New Year's Beauty Resolutions to Keep All Year Long

Happy New Year everyone!!! Welcome to 2014!!! 

As we start the new year fresh with new intentions, goals, and resolutions I wanted to introduce or re-introduce to you some of the most important beauty resolutions you should keep this year and always.

Good habits are important when it comes to skincare and makeup. A little bit goes a long way when it comes to this list. Incorporate them into your daily skincare & makeup regimes and I promise you, your skin will thank you for it.

• Wear sunscreen every day. I know that sounds crazy especially when it's winter in the Midwest but we are still exposed to the sun each and everyday and it's important to keep your skin protected regardless. 
• Moisturize every morning and every night. Moisturize everything. Put body lotion on after a shower so it absorbs better.  Moisturize your face in the morning before you apply makeup. Use your best night cream before you go to bed and wake up looking refreshed. Keep a hand lotion in your purse. 
• Wash your makeup off at the end of each day. It will clog your pores, cause your eyelashes to break, can create eye infections, makes you breakout, makes wrinkles deeper. If that wasn't enough to make you want to wash everything off before bed, read this.
• Drink more water. Hydrate the skin from the inside out by drinking more water. This is something everyone has to do more because it's good for EVERYTHING. 
• Stop picking at your face. You will cause scarring. The only time it's ok to pop anything is if it's white otherwise keep the pincher's away from your face. 
• Exfoliate at least once a week. And no more than twice because otherwise you will cause your pores to be larger which could cause break outs. Exfoliating helps get rid of leftover dirt that builds up in our pores from makeup and helps renew skin cells.
• Wash your makeup brushes once a week. They collect tons and tons of bacteria when you leave them sitting out with left over product on them. You want to apply makeup to that pretty face of yours, not dirt. Warm water and mild soap are all you need. 
• Do no over-tweeze. Let your natural eyebrows grow in and take shape. Then go get them waxed, threaded or learn how to tweeze correctly using this blog tutorial by Michelle Phan. 
• Keep chapstick on you at all times. Nothing is more annoying than dry lips, that burn and are chapped. These are my favorites: EOS Lip Balm, Noya Vanilla Lip Balm & Vaseline Lip Therapy. 
• Commit using your hot hair tools only twice a week, maximum. Haircuts are expensive these days for woman and using a heated curler or straightener more than once a twice a week really wrecks your natural hair textures and splits your hair ends even faster. Find a good taming mouse, cream, serum instead and let your hair dry naturally. 
• Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. This will help you avoid looking puffy in the morning, it'll keep the bags under your eyes at bay and because it's just as important and good for you as water is. So turn that phone off. Sign off Facebook, put that ice cream down and go to bed.

This list could go on for days but I hope you were able to find at least one or two from the list that you can apply to your daily life. We can't replace our skin so it's best we take good care of it. These things aren't expensive or hard to maintain and I hope you found them helpful. 

Hope everyone's holidays were wonderful and I'm wishing you all a blessed New Year!! 

Thanks for reading!!!

Glitterize your New Year's Eve!

Welcome to my new and improved blog site! Thanks to my lovely big sister, we spruced things up a little bit to give the site a new look for the new year!

Speaking of the new year, December went by in the blink of an eye. New Year's Eve is one of my favorite holidays because it's a good time to reflect on the year that passed and look forward to new beginnings.

This is also one of my favorite holidays because it's one of the only and most appropriate times I get to wear GLITTER! I know this blog is a little last minute but I hope to provide some last minute inspiration for you ladies!

NAILS

I'm really loving this new line of nail polishes at Sephora called Formula X.  I bought a set of them a while back and just love them. While individual bottles are $12.50, these glittered polishes are good for special occasions and a one time splurge.

Light My Fire is the perfect way to bling out those fingers for your holiday party!

Light My Fire- Formula X $12.50

If you're looking for a cheaper nail polish that's just as glittery and fun, try Hors d'oeuvres by Essie. This bottle is $8.50 and you can get it at Ulta or online on the Essie website. This is currently what's on my nails for the holidays and the mix of silver and gold is too cute.

Hors d'oeuvres- Essie $8.50

EYES

Pinterest has some of the prettiest makeup ideas for the holidays and here are two of my favorite looks for New Years. 

