Category Archives: Beauty

Figuring Out Some Self-Care (or Working On My Physical And Mental Health)

Posted on January 19, 2018 | Comments Off

I’ve been a bit too stressed out lately. A lot of it had to do with just being overwhelmed and trying to schedule myself, but that didn’t explain all of it. Reflecting back on it, I think that it’s possible that my panic and anxiety disorder came back. It wasn’t enough for me to feel like I needed to take medication or call my new therapist, but it was something I was aware of.

Like with so many other things in my life, being aware is a huge step for me and I consider that to be a win. But of course I wanted to make the stressed out feelings go away and not just be aware of it. Part of what I’ve been working on is related to my monthly challenge this month. I’m being a bit selfish and turning down invitations to things I don’t want to go to. I’m not committing myself to things that aren’t what I want to do socially and I’m not going insane when there is an event I want to go to but it doesn’t fit into my schedule. I’ve had to miss some fun things like birthday parties and baby showers because of work, but I’m not feeling guilty that I have to work because my friends understand.

Being selfish is a bit of self-care and I never really thought of that before. I think it has been a big step in my mental health although it isn’t fixing everything. But giving time to myself does allow me to think through the stress I’m feeling and figuring out what is causing it and what I can do to make it a bit better. And I know I’ve said this probably a million times, but I am also working on time management to work on my stress. I hate when I get to the end of the day and I still have so much to get done. I’m trying to work on doing stuff throughout the day and not just after work or after my workout.

But this time, I’m also working on my physical self-care too. I love to look at different beauty products, but I’m not always someone who uses them. But I decided to get a set of sheet masks from Amazon (they were pretty cheap) so I could work on my skin care. They are nice, but I look pretty creepy when I’m using them!

I’ve only used one so far so I don’t see a huge difference in my skin, but I think the mental break I get when I use those masks help too. It is time that I have to be still and relax, which I probably don’t do enough. I also found a nice new body cream at CVS on sale that I got that feels a lot more luxurious than my normal body lotion. Sometimes, it’s the little things like those that make a big difference.

I’ve been working a lot of doing these self-care things this week and I really have noticed my stress levels go down. I still need it to go down a bit more before I feel totally like myself, but I’m glad it’s getting better. I didn’t need to turn to medication (which I’d rather not use since it will make my Vyvanse less effective) and I’m not waiting it out and suffering. I’m taking action and figuring out what works. Or at least what works for me right now. I know that things will change all the time and what is working now might not work later this year. But at least I was productive in figuring out what I needed to do.

I know that this self-care is a positive step, but I still am working on how to stop the stress from getting to this level. I want to be able to stop it before it gets this bad and I start feeling overwhelmed. But as I’ve learned I have to look at the baby steps I take and not get frustrated. I can’t be expected to figure out everything right away so I need to appreciate that I figured out one small step toward figuring it all out. And hopefully next time, I’ll figure out the next small step.

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged beauty, mental health, panic, panic attack, self-care, selfish, stress

Spa Day! (or It’s Almost Like Being At Disneyland)

Posted on July 27, 2017 | 1 comment

After I had my eye appointment, I had to rush out to get over to Santa Monica. All the stress I felt at the doctor was about to be wiped away because I had an appointment to get a facial at the Burke Williams spa in Santa Monica!

I’ve been to Burke Williams before, but never to the Santa Monica location. But I’ve driven past it probably hundreds of times because it’s right by so many other places I go to in that area. But this was an extra special adventure to Burke Williams because my Disneyland girls would be there!

Michelle works there and does facials and she told us that we should come in for facials sometime. And it worked out well to go this past week so Dani and I made appointments back to back with Michelle. Since I had my doctor appointment, Dani took the first appointment and I got there while she was already being worked on by Michelle. But it was fine since I wanted to take my time getting relaxed after a bit of a stressful morning. And as soon as I went up the elevator to the spa, I could feel my body calm down.

Each Burke Williams has a lot of similar stuff, but they are all different. This one was the first one I’ve been do where it wasn’t as isolated from the outside world, and I kind of liked that. When you were in the lounge area, there was a balcony that you could go onto that looked over Downtown Santa Monica.

When I checked in for my appointment, I was given a quick tour of the spa. They have a lot of the same amenities that the other spas had like the hot tubs, steam rooms, and saunas. Plus the locker room had showers with anything you might need and a nice vanity area where you could do your hair and makeup. I was shown where my locker was and I changed out of my clothes and put on my swimsuit and the robe that they provided.

