Wednesday, January 31, 2018

DIY Foot Care Soothe and Smooth Aromatherapy Scrub Recipe

Your feet will feel and look renewed.

We put our feet through a lot of abuse every day. Between standing on them for too long or walking too much to wedge them in stylish, but hardly the most comfortable shoes, we in return pay the price for it. Since I also suffer, you probably notice how many posts I devote to restoring the health and beauty of feet with DIY foot care recipes. Today, I want to share another multitasking one to relieve stress as well as healing any fungal infections of the nail, disinfect with its antiseptic properties while smoothing, and softening tough skin.

My recipe has sweet almond oil to serve as the carrier oil. It also helps relieve aches, improve circulation and rid the skin of toxins.

Brown sugar has a finer granule without roughing up hurting feet.

Brown sugar was selected as the exfoliant. Having a finer texture than crystal structure of regular sugar, it is not as abrasive for hurting or swollen feet.

The other ingredients include tea tree oil for being an antiseptic as well as fungicide to help heal any problems of the nails and skin.

Something else that is beneficial for the health of the feet is rosewood essential oil. I chose to add this since it is an antibacterial, antiseptic and can boost your mood. To further aid in stress-busting, I also used some lavender essential oil.

Finally, I chose to incorporate a tablespoon of honey to this DIY recipe. Honey is a humectant that can draw moisture to the skin besides help with inflammation and fighting bacteria.

DIY Foot Care Soothe and Smooth Aromatherapy Scrub

one cup of brown sugar (any variety)
one-fourth cup of sweet almond oil
four drops of tea tree oil
two drops of rosewood essential oil
four drops of lavender essential oil
one tablespoon of honey

Mix the ingredients in a container until well combined.

Apply to your clean feet and gently rub the mixture to exfoliate and treat the skin.

You’ll benefit from its aromatherapy through this treatment as you work, feeling more relaxed the longer you spend inhaling and rubbing.

By the time you finish using your ingredients, wash your feet and pat dry.

Your feet will feel pampered with new softness, smoothness, and energized.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Review: PUR Cosmetics Correcting Primers (Redness Reducer, Hydrate & Balance, Dark Spot)

Primers can help perfect the look of your makeup while caring for the skin.

Using a primer can only enhance the look of your makeup. Regardless of your skin type or issue, PUR Cosmetics has a variety of correcting primers to counteract and provide the solution for a beautiful face such as the selection the company sent to me to sample.

One thing that I admire about this company is that all their healthier formulated products are cruelty-free, paraben free, gluten free, and vegan. This concern for well-being extends even to the containers they use, being free of Bisphenol A (BPA).

The first primer I want to tell you about is their Redness Reducer, which is a green color in the tube. I don’t have any redness from rosacea to compare this product with, but my mother does. Therefore, she was the tester. Besides liking how easy it was to blend, she loved the way this primer calmed down the redness without any irritation with its aloe vera on her sensitive skin.

I also got a tube of their Hydrate & Balance Corrective Primer. This is the blue mattifying primer that is free of both oil and silicone that is ideal for oily or acne prone complexions with its salicylic acid. Though I don’t have oily skin, I always start with a moisturizer before priming. Even with the added moisturizer, this product will prevent oil from shining through for hours.

The last one I received was their Dark Spot Corrector. This is the orange tinted one that works wonders on dark circles and any spots such as hiding remnants of a pimple with its Walthena leaves, vitamin B3 and lubricating babassu oil. It covers, moisturizes and brightens without piling on the product. In fact, use it sparingly for the best results.

If you’re looking for a correcting primer ($33.00), you’ll find PUR Cosmetics could have exactly what your face needs to perfect it with these three and more. Check them out!

Monday, January 29, 2018

Review: Sara Happ Lip Scrub and The Lip Slip One Luxe Glosses (Pink, Rose Gold, Peach)

Here is the Sara Happ Rose Gold Lip Slipp.