 This look includes a set of fake lashes, black liquid liner, a pinky eyeshadow to contour the crease of the lid and lots of gold glitter. 

There are a few options to set loose glitter on your eyelids:

• Using eyeshadow primer all over lid- Wait 15 seconds-Take an eyeshadow brush and pat loose glitter all over lid.
• Use a cream based eyeshadow of your choice and pat it on. While it's still wet, take your loose glitter with your eyeshadow brush and pat over lid. 
• Use eyelash glue and pat over lid before it gets tacky. Wait a few seconds and pat brush with loose glitter on lid. Just an FYI your bursh may get some glue on it so wash your brush under warm water with soap before it dries. 

To recreate this look you'll need a steady hand, liquid liner, and glitter liner. First create a cat eye effect with your liner. Once that's dry, use your glitter liner to trace above the outer corner of the black liquid liner and then use the glitter liner right under your lower lashes from the tear drop to the corner of your eye.

PRODUCTS

Since I love glitter so much, I've collected products over the use that I use for fun holidays like New Year's Eve, St. Patty's Day or Halloween. Here are a couple products I recommend.

Heavy Metal Glitter Liner by Urban Decay ($19) I have this in Spandex. I like this color cause I can put it on top of black liner without it being too loud and it's just a subtle look of glitter. This stuff stays on all day and is really pretty. The brush is tiny and makes it easy to apply. You can add as little or as much glitter as you like and it's just awesome. It comes in pink, turquoise gold purple and iridescent.This product is the perfect product to achieve the look above.

Glitter liner in "SPANDEX"

Glitter by M.A.C. ($21)

I love, love, loose glitter! It's great because you can create your own nail polish with it and use it to re-create some of the eyeshadow looks above. You can pick-up loose glitter at pretty much any drug store or beauty store around. The reason I mention M.A.C.'s is because I've literally had my loose Gold glitter from this line for above 5 years without as much of a dent in it. It'll probably last me the rest of my life because the glitter is so fine that a little goes a long way.

Glitter in "GOLD"

I hope I was able to spark your make-up creativity for not only New Year's Eve/Day but for the new year to come. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and safe 2014!!!

Keep Calm and Treat Yourself to Makeup

At the end of every year for anyone usually it's a stressful time with holidays, family visits, parties to attend and money to spend on gifts. It's rough.

For me, work is at it's busiest from September through February every single year I've been with my company. This year we have the biggest billing disaster I've experienced with my company and it's been enough stress to have me take a month off. In lieu of these stressful times in and out of work, I've been trying to work on things to help keep me sane.

I read an article a few years back that when the economy went to crap back in 2008/2009 that sales of makeup went up. In particular, makeup sales went up.

 

While finding a way to stay sane during these difficult times and year end madness, I've come to find that besides yoga and running, makeup has been some sort of relaxing release for me.

For about 2 months now, I've been waking up just a touch earlier every morning to fix my hair and makeup every day before work. They say you should "Dress for Success" and I'm a firm believer in that. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

I really enjoy putting makeup on every day cause it's a great form of artistic expression. When I catch myself in the mirror even when work is hard, if I see my makeup looks nice I somehow automatically feel better. It may sound silly but I'll even take a second to touch up my makeup throughout the day just to have some personal time to be artistic. Having my degree in Studio Art makes it hard to be inspired by day to day responsibilities and in finding a minute or two a day to do something I love, whether that's make-up, painting, or painting my nails seems to always be what makes me happy. 

My Grandma just recently passed away at 89 years old and she was still getting her hair done, drawing her eyebrows in and getting her acrylic nails done the entire time. These are the things that made her happy, the things that made her feel pretty. 

At the end of the day it's about finding what makes you smile, what keeps you calm and what keeps you happy. As long as you never give up on the little things that do that for you, you're golden. 

Life is too short not to do what makes you happy. 

Dedicated to my Grandma Antoinette Marie Scarpaci.

Beauty & Change

I've been thinking a lot lately about change in general but what about when it comes to beauty and change? Not only do trends, styles, recommendations, treatments and technology change but so does your skin.