I looked around at the different amenities and then headed out to the lounge to wait for Michelle to finish Dani’s facial. The three of us chatted for a minute before Dani headed back to hang out in the steam room and Michelle brought me back to the facials room.

I’ve had facials lots of times, but this was the first time it was a friend of mine doing it. It was a bit weird, but I think acknowledging that it was weird helped to make it seem less weird. There’s no reason it should feel odd and it’s probably better that a friend is working on my skin since she knows what is normal and not normal for me.

Most of the time when I’m getting a beauty treatment like a facial, I’m quiet and that’s my time to relax. But since it was Michelle working on me, we kind of used that time as gossip hour. We were catching up on life since it’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen each other and both of us have had some fun things going on in life. While it wasn’t probably as calming of an experience as most of my spa ones are, this was just as fun if not more since it was just like hanging out when we are at Disneyland.

After my facial was done, I headed back to the locker room area to find Dani and we headed to the hot tub. And since Michelle was done working then she came back to join us! It was nice hanging out in the hot tub and socializing. It was really relaxing and I’ve realized how much I’ve missed getting to be in a hot tub. And since that day I had a workout plus the doctor appointment, I really needed to be able to relax and calm down. This was exactly what I needed.

We had our same catching up and gossip as a group as we do at Disneyland. And we did talk about when we would be back at Disneyland. There’s a small chance we will be going in about a month, but that depends on a few scheduling things we all have.

After about 30 minutes in the hot tub, it was time to get out and get ready to leave. I took a quick shower there (I wish I had more time because the shower was pretty awesome!) and changed and met Dani and Michelle in the lobby so we could pay. Michelle had to park pretty far away so we drove her back to her car (she had to get home to do some errands with her boyfriend) and Dani and I drove to The Counter to get some burgers for dinner.

Probably not the best thing to get after a spa day, but it was exactly what I was craving and it was delicious!

I have a feeling that this spa outing will become a somewhat regular thing for us. Michelle did an amazing job on my skin and I feel like it’s still glowing now! I used to be better about my skin care and this has inspired me to get back to that. Facials are good to do a few times a year and I’m hopefully going to be able to do that. And now that I don’t feel awkward having a friend work on my skin, it will be even more fun the next time I have Michelle do my facial!

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff

Tagged Burke Williams, facial, friends, relaxation, spa

Relaxation (or Taking Some Time To Myself)

Posted on April 7, 2016 | Comments Off

I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. Between work, workouts, acting, and other stuff I feel like my days are getting filled up really quickly. This is awesome and I’m so happy about it, but sometimes I realize that I need to take a step back and relax for a bit. I’m finally getting better at realizing when my body feels like it’s getting to a breaking point, so when I started to feel like that at the beginning of this week I took some time to myself. I’m glad that I didn’t get to the point where I got exhausted and needed a few days to get back to my usual self. This time, I really only spent 2 afternoons being selfish and doing things for myself and I feel back to normal already.

I ended up canceling plans that I had made this Monday to do some stuff that I needed to do but had been putting off. Even though my plans were more fun, getting stuff crossed off my to-do list is really nice too! None of the things on my to-do list were urgent, so I had been putting them off for a while. I think knowing that I should be doing something but not was causing a bit of stress in my life. So getting those done relived some stress and made the rest of the things I needed to get done not feel as overwhelming.

I’ve also rediscovered my love for the library. I used to use the library all the time. My original e-reader was a Sony because at the time that was the only one that could get library e-books. But then I almost forgot about the library and I let my library card expire (did you know they could do that?). So a few weeks ago, I went down to the local library branch to get a new library card so I could start enjoying library books again. I’ve checked out a bunch of stuff lately. It’s so easy to get library books on my Kindle (much easier than my old e-reader) so I’ve gotten a ton of new books lately.

I feel so silly that I haven’t used the library lately, but now I’m back and obsessed! After running the errands I had to run on Monday, my afternoon and evening were spent reading and that was such a perfect way to spend the day. I still have books that I buy, but I’m so glad that the library is pretty well stocked with e-books so I can curb that spending habit. I know I’ve spent a lot of money on books (I love them so much!) and if I could limit my book spending just to the books I love so much and know I’ll be reading over and over again, that will help me budget better. I still can’t get over how this wasn’t something I thought of sooner, but at least know I’m on the right track to reducing my spending habits without reducing my reading material.