Winter can be especially problematic for drying the lips and leaving them rough. Of course, you can turn to lip balms along with lipsticks and glosses. Yet, those products can’t heal flaky lips instantly to provide that ultimate smoothness for your lip color. However, there is a quicker route to beautiful lips that I discovered lately using Sara Happ luxury lip products.

This is golden peach-nude color of that Rose Gold gloss. It has lots of golden sparkle to it.

When you don’t have time to make your own DIY Lip Scrub, a commercial product is convenient. The Sara Happ Lip Scrub I tried was in Pink Grapefruit. This is a pink tinted, but vegan sugar scrub with petroleum, vitamin E, nourishing seed oils such as grape and jojoba seed oil and natural extracts. There are also five other flavors available.

This is the Grapefruit Lip Scrub.

This product has a thick consistency with a pleasant grapefruit scent. I didn’t use much, because less is more when it comes to this Lip Scrub. All I did was apply some product to my clean lips, then massaged over the lips in a circular fashion before removing with a tissue. This scrub and the gentle workout improve circulation from the healthy color my lips gained while ridding them of any dry, flakiness.

Sara Happ also provided a few of her Lip Slips as well. This formula has a slight, sweet vanilla scent. It is a moisturizing gloss that is thick, but not overly so or sticky when applied with its doe foot applicator that does satisfy lips.

This is The Pink Slip.

The Pink Slip is a medium warm pink that is on the sheer side with a slight gleam. The Peach Slip is warm peach-nude with just a hint of pink. The Rose Gold Slip is a nude with more gold sparkle to it.

Here is The Peach Slip.

If your lips could benefit from some luxurious pampering, I suggest visiting the Sara Happ website to check out The Lip Scrub ($22.00) and The Lip Slips ($24.00) each.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Some Reasons for Your Complexion Being Extra Sensitive

Pink is better for snuggling up with, but hardly the color from irritation that you want for your skin.

As one prone to allergies, my complexion can be extra sensitive at times. Sometimes, a new product can cause redness, itchy skin, bumps or tightness. Other times, products that you have used regularly can suddenly cause a reaction. Therefore, if you have been having trouble with an extra sensitive complexion lately, let me pass on some tips as to the reason and what to look for.

Consider your cleansing routine first. Maybe you started a new cleanser or soap that left your face feeling tight and itchy. The reason could be that the product has a harsh oil stripping agent like cocamidopropyl betaine, which is commonly found in foaming cleansers. This particular ingredient for some people can cause the tiniest cracks that are hardly visible on the skin to allow irritants and bacteria easy passage.

Another trigger can be antiaging products, scrubs or peels. Perhaps, you didn’t experience any initial burning, stinging, redness, tightness or itchy skin. As I mentioned, those symptoms can happen at any time regardless of how many times that you successfully used the same product. However, the real problem can be overuse of those products in your attempt to force results. Read product directions and give them time to do their job to avoid this kind of irritation.

Sometimes, I find rotating antiaging products with powerful ingredients like retinol and alpha hydroxy acids with another night cream or serum helpful to minimize irritation. You might want to try this method to see how your complexion feels.

Something else that may have nothing to do with product sensitivity is battling a red face and flushing from rosacea. This type of redness especially on the cheeks and nose could be coming from too much blood to the skin instead of any product. The amount of flushing could be worse after eating hot and spicy foods. You might need to check with your dermatologist to make sure this is not the cause of your irritation.

If after using some products that your complexion is developing tiny, red bumps, this is a common allergy sign that you might want to blame on fragrances, artificial dyes or the preservatives in the product. Try finding new skin care or cleansing products free of those ingredients can be all it takes to eliminate your sensitivity.

Hopefully, the advice that I shared will give you more insight into the likely causes and possible fixes for your skin’s sensitivity.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Why You Really Need to Think Carefully Before Considering Laser Eye Surgery

Laser surgery might eliminate your need for glasses, but also may come with a cost.

