LA Haul

Hi everyone!

It's been too long, but I'm baaaaaccckkkk!!! After a hiatus concerning some personal issues, I am back! *Cue the music* LOL...anyway, I had the pleasure of going to Los Angeles last weekend and OMG IT WAS SOOO FUN! We mostly hit up the Fashion District and ChinaTown only but I plan on going back really really soon. Anyway, to see some pictures of the overall trip, please click here to go to my other blog.

But, here on this one, I'm going to show a couple of things that I bought. These were my "Essentials" that I needed new of.

Black Hidden Platform Pumps

Flower Loafers

Beige Stilettos

Hot Red Stilettos

Statement Rings and a Bowtie Necklace

So these are just some basics to pull an otherwise "bland" outfit together. The black hidden platforms cost only $15, the beige $5, the red $10 and the jewelry were all $1 each. I have another necklace that I bought which is a bolder bowtie, but I can't find it :( I bought that for $5. Yes, I am very into bows this season.

Examples of how you can add these to your wardrobe to FAB up your DRAB?

Pair a white button down shirt tucked into a pair of tan skinny leg pants and pair with the black or beige pumps. Add the flower ring to one hand and you're ready to go. For makeup, go for a natural eye look with pink lipstick; curl your hair Kardashian style and go! Professional, yet stylish look.

For a relaxed, Sunday brunch look, grab a solid tunic, put on a pair of boyfriend jeans, throw on the loafers and put on the bowtie necklace along with the bowtie ring. Keep your face matte by applying Tinted Moisturizer, the Rubenesque Paint Pot all over your eyelids and light brown eyeliner with a nude lip and rosy cheeks. Put your hair in a side braid, and you're finished. A relaxed, yet pretty look.

Next, for a night out on the town, grab that LBD (little black dress), and pair it up with the hot red heels! A one shoulder with a sleeve would look absolutely gorgeous! Next, slip on the angel wings ring, and curl your hair and tease it to make it bigger a la Carrie Bradshaw at the end of the Sex and The City movie (the first one). Go for a light smoky eye and bright RED lipstick to match your shoes! Add in some gold/silver braclets to the side of the hand w/o the sleeve and you're ready for a night on the town!

Next time, I'll actually pair up the outfits and take pictures, but that's another project. Have a great day y'all!

Review: Mary Kay Satin Lips

I know that winter time is over but I still get chapped lips. I've tried most lip balms from chapstick to even the medicated ones and Burt's Bees and the Sally Hansen lip treatments, etc but nothing seems to work well at all. A couple of years ago, I discovered the Satin Lips set from Mary Kay and OMG I love it! You know, you hear about exfoliating for the face, skin, etc, but I don't know if anyone had heard of exfoliating your lips. Well, if it's worth it to get those flaky, dry, chapped lips smooth again, you gotta get these babies and even better news? Instant results!

The steps couldn't be any easier. Take the lip scrub and squeeze about a small amount (a little goes a long way) onto your finger.

Then apply it on your lips and massage onto your lips in a circular motion to get rid of all those dead skins. It doesn't look like it but the product does actually have microbeads in it that work to scrub. 

After you're done scrubbing your lips, take a wet cloth and wipe the product off your lips

Afterwards, apply the lip balm over your freshly scrubbed lips

Please excuse the runny eyeliner and the tired looking face. But anyway after you're done with the balm, you lips will be shiny and smooth!

Yes, I know I have lines in my lips but trust me, my lips were smooth for DAYS! Find a Mary Kay consultant or click here to go to the Mary Kay website to order the product online. Also, if you want to help support a local beauty consultant, search for one in your area. I support one of my friends and order from her. She's AWESOME!

Review: Montagne Jennesse

Recognize the name? Probably not. But I’m sure you’ve seen these babies around.

I usually see them in Wal-Mart and Target. But a couple weeks ago, I was browsing through the clearance section at my local Wal-Mart and happened to see these babies on sale…for 25 cents each! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen these before and for some strange reason in my mind, I never wanted to spend the $1.99 price for them. I know, I know, I spend way more on others, but yeah. Anyway, I got one of each (there were a bunch) because I didn’t want to get a whole bunch and if I ended up not liking them, I didn’t want to be stuck with a whole bunch.

So I finally tried one of them (the Mud Pac Anti Stress) tonight and here are my thoughts along with my face with the product on. When I first applied it to my face, I wasn’t too pleased with the smell. It reminded of old toothpaste, but despite the smell, I lathered it on my face.

By the way, if I look exhausted, its because I am. I was soo tired and I've been fighting an eye infection, so that is why my eyes are super red.

