Love it or Leave it

I have a problem, a beauty supply problem. I cannot walk by the health and beauty section of a store without finding a few things to go in my basket. There is a Sally's in town, which has become the spot for most of my retail therapy sessions. Because of this I have accumulated a few finds some I love and some I will leave behind next time.

Love: 

Beyond Belief / ABH Pore Refining: clay mask (similar here)

This was in the sale bin at Sally Beauty. I snagged it for $3.49 and the most recent version is $7.19 (which I would pay). You apply to clean skin and give it 20 minutes to harden. Then you just wash it away and marvel at the difference. It feels odd as it hardens but it's easy to wash off. It made my face less shiny, more even skin tone, and the next morning the pesky bumps had either reduced in size or were ready to meet their demise. It's a weekly treatment that's great for oily skin like mine.

Generic Value Product / Volumizing Root Lifter: compare to Matrix and Amplify (found here)

Limp hair? This buddy is your new best friend. I bought this product while I was looking for another suggested on this blog, in this tutorial. I apply this product in the same way she applies her's. The heat from your blow dryer, curling iron, or flat iron activates the formula and provides the lift. If you get heavy handed and create that sticky, wet hair (don't act like you've never done that with hair spray) just run the iron through the section again and voila, it's gone.  

Femme Couture / Cake Eyeliner: colbalt and black (similar here)

I found this on sale for $0.79! Regularly $6! Major score. It's worth digging through the sale bins every once in a while. This applies easier than liquid and pencils. It wears like a liquid liner. It doesn't take much on the brush to apply, but it stays on the brush for a while so you may want to invest in a brush that is assigned to this liner alone.

Palladio / Herbal Eye Shadow Primer (found here)

Love is a strong word for this product. I'm personally not crazy about the applicator. The primer itself does keep shadow on all day and keeps it from cracking or streaking. But the applicator can be difficult to use. I end up using my fingers to apply. If it were in a tube that you could squeeze out the desired amount I could say the L word. 

Leave:

TRESemme / Dry Shampoo: Volumizing (found here)

 Oh boy, where to begin. I watched the tutorial before applying (which I suggest if you try this product). You shake the can before using and in between sprays, spraying the roots of small sections of hair. After letting it sit for 2-3 minutes you run your fingers through your hair to work the shampoo in. Well, after spraying two sections as advised the thing was clogged. So I took off the cap, rinsed, and started again. Two sprays later it's clogged again (what am I doing wrong here?). Then, after running my finger through my hair it looked WORSE than when I started. It looked like it'd been attacked by a bottle of hairspray.

Maybelline / Dream Bouncy Blush (found here) 

This product is not as bouncy as Maybelline would like you to believe. Rather than attaching to the applicator (i.e. my fingers) it just slides around the base. It comes of in little clumps and is difficult to blend into your cheeks. The color is fine, if you can get it to apply evenly. I prefer their FIT products or the Mineral Powder.


Looking at my list the products I loved were professional products from Sally Beauty while the ones I left were from Walmart. Hmm, interesting to see if that continues. What are the beauty products you can't live without?

She Wore What? Black and Blue

 

Dress: Lucky Penny 

Shoes: Marshall's maybe?

Watch: Fossil  

Earrings and bracelet: Sozo Children

Who says you can't wear black and blue together? This dress is the perfect melody of the two colors. The top neckline of the dress is a woven pattern of fabrics looking like a patchwork quilt. The shoes compliment this pattern without being too matchy-matchy (yes that's a word).  Perfect outfit to look put together without being too dressed up. And it has POCKETS - win!

She wore what? Sunday Afternoon

On a Sunday afternoon I try to make a habit of doing a whole lot of nothing. Which means, my outfit usually consist of a oversized t-shirt, jeans (leggings or sweats) and a ponytail. Today is no exception. I did venture to the grocery store to buy banana for some Sunny Morning Muffins but they are completely worth it. 