Perhaps, your eyes have suddenly been feeling irritated. Your first thought might be blaming a new product such as new skin care or makeup and chalk up the problem as an allergy. Of course, this could always be the case just as staring at the computer for hours on end can also contribute to it. However, you also should be aware that any eye surgery to correct your vision using a LASIK procedure, then chances are you could be experiencing dry eye.

The reason LASIK can be the culprit is because it involves cutting nerves in the cornea to form a thin flap on the eye, which can bring on extra eye sensitivity.

PRK is another method for correction that may be a better choice from risking dry eye because this technique does not make any thin flap on the surface of the eye for the cut. Instead, this procedure uses an excimer laser to mildly reshape the cornea’s thickness.

Still, you can develop dry eyes from any laser procedure for vision correction. Therefore, keep this in mind before you undergo any such surgery and do your research first.

Trust me, dry eye is no fun and requires lubricant eye drops several times or more a day to keep from suffering. Furthermore, the eye drops can range from $10.00-$12.00 for a tiny bottle to several hundred dollars per month for a prescription like Restasis, which also needs to be done once a day.

It is probably hard to imagine how anyone could possibly ever miss eye glasses, but a family member personally misses her old eyes. Wearing glasses might make you feel less attractive, but she prefers that to watery, irritated eyes any day of the week.

Friday, January 26, 2018

Pamper Your Skin and Hair With This DIY Restorative Egg Mask

Egg yolks are only one of the ingredients that can help your skin and hair stand out.

If you want to help your complexion and hair thrive, this DIY Restorative Beauty Egg Mask works for strengthening, adding shine, protecting, and healing damage for overall skin and hair renewal.

Eggs are not only a delicious source of protein for the body but full of beauty benefits. For years, women have turned to them to enhance their beauty through various skin and hair treatments due to their helpful components such as protective antioxidants vitamins A , D, lutein, and zeaxanthin for the skin’s elasticity to its protein keratin for restoring the luster of damaged hair and skin.

Use sweet almond oil. The colors range from pale yellow to golden.

Almond oil is another ingredient in this recipe for its rich bounty of vitamin E and monounsaturated fatty acids, proteins and minerals. This is a fast absorbing oil that can deep cleanse pores and follicles to purge them of debris.

Be sure that you use the sweet almond oil made from edible almonds. The other is the bitter variety used for medicinal purposes and can be dangerous.

Rose essential oil is the last ingredient. With its wealth of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, this oil provides excellent moisturize, calming and antiseptic powers with just three drops when used in this recipe.

What I do first is apply this egg mask to my freshly washed face before using the rest on my hair. This is enough for my length of hair. But if you don’t have enough, then simply crack another egg and add the yolk to your bowl of ingredients. You can also add an additional tablespoon of the sweet almond oil.

DIY Restorative Beauty Egg Mask for Skin and Hair

two eggs yolks
one tablespoon of sweet almond oil
three drops of rose essential oil

Beat the egg yolks until frothy before adding the sweet almond oil and rose essential oil.

Apply to your freshly washed face and leave on for about fifteen minutes before rinsing off.

Close the pores with cool, not cold water.

Your complexion will be will look fresher, healthier and positively glowing.

To Use on the Hair:

Make sure that your hair is slightly damp (not freshly washed) because the mixture will cling better.

Adjust the recipe if you need to, then apply to your head and leave on about twenty-five minutes or longer.

Wrap your treated hair with some plastic wrap and cover with a towel turban.

When your time is up, shampoo your hair and style as usual.

Your hair will be shinier, softer and more manageable.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Why You Should Train Yourself to Eat Breakfast

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to think differently about your breakfast choices.

I was never hungry for breakfast, especially when I was younger. I would try to skip it, but usually forced into eating something by my family. The truth is I hardly appreciated a hearty morning meal such as oatmeal or eggs and toast so early in the morning because my body clock wasn’t set to the same time. Usually, I got hungry a few hours later around ten o’clock instead of six in the morning, which accounted for a part of the problem.

