Ulta and I just saw a vlog on youtube with this being used. The ladies raved about it so I figured I'd pick one up. This blends well and really brightens me up under my eyes. There is no need for touch ups with this wand as it seems to last me a full work day.

WARNING: I wouldn't use it anywhere else because I read a lot of reviews that this tends to clog pores or enlarge them so this is really a product to use under the eyes only.

MASCARA

I'm a mascara junkie. I've tried all sorts of brands from the cheapest of cheap to expensive. The two I've been using most often in the past 6 months are below. 

Benefit's They're Real! Mascara in Black ($23.00)

This brush does a really great job separating lashes while providing length and a subtle amount of volume perfect for work. I typically curl my lashes before using this and they stay curled all day. This is a good layering mascara that doesn't get cakey if you like to apply more than one coat like I do.


MAC In Extreme Dimensions Lash ($20.00)

 


This mascara is simply awesome. If you want va-va voom lashes without the work of added individual lashes or fake lashes, you have to try this. I still have to work on my technique with this but you can layer this mascara for days and your eyelashes just get bigger, fuller, and longer with each swipe of the brush. No primer is needed. The trick with this one is to wiggle the brush at the base of your lashes before working it up. It does a great job of thickening and lengthening. As always, I curl my lashes before applying.  The only con of this mascara is it takes awhile to remove if you apply more than a coat or two. For me, it's worth it for an awesome mascara.

Doesn't it look awesome?

BRONZER

Benefit Hoola Bronzer ($28.00)

  

While for concealer and mascara I mention two products there is only really one bronzer I'm using currently. It's lasted me almost a year as well with still plenty left to use and it pretty great. This bronzer comes in a little box and is handy for travel. It comes with a little brush inside that works really well for contouring purposes. I feel like most products that come with brushes come with cheap brushes but this one is great! A perk of this product is you can wear it subtly or for a more dramatic look depending on how much you apply. Right now I'm a big fan of flat bronzer with zero shimmer and this is a good one for a sun-kissed look without the sheen of some types of bronzers.

I'd love to hear from you! What are you're morning rituals or your Morning Make-up Musts?

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!!!

Emerald Green-Color of the Year-How to wear it!

Hello my beautiful beauty bloggers! I've been starting to do some research on the beauty trends of 2013. I'm really excited to find new trends and ideas to share with you all to try. I'm pleased to announce that Emerald Green has been declared by Pantone as the COLOR OF 2013!!!

Inspired by one of the prettiest gems!

 I have decided to dedicate an entire blog to emerald green because there are so many ways to wear it in the coming year that are so pretty! 

NAILS

To start off, below I have found some great green nail polishes to try as this is a GORGEOUS color to put on the nails! They aren't all exact matches of emerald, some have more green in them than blue or vice versa but they are all super pretty! (FYI:You should be able to find all these brands and colors of nail polish at an Ulta store near you)

 OPI- "Cuckoo for this Color"

Essie- "Going Incognito"

  

 Essie-"Trophy Wife"

 Butter London- "Stag Do Nail"

Zoya-"Retro Green" (matte polish)

 

EYELINER

A great way to wear emerald green is on your eyes! Another trend being seen on runways is green eyeliner on the waterline of your eyelid. Check out the stunning looks below for some inspiration!

 My suggestion of products to achieve a quick, easy look like this is to line the inside of your waterline  with an emerald or aqua eyeliner pencil. For an additional little more pop of green, add a little bit of a line right under the bottom lashes.

My favorite eyeliner, HANDS DOWN to achieve this is:
 Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Pencil in Peacock. Check it out!

This is a fun way to add a pop of color to your eyes without it being so bright and over dramatic. I personally can't wait to buy this pencil to try this look out myself.

QUICK Tips on how to wear this look:

• Wear it alone on the water line with lots of mascara for a day look. 
• Wear it with a gold shimmery lid for a party or a date. 
• Wear it with you eyelid lined in black to be bolder. 

Two other similar products to try if you don't like the look above but want to incorporate green liner into your eye makeup, are a deep green liquid liner (which works best on the top lids and isn't meant for the lash line) or a glitter liner if you only want a touch of green.

Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner- "Forest Green"

Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Liner- "Stagedive"

New Year-New Skin- Exfoliating Products and Tips

Hello my Beauty Blog readers! I apologize for being so M.I.A. The end of 2012 was quite busy for me and I hadn't gotten around to blogging much.

Chicago was blessed with another warm start to winter this year and has just now started to drastically get colder and colder. Anything below 20 degrees to me is pretty much "STAY INSIDE" weather. These cold days sure take a toll on the skin.

For those of you who don't know, our skin sheds about 50,000 dead skin cells every minute. Isn't that amazing? The reason exfoliating is so important though, is because sometimes the dead skin cells have a hard time coming off our body and our faces. Because of that it can cause blockage in our pores causing a breakout. Hopefully that sentence alone got your attention.

Everyone should be exfoliating at least twice a week, both their face and body. If your skin is super sensitive, sticking to once a week should be ok as you don't want to over irritate your skin.

Keep in mind, while winter is a key time to exfoliate, we all really should be exfoliating all year long. Getting rid of dead skin cells not only leaves your skin soft but it helps to produce new skin cells leaving you glowing and fresh.

Below are some of my favorite exfoliating products for both the face and body.

1.) Pelle Rinnovo by Borghese ($49.50 1.9 oz)

Back in the day when I worked for Borghese, I regularly took samples of Pelle Rinnovo home. This is a product to exfoliate the face.The finite crystals in it are super tiny and you take about a dime size amount and worked it over your face in upward motions for 3-5 minutes. I have to warn you this stuff is strong and gritty but it really gets all the dead skin cells off. I wouldn't recommend this for someone with super sensitive skin cause it is rough after a minute or two or moving it around your face but someone with normal to oily skin will really get great results with this product. While it is expensive for a little amount, a little goes a long way and it leaves your face so smooth and fresh that make-up looks and applies so much better.

2.) Carisonic Mia by Clarisonic ($119.00)

I bought exfoliating facial brush about 6 months ago and I love it. This exfoliating brush you can use once a day with your favorite face wash and it really gets the product into your pores. When you hit the on button the face brushes for one minute and you use it to massage your cleanser all over your face so while it cleans, it exfoliates as well. I like that you can buy detachable brush heads for your type of skin. They come in Normal, Sensitive, Delicate, Deep Pore, Acne and even one for the Body. This is a nice alternative if you don't like buying liquid products and rather have a tool do the job for you.

3.) Vanilla Amber Sugar Scrub by Arbonne ($30.00)

I found out about Arbonne through a friend of mine who had one of those Mary Kay type group parties at her house. This Vanilla Amber scent was a limited edition for Christmas but this stuff was awesome. This is probably something you could make at home because it uses all natural ingredients but this scrub is full of this delicious smelling oil mixture mixed in with medium size pieces of sugar. I used to use this in the shower to slough off my skin and while the sugar exfoliates the oil puts moisture into your skin. By the time I got out of the shower ever time my skin was super duper soft. While they still don't have this scent available they currently have a Sea Salt Scrub that has essential oils in it and has properties in it to prevent anti-aging for the same price. The only downfall of the product is it leaves your tub super slippery so BE CAREFUL if you choose to get a product with lots of oils in it for your body.

4.) Sugar ($2.00+/- depending on where you go)


Sugar is great by itself to use on your lips to exfoliate. It leaves them nice and smooth so if you ever get dry, crackly lips use some sugar to help smooth them out before applying your favorite lipsticks or glosses.

5.) Peach Satin Hands Pampering Set by Mary Kay ($34.00)

My final favorite product is the fabulous Peach Satin Hands Pampering Set by Mary Kay. This stuff is awesome. Not only does it smell delicious your hands, your hands will for sure feel like silk every time you use all three products together. It comes with a hand softener which you apply first, secondly you want to use the scrub over the softener to really scrub your hands and cuticles and last you rinse your hands and apply the hand lotion. This is a product you will want to be next to the sink for but it only takes a few minutes to use all three and after your hands will stay satiny soft for hours. At one of the Mary Kay parties I went to they did a demo for us where you only used these products on one hand to compare the difference between the two. You wouldn't think it'd be as drastic as it is but your hand looks much more clean, smooth and young after using this set. It's especially nice if you like to do your own manicures at home and like to pamper yourself.

Hope you enjoyed reading! Happy New Year everyone!