Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Bibbidi Bobbidi Oh my Goodness!!!




Guys, As the day gets closer that I'm going to be in Florida to start my new job, I progressively get more and more nervous.


Here's an update, so far: (and first thing's first, if this font in "dancing script" is too much for your eyes, leave a comment below and let me know!!! I like it, but it might be a bit much...)

Firstly, I've gotten my storage situation taken care of. Unless someone wouldn't mind me paying them like $20 a month to put the stuff that's going into storage into their storage unit or garage or shed. Which would be supah welcome! However, Thompson Lane Storage is being extremely kind to me! I took my stuff there to be stored before I moved into the place below my mom's house. They charged me like $58 for a 5x10 unit which was pretty cheap considering all the other places around Nashville. But their prices have gone up. So, Since I was a returning customer (and I LOVE the desk lady's office cat), I'm sticking at the $58 a month, instead of $89! Wahoo! I'm also paying her off with Toilet Paper rolls for her kitty. Those are his favorite type of toy!

Secondly, I've finally moved 90% of all the jewelry I own into a Charming Charlie jewelry bag...thing. It's like an over the door Shoe storage thing, but for Jewelry. So, much smaller. Which is strange for me, because I'm used to having that 4.5x3.5 foot, lace back, gold frame displaying my earrings and necklaces beautifully. Sadly, that is also going into storage. :(

Thirdly, I'm in the gruelingly boring process of sorting through my makeup. Which, if you know me, is a next to impossible task. I have this huge hat box where I've dumped the majority of it into, and I STILL don't have room for it all. UGH! I know I'm going to have to start off with the basics and move up from there, but dangit. I have so many dang colors. Y I cant haz dem ALLz? (Because there's no room for them, dummie.)

My Caribbean wardrobe for my face is going to look something like this for the BARE MINimum (if you know me, you'll see what I did there):

Cleanser: Either Aveda's Tourmaline exfoliating cleanser or Bare Minerals Mineralixirs Facial cleanser.

Before I got my job back at Bare Minerals, they introduced this new oil line that included an Oil Cleanser, 5 in 1 Oil blend for moisturizing, and a nourishing oil eye balm.

A little lesson: A lot of people are WRONG when they think that putting oil onto their face is BAD. Now, obviously, not just any old oil will do. I wouldn't recommend going to the fryer at a McDonalds and grabbing the cooled oil from the fryer. BAAAAAD idea. Oh so bad! But Coconut Oil was something I was experimenting with and loving, since it was so gentle and moisturizing. Plus, it has a PLETHORA of uses. I used it for cleaning and moisturizing, sometimes even oil pulling, and it was LOVELY. My face is soft with the oils, AND oil naturally dissolves oil. So it attacks the trapped oils in your pores and helps gently lift them away! It's great for those gross blackheads on your nosies. Plus, it leaves your skin with a nice natural glow. That's what I've noticed on mine.

People think oil is going to make MORE oil happen on your skin. Not the whole truth. In fact, when you use products that are supposed to dry up oil, your skin FREAKS! It's naturally supposed to have a good balance, and stripping it of natural oils is going to make it go crazy and overproduce! This is why I WON'T use Proactive. If you are oily, meaning oil seems to spring up on your face no less than 5 minutes after you've washed your face, you HAVE to moisturize. Your skin is SO thirsty for what you're stripping it of. So if you have oily skin, try a gentle oil cleanser like the one at Bare Minerals(now at BareEscentuals.com or in your Local Green Hills and Cool Springs Malls), and use it for a good month. You'll start to see your results after you've spent a lot of time with it. You can't expect an IMMEDIATE change with pretty much anything. Especially Skin Care. You've got to give your skin time to adjust. It took me 3 months to clear up my acne from using Bare Minerals products, and now it's SO much more happy!

Primer: You're going to get sick of me talking about this company, but it's mostly what I use, and I stand behind their products! Bare Minerals has this fantastic Primer that makes me feel like I have a brand new canvas of skin for my makeup to sit on. It's like Silk, ya'll. I use the Original, but there's a ton of different types for different things. When I get sunburned(and I WILL, unfortunately, get sunburned), I'll probably have the neutralizing one on hand to keep the redness out of my finished look!

Eyelid Primer: Bare Minerals Eyelid Primer

This stuff is Supermegafoxyawesomehot! This is the only primer for your eyelids(that I presently know of) that has SPF in the formula. So when you're laying out in that summer sun, sans your hipster shades you had before they were awesome in order to avoid inverted raccoon eyes, your delicate lids won't be burned(as easily - Moderation in everything!)! Ever had an eyelid burn? Yeah, it SUCKS. This formula is made with SPF 15 and can be worn with or without eyeshadow. In fact, the light, nude colors are fantastic for a base that brings out the majestic color of that new eyeshadow you're going to buy once I tell you about it later!