The package says to leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes or until dry, which I did. As I waited for it to dry, I felt my face tightening up. Once dry, I washed the mask off with warm water just as instructed. So let’s see if this mask lived up to its’ promises.

On the package, it states that the purposes of this mask was “to ultra deep pore cleanse” while using “sea kelp nutrients and dead sea mud to draw out impurities and open blocked pores to leave skin feeling cleansed and soft”. Let’s start with the name of this particular mask. It’s supposed to be anti-stress, I guess it makes you feel relaxed and helps unwind. Honestly, unless it provides a masseuse, I don’t think it really helped with the anti-stress part. It is in no way like a facial.

Next, ultra deep pore cleansing; my pores are so large and probably always full of dirt and oil. But while I was sitting down watching Idol (GO LAUREN! Woohoo!), I could feel my face tighten up and actually feel a little tingle that really felt like it was scrubbing out the insides of my pores.

After washing it off, I decided not to put on moisturizer because I wanted to see if it would leave my skin feeling cleansed and soft. About 15 minutes later, I touched my face and to my surprise, it was VERY soft. Just like if I had put on moisturizer. It felt clean and not oily-like at all. Overall, other than the light smell, this was great! I think it’s even worth the full $1.99 price. I’m going to try the others and pick up my most favoritist. Super awesome!

Mary Kay Samples

I know y'all have heard of Ms. Mary Kay. I've heard about the Mary Kay products for quite awhile now but have always thought they were for the "older ladies". You know, the ones from church who wear the kuh-ray-zee hats and wears the really LOUD outfits and too much perfume. That was the image that came to mind when I thought of Mary Kay as a teenager.

I'm proud to say that I no longer think of them that way. Mary Kay is actually a REALLY good brand. I'll be honest, I don't know if its because they've changed their line or if they've always been like that, but I'm quite proud to say that there are a couple of products that Mary Kay carries and NO OTHER line can quite compare when it comes to price and most of all, quality. My favorites include the Satin Lips duo (OMG, IF YOU'VE NEVER TRIED THIS OUT, DO IT!), the Satin Hands trio (LOVE!), and my favorite, can-not-live-without product, their oil mattifier. I've tried others from all other brands, and no one compares.

Another surprising find (maybe not so surprising for some of you) but none other than their eyeshadows. I know, I know, everyone and their mother has a ton of eyeshadows (myself included) that we'll never run out of, but the vibrancy and shades that Mary Kay offers definitely sets them apart. 

Take a look at some samples I got from my girl Teresa. I LOVE THESE SAMPLES!

And finally, all together: 

Can't wait to use these. LOVE THEM! :D

DIY - Exfoliator

Hi Everyone,

It's been awhile since I've showcased a DIY on here. I've been doing this for the longest time. Since I saw it Kandee Johnson's Youtube Channel and you know what? It's really super great! I stopped for awhile because I kept forgetting lemons and I like using fresh lemon juice for this.

The best part about this? It's cheap! It's easy! So...check it out.

First, get a lemon:

Slice up a wedge:

Get a cotton pad and squeeze the lemon juice onto it. I usually only use one slice, but use however many slices you need. (Sorry about the seed)

Get some sugar

Sprinkle it generously onto the cotton pad. The acid in the lemon is used as the cleanser and the sugar crystals are the scrubbers. Although sugar is nice, don't go crazy because the sugar is what is going to be doing the scrubbing and can be rough if you use too much. So sprinkle liberally but don't pile it up. The sugar will melt into your skin and the lemon juice and will give your face a nice glow after washing. TRUST ME!

SCRUB, SCRUB, SCRUB!!! I couldn't take pictures while I was scrubbing so this is all I have. Don't worry, my skin is bad but it's not this bad, this is with my makeup on. If you want to, you can wash your face first, but I like to do this and then use a mild cleanser. But anyway, here, as you can see, I had to use two pads. I love the fact that these are all natural ingredients. C'mon, sugar and lemon juice. It's super easy. Try it out.

And here I am from behind the camera in my bathroom after freshly scrubbing my face. LOL. Take Care!

Benefit - Stay Put Kit

Hola! Como estas?

If you didn’t know, I’m trying to learn Spanish…so if I get start speaking or writing Spanglish, please forgive me. Anyway, have you heard of Benefit cosmetics? I’m sure you have. But have you tried it? I just recently have and I know the exact reason why I never did before…because their dolls/mannequins in their ads scare me. If you do not know, I AM EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY afraid of dolls, mannequins, clowns, etc. Uggh…I shudder just thinking about them. Childhood trauma…okay, moving onto my original point…have you ever tried Benefit? I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised with their products. One of my favorite things to purchase especially when trying out a new high end brand is to buy some of their trial sizes or “introductory” kits. I see ones from Smashbox, Benefit, Tarte, and many many more at Sephora and Ulta all the time. Well, one day a couple months ago, I was at Sephora checking out and right on their counter, I spotted this for $10.