I also spent time getting ready for my upcoming trip for Rayshell’s wedding. I had already gotten a dress to wear and some cute and comfortable shoes. But I realized that if I was wearing open toed shoes at a nice event my feet probably should look nice. So on Tuesday after work, I went to my favorite pedicure place and splurged on a pedicure. My last pedicure was last spring, so I think that I had deserved to get another one. And I found the perfect color to put on my toes for a wedding!

Pedicure

I’ve still got a couple of other things that I need to do before this weekend, but there’s nothing that feels so big that it will be tough to complete. I want to be able to enjoy my weekend (which includes the wedding and a 5K race) and not have to stress about things at home or things that need to be done. Most of the things on my to-do list now are ideas that I’d like to work on (like reorganizing my desk and cleaning out my workout clothes drawer), but they won’t affect me if they don’t happen this week or month. I would like to work on checking things off more often so they don’t build up like they have. That’s just something else I need to work on in my self-improvement so I can maybe start treating these relaxation days and rewards for getting stuff done!

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, beauty, busy, pedicure, scheduling, shopping, stress, wedding

Getting A New Look (or Two Attempts To Dye My Hair)

Posted on September 30, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve had a very similar hair color for several years now. I’ve had small changes and have had it dyed a little darker or a little lighter (depending on the season), but it’s pretty much been the same for a long time. And while I’ve loved the color it’s been, I’ve been ready for a change for a while. But I’ve been putting off changing up my hair.

Part of the reason for this is that if I change my hair color drastically, I have to get new headshots. It’s just the way it is. Before I was really pursuing acting, I would change my hair color almost every time I had my hair done. In some ways I miss that, but in other ways I’m glad I’m past that stage (I’m not good looking as a blonde).

So the last time my friend Erin did my hair, I mentioned that I thought that the next time she did my hair I would go for a big change. She’s totally cool with changing it up (I think she wishes she could change my hair more often) and we texted back and forth a couple of pictures of ideas. We had finally settled on one and this past Friday I finally got to change up my color.

Besides being excited to change my hair, I desperately needed a cut and color. It had been several months since my hair was done, and it was looking a bit scraggly.

First, Erin dyed my hair the color that she had picked out and texted a sample of to me. While it looked good in the sample, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. I did really love the color, but I knew that it wasn’t the most marketable color for me to have (I’m a big mad that I loved the color so much and had to change it). Then Erin added a brunette toner on top of the color she had dyed it earlier and it came out perfect and exactly like the picture I had sent to her.

I’m so in love with my new color, but it’s a big change and I’m still getting used to it. It looks so much healthier now and I think that the color is going to be easier to manage. And so far, everyone who has seen me has loved it. And while it looks much shorter in the after picture, it’s pretty much the same length it was before.

Because of the hair color change, I’ll be doing new headshots very soon and I’m excited to see how casting directors react to the new color. Hopefully the new look will get me more auditions because I won’t look like a lot of the girls in my category (we’ve all had light auburn hair for a while).

Change is sometimes scary for me, but this time I think it’s a really good change and I’m excited to see what my new hair color inspires me to do!

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Posted in Acting, Beauty, Fun Stuff

Tagged beauty, hair

People Don’t Get It (or My Comment On The Dear Fat People Video)

Posted on September 8, 2015 | 3 comments

Some of you may have seen a video online called “Dear Fat People”. I’m not going to link to it because I don’t want to necessarily promote it (if you want to watch it, it’s pretty easy to find). I actually had not seen the video until yesterday and I had some pretty strong feelings about it.

First of all, I guess the fat people video is supposed to be funny. The woman in it is a comedian who thought that it would be seen as a joke (or at least that’s what I’ve read in interviews). In the video, she claims that fat shaming isn’t a thing. People who are fat should be shamed so they can change themselves. She thinks that fat people are fat because they don’t know that it’s wrong and don’t know how to fix it. She tells a story about a family who are all overweight (she says that they smell like sausages and sweat out Crisco) and are on a plane with her. According to her, she has to hold back the son’s fat while he is sitting next to her so it doesn’t cover her. She goes on and on about more stories about how fat people don’t realize that they need to change because they are all dying off from fat diseases. She does say that this video isn’t about anyone who may have a medical condition who makes them fat.

