June Favorites

There have been some products that stuck out to me this month, and I just had to share with you! Here are my monthly favorites for June!

• Argania Spinosa Organic Argan Oil Special Treatment Masque - Oh my word - dare I say I love this as much, maybe even MORE than my beloved Macadamia Mask?! It's true - I do! I believe this is a British product, but I picked it up at TJ Maxx solely based on how delicious it smells. It is, hands down, the best smelling hair masque I have ever used. Not only that, but it makes my hair so soft and manageable and I actually feel like it repairs my hair every time I use it. I hope I can find this again when I run out!

• Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation - I've rambled on and on about this foundation (see full review here) but it really is a favorite this month. I've hardly strayed from this every time I wear foundation, as this is the only one I have on hand that actually stays put in the heat. My face is also a bit more oily in the summer, but this foundation holds strong through it all. Love love love.

• St. Tropez Gradual Tan Everday Body Moisturizer - This is a rather spendy self tanner, but it is worth every penny. I have had people ask me if I got a spray tan (a compliment in my world, as I obviously am never asked if I've been laying out. Holla @ my pale girls!) when I've been using this stuff. It gives a really nice, natural glow, and it actually smells nice when you apply it. (But of course, in a few hours' time you do smell a hint of self-tanner - blegh).

• Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara - I had my doubts about this mascara.... the first time I used it I think I had a crusty, old bottle. I decided I needed to try again, and boy am I glad I did! This is an all-around great mascara - it volumizes, lengthens, and it doesn't make your lashes a clumpy mess. I've been using this all month long.

• Klorane Soothing Eye Makeup Remover - I purchased this gem with the last of my remaining Birchbox points (remember?) on a complete whim, and it turns out I absolutely love this stuff. It's so gentle on my eyes and it has a nice clean scent. I hope I can find another place to repurchase this, because I can see myself buying it again and again. 

What products did you love this month? Let me know in the comments! 

This Week #8

Top to bottom, L to R: Strawberries picked from our CSA//Winnie & I enjoying snap peas//A Friday treat//Hubby manning the parade candy

Happy Sunday! Hope your week was wonderful! This week flew by for me - I can't hardly believe it's already almost over!

We started the week off with Puppy II class, Winnie's favorite thing. She has become so agile and loves to run around on the agility equipment -- faster than I can even keep up with her at times! Makes me think that Agility and Flyball classes are likely in her future. It's so fun to watch her grow and learn. (Bonified crazy dog lady here... watch out!)

On Wednesdays we get to pick up our CSA box, and this week brought two types of kale, strawberries, sugar snap peas, basil and zucchini. I fully expected the zucchini to be the best  thing in the box (because I absolutely LOVE zucchini) but I think my favorite thing was chowing down the sugar snap peas with lunch. Winnie also loved them, as you can see above. She also loved the kale, and was jumping up on the counter to try to get the full head for herself! Like mama, like puppy. ;)

This week was my city's annual week-long celebration - there's food vendors downtown all week, various entertainment like street dances and kareoke competitions, and a parade to cap it all off. I spent Thursday evening volunteering at a booth selling pops and newspapers which was fun - I saw lots of familiar faces! And then Friday, the company I work for led off the parade and you can see my husband above, who stayed in the van and refilled the candy buckets for all the kids walking with us. It was lots of fun!

We've had a rather lazy weekend so far, which is totally fine by me. We got great walks in both Saturday morning and this morning, and we spent Saturday getting things done around the house and having dinner with Jake's family. Today we'll be running lots of errands and then hosting a friend for dinner. And the best part about this Sunday? Knowing we're heading in to a short work week for the Independence Day holiday! YAY!

Hope the rest of your Sunday is fabulous! See you all tomorrow! :)

Ruby Wing - Kitten Heels

Check out this hot hot hot pink! You may recall seeing Kitten Heels by Ruby Wing on Glazed Over before, and that's because I got this in a Birchbox back in February. I absolutely love hot pink on my nails in the summer, so I pulled this beauty out and gave it a go.

As you can probably tell, I have acrylic nails on which I've cut and filed down, but you can still sort of see where they've grown out despite all my attempts at filing. On that note -anyone have any good tips for removal that won't completely tear away at my nails? 

Anyway, this is the first time I've ever used a polish by Ruby Wing and I have to say I'm impressed. Kitten Heels is a neon hot pink creme polish. I'm wearing two coats topped off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. Application was flawless - it applied easily without bubbles or inconsistency.

Kitten Heels is supposed to be a color shifting polish. Indoors it's supposed to be pink, and outside it's supposed to shift to an orangey-red. I don't know if it has something to do with the acrylic nails I painted over, but it has not changed for me at all. It's been pink the whole time...which I'm okay with because this color is such a beaut!