Still, I knew it was important to eat a healthy breakfast and benefit from those vitamins, nutrients and minerals, commonly found in this meal over others. If not, I would be dragging without the energy, I needed to keep up besides starving a few hours before lunch. The reason for this drained feeling, not to mention lack of brain power, is because I was running around on yesterday’s stored glucose when I should have been refueling for a new day.

Here are some ideal breakfast suggestions.

Missing breakfast or grabbing something like a sweet roll or a slice of toast and a cup of coffee also made me more prone to weight gain and could jeopardize my health from lack of balanced nutrition from three complete meals. Believe it or not, your bad cholesterol (LDL) cholesterol can go up in just a short span of a few weeks over long-term.

Therefore, the choice of foods like oatmeal and other cereals with plenty of fiber for breakfast does matter to best help prevent a spike in your bad cholesterol numbers that could result in a heart attack or increase your blood sugar. You can also get plenty of fiber from a serving of low-fat or Greek yogurt with some granola that you add.

Why fiber is so important is because of its amazing ability to cling onto the cholesterol and accelerate its removal from your body before it clogs up the arteries.  Consequently, you should aim for about five grams of fiber for breakfast and strive for about 25 grams total for the day for a woman and 30 to 38 grams for a man.

For example, one cup of oatmeal has four grams of fiber. Yet, there are ways to boost the fiber in an oatmeal breakfast such as with as little as a half of a banana (1-1/2 grams of fiber) or tablespoon peanut butter (one gram of fiber) to oatmeal that you added some unsweetened cocoa before cooking. Here’s my recipe for chocolate-peanut butter oatmeal that does remind me of a peanut-butter cup.

Of course, you can get tired of eating oatmeal every day. Fiber brans flakes have about seven grams per serving. Eggs are packed with excellent protein and choline, lots of vitamin B, A, D and minerals, but lack fiber. If you’re a toast lover, then one slice of white bread has about 0.8 grams of fiber whereas one slice of whole-wheat bread has 1.99 grams.

Other days, you could whip together a healthy, liquid breakfast with some apple (seven grams of fiber), a banana (three grams), the low fat milk or Greek yogurt in your juicer or blender. Almond milk is also very good in this drink. Usually, I throw in what other fruit that I have on hand like blueberries or grapes and just blend until I get the right consistency of smoothie.

For those days that you’re strapped for time to sit at the breakfast table, I have another suggestion. Try wrapping a few whole grain crackers with low-fat cheese to take with you. You can always munch these at your desk instead of going without.

Therefore, I learned how to reset my body clock by not eating anything at night past o’ eight clock in the evening so that I would be hungry at breakfast. After several weeks, my body clock finally adjusted to the new routine. In fact, I later looked forward to an early breakfast.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

How to Keep Focused on Your Diet When Grocery Shopping

Try my useful method to resist temptation at the grocery store while dieting.

Forcing yourself to stick to your diet is a never-ending battle. This can be especially true when surrounded by all your favorite foods while grocery shopping. However, I have a few suggestions that can help you gain more willpower through this necessary task.

The most important thing that you can do is never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Otherwise, you might find yourself at the bakery counter or reaching for something to munch on like candy bars, cookies, chips, pretzels, etc. to get you through your hunger.

Another thing that I think helps is writing your grocery list at home with all the necessities that you’ll need before you hit the store. This method will save you from impulse buying even when you pass the women with free samples and coupons of various products that always seem to tempt you with.

This may sound strange, but leave your credit cards at home and only bring a certain amount of money with you that is solely for your groceries does help control spending. This way you will be forced to only buy those food items that you need.

Something else that you should try is parking further away from the store. Instead of grabbing the spot closest the grocery store, I like to park further down. This will save you from wasting so much gas driving for that ideal spot while giving your legs a workout. Just remember that any exercise is better than no exercise at all.

