Just a Cloud Away

http://open.spotify.com/track/7DKqhn3Aa0NT9N9GAcagda

Just thought I would post a song I have been loving. Happy Friday!

Boots Botanicals Ionic Clay Mask with Willowbark

Tags

Boots Botanics, Clay Mask, green, mask, ogre mommy, Queen Helene Masque Mint Julep, shine away, Skincare, Target, willowbark

Hey everyone! Look another post, how weird, right? Ok, this post is a review that I said I would do a long, long time ago and never got around to it. It’s on the Boots Botanics Ionic Clay Mask, which is available at Target for $9.39. I got it free courtesy of Influenster for review purposes. Got that out of the way, I love this product and would purchase this after I’m done with this bottle. It reminds me of the Queen Helene Masque Mint Julep, but not as thick and without the mint smell. It also doesn’t burn my face like the Queen Helene masque, which is why I like it so much. After I use this, my skin feels softer and my skin clears up faster, thanks to the willowbark. I Don’t know what else to about it except that I like it and it works well with my sensitive, acne prone and combination skin.

Do you have any suggestions on what i should try next? Have you tried this mask, what were your thoughts?

Thank you so much for reading and don’t forget to subscribe :).

P.S.: So I was just given a discount code from Boots Botanics for 20% off their shine away line on boots.com. The best part about this, is that I get to share it with you :). Woohoo! You know, just some of the perks of being an Influenster. Here is the magical link to use: http://us.boots.com/product_list.do?q=botanicsshineaway&promoCode=bcinf

John Frieda Frizz Ease 3 Day Straight Flat Iron Spray

Tags

3 Day Straight, Frizz Ease, Hair, John Frieda, love, Straightened hair, Wonderful, Works

click for more info

Hi everyone! Yet another review, this is on the frizz ease 3 day straight spray that retails for $7.99 for a 3.5 oz bottle. So I had taken pictures of my hair when I had straightened it using this spray and then my computer went crazy and Brandon had to fix it, so I lost everything that was on it in the process. That was fun. I have no proof that this helped my hair stay straight for 3 days, but it did, you’ll just have to believe me,lol. Now according to the natural hair categorizing system thing, I have 4a and 4b, maybe 4c type hair. That means it’s super curly, kinky hair, but my hair is also fine, so it’s a little bit more manageable than if it were thick. Anyway, back to the spray, I got a 1 oz sample bottle  courtesy of Influenster for review purposes ( and yes I have to put that in any blog post that features an item from them,lol). That little bottle lasted me for a month I think. It had a pleasant smell, wasn’t too perfumey, didn’t weigh my hair down and made my hair super shiny. The spray helped cut down on blow drying my hair by half, which is awesome. Would I purchase this? Yes I would, as well as the frizz ease serum. You can pick this up at Target, Fred Meyer, Walgreens, really anywhere you can get the frizz ease line.

Just a quick thing, I found my pictures! Yay, so here we go:

   This is just to show the texture of my hair, in case you don’t know 🙂

Here is the first day I straightened my hair, now I don’t try to get my hair bone straight. I like my hair to have some texture to it as that is what I’m used to, I’m used to my hair being big. Also something I should mention is that the 3 day straight does not protect against humidity, so you would have to use it with a humidity protectant spray or serum if you really want to prolong the wear of your straightened style.(Please excuse the no makeup face, I wasn’t going anywhere so yeah)

And here is the 3rd day. I don’t know why I’m making these faces, but I like it anyway. My makeup looks so nice :). Anyway, so there you have, photographic evidence. Yay!

Have you tried this yet, what did you think? Thank you for reading and don’t forget to subscribe :).

 

 

Homemade Tortillas

Tags

baking powder, delicious, dinner, eat this, flour, food, food network, Fred Meyer, from scratch, Himalayan P, homemade, kitchenaid mixer, lard, nom nom, pink mixer, salt, taco night, tortilla, tortillas, what's for dinner?, yummy

click photos for a better view

Hi everyone! It’s a recipe post! It’s been so long since I’ve done one, I love food, why not post about it? As the title says, I’m making tortillas, I make them every week, sometimes twice a week and honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever buy tortillas again. Prepare for some nom nom goodness, let us begin!

So here is part of the recipe, I got it from The Pioneer Woman, who is awesome, by the way and has a show on the food network that comes on around 7 or 8 in the morning ( I’m barely alive at that time, I honestly can’t remember). Here is what I used:

 

I got the flour, baking powder and himalayan pink salt from Costco and the Snow Cap Lard from Fred Meyer. You can also find this lard at New Sagaya. And last but not least, I used this beauty:

  I did push her back a bit, in case you wondered 😉

Isn’t she pretty, I call her Lovely because she is :). These are the attachments i used:

Now what you do is combine all your dry ingredients and mix( I used my paddle attachment). Then add spoonfuls of lard to the mix:

Mix until it resembles crumbs (which I don’t have a picture of, just visualize the crumbs, ok). After that add the hot water and mix until it looks like this:

Now it’s time to knead your do 30-40 times. You can do that, I used my hook attachment:

Tada

 

Here are some action shots:

 

You want to knead it until it’s less sticky. After your done kneading, cover your bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for at least an hour. When an hour is up, form the dough into balls, like so:

Then cover bowl again and wait 20-30 minutes. Now your ready to roll out the dough! Woot!

