Thoughts Thursday: Sei Bella Brow Definition Pen Review

I purchased this brow definer in the hopes of finally finding a reasonably priced all in one step brow product, and I can honestly say I have found it!!! This has a spooly on one end for grooming your brows before and after, and it has an angled wax pencil on the other end. The angled tip is perfect for defining your brows as well as filling in sparse areas without over applying the product. I would highly recommend this product to everyone out there as they offer four different shades, Sable, Brunette, Blonde, and Auburn. 

If you would like to see my video review for this item it is here: 

   

11 Steps to better SKIN!!

I wanted to do a post on getting better skin for a while now, because I have received so many comments from you guys about it, before getting started you should know your skin looks the way it does for two reason 1. genetics (I know our parents never stop ruining our lives lol), and 2. how you care for your skin and body. We can't do anything to change our genetic makeup but we can care for our skin and body as best as we possibly can to help offset those genetics.

Step 1: Wash your face daily.
My skin type is normal to dry skin, so I was my face only once a day as water is very drying to the outside of our bodies, if you however have oily skin you need to wash your face 2 times a day in order to remove the excess oil which will cause breakouts.

Step 2: Moisturize 2 times daily.
You should moisture your face every morning and night. Your day cream should have some sort of SPF in it, if it doesn't you will need to add one to your daily routine in order to prevent sun damage.

Step 3: Exfoliate once a week.
This is step is so important as we need to remove the dead skin cells, as well as bacteria and pollutants that have built up on your skin, but remember your face should NOT be exfoliated daily! Over exfoliation is really bad for your skin and can cause you to become sensitive to the sun, as well as cause redness and dryness of the skin.

Step 4: Do a face treatment.
You should have a nice face mask once per week that has a deep cleansing effect to help remove all dirt from your pores.

Step 5: Drink 2-3L of water per day.
Drinking plenty of water allows your skin to glow from the inside out, by drinking a minimum of 2L per day you will see better skin in a matter of days.

Step 6: Limit caffeine.
To much caffeine can cause breakouts so limit your coffee intake and remember teas have caffeine too.

Step 7: Watch the sugar.
Sugar causes us to become hyper, overweight, and breakouts to the skin. Every time I have something with sugar I can see my skin acting up the very next day so try to keep the sugar to a minimum.

Step 8: De-stress your life.
I suffer from OCD/Anxiety which causes me to obsess about every little thing that happens as well as makes me very controlling of my environment, if something I have planned changes or if I feel overwhelmed I immediately go into panic mode. Its very important that we keep ourselves as relaxed as possible not only for the sake of our skin, but for our mental well being.

Step 9: Avoid Oil
We should all avoid high fat foods like chips, and fries, as well as oil based products. If you have oily skin you should NEVER use products that contain oil. Even though I have dry skin I find that oil based products make me break out and causes my skin to feel strange.

Step 10: Stop touching your face!
Your fingers carry oil and bacteria and by constantly touch/picking at your face you are transferring the oil and bacteria from your fingers to your face.

Step 11: Remove your makeup.
Our bodies repairs itself when we are sleeping, if your face is full of makeup and your pores are clogged how can your face repair itself? Remove your makeup every night as well as have a full face wash, apply serums, moisturize, and apply your eye cream before going to bed so your skin has the best tools possible to fix itself. I also recommend have 1 day a week of no makeup so that your skin can breathe and be natural for a full 24 hours.

I hope these tips help, if you would like to see the video I did on this it is below.

   

Food Friday: Turkey Caesar Burgers

For this recipe you will need:

1.5 lbs Ground Turkey

1 Onion

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan

1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro

1 tin Anchovies

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Whole Wheat Buns

Lettuce

Tomato

Caesar salad dressing (Homemade recipe here)

Combine the 

1.5 lbs Ground Turkey

1 Onion

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan

1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro

1 tin Anchovies

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Place mixture on a cutting board and press into one large square.

Cut into 6 patties.

Wrap in cellophane and place in refrigerator for 4 hours.

grease your grill with olive oil and cook until 180 F. 

Place your Caesar dressing on buns (instead of mayo), add lettuce, tomato, Parmesan (optional) and patty. 

You can see the full video tutorial here...

Fun Friday: Furry Friend TAG

For todays Fun Friday I thought I would do the Furry Friend TAG, so you guys could get to know Charlie and Louis a little better.