In the winter, I like to keep a survival kit in my car in case it breaks down. Inside, I stash blanket, flashlight, little shovel, a box of granola bars, etc. Nonetheless, the thought of a chocolate-chip granola bar can call to me. I have been good so far, but you might want to keep track of any hidden food stashed in your car.

If you hid some candy bars or other snacks in your glove compartment or wherever such as those granola bars in your car’s survival kit and are constantly replacing them, then you just might want to take them out. You can always replace with a food item that you’re not so fond of in case you’re stranded on the road.

What I shared here will only make it easier for you to keep going with your weight loss goals. Trust me on that because it is working for me and hopefully will help you in the same way, too!

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

PUR Cosmetics Contour Diaries Review

You can call attention to your best features and diminish bad ones with this one palette!

Most people aren’t born with perfect features. Since I happen to be one of them, I always found contouring and highlighting helpful to improve my facial structure more to my liking. Lately, I have been experimenting with PUR Cosmetics Contour Diaries palette to see what is possible with their highlighting and contouring powders.

This palette comes with six shades of three highlights: Charm (light pink/peach), Dream (golden tone) and Flirt (warm peach-beige). The three contour shades are Secret (pale brown), Passion (warmer medium brown), and Mystery (dark brown). Just like all PUR’s products, this is 100% cruelty-free, vegan and free of any health risking parabens.

To really appreciate what this palette can do is using it with a contour blending brush over a plusher blush or powder brush. The reason is that you don’t want to pick up more pigment than necessary, only enough to meet the highlighting or contouring task. Otherwise, you will overload your face with heavy, unflattering streaks.

The powders are soft, smooth and nicely-pigmented. They do stir up a little dust, but not excessively so as some powders can. Being light-skinned, the contour shade that appeared the most natural on me was Secret. Passion appears almost like a warm bronzer on me. Mystery can make a great deep brown matte eye shadow. However, I am using it with an eye shadow brush to subtly contour my nose over the larger contour brush. I also loved how easily these powders are to custom mix your own shade such as the Secret/Mystery blend for my nose.

Have you tried PUR Cosmetics Contour Diaries Palette ($32.00) yet? If not and you’re hoping to find a great set, this one won’t disappoint you. Check it out.

Monday, January 22, 2018

Avon True Color Lipsticks and True Color Nourishing Lipsticks Review + Swatches

From left to right is Carnation, Rose Dew, Spiced Apricot, Toasted Rose, Proper Pink, Sparkling Mauve, Cherry Blossm, Wild Ginger, Country Rose, Rich Rum, Perfect Red, Red 2000, and Brown Sugar.

I consider lipstick a beauty essential. The right color can flatter your face, compliment your outfit and make an amazing difference in the comfort of your lips. The way I see it is you can never have too many lipsticks. Therefore, I was pleased when a box of Avon lipsticks showed up at my door.

Starting by my wrist and going down is Cherry Blossom, Country Rose, Wild Ginger, Sparkling Mauve, Red 2000, Brown Sugar, Rose Dew, Toasted Rose, Carnation, Proper Pink, Rich Rum, Spiced Apricot, and Perfect Red.

This assortment mostly consisted of Avon’s True Color Lipstick line of satins and shimmers. Besides stunning color, these have vitamin E, omega-3 oil and shea butter in their formula for moisturizing lips.

Out of the forty shades from that line, I got Carnation (mauve-pink), Rose Dew (soft plum-brown), Spiced Apricot (pink-brown), Toasted Rose (warm pink), Proper Pink, (pale cool pink) Sparkling Mauve (mauve-plum), Wild Ginger (orange-red), Country Rose (strawberry-pink), Rich Rum (brown), Perfect Red (brick red), and Red 2000 (cherry-red).

