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Scrub a dub dub
Since this has turned into a beauty blog, I’d like to share a new product I found at Ulta. It’s the Freeman Facial Polishing Mask with Charcoal and Black Sugar. I stumbled across this a few weeks ago but I wanted to try it out a few times before I reviewed it. I’ve used it several times over the past few weeks and I’m impressed! For $3.99, this stuff is GREAT! I try to use it about 2x a week and after each use I notice my skin tone looks more even, not to mention my skin feels really soft. I haven’t had any big break-outs while using this either. I’ve had a few small ones but I don’t know that I can contribute it to the scrub.
I start by removing all of my makeup and I lightly pat my face dry. Then I apply the scrub. It’s not quite as “masky” as I thought it would be though. I’ll include a pic so you can see what I mean. I leave it on for the recommended 5-7 mins, normally while I’m brushing my teeth. Then I wash it off, I also use it to scrub my lips. After, my skin tone looks so much more even, even more so than with the Mary Kay Microderm kit I think. I think for the price, you can’t beat this mask. It’s pretty great!
~k
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A New Fave
You know I love mascara right? Well I do! I’ve always had pretty eyelashes and I want my mascara to make them look even better. For months now, Loreal’s Power Volume Collagen mascara has been my go to. You can find my review here. A few weeks ago mom and I were out shopping and we ran to Ulta. She wanted something to make her eyelashes grow and in the process we found Revlon’s Lash Potion mascara. I grabbed a tube of this and she bought the Revlon Grow formula. I normally buy mascara and then regret my decision and switch back to the Loreal but OMG! This stuff is amazing! It hardly clumps and it adds a ton of volume to my lashes. I think I’m most impressed with the fact that I don’t have to do multiple heavy coats to create volume. It only takes a few light coats to really plump them up. (When I say a few light coats I mean layering 1 good coat I guess. I don’t let it dry and add more if that helps.)
I’ve been using this mascara for a few weeks now and I am still impressed. Normally I either like mascara’s at the beginning or near the end of the tube once it’s dried out a bit. I tend to get mascara all over my eyes so if they are too “wet” it’s just a mess but tends to get better after a few weeks. I have problems with this even with the Loreal but not nearly as much with the Lash Potion. For $8.00 a tube this is a must try especially if you are a mascara lover like me!
~k
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DYI Face Scrub
I found this on Pinterest last night. A DIY scrub that would make your face feel amazing. Since it only required 3 ingredients, all of which I had, I decided to try it out. Let me just say I was a little skeptical at first. I’ve been known to try the occasional random dyi on my skin and most of the time I only feel lack luster about the results, but not this one. No sirree bob. When I was finished my skin felt as smooth as a baby’s bottom. No joke!
The recipe I found online called for tablespoons but I thought that seemed like a lot so I used teaspoons instead. Here you go:
1/2 teaspoon sugar (white sugar)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of water
Obviously you could use more if needed, just double the recipe. At first I thought this was too much water but you need the water. I ended up adding a little more water to my hands and adding it to my face. It’s a little grainy so I wouldn’t rub too hard but you want to make sure you get it on good. Once I covered my face, avoiding my eyes, I let it sit for just a minute. I don’t think this is something you really want to leave on for 5 -10+ minutes. Next rinse. I immediately could feel the difference on my skin. It was so soft I was almost in shock. I couldn’t tell you the last time my face felt like that. I will say it was a little red for about a minute but the redness quickly went away.
I am definitely adding this to my skin care routine as a weekly thing. Honestly this scrub made my skin much softer than my Olay brush. I’m still using my Olay brush a few times a week but I don’t see the results I thought I would, I might be a smidge disappointed. I find the bristles are kind of rough. I think this might actually be better for my back and chest but I haven’t made the switch at this point. I am kind of in the process of changing my skin care routine so we’ll see how that turns out.
I also wanted to add that a few months ago I mentioned I was taking Cod Liver Oil. Well over the holidays I stopped taking them because life was so crazy. We hadn’t been home much and worrying about vitamins was really last on my list of things to do. Then one day at work I noticed my skin looked kind of dull and lifeless again. Hmmm. The Cod Liver Oil really was making a difference. Much more than I realized at first. Of course I have now added it back to my daily routine and I’ve found my skin is already started to look glowier and dewier. Add this to your skin care routine! So quick and easy, and it totally works!
~k
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Matte polish
Several months (or like a year) ago when my obsession with Pinterest began, I ran across a picture of some matte nail polish from OPI. I began searching for it but I was never able to find any in stores so I kind of gave up. Well I mentioned that I went to Ulta after Christmas and bought a matte polish topcoat.
Last night I finally sat down and redid my nails for the first time in probably 2 weeks. I really like to file and polish my nails about once a week. Sunday is usually my day of choice but I just haven’t had the time. Last night I decided I would sit down and see what this topcoat really looked like. I’d seen a picture on Pinterest, shocker, the other day of a grey matte. Well I have grey polish and I have a matte topcoat. 🙂
While Matt and I were watching the sorry excuse for a game (Thanks State!) I filed, soaked, and buffed my nails. Once all of that was finished I used a clear base coat and proceeded to paint my nails grey. I have to say this is one of my favorite colors right now. I started out really good but that quickly went downhill. First I bumped one nail, then another. Really it was just a disaster but I wanted to try to matte topcoat so I just went with it anyway. Once the topcoat dried, you could see the matte finish. It’s not quite as matte as I would like, nor does it really have great finish. Maybe it was the poor paint job? Maybe the polish just doesn’t work that well. I think I am going to try again this weekend. I might use a different color and see if the results are better/worse or the same.