I have so many issues with this video that I don’t even know where to start.

First of all, her disclaimer that this video isn’t about anyone with a medical condition is stupid. How does she know that the people she discusses in her video don’t have a medical condition? While I don’t have a medical condition that causes my weight issues (beyond my eating disorder) I do have an invisible disability with my hip issues. I get a pass when I go to Disneyland that lets me sit off to the side when I wait for rides. I still wait just as long as anyone in line, but I don’t have to stand in line while waiting. When it’s my turn, I get to go onto the ride. Many guests think this is a front of the line/instant access pass. It did used to be that way, but too many people were faking injuries to get it. Back then, the disability line for many rides were longer than the regular line (I once waited 3 hours for Space Mountain when the regular line was 1 because I need to use the accessible coaster car so I can get into the ride safely). Now that it’s not considered as desirable to people who fake their injuries, the wait times are similar or maybe a little longer than the regular line. With this pass, I’ve had some people shame me for using it. I’ve had people tell me that if I wasn’t so fat that I wouldn’t have to cheat the system. I’ve been called names. I’ve been pointed out and laughed at. In the beginning, I used to carry around the pictures from my surgery to call out people, but now I just don’t care. But it does make me mad when someone assumes that someone doesn’t have a disability because they can’t see it.

I also find the story of the airplane completely unbelievable. If someone doesn’t fit into one seat and will be encroaching onto another seat, the airlines are pretty quick to force that person to buy a second seat so they have enough room. The guideline is that the armrest needs to go completely down without any spillage for the airline to agree that you take up one seat (yes, I’ve been called out on this and it was stupid because there was more than enough room for the armrests to go down). If this woman really had to hold back the fat of someone to enjoy their flight, I’m sure that the other passenger would have been asked to buy a second seat. I’m sure that either this story is made up or exaggerated for theatrical purposes.

Finally, the person in the video believes that people who are fat don’t know what to do to fix it. While this might be true for some overweight people, the majority of the people I know with weight issues know more about health, nutrition, diet, and exercise than almost anyone else. This is because most of us have tried every diet under the sun to lose the weight and get healthy. I can tell you the calorie counts of so many different foods. If you tell me your weight, I can guess how many calories you will burn if you walk or run a mile with pretty decent accuracy. I know what drinks have added sugars, fake sugars, or have a base other than water. I probably could teach a class on nutrition by this point. And I think that most of you who are regular readers would agree that I am working pretty darn hard on my fitness and know what I need to do. If I didn’t have my eating disorder, I’d probably be a size 2 now.

To anyone who watched that video and was embarrassed about your weight issues, there’s no need to be. Everyone has their struggles in life. Those of us with weight issues just have our issues on the outside where everyone can see them. If you are happy at the size that you are and your doctors say that you are healthy, then stay exactly how you are. If you want to lose weight, do it. There are plenty of great and healthy ways to lose weight and become the best that you can be.

And if you watched that video and felt like that people who are overweight should be shamed, you should know that shaming someone isn’t probably going to motivate them. For people with eating disorders, it will probably make the problem worse. If there is someone you love who is an unhealthy weight and you are worried about them, try to let them bring the issue to you. It’s embarrassing to discuss these things at times and if someone else brings it up they might not want to talk about it and then keep it buried inside even longer.

I’m aware that this is a rant about a silly video online. But if I had seen that video online maybe 5 years ago, I would have had a very different reaction to it. I see it as silly now, but then I would have been devastated and would have wanted to avoid the public in fear of random people trying to shame or taunt me because of my weight.

But now I know that no matter how skinny or fat I might be, I’m still the same fabulous person. People love me for who I am and not what I look like. And anyone who thinks differently isn’t someone who I need in my life.

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged beauty, binge eating, eating disorder, fitness, health issues, hip issues, love, weight gain, weight loss

Bulu Box (or Testing Out A Subscription Box)

Posted on August 26, 2015 | 1 comment

I haven’t really been a part of the subscription boxes bandwagon yet. I did have my subscription to Gwynnie Bee, but that was a little bit different from what subscription boxes are like. So many of my friends do subscribe to these boxes, and they all seem to love it. But for me, the financial issue has always come up. I don’t want to pay $30 a month if I’m not gonna like everything that’s in the box.