Moisturizer: Now I've got 2.5 options for this. 1.) Bare Minerals Advanced Protection Moisturizer This is 1.5, because I have one version for when I'll be on the ship and not in the sun, and the other version that has SPF 20 in it for when I will be. However, these will be what I use when I use my powder makeup. I won't use them for my 2nd option, which is Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue

I have fallen absolutely in LOVE with this Complexion Rescue product! Here's a little background as to WHY: When you look at a moisturizing liquid foundation, the molecule of that foundation is made of three things. Think of it as an Onion while I explain the layers. (Made-ya think of Shrek, didn't I? Muahaha!) There's even a video link in the description box of the hotlink I attached to the aforementioned product. Go freaking watch it! It's gross and cool at the same time! :D

The outer Layer is usually made of Pigment to match your skin color. Then Oil is underneath that, and then water for moisture. Complexion Rescue works from the inside out! Outside, you have Mineral Infused water. Your skin craves certain minerals to thrive! That water is around Bare Minerals' Pigment and Humectants. For those of you who need a dictionary for that H word, It just means things that retain moisture. In official studies, the use of the Complexion Rescue improves skin's Moisture levels up to 215% after one week! There are no fragrances, parabens, silicones, or oils, and it's hypoallergenic, so you don't have to worry about your skin freaking out too much at all!

This product has the best qualities of a BB, CC, and Tinted Moisturizer, without all the crap you don't need in your makeup. It goes on with a cool feeling because of the water, and leaves your skin with a fantastic dewy glow. If you want to matte that glow up a bit, I like to set my Complexion Rescue with the Mineral Veil. It's a translucent powder with a little Corn Starch in it to soak up excess oils and moisture.

Bonus round: The Complexion Rescue has SPF 30!!!!

Foundation Also 2.5 options for this. 1 is the Complexion Rescue I already talked about. BUT It's more of a sheer to medium coverage, so when I need MOAR, I'll use my Bare Minerals Original Powder Foundation.

Naturally, it comes with SPF 15, so this is why it's important for me to have my SPF 20 moisturizer. KEEP IN MIND this does NOT mean I have SPF 45. You cannot add SPF like that. Whatever highest SPF you have on your face is the highest you'll get. The only layering technique you can do to increase your sun protection is a sun hat or umbrella. Even then, still be careful. If you are out on the beach, the reflection of the water still translates into a burn if you don't have SPF, or low SPF and a hat. Same thing with Snow. Just be careful. Protect that beautiful skin of yours!

Now, the reason I have .5 options for this is because I range from the shade Fairly Light (or Fluorescent, as I like to call it), to Medium Beige (meaning, oh hey, that girl isn't dead!) depending on whether I've been in the sun much or not. For the past 5 months, I have NOT been in the sun much. I've been in an air conditioned shop, selling gorgeous jewelry and gaining weight like it's my career. However, when I worked door to door, I got this lovely color of Medium Beige, and I was quite happy with it! I'll have Fairly light for while I'm working up my tan, and once I've got some color, I'll need to switch. Same thing with my Complexion rescue. While I can use the #5 shade, I can tell there is more pigment than my skin has if I don't cover my face correctly. So I'll switch from #2 to #5 when I have more color. Hence the half a point for options on foundation.

Then, if I'm outside and notice I'm getting a little dewy, I can brush some Mineral Veil over my skin and keep my makeup from melting off. :D

Now to shed a little color on the situation. There are two things I will NEVER leave my abode without.

A.) Mascara. I use Bare Minerals Lash Domination. It has Quinoa extract in the formula to nourish and lengthen lashes. While it is not altogether waterproof, it is water resistant, which is nice. That means I can wash it off without having raccoon eyes that I have to scrub-a-dub-dub for 5 minutes until they're clean. I've noticed a difference in the length of my lashes. They had once been getting shorter and shorter as years went by. As a kid in dance, I never needed fake lashes because mine were fabulous! But as I got older, I started to notice that they didn't rock quite as much. After using this formula for over a year, I'm hooked! My lashes have grown at least a centimeter, and they've gotten fuller. Oh mylanta it's so nice! Even though Fake Lashes are fun, too!