(Sorry it's so dark, took this with my cell phone)

$10!!! I had to get it just to try it out. If I didn’t like it, okay great! I didn’t lose too much money on it, and if I did like it, hooray! I’m going to go and get a full size one!

The Benefit To Go: “Stay Put” set I got came with Stay, Don’t Stray Eyeshadow Primer, Benefit’s Erase Paste, and one of their cream shadow/liner in R.S.V.P. I will admit, after I got home and opened up the package and took out the products, I didn’t know what to do. I knew these were “primer”-ish products, but it didn’t come with any instructions or the purpose of the products, which I was surprised at. I had to call Sephora back and ask them what the intent of each product was. After a couple weeks of toying with it, I have to say, hmm….I’m surprised.

The cream eyeshadow/liner didn’t excite me much because, well, it’s just a cream liner/eyeshadow. So let’s start with the Stay Don’t Stray review…UHHH-MMMAAAZZZZIIINNNGGG!!! The product itself was so thick and not thin and runny like other mini eyeshadow primers (lookin’ at you UD mini primer potion!). It was very creamy, thick, and satiny and smooth! I could go on and on…and you know what? It works! It works just as well as UD’s Primer Potion (in full size), in fact, it’s a lot creamier than theirs. It dries super fast so you can apply eyeshadow right away and it really really stays. It’s also safe enough to lightly dab under your bottom lower lashline to avoid runny eyeliner. I LOVE this product!

Next, the erase paste…I’m a little mixed about this one. At first, I thought it was just a concealer, I mean, the name sort of implies that it is a concealer right? Erase paste. Well, my friend, it is a concealer, but it is more than that. In fact, this is Sephora’s description on their website:

Erase Paste

What it is:

A brightening camouflage for the eyes and face.

What it does:

Benefit Erase Paste is a concentrated, creamy, blendable concealer that instantly brightens and camouflages all-in-one. It has an innovative formula which makes sure signs of stress and fatigue are a thing of the past. These three brightening neutral shades give every gal correction perfection.

As much as I wanted to like this product, I really couldn’t take it that far. Does it do what the cosmetic companies say it’s going to do, yes, but when it comes to makeup, it has to be what works for each individual. Although I like the idea of it’s goal and purpose, it didn’t work for me. I naturally have oily skin already, so when I used this as a concealer, it didn’t bode well for my already, naturally shiny face. First, the “brightening” of it “brightened” my face in a way that made me look oilier and it didn’t really camoflauge anything. I’m not sure if it’s because the shade didn’t match me (you don’t get to pick the shade, it automatically comes in a medium, which is usually my shade too) or if it was its texture versus my skin texture. Also, the actual product isn’t very creamy to me. It was difficult for me to blend and to use it with my foundation to make my skin look clearer. I don’t think I will be purchasing this product again, but I’m glad I’m able to try it at least. 

So in conclusion, for ten bucks…yeah it was worth it. I got to try out three new products I’ve never used before and I am going to go back for one out of three. Maybe I’ll head back to the Benefit counter and ask for help on using the Erase Paste, afterall, I’m sure they’d be willing to show me the exact purpose. I’m not perfect, maybe I just used it wrong…

Plus Size Fashion...Extinct?

As you all may know, I am a plus size, full figured gal and although I have insecurities from time to time, I've learned to accentuate what I do have and appreciate myself. Some time last week, I was looking into my drab wardrobe after unpacking all my clothes from the move and felt that I needed a new wardrobe. So I took to the internet for inspiration and realized that I need to dress more "sunny" and "cheery" like. After all, spring is here and summer isn't too far away,  the flowers are blooming with gorgeous colors and I already have to wear dark colors (other than beige and white) to work, so when I don't have to be in uniform, why shouldn't I go glam and sunny?

In my closet right now, I have ONLY solid colors. Before I felt like I couldn't pull off prints because it would make me look bigger; I avoided horizontal stripes and just to be sure, I avoided stripes and polka dots altogether. My closet has a couple of pinks and purples here there but was decorated mostly with blue, silver, and black. Don't get me wrong, the pieces are cute, but after looking through what others had online, I was EMPOWERED and MOTIVATED to do away with just solids and look more towards, bright, fun, and cheery. One thing that I noticed was that a lot of gurus shopped from Forever 21, so since there were 2 new stores opening my area, I decided to hit them up. Around where I live, there are three Forever 21 stores altogether, one in Salinas, a new one in Monterey, and a new one in Gilroy at the famous Gilroy Outlets. 

