Favorites: October!

October was a great month! Here in Houston where I live the weather is trying really hard to be fall and it's just now getting there. October was full of rainy days, hot days, and days that start cold and end being 90 degrees. But that's just how Texas is 110 percent of the time! Anyways I tried a few new products in October that I've never tried before and I want to share my favorites with you because you should go get them too.. if you want :) They're all reasonably priced!

 Around $3 each

The first thing I tried was new shampoo and conditioner. I've heard so many people talk about Aussie and how great it is but I've never tried it!!! I have no idea why not.... But I finally got some and I love it! It's the volume line and I'm not really sure it actually adds much volume to my hair but that's fine I get my volume from blow drying anyways. What I do love about this is the way it sucks the oil from my hair. This may sound scary if you have dry hair and I honestly don't know how this product would work on you because I only wash my hair about every 3-4 days and by then it's oily and full of dry shampoo! Am I the only one? I hope not. This shampoo only takes only one "serving" to fully clean your hair. Every other shampoo I have used has taken me at least 2 washes to feel like my hair is clean all of the oils are out. Then after all of the oils are taken away the conditioner puts moisture back into your hair but just the right amount so your hair isn't feeling greasy afterwards! In addition to the product itself I just love the packaging. Is that weird.... shampoo packaging can be cool too I guess.. But seriously I love the different colored caps! How many times have I put conditioner on instead of shampoo? Too many. Well not anymore!

Around $8

 Okay guys, I ashamed of what I'm about to say. October was the first time I've ever been to Lush. I know, I know...... So if you're reading this and you've never been, get your booty to the nearest one and make sure you set a budget for yourself because you'll want to buy everything!! I bought another thing while I was there, but because this is an October favorites I thought I would talk about how much I love this adorable pumpkin bubble bar! If you're not one to take baths you should convert and stock up on Lush, you'll thank me in the long run. All you do is stick this in your running bath water and crumble it up; it makes a million bubbles that leaves your skin feeling soft and luscious. Plus, this makes your bath water look gorgeous and sparkly!

 Around $4

The next product is by St. Ives. This is another company that I've heard a lot about but still have never tried, but I picked this up in really high hopes that it would work. And I'm very happy to say it does! Although this says it's a "scrub" and to use daily, I use this to exfoliate twice a week and it does a perfect job. I love love love the texture of this product, it's not creamy, sticky, or oily in any way. It's color is green and it smells amazing as well. I've been using it for the better part of the month and I can honestly say I've seen a reduction in my black heads! My face feels baby soft after I use this and I really look forward to the days I exfoliate just so I can put this all over my face.

 Around $7

I have a couple makeup products to talk about and the first is Rimmel's Lash Accelerator. I have seen what seems like a million and one YouTubers talk about this mascara and how great it is, so I caved and tried it too. I understand why it's so raved about because this mascara is wonderful! The wand itself is really small and it doesn't look like it will accomplish much but don't let that stop you. The formula of is great and very buildable without leaving many clumps. The small wand lets you get into those inner corners and the bottom lash line. Overall, this mascara creates volume without much effort and I'll always have it on hand from now on!

 Around $9

The last product I have is the Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in the color 225 Sultry Sulfureuse. I have one of Revlon's Colorburst Balms already and I love that one as well but when I saw the matte line I knew I had to try it. I love this thing so much!!!!! The formula is creamy and highly pigmented, and even though it's a matte product I don't find it dries out my lips as long as you moisturize before applying it. It's very long wearing and it does stain your lips so if the product comes off your lips still have some color to them. I also really love this color, it's one of my favorites right now and it's perfect for fall!

That's all of the products I have for this month and I love them all! I hope you try out some of them and like them as much as I do :)

Tweezerman Facial Hair Remover Coil Review!

