DIY Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub - Summer Series!!

Ok seriously who is ready for this? Um me?? Yep...me!  I don't know about you, but I unfortunately do NOT have a perfect Caribbean white sand beach in my backyard. At least not in my Spokane house...that's at my other house, duh guys lol.  So, for now while I'm in Spokane and not blessed with a hammock and palm trees and crystal clear ocean water and soft white sand and warm salty breezy air, I have to kind of improvise. I have a sun so that helps with a tan, but you have to be careful with getting too much sun, we don't want to look like prunes by the time we are 30 if we can help it! So, how about a good fake tanner?? Yes, BUT how do you keep from getting all streaky? Well, my dears, you MUST prep! So how do you get your skin prepped to get the best tan possible AND have a little mini island getaway at the same time? Well over the next few weeks, 3 to be exact, I will be your guide to an amazing bronzed body a perfectly relaxing beachy summer minus the beach...unless you have a beach in which case, let's be better friends ok?? 

The first thing we need to do is slough off all of that dead winter skin. Don't lie, you and I both know that you probably didn't shave as much as you should have during those cold nasty winter months. You probably just shoved your gams in some leggings and uggs and figured that since nobody was going to see your legs it didn't matter. While that is kinda true, it didn't help you much in getting your legs summer ready. Each time you shave, you get rid of dead skin cells that build up on your legs ESPECIALLY in the dry winter months. No worries though, a good exfoliating scrub is all you need!!! I have just what you want too, not only will it leave your legs feeling baby's butt smooth, but it smells amazing! You honestly might think that you are on a beach in the Bahamas somewhere...you can thank me later ;) Ready? OK here we go 

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup Coconut Oil

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

Zest from one Lime (use a microplane grater, or chop REALLY fine)

Lime and Coconut flavored oils

Place 1/2 cup oil, all of the sugar and lime zest into a bowl. Stir to combine and then add the rest of the coconut oil to the mixture (1/3 of a cup ended up being enough for me, but use more or less depending on the consistency that you want). Add the flavored oils to smell the desired smell. 

Place in a cute jar and use in the shower before shaving. Be careful when using because the oils with make the shower floor slippery! You can keep the jar in the shower or store anywhere where the room stays at room temperature for several weeks. 

TA DA!!! Silky smooth legs and a vacation in jar...plus you can eat it...if you want lol. 

So, that is it for now! Next will be my top picks for self tanners and how to apply without getting streaky! I love you all! MUAH!

Sometimes Life Sucks

So, I feel like whenever I write on here things are REALLY good and then something bad happens and I totally just disappear. Without going into too much detail I got a blood clot, almost died, and then pretty soon after that happened, the guy I had been dating that was SO amazing...was not so amazing anymore (or ever actually) and was trying to be amazing with some other girl in Florida. I actually ended things before even finding that out due to the fact that he was acting so weird and being such a jerk to me, but then I found out about the girl about 2 months later....that was just icing on the cake :) So here we are 3 months after that nightmare and I'm finally getting over all of it. It's been hard...like really hard actually. But it's all going to be ok! I'm ok and that is all that matters. Yes life seriously sucks sometimes, hence the title of this blog post, but things do eventually get better and slowly things HAVE in fact been getting better. I have so many exciting things happening right now! As they happen, there will be posts! I am going to get back into posting things again because I was having fun doing it even though it was for such a brief amount of time...the blood clot really kept from doing a whole lot :( I'm not sure what I want to post, but I'll figure it out :) I hope whoever is reading this is having a wonderful day and has had a much better past couple of months than I have had, that being said, I do understand that my couple of bad months pale in comparison to some others and I pray for those people every day! I love you all!!! 

Relaxing Baths and DIY Bath Bomb

 

 

Seriously, how insanely enticing does this look? Whether you are in a relationship or not, every girl deserves to have a bath with candles and rose petals and bubbles. Ever since I was little girl, I have always wanted to have an amazing jacuzzi bath tub to relax in. I still haven't achieved that dream yet, but ONE DAY!!! There isn't any reason that you can't still relax in a bathtub with candles all around you, rose petals are optional, bubbles are a MUST!!! Not only are warm baths wonderful and reducing stress, but they also can help to increase blood flow, stimulate circulation, help with muscle fatigue, and can help to clear your mind. Who DOESN'T need that in their life? Between the hustle and bussle of work, school, kids, family, what have you, sometimes we forget to take the time out of our day to treat ourselves. So I am here to tell you to STOP, just take an hour or two out of your week and do something for YOU! Clearly my idea for today is to take a relaxing bath...mostly because that sounds really amazing right now, but also because I just saw this amazing idea for some little bath bombs! I wish I could take the credit for these, but I can't unfortunately. I found the idea on onegoodthingbyjillee.com. Now, I'm sure you have seen the bath bombs from Lush that are fairly expensive. They have a huge array of colors and scents which is awesome, but I'm sure that with some determination you could make WHATEVER kind you want...and for quite a bit cheaper might I add. On top of that, you can make them into any shape or size and have fun while doing it! So let's get to it!!!