Overall, I really like this polish! I don't care that it doesn't shift colors - that's kind of gimmicky (IMHO) anyway. The flawless application and bright opaque color make this a true gem! Ruby Wing nail polish can be purchased here for $10 a bottle. Check it out!

Styled Wedding Photoshoot | What's On My Face

Photo by Amy Nguyen Photos

A few weeks ago I alluded to doing a styled photoshoot for Amy Nguyen photos - a talented local photographer who took a chance on me and asked if my husband Jake and I wouldn't mind sitting for some photos so she could try out some new poses and pictures. I jumped at the chance because I love her work and Jake and I didn't have any recent professional photos together - and well, let's just say I am in freaking love with what she did. 

Seriously, if you're in southern Minnesota and in need of beautiful photos, Amy is your girl. She is bursting full of talent and I'm convinced she's not capable of taking a bad picture. Go call her right now!!!

Photo by Amy Nguyen Photos

I hadn't ever done my own makeup for a professional photoshoot before, so I was excited to get the chance... and when I saw the photos, I was shocked to find out it didn't look like a 12 year old using makeup for the first time did it. And because that's rather exciting, I thought I'd share what I used to achieve the look. Let me tell you - it's easy peasy. 

• Primer: I started off by using a SPF-free moisturizer (this DDF moisturizer from a past Birchbox -- not pictured) so that no white-cast appeared on my face when photographed. Then to prime my face and erase the sign of visible pores, I used Benefit's Porefessional. I applied this to the areas of my face that have the most unsightly pores, mostly in my T-zone. 

• Foundation & Powder: Using a damp beauty blender, I then applied my holy grail Covergirl 3-in-1 foundation (full review here) all over my face using dabbing motions. The damp beauty blender provides a very natural full-coverage with a dewy glow. To set the foundation, I used my NYC Smooth Skin Pressed Face Powder in Translucent, which is very finely-milled and provides a soft coverage without adding color or looking cakey. It's also super cheap (under $5!) which is awesome if you're on a budget.

• Eyes: I first began by priming my eyes with the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Nude Pink (full review here). It not only makes a good base that holds the shadow all day, but it erases any discoloration or veins that show through in my eye area. I defined my crease using NYX's True Taupe eyeshadow, and then used one of my favorite eyeshdows -Avon's Frothy Mocha, a cream eyeshadow, all over my lid. I created a cat-eye eyeliner look using the Milani Eye-Tech Extreme eyeliner pen in Blackest Black. I used a coat of Tarte's Lights Camera Lashes mascara, and then applied false lashes, and applied one more coat to bind my lashes to the falsies. (Because what's a photoshoot without falsies - am I right?!)

• Cheeks: To define my cheek bones and contour my face, I used one of my favorite bronzers - the Milk Chocolate Soleil bronzer by Too Faced. I used this in the hollows of my cheeks, up around my hair line, and along my jaw line.  To give me a glow from within, I used Covergirl TruBlend Minerals blush in Shimmering Sands. This is more of a pink highlighter than a blush on me, so I used it to highlight. I then applied the NYX Blush in Peach starting on the apples of my cheeks and blending up for a bit of color. 

• Lips: I had to pull out one of my favorite MAC lipsticks for this - it's natural, yet still makes a statement. I'm talking about MAC's Creme de la Femme. Over top, I applied the Bonnebell liplite in Strawberry Parfait.

• Brows: The NYX eyeshadow in True Taupe worked double-duty, as I used it on my eyes, and then again to fill in my brows. This color is perfect for sculpting out the brows while still maintaining a natural look. To seal them, I applied the clear Maybelline Great Lash over top. This is such a simple step but it really pulls together the face to have defined brows.

And wa-lah! That's how you create the look. It's super simple but still holds up to the test of a camera! 

Here's a couple bonus pictures just for fun. And Amy, if you're reading - Thank you SO SO much for these awesome photos!

Photo by Amy Nguyen Photos

Photo by Amy Nguyen Photos

This Week #7

Top to Bottom, L to R: Our CSA farm//Red lipstick//A reunion with old friends//My growing strawberries//My pup Winnie

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope your week was splendid - I know mine was!

This week was a wet one here in southern Minnesota. We battled storms Mon-Thurs, some causing major flooding in areas. But I started Monday off right regardless, waiting out a major thunderstorm with good friends, sipping a cocktail. (top right) One dear friend was visiting town and it had been over 6 years since I last saw her. Needless to say, catching up was really nice.