Like most dark haired women I have hair on my upper lip. It's not out of control or a full on mustache or anything but it's definitely noticeable to me. I have always either gotten my lip threaded or used a hair removal cream to maintain my womanly stash. Threading hurts somewhat but it's over quickly. The only problem with threading is it can be inconvenient because you have to leave the house to get it done. I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't even realize how bad I need to remove my hair until I look in my magnifying mirror to put on my makeup! And then I usually have somewhere to go resulting in my mustache living yet another day. Hair removing creme works well but my skin is very sensitive and becomes irritated when I use this so I ruled that out of my hair removing options. Then one day when I was in ULTA I spotted this guy here

A coil to remove your facial hair yourself! Why didn't I see this sooner? I read good reviews on this product saying that it was effective and easy to use after a little practice. So I used all of my ULTA rewards points and a coupon and ended up getting this for $.38. As soon as I got it in the mail I read the instructions and gave it a try...

Overall, this hair coil is easy to use. You hold the coil to the area you want to remove hair with the word "Tweezerman" facing you and twist the metal handles whichever way the arrows point. You just move while twisting and the hair is just supposed to come right out.

This sucker HURTS. I get my lip threaded so I thought I would be okay with the pain but this guy brought tears to my eyes. I think it's because threading is so fast and this pulls out only a few hairs at a time. It felt like I was plucking each hair out one-by-one, which isn't a good feeling at all. I was moving the coil at a constant pace so it wasn't user error, the coil is just so small it can only grab a few hairs no matter what!

 The coils themselves

In addition to being painful, I think the coils them self are too far apart so they couldn't grab onto my thinner hairs. It skipped over most of my hairs and only grabbed onto the thicker, darker, and longer hairs. Some of them got removed, but I noticed most of the hairs were just broken off. So basically I now had stubble... how lovely. That's exactly what I don't want!

This invention was a good idea and concept but it didn't work for me. Maybe it works for someone who has thicker hair (I have pretty thick and dark hair). I was really patient and tried this thing out for a good 20 minutes and it didn't make a dent in my lady stash. I've tried it several times since my first trial but I still can't seem to get it to work on me. I have resorted back to threading because it gets the job done! I guess I can use this gadget between threadings to clean up and random hairs but honestly I would rather just bring out the tweezers themselves. It wasn't a huge loss because I only paid $.38 for the Tweezerman coil but I still wish I could get my ulta rewards points back!

My Fall Beauty Must Haves!

Fall is a beautiful time of year, and in the beauty world it's a time for warmer colors and dramatic looks! Who doesn't love those things? Plus fall also means wearing leggings everyday is socially acceptable! But that's beside the point.. Here are a few things that I have to have for fall time:

1. Lipstick! Fall colors to me are so beautiful. Deep purples, reds, nudes... they all pull your fall look together. Matte lipsticks are also very essential to fall so fall in love with mattes!! Here are a few of my favorite lipsticks:

Matte Lipsticks: 

Maybelline ColorSensational Creamy Matte Lipsticks 

Left: 680 Mesmerizing Magenta

Right: Lust For Blush

These were the only colors I could get my hands on that's how amazing these lipsticks are! I went to Target and got these, then went to another Target and I couldn't even find them. If you come across these get as many as you can! I love them and love the price tag - about $6. 

Nude Lipsticks:

Too Faced Lipsticks

Left: Taffy

Middle: Nude Beach

Rimmel London Kate Lipstick

Right: 070 Airy Fairy

I love all 3 of these colors and formulas but my favorite is Airy Fairy! I just think it is a beautiful nude and it goes well with my skin tone. It's a little shimmery but not too much and it's a drugstore brand so it's not too damaging on the wallet - around $8!

Deep Brown/Plum Lipstick:

Clinique Long Last Lipstick in Sugared Maple

I got this lipstick from my boyfriend's mom who got it in one of those Clinique gift bags that you get from buying one of their special offers. She didn't want it so I took it of course.. can't say no to free makeup! I didn't think I would end up wearing this lipstick at all but when I tried it on I loved it! It's a great darker color, and even if you don't like wearing darker lipsticks you should try it out.

