What to Wear!

Gah! I'm just all around frustrated tonight! I am frustrated that I harldy post anything on here (though I promise I have some stuff in the works!), I am frustrated with getting money for college, I am frustrated with going to work tomorrow, frustrated about shopping, weight, food - but most of all! - I am frustrated about a wedding that I got invited to in early June.

When I first heard about it I was ecstatic and I still am! Some of my favorite people in the entire world are going to be at the same place at the same time! They are people that I always have a blast with so I am looking forward to that. The only problem is that I have no idea what to wear! The wedding is at 11 am! I know summery dresses for an afternoon wedding and something a smidge more formal for an evening wedding but early morning?? Help!

I had found an amazing black shorter dress with a gold belt when I thought it was going to be an evening wedding. No more! There have been jokes floating around that three of the guys I know will be in tuxes! NOOO! What does that mean I have to wear??? And half of the people that will be there will be from Mexico where a typical wedding that they would put on includes VERY fancy dresses. So grr. I'm stuck and getting more worried by the minute.
I wouldn't necessarily be worried except I have never really found an outfit that I truly like and this is one event where I want to be very comfortable and just have a blast-but still look good. And my body type is not exactly made for just running out two days before the event and quickly grabbing something! It only kicks up my stubbornness to lose a little weight just so I can feel proud to see all my friends there - some I haven't seen in years! And I do want to wear something pretty. Usually I am on mission trips with these people so they know me as "not showered - wearing a floor length floral skirt - tshirt - hair in ponytail - sweating horribly" person (In my defense it is what you are supposed to wear - mission trips are not times for fashion statements!). Haha so I want to show them that yes, I do actually own nice clothes!

So tomorrow I am going to scour the interwebs to find SOMETHING to wear. I figure if I start early I can find something quirky that I love.

And sorry this post is whiny! I just needed to get it out somewhere!

Less About the Outer Beauty and More About Beauty of Life

This weekend seems to be going a little differently then I thought it would be. My parents were in Mexico for the week leading a mission trip when we found out that my Grandpa had died. He has has Alzheimers for the last year and it was very hard too see him deteriorate and forget us and things in his life. I have to be thankful that I got so many amazing years with him. He was able to come to every major school event even though he and my Grandma live five hours away. So it is both a sad weekend and a happy one because I know he is no longer in pain and unable to remember things.
The funeral is tomorrow so for today I am just hanging out at my Grandma's house and people have been coming over. I should be seeing more extended family this afternoon. I decided that a good distraction is heading over to the local drugstore and ransacking their makeup department. They have Jordana brand makeup and I am addicted to their Nail Brightener nail polish. If I am too lazy to do several coats of a color I put the Nail Brightener on and it looks like my nails are perfect with no discoloration! They look like professional artificial nails which I love.

I think I have several bottles at home but who knows? I may need some more! I also left all of my nail stuff at home - a stupid idea since my nails look awful and I will go crazy if I don't get some polish on soon.

Another cool thing about the Jordana brand is that I can try out funky makeup colors on the cheap and then if I like them I can go find a higher-end brand that has longer lasting colors. Jordana is a good brand but I find that much of the makeup does not last long on your face.

So I am just trying to get through the weekend. I am excited to see my little cousin (who is just about to turn 1!) who is an absolute cutey! I get to meet my cousin's fiance (though this is not the reason I thought I would be down here for when I did finally meet him)

I have been working on trying every product known to human-kind that even remotely claims remove acne scars. Right now I have the Mario Badescu (love him!) Whitening Mask, exfoliators, Egyptian Magic Cream, and I have BioOil specially made for scars coming in the mail soon! I hate hate hate my acne scars. Most of them are around my chin and mouth meaning that anyone talking to me is going to see them. They are all I see when I look in a mirror and it really just kills any desire to even do my makeup in the mornings. So I have set out on a campaign to find something that gets rid of the scars left over from when I have no idea what I was doing with my skin. The worst part it that since I am so pale they stand out even more especially on days when they are really red. Grrrrr.

The thing is that there is nothing that gets rid of them immediately. It takes time for them to fade so I am going to make sure that anything I try I use for a long bit of time to really see if it works. And while I am at it I am going to find a better skin care routine. I just don't feel that my Proactive is working well anymore and if I am going to spend a ton of money I want the product to work all of the time! I have had thoughts of switching to Mario Badescu which I have heard great things about. So I will keep you posted on that!

