My Favorite Hair Products

To me, my hair is one of my favorite features. It's always been long, thick and I've been fortunate to have hair that curls easily and stays stick straight. I recently got my haircut because I fell in love with Veronika's layers and style and let's just say I needed a bit of a trim. So I've always been one to spend the extra $20 on a great product that makes my hair look and feel amazing so I figured I would share my favorites with you all.

In order from left to right:

CHI Straight Guard- This product came with my new CHI flat iron (will elaborate more on that later) and so far, I've loved it. It adds that smoothing effect to my strands before I flat iron my hair while protecting them from the heat. The one downside about this product is the smell. It smells like a man in my opinion. Very cologne-like in my opinion. 

Rockaholic Dry Shampoo- I love this dry shampoo! It is so lightweight and wallet-friendly that I couldn't ask for anything else. It blends easily whether you spray it in your palms and run it through your hair or spray directly to your roots. I really can't get over how affordable this product is for such a big bottle. 

Kenra Curl Defining Creme- One of my all time favorite "wavy" "curly" hair products. If you ever see photos of me with my hair looking beachy, this is the product I used. It smells amazing and takes little to no effort to get the desired results. I comb my hair after I wash it, let it air dry for a few minutes, pump a nickel sized amount of product into my palms and rub them together. I then "scrunch" the products onto the ends of my hair. Since the product is a little "gummy" in texture I wash my hands and come back to use a hair dryer and repeat "scrunching" while the dryer is on my hair. After, I go over my entire head with a quick mist of Joico JoiMist and I'm done. Super easy and the waves and curls stay in for hours. Plus my hair smells AH-MAZE-ING. 

Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream- Most of you probably already know or have at least heard about how amazing this product is. If you haven't tried it, it is to die for! Best money I have spent in a long time. SMELLS AMAZING, and leaves your hair silky, shiny, and frizz-free. Simply a great product. 

Bumble & Bumble Quenching Masque- I just picked this product up from my stylist the other day when I got my hair cut and absolutely love it. It's for "thirsty" hair and is a 10 minute masque that rehydrates and renews damaged and dry hair. Downside, it will make your wallet cry. Just this travel size was $16; the bigger bottle (which wasn't very big) was $37...yikes. Since it was a new product I wasn't ready to sacrifice $40 on something I might not like. Although I like it, I use it sparingly because of the cost. By the way, smells great too. 

Joico JoiMist Firm Spray- I'm not really into hairspray and rarely use it but this is my second bottle of JoiMist and I do like it. It's lightweight but has a firm hold which is great for those days when you don't want to look like your head is matted down with Aqua Net. 

Matrix Vavoom Styling Mousse- I picked this product up because some days my hair looks thin and needs that boost of volume. This mousse definitely does the trick and was reasonable on my bank account. However, like so many mousses, this product can get stiff quickly so I only like to use it on my roots for a bit of a lift and style shortly after to avoid that stiff feeling while the product sets. 

CHI Flat Iron- It's official. I broke down and spent $100 on a CHI iron. It came with the Straight Guard product and round brush as a gift which was a nice incentive, who doesn't like free stuff? I took my cheap Wal-Mart flat iron that I thought worked pretty well for only costing $15 to France and blew a fuse while we were in Nice so for the past 3 months I have been using rollers to set my hair. Let me tell you, it just hasn't been the same. So I caved and I haven't looked back. I'm already obsessed with it. It makes my hair look and feel amazing. Best of all, it makes my hair last longer. By that I mean I can go 1 more day without washing my hair, yay! I love less work especially since my hair is getting so long. I really can't say enough about the CHI so if you're looking for a new flat iron, it won't disappoint and will be completely worth the money.

I hope you found this helpful! Have a great Saturday!

Love&Luck

Weekly Round Up: Happy Friday!

Hiiiiii lovers!! So sorry AGAIN, the crazy life I call mine never ceases to desist. I hope everyone else is getting just as excited as I am about this St. Patty's right around the corner; #1 because I'm alotta Irish and #2 because I will be working at an Irish bar in a mainly Irish populated city this year so I'm excited to watch everyone else act a fool while I make all the money, muahaha!

In other news, B. Rouche is doing great and really getting the hang of potty training. She is getting so big already it is so depressing! I'm not sure how I'll do with children growing so quickly if I can hardly handle my dog doing it. We are also varying our sleep routine; sometimes she sleeps with me, sometimes she sleeps in her kennel. Slowly but surely she is befriending her kennel, we are spending a lot of time in it when it gets close to bed time by her hanging out in it while I have my arm in there petting her and saying things like "good girl" and "good kennel". Seems to be working so it is nice to finally see some progress. She is also running at lightening speed up the stairs and is already due for her 12 week shots next week, how crazy! Gah, time is flying by.