Here are the swatches in order from left to right: Mesmerizing Magenta, Lust for Blush, Taffy, Nude Beach, Airy Fairy, and Sugared Maple

2. Nail Polish. Again nail polishes are all about fall colors! Maroons, golds, warm nudes, purples, etc. Unfortunately when I went to target (the same time as the lipstick) they were all sold out of Wet n Wild nail polish which is what I went for. I don't think I'll be going back to that Target location... Anyways I got what colors I could!! Here are some of my favorite colors that I have on hand:

Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polish

Left: 205B Sugar Coat

Right: 206C Undercover

I've just recently tried this product and I LOVE it!!! These polishes have great colors, pigment, texture, and overall quality. And guess what? They're dirt cheap.. literally only a little over a dollar per bottle. Maybe it's a good thing they we're all sold out at Target or I would have bought all of them!

Essie Nail Polish

Left: Midnight Cami

Middle: Armed And Ready

Right: Over The Edge

Some might say these are winter colors.. but I like wearing them whenever I feel like :) I think fall means dark colors are allowable right? I'm from Houston so we don't know too much about season's anyways. But I love Essie, they're a little over priced but when you find nice colors why not? These are all shimmery, unlike the Wet n Wild ones which are matte, and they're all beautiful dark colors. I love them all!

3. Bold Eyeshadow. Fall is a time where you can really rock a bold look on your eyes with deep colors. I went ahead and bought this palette because I thought it was beautiful and only $15!

NYX Dream Catcher Pallete

Golden Horizons

NYX is a great company but it's either a hit or miss with them. I bought this palette because I found the colors just mesmerizing and I had to have it. Unfortunately the formula of the shadows is really powdery and not very pigmented.. that being said (honesty is the best policy) I just wanted to show y'all what fall colors look like to me. This is just an example of course they're are plenty of more colors. I still want to play around with this palette and hopefully get some good looks out of it!

4. Moisturizers. The weather is getting colder which means drier skin. For most people this won't be a problem because you moisturize daily, but I am a major freak when it comes to this... I HATE lotion. What?!?! I know, I know. I am weird. I wish I liked lotion I really do, but I cannot stand the way it feels on my hands. If I could have a personal lotion-putter-oner I totally would. Anyways, I have found some products that work best for me.

I seriously love this stuff!!! It's not gross feeling at all on my hands after applying it and it provides pretty good moisture. Vaseline improved my life tremendously whenever they invented this. 

I use this Curel lotion whenever I need extra nourishment. It doesn't leave your hands feeling as slippery as regular lotion but I still have to wash my hands after applying it. I know I'm so weird. But this stuff really isn't as near as bad as other lotions and has great moisture!

And don't forget about your lipies! This product works miracles. They have 3 different versions of this "lip sized" Vaseline but this is the only one I've tried. It provides great moisture to your lips that lasts me all night. I always wake up with soft lips and I love that feeling :)

These are all my favorite beauty products for the fall, it's not very much but I think it's all you really need! I hope you can try some of these products out!

5 Ways To Fight Those Confidence Lacking Moments!

Confidence is something I would say 85% of the world's population struggles with (look at me making up my own stats.. that's just a guesstimate.) Some people don't have any at all, some people have way too much, and then there's people like me. I am pretty confident in the person I am including physical, spiritual, and morals/beliefs. I pretty much know who I am and accept my flaws and failures along with all of my positive traits. But just like any person I have my moments...

Sometimes I can feel really un-confident about myself, sometimes for a reason or sometimes not. This doesn't mean I don't love myself it just means I'm HUMAN. Whenever I have these moments it can last for a few minutes, hours, or days, and I kind of just stay in a funk until I cheer up. Thank goodness I've gotten to know myself (hopefully you know yourself too lol) and I've come up with a few solid ways that 9.9 times out of 10 can get me out of my funk and back to my normal self again :) Maybe these can help you too if you're anything like me!