Here are a few pics. You can clearly see how bad the grey paint is.
~k
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It’s a beauty post
I ran to Ulta the other day armed with a few gift cards. I had a few things in mind that I wanted to purchase and well I felt like buying girly stuff. 🙂
First item on my list was some gel eyeliner. I saw a good tutorial on Pinterest and decided I wanted to pick some up. Lucky for me the Ulta brand gel eyeliner was half the price of M.A.C, which they didn’t have anyway soI picked up a jar and a brush.
My shampoo and conditioner was on sale so I picked up a few more liters and grabbed some Orly matte top coat polish. I really hope this stuff will make my regular polish have a matte finish. I haven’t tried it yet since my nails are currently painted with a clear coat.
Last on my list was the Olay Pro X cleaning system. I’ve had my eye on this bad boy since last year. So this year I decided it was mine. (I read the reviews after I bought it and that made me even happier with my decision.) When all was said and done I walked out of Ulta with a ton of stuff and only spent a little of
Matt’sour money. 😉That night I tried my new Olay cleansing brush. It was kind of weird at first and I’d been blowing my nose a lot that day so the brush was definitely a little rough on my nose area but overall it wasn’t bad. Last night was much better and I think I enjoyed the experience a little more. I haven’t noticed any real changes in my skin just yet but it’s only been 2 days. I feel like it might take a few more before I really start to notice anything different. I will say my skin does feel a little softer.
I have a lot of small blackheads on my chin and nose so I’m really interested to see if these babies will disappear. I saw several comments on the Amazon reviews that said the blackheads disappeared after using the Olay brush. So I guess we will see.
Happy Friday!
~k
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Cuts and Color
This week has been crazy busy and isn’t going to slow down I don’t think. Last night I got my hair cut. I am really like the new stylist I am going to. For a few weeks I’ve been eyeing this really cute cut I found on Pinterest. It’s basically just a long bob but it’s adorable. For the longest time I’ve been in “grow out” mode with my hair. It finally hit me, it doesn’t matter if it’s long or short I never do anything fun with my hair. I am a complete hair dunce so even when I try to style it it normally doesn’t work. Since my hair is so fine and I rarely use product it is hard to make things stay. (Maybe I should use more product.)
Anyway I finally decided to just go for it and cut an inch or so off and get the bob. I showed my stylist the pic and she gave me something similar that works for my hair. So far I love my new style. It falls just how I wanted around the bottom and I think it will grow up pretty cute too. I even went and bought some product {shocker} today.
Tomorrow the painters are coming. I am so excited. Matt and I just spent about an hour moving all the stuff around and off the walls. I can’t wait to get home tomorrow and see how good everything looks. We are having both stairways and the main floor done. This just leaves the three bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs. Once the painting is done I can finally get new carpet. OMG I never thought I would be excited about carpet but I am really excited for new carpet. Don’t get me wrong I am happy about paint too. I hope this will start to make our house feel a little more like home.
~k
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I’m gonna do it
I am going to try the Oil Cleansing Method. You can click here to check out what it’s all about. I keep seeing this pop up around pinterest and I am dying to try it. Basically it states that oil dissolves oil and is actually good for your skin. I have naturally oily skin, that tends to break out some. And to be honest I’ll try almost anything once. 🙂
The article I linked to says to use Castor Oil and Sunflower Seed Oil but this has proved to be a challenge. I can’t find Sunflower Seed Oil ANYWHERE! And I don’t feel like ordering something online and then not liking it. I’ve seen a few other articles that say to use EVOO and Castor Oil. As luck would have it I have EVOO in the pantry and you can find Castor Oil at the drug store. Score! I am totally picking up some Castor Oil tomorrow.
I did a little research and found Castor Oil has tons of uses as well. {Clearly I will believe anything I find online. 😉 }
I think I will do a two week test with this and see how it goes. I will blog my progress. And if you are lucky I will even take a few progress pics.
~k
ETA: Have you tried this? If so please comment on your experience.
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I’m in love
with dark nail polish. I’m not sure what it is but I am in LOVE with dark nail polish lately. I’ve gone from grayish black, to gray, to purpley black. This comes from a girl who probably hasn’t painted her nails in YEARS! Sure I’ve had the occasional french manicure but rarely do I ever paint my nails a color. My toes, sure. I love them to be colorful and fun but not on my hands.
This all changed a few months ago. I was painting my toes a deep gray when I decided to try it on my fingernails. Since I had a done an okay job with the polish I decided to leave it on for a few days, just to see. And that ya’ll, is when I fell in love with dark polish. I will say I kind of suck at painting my nails. This latest coat is not great, it has some small bubbles and a few chips already but it’s just so awesome.
Every Sunday, while Matt watches football, I sit at the coffee table and repaint my nails. Ahhh. 😉
P.S. Glitter polish is super awesome but a HUGE pain in the ass to remove. Consider yourself warned.
~k