But I was recently given the opportunity to test out Bulu Box. Bulu Box is a subscription service for health products. You can get things like vitamins, supplements, and other things to help you live a healthy life. Since I’m working on my health and fitness so hard, I really wanted to see what products were out there that could support me in my journey.

What I love about Bulu Box is the price. I think this is the cheapest subscription box out there. It’s only $10 a month and you typically get between 4-5 sample products in each box. I think that most other subscription boxes are in the $30 range.

In my sample box, I got six different products (one of these products was a bonus product). I received a protein powder, a fueling formula, a fiber supplement, an anti-itch cream, a snack bar, and a toothbrush. Unfortunately for me, some of these products I knew I wasn’t going to use. I’m very particular with protein powders so I was a little cautious to try this one. It’s made with cricket protein, but I found it to be pretty yummy! I just am not sure if I will use it regularly since I don’t normally do protein drinks (I think it’s a mental block after doing the RFO diet for so long). And I wasn’t able to try the fueling formula because of some of the ingredients in it, but my other friends who have tried it have enjoyed it.

I did love the anti-itch cream. I used it on a recent sunburn and it did such a great job helping the itch and sting of a sunburn go away. I also tried it on a spider bite that I got the other day and felt that it did the trick for that as well. I think that I’m totally going to get that in the full size and have it in my medicine cabinet for future sunburns, bug bites, and scratches.

Even though some of these products in the sample box are for things that I’m not gonna be able to use, I did love the idea of what they included in the box. There was a great variety and if you aren’t as picky as me I’m sure that you’ll love all the products! And if there is a sample that you love, you can purchased them in the full-size on their online shop. If you’re a subscriber for Bulu Box, you have the opportunity take a survey about the samples in your box and get rewards points that can be used toward the full-size products. That is something that seems great to me.

And I was given a promo code to share with all of you! If you would like to try Bulu Box for yourself, I can get you 50% off a 3 month subscription. You just need to enter the promo code SWEATPINK to get your discount!

Have any of you tried Bulu Box or another subscription box service in the past that you’ve loved? I’d love to hear your stories since I’m a subscription box newbie!

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Posted in Beauty, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Saving, Shopping

Tagged fitness, food, health issues

Continuing The Birthday Fun (or Pie and Makeup)

Posted on August 13, 2015 | Comments Off

Even though my birthday had ended, I wasn’t ready to end the celebrating quite yet. I had a couple of other birthday deals I wanted to take advantage of, so I did some of them on Monday (my day off from the day job).

First on the birthday agenda was Marie Callendars for birthday pie. This has been a tradition for a while because they send you a coupon for $5 off an entree plus a free slice of pie. So I went with my friend Emily to the location that we like the most.

I hadn’t seen Emily in a while. Our schedules just haven’t been matching up and we haven’t been attending the same events lately. So it was awesome to get to see her and hear about all the adventures she’s been on lately. She’s got a new gig as a writer for the LA Kings (she’s a super fan) so that was really fun to hear about.

Emily and I both got some yummy food, but we were both saving plenty of room for the pie!

We got the chocolate satin pie (which we get every time) and the lemon cream cheese pie. They were both delicious but I was so full after eating!

I had something that I had to attend that evening in the same area as where we got lunch, so I decided to try to stick around there for the afternoon instead of going home. I went through my birthday deals that I had left, and decided to go over to Sephora for my free birthday gift!

I also picked up a few other things while I was there (I had a few things I needed but hadn’t had a chance to go to a Sephora location recently), but I was most excited for the freebie!

I don’t usually wear lipstick because I’m a lip balm addict (I use Natural Ice as my balm of choice), and if I wear lipstick I can’t put on more lip balm. But I’ve also been saying that I’d love to have a great red lipstick to wear for special occasions. So this freebie was perfect! I haven’t had a chance to wear it yet, but I’m sure I will soon. I’m not very good about putting on makeup, but I think that I can do lipstick ok (unlike eyeliner).

After my Sephora run, I had to get to my evening event so I wasn’t able to do any more of the birthday deals on my list. I don’t think I’m going to do them all this year. But there are maybe 1 or 2 more that I know that I want to take advantage of before the month (and the deals are over).

I know I’ve said this every year, but I love how I can just extend my birthday to be the entire month!

