mani monday

You've probably heard me say that I don't have my nails polished very frequently. To have my nails polished depends on my mood and maybe any special events that are going on.

Honestly, I go to a nail salon and treat myself to a manicure maybe 3 times a year. It is always nice to have your nails done. Because of the fact that my nail polish chips within the first two days of having them done (whether at the salon or done by myself), makes me think is this whole affair even worth it?! haha not so much really. That's not high on my list of priorities.

Now, when it comes to my toes, I HAVE to have them done every 4-6 weeks, in which case they always are done at home because I cannot transfer out of my wheelchair to those chairs at the salon.
I'm still happy with that though.

It seems I've set a record because my fingernails have been rockin' color twice within one month! whhaaaaa?!

Current manicure is brought to you by... Essie's St. Lucia Lilac!
I love that it's a demure lilac. It almost looks like it has a little grey in it, which gets me excited about Fall coming up! Autumn time is my most favorite time of the year!! (you will hear me say this more in the near future!) :)

This is the first time I used this color. It was actually part of a duo set that came with a cream shade, but I am not sure what I did with that one! Seeing this lilac color on my nails makes me smile.

Do you do your own nails? What color are your nails currently?

Beauty Review: NYX Butter Gloss + (giveaway)

Ladies Ladies Ladies, and gents too, if you care,

I am such a girl because I love lip products! Even though I have over 15 lipsticks and lipglosses (ok, probably 20), I can always justify trying something new. I mean, you could never have too many, right?

I bought NYX's butter lipgloss in apple strudel. The texture of the gloss is not too sticky and it adds moisture to my lips. How I've been wearing it is layered over my lipstick and it gives the perfect addition of shine and dimension to my lips. I also like the applicator, it's soft.

the gloss by itself

To be honest, it's not as pigmented as I imagined. However, I do like the gloss. It smells fruity too!
For five dollars, I'd probably try another shade. 

Out of 5 stars, I rate this 3.5 stars.

Now, because I know I have other lip product junkies out there, I bought an extra gloss in maple blondie (shown below) which is very very similar to apple strudel, for one reader!
Open to U.S. residents only please.

Enter below in the rafflecopter and make sure to read the rules at the bottom of the widget.

:)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beauty Review: Rimmel's Clean Finish Matte Foundation

It's been a long while since I've posted something about beauty and that's one of my likes in this life! MAKEUP!!

Now, I usually let you guys know what products i love or have worked for me, but today I have one that was a disappointment.

Mind you, this is my own personal opinion and perhaps this product works for you, depending on your skin type.

I bought Rimmel's Clean Finish Matte Foundation in soft ivory about six months ago (i like to give each product a fair shot and test them out a handful of times as I've been using three different foundation/bases in these last months depending on the occassion.)What attracted me to it was that it claimed to mattify my face which was like, Hello, awesome! I need you, like now!

My skin is so completely oily that I have to blot it every hour. This foundation did in fact help give my face a more mattifying look for about 3-4 hours in the day, but i still had to blot my face.

Unfortunately, this foundation didn't quite soak into my skin. If there are any dry patches on your skin, they will show up like a green eyed monster. Yeh, I don't know why I said, that's the first thing that came to mind lol.

Anyways, I would recommend that you use a silicone based primer before you apply this foundation PLUS moisturize your face first (i typically use a sunscreen specifically for my face that won't cause breakouts.)

This foundation is pretty thick in texture and comes with a little spatula attached to the cap to help scoop out the foundation. I actually put some on the back of my hand and mixed in a bit more of the said above sunscreen into it to help thin it out.

I picked the shade soft ivory which was a shade too light for me, but that was my own fault. I couldn't justify spending $6 more dollars to buy a shade darker in this same formula of foundation, I just wasn't too impressed.

Out of five stars I'd give this product two stars.

Would I buy it again? No.
Would I suggest this product to you? Maybe. It depends on your skin type and how oily your skin tends to be.

It just didn't work for me. On the upside, I can tell you that I LOVE LOVE Rimmel's lipsticks which are good quality for the price, but we'll save those for another day.