Also, two good friends and I will begin a 90 day workout challenge starting Monday. I'm super excited about it and trying to figure out why we didn't do this before? I think it will be great that 2 others will be holding me accountable and vice versa, it will be great to push each other. I won't be posting too many details about the challenge until we're done, then I will be posting before and after photos, measurements, results, etc.

My goals for the 90 day challenge look something like this...

Honestly, I would kill to be able to confidently wear a thong bikini. Hopefully I can get close, fingers crossed. 

In celebrity news, I CAN'T BELIEVE SNOOKI CAN REPRODUCE! Honestly, that girl should be one of the last people on Earth to have a child. YIKES

Look at this train wreck!

Yikes. Let's just hope Snooks cleans up that act of hers and pulls it together.

Secondly, anyone else see JSimp's naked prego Elle cover? I'm really 50/50 on this one because I do think pregnancy is beautiful and all that and I think I would like to do something similar but keep it to myself and throw it in a personal scrapbook. But on the other hand Mama Jess is just so big! I mean somebody needs to break her water because she looks like she is going to burst!

Does anyone else think that photoshopping of some sort was done here? Because why does she look so much bigger when she wears clothes?? I heard Jess has signed up to be a Jenny Craig spokeswoman to get rid of the baby weight which I'm excited about because you know she's gonna need help pullin that weight off and it will be cool to see how successful she is at it.

Last week I finally got my hair cut (it was going on 6 months, way too long I know!) and I asked my amazing stylist to recommend a restoring masque for my dry and damaged hair. This is what she suggested, I'm excited to do a review for it after I try it!

Also I've said it before but I am SO READY for M to be home. It is officially less than one month till he is back and I couldn't be more ready. Ready to have my partner, friend, confidant, voice of reason, love, shoulder, rock to be home and be by my side. So close! I'm so fed up with long distance that I don't even like to Skype that much anymore, I'm just annoyed with our current situation so I try not to acknowledge it and just keep counting down the days till he is home and we never have to do this again, woohoo! 

Okay I think that's all I have for now. I'm going to post a couple videos of Rouche playing with Maggie at some point this weekend but otherwise don't expect much from me as I'll either be crazy busy working or dead tired from working. 

Hope you all have a great weekend and a safe St. Patrick's!

Love&Luck

Beauty Review

Ok readers I have to talk about a couple products that I'm in love with this month. Per Veronika's blog I fell in love with Essie's Fiji nail color; it's a beautiful light pink and a perfect necessity for spring. Here it is on me, I applied 3 coats to get the look I wanted. 

I am also in love with my Revlon Lip Butter and have passed on my contagious obsession to my best friend. Here are our Lip Butters being friendly. 

Don't get me wrong, I still love my Eos Lip Balms but my Lip Butter is a perfect substitute for when I also want a pop of color. 

I also wanted to let you know that I do A TON of shopping online and if I find a product I love in a store, I usually go online to see if I can get it for cheaper. Example, an average Essie polish is ~$8 but I found a brand new bottle of it on Amazon that included shipping and was still cheaper than $8.00 making it obvious that I saved money because I didn't need to drive to the store and I got the bottle for cheaper than retail price. Just a tip for you, I try to do this as much as I can for anything from flat iron's to hair products. Do you have any great ideas or ways you save money that you'd like to share?

If you check them out I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Love&Luck

Great Mascara

I receive comments quite frequently about the length of my eyelashes. Although they are inhumanely long by nature (thank you Ma, Pa, and God for blessing me with great genetics) I do get a little help from a company called MAC. I'm sure you've all heard of this company and your first thought may probably be, "Oh great I'm going to have to spend a hefty penny on makeup". Well O.K. you may be spending more than $5 (think ~$11), I think it's absolutely worth it for the results I receive from their Plush Lash mascara. I've used other mascaras of theirs before as well, Studio Fix, but nothing makes my eyes pop or my lashes separate and plump better than the Plush Lash. If you think about it, you spend $5 on that crappy mascara you buy from Target that clumps your lashes together and gets all goop-y on you. Plus it dries out in a matter of weeks and you have to go back to buy another tube sooner than you'd like.

If you want full, thick lashes, just go to MAC and pick up some Plush Lash or Haute & Naughty and be done with it. I guarantee you'll love your results and won't ever go back to a Target brand mascara again (not there is anything wrong with Target, I usually can't leave without spending over $100).

Product Review: Rhonda Allison

A few weeks ago I wrote about a brand of skin care that I'm obsessed with, Rhonda Allison. I also mentioned that I was going to try some new products so here they are...