Pro tip: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE replace your Mascara once every THREE months. You will not believe the amount of girls that come into work to get their eyes did that have styes! Gross fact: All adults have eyelash mites. They feed and live on the oils, bacteria, and dirt on your eyelashes. If that, in itself, is not a reason to STOP SHARING MASCARA TUBES, I don't know what is. The transfer of those gruddy little things, along with the existing oil, bacteria, and dirt, creates an unclean place on your eyelids, resulting in styes, which can really damage your vision if they get bad enough. On top of that, it's bad for all that rubbing and itching! You have to be gentle with your eyes! They're the only ones you've got! Wash them every single night before you go to bed. It doesn't hurt to clean your face in the morning, too!

2.) Blush. I'm dead looking without it. As of right now, my absolute FAVORITE shade is Bare Minerals All Over Face Color in True.

It can be used all over the face. Hence the name. But I love it for just a little hint of sparkle and color on my cheeks. It's natural and ethereal at the same time. I'll also pop a little Flawless Radiance on the top of my cheekbone, just under my eye, and up under my eyebrow bone for a dewy highlight. LOVE!

Now, if you're looking for something with a little more pink, without the mess of a powder (so you can pop right it in your purse), The Natural High is a great pink with a beautiful golden highlight.

Moving on to the fine tuning, I'll share some colors I adore, and for the sake of time, I'm just going to mention them, and link you to the main Bare Escentuals page so you can search for them on your own.

Eyeshadow Lately, I've been favoring Nude Beach and Bahamas for my all over lid wash. Every now and then, I'll pop on some of that True, just to make my eyes look bluer, but those are my go-to's right now. They've got just enough sparkle, and, well, I'm in the mood for being tropical, anyway!

At this point, I'll shade my eyelid creases with just about any dark color. Heart is a good one for every day, while the Warmth all over face color is also a good choice to give a nice sunkissed shade. Celestine is a fantastic smokey color, and then Queen Phyllis is a very popular highlight color. But you do you. Those Baby Blue eyes go well with more blues, reds, and coppers. Green eyes will pop(just not out of their sockets - hopefully) with purples, and browns can do pretty much anything. If you want your eyes to look bigger, line your waterline with a white color(I'm lazy and just used powder eyeshadow), and if you want those blue eyes to look even more blue, line your waterline with a light, whitish blue.

I'm not going to line my eyes much this summer. I've gotten too busy for all that micro-focus nonsense. But every now and then, I'll take a black liner of no particular brand origin and line my upper waterline just to make my lashes look fuller. In fact, I don't think Disney allows winged eyeliner, and I'm okay with that. Unless they want me to look like a classic pinup. Then they're going to have to attach a corset and red lipstick to that contract.

While we're on the topic of lipstick, I'll tell you what I'm currently using as my normal routine. I've got a set of 6 lip glosses from Bare Minerals from last season. Something along the lines of "Natural Nudes" or something. Their Marvelous Moxie line has Shea butter in it, so I seriously just use these things as my chapstick. I'm not really a lipstick girl, and chapstick ends up flaking my lips too much, on top of the fact that there's a lot of precision involved for me with lipstick. So I'll swipe a pretty light color over my lips and be done with it. Now, Bare Minerals doesn't have that kit anymore, but they do have a new set of 3 double ended wands with 6 colors ranging from nude to peach and deep maroon. Though, they're glosses, so they're not going to be SUPER pigmented. The kit is called Gloss on the Go, and I'm going to get one because I'm almost out of all 6 of my other glosses! I got them a year ago!

Finally for my makeup wardrobe, I'm going to stick in a little bit of skincare for the body. I got a personalized body wash valued at $25 from Aveda for my "birthday."(meaning I got my coupon 2 months after the fact...) That company seriously spoils its clients! It's super minty. Nom!

I've been a fan of Jergens Natural Glow Moisturizer for a long while, now. At $9 a bottle, it's a little disheartening to purchase, but when my legs look like replacement bulbs for the light fixtures, and I'm going to the Caribbean for work, I think I can shell out a few bucks to not blind our clients until my natural color comes in. It also helps my Hypopigmentation in my shins where I cut myself shaving when I was younger. When I worked at a Tanning Salon in College, I would notice these little white spots, and my manager told me(and ruined my whole day, then), that those spots that were missing that melanin would NEVER color again. Boo hoo. So the color in the formula helps me have even skin color. Just please remember to wash your hands after using. otherwise, you'll get it trapped in the base of your fingers, and that isn't very attractive.

MOVING FORTH

Fourthly(see what I did there?), Sorting my CLOTHES out is the NEXT next to impossible task. I'm planning on taking mostly dresses since they're so comfortable, and I've got several I don't want to just pack away because they're adorable! I have 2 pairs of shorts that fit me, so on days my legs aren't white, I'll be wearing those. And I'm going to be super torn with shirts. Should I pack a couple of adorable ones to wear? Or should I pack my plain old Church T-Shirts that are made of some sort of magically soft cotton? Maybe two of those? Then cuteness all around?