Thanks for reading!

Pretty Little Beauty Swap Reveal

I am so excited to finally be posting about the Pretty Little Beauty Swap I participated in. The lovely hosts were  Southern Beauty Guide and Sleepy Single Girl. This was one of the two best swaps I've taken part in ever. I figured with a budget of around $15-20 and all things beauty, it was a perfect swap for me.

I was paired with the awesome Jessica of A Different Kind of Plan. We had a month to be able to email with our partner and get to know them. I really liked this aspect of the swap because it gave us more time without being rushed as there were days between emails to get to know each other, I mean, we all have full days. Jessica and I of course talked things beauty, makeup, skin tone, etc but we also talked about push-up bras, our backgrounds and youtube channels. It was pure joy because now I have a new friend! Jessica is so fun, honest and down-to-earth.

This girl TOTALLY spoiled me and sent me SO many fabulous things!! Here are my packages from the box waiting to be open! It was like Christmas day!

I love the little notes she put. and the card was so sweet. I like the quote:

She knew I was dying to try any NYX products so she gave me oodles to try..such as eyeshadows and lipsticks and glosses. Oh and she let me know that NYX is now sold at Target! Whhhaa? Yeh. Before, it was only sold at Ulta.

She also knew that I get breakouts so she made sure to throw in a green concealer by Physician's formula which I had never tried! I've been using this product this past week to hide some redness on my face and it does help tone it down. yay!

Look at this!!!

Look at these eyelashes!! The note on the package said, "for your wild night out" hahah.

 

Jessica sent me a pretty E.L.F eyeshadow palette which I've already tried a few shades. Then there is this at home gel manicure set by Sally Hansen that I need to break open. I like the color she picked. It's a light pink, perfect for a mani. I haven't had the opportunity to test everything yet because she sent me so much fun, good stuff!

Oh and one of my fave items that she selected for me is this translucent mattifying powder by E.L.F. The compact itself is very sleek and the powder does help reduce the shine on my oily face!

Jessica! Thank you so much for everything you sent me!! I love it all! To find out what I sent Jessica, you'll have to check on her blog maybe later this week. My friend is busy with work and her internship! :)

Beauty Review: Stila liquid eyeliner + the body shop eyeshadow

*this post is not sponsored. I bought these products with my own money. I just wanted to share my honest opinions with you.

First of all, I bought the body shop eyeshadow over the summer where I used a groupon I paid $10 for a $20 value! They had a good sale going on and I was able to get like 5 products for like $22 somehow with the voucher!

Out of those 5 products was one item for me, which was this colour crush eyeshadow in "coconuts about you". I like The Body Shop's mission and ethics being against animal testing and supporting fair trade. Plus, I just learned that all of their products are 100% vegetarian. Cool.

I know I took photos of the product months ago, but couldn't find them in my files, so I re-took some today so don't mind how dirty/messy the eyeshadow looks now, please. lol. This what happens when it gets used!

The shadow is a matte medium brown shade. Its pigment is easily buildable and blendable. My favorite way to wear it lately is boldly by adding a drop of water to make it a deeper shade and stay put. The shadow's texture is soft and definitely a good shade for everyday wear.

out of 5 stars, I rate this product 4.5 stars!

The other product I've tried and have been using lately is Stila's stay all day waterproof liquid eyeliner in black. I didn't take a pic of the tip, but it's a felt pen liner, which helps make it easier to apply. You can make a thin line or build it up into a thicker almost cat-eye if you want.

I was hesitant to shell out $20 for this eyeliner, but I was getting tired of using my other two eyeliners (one pencil-$$, one liquid-$) that were not cutting it for me. They kept smudging under my eyes within two hours of wearing it, but not this one! Yay! I can't say that it stays put ALL the time, maybe it depends on how oily my skin is that particular day, but for wearing this eyeliner for about a month now, 90% of the time it's doing its job and staying put. I really love how concentrated the color is and that even as I slowly apply and fix my eyeliner (with the cap off), when I go to touch up a part, the ink/color still comes out without me having to close the cap and roll it in the palm of my hand. You can pick up this baby at Sephora, but click here, for a possible good coupon code to use at sephora.com!

out of 5 stars, I rate this product 4 stars!