As I've gotten older I've really tried to do my best to take care of my skin better by doing the following:

• Limiting my alcohol intake weekly.
• Exercising regularly.
• Sunscreen.
• Moisturizing. 
• Exfoliating.
• Cleansing.

Even doing the above on a regular basis can't prevent age from taking it's course. Sooner or later our eyebrows & lips are going to thin, our eyelids are going to be droopier, laugh lines will start to appear. Most of us average income women won't be dishing out money for botox, lip injections, nose jobs and face lifts unless we're wealthy so how do we deal with the ever changing reflection in the mirror?

This is definitely something I've contemplated. I know it sounds vein but I think all women deal with this at some point. I don't want my eyebrows to thin. I already have thin lips so will they just disappear? I've come to terms with my Italian nose so that's not an issue but I don't want my jowls to hang or to look in the mirror and see an older version of myself.

I've never been a huge fan of plastic surgery and how it looks on people. I think it looks unnatural and it's almost too obvious looking rather than just seeing a regular person and thinking "oh hey, that's an old woman."  But the pressure celebrities have to look young seems far more extreme than people not in that type of limelight or situation. They are in a category all by themselves when it comes down to it.

All in all the topic puzzles me. While it might sound crazy to you, having been educated in skincare at one of my prior jobs, I've really taken notice of my skin over the years. I've paid attention to how the skin on my body has changed, my face has changed and how it reacts to different things. It's really fascinating to me how certain things effect our bodies so much but I think having been in the skincare industry has made what goes on with our skin more noticeable to me.

What worked for me in my early 20's makeup wise does not work so well on me anymore. The products I was able to use then, I have far outgrown and the products I use now I'll outgrow eventually as well. Time is fascinating isn't it?

All we can do is embrace the skin we have been given and do our best to take care of it. We all need to remember that we are given wrinkles as a reminder of the life we have lived. I want to make sure I have laugh lines versus frown lines. If my lips thin, well I still got a bright smile. At the end of my life it won't matter because it's the life I put in my years that matter more than the lines that life puts on my face.

The irony of this blog I'm writing is I just happened to read another blog similar to it today from a different woman's perspective on aging.  She titled the article "Making Friends with my Wrinkles" and I really appreciated her side of things. She has the right attitude. She doesn't want plastic surgery and she's getting older. She debates her options and her attitudes from this point in her life. What does she do, you ask? She decides to accept her ever changing skin.

Really at the end of the day, this is all any of us can do. When you look in the mirror everyday remind yourself of how lucky you are for another day to conquer this life and that change is an inevitable part of it.

Thanks for reading!!!!

Fall 2013 New Nail Trends

As I was writing my Fall 2013 Beauty Trends blog I realized that a lot of fun new looks with nails was also big with the changing season so I decided to write a whole separate blog on some of the cool new looks on the horizon.

Hints of Black

I'm really feeling the nail trends on the runways lately. I was on the black nail polish train when black nails became big in 2007-2008 but coincidentally had dyed my hair black around the same time so people used to tell me I looked goth and shortly after I got over the black nail polish trend. Ha! Ha!

 I like the new idea of having subtle hints of black on your nails and think the "half moon" nail polish look is really neat. Check out this quick and easy tutorial I found on youtube to give this trend a try at home! DIY Half Moon Nails Tutorial 

3D Effects

I think ever since nail stickers became a huge seller on the market and started selling like mad, beauty companies since have been less afraid to try and create even more fun nail products for women to experiment at home. I know for me, I don't like to dish out money on my nails very often because it seems kind of wasteful. I am a creative person at heart and why not do it for myself at home. As time goes on there are more and more options for people to try fun looks like these at home.

Pick up some rhinestones at Walgreens. Pinterest different DIY nail art. Cut some lace and lay it on your wet nail! Have fun with it! 

Metallic

Silver nail polishes with purple undertones seem to be a popular choice of color recently as well as gold and dark silver colors. Check out some of the types of metallic nail colors trending now.

OPI Nail Lacquer in Peace, Love, and OPI, $6.95

Orly Nail Lacquer in Angel Rain, $4.99

Topshop Nails in Aurora $10

Essie Nail Polish in For the Twill of It, $8

  Oxblood Red

Oxblood red will eternally be a staple color for the Fall when it comes to nail polish colors. It's just so pretty. Below are a couple of my favorite colors by Essie and OPI.