 

 

 

Basic Bath Bomb Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup citric acid crystals
• 1 cup baking soda
• ½ cup corn starch
• ½ cup of oil (almond oil, canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil) (Some people say this is TOO much oil. Cut back if you are having problems getting them to harden.)
• 2-3 drops of essential oils (lavender, peppermint, any of your choice)
• 2-3 drops food coloring (depending on the color you want)

Procedures:

• In a bowl, place 1 cup of citric acid crystals, 1 cup of baking soda, ½ cup of corn starch and ½ cup oil.
• Add 2 to 3 drops of the fragrance of your choice. (Use more if you want it to smell stronger, or less if you want the fragrance to be less intense)
• Add 2 to 3 drops of food color of your choice. (More or less depending on the desired color)
• Mix well with a spoon or with your hands until a soft dough is formed.
• You can handle the dough and form balls or you can press the soft dough into any molds of your choice. You can put colored bath crystals or herbs or dried rose petals on the muffin pans or molds you are going to use before pressing in the dough.
• Let the pressed dough or balls set overnight before you unmold them.

 

 

 



So in the spirit of valentine's day, I'm going to make mine into little hearts and make them pink!!!!! I'm gonna make them this weekend and update later! I can't wait! Have fun with them and remember to RELAX!!!! Let me know how they work out for you!!! :)

 

 

 

Strawberries and Champagne??

 

 

To clarify, I don't drink, so I've never actually had champagne, BUT I know that anytime somebody is planning something romantic they get champagne haha. I ALSO know that as an eyeshadow color it is beautiful! Now as for the strawberry portion of this post...I've never in my life worn pink eyeshadow, but I was thinking about chocolate dipped strawberries (mmmm) and then how pretty I think pink and brown look together. Guess who has brown eyes?? ME and if pink and brown look so good together, then pink eyeshadow MUST look beautiful with brown eyes...right???! Answer: YES!!! Even more beautiful than I could have imagined. I will post a tutorial on my youtube channel later, I'm just too lazy to edit right now, but be on the lookout. For now I will explain what I did, list the products and show you lots of pictures! YAY!

 

 

 

 

Alright so, to begin, I started with a fairly flawless face, I tried to keep my face pretty basic, not really a whole lot of contouring or highlighting or anything. I wanted the focus to be on my eyes and my eyes alone. I filled my eyebrows in with a medium brown powder. Then using an eyesshadow primer, I applied that all over my lid. I then used a mix between a satin finish rosy pink shadow and a matte lilac shadow. Basically I was just experimenting with color so I just layered these shadows until I got the desired color. Next I applied a skin colored shadow under my brow and in my crease. I then placed a light brown shadow in the crease and slightly above the crease and then applied a dark brown shadow in my eye socket. The key to this look is to get a really good blend between all the colors, but to keep the colors true to their color. I used a fluffy brush a lot and just kept applying color and then blending it out. It's a little tedious, but it's worth it! After the colors all blend together seamlessly, I placed a little bit of a champagne highlight in my inner corner and right under my brow. Taking a black cream liner, line the upper lash line and really draw the wing out. I'm not wearing false lashes, but I want to give the illusion of having that really fluttery, romantic eye look and the dramatic winged  liner does the trick. Then place a dark brown liner in the waterline and place a little bit of the darker brown shadow on the lower lashline. Apply LOTS of mascara and VOILA!!!! :) I definitely think this is a soft romantic look and with soft curls is perfect for a date night, but it's also light enough to wear during the day as well. If I were going somewhere and really wanted to amp this look up, I would put some false lashes on and swap the brown liner out on the waterline for a black one and throw a little black eyeshadow on the outer corner. This would also be really beautiful with gold or bronze or a shimmery taupe color (like verve in the Naked 2 palette by UD)! Have fun!!!!

 

Products Used:

 

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation in Buff

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Translucent

Elf Contour Kit (Only used blush)

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Coastal Scents 252 Ultimate Palette (Various pinks and purples, and matte browns)

Bed Head Quad in Controversy (Champagne/gold color)