Previously I've used the Pumpkin Facial Cleanser but decided to try the Beta Green Tea Cleanser. I've absolutely fallen in love with this cleanser, it's a little less drying than the Pumpkin Cleanser but just as creamy and smells very clean and fresh which is great for washing my face in the morning.

The aesthetician who I purchased the products from also recommended a few other items that I'm also in love with which I listed below.

Blemish Serum for those miscellaneous  blemishes

Aloe Matte Moisturizer is lightweight but creamy 

I just picked up a dry shampoo tonight as well that I can't wait to try and review for you, have you used one yet? Did you like the results? I woke up really late for work this morning and had an 8am meeting I could be late for so I figured it would be a good idea to have a back-up plan for some emergency glam. 

Okay lovelies, time to relax and enjoy my evening by the fire. xo

Excuse the Foul Language

Happy Monday.

Although daylight savings makes it look like it's bed time before I even leave the office at 5pm, it's so nice leaving the house when it's light out. It really does make it a lot easier getting out of bed.

On another note, I had to add the below link because I thought this was so cool- there is no way I could ever make these notes so I hope this kid makes a little more money then whatever is in that hat he's got because this is a ridiculous awesome talent.

Dubstep Beatboxer Womp Womping Like A Motherfucker

On the beauty side of life, I wanted to share my latest fixation...

EOS Lip Balm. They look like little eggs and may seem funny to roll onto your lips at first but I can promise you'll get addicted. Ulta has a special on a 3 pack right now for ~$7 and they also have a 2 for $6 deal going on; I picked a couple packs up for my roommate and I to try and we both love them. I feel like they leave my lips moisturized for a longer period of time than an average lip balm and they smell delicious too. If you're looking for a new balm to try, I would head on over to Ulta and give them a try since they're running a special on them.

I don't think I've mentioned the below website on my blog yet either so here is a great resource for beauty, home, fashion, and food advice. She has a lot of great how-to videos on her site and gives me a couple fashion ideas, hope you guys enjoy!

www.cupcakesandcashmere.com

xoxo

A Few Favorites

If you know me at all, you know that when I come to love something, I could sell it to anyone and everyone even if I was on my death bed; I wanted to write and share a few products I can't get enough of.

Rhonda Allison Pumpkin Facial Cleanser

I have been hooked on this product for 2 years now- my girlfriend's mom carries it in her salon so I had to pick some up after hearing her talk about it for so long. My skin type is dry-oily combo and needs very little maintenance so anything more than a cleanser is too harsh but regular bar soap isn't enough to maintain a clear complexion. RA offers a variety of cleansers in different "flavors" (green tea, citrus, pumice, and milk to name a few) but the fresh smell of pumpkin after I was my face is amazing especially since it's Autumn. The cleanser is creamy and made of all natural products that are listed on each bottle and can all be pronounced. I'm heading to the store this week to pick up more cleanser as well as the  Raspberry Lotion and some Blemish Serum; currently I use Olay moisturizer but my skin reacts so well to the Pumpkin Cleanser that I like to have my regime from the same brand if possible. Also, a few week ago I had tried going to a different all natural bar soap from a boutique (it was a disaster, which led me to write this post) which left me with a million blemishes that I've been getting back under control since using the Pumpkin Cleanser again. I've heard rave reviews about the Blemish Serum and figure it couldn't hurt for those emergency cases where you don't have time to let it heal itself.

To order your own products or find a salon/spa that carriers Rhonda Allison near you, visit http://www.rhondaallison.com

Another product that I've fallen in love with is Larenim makeup. This makeup line is completely natural and was developed after a woman had severe reactions to her designer makeup. A great boutique in Buffalo, MN (http://www.sheoncentral.com) where I found this great makeup. Currently I am using the foundation mineral powder, Mineral Silk powder, and under-eye concealer called Decollete. I love the way the powder makes my skin feel, flawless and naked. It literally feels like I am wearing nothing and my skin naturally feels like silk. Larenim also makes me look "polished"; like I woke up looking amazing and almost as if someone airbrushed my makeup on with one effortless stroke. 

Check out www.larenim.com for more products!

I literally get excited in the morning to put my makeup on (let's be honest, copiers doesn't exactly get me out of bed in the morning). 

I hope you check out these products if you're in the market for some new skin care. Please let me know how you like them if you decide to give them a try!

On a more personal note, I made a trip to New Ulm, MN this weekend to visit my dear friend Sarah and I am excited to report that she officially asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding this June! Deep down I was really hoping I would get the honor to be apart of her wedding party on her special day but now that it's official, I couldn't be more excited. Obviously we spent the majority of the time together pouring over wedding magazines and discussing bachelorette ideas over wine and margaritas. 

Here is a picture from the "good ole days" of college...

Sarah and I with my mom at one of Michael's games in 2008.

