Summer make up

Summer is the time when you want to wear way less make up because of the heat and humidity but still look pulled together. Today's post shows all about doing just that with the minimum amount of product. This would also be great for travel so you can take as little make up with you as you can, but again, still look well made up. On a side note I have been trying and trying to figure out the best spot to do photographs for make up but I'm still not happy, it's a work in progress. :)

Here's the before and after:

And here are the products I used:

Rimmel BB cream - this is a new product from Rimmel and I have to say, I have been trying a lot of BB creams lately with less than satisfactory results. Most of them are just glorified tinted moisturizers but this one has really good coverage and also contains an SPF of 25. I was able to skip moisturizing and priming which is great but I would recommend a setting powder of some kind as it does tend to get a bit shiny over time. It only comes in two shades, light and medium. I have medium and it's a great colour match for me.

Benefit bronzer in Hoola - I really like this matte bronzer. It works great for a nice flush of colour as well as for conturing. It might not be dark enough for the ladies with a much darker complexion than I have.

Cover Girl Lash Blast 24hr mascara in black - I have been wearing this mascara for a couple of days now and I'm very impressed with it's long wearing ability. It doesn't flake or give you racoon eyes, it really does stay on your lashes and last. I can be a bit hard to remove which is sometimes a problem with the long wearing types. It's very buildable, and you can easily do three coats without clumping.

Maybelline Color Whisper lipstick in Pin Up Peach - I really like these gel lipsticks, they are so smooth and feel so good on your lips. Not super long lasting but I like the balm feel enough to forgive that.

Let's get started:

First apply the BB cream all over your face using your fingers. Make sure and blend well and go down your neck a bit.

Next take your bronzer and a shadow brush and apply all over your lid up to your crease.

Next is eyeliner time and here you use the mascara as your liner, applying with an angled liner brush. You can choose how thin/wide you prefer and if you would like a basic line or a little wing at the end.

Next apply at least two coats of mascara.

And the next step is bronzer but for some reason I seem to have neglected to photograph that part of the application. Take a large powder brush, swirl it in your bronzer, knock the excess off the brush and even swirl it on the back of your hand before applying the colour to your face, you want this to look natural. Then apply the bronzer where the sun would land on your face...across your forehead, down your nose, along your cheekbones. Also be sure to apply some down your neck, no the sun doesn't really hit here but you also don't want your neck a different colour than your face.

Next take your lipstick and run a little across your finger.

And dab it lightly along your cheekbone.

Blend it in for a lovely flush of colour, the same way you would a cream blush.

Run the lipstick over your lips, and that's it, easy peasy lemon squeezy. :)

I love this simple look for pretty definition, basic blemish and redness coverage and the fact that my face is protected from the sun. All this with just a few steps and products.

Hope you enjoyed this post! What do you do for make up in the summer?

Pinspiration Friday!

I haven't done Pinspiration Friday for a couple of weeks and I've missed it! There are so many great ideas on Pinterest and I always wonder how they actually work out in the end. Doing a post like this one once a week gets the ideas off my boards and out into reality...plus they're fun!

Our first idea happened at bath time last night and was so simple and a HUGE hit. 

We had glow sticks left over from our recent vacation and when I was going through my boards last night I found an old pin showing them in the bathtub...and thought that was such a great idea! And as usual...why didn't I think of that? 

There was lots of play happening before the bath...

And about a million "shows" afterwards. Chris and I were repeatedly called into the bedroom to watch the kids put on little skits.

Glow sticks are inexpensive (about $1 each) and we got hours of fun out of this little experiment.

The next pinspired fun we tried was making our own lipgloss, again another hit, and super simple.

All you need is petroleum jelly, powdered drink mix and some kind of container to store it in afterwards. I found these great little pill containers at Wal Mart and they worked perfectly.

Start with however much petroleum jelly you want to use (we used about 4-5Tbls) 

 Microwave the jelly until it melts. It took about 4 and a half minutes with me stirring it every minute or so.

Add your powdered drink mix, we started with 1/2tsp.

And then added another half a tsp.

Put your gloss into the containers. I used a popsicle stick to help get it into each one with the least amount of mess.

Enjoy your new gloss! :)

I tried it out too of course and really liked it. There is a little bit of grittiness from the powder but it's not bad and actually exfoliates your lips nicely. It's super hydrating and my lips feel really soft.

So that's it for our Pinspired fun. Have you tried anything lately? Would love to hear how it went so please share, I'm always looking for new ideas. :)

Wanderlust Wednesday.....

It's the rain.... Whenever it rains a lot (which lets face it...when you live on the west coast of BC it happens frequently) I get this great urge to just get the heck out of here. When I picked Ella up from her last day of school yesterday I asked her what she wanted to do, it was her day, and she answered.. "go to Mexico!"... oh my daughter...if only....I would have driven straight to the airport.