Here is what I do, I sprinkle a little bit of flour on the counter, but the ball on the counter, dip my fingers in flour and pat the ball semi flat,like so:

Then you just roll it out:

 

My family likes a thicker tortilla, the pioneer woman likes hers thinner. You can customize this to your liking. (Also, when you first attempt this recipe, it may come out.. a little weird. The first time I made it, I used butter, which was fine but when I went to roll them out, they ended up being oblong ovals. It takes practice, believe me, lots of practice.)When you take it off the counter, you want to be extra gentle or you’ll end up with this:

  This happens with the first one every time *facepalm*

So be gentle. Temperature wise, you want it to be hot enough to brown on both sides without the tortilla getting crispy, for my stove that is medium/low. I know it will sound kind of funny, but everyones stove is different, so you’ll probably have to play around with it to get the perfect temperature. I used my flat top griddle for this, but you can also use a cast iron skillet

more action shots:

You want to cook for 30 seconds on each side, then put them on a plate and cover with a tea towel, like so:

Then when you’re all done you get to eat them and be pleasantly surprised by how awesomely delicious they are:

Closeup:

 

Nomnomnomnomnom. Enjoy! If you try this out,let me know what you think in the comments below. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to subscribe :).

 

 

Influenster Voxbox: Mary Kay Hello Gorgeous

Tags

Beauty, blush, bronzer, cream eye shadow, Influenster, lipgloss, makeup, makeup brushes, Mary Kay, mascara, opinion, review, voxbox

Hello everyone, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m awful with schedules and being routine with things. It”s not one my strong traits to say the least, but I’m working on it. So I thought I would start by posting on here at least once a month, I think that’s pretty good for me anyway. Ok, now for this actual post, but first the fine print: the following items were sent to me complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster. This is the second box I got from them and I have to say that I was pretty excited to be getting it. I’ll give my overall opinion on these at the very end. Let us begin!

Well, sorry the pictures are on the tiny side but you can click on them for a better view…. ahem so first:

 

Cream Eye Color in Apricot Twist $14.00

 

This is a shimmery gold color that goes on the lid like butter. It doesn’t feel chunky at all and once it dries stays until you wash it off.
And here is a swatch:

 

Mary Kay Mineral Cheek Color in Shy Blush $12.00

 

This is a peachy rose gold color, too light for me to use as a blush so I use it as a highlight after blush. It feels soft, almost creamy and blends very well. Swatch:

 

Mary Kay Bronzing Powder $18.00

 

This is, of course, a nice bronze color, it’s in the light/medium shade, so too light for me. But again, I can use it as a highlight. Also has a smooth, creamy feel.
Swatch:

 

Mary Kay Gel Eyeliner with Expendable Brush Applicator in Jet Black $18.00

 

Applicator Brush:

 

The liner is very smooth, though I did have to go over it a couple of times for it to be opaque. It dries to a matte finish and does not move at all once dry. The applicator I was not happy with. The brush was too thick and during application, fell apart on me. I had to switch to using my angled eyeliner brush.

Swatch:

 

Mary Kay Translucent Loose Powder $16.00

This is a nice powder. It’s light, doesn’t look cakey, didn’t leave a weird white cast to my face because it has a slight yellow tone to it. Also has a little bit of a light reflectingness to it (yep, made my own word) for a subtle brightening effect. It was perfect for setting my under eye concealer and maybe a possible dupe for the hourglass dim lighting…maybe, I could be wrong, don’t hold me to that,lol.

Swatch:

 

Mary Kay NouriShine Plus Lip Gloss in Mango Tango $14.00

 

This is a nice coral red gloss. Did I feel like my lips were moisturized? No, but it did last a pretty long time. It’s pretty thick and sticky, at first I really didn’t like it, as I prefer lipsticks, but it’s kind of grown on me. The color is not opaque, it’s a bit sheer with some sparkle in it, but you don’t feel the sparkle at all.

Swatch:

 

Mary Kay Powder Brush $16.00

This brush is ok. I don’t think it’s worth the money though in terms of softness. I have an elf powder brush that is much softer and it cost me $3.00, so for me,I didn’t like it.

 

Mary Kay Cream Eye Color/ Concealer Brush $10.00

Again I don’t think this is worth the money. It’s not as soft as I like my brushes to be and for cream shadows I like to apply it with my finger and blend it out with a dense fluffy brush. Now with concealer placement this brush is fine, it’s not spectacular by any means, but it works.

 

Mary Kay Lash Love Mascara in I heart Black $15.00

Now we come to this mascara. I was so excited to try this, especially after reading the description, which states ” Mascara that defines, defends and delivers four times the volume”. That sounds amazing, right? Well, I wish I could say that it delivered, but it’s actually the worst mascara I’ve tried. It clumped my lashes together, making it look like I had 6 very thick lashes, so I guess it worked in terms of volume,lol, but no, it was not good.The formula was good, I really think it was the brush that made it fail. It has plastic bristles, which would be fine if they weren’t so far apart. Try at your own risk, maybe you can get it to work and then give me some pointers.

