Products I've Rediscovered!

Occasionally I'll be doing my makeup at my vanity and I'll decide to reach for a product I haven't used in a while and occasionally I'll be so happy with the results that the product will become a regular in my routine. That is what has happened with these products. The weather has gotten warmer (not as warm as I'd like, but it's better than 30 degrees, I'll put it that way!) so I've just felt like switching it up!

The Products:

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette- Since I've been loving bronzey/shimmery cheeks, when I've been wearing eyeshadow I've gone back to this palette. Even though I always do the same look, it's a very versatile palette for only having 6 colors!

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Nude Peach - NYX glosses are some of my favorites and what I love about this shade is that it's a nice coral color, but it's not too in your face. I typically like nude lipsticks and glosses, so this one is great for me because it makes me feel like I'm having more fun with my makeup, but it doesn't look too "done up" to wear day-to-day.

NARS Multiple Blush in Orgasm- I got this in a set of 3 YEARS ago and every once in a while I'll pull it out, but lately I've been wearing it every day. Pinks don't really suit me, eyes, cheeks or lips, but this is seriously the perfect pink for me because it's got peach tones in it too. I use it with the elf stipple brush and it goes on like a dream.

Bourjois Chocolate Bronzing Powder- This smells nothing like chocolate but it is a nice color to give your face a bit of a sun kissed glow. It's also great for contouring, which is what I mainly use it for because it's not crazy intense, but it can be built up.

ELF Blush/Bronze Duo- As you can see, I've definitely hit pan on the bronzer side of this product, but what I've been actually using recently is the blush. When I originally got this product I didn't care for the blush because I thought it was too shimmery, but lately I've loved using my NARS multiple first and then setting that with this blush because it's supposed to be a dupe for that blush anyway. I find that this blush gives me a healthy glow that makes it look like I've been outside in the sun.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Cheeky Bronze- I love to use this product on the back of my cheeks, or very lightly as a highlight on top of my cheekbones. It's a gorgeous color that I don't find to be orange at all even on my fair skin, but it is quite shimmery so for me, this product screams spring/summer :)

What spring/summer makeup products have you pulled out so far?

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Dress[ing] the Part for Spring

1/2/3/4/5

The 8th post in the 2014 Blogger Challenge was a spring outfit of the day, but I haven't had time to put one together so I'm just going to count this as my 8th post!

I always look forward to spring/summer when I can put on a pretty dress and be out of the house! I love bright colors, pastels and crisp whites this time of year and I'm really wishing right about now that I could just reach through the screen and grab all of these for my closet! I'm loving the bright pink and orange, the chic mint, all the colors and the pattern in #4 and the feather bottom in #5! Most of all, I love how light an airy these all are, but also how put together you would look in them, especially with some accessories!

I honestly can't pick a favorite, can you? :)

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Digital Spring Cleaning Tips

When I think "spring cleaning" I generally tend to think about my closet. I want to get rid of the big bulky sweaters and scarves and replace them with pretty skirts, shorts, dresses and tanks. I don't know about you guys, but I haven't even begun to tackle my closet yet because only recently has it started warming up and really feeling like spring, so I think that'll be a project for this weekend! Something that did strike me a couple of weeks ago is that in addition to our closets, a lot of people "spring clean" their entire house, basically getting rid of old junk that's built up and organizing the things you need/use, but something we shouldn't forget about is digital spring cleaning!

So what do I mean?

1. Email- Go through your inbox and create folders, as many as you have to, to clear it out. I had a lot of messages that I would go back and refer to for various reasons just sitting in my inbox so I decided to add more folders to my sidebar and make it so that nothing but new messages would be sitting there waiting to get read, filed away, or deleted. Now I have folders such as, "Blog," "Recipes," "Online Orders," etc.

2. Bookmarks- Before I used websites like Pinterest and Bloglovin' I bookmarked EVERYTHING. I still bookmark a lot of stuff like articles, websites I don't want to forget and other things that just aren't "pin-able" or aren't blogs, but it's so nice to click on those bookmarks you made a year ago and see if they're still even there and/or relevant to you anymore and get rid of them if they aren't. I cleared out so many things from my bookmarks that I didn't care about anymore and were just making my list overwhelming. This is another great place to incorporate folders if you haven't already!

3. Document Folders, Blog Folders, Music, Pictures, etc- Here I'm talking about all of those things on your desktop. Sometimes I'm in a hurry and I'll make a folder, stick it on my desktop and work out of it from there- but that's not where it goes. I don't like a bunch of folders cluttering up my desktop so I routinely go through and place those folders in their proper homes. Also, pictures. I take a lot of pictures and I put each event into their own folders, but I also like to arrange by year, so I'll have every event from 2014 in a "2014" folder. The yearly folders are what I find myself slacking on and this is a great time to do any catch-up on any of your folders that you've made and start maintaining them.