OPI Lost on Lombard $9

Essie in Sole Mate $8

Essie in Bordeaux$8

 Thanks for checking out my blog! Hope you enjoyed checking out the latest in nail trends!

Fall 2013 Beauty Trends

A new season is slowly but surely creeping upon us and soon Summer will change to Fall. While it's bittersweet, it is always fun to switch up looks with the seasons and Fall is one of my favorite beauty seasons for a change!

Matte Manis

These are fun and I've done these a lot in the last year. Grab a bottle of your favorite nail polish and mattify it using a matte top coat that you can buy at your local beauty stores. The one I use and love is Essie's "Matte About You". I've previously blogged about this trend and it's totally fun and easy. The matte top coat seems to dry must faster than a regular top coat.

 Bushy Brows

This season get ready to put your tweezers down and cancel your waxing appoitments. Bushy brows are in! If you had told me this when I was 14 I would have felt much better about my huge caterpillar eyebrows. Ha!

The way to help achieve this look even if you have thinner brows is to fill them in with eyebrow powder for a more subtle look or an eyebrow pencil for a bolder look.

Here are some of my favorite products to help you achieve this look:

• Too Faced Brow Envy Brow Shaping & Defining Kit $35.00
• MAC Eyebrow Pencil $16.00
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo $23.00

 Bold Lips

 
Bold lips is another trend for this Fall. Orange, brown, plum and ox blood red seem to be the top four color choices when it comes to lipsticks this season.

Here are a few lipsticks I'd choose for trying out these looks:

• NARS Afghan Red Satin Lipstick $26.00
• NARS 413 BLKR Semi Matte $26.00
• Shiseido Day Lily Perfect Rouge $25.00

 Low Ponytails 

 This is a sigh of relief when it comes to hair trends this fall. I refuse to spend more than 10 minutes on my hair on a work morning and a low messy ponytail will be a fun go to. For New York Fashion week this year, this look was seen a lot of the runways with parts down the middle and side swept bangs. Secure an elastic band at the base of your neck and take a teaser come to it or curl the ends to give it your own flare!

Enjoy trying something new this Fall with your beauty look! Hope you had fun reading!

GUEST SPOTLIGHT: My Darling Chic Sissy

For those of you who don't know me on a personal level I have an older sister named Corie. We are 2 1/2 years apart in age and growing up we were always pretty close. I remember just always wanting to be just like her as kids. I always wanted to dress like her, act like her, do what she was doing. However, I did notice the older we were both getting the more we had different interests, different style and different goals.

When I was a freshman in high school she was a senior. She always had this thick, gorgeous hair that I never had. Whether she knows it or not she had really developed confidence within herself by the age of 17 and I remember being envious of that. The early years in high school for me were totally uncomfortable and awkward. I had a hard time figuring myself out and who I wanted to be at that age but I remember thinking, "Man, Corie has it together!" And I admired that in her. She was a tough chick and already braver than she knew.

The years went fast but now that Corie and I are adults we have both developed our very own individual styles. I really enjoy when we get together because I'll share beauty tips with her while she is always a huge help in putting the perfect outfit together. Being sisters we're always VERY honest with each other so it helps to have someone like her to turn to!!

Corie has always been huge into fashion, shoes and trends. She has a knack for it and always looks awesome! Last summer her and I finally had the idea that we should start our own website called "Darling Chic" We started to add both her fashion blogs to it and tie in my beauty blogs. We have both have had talks of starting our own business together or something so we could incorporate this passion of ours. Check out our website and "Like" us on Facebook at Darling Chic.

However, Darling Chic has been put on hold for just a little bit. My sister was offered an amazing position this year to work in Switzerland for 2 years. When the news struck, the feeling of it was the exact definition of bittersweet. My sister has always had the dream to live in Europe and she is now living that dream with her wonderfully supportive husband by her side.While it stinks to not have her home, knowing she is happy and making it happen for herself is more than enough to make me so so so happy for her.

They say you should surround yourself with people who inspire you and she is one of them. So here's a shout out to my beautiful sister. Thanks for the constant inspiration. Love, love, love you!