So I took a test online today to find my "RealAge". RealAge calculates the good and the bad things that you do to your body and finds if your body is functioning younger or older than your birth age. So things like smoking, not eating healthy, and being really stressed will cause your body to age faster and possibly lead to you dying sooner. Things like moderate exercise, healthy eating, and better relationships will help you age slower resulting in a lower RealAge.

I have no idea the specific science to figure out your exact age. All I know is that my body is almost 10 years older than I really am. 10 YEARS!! That is awful! So in RealLife (birthday age) I am 19. But in RealAge I am 28.8! Nooooo!!!!

The nice thing is that they do break it down by category and give you things that you can do to bring your RealAge down. So in the spirit of feeling better I am going to try them!

Most of the things that they say are just simple kinda "duh" things. Floss, eat veggies, take a multi-vitamin - good stuff to do! I do have some things that I already do - the main one being that I NEVER EVER EVER take prescription medicine. I really dislike the pharmaceutical industry and distrust everything about it. (I'm going to stop there or I WILL go on a rant - and we don't need that!) Even when I am sick I refuse to take medicine for it unless they are all natural. In the past this has caused some issues in my house. I have been doing this for about a year and at first my parents thought I was going crazy! Not use the medicine that a DOCTOR gives you!?!?! Awful! Horrible! You're going to die! The reaction from my friends was the same. I got people giving me lectures and even getting mad! When I explained my reasons (That taking medications doesn't really fix the problem - it just takes care of the symptoms) I pissed off a lot of people.
***Note*** This is not something to go into without research and guidance from someone that knows about all-natural remedies. Especially if you have to take a necessary medicine like insulin for diabetes (though I have heard there are natural remedies for this too - but it is at your own risk!)

My dad being the nosy person he is decided to take a look at what his daughter was getting into. He was worried and mentioned it to the chiropractor that our family practically lives at (Since my parents got in a really bad car crash its a must for them!) Well our chiro actually is way into natural medicine (Score!) and helped explain some things to my dad. So now my dad is a firm believer in all-natural! I actually got away from the more natural for the last few months. I still don't take medicine but I have not been taking the suppliments that I should and just not doing the things that will make me feel better. So this RealAge thing is a good wake-up call! I need to get back to trying to get healthy!

I have to be honest - I am not a healthy person. But I am fortunate that I have an interest in health as well as beauty and I just need to put that interest to work!

So those are the two things - acne scars and being "old" - that are bugging me right now! I will give it about a month with both things and then I will do a follow up blog to see if anything has changed. If I get really brave I may start posting body deets like weight and stuff to motivate me (eep!! I'm not sure if I am THAT brave!)


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Random Babbling including a big beauty step (well for me anyways!)

So i am freaking out right now. Tomorrow I work, have a few hours to get things done, and then head off to Memphis to visit the college that I want to go to. I have been looking forward to this trip for months! I was so excited that I vowed to make up some makeup looks before I left so I would look amazing for all the high-profile school people that I will be meeting with. Of course I got nothing done so now that I am in the last 24 hours before I leave I'm running around like a chicken with its head.... well you know. No need for graphic mental images!
The good news is I caved in on the Hard Candy urge (is that really GOOD news???) and bought a pretty big haul at Walmart. I feel adequately prepared in the supplies department but I'm scared about the execution of all of the makeup looks! Oh well I will just have to make due.
I also broke my digital camera Saturday night at the Barlowgirl concert that I went to so no pics with my camera this weekend. Thankfully my parents have an almost identical one that I can use.
Oh two more exciting things! 1. I am getting my hair trimmed tomorrow!

Yes I know.

This is where you look at me funny and ask why getting my hair trimmed is exciting. Go ahead... I know you're thinking it!

Well I haven't trimmed my hair in FOREVER! I know that's really really bad but I keep forgetting about it (which is a bad excuse because my mom trims my hair which means I could ask for her to do it almost any time). I just love getting my hair trimmed because it is none stressful (unlike a haircut which is something that leads to great amounts of stress for me - but more on that later) and it makes my hair feel and look so much better! I also wanted to get my hair drastically cut before the trip but, well, I fear haircuts so that is going to take more work.