The True Color Lipsticks have a light scent that reminds me of cherries. They spread nicely and felt smooth with a comforting feel for about two hours. Afterwards, the initial moisture seemed to disappear into my lips while the color stayed intact.

I also found two of the True Color Nourishing Lipsticks that have SPF 15 and a deeper moisturizing system due to natural oils and conditioners such as vitamin E and jojoba oil built into the formula.

I received Cherry Blossom (pink-red) and Brown Sugar (rust-brown), but there are eight more shades in the line. These did keep my lips feeling moisturized longer than the original True Color Lipsticks. In fact, the more times that I used them, the softer my lips felt. I also liked the SPF protection in the formula.

You can find both the True Color and True Color Nourishing Lipsticks at Avon’s website. They retail for $8.00 each. Check them out!

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Fuego Box Hot Sauce Subscription Box January 2018 Review

What a delicious way to bring on the heat!

The easiest way to add some flavor excitement to your food is through hot sauces. With Fuego Box, each month is a tasteful new adventure with three spicy, hot sauces that will change how you think of ordinary hot sauce with what they offer your taste buds.

The cost of this hot sauce subscription box is $29.95 per quarter for three different sauces that includes free USA shipping. The company also provides an informational card about each of that month’s selections and suggests the best foods to enjoy them with.

January 2018 has three more great sizzling finds starting with Hank’s Heat Hank Sauce. This is a medium, savory heat that is quite versatile in its blend of cayenne and habanero peppers, garlic, vinegar, and spices. Feel free to shake on as much as you like without fearing the intensity of its delicious flames.

The second hot sauce this month is from Clark + Hopkins with their Kerala Pepper Sauce. This is an orange-brown that has curry spices along with habaneros and bird’s eye chili peppers along with kaffir lime leaf for a unique taste experience. I started enjoying this one for the first time on my scrambled eggs. It also is going to be tested next on my chicken.

The final offering this month is a jalapeno-based hot sauce of Ghost Pepper Verde from Fuego Spice Co. with their Riza Sauce. This also is a medium heat that goes wonderfully on whatever you usually add hot sauce to.

Winter is especially a great time to heat up your body, speed up that metabolism and enjoy the delights of hot sauces and Fuego Box. Check them out because they can help you keep you from the cold!

Saturday, January 20, 2018

How to Save Time by Better Organizing Your Bills

This post can help save you future bill paying headaches.

Instead of letting your bills overwhelm you, you need a system to keep ahead of the game. When you get one in place, you will save yourself a lot of headaches and time for more enjoyable activities.

Here’s what you might want to do. As soon as they come in, I like to write the date the bill is due. Afterwards, I file them in a special folder or organizer in order of priority to get ready for payment.

As soon as one bill is paid, I transfer it with how I paid with check number and the bank along with date of payment to my file cabinet in the proper category.

This does help simplify the bill paying process. After all, you need to do it anyway so why allow this tedious chore to occupy more of your time than absolutely necessary. I have so many other pleasant things that I would rather do. How do you feel on this subject?

Friday, January 19, 2018

How to Safeguard Yourself From a Cold or the Flu

Taking some extra precautions can help save you from the need to medicate.

Sneezing, coughing and shaking hands are the best ways to catch a cold or the flu. With how quickly the H3N2 flu is spreading this year, you need to take some extra precautions because one minute you might be symptom free and within hours are battling for your life.

Even though this year’s flu vaccine isn’t as effective to ward all strain’s of H3N2, it still helps lessen the severity of the symptoms if you come down with it. You still have time to get a vaccine, but keep in mind that it takes two weeks to build up your immunity to protect you if coming in contact with anyone infected.

Sneezing into a tissue can contain the germs instead of letting them become airborne!

Here are some other simple precautions that you can take to guard against the flu or colds in general. Sneezing, for instance, can launch about 40,000 moist droplets into the air, where they can stay alive for at least ten minutes, which is more than enough time to infect someone else or become infected. Instead of just sharing with others, sneezing into the crook of your arm will better contain the germs.