Here is the Furry Friend TAG video...

   

I also thought I would share a few pictures that we took the other day when trying to create the thumb nail for this video...

Thoughts Thursday: Bite Free Nail Treatment

As you guys know I suffer with Anxiety issues as well as OCD, one of the many "Joyful" side-effects of both of these is nail biting. I have been biting my nails for as long as I can remember, and I have always felt so self-conscious of my nails that I always make sure they aren't showing in pictures, and I never painted my nails because it would draw attention to them.

When I saw the Bite Free Nail Treatment at Longs I grabbed it without even reading the package, and I am so happy I did. I have used it everyday 2-5 times a day for 4 weeks and I have not messed with my nails AT ALL, this stuff tastes so bad and so bitter I don't even eat with my fingers right now because I might accidentally touch my nails.

I would highly recommend this product to anyone who is hoping to break this terrible habit of nail biting.

   

Tutorial Tuesday: You Beauty Questions Answered

For todays video I asked you guys to send me any questions you had regarding makeup and beauty, I loved being able to inter react with you guys like this because I felt like we were able to connect in a true friend like way, which is how I see my connection with each of you. But enough of my weird rambling here is my Q&A video....

   

My Meals Monday {6/16/2014}

I started off my morning with 2 Vans Waffles, these are amazing they have 150 calories for 2 waffles and they have the most amazing cinnamon taste to them. With this I had 3 strawberries, 2 tablespoons sugar free maple syrup, and 2 poached eggs. I also had my usual iced coffee but forgot to add it into the picture here.

For lunch I had a chicken breast sandwich with mayo (made with olive oil) and dijon mustard, and 3 cherry tomatoes. 

For dinner I had Chicken Noodle Soup. I bought this at Costco because its my fav. the only thing I do to this is add half soup half water to the pan to bring down the flavor and sodium. I have a very sensitive palette and for me this soup is way over seasoned but when i do the half & half mixture is ends up amazing. 

For dessert I had this amazing little thing, this tastes so good and only has 100 calories as well as 11g of sugar so you don't feel like your being too naughty. 

Meal Monday {6/9/14}

I chose to do my Meal Monday, on a Sunday because I am allowing myself 1 cheat MEAL (not day) per week and so far this has been helping keep me on track without feeling deprived. I wanted to show you guys what a typical cheat meal looks like.

To start my day off I had 2 poached eggs, 2 sweet peppers, 3 cherry tomatoes, 7 olives, and a heaping spoonful of fresh made tuna. I also had my usual used coffee and 20 oz of very cold water.

I then skipped lunch because I ate breakfast about 10 and we had ordered dinner to be ready at 4 so I just had an extra cup of coffee in-between.

For dinner we order from Outback and I had their BBQ ribs, this is half a rack, a cup of French Onion  soup that I only ate 1/2 of, and the house salad with ranch. I don't usually eat too much meat throughout the week other than a bit of chicken and tuna so for me this is a real cheat meal  :)

For dessert I had the Chocolate Thunder From Down Under, this is a chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. I am not a huge ice cream fan so I only used about 1/2 a cup of the ice cream (it comes with about 2 cups worth). 

You can see my Meal Monday video below.

   

Stat Saturday

Today is the last day of the Summer Weight Loss Challenge as well as being STAT SATURDAY, this challenge was a bit of a wash for me but I have refocused myself and feel like I'm ready to fully commit to my weight loss goals.

Measurements: 

Arm: 12.5 inches

Waist: 32 inches

Hips:  43.25 inches

Thigh:  24.5 inches

Calf: 14 inches 

Weight: 175.8 lbs 

Fun Friday: Whats In My Gym Bag

For this Fun Friday I thought I would show you guys whats in my gym bag.
I use this De Lux bag as a gym bag because it's the only bag that I found to match my iPad case, as well as fit everything I need for the gym, without walking around with an overstuffed bag.

I have a Travel Size Dove Deoderant, because lets face it we all need this.

Then I have my Gym Makeup I did a tutorial on this.

I have a set of Apple Headphones. 

My iPad, in a Big Buddha Case. This is how I keep myself on the treadmill/elliptical longer. 

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Some cheap sunglasses, since I am always leaving the house without mine.

A Hand Sanitizer from Bath and Body Works.