Number 2 is I am getting my eyebrows waxed! For years I have hated my eyebrows but the fear of screwing them up more has led me to do nothing with them except make sure I never have a uni-brow (True story: I shaved half an eyebrow off when I was younger in an attempt to de-fur them. It was bad. Let's just leave it at that.) Mine are big, dark, and bushy. Ugh times a million! I was also scared to let anyone else do anything with them (You will find that fear is a big part of my beauty life - just sad :p ) I'm a little nervous for that.
So I will let you all know how it goes and I am planning on bringing my laptop on the trip (12 hours to write beauty blogs - oh goodness! And yes we are driving. Ugh) So expect a ton of reviews when I get my grubby little makeup filled paws on an internet connection at the hotel room!
See you soon!

So this Hard Candy stuff? I need more info! (and money!)

So I have fallen in love. Hard Candy has heard my heart's cry and decided to come to Walmart with a collection that seems to be made for me! SQEEE!!! Glitter and crazy colors as far as the eye can see!

I cannot wait to try the crazy-glitter-filled eyeliner that I saw on the rack and some of their eyeshadows. If the colors are as pigmented on the eye as they look in the container then I might have to rethink my "saving-money-for-college-no-spending-deal" that I unwisely put myself under. The lippies also look phenomenal! I do think I will have to go in with a list of set things to buy so that I don't end up spending the ol' college savings in one place (though think of the amount of product I would get!) My list right now also includes some of the colored mascara. Who knows when I may need something as fun as that right??

Right now I have some brown mascara (called mudslide! Makes me think of yummy desserts every time!), a black mascara, a concealer palette, the face primer (which you can find the review for here), and several different kinds of lippies. It took a lot of willpower to walk out with only that!
Has anyone seen or uses the HC Intensifeye or Foiled Again eyeshadow sticks? At my Walmart they are in the clearance section and seem to be a bit garish. What do you think? Should I get them? (and a little background info: I love crazy colors so that part doesn't bother me. But do they even look good or work?) See the side pic for what it looks like!

OOOO another note! I have heard whisperings of a possible spring 2010 addition to the HC line at Walmart! Their twitter hinted at this a while back. How exciting would that be?!!?!?! But first I need to try all of the stuff that they have now!

If you want to see a ton of pics of the HC display check out Nouveau Cheap's awesome blog!

Just some random stuff

Yesterday i found one of the best things that I can find in my messy, wasteland of a room: An uncashed check! So with my newfound spending money in hand I headed out to Ulta. I got three things (a very small haul I know, not even a haul really) A clear makeup bag, a teeny tiny cute little straighter, and a product that I have had my eye on for quite some time. I first heard about the brand Mario Badescu when I watched xsparkage 's channel on youtube and she reviewed some products. One that caught my eye was the Healing Creme which I bought today. I am going to try it out for a few weeks and then let you know what I think of it. I also just got some samples in the mail from him so I am going to be playing round with those also.
I love samples! The cute little packaging makes me want more!

Um, isn't a face primer supposed to uhh... PRIME something??? Hard Candy Face Primer

So I decided today to do a review on something that I picked up recently. I was wandering through Walmart and found a display of Hard Candy. Well I had never heard of the old Hard Candy brand but the packaging of this stuff was amazing and caught my eye! Its got a mix of rockstar/punk/girly/vintage feel to it. After looking at the dizzying amount of colorful lipstick, gloss, and eyeshadow the face primer caught my eye.
I have had tons and tons of problems before with primers. I'm dumb enough to go buy cheapy brands (like $2 or $3) which just make your face seem greasy and I could swear I felt pimples beginning to form when I put them on! So with much fear and trembling I tried Hard Candy.
I am so glad that I did because I love it! It doesn't seem to make my makeup stay on any longer but it does make it look much more natural and less powdery looking (I use Bare Minerals) My foundation blends in much better and for $8 it works great!
One warning though: Be careful how much you put on. At first I tried to cover my entire face in a layer but I ended up taking 75% of it off simply because I had too much. If you put too much on it becomes an oil slick (at least on my oily skin)! It also seems to come out of the bottle/tube quite quickly so don't squeeze it too hard!
I am interesting in trying a high end silicone primer (Yes HC primer is a silicone base) simply because I have only tried drugstore versions. Any suggestions? I know Smashbox has one!