On Tuesday I got to go to a really awesome fundraiser called "Power of the Purse", which raises money for the United Way and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. I got to hear Laura Ling (sister of the famed journalist Lisa Ling) speak on her time in captivity in North Korea, and it was so interesting. I was honored to be able to go to such an event. On Wednesday, my best friend came over for dinner and told us all about her honeymoon spent in the Bahamas. She just returned Monday and I am so jealous of her bronze glow. The work week was capped off nicely; Jake and I hosted my coworkers for a happy hour at our home. It was fun to catch up outside of work and see everyone's significant others. 

Saturday was the most beautiful first day of summer, and it actually felt like it arrived. 85 and sunny - perfection. Jake and I spent part of the day at the farm where we get our CSA box from each week, as they hosted their annual Strawberry Social (top left). We got to pick strawberries straight from the field, and then enjoy live music and stawberry shortcake. It was really interesting to hear about how they grow their crops and it made me very happy we picked this farm to provide us with our weekly CSA box. On Saturday evening, we cooked up the asparagus we received in our box this week, and made Pesto Pasta with asparagus, mozarella and sun-dried tomatoes. You can find the recipe here. Using the strawberries we got, we made Strawberry Gin Mojitos which I highly recommend you try out sometime. 

Today we'll be making our annual voyage to purchase fireworks for the cabin - my husband and soon-to-be brother-in-law are our firework show extraordinaires and they put on a great show each year.

Hope the rest of your weekend is peaceful and relaxing. See ya'll on Monday! 

Tangle Teezer | Review

My hair is in between thin and thick, and it sort of does its own thing. Most days I let it air dry and it falls relatively straight once it's dry. But a constant issue for me is battling tangles. On any given day my hair likes to tangle in the back, but especially on days when I curl my hair. I don't know how you ladies curl your hair and it's soft and weightless and it doesn't get ratty, because my hair does the complete opposite. 

Enter - the Tangle Teezer - a.k.a a miraculous tool that clearly came from the gods. I was skeptical about the Tangle Teezer; I'd seen reviews on it, and every single one was positive. I thought to myself, "I bet these girls don't have tangles like I do." So I put off trying this puppy for about a year and a half. Then one day I saw a Tangle Teezer in the aisles of Target and figured"What the heck" and threw one in my cart. Let's just say I am kicking myself for not doing just that a year and a half ago.

I've been using the Tangle Teezer every morning after I wash my hair for about a month now. It works like a charm on regular washings - smoothly brushing out my hair without pulling or pain. 

But a couple weeks ago, I REALLY put this to the test after my best friend's wedding; my hair was ratted to infinity and beyond, and I had so much product in it that I wanted to cry at the thought of even beginning to drag ANY sort of brush through it. After washing and conditioning my hair, I hesitantly began dragging the Tangle Teezer through my hair and I was amazed. What would normally have taken me 10 minutes to do with another comb took me just a minute. Not to mention, it was completely pain-free and took no tugging or pulling. 

That right there sold me. I am a firm believer in the Tangle Teezer. Never again will I use a regular comb to brush my hair - I've found a new love! If you are prone to tangles - even tangles of the terrifyingly horrible sort, this will work for you. Mark my words. Go to Target right now and get you one!

Have you tried the Tangle Teezer (or some variation of it?)? Let me know how you liked it in the comments!

Ipsy | June 2014

This month's Ipsy bag is here, and let me tell you - it.is.AWESOME. 

If you aren't familiar with Ipsy, it's a monthly subscription service for beauty samples. Ipsy has amazing value; oftentimes the bags are filled with a mix of deluxe samples and full-size products. And always the value of the bag surpasses the $10 it costs each month. If I were to recommend a beauty subscription service to anyone, it would flat out be Ipsy. Click any of the hyperlinked "Ipsy's" in this post to start your subscription.

This month's theme is "Pretty in Paradise" and features a bag styled by Rebecca Minkoff. This is easily the cutest Ipsy bag I've received - I LOVE the design of it! Now let's dive in to what goodies it came with...

• Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray - I've never really gotten too excited about "beach" sprays. I like to keep my hair mostly free of product because I like to go 2-3 days without a wash, but I will definitely have to try this out and maybe my mind will change.

• Essence of Beauty Fine Fragrance Body Mist in Forever Paris - This smells surprisingly good, and I really like the size of it! Perfect for summer travels.

• Be a Bombshell Lash Out Mascara - I always like to sample a new mascara. This seems nice, although I have yet to test that theory.

• Nicka K New York Shimmer Eyeliner - This is a beautiful emerald green eyeliner that is so dramatic and fun! I will certainly be giving this a go this summer.

• NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel - You know how much I love these. These made my best of beauty 2013 list and it's a miracle I got a shade I don't already own! Score!

What do you think of June's bag? I'd give it a 10/10 - this was probably one of the best bags I've received yet! I love me some Ipsy!