Touching things and then putting those hands to rub our eyes or mouth is another way to invite infection. Often, we don’t think before you we do these things. What helps is packing a sample size bottle of hand disinfectant with you after shaking hands or after touching objects or using public facilities that have seen many hands.

Speaking of what to keep extra clean is doorknobs, staircase railings, computer keyboards, phones, and counters.

Getting more vitamin C and zinc can help in your body’s defense from a cold or flu and lessen the severity as well.

Something else that can help usher in the flu or cold is when you lower your body’s resistence because of not getting enough sleep or being stressed out. Therefore, try to relax in a soothing tub with an essential oil like lavender or practicing some deep breathing techniques and tuning out your problems are just two suggestions that can help prepare you for an earlier bedtime.

If you have a dishwasher, then you are in better shape than manually washing your dishes because of how much hotter the water is to kill live germs. What you can do is add a teaspoon of bleach along with your dish detergent in your hot water to clean your dishes manually. This is what I do since my kitchen is too small for a dishwasher, which I would love to have if I had room to fit it in here.

The temperature of your home also is important. Germs love cool air to thrive and do their nastiness, not warm, dry air so keep your rooms warm, cozy and moist. Humidifiers are great, but if you don’t have one then put a small bowl or pan near your air vents will do the job.

Remember, eat well and get more rest can help as well. Take care and stay well!

Thursday, January 18, 2018

How to Best Compliment Your Complexion Through Hair Color

Do you know how to select the best hair color for your skin tone?

Perhaps, you have been thinking of coloring your hair at home for the first time. You might be tempted to trust the model on the box with what the hair color shade in your hand is meant to look like. However, you are in for disappointment because the actual color on the head before any chemical process determines what you will later see. Therefore, let me share some tips about picking out the best hair color shade to compliment your complexion before you hit the drug store.

If you have fair to light skin, then you want red or golden tones in the shade. A clue to look for is W (warm) beside the name. The warmth of the red or gold highlights to that color will brighten up your skin tone much better than N (neutral) shades that are cooler. Also, I would avoid any color that has Ash to the tone, which makes the color much darker and void of highlights. Ash colors have a tendency to give warm complexions a drab appearance.

For the best results stick within one or two shades of your original hair color. This choice gives the most natural results instead of appearing obvious and fake.

Another thing that I learned is not all complexions are ideal candidates for blonde hair, especially for those with yellow undertones and on the fair side. Blonde hair is beautiful on others, but horribly clashes with skin such as mine.

Those with a medium complexion, whether warm or cool, seem to have more color to play with. With that slightly darker skin tone, you could wear warm or cool tones. Look for the W or N (neutral) on the hair color box.

For those with olive or a dark complexion should try a warm shade, but particularly a rich golden tone such as a burnished honey. The color will wonderfully enhance your skin.

One last thing, make sure to do the allergy test 48-hours before you color. This is so important to do each time because you can develop an allergy to hair color that could send you to the emergency room. Even if you used the same product without any problem in the past, it is always advisable to do that patch test each time you color.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Dieting Secrets That Can Help Slim You Faster

Let me share some dieting tricks that has been helping me.

Regardless of how hard you try, it is hard to stick to a diet after a while. This is especially true when your weight seems to plateau and stays at the same notch on the scale regardless of eating less. Instead of letting your frustration with that diet discourage you, I wanted to share some dieting tips that can help with your weight loss.

Some people like to keep a food diary of everything that they eat through an average day. This includes all the tablespoons you sample when cooking, etc. I, on the other hand, find that you are more motivated when you see everything that you put in your mouth in plain view such as on a sheet of paper attached to your refrigerator door with a magnet instead of in a notebook that could be out of sight in another room. This way you can constantly be reminded of your food intake while keeping track before opening the refrigerator to possibly sabotage your diet. If you’re away from home, then jotting what you eat on a sheet of paper and later attaching that to your refrigerator door to add on to also works.