4. Back up your files- An external hard drive should be your best friend. If you don't have one, you need to get one, or at least get a flash drive to put your most important documents on. My computer gives me an update once a month on when I need to back everything up and I'll be honest...sometimes I ignore it. It's so important to try to keep up with, though, because when I do back everything up, I just think about everything I could've lost since my last back up *shudders*.

5. Clear out your browsing history- We probably all know how to do this, but just go to your internet browser menu, hit "history" and then "clear browsing data" then a menu will pop up with a list of what exactly that entails (I use google chrome) and you can choose from that what you'll clear. A few of the options are, "Browsing History," "Download History," "Cookies," and "Passwords." Some people do this everyday, I don't do it that often, but its a good habit to have to wipe everything clean and try to keep yourself protected.

6. Empty your trash- This one is simple, I tend to forget to empty my trash and it'll build up (like right now for example when I pressed "empty" I had 814 files, yikes!). It's not that big of a deal, these things just take up space and it's just the frosting on the cake when you've done everything else and you clear out your trash!

I hope these tips helped! Most of us spend a lot of time on our computers and I know what a sense of relief I feel when I know everything is organized, in it's right place and cleared out! 

Happy Spring Cleaning!

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Garnier Cleansing Oil

When it comes to removing my makeup at night I'm not a "cleanse twice" kinda girl. I prefer to use some type of makeup remover first and then cleanse. I generally use a makeup remover wipe (lately I've switched to baby wipes) with a separate eye makeup remover. When I finished my last pack of wipes I decided I was due for a change and I was set on trying a facial oil.

I went to the drugstore because I knew Garnier had one out called, Garnier Clean Nourishing Cleansing Oilso I figured I'd give this one a try first to see how I liked it before venturing out to any more expensive options. 

This product is a dry skin formula with jojoba and macadamia oils. It claims to dissolve your makeup with no greasy residue and replenish your skin's moisture balance. Because my skin has been so dry this winter, it was definitely a plus to me that this product was infused with ingredients to help make my skin smoother. Another thing to note is that it has a pretty strong scent of macadamia oil- it's a nice scent and I like it, it's just something to keep in mind.

I've used this product two ways: the first way was based on the directions on the bottle which is to take 1-2 pumps (I always need at least 2) and massage on your dry face. You can even get your eye makeup off with this product as long as your close your eyes of course. I find this product very gentle and when I use it this way, my skin is definitely softer and smoother when I've removed all of my makeup. The downside of using it by massaging it over your face is that it's pretty messy. You'll need to rinse your face and your hands to get the oil off of everything and I really dislike that because the alternative, makeup wipes, are so easy and only one step.

The other way I tend to use it more frequently is by using about 2 pumps on a cotton pad and gently wiping that all over my face. The downside here is that your skin doesn't feel as soft afterwards and if you have dry patches on your face you're probably going to irritate them a little more.

Something I may start doing is just leaving this bottle in my shower and remove my makeup the "messy" way, but then I'll already be in the shower and the mess won't matter...That seems to be the only way to get the best of both worlds here.

Overall, I do think this is a pretty nice product and worth a shot if you're interested in trying an oil to remove your makeup. It does remove at least as much makeup as a makeup remover wipe does, and does even better than one of those for eye makeup.

Have you guys tried this or any other makeup remover oil? Let me know!

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Hair Inspiration

I don't tend to watch TV shows regularly, as in, a new episode comes on at a certain time on a particular day of the week- that just doesn't work for me. One show I have done this with since high school is The Real Housewives. Up until this past week, on Monday nights at 9:00pm I was in front of a TV watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I'm not going to go into why I like the show so much...because, well, I have no idea why, but this season I can say that I was completely obsessed with Joyce and Yolanda's hair!

If you don't watch the show, this is Joyce. Isn't she gorgeous?? And her hair is seriously insane. I don't know if she wears extensions (she's never said she was and her hair is the exact same all the time, so I feel like she doesn't) but even if she does, I don't care because it's ahh-mazing. It's just so long, voluminous, thick, has great layering and is all around so healthy looking! It really makes me want to grow my hair out and then do whatever she does because it's working!

Yolanda has completely different hair, than Joyce but she wears it and styles it so well! Her hair is obviously shorter, not as thick and a white blonde, which I've always envied. Yolanda is also gorgeous and I think she looks best in a "less is more" fashion, so not a ton of makeup and her hair pulled back. I think her signature look is her hair pulled straight back from her face into a bun. I've even started wearing my hair in a bun like hers and I always feel so chic!