Instead we went for ice cream which was her second choice. ;)

While there are many (many many many!) places I would like travel to and explore, when the weather is dismal like it is now I always dream of hot sandy beaches with lots of sun, swimming, and cocktails during the day that turn into deliciously warm nights where you wear hardly any more clothes than those you wore during the day. You get this great bronzy glow to your skin, and your hair has that lovely I just spent all day at the beach windblown but sexy wavy look, make up is minimal because you don't want anything too heavy when you're spending time in the heat so your freckles show through and you just enhance a little with mascara and lipgloss.

Source

Summer...where are you!?

How do you cope when the rain just won't quit? Please share...I need the help! :)

Ipsy Glam Bag review for June

 I've been meaning to get this blog post done for awhile as I've had the bag for several days now but got a little behind. 

Here goes!

I think the bag design this month is super fun and I was delighted to see that all the products were full size, this is the first time that's happened.

 I really like this creme blush from NYX in the colour natural. It's a pretty peachy blush that goes well with my (and probably most) skin tones. It had good pigment and staying power was pretty good. I've used it several times and it's in my regular rotation at the moment.

I'll be honest, I haven't even used this eye shadow palette and I probably won't. It's just straight glitter and I think meant for a much younger age group than the one I fit into. I did try it on my hand to see how it was and there was glitter everywhere....pass...

This highlighter pencil from Chella in Ivory Lace is a winner for me. It's smooth and creamy and felt very good in my water line (great way to brighten your eyes). It's also easy to blend on the brow bone and down the nose etc..

This lip pencil from Starlooks (in the colour Tipsy) was a fail. The colour was not the same as the pencil end showed...more of a bright coral orange colour which although not my style I did try out and immediately I felt a burning on my lips. Off came the pencil and into the trash it went!

This gel liner from Cailyn came in purple and I just realized I don't have an actual picture of the colour, sorry about that. It gets one thumb up from me. Pros: the colour is good for me and it lasts and I like the liner brush that comes with the bottle. Cons: packaging is cheap (it's plastic not glass) and squeaks when you open it, and you really have to build the colour up with several coats.

This was my third Ipsy bag and I think that's enough for me. While I love getting a monthly treat I do find that make up is a bit harder to match up properly. I would rather take the $15 ($10 if you live in the US) and spend it on products that I choose myself.

Any other Ipsy subscribers out there? What do you think? Do you love, hate or feel indifferent about the glam bags?

Update on The Plan diet: I'm down another .8lbs so that puts me at 12.4lbs now...almost into the teens! I feel so great on this diet, lighter overall and my skin is SO much better. If you live near a Costco I'm finding them excellent for stocking up on veggies. They have lots of great organic options and really good prices, be sure to check them out.

I found this bikini from Agent Provocateur and I love it. What do you think? Too lofty a goal for a mother of two in her 30's?? 

Of course it may as well be from Agent Out of My Price Range because it's almost $400 but it's good to have goals. ;)

Hope you're having a great Tuesday (Ella's last day of school today and then the schedules go out the window!), I leave you with a song:

Loving Serena Ryder lately and this song doesn't disappoint..

Motivation Monday

It is pouring rain here today, and sometimes it can be hard to find motivation to do anything on days like this but I'm feeling darn good after a bumpy weekend. It was hormone and grumpy filled (my poor family) and it made sticking to any kind of a diet very hard. There were a few slip ups but I didn't go completely off the rails and the scale reflects that.

 On Saturday I was really hungry and fought it all day long....by the time dinner came along I was walking a sword edge and when Chris made the kids some homemade mac and cheese with a bit of sliced up smokie....well....it was my undoing. I probably ate just under a cup (after eating my own dinner) right out of the pot. I'm glad that's all that was left. It was SO good and really took care of my salty craving. So that just left sweet.... I put it off for an hour but finally gave in and drove to Dairy Queen for a small dip cone. It. Was. Worth. It. I was up .6 of a pound for Sunday's weigh in and I was fine with that. I had also walked 5km on Saturday so that helped I'm sure. 

Yesterday wasn't much better, but again I managed to get to the evening and then had a few Plan friendly unsalted potato chips and a little extra dark chocolate. What I really wanted to do was go out for dinner and eat whatever I wanted so it could have been much worse. I was down .4 for this mornings weigh in.

I feel much better today so hopefully the destructive me has taken a hike, it's time to get back to losing significant amounts of weight!

Most of my lunches have looked like this:

Sometimes it's preceded by a bowl of homemade carrot and ginger soup, which I love. I will be making another big pot of it today.

I've had a couple of people ask where to find me on Pinterest, so in answer to your question you can find me here. I will make a button for the sidebar as well.

I just downloaded the Nike Run app for my iPhone, has anyone tried it out? What do you think? It looks great and I'm excited to give it a go...plus it's free which makes me happy. ;)

I also had to share that when I signed it to write today's blog post I check out the stats to see how many people had stopped by and was very pleased to see there were over 5000 readers yesterday and today is already 4000+ so thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. I'm so glad you're stopping by. :)

I'm off to do chores and then I think a Costco trip might be in order on this nasty rainy day, what are you up to??