Number 1: Have a go-to activity you know will cheer you up!
Shopping.. or as I like to call it "retail therapy", that makes it sound a little more just right? Shopping is something that always makes me feel better no matter the situation. Buying things for myself can make me feel beautiful again and remind me that I do deserve to treat myself! I know not everyone likes shopping, but you're bound to enjoy something that can cheer you up and make you feel special. Cooking, baking, a sport, these are all things that take special talent and if you're good at just one thing in life that makes you AWESOME!! Doing something you're good at or that just makes you happy will cheer you up and should make you feel like you're special again.

Number 2: Do something that makes you feel beautiful and then flaunt it girl!
Is this too vain? NOPE! Who doesn't love to feel beautiful and who doesn't love compliments? I know if I'm feeling bad about myself especially when it comes to my looks compliments never hurt. At least I can admit it right..? Whenever I'm feeling un-confident I love to put on my makeup, no matter the time of day. The process of putting it on makes me really happy in general and then seeing the result makes me feel really good about myself! Don't get me wrong I am 100% confident in my own skin when I have no makeup on, that's how I usually am 5 days out of the week. But I feel beautiful wearing a full face of makeup as well :) And usually I take a shameless selfie and post it on social media. Don't say you've never done it.. And no I am not talking about getting attention by posting a revealing picture of your body ladies!!! When you're feeling bad you need to only post pictures that translate your inner beauty into your outer beauty. This might not work for everyone but it's something that works for me.

Number 3: Be rational and think!
Okay let me explain what I mean by this. For example, your mom never thanks you for doing all of your chores around the house. You do all of them without even being asked and she just moves onto the next thing to complain about without even noticing. I've been in this situation plenty of times and after a while you start to feel pretty down on yourself because it seems like you can't do anything right! (You can apply this to any situation.) When you get sad over things like this I found just thinking about the situation, thinking about what the other person's intentions were (they most likely didn't want to make you feel that way), and being rational can really help. When you think about situations rationally it's easier to move on from it and to not get so upset about it. And if that doesn't work try talking to the person!! They will usually tell you they didn't mean to make you feel that way and then you can move right along with your life :)

Number 4: Make a list!
This might be a little cheesy.. but hey it works for me!!! When you're feeling bad about yourself it's usually because you're focused on the negatives and blowing them way out of proportion. Make a list either on paper or just in your head about the great qualities that you love about yourself. You are a good listener, you have an awesome cat, you're not afraid to eat chocolate whenever you want. Whatever you think is something good about you should go on the list. Whenever you're done you can read over it and laugh or cry or whatever you do, and hopefully in the end you realize you should be focusing on these qualities instead of the negative!

Number 5: Talk to a friend or family member!
Your friends and family members know you best, they know all of your flaws but they still accept you and love you. When you're feeling bad about yourself you can express this to someone close to you and they will most likely make you feel better. You can tell them what you're feeling bad about and why and they can bring to light things you haven't thought about. They will also tell you how awesome you are and what they love about you (which is nice to hear because most of the time they don't go around saying those things) and this can make you feel better. This can open your eyes and make you see why people love you so much and there's no reason to be upset!

Some of these things might seem vain or attention seeking and that is NOT what I'm saying to do. You should already feel confident about the person you are and love yourself for all of your qualities good or bad. These tips are just little pick-me-ups for when you have little spells of confidence problems that help me best when I go through these. I hope they can help because life is way too short to be sad especially when it's over your own feelings towards yourself!!!

Find things that make you happy, find loving and caring people, stop comparing yourself to others, and just enjoy your life because you are a unique person who has so many great qualities!

LET THE NEGATIVITY GO! :)

(This is me in heaven.. aka Ireland this past summer)

DIY: Transforming Garage Sale Vases!

This past weekend my neighborhood had their community garage sale. I don't think all neighborhoods are like this, usually you can have a garage sale whenever you want right? Well not mine.. only when the home owners association let's you! Which sucks because I love finding cheap things that I can turn into something beautiful. So this weekend I went on a vase frenzy :) Vases can be anything you want them to be, tall, short, fat, skinny. I got 5 very different vases and I am going to show you 4 different ways to transform those dirty garage sale vases into something you will love!

