POST!!!!! I feel like I haven’t in ages and I’ve been meaning to. Let me paint you a picture (as I try to type as quietly as humanly possible so as not to wake the “brood” in my room). I lOvE getting your emails and hearing from you in comments. I try to respond as often as I can and the pattern has been: respond, unpack a box, respond to another great email, unpack another dreaded box. Then… sickness hit. Both of my boys came down with awful coughs which soon went straight to their chests (ps we are still waiting for insurance to kick in help!). The next day my oldest came home sick with a tummy ache on top of his cold and today they both woke up with pink eye. One has it in BOTH eyes!!! I am desperately trying to keep clutter from happening around the house as “welcome to the neighborhood committees” come by (SUCH great neighbors!!!), have dinner ready for my hubby when he walks in (just cuz I think it’s cute), bathe the children often to ease their suffering of congestiveness (it’s a word right?), keep them from touching their eyes, washing clothes like crazy (AND the toys) and being so worried about them at night that I am not sleeping…AT ALL!!! Literally have been up the past week checking on them often (my youngest always seems to be on the floor by about 3am without fail) and they both just can’t stop coughing. It makes me want to cry. I usually kick/lovingly nudge my hubby when he starts to snore. But I feel so badly that he might not be getting sleep that I just let him snore because it let’s me know he is getting a good REM cycle and WHO CAN SLEEP WITH SNORING???? Not me. So if any of you live in Utah and have seen me frantically running through the medicine aisles without a stitch of makeup, bags from no sleep, a cold sore from stress and bloodshot eyes I apologize. Not a pretty sight. Back to me typing quietly, I have set them up little beds in my room so that I can just look over at them instead of getting up and going all the way to their rooms. I pray this will end, that the Lysol will last and that I can get a Valentine tutorial up because I really DO have a cute one in mind!!! For now I will direct you to Nicole for a great Valentine’s Day hair tutorial and I am going to sleep…I hope! Sorry for the personal post but I had to vent and you guys are so great I didn’t think you’d mind.
Sad but true, we all spend money on products that we regret. Here are a few of my impulse (and some not so impulse) buys that I regret. What are yours?
You all voted on the sidebar and I was amAZED at how many of you suffer from enlarged pores! Well, let me introduce you to Elsa, a follower, that suffered from this problem. After she contacted me about the issue we decided an experiment was in order! She went off in search of a bargain solution in light of the information we learned on how to kick her large pores to the curb. Take it away Elsa =)…
The pictures from an annual Halloween party was the day I REALLY noticed my pores, I was in SHOCK!! Yuck! I’m only 28! I shouldn’t be having a pore problem! I had seen a few creep up here and there but I never knew it was that bad!
I immediately emailed Jen to ask her how this problem could be fixed! I didn’t know you could get rid of enlarged pores, dumb right?? Luckily, she told me, it’s possible to get rid of them! So my mission started after Christmas- to get rid of those annoying holes on my skin.
So here are the products that I swear by, that have been giving me amazing results in such a short amount of time! A month, really!
1st The Olay Pro-X cleansing brush! Oh my goodness, this brush has been my bff the last month! I’m not usually a person that buys beauty supplies from drugstores, BUT this brush changed my life! It’s very similar to the spin brushes estheticians use when you get a facial. You know that amazing clean feel that can’t be beat? Well now you can get very similar results at home!! The next best part- is the price! It is only $29.99!! Not too bad when compared to its nearly identical twin from Clarisonic that is $200.00!! When I compared both brushes I really couldn’t tell a difference between the two, that’s how great this brush is!!
2nd I absolutely love loveloveexposed skincare! It is the best I have ever tried at clearing acne and keeping it away! I have used everything and I mean everything, pills, laser treatments, topical creams, tanning (ugh bad I know) just trying to clear up my skin and nothing worked. I swear nothing and I mean nothing works better -it’s truly a miracle line! Since using the Olay Pro-X cleansing brush twice a day once in the morning and once at night (for just one minute each time) the serums and acne lotions penetrate so much deeper into my skin now. My once enlarged pores are DISAPPEARING!! I have gotten so many compliments on my skin and even my mom noticed and said “your pores are shrinking!” I think in another month or two they will be completely invisible! That’s how great this brush and skin care line work together! I’m sold for life, so are my friends and family!
Just a little FYI- make sure to moisturize after using the brush. This brush was designed to help get rid of fine lines and wrinkles; so it’s truly amazing at exfoliating. Your skin will need some moisture put back into it though!
A friend came down to stay with us this weekend and wanted to get new shadows. Being new to the area I had to Map Quest the nearest mall and off we went while the hubbies stayed home with the kiddies. BOY could you tell it was a Saturday. The MAC counter was PaCkEd and leaking out into the walkway to do makeovers. She ended up picking up Fig 1 and Golden Rod, two BeAuTiFuL colors (insert me drooling)!!! She asked me to do a look with them and this is what I came up with. SO much fun!!!
Thank you to so many of you that shared your favorites for the month!!! Here are a few of them:
Brook loves the EOS Lip balm:
“I have horrible dry lips this winter so I started using eos it’s amazing! Love it. Read all about it on my blog cuteasabutton222.blogspot.com.”