Any new products you've tried lately? What are your go-to shades for daily makeup?

Beauty Review: Almay liquid lip balm + MAC waterproof mascara

Hey Lovelies!
How's your week been so far?

I'm excited to share a review with you of a couple make-up items I recently bought and tried and am currently using.

The first being Almay's new color + care liquid lip balm in apricot pucker.

I wasn't sure how pigmented the color was going to be and so I was pleasantly surprised that it's not completely sheer. I think the color looks ok by itself on my lips, but I like the color better when applied on top of a light layer of pinkish lipstick.

See my dimensional lips here:

I swatched this lipgloss on the back of my arm for you to see:

I do like that this lip balm/gloss is not sticky like some lip products can be. When wearing this product, I felt like it did moisturize my lips since it did not dry them out. The applicator is somewhat spongey and soft and picks up enough color. On a scale of 5 stars I give it a 3.45.

The next item I purchased a couple weeks ago is from MAC.  I took advantage of MAC Cosmetics's free shipping online (which I believe is free shipping through the rest of August) and bought a couple items, one being a gift for one of my besties! The other item was for me, which was the Splashproof Lash Mascara in Blacksplash. It's a waterproof mascara.

The first day or two that I wore this mascara, I LOVED it! It didn't smudge on my lower lash line where I tend to have raccoon eyes within 3 hours of applying other mascara/s. I typically only add eyeliner and mascara on my upper lash line and lashes. It also didn't flake either. It was tougher to get off at night when i washed my face, but I don't mind using a cleansing cloth to remove the mascara.

The size of the wand is not huge and just the right size to me, making it easier for me to apply as I wiggle the wand across and up, really creating volume to my lashes.

not the best picture :/

 Now while the first couple days I LOVED this product, a couple days this week, i did notice some flaking below my eyes. Disappointing fact! :( I don't know if that's because of this specific type of waterproof formula, but problem can be solved with a light swipe of a q-tip or tissue. Because of the non-smudging factor, I rate this product a little high at 3.98 out 5 stars.

Have you tried either of these products? What is your favorite mascara? Do you have oily skin too, thus, having problems with mascara or eyeliner smudging under your eyes?

chop chop karate chop

It all started with Groupon.

You know I love to save money and get good deals, so groupon is a great site that allows me to do such things. Well, maybe at the end of June or early July, they had a deal for at Toni & Guy, the pricey-to-me hair salon. The deal was a cut, style & deep-conditioning treatment for $29, valued at $70!

I had the tab opened on my laptop for two days debating on whether or not I should splurge on such a thing for myself. I justified the desicion by telling myself, "well yeh, you have spent $30 on a gel manicure, so why not do this that will last much longer!" SO I clicked purchase. I've been wanting to cut my hair differently for quite some time. I was getting tired of my long, heavy hair as well as wearing it the same way as a messy top bun ya know.

Last week, I called the make an appointment for friday. James came along with me and we got there about 20 minutes early. My hair stylist was Yvonne and she did a great job. I was sort of nervous to chop off so much, but I had confidence in these professionals!

I showed Yvonne a magazine with a couple photos of hairstyles I liked and we both agreed to not go super short otherwise it would enhance my full face.

Here's the wavy mop I started out with, the chunks of hair on the floor and the finale.
Sorry for the not the best quality photos, I forgot my camera and took these with my cell phone. My hair feels so much lighter and I like it alot, especially when styled and teased and pouffed!

a la hairspray!

I am happy with my purchase! Oh and when Yvonne was doing the final touches of my hair, I saw James in the mirror, wiping his eyes. He was tearing up because he said it looked so good! hahah. What a friend! :)

Have you ever made a drastic hair cut? Are you signed up with Groupon? What was your best deal you scored?

