Brown shiny nails

In my May issue of Glamour, Miley Cyrus was wearing dark shiny brown nails, so I went out and tried it. I hate spending $10 on nail polish (or anything, for that matter!), so I went to Walgreens and bought a $2 bottle. It's Sinful Colors in Mercury Rising. Kinda cool, right? I like it as an alternative to my dark purple that I've been wearing for the past couple months.

Skinny gloss

I posted last week about finding my new perfect gloss- Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine for Lips in Peony. Well, I think it's officially surpassed perfect now. I've discovered since buying it that I've been snacking less. It's because my lips feel and look so perfect, and I'm way less likely to grab something when passing food because I don't want to mess up my lips (or eat a bunch of pinky-peach gloss). I'm wearing my new gloss almost all the time these days, so I'm munching way less.

And guess what? I've lost a whole pound this week! Yup, call me a genius.

Packing Light

I just got back from a funeral in Arkansas, and didn't feel like lugging around all of my big bottles of "necessary" beauty products. I like the idea of having one little bag with everything you need in it. And I actually did it! Here's what was in my one little makeup bag:

1. A 3-oz. travel bottle with Suave Kids Fairy Berry Strawberry 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner. I love this stuff. It smells awesome, the bottle is super cute, and it detangles my really tangle-prone hair (which means I don't have to lug around my bottle of detangler!) Oh, and I use it for body wash too. Perfect for traveling.

2. A disposable razor.

3. A tiny squeeze bottle with enough contact solution for two days.

4. My contact case & glasses.

5. A wide tooth comb.

6. A little bottle of Calgon Tahitian Orchid Body Spray. It smells really good and the spray bottle is the perfect size.

7. My Olay Total Effects Eye Transforming Cream. It's a little jar.

8. My Ban deodorant.

9. Here's what I'm really proud of: 2 old jars of lip gloss. I saved the empty ones, cleaned them, and filled one with my face wash and one with my moisturizer.

The only thing I really forgot was hairspray, but I had room in my little bag for a travel-sized bottle of it. Anyway, I was proud of myself. I fit everything for the entire weekend in the bag I carry my textbooks in. Pretty efficient, huh?

Bright pink lips like Alexis

I love Alexis Bledel (she'll always be Rory Gilmore to me). So I tried her bright pink lips today. I actually mixed a lipstick called "Wine" with a hot pink one to make this color. It looked really bright on me, even though it shows up dully in the picture. I actually wore this shade all day, to class and everything, and I liked it. If you have blue eyes, this will definitely make them shine.

Lipgloss holy grail

Ok, I cheated on my plan to not buy a lip product until I completely ran out... which would take me about 12 years I think, give or take. But I found the perfect color of lipgloss yesterday! It's Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine for Lips in Peony. See how pretty that is? It's the perfect pinky-peach that most drugstore lipglosses just don't carry. I'm ecstatic about this. It smells really good, like some sort of exotic fruit that I can't put my finger on. And it's super shiny (hence the Lacquer in the name) and iridescent. It's a little sticky, but I don't mind my lipgloss somewhat sticky. I hate those glosses that are so watery that I'm afraid they'll just slide off my lips. Oh, and it has a little brush applicator, not a sponge! Perfect.

The only problem? I think it's being discontinued.... I didn't find it on the Sally Hansen website.... Yikes.

Weird face wash

On Friday night, I made a run to Walmart to pick up some hand soap because we were completely out. This particular kind looked really appealing (and smelled great!). And it's been working really well as hand wash.

Then I read the back of it.... It said, "Dial White Tea & Vitamin E Pearls Hand Soap is a crystal clear sensation that cares for your skin. Enriched with White Tea extract, a natural antioxidant, and nourishing Vitamin E complex, it works with your skin's natural moisturizers to help maintain a soft, supple, healthy feel while it gently cleans." And I thought hmmm.... This sounds like a face wash.

So what the heck, I tried washing my face with it. It's been 3 days now and my skin is amazingly soft. I don't have one single blemish or any of those annoying dry, crusty patches I usually do (my skin is sooo dry). I think this is a keeper- as a hand soap and a face wash! And it's a total steal at exactly $1.37 for 11.25 oz. at Walmart.

Chocolate Mud Masque

Today I threw my cousins a birthday party (all 3 of them just happened to have April birthdays). The theme was a spa party, or sparty, as I like to call it :P. I played some very zen relaxation music, lit some candles, set up a nail polish station, and of course did facials! I used face cleansing wipes, a homemade green tea toner, and my favorite moisturizer of all time, St. Ives Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer. I'd tried all of these before. What I hadn't tried was the Chocolate Mud Masque by Montagne Jeunesse. I picked some of them up at Walmart just this morning and thought they'd be fun. Boy, did it feel amazing! It smelled and felt just like chocolate mousse.
You're supposed to let it dry on your face for 10-15 minutes, and then wash it off. When I washed it off, my skin looked amazing! It was actually glowing. My cousins and I discovered that there's way too much in one packet for just one mask. So we saved what was left over in a little jar. We'll definitely be saving this for later!

Never buy a face scrub again!

I read an online beauty article the other day about DIY beauty products, and it said that you could use sugar to exfoliate your face. The article said it wasn't too harsh for your skin because sugar dissolves with water. Of course, I thought this was a great idea. Especially because every time I visit my mother-in-law, she sends me home with 30 cans of green beans and a big bag of sugar. But it wasn't until yesterday that it hit me- why not just mix a little bit of sugar in with your regular face wash? Then you'll know your face won't get irritated by it. Plus, you're saving money buy not going out and buying a separate scrub.

I tried it last night by mixing a little bit of sugar in with my regular Cetaphil and it worked great! My skin was really smooth, soft, and glowy. And now I finally have a use for all that sugar in my pantry!