I hope you guys have enjoyed this simple post, I've just been loving these two very different hair styles this season and wanted to share them with you!

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Olay Foaming Face Wash

Image courtesy of Google.

It feels a little odd to be writing a review about a face wash and I'm not sure why...I guess just because it's such a basic product. To add to it, the face wash I'm talking about today is the basic of the basic. As you can see, it's the Olay Foaming Face Wash for Combination/Oily Skin.

Basically (you see what I did there?), this product is amazing and I've been loving it.

For starters, you get 7 fl oz (207mL), which is a pretty good amount and it costs around $5. It's an oil-free formula and it has a really pretty scent that's slightly perfumey but not over the top.

Olay claims that this deep cleans, thoroughly removes dirt, oil and makeup without over-drying. 

The face wash itself is a thick white cream, which I like because it doesn't run all over the place. Also, my skin has been more dry than it's even been this winter, so even though this is the combination/oily formula, I've found that the cream formula has been really nice despite that.

The reason I've been loving it so much is because it lives up to its claims. It deep cleans, gets off any makeup that's still left on my skin (including stubborn eye makeup) and leaves my face feeling super clean. I have had face washes that leave my skin feeling really clean, but also tight and dry, and this one doesn't do that at all. It is also the best face wash that I've found for my Clarisonic because it foams up really well and the amount I put on the brush head lasts throughout the entire 1 minute face cycle without running out and having to add more.

This product has been working really well for me, I've had no breakouts because of it, it works great when I wash my face just with my hands and with my Clarisonic and I'll definitely be repurchasing it!

Check it out here: Olay Foaming Face Wash

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Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation

I was running low on foundation so I decided to give the Rimmel London Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation a try. I had never tried any foundation in this consistency before and I was unsure about it but it was pretty inexpensive so I went with it anyway. The first thing I noticed was that there were quite a few shades to choose from. Shade range is something I've always found to be a problem with Rimmel, but I was impressed that they had several light colors to choose from. 

I believe the one I got, 091 Light Ivory, is the second lightest shade in the range. The lightest was too pink, I believe, but on my face, the shade I got is slightly too pink for me as well. The first couple of times I applied it, I loved it. It covered everything and almost eliminated the need for a concealer in some areas. But at some point, I noticed it was just too thick so I started adding a little moisturizer and/or some of my MAC Pro Longwear concealer to it to thin it out and add a little sheen to it. That method worked for a little while but overall, I'm just not happy with this foundation. It settles in lines really badly, is too thick and cakey looking (even applied with a wet beauty blender) and throughout the day just looks worse.

I can't exactly comment on whether or not it kept me matte, because it's been cold outside and my skin hasn't been oily at all this winter so everything I've used has been matte all day.

I like medium to full cover foundations but I guess the texture for this one is just what isn't working for me... I hate to be so negative about a product, but I do want to be honest and since this product is still fairly new I figured a post on my experience with it would be relevant.

Have you guys tried this foundation yet? 

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Photo Diary: March & 2014 Blogger Challenge 7

If you guys have been reading my blog for a while, you would know that I do photo diaries at the end of each month. Because not too much happened this month I'm only featuring 6 pictures instead of 9 and I'm combining this post with the 7th post in the 2014 Blogger Challenge which is a week/day (month in my case) in pictures.

Let's get to it!

1. My boyfriend broke his toe at the beginning of the month. It was his first broken bone and I've never broken anything before so we went to Urgent Care to get it checked out around 9pm that night, which meant that since it was a Thursday I missed Pawn Stars! haha :) Thankfully it was just a toe and it's healing up just fine.

2. As some of you may know, the reason I was a little M.I.A. this month was because my dog that we've had since I was 10 passed away from liver cancer that had spread into several major organs without her showing any signs. It has been really hard on us because we had her for 13 years... if you're a dog or animal person you'll probably understand what I mean.

3. My mom always has fresh fruit in the house so when I was home with her I was eating strawberries and blackberries everyday and looked forward to it at night as a dessert :)

4. This won't be exciting to most people, but I made my first meatloaf last week! This isn't a picture of it, I just found this on Google, but mine looked pretty similar! We rarely eat beef unless we're eating out so I made it with ground turkey and it was a big deal for me because while I love to bake, I'm not much of a cook. I'm really grossed out by raw meat so I'm trying to get over that because I was pretty proud of myself when it was dinner time and it actually tasted good!

5. I finally got back into making some of my jewelry and I'm so in love with these two pieces. The silver one on the bottom is my newest and I think it's gorgeous!

6. Um, it snowed on Sunday...the 30th of March...so crazy!

Hopefully you guys had a better and more interesting March than I had! Be on the look out for those April Fools pranksters!

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