Eggs can be your friend.

Also, what I found helpful is taking time to read food labels not just the advertising on the box, jar, or can. The small print with the ingredient list is where truth lies not the blatant claim in large letters that may fool you into thinking the product is healthier or has lower calories than it does.

Another reason I honestly believe that a lot of people fail with diets is because of feeling deprived of foods they love. Therefore, you can eat high calorie or high fat like a small piece of cake or ice cream if you use moderation and balance out what else you eat through the day to make up for it. When you need to eat cake, try to eat a lighter meal of, perhaps, a bowl of soup or hard-boiled eggs, etc.

Something else that I have been doing is eating a piece of fruit or a cup of soup before a meal. This helps fill you up while adding extra fiber, vitamins and minerals.

I think people fail at their diet because they crash and burn trying to live up to eating habits that are unrealistic in our modern lives. Try to follow your diet six days a week the best that you can, but tell yourself that one day on the weekend is your "treat" day whether it is sweets or salt that you crave. If you try that, you’ll be surprised at how much willpower you’ll gain with something to look forward on your “treat” day.

Let me know your thoughts and if you try this because this has been helpful for me. I truly hope it works for you, too!

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Why You Need to Reconsider How You Wash Your Face

If you want amazing skin like this beauty has, read today's post.

Everyone has their own routine for removing makeup and washing their face. Perhaps, you find no problem with your method. However, tweaking your routine just slightly could be all it takes to help your complexion flourish.

Maybe you are one that just rushes in to grab your waterproof makeup remover and a cotton ball or pad to take off your eye makeup. Before you touch the bottle, cotton or your face, wash your hands first. Otherwise, you could be transferring bacteria to the bottle and your stash of cotton balls or pads, not to mention your sensitive eyes.

Taking off your eye makeup and the rest of your cosmetics with another form of makeup remover like a cleansing oil is the first step before washing. This is because waterproof makeup remover or cleansing oils are geared to totally dislodge hard to remove polymers that were formulated to hold up against moisture. Soaps and the foaming facial cleansers won’t be totally able to penetrate the skin until this first barrier is breached.

Once you finish that initial cleansing, wash your hands again before testing the water temperature because you want it to be lukewarm, not hot before you finally wash with your favorite cleansing bar or a foaming cleanser. The problem with using too hot of water is that it harshly strips your skin’s natural oils, resulting in dryness or even broken capillaries, especially near the nose.

If you are ready to suds up with a foaming cleanser, you don’t want to overload your face with too much. One-half teaspoon of the cleanser is sufficient to guard from recklessly stripping your complexion’s natural oils when you take it to your damp skin. The important thing to remember is technique matters. Instead of just vigorously lathering with your hands, use circular motions while you work, keeping it up for no longer than 20-25 seconds. The assumption that longer lathering time or more lather will improve your complexion is simply wrong. All that you’re doing is causing irritation and redness to the skin.

Give the skin a thorough rinsing with cool, not cold water. A quick splash is not good enough. After all, you don’t want to leave a residue that can further alter your pH level.

Check your hairline because grime could get pushed in far corners in spots on the face that you might have missed. If so, you might want to go over and wash that section again to avoid a possible breakout.

Pat dry with a fresh towel or wash cloth. Resist the urge to reuse a towel that has made contact with your face and especially your body since it can be a breeding ground for bacteria.

As I constantly mention, I’m a strong believer in exfoliation because it is the step that catches imbedded makeup and grime from deep within the pores that daily cleansing misses while helping shed old cells to encourage fresh ones to surface. Still, you don’t want to be excessive by exfoliating too often. Once or twice a week is a safer way to do the deep cleaning and resurfacing and still get great results.

I hope you try what I suggest because the littlest changes can often make the biggest differences in what you’ll see in your mirror. Trust me, but once you do that I promise that you will like what you see!

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