A Travel Size Renew Moisturizer. 

And finally a Travel Size Neutrogena Sun Screen.

Click below if you would like to see my Whats In My Gym Bag Video. 

Thoughts Thursday: CoverGirl Shadow Pots

I was at my local Longs and these eye shadows caught my eye because I thought their colors were similar to MAC Vanilla, Club, and Cranberry, after I got home I realized they were no where close to looking the same :)

I used these for the first time when I was in a hurry and just need to at a little bit of shadow to finish my look, it was a total disaster. I should have realized when I put my brush to the shadow and it seemed to crumble up, and powder was going every where, but I didn't think about it. I tapped off the excess and placed the brush to my eye lid, to my shock and horror I now had pink eyeshadow all over my face...I actually think I had more eyeshadow on my face than my eyelid. I immediately cleaned it up and ran out the door.

I then tried these shadows for the next four days trying to figure out a way they could be used without having powder go everywhere...I would learn that really the only way to apply this is wet, or very carefully with your fingers.

These shadows are very pigmented on your fingers but they will need to be built up as the color transfer is actually terrible, you will also want a primer as they do crease and there is A LOT of color fade throughout the day.

On one of the days I wore these we went swimming, I jumped in the water and a few minutes later I realized (only because I was told), that the eyeshadow had completely vanished, I had a full face of makeup including eyeliner and mascara, and had completely blank eyelids. What made it even worse was we had to stop at the store on the way home and I felt like everyone was looking at me funny :)

Also at my local Longs they had about 10 eyeshadow colors to choose from, the first thing I noticed was they are all shimmer shadows, there was not a single matte in this collection. Now I don't know if it's because they don't have any matte or if my Longs is just pushing the shimmer, but it was disappointing to not have at least 1 matte that could be used as a base. 

All in all these shadows cost me $4.50 each when I could have bought the L'Oreal single eye shadows for $3.00, and the L'Oreal has better color pay off, a larger color range, and doesn't powder so heavily. 

If you would like to see my full review video it is below....

   

Workout Wednesday: My 5 minute High Intensity Workout

I thought I would skip the usual Focus T25 workout and instead show you something that I am trying to make a habit.

I have created my own little 5 minute High Intensity workout, I have an alarm set on my phone for 8am, 12pm, 3pm, 7pm, and 9pm I am doing this in the hopes that it will help boost my metabolism and aid in my weight loss goals.

Here is the routine:

30 Jumping Jacks

30 Leg Lifts

15 Sumo Squats

15 Knee to Elbow Cross (15 per leg)

30 second plank (although right now I'm doing maybe 15, but trying to progress to 30)

then repeat.

This will give you exactly 5 minutes of high intensity workout, but it was designed to be somewhat low impact because of my knee problems.

If you would like to see me complete this circuit please see the video below...

   

Tutorial Tuesday: Urban Decay Glinda Eye Look

I recently was cleaning my makeup storage when I saw that I had the Urban Decay Glinda palette and NEVER opened it!! I immediately got to playing with it and saw that it came with a card to help you achieve Michelle Williams' look, I decided to show you guys that look but glam it up a bit with a darker look rather than the light look that Michelle had.

Apply the shade Aura to your brow bone and bring it down towards your crease.

Apply the shade Illusion into the crease and blend into Aura. (top 2nd)

Apply the shade South all over your lid and blend into the crease. (bottom 3rd)

Apply Aura to the inner and outer corners of your eye top and bottom. (top 2nd)

Using the liner that came with this palette, 24/7 glide on in Rockstar, line the your top lashes, bottom lashes, and waterline. Then smudge your liner on your top and bottom lashes. 

Apply Tornado to the outer corner of your top lashes and blend up towards your crease. (top1st)

Then using Tornado again smudge the top lash liner and the bottom lash liner. (Top 1st)

Then Smudge the shade Magic along the bottom lash line. (top 3rd)

Then apply Benifet They're Real Mascara to top and bottom lashes.

I finished the look with Nars Sheer Glow in Santa Fe.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Eyebrow Express.

Maybelline Fit Me concealor in 15 (as a highlight).

Nars Laguna Bronzer.

Mac Pink Cult Blush. 

Urban Decay Lip Color in Glinda (came with the palette).

If you would like to see my video tutorial for this it is below....