That's all for now folks. Hope you have a great start to the week!

xoxo

Is insomnia considered a hobby?

I know, I know...it's been forever. To be truthful, the time I feel most like writing is during the day. But guess what else is a priority from 7:30-5? My amazing job in the copier world. By the time I get home from yoga after work it's already 7pm and I am exhausted from putting all my energy and effort into copiers (get excited, this could be you).
However, I have this neat little trick that if I don't have a set schedule (5:30 am, 11pm sleep routine) I end up awake all hours of the night and cruising in and out of sleep through most of the day- my dad says I get this from his side, a bunch of night owls apparently. Sometimes, I like it. Most of the time it means I am cleaning at 2am or painting my nails at midnight, the list goes on and on. So although I was in bed at 10pm on a Friday last night, here I am wide awake on Saturday, blogging at 1am.
With that said, I wanted to share some recent good-ness that I have ventured across. Michael's grandparents gave me this cookbook recently

The key words you should be aware of are "low in sugar, fat, and calories" while simultaneously being able to eat the things you love most. It has everything from cocktails to salads to desserts and tomorrow I will be creating the "Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup" as well as "Oven Fried Zucchini Rounds" (picture below). One of my favorite healthy snacks as of late are "Zucchini Chips": thin slices of zucchini baked at 450 topped with parmesan cheese. They are delicious and easy, thank you Mom! So I figured, why not make them a little bit more delicious with some bread crumbs right?! I will post pictures and tell you how they were tomorrow. 

For the good stuff, I want to talk about Anna Karenina and The Paris Wife.

I want to start by saying that like every good English degree holder, I felt that I had to read Anna Karenina because it was a historical book and it's a classic...yada yada yada. I will tell you know, don't go there unless you have to. Basically, it takes place when divorces were just beginning to surface but were still scarce enough to "ruin" a woman if she were to divorce her husband. Well, Anna happened to marry a man who seemed like a good fit instead of her soulmate, had a son with him, and they both led their separate lives but were bound together through law. Until the day she meets Alexey Oblonky, whom she falls passionately in love with and they create a love child who she ends up despising. Long story short, her husband won't grant her a divorce so she can be with Oblonsky (I get it, he wants her to suffer they way he did) and she is a jealous, emotional wreck so she throws herself in front of a train. Did I ruin it for you? I hope not because it took about a million pages to get that point.

 In the end I was honestly hoping more than 1 person would commit suicide, is that incredibly terrible of me? The low down being, decisions in life were no longer made based on obligation in society but by personal preference, feelings, love. 

Here is my recommendation: read The Awakening and call it a day. Similar principles behind the plot and I'm not sure it's even 100 pages long. Personally, it changed my life in college; a real eye-opener on women in society. It really does boggle my mind how different women were treated decades ago, can you imagine not being able to make your own decisions? We wear certain clothes so we won't be judged could you imagine marrying someone so you would be presented a certain way in public? Sounds like a big barf-fest to me. 

The Paris Wife

I will tell you right now, READ IT. I was absolutely smitten with this novel. McLain's writing style was simply amazing and the way she referenced Hemingway was surreal. 

I should preface this by saying that a year prior to reading this book, I had spent an entire semester studying Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Willa Cather so Hemingway's style and works were quite fresh in my memory. McLain tells the story of Hemingway's first wife and how simple and happy their life was before he became a household name. My favorite part is also the part where the book takes a serious turn when they make the trip to Spain while Hem is in the midst of writing a new book (later to be titled Sun Also Rises) and McLain literally takes you into the exact examples that Hem uses in this book which I can only give her serious credit for- she had to spend hours pouring over his work trying to decide which parts to write about. Unfortunately, the book doesn't end how I wanted it to, if you know Hem you know he has 4 wives so it really can't get great (even though it's non-fictional she stays pretty close to the border). Hem ends up being 4 women deep and one unhappy ending later but at the very least Hadley ends up happy with a man who believes in monogamy. 

I know the summary was short but I really don't want to ruin any details, the book is simply amazing and you would be crazy not to pick it up. McLain interlaces romance, ambition, betrayal, the Expat years and more into one amazing page-turner. 

Recommendation: Read Sun Also Rises and then Paula McLain's The Paris Wife. When you're done with that I know you will be eager to read A Moveable Feast and perhaps A Farewell to Arms. Please be prepared, Hem isn't the most cheery of writers as he led a very depressed life full of alcoholism. 

I loved Sun so much that I wanted to name my daughter after Bret (come on, a woman with balls like that? How could I not?!). I have this weird fetish of wanting to name my children after books that I love (I also like Bennet after the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice, really I can't choose just one sister to name a daughter after). 

Okay, I feel good about this post. Let me know if you check out either reads.

Cheers!