Going Blonde!

In October I decided to try going BLONDE!  I found some amazing inspiration on Pinterest and decided I wanted something similar to this.

Source (original source unknown)

So I went to this awesome lady and we set out to recreate this color.  She knew I wanted to keep my hair as damage free as possible because I like to keep it long.  So when my color pulled red (due to how my hair naturally goes when it lightens and hormones due to breast feeding) we just went with what we got.

It was actually surprisingly very flattering with my skin tone and eyes.  The only problem was that sometimes it looked very blonde-ish orange instead of blonde or red or light brown.  I went in search of an awesome purple shampoo.  

Purple shampoos help blonde hair stay more cool toned and fight orange or yellow tones by leaving a touch of blue violet in your hair.  If your hair is very light blonde you need to be careful to use it once or twice a week or else your hair will start to look purple.  If that happens just don't use the purple shampoo again until it is all washed out and has started to go back to almost looking yellow or brassy.

So I choose my favorite shampoo at Sally Beauty Supply based on ingredients and smell read the review here.  I felt like it was helping, but it is a gradual change as it builds up.  A week or two after I started using it though my husband actually said that he thought the purple shampoo was actually working and that my hair was not as orange.  :)

The two left pictures were right after I had my hair done and the right picture is a few months later (obviously they are in very different lighting but my hair looks much more blonde in the right picture).

I am just about ready to go back in and we're going to have another try for more blonde and more like the inspiration, but in the meantime I have loved my new hair color.  :)

Thanks for reading!  Do you have a fun hair coloring story?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments below :)

Make your cheekbones POP!

I follow Benefit cosmetics on Instagram.  They have some pretty cool marketing and their products always have the funnest names.  Yesterday they posted a tip called "the jelly doughnut."  You use illuminator around your cheekbones/apple of your cheeks and then put blush in the center of your "doughnut" and blend.

I tried it yesterday...Wow!  I have never had my cheeks look so sculpted and gorgeous.  These pics really don't do it justice.

Before (sorry it's so blurry)

Can you see the ring of shiny color on my cheek?

Ring and blush in the middle, preblend

The finished look!  I think this is easier and maybe even better than highlighting and contouring. I used my e.l.f. all over color stick as my highlight because it is somewhat frosty.  I used my e.l.f. baked blush in rich rose to pack in the middle of my circle.  Then I blended the edges of the circle and the middle with the blush.

You've got to try it!  Thanks for reading :)

Linking up with: Fry Sauce & Grits, Makeup Monday

Birthday Spending Money

This year for my Birthday I had a really hard time deciding on specific things that I wanted.  I've been really, really good at not spending money on myself this year.  We set a budget for almost everything and anything we would want to or need to spend on and I have tried really hard to make sure we come in under or at budget on everything.

I feel like it is like a starvation diet.  Anytime I am in a store I see all of the pretty things and if I weren't naturally a very frugal person, I know I would have a crazy binge shopping spree.

I had some birthday coupons, a leftover gift card from my birthday last year, and some birthday money.  So I took myself on a much needed birthday shopping spree!  Jackson and I went to three stores and got a lot of fun stuff.

First we went to Ulta.  I wandered around the store, but couldn't really find anything that I really wanted that was less than $30.  I didn't want to spend all of my money in one place so I used my free birthday mascara code and moved on.  

They give you a free full sized CK one mascara for your birthday.  It usually retails for $18.  There was something wrong with my code, but they had amazing customer service and made it work for me.

Next we went to Rue 21.  They had a whole table full of $5 shirts.  I almost went crazy and bought a bunch of them.  There were so many cute ones!  It is Rue 21 though and I have had a bit of bad luck in the past with their stuff holding up, and my little closet is already bursting at the seams.  So I reigned myself in and got the most practical cute shirt.  This one with black and white stripes and the long back.

Then I wandered around the store in search of some cute colored or floral skinny jeans.  I didn't find any that fit me, but I did find this really dark simple denim pair for $10 that actually fit well.

I had to check out their jewlery.  They always have cute stuff that is within my budget.  I found a few things I kinda liked that were not on sale.  Then I found quite a few necklaces that I really liked and realized that they were all on sale for $2.  So I got these three.

When I rang up I used the remainder of a gift card that I got last year.  So I paid $4.96 for a pair of jeans, a shirt, and three necklaces.  Wahoo!