Pbskids to the rescue! & a vlog

Is this week flying by for you? Because I sure feel like it's flying by! Yesterday, for a brief moment, I felt like it was Sunday. I know that seems contradictory to the week whisking by, but that's what happened.

I had a blasted migraine yesterday morning and took a long nap which did help. After that, I had school time with little P. We practiced her abc's and read Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. We also managed to squeeze in half a counting game on pbskids.org. It was sort of funny when she got mad at her mom because she didn't want to go home. I mean a 5 year old and her angry eyebrows lol. She wanted to continue playing on my laptop.

Anyways, I am so glad there is an age-appropriate, wholesome learning website like pbskids.org. On the Curious George section [there are so many different sections like those of Arthur, Clifford the Big Red Dog and WordGirl], there are free printables: pictures to color and activities that you can print to help teach your child/ren or students.

I printed out this one and this one since little P needs to be able to count to 100 (counting/numbers in general) and know her abc's before August! She keeps forgetting the letter 'J' when singing the alphabet, but she does recognize the letter 'J' when she sees it. It seems a bit overwhelming, but I accept the challenge!

Later today, I plan on getting a couple of these resources ready so when she comes back tomorrow, we can continue learning fun!

Now, I'll leave you with a vlog I did last week but never got around to posting. I discuss the pros & cons of a couple different mascaras as well as a facial sunscreen with spf50!

ur gr8! stay cool!
(what is this, junior high?! haha, no, but really stay cool & sun safe!)

*today's post is not endorsed or sponsored by pbskids.org. I just really like their website and find it to be helpful.

passion for fashion #1 & mini-view on beauty

Two purposes for today is share my passion for fashion and to address the topic of beauty. 

First, I am posting a fashion post on a friday because i want to..and because i felt motivated to really get dressed today and put some effort into my appearance. It's almost my first time linking up with Beth and Lena for Passion for Fashion Fridayyyy!! woot woot! a clap of hands all around everybody!

 I liked what Lena & Beth say that, "Fashion is for everyone. Whether you're single in the city or a stay at home mom from the country... we all have a passion for fashion!"

With fashion, we are most likely talking about the clothes, accessories, shoes we wear and that's great! What we decide to make or buy to wear is our choice and our choice alone. It's a choice that expresses our creativity, style, comfort and personality.

 I can't afford fancy, expensive designer brands, but might occasionally "splurge" on such brands IF i happen to see a good deal like a huge percentage of savings & free shipping or coupon codes! I am pretty content shopping clearance racks first then browsing around Target, Oldnavy, Ross, Forever21 or Walmart.

Everyone has a sense of fashion, their fashion and what they like. For me, when I get nicely dressed and put makeup on, I feel better and most of the time, feel beautiful. Let me take this moment to say that we are beautiful no matter what...you, me, us. Even if I don't feel like putting a stitch of makeup on and wear my capri yoga pants and a tee shirt, I am still beautiful.

I LOVE Ellie and her mission to empower women, young & old, by reminding them that self-love, self-respect and self-confidence makes you beautiful! Have you heard of Ellie? She's a wise beyond her years teenager who founded Speak Now.

We've all heard the cliche saying, "beauty counts more on the inside of a person." and to me, that is quite true. In my 30 years of existence, I've encountered more than a handful of people who were so beautiful on the exterior--what I thought they had perfect makeup, perfect hair, outfits so stylish and put together BUT their personalities and behaviors made them ugly. I actually felt bad for them.

It doesn't matter if you're a size 2 or size 22, each of us IS beautiful because we are loved SO much by our Creator! Our worth is not based on a number!! Our beauty speaks louder in the displays of kindness, love & service that we do. I am still learning to fully love myself despite being a size 18 jean with my budha belly as I call it lol. All I can do is live right now. Be in the now.

Sure, I do and can take baby steps toward being more healthy, just like with anything else, improvement takes times, but I can be present and embrace who I am now and still feel beautiful barefaced or dolled up intentionally. I will love myself today. Can't worry about tomorrow, nope. Though, i will then too :)

This is me today.

undershirt: downeast basics
shirt: ross
skirt: target
headband: gussy sews
earrings: gift