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Posted in Beauty, Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, birthday deals, food, free, lunch, makeup

Feeling Refreshed (or Looking Good While Babysitting)

Posted on June 3, 2015 | Comments Off

With so much going on lately, some of my regular “maintenance” things have been forgotten. I usually get my hair done pretty regularly but with everything keeping me busy I just kept putting off doing it. I’ve had some people make some comments about my hair not looking its best, so I realized that I needed to stop procrastinating and finally get my hair done.

I finally made an appointment with my friend who does my hair this past weekend and since I would be over there anyway I agreed to babysit as well. I’ve been watching her kids for forever so they are usually pretty good for me. And since it was going to pretty much just dinner, watch a movie, and then put the kids to bed; I knew it would be a pretty easy evening.

But before babysitting, I got my hair cut and colored. I’ve been getting it dyed red for a very long time now. I’d like to switch it up a little bit, but that also means getting new headshots. So we have to keep my hair in pretty much the same color family. But my friend was able to make it a bit more copper than it has been in the past, so while it’s still similar it’s a nice subtle change for me.

I love when my hair is freshly dyed and looking so nice! If I could afford to get my hair dyed as soon as my roots are starting to show, I would do so. But for now, I’m usually getting it done every 3 months (I’m hoping to change that to every other month soon).

I always think it’s pretty funny that when I have my hair looking the best that I usually spend that night babysitting. But that’s how it goes when you babysit your hairstylist’s kids.

The babysitting job was relatively easy. Since the kids know me so well they sometimes try to pull an attitude with me, but nothing that bad (nothing compared to some families whose kids have hit me). Plus, when they pull an attitude with me my friend trusts me enough to handle it and call them out. So I don’t feel like I have to put up with her kids lying to me and arguing with me about things (usually about dumb things like how they claim they are allowed 4 different desserts).

But besides the kids trying to trick me into extra desserts, they were super well-behaved and went to bed without too much fighting. And once the kids were asleep, I spent the rest of the time there reading my book.

While I love being super social and busy, it’s also super nice to take care of myself and have time to read (and in an air-conditioned house!). While I didn’t get to take advantage of my awesome looking hair that night, it was fine with me.

At least I finally got my hair done and my roots and split ends taken care of and nobody will say that my hair is looking a little scraggly!

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff

Tagged babysitting, beauty, hair

YSL Mascara (or Showing Off My Limited Makeup Skills)

Posted on March 26, 2015 | Comments Off

I have always wanted to be a makeup person. I think that makeup can be so fun and make you look so glamorous. But somehow, I never got the makeup gene.

My mom wears makeup most days so you’d think that I would have learned from her, but somehow that talent wasn’t passed down to me. I’ve taken makeup classes before and have had friends who are makeup artists try to teach me, but there is always just a disconnect there. So I’ve had to accept the fact that when I want to get my makeup done for fun events, I must have someone else do it for me.

One of the only makeup things that I can do is mascara. That seems pretty foolproof to me (same with concealer and lip gloss). So when I found out that Influenster was sending me some mascara, I was so excited!

I got the Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effect Faux Clis mascara. And I have to say that this mascara is pretty amazing!

First of all, I think that it’s a pretty gorgeous product.

I don’t pick out my makeup by how good it will look on my counter, but this really does look pretty and make my makeup area look nice and classy. And the gold makes my makeup collection look luxurious and fancy!

My first impression of the mascara was that it smelled really nice! That’s so unusual for mascara, but the fragrance is floral but not overpowering. And I’m so happy it doesn’t have a medical or chemical smell like many mascaras do.

I decided to do a before and after photo to show you all how nice just adding the mascara looks. Sorry for the creepy closeup photos of my eyes.

With doing nothing else (no eyeliner, shadow, or concealer), there is a really big difference between the two photos! I love mascara that makes it look like I’m wearing eyeliner because that’s one of the most impossible makeup things for me to do.

I put the mascara on pretty early in the morning and it lasted all day without smudging or flaking. And it didn’t irritate my contact lenses either (something that most mascaras do). I’m glad that it didn’t bother my contacts. So many of the contact lens-friendly mascaras are clumpy or don’t really do much. So to find a “normal” mascara that happens to be contact lens-friendly is something special.

Since this particular mascara that I got wasn’t waterproof (they do have a waterproof formula), it was pretty easy to take off. Just a few swipes with a cotton pad that had eye makeup remover on it and my lashes were perfectly clean (I didn’t even have any smudges under my eyes when I woke up the next morning).