My last stop was Victoria's Secret.  They had a few bins already set out for the Semi-Annual Sale.  I found a gorgeous bra for $19.99 (I thought).  $10 for an awesome bra!  I was so excited, so I went to ring up and realized that I had been distracted with Jackson and in a hurry and the sign actually said $19.99 and up.  The bra was still thirty odd dollars with my $10 off coupon.

I had to awkwardly tell the lady that I had been confused and that I didn't want the bra at that price.  Jackson at this point decided that he had had it and started screaming.  The cashier tried to hand me the bra and I probably was kind of rude when I said, "No. I don't want it."  Props to her because she was really cool about it and not rude at all when I came back to the register a few minutes later.

I was able to get him calmed down, which was nice, because I thought we were just going to have to go home at that point.  I found a concealer that was regularly $15.  It was on a 30% off sale and with my $10 off coupon I bought it for 53 cents.

So I went on a crazy fun little shopping spree and spent...$5.49

Thanks for reading!! P.S. I'm linking up with Beauty and the Greek and Manic Monday.

Fashion love Friday

There are a few fashion trends going on right now that I am in love with.  Florals and stripes, cuffed jeans, boyfriend jeans and blazers and graphic shirts with feminine skirts.  Here's some pics of my faves and myself rocking the blazer and cuffed boyfriend jeans.

  source click here

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A lot of these outfits are so amazing because of their contrast.  Graphic tee with a gorgeous skirt, blazer with loose cuffed jeans, whimsical floral with structured stripes.  Dig through your closet and see what you can do with what you've already got. 

 I have a lot of beautiful floral skirts, but might pick up a striped shirt like the ones pictured above, I did have a pair of baggy jeans and a blazer already :)

Thanks so much for reading!!

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Penniless Socialite Link-up

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5 minute wavy curls!

I never have time to curl my hair anymore.  I think I have curled it twice since Jackson was born.  We had a wedding to go to on Saturday and I knew I didn't have time to curl my hair...but I really wanted to.  

So I tried just taking really big sections and curling them...and it worked!  I was able to curl all of my hair in 5 minutes!!  It was curlier earlier, but I am out of hair spray...so this is what it looked like at about 4:00 P.M. and I curled it at 8:30 A.M.

What you need:

• a brush/pick/comb
• hair spray (this helps a lot)
• 1" curling iron or wand
• clip to hold sections (optional)

How to do it:

• pull your hair back at your crown from your temples back to the back of the top of your head
• this section should be about the size of a quarter to a half dollar
• wrap it around your curling iron or wand, hold it on there for about 30 seconds or until the hair on the outside feels warm
• start gently unwraping the end, and let the rest slide off the iron into you cupped hand (don't let it fall down straight yet) hold for a few seconds as it cools, let it down, hair spray
• put your hand under the bottom of the curl and lift it back into a coiled spring again for a few seconds while the hair spray dries then let it down and move onto your next section
• take the section to the right or left, the hair from the front side, behind your ear and almost to the back of your head, wrap it, curl it, and hairspray as before.
• do the opposite side the same way
• do whatever hair is left in the back

Voilla!  Curls in 5 minutes! 

If your hair is thicker you may have to do one more section, but probably not because my side and back sections were smaller than the first one and with thicker hair you would have more in those sections.

Thanks for reading!!

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Camping/Hiking Simple, Pretty Makeup

We just got back from a trip to St. George, Utah and Zion's National Park. It was a blast! I took about five to ten minutes getting ready each morning, because we had much better things to do.

Here's my tips for fast, simple yet very pretty makeup for Summer adventures.

First apply a BB cream (I love the elf one because it has good coverage for my less than perfect skin, also SPF is a plus)

Second apply a color stick as blush (this is elf's all over color stick in persimmon)

Third mascara (I love Maybelline Define-a-Lash)

Fourth some lip color (I like a balm type for the natural look, SPF in some balms will keep lips from burning too)

Here's some pics from our trip:

The part of Angel's Landing we weren't able to do with the baby.

There were so many beautiful wild flowers on the way up, and these beautiful cactus flowers too.

Right before we had to turn back on the hike. I'm holding my glasses because I ran out of contacts. So I got to be super dorky and wear my glasses under my sunglasses :) ha ha you can totally tell in some of our pictures too.

Thanks for reading! Comment below with any simple makeup tips you have. Do you wear makeup camping or hiking? To the pool?