It was rather disappointing to find out that they did not carry any plus size clothing at the shop in Gilroy, and the Salinas and Monterey storesonly carried a few select items. Items such as capri shorts, sweat shirts, long (hippie like) skirts and some bedazzled shirts. When I was in the Monterey store, I was thinking, "Seriously??? That's all? In this 2 story, at least 5000 square feet building, you have a tiny little section for plus size clothing only and this is it?" I was really really disappointed, and surprisingly embarrassed, and although I wanted to walk out without buying anything, I saw a Hello Kitty (obsessed with her) I Love Nerds sweatshirt that I had to buy so I grabbed it and headed to the lines to check out. I remember being in line and thinking, wow, I sort of feel like the odd girl out, the big chick, the "fat friend" in this store. The only thing they carry in my size are sweats...SWEATS. Was that intentional? Was Forever 21 trying to tell me something? And then I realized, everyone else was in a straight line waiting for the other cashiers to finish and call them to go check out and I was the only person behind a cashier line. I was out of line, so like a fool, I took what felt like a walk of shame and went to go join the long line contemplating if I wanted the shirt badly enough. Interestingly, yes, I've been looking for a Hello Kitty I Love Nerds shirt for awhile...

Soon after I went to the back of the line, one of the managers came out and looked at the long single file line which was now starting to block the entrance doors and shouted "Can everyone please form lines behind each cash register", so of course everyone scrambled. I stayed where I was at and became the second person in line at the register. At that point, I had an epiphany. I wasn't the odd one out, I was actually doing the RIGHT THING. I was the one who did form a line where I was supposed to and then conformed to everyone else because I was second guessing myself. I should've never stepped out of line, and I should've never second guessed myself and felt bad that this store did not carry something other than sweats in my size. I can't believe that I let a store define me and made me feel bad and embarrassed over something so stupid. 

Still I was disappointed that Forever 21 had such limited choices. As I went online to search for new wardrobe, I noticed that there aren't a lot of retailers who sell plus size clothing in a brick and mortar store. Other than Torrid and Lane Bryant, I couldn't think or find any other company, and Google Search didn't help much either. All the sites they took me to were UK based sites that would take awhile to ship over to the States. I came across a couple of stories though that surprised me...First of all, reasons why retailers do not carry plus size clothing in stores? It said, "Plus size women are too embarrassed to go to a store and try on clothes" and "Plus size women feel better when they shop online" and another said "Plus size women don't feel comfortable with the sizes listed on the tags" WTF??? Seriously? I know LOTS and LOTS of plus size women who would PREFER to shop in a brick and mortar store! We'd rather save the shipping and handling cost since we already have to pay the extra $2-$5 for being an extended size. And now, not only do we not have as many as options, news reports are actually labeling us and putting words in our mouths? In these stories, there weren't even any reports of a survey study or anything to support their claims. Another story I found that was quite disappointing was that H&M was coming out with a plus size line BUT it would not be available in their stores AND it would only be available in the UK. Why not in the US? Supposedly (this is not a formal statement from H&M) it is because they don't have eCommerce in the US yet and EVEN THEN, the line is a one-off collection meaning that they will only make a certain amount and once it sells out, THAT'S IT. Also, Old Navy has made it clear that they will only sell plus size clothing on their website and no longer in-store. However, I will sometimes find a few size 16 and 18 here and there, but once again, the choices are rather slim.

Please don't get me wrong and think that I'm just pissed because I couldn't find anything that would fit me (which is not the case because I do have cute clothes that I've purchased before). I am reminded of an episode of Drop Dead Diva where Jane sues a clothing store because they didn't carry a dress she had wanted in her size and Kim tells her, "Poor pitiful Jane is crying because they don't carry a dress in her size". Well, if you watched the episode, you'll know that although it was how it started, the reason why Jane sued was because of the way THEY TREATED her in the store. They treated her thin friend Stacy by offering a smoothie, smiles, and when Jane asked for help, they glared and talked to her with an annoyed expression and tone. I'm not complaining just because these stores don't carry a dress in my size and the employees were nice when I dealt with them, but more of the fact that it is so hard to find decent clothing and then when I go online, I see reports and they have all these false claims, it just ignites my fire even more. I am going to remain hopeful that Forever 21 will bring in some cuter options and that there will be more options at other retailers, AND that news reports will get their information right. Until then, I'll stick to my usual Ross, DD's Discounts, Torrid, Marshall's, and Target. I'm not sure if I want to purchase online yet just because I am a little nervous that the clothes would not fit correctly. But, like I said, I am going to remain hopeful and positive and not just because ASOS Curve has some cute items I might try. :D Sorry for the long rant, but I just had to let it out.