Back on The Plan

Today is day three back on The Plan diet. While I have was on vacation I ate pretty much whatever I wanted and lots of it...this included chips, hotdogs, chocolate (not the good for you dark chocolate kind...I'm talking about caramilk bars), pop and some adult beverages as well. Not things I would normally eat on a regular basis but we were away from home, enjoying the fire pit at our cabin and once I got back home it slipped into a few more days of eating that way as well. All in all it was about a week and a half+. Have you heard the I don't care song by Icona Pop? If you can think of the chorus that was pretty much how I was rollin'..."I don't care! I love it!".

 My morning weigh in to begin The Plan diet again showed that I had gained 7 pounds....awesome. But not surprising. I hadn't been drinking even close to as much water as I normally would either. The morning weigh in after day one of The Plan? Down an amazing 4.6lbs...clearly a lot of water retention. This morning's weigh in after day two of The Plan showed another loss of 1.8lbs, so I am down 6.4lbs in only two days. I only have .6 until I am back at my pre vacation weight which was 10.8lbs lost in 12 days, and then I can start working on the stuff that was there before.

I have been sticking to friendly days (meaning I'm not testing any new foods) until I'm back to my pre vacation weight so it's been low sodium whole wheat toast (one slice) with almond butter for breakfast with a half cup of blueberries and a cup of tea (with milk and sugar!). Lunch for the last two days has been one slice of the above mentioned bread with avocado, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds (raw) and pepper, along with a green salad topped with avocado, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries. Snack has been an apple and another cup of tea. Dinner has been chicken baked in the oven with a bit of pepper and a green salad topped with avocado, goat cheese, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries. I also made a big pot of carrot ginger soup (delicious and great for putting your body into an anti inflammatory state) and had a big bowl of that before dinner last night (I was hungry!). Last night was tough...I was really hungry so I added one extra piece of toast with almond butter.

I haven't gotten any exercise other than the normal day to day kind of stuff...housecleaning, running around with Marshall, doing dog stuff etc..so I need to start adding that in as well. The Bowflex machine is now set up and Chris started using it last night so I will be following suit....must tighten this two baby makin' body up!

Several of you guys have taken on The Plan diet and that is so awesome, glad that we are able to do it together and I love getting reports of the weight coming off so well. My sister in law lost nearly five pounds during the cleanse portion (husband lost 6.4) and was doing well with regular weight loss until the day rye is tested....up 1.6. I love that you are able to test out foods and find the things that are really impeding your weight loss. It also amazing how much better you feel eating this way. During our week and a half of debauchery Chris's restless leg syndrome came back with a vengeance, he was achy and tired after work every day, and I was bloated, grumpy and my face broke out big time!

 Laurie down 4lbs in the first three days, Marlo down six pounds (had a day of gorging on cookies which brought on a headache, stomachache and general malaise...our bodies are trying to tell us something! We just need to listen :) ), but my friend Kathleen takes the cake at 8lbs in four days...good for you girl! There have been a few other people who I know have started but I haven't heard how you are doing so please let me know...love to include you here.

Time for a couple new tunes:

Have you heard this one by One Republic called Counting Stars? Catchy and upbeat, it's a fun one:

And MIA has a new song out, it's frantic and totally gets me going. It's called Bring The Noize (explicit):

I can't believe Ella is done school on Tuesday and it's officially summer vacation! Hope the sun gets the memo...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful Dad's out there, you are doing an amazing job and while I try to remember to tell you this on a regular basis it's nice to have a day devoted to it too.

Chris, the most amazing husband and father to my children. The three of us are so lucky to have you...you're supportive of our dreams, endlessly patient, not afraid to roll up your sleeves to help with anything (from changing diapers to building blanket forts) and maybe the handiest guy I know. You make me laugh everyday and I know I can count on you 100% in all things. Thank you for going on this parenting journey with me.

And my Dad, pictured here holding a sleeping Ella on her very first Christmas.....the strong, silent type with a sense of honour that runs deeper than the Pacific Ocean, he is definitely the type who you can trust on a handshake, he will always do the right thing. This seriousness is well balanced with a goofy sense of humour, and excellent story telling abilities (a gift he has passed on to my sister Amanda).

I love both these men in my life so much, so here's to you on your special day....Happy Father's Day. :)

Chickens!

I've gone a whole week without a blog post! I can't believe it, but we had a great family getaway and things have been crazy busy since I got home.

 One of the most fun things has been the addition of these little guys...

There are blue laced red wyandottes and they will look like this:

Image found here

Silver Sussex and they will look like this:

Image found here

And one little Araucana cross chick because it was cute and I'm hoping it turns out to be a girl and will lay green eggs for me. 

My chicks came from my good friend Amanda at 

She has so many lovely heritage breeds and is very serious about her birds. You can check out her website here.

Can't believe it's Friday already, what are your plans for the weekend?