Top: Aerie (gift from B's mom) 
Earrings: Charming Charlie 
Necklace: Forever 21
Watch: Fossil 
Rings: Grandmother's
Jeans: I have no clue. (Probably Old Navy)
Shoes: Tommy Hilfiger by way of Marshall's

August Birchbox

This month is my second Birchbox, each month they send out beauty samples (for $10 a month). If you want to see last month's box, check out this post. This month Birch box teamed up with Pencils of Promise, which is working to create schools and programs around the world. A part of this month's proceeds go toward the cause.


The theme of this box was beauty school, it came with helpful makeup tips.

 

Caldrea hand soap ($10.50) these went straight to my pocket book for those situations when your in a poorly stocked bathroom. 

Juicy Couture perfume ($70) this smell is awesome, floral/berry scent. If it were some where between $40 or $50 (or less of course) I'd buy it. But it's just not in the budget at the moment. (This sample sprays on, so no risk of spilling like I did the previous scent) 

 

stila waterproof eye liner ($20) love, love, love this eye liner. It goes on much like a liquid liner without the fuss. Seriously considering buying, but happy to have a full size in my box. 

Yu-Be cream ($16) it smells like cheap carmex chapstick. It has a lotion consistency and you can uses on your lips or skin. The sample size is very, very, very small. 

Schick Hydro Silk Razor ($9.99) haven't used this yet, it's in my gym bag but I am a fan of Schick products. (I also think it's funny that Birchbox writes a note acting like they 'found' Schick . . . as if we haven't been buying it at Wal-Mart for years!)

 

Love to hear your thoughts on these products or hear what came in your box.

High Five For Friday

TGIF people! I couldn't be happier to be able to sleep a few extra hours tomorrow morning. Top five things from this week:

1. I finally got some moe art on the wall in the bedroom (forgive the unmade bed and yest that blue lamp is bright and made from a wine bottle). 

2. We put a recliner in our living room and got rid of the stupid dog crate! Now it's like we finally have a living room, not just a couch with a tv. 

3. The mean old pit bulls have been extremely cuddly this week (this a small view of the living room pre-recliner) 

4. My 'jalapeno poppers' were a hit, I might actually get asked to bring food to parties (and not be the cups and plates girl)

 

5. I started working on this quilt again and I'm a little bit faster this time (excuse the grainy picture, it's from my phone) 

  

She Wore What? Simply Pink

 

Shade: Maurices (on sale),  Necklace: Target, Dress: Belk? (Similar or Similar), Shoes: Tommy Hilfiger via Marshalls

It's hard to go wrong with a good summer dress. This outfit is like most of my outfits in the summer: simple. This is one dress that I bought a couple years ago and I truly don't remember where I got it. It's one of my favorites because it's light and easy to accessorize.

On the Audrey scale it's: 

Sleeveless 

Simple 

Goes great with flats (or bare feet) 

Slimming 

Pink 

The only downside is that it wrinkles easily.

Do you have a go-to outfit in the summer? Leave a comment about it or show me on your blog :)

I know, I've been slack. I didn't even manage my High Five for Friday post. Here's an image of how my week has been. (I'm probably the dog being sat on): 

Wish I had this guy with me:

But, nevertheless, I craft on. Here's the latest window project. For this project, most of the labor was completed by my father. I'm not the only crafter (craftsman) in the family.

Step 1: Remove Glass:

Which means dealing with a lot of nails . . .

and leaves you with this.

Step 2: Sanding. This includes a wire brush, power sander, and a putty knife for picking off (possibly lead) paint. Only the brush is pictured here:

Done with sanding.

(we used an air gun powered by a compressor to blow away the dust)

Step 3: Paint

This brand dries in 15 minutes, it just brightens up the wood while still showing off the grain. We wanted it too keep it's character as well as be a focal point in my living room.

First coat:

Finished product:

(that bench was made by my Dad)

This beauty is going to hang in my living room. We are rearranging, so I'm waiting until I have a better idea of where things will live before this window finds it's resting place. I'll keep you posted.