The first vase I got for FREE! Yup that's right. I bought a $2.00 ceramic pitcher and the lady ended up just giving me the vase for free. This happens often at garage sales because people just want to get rid of old stuff they don't want anymore.

For this vase I painted the INSIDE, not the outside. Doing this allows you to show off the glass work of the piece and gives the finished look a glossy finish without having to do any extra work. First wash it with soap and water and dry it to make sure all of the dirt is out. Then I used acrylic paint in a teal color, you can use any color you want :) 

You just pour this into the vase until it looks something like this 

And then just tilt the vase around until the whole surface is covered! Pour the excess paint back into the bottle, wipe the lip of the vase off, and allow it to dry for at least 48 hours (it takes longer because its drying on the inside instead of the outside.) Remember, you cant put water in this vase anymore so make sure you like the vase you pick with fake flowers! This is how mine turned out and I love it!

 

 The next vase I got isn't even a vase! It's an eggnog bottle! Sometimes you'll find strange things like this at garage sales that you can get for really cheap that you can turn into something really cool. I got this for 50 cents! 

To remove the logo all you have to do is soak the bottle in a sink full of warm soapy water for about 30 minutes, remove the label, and then remove the extra gunk with Goo Gone. Then I just washed and dried it to ensure it was clean. Then I got out the painter's tape!

This is just regular 1 inch painters tape. I just tore off about a foot long piece and carefully placed it around the bottom of my bottle. Make sure it's even. The easiest way to do this is to go slow and to make sure the end lines up with the start of the tape and is perfectly overlapping it. It should look something like this

 The I added another one.. You can do this in any pattern you want, only one stripe or make them vertical. It's up to you!

The I just put tape around the top so that all of the stripes would be even looking. I also covered the top just to make sure spray paint wouldn't go inside. 

 

Then just pick any spray paint and go to town! I chose gold :) 

 I did about 3 coats until I was satisfied and then flipped it on it's top and sprayed the bottom. I let this dry for about 30 minutes and this is what it looks like

Just take off the tape and viola! This is my favorite vase I made!

Next I just wanted simple white spray painted vases and I did this for 2 of my vases. The first vase I already happened to own so $0! And the next one I got for $1 :)

You'll notice one is smooth and one is textured. The solid white spray paint will give both a sleek look and bring out the glass detailing on the patterned one. First wash them to get all of the dirt off, and you'll notice the second one has purple at the top. Try to get anything like this off as much as possible. All I did was set up some extra cardboard pieces I had outside something like this 

And then get your spray paint and coat each piece until you're happy with the coverage. This is the paint I used

Let them dry for about 30 minutes and this is what mine looked like :) Again I love how they turned out!

And last but not least.. This vase is the most difficult out of all of these vases but I liked the way it turned out! I started out with a vase again that I already owned. 

Make sure you wash this one really good because we're going to be sticking GLITTER to it! If glitter isn't your thing I completely understand, maybe you can make it for a friend or family member :)

You'll need a bowl larger than your vase, a paintbrush, Mod Podge,  gold glitter (or whatever color you prefer), and Mod Podge's clear acrylic sealer.

Just paint the Mod Podge wherever you want your glitter something like this 

And then just tap your glitter on as evenly as possible over your bowl, tapping your vase to remove the excess every time you turn your vase. 

Mine originally turned out like this

But then I went back and added more until I liked it. Let it dry for about an hour or until the Mod Podge turns clear. Then lightly spray over the glitter with the Mod Podge acrylic spray. Try not to get it on the clear part of your vase but if you do it's okay! And here are the final results :)

I'm really happy how my vases turned out! These are all really cheap, pretty easy, and they don't take too long to create (and you can do a lot of multitasking while making these, perfect for a laundry Sunday). I finished my vases off with just simple white and pink fake flowers from Hobby Lobby. I hope y'all enjoyed my transformation of garage sale vases and I hope you try them out!