I do have another mascara that I love and use a lot, but I think that the YSL Volume Effect Faux Clis is now going to be in the regular mascara rotation! I just can’t get over how awesome it was! And it will be perfect for special events when I can’t get my makeup done because it really does look like I have eyeliner or false lashes on while I’m wearing it!

Thank you again to Influenster for sending this to me so I could test it out (and share it with you all)!

FTC Disclosure: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Comments Off on YSL Mascara (or Showing Off My Limited Makeup Skills)

Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff

Tagged makeup

Spa Time (or A Relaxing Day With My Mom And Sister-In-Law)

Posted on March 5, 2015 | 1 comment

While a majority of my weekend getaway trip was dedicated to wine tasting, we did save Sunday to be a very relaxing day.

When we were planning this trip, the original idea was to go away to a spa retreat sort of place. But we couldn’t find the right type of place for us, so we scrapped that idea. Then, when we decided on wine tasting, we agreed that we would still add a spa element to the trip. The hotel we stayed at had a really great spa, so it worked out perfectly!

Krystle booked a wrap and a massage and my mom and I each booked a massage and facial. All of our spa packages also included lunch!

The spa was located in the building between the building where my room was and the building where Krystle’s room was (all the hotel rooms were in buildings that had 4 rooms each).

Since the spa was only steps away from my room, I decided to not worry about dressing nice and created a “spa outfit” out of workout pants and a hoodie.

After having some breakfast, we headed to the spa to enjoy our midday relaxation.

When we got to the spa and checked in, we headed into the locker room to change into robes and wait for our names to be called for our treatments. The way it all lined up, we all had our first treatments at 11am and our second treatments at noon.

My first treatment was my massage. While I love getting a massage, because my skin is so sensitive it can hurt quite a bit (and leave me super bruised). I always tell the person who is giving me a massage to use super light pressure, but more often than not they don’t do that. And because I’m trying to be polite, I don’t always speak up.

But this time, the technician listened to me and it was wonderful! It was super relaxing and it felt like time flew by! It was also an aromatherapy massage and I was allowed to pick what scents I would like. I didn’t really know what to pick, so it was suggested to have it be lavender and peppermint. That combination smelled like chocolate and it was fabulous!

After my massage, I headed back to the waiting room where I met up with my mom and Krystle again. My mom loved her facial and Krystle loved her wrap. Then it was time for the two of them to each get their massage and for me to get my facial.

Facials are something that I do indulge in a bit more often. With my skin, it’s important for me to stay on top of taking care of it. So I try to get a facial at least once a year (and it doesn’t hurt that I found a fabulous place that only charges $40 for a facial!).

It was a relatively standard facial. Cleansing, exfoliation, mask, extraction, facial massage, and moisturizer. But while the mask was on my face, I also got paraffin wax for my hands (they are still super soft now!). And my skin looked amazing afterward!

When we were all done and changed back into our clothes, we went to a table outside the spa next to the pool and ordered our spa lunch. We all ordered the same thing (lemonade and a turkey wrap) and had a nice relaxing lunch.

After lunch, my mom wanted to go walk around town and do some shopping but Krystle and I wanted to hang out at the pool. So we split up and were going to meet up again before going to dinner.

It’s hard to believe that this is winter in Sonoma (although we did have the crazy hailstorm the day before).

I did enjoy the hot tub, but mainly I enjoyed laying out in the sun being lazy.

After some sun time (and when my skin was starting to turn a little pink despite the SPF 50 I had on), I headed back to my room to shower and dress for dinner.

Our dinner that night was at the steakhouse at the hotel. It was perfect and totally worth not having a steak right after the cleanse ended. It was a delicious steak and while my mom and Krystle enjoyed some red wine, I enjoyed some sparkling wine.

Seriously, this trip was the perfect trip! I may have had some travel delays (5 hours of delays over my 2 flights), but once we were in Sonoma pretty much everything on the trip went off without any issues. Thank you Mom for the trip and I’m so excited to see where we go for our next girls’ getaway!

1 Comment

Posted in Beauty, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged mom, Napa, Sonoma, spa, trip, vacation

Category Archives: Beauty

Figuring Out Some Self-Care (or Working On My Physical And Mental Health)

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