 

Overall Opinion

So for me the only product that I got that really stood out was the translucent powder and even that I could probably find a better version here. I just wasn’t very impressed and for the prices they are charging for these items I was expecting more. If you are a Mary Kay fan, sorry,lol, I wanted to love everything, but I just think everything is ok. You can find the same items at your drugstore for a better price and equal or better quality.You can find organic and natural versions of these items ( which is what I’m trying to do) as well. You can order Mary Kay through your local Mary Kay Consultant.

What do you think? Thank you for reading, if you like what you see, don’t forget to subscribe :).

 

Influenster: J’adore VoxBox

Tags

3 Day Straight, Beauty, Boots Botanics, Caramel, Chocolate, Clay Mask, Complimentary, Free, Hair, Hershey kisses, Influenster, JadoreVoxBox, John Frieda, Kiss Lashes, Lemon, Red Rose Tea, Skincare, Spray Lotion, Tea, Vaseline, Wispy

Hi everyone! I know it’s been awhile, but I have some goodies to share with you. Last year I signed up for a VoxBox at influenster.com, did some reviews, did some quizzes, etc, and then I forgot about it. So I was pretty excited when I found out that I had qualified for one this month. Everything they sent me is complimentary for testing purposes, which I definitely plan on doing.

My box 😀

What was in it.

First things first.

Boots Botanics Shine Away Ionic Clay Mask $9.39

They sent me a full size of this. I’ve tried it once so far and i really like it. I’m going to give this product a full month before i do a review though.

Frizz Ease 3-day Straight Flat Iron Spray $9.99 for 3.5 fl. oz.

They sent me a trial size of 1 fl. oz. I can not wait to try this, I’ve used the frizz ease serum for coarse hair in the past when I had my hair relaxed and it was awesome. Hopefully I’ll be able to try it soon!

Kiss Looks So Natural Lashes $3.99

I’m a bit concerned about putting these on ,as I have never worn false lashes, but I have been watching plenty of youtube videos on how other people put them on and it doesn’t look too complicated. We’ll see, maybe I’ll film my attempt.

Red Rose Simply Indulgent Teas $4.49 for carton of 20 bags

They sent me 3 Creme Caramels and 1 Lemon Chiffon. So far I’ve tried the Creme Caramel, which is almost as good as my favorite tea( that will be a later post), it smells and tastes wonderful. You really do feel like you are indulging. My advice is that you let it steep for the 5 minutes and then take the tea bag out as it does leave a slightly bitter after taste if it’s left in.

Vaseline Men Spray Lotion $7.99 for 6.5 oz can

They sent me a full size can. Now obviously this is not for me, lol, they included this for my husband, so yeah. I have no idea if he’s going to try it or not. What i can tell you is that it has a nice masculine scent that’s subtle. Nothing flowery, which is nice.

They also sent me a 18.5 oz bag of Hershey’s kisses which retails at $5.29 and $3.28 for an 11 oz bag. I forgot to take a picture of it, but know that they will be made into peanut butter blossoms of deliciousness.

I can honestly say that i think this is pretty awesome, if you want to sign up to qualify for a future VoxBox, go to www.influenster.com. As always, thank you for reading my blog :D.

P.S. Sorry for some of the pictures being blurry. I’m using my hubby’s camera and i’m still getting used to it.

Makeup Look I Love 2

Tags

bright lipstick, classic, easy, fast, J crew, makeup, minimal, minimal makeup, universal

This gallery contains 14 photos.

The J Crew Model Look This is another look i gravitate towards. Glowy skin, minimal eye makeup, with a bold …

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Items I Need in My Wardrobe 5

Tags

Casual, Clothing, cream, dress, dressy, flowy, flowy dress, light, lovely, maxi, midi, mini, personal style, Sequins, short dress, skirt, style, white

This gallery contains 13 photos.

Hello there. *waves*. It’s time for another installment of my ongoing series, so without further ado….   Little White/Cream Dress …

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New Year Update!

Tags

Beauty, fashion, Fitness, Health, short, sweet, update, vlog, youtube

Hi everyone! Wanted to do a post about what i’m planning for this blog. I’m working on adding some pages to my fashion and beauty section as well as to the health and fitness section. I also plan on doing more youtube videos on my fitness journey and will be adding those here as well. So yes, i’m excited,lol. thanks for reading and here is a video for you to enjoy :D.

Sweater Weather Tag

Tags

autumn, brisk, Coffee, cold, crisp, dark lip, eyeliner, fall, favorite, football, halloween, hot chocolate, ice, leaves, leggings, lovely, makeup, now, pumpkin spice, skinny jeans, snow, snowing, sweater, sweater weather, Tea, vampy lip, weather, winged eyeliner, winter, youtube

Look, it’s my face! Anyway, i hope you enjoy this tag video and my first post of the new year :).