Prestige Eyeliner in Black-Brown

Loreal Infallible Gel Laquer Liner 24 hr in Blackest Black

Loreal Voluminous False Fiber Mascara in Blackest Black

NYX Lipstick in Summer Love

Hard Candy Mouthing Off Lip Gloss in Scoop

Love is in the Air

So V-day is coming up and I, your cupid stand in, am here to make your valentines day perfect. Whether it be a night out with your man, and night out with your girls, or a night in watching romantic movies, what better way to feel the love than to love yourself?? By love yourself I mean pamper yourself. Take a long hot bath, light candles, rent a movie, read a book, give yourself a mani/pedi...or better yet go get a mani/pedi, do whatever to make yourself feel amazing!! Now I'm a big believer that there should not be just ONE day that you celebrate your love for someone....INCLUDING yourself! Every day should be a celebration of love, so with that in mind, I am going to do something for myself every day up until Valentine's Day. I'm my valentine until my baby comes home (plus I'm sure a few of these ideas will be gifts for him as well) so I'm gonna treat myself extra special. Every day I'm going to be cupid, for myself AND for you and I'm going to share a little love insight. These ideas are going to be for those with a valentine and those without :) The tips and tricks I give you really can be used at any time of the year as well! So, whether it be a super sexy eye makeup look, a diy body butter, or a cute outfit to wear in spirit of this "lovely" holiday, you can use these ideas anytime you feel like you need to give yourself a little extra lovin' ;) So since today is already the 4th, meaning I missed the first 4 days, I'm going to post FOUR, yes you heard me, FOUR love inspired things that I have done over the past few days in preparation for my man to get home. Lucky You! ;)

Battle Wounds...6 inch ankle scars :)

This is what I have been doing :) lol

 

So it has been what...a YEAR since my last post?? Haha! I don't know how people stay on top of blogging all the time, it's so hard! I have since tried to start doing youtube makeup tutorials as well since I thought it was going to be easier than taking a million pictures and then explaining it on here, but that is not the case; it's just as hard, if not harder. Maybe if I could get a better set up or something it'd be easier, but right now all my makeup is in my bathroom and my vanity is too small to set up lighting a camera AND all my makeup, plus I hate clutter and I don't want to have to lug all my stuff around place to place just so that I can film myself doing my makeup. SO I think I'm going to start just posting pictures of makeup on here for those that want to see my amazing makeup skills ;) hahaha just kidding. I'm not sure how often that'll happen, but it will every once in a while. I know that I for sure am going to post either a video or a blog on some Valentine's Day makeup since V day is coming up and my boy won't be here yet :( SO I'll use that time to do some really cute makeup, hair and nail tutorials :) I also have some ideas on a few DIY’s that I have done, so I’ll post pictures of those as well. As for what has been going on in my life...oh my goodness, where do I start?! First off...relationship wise...simply AMAZING! :) My baby comes home from Afghanistan in 9 days and I couldn't be more happy or excited if I tried!! I feel like I am on top of the world with him. He is literally my everything. Everything I have ever wanted is finally becoming a reality. He is it for me...which is an incredible feeling since I haven wanted this with him for a LONG time. It's is even more amazing than I ever could have imagined though. I love him more than anything in this world. He MEANS the world to me. It's incredible, HE is incredible and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him...more on that later though :) I'm almost finished with school, I have 1 quarter left, I am still coaching volleyball, although I will be getting a different job soon. I did, however, just have ankle reconstructive surgery and let me tell you, if I did not have as supportive of a family or boyfriend...I don't know what I would have done. I wasn't able to put any weight on my right foot AT ALL for SIX WEEKS! I finally...2 days ago, just got the ok to start walking...kinda hahaha. I will have 6 more weeks of physical therapy and ankle rehab and then I might finally be able to start being normal. It's been a nightmare though. I was in severe pain the first week so I was on some pretty heavy drugs, and then those made me throw up all the time so I had to stop them and just be in pain, then the swelling started. Then I was in the ER because my insides weren't really working anymore, so I spent a good 2 weeks being miserable and about 2 days literally just in tears the whole time. Then I started falling...I fell in the shower, hit the faucet with my back and now have a scar there, I fell in the bathroom and smacked my knee, hip, and ribcage on the bathtub (bruises the size of Texas for weeks), I fell in other places, and then the last time, I fell in the parking lot at school and was almost positive that I had broken my wrist. I have fallen over a total of 7 times and I still have battle wounds to prove it. The scariest thing was worrying about tearing my ligaments and tendon again and undoing all of the work that he surgeon had done. Getting my 17 staples out hurt like a b*$%, then doing stretches to try to loosen everything up hurt. Obviously I didn't think any of this was going to be a walk in the park, but I definitely wasn't entirely expecting this. That being said, I have healed WAY faster than most people do and apparently my doctor said, I've been fairly tough and am dealing with this wonderfully. Now I'm trying to strengthen my now tiny little leg and build up a lot of lost muscle. I didn't realize that you have muscle in your feet...but when you haven't put your foot down in 6 weeks, taking those first steps is not an easy thing to do. It hurts, especially when I don't have my boot on. This entire thing has been depressing...like it has really gotten me down at time, but extremely eye opening because I realize that this has been NOTHING! 6 weeks of not walking sucks, yes, but I KNEW that I was still going to be able to eventually. My heart aches for those that have to have this be a permanent thing. I am definitely through the worst of this and I am so grateful that I have a healthy body that is recovering extremely fast. I am so excited to get back to my normal self again, but I know that I now will really be grateful for the things I have from now on and not taking something as simple as walking for granted ever again!