Casey clues us in with a new skin care line:
I sell Beauticontrol and we have a new Skin Spa Facial line out and I am absolutely loving it!!!! We have these skin sensors that prescribe your own line that you need! Visit her website here.
Angie tells us how she struck GoLd with these goodies:
What I’m loving right now….and how I got to what I’m loving right now……a few years ago I started using Origins Checks & Balances face soap, LOVE it. It’s about $18 a bottle (more than drugstore brands), but seriously, the bottle can last almost 6 months. As I’ve learned, all of their products take minimal amounts to be effective. I then started using their Modern Friction. It’s sort of a microderm in a bottle type scrub, and is awesome. Then tried some eye creams, GinZing is AMAZING, for AM use only, takes the puff right out of your eyes if you have any whatsoever. I have horrible allergies, so it helps tremendously. And the newest thing they have, which I am IN LOVE with now is called Starting Over, found it a/b 3 weeks ago. I’ve been using the eye cream (I think there’s a moisturizer as well), it’s botox (sort of) in a bottle. You can feel it working. You can apply it AM & PM below and above the eye (like on the bone just above the lid). I’ve noticed a big difference, how soft my skin is in the “crows feet” area and just my whole eye area in general. I’m telling ya, it’s wonderful stuff!
Here comes Ashley with great news!!! There is another primer we all get to try =)!!!
As an emergency room RN in Las Vegas (the fifth busiest ER in
America), I need makeup which holds up for a 12+ hour shift. Aquatique
is an amazing eye makeup base. I get compliments on my eye makeup
(even at the end of my shift at times) from both co-workers and
patients. Plus, this base supposedly makes the eyeshadow waterproof
also, although I have never really tried that aspect out. (INSERT JENNI PUTTING THAT TO THE TEST BY STICKING MY HEAD IN A BOWL FULL OF WATER!!! LOL) I have
turned quite a few of my coworkers onto Aquatique!
Ever had the problem where you look in the mirror with your makeup all done only to see a dry patch of skin literally PEELING before your eyes??? Well EnOuGh with the run on sentences…check this OUT!!!
Winter is definitely a changing time for your skin. Having the heater on in your home dries your skin out and the weather outside isn’t too “skin friendly” either. Tiffany D gives us some fabulous products to try that will help combat this season and keep us looking flawless and glowing! Commentary is by Tiffany and my comments will be in red =).
I am totally in love with Origins products as of late. This is their Starting Over Moisturizer. It’s oil free which I love because it makes my skin feel comfortable, it’s very very moisturizing but it doesn’t give me that “extra layer” which I don’t really like (who does right???). I use this at night after my normal skin care routine. It works well with my oily skin.
I have been using this in the mornings. It’s Origins VitaZing with SPF-15 which is great for day to day. It says it’s “an energizing moisturizer with mangosteen (fruit grown in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Rare in the US since the actual fruit can’t be brought in but is thought to have many healing properties. It’s also found in the Xango drinks). This is the most unique moisturizer that I have ever used. A lot of times I don’t even have to use foundation. It’s not technically a tinted product. When it comes out, it’s white but has tan beads. I use it and then my MAC Mineralized Skin Finish just to ward off shine. It evens me out as I apply it and you can see your skin brighten up…it’s InSaNe!!! It has a citrusy sweet smell. Every skin tone can use it. I love it!!!
When I do apply foundation I still stick with my Makeup Forever Matte Velvet Plus (a MUST!!! It is like silk on your skin. I’ll be doing a review on that soon) or NARS Sheer Glow (both can be found at Sephora).
The eye cream that I like is the Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Daily Anti-Fatigue Cream (mouthful much???). It’s great because you don’t need to spend a lot to get a great eye cream. I use it morning and night.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist putting our manly vamp up here using his EOS Lip Balm…Priceless!!!)
Also remember to take care of you lips, hands, your whole BoDy!!! It’s really important. I use EOS Lip Balm and really bought it just because it looked so cute, but it’s really great quality! I use it at night before bed and even under my lipstick and/or gloss. It’s very non greasy so as not to interfere with your daily lip routine and it also stays on a long time too.
I also used to use many of the Bath & Body Works lotions and a lot of the Victoria Secret but I have all but ThRoWn them all away for the love of Renew Lotion!!!
YES it’s a Melaleuca product and I am SO sorry that you need to be a member to get the great prices but you can be a direct customer and buy whatever, whenever without needing to make an order every month. I highly look into it because you can also get the Nicole Miller (now Se Belle) bronzer!!!
Tiffany D can be found at her YouTube channel here. =)
Do you have a favorite product that you have tried this month and want to tell us about it? Please email me at dollcosmetics@gmail.com. Remember that it does NOT have to be makeup! Remember last month I raved about jeans???
One of my contest winners from last year wrote to me telling me about her new blog. It’s all about her B-Priceless clothing line and other fun trends. She said that she would like to spotlight amazing women and I made the cut!!! Can you believe it? I was so humbled by her request and so grateful that she thought I was cool enough =). Check it our here and see other inspiring women just like you!!!