I gotta say, though, (and this is going to get a little TMI-ish) I'm going to hate leaving behind a lot of my bras. Working at Victoria's Secret has taught me that there are SO many bras for SO many things! And I can't just leave all of them at home! Of course, My Incredibles will come. They're the most comfortable. And I'll need a strapless one for those dresses. Then lies the problem of underwear - which I pretty much have solved. PINK has created this line of superfantastic seamless underwear that is quite honestly perfect for any and all occasions. They don't show through Yoga Pants(of which I'm packing like 3 pair), There are colors that go perfectly under light colors(like my white shorts), and they are weightless and seamless! My cheeks really love these. So I've obsessively stalked every 7 for $27 sale since they came out, and I've got PLENTY. The only problem is that I have some cute normal underwear. Underwear to wear with jeans that don't care if there's a seam or not. And then there are the ones that MATCH the bras I love that I'm bringing. Good Gracious. I hate this narrowing down thing.

But hey... Sometimes narrowing down is good. Not only for stress of what to wear, but also for the tummy! That's right, I'm narrowing down... Fakely. I purchased a steel boned corset from the Renaissance Festival, and not only is it giving me a flatter tummy, but it helps with my posture! That'll be a must when I'm bent over children all day! So THAT is coming along.

Fifthly, and probably the most irritating issue I'm going to face: HAIR

Goodness Gracious GREAT Balls of Fire. My hair has a mind of its own. Now, I like to say my hair is Naturally Crappy. And I've tried everything from Frizz canceling mousse to split end repairing masks and even leave in conditioner.

NOTHING seems to calm my hair when I get out into the humidity. It's full blown Hermione-sitting-over-a-steaming-cauldron-for-3-hours Hair. It seriously needs to sort out its priorities, because I am just about ready to chop it all off. (But I love braiding and curling it too much....#Elsa #princess #lazyhair #cantletitgo) Siriusly, where's a vial of Sleakeazy's Hair Potion when I need it(all the time)?

I've visited Aveda several times to get their opinion, and I have an appointment with a Tessa this weekend to see if there is ANY hope. But I'm not holding my breath. I've got a whole shelf dedicated to mini Aveda products, and the ONLY thing that's ever done a SMALL bit of help has been a sample from an ipsy bag. Living Proof Nourishing Styling Cream. Imma have to grab some of that before I go. I've been out of it for a while now, though, so with all the other things I've tried, I'm not sure it's going to work, anymore.

However, I am trying a new option for Haircare and it's from this brand new Natural-based hair care line called Monat (Pronounced Moh-Nate). I'm one of the distributors, so that's nice. You can order it from my website, and I actually think it's VERY well worth the money. A little goes a long way, so it lasts, and my hair feels extremely soft and looks beautiful when it's styled and the humidity hasn't hit it, yet. And you know how when you look at those girls' hair, you're jealous of that soft, silky shine at the edge of their heads?... You know the type. The ones with that beautiful, healthy, shining hair with that glowing line of illumination halo-ing those gorgeous locks, right on the crown of their heads? Yeah, Well, I'm starting to get that beautiful shine! I'm also using Argan Oil to protect my ends before I blowdry or curl my hair, and I just bought a new straightener that lets me control the temperature more easily. I didn't need as much heat as I thought I would, and I found out that the trick is not to go over the section of hair you're straightening a zillion times till it's straight. It's slow and steady wins the race. Don't keep it on one place for more than three seconds - keep the plates moving, but nice and slowly. And don't straighten one section of hair more than three times, either. That only stresses(and stretches) your hair out and makes it more prone to breakage. Also, you don't have to press so dang hard. Just guide the plates through gently. It'll get there!

So far, it looks like my bags are going to be super packed. And I haven't even talked about SHOES. I'm required to have a black and a white pair for work, and Disney provides the costume for me, which is nice. I'll be working most of the day, anyway, so all of this is kindof a little much to be taking just for the short hours I'm lounging, but I'll figure it out, somehow.

This ended up being a much more informational post than I meant it to be, but I guess that's good. It means I can talk about something. For now, I'll just leave this here. Let me know in the comments what you'd like to know more about, and I'll pick a topic for the next blog! Also, for anyone reading this that thinks this job or something involved with Disney Cruise lines sounds fun, Click HERE to look at jobs that are hiring right now, and maybe we can join on this adventure together, or just in passing!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Bye for now!

Disclaimer: I was not paid to mention or feature any of the products listed and linked on this page. I sincerely love these products and am happy to share the information about them!


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