She Wore What? child's play

Dress: Lucky Penny

Necklace: Claire's (a few years ago for an interview)

Bracelet/Earrings: Sozo Children (brother's recent trip to Uganda, Africa)

Belt: Target

Shoes: Marshall's 

 

You gotta love a good summer dress. This one I bought for my trip to Greece last year. So it's a celebratory dress and what better thing to celebrate than a birthday. Tuesday was Daddy's birthday, so being that I had some time off from work (and a few projects to do) I headed down to their house. I love going to my parent's home because it means lots of family time. These pictures were actually taken by my eight (going on twenty) year old niece. We spent most of the afternoon decorating Papa's Island (that's my Dad's grandpaw name) in an eight year old's view of a Hawaiian paradise. I learned a few things from her in the process:

1. I'm an old geezer because I groan when getting up from the floor
2. Santa Clause doesn't get presents for old geezer's like me (shocked)
3. Only girls with long hair can wear hoop earrings (I qualify)
4. I'm lazy (which is probably true)

I'm amazed by the things she teaches me. I may be an old geezer but luckily you're never too old for dress up.

 

In other news, Dad and I hung this baby: 

I'm working on sorting through and editing the rest of the pictures from the trip, but soon I'll show you the pictures of my latest window project. Something a little bit different than this project.

That's something to be proud of . . .

There's something about summer, country music and hats that speak to me. This month is my Daddy's birthday month. My Daddy is a man that likes what he likes and my Daddy likes hats. I didn't post it on here, but for mother's day I made a plaque inspired by this project on  Pinterest (My project was shorter, all black, and said 'family' in grey):

As mentioned, this was a gift for Mother's day. After seeing this Daddy said, "I could put my hats on that." That comment in conjunction with a Montgomery Gentry song (Something To Be Proud Of) was the inspiration for his birthday gift (because Father's day came too soon).

Disclosure: The tricks for this project are not my own. They came from this blog. Be sure to check that out for more details, plus some pretty cute crafts. 

I found a black shelf already decked out with hooks and picture frames for 70% off at Hobby Lobby, (plus an additional 20% off your entire purchase coupon for that day as well).  The rest of the supplies were in my stock pile. So it was a very good day for me.

Supplies: 

• Paint Brushes
• Pen
• Painter's Tape
• Paint (leftover from Mother's Day project)
• Printer paper (and ink)

To start, I printed out the quote "A life you can hang your hat on" in multiple fonts and multiple sizes. Cut the words out and placed them on the shelf until I found a combination that made me happy.

Then, I cleaned the shelf and removed the hangers with a screw driver (oops, that should be in the list of supplies). This is where the fun starts. Using the painters tape to hold the paper in place, trace the outline of the letters with your pen. You will need to make sure you leave an impression on the wood below (this technique works best with wooden crafts). It's difficult to see but the arrow points to the outline in this picture: 

Then, fill in the outline with your paint (very carefully). For me it was easier to trace the outline with my brush first then fill in the middle. It took two "coats" to make this even.

Then continue. I finished by attaching the hooks and cleaning the thing once again. Here's a semi-finished picture. Daddy took it home before I could get the finished product.

For the Mother's day project I used stencils. This would have been a better method because not only can you customize the size and font, it was actually a much quicker (and more forgiving) process.

So get out there and start personalizing things! I hope boyfriend realizes this means nothing is safe from personalization anymore (and you all know how I love to personalize).

High Five for Friday

I know what you're thinking. I've fallen off the edge of the blogging world. But only for the week. Tuesday I had my wisdom teeth removed, which means I spent more time this week asleep than awake.  So this is going to be a interesting High Five.
 

1. Monday I made myself a yummy quesadilla as my 'last supper.' Blackbeans, corn, tomatoes, onions, garlic and pepper jack cheese folded into tortillas. Since then, it's been foods that don't require chewing.

 

2. B brought home these yummy Whole Fruit Smoothies for me. They're 100 calories and only 16g of sugar. The major benefit has been that they require no effort on my part. 

3. My parents came to visit/take care of me this week. It's always great to have time to just sit and be with them. It was also nice to get out of the house, if only for a little while. I'm a lucky girl to have some many amazingly loving people to take care of me when I need to be taken care of.

 

4. Audrey has spend all week by my side. She truly is my best friend and companion.  

  

5.  My new phone came this week! It's a HTC Rhyme by Android. Welcome to the 21st century kbunnylove!

Happy Friday everyone!