Favorite Beauty Tips

My favorite beauty tips:

*If you use acne medication like I do, or just have dry skin, I’m sure you’re familiar with having your skin on your face get flaky.  Although the initial response is to just scratch of the little pieces of skin, I’ve found a better way! I read this somewhere and now do it all the time.  So you put a little bit of lotion (non-scented) on a washcloth and then use that to scrub gently on the part of your face that is flaky.  It takes off the pieces of skin that are flaking off, and puts moisture back into the skin at the same time! Because you’re basically exfoliating, it might be a little pink right after but it usually goes away within five minutes.

*I have really oily skin so I love using those oil-blotting sheets. But if you don’t have any nearby, the brown napkins that Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have work just as well! They blot away oil from your face without ruining your makeup! It’s easy! And you didn’t pay for them. Score!

*Always use eyeshadow primer! It makes a huge difference! Your eyeshadow lasts longer, it doesn’t crease, and the color looks way better.  When I first tried this, I used the too faced version but found that my eye lids were still oily.  Now I use the Urban Decay one (it’s called eyeshadow primer potion) and I absolutely love it.  I use it even when I don’t wear eyeshadow because it helps soak up any oil on my eyes so well, which helps keep eye liner smudging down to a minimum.

*Wash or clean your makeup brushes.  I know this might sound silly, but think about it…if you’re using those brushes to put makeup on skin with acne, bacteria, oil, and dirt on it, than you’re basically re-applying all of that onto your skin the next time you use them.  Since I’ve started cleaning my brushes, I’ve noticed a difference in the amount of acne I have.  I also notice a difference in how well the brush picks up powders.  I use a brush spray from Sephora that works really well.  I don’t do it every day, but maybe once every two weeks or so.  It’s really

easy and completely worth it.

*Drink a ton of water! The weeks that I’m really good with drinking water all day are the times when my skin looks the best!  Also changing the pillow cases often helps too.

*If you have hair that gets tangled a lot, try using Itsa10 with keratin.  This stuff works wonders! It makes your hair super soft, de-tangled, and less frizzy! I use it almost every day.

*If you ever run out of shaving cream and need something to shave with try using aloe vera gel (the kind that you use for sunburns) or conditioner.  They work just as well and leave your skin soft.  Just make sure you don’t shave right away.  Let the steam open up your pores a little bit first before shaving.  That will help prevent razor burn.

 What are your favorite beauty tips and tricks?

We're Engaged!

Wooooooohooo! He put a ring on it!

So here's the story...

Thursday, May 2nd - I was a bit suspicious because I knew we had our bed and breakfast weekend coming up in a few days, and thought it was intriguing that Dan and my Dad hung out for several hours that night. Hmm...

Friday, May 3rd - We both left work in the middle of the day and drove down to Virginia for our trip.  This had been our Christmas gift to each other this past Winter.  It included a two night stay in a bed and breakfast and a wine tasting and tour at one of our favorite wineries in Virginia.  We got there late, met the owner of the bed and breakfast, found a spot to eat dinner, and went to bed.

Saturday, May 4th - We woke up and had a delicious Southern-style home cooked breakfast!  It was fantastic! We chatted with the other tenants for a while.  We went to the winery and spent a good amount of time there.  We also stopped off at a really cool water mill on the way.  We had a yummy tasting (we tried over 14 wines! this is why Virginia wineries are better! They don't stiff you on the amount of wine!).  We drove around for a while, found a place to eat lunch and made a quick stop at Walmart for some necessities.  We went to a really neat pizzeria in town and paid a whopping $17.00 total for a dinner for both of us! Oh my gosh! If you have ever lived in the Columbia or DC Metro Area, you can understand our excitement when the bill came.  Unbelievable! 

Sunday, May 5th - I started thinking ok, well so much for getting engaged. It's not going to happen.  Just another weekend... Siiggghh.  (Something like that).  We chat with the other tenants and the owners for a while and then get on the road.  Before we left, the owners told us that we should stop off at the Natural Bridge on the way home since we would be passing it anyways.  Well this was awesome, because Dan and I have been talking about going there for years!  So we stopped there and had a great time walking around.  I'll admit, I was still in a bit of a bad mood because I figured we weren't getting engaged this weekend.  I know that Dan could tell I wasn't feeling like myself.  When we started walking back towards the bridge (by the way this thing was over 21 stories high! incredible!) Dan started talking about how he was sorry I was in a bad mood and that he loved me a lot...well we say that kind of stuff to each other all the time so I was only really half listening because I was in a bad mood.  Dan had to physically grab my arm and pull me back towards him so that he had my full attention.  After that it was a bit of a blur and all of a sudden he was holding a ring in his hand and asking me to marry him!! He didn't get on one knee, but the way he asked was very him...and it was perfect for us! He said that I turned bright red and jumped back in shock! Haha.  He put the ring on and then we went to go sit down to process it all.  Then of course I started asking him over and over about whether I had said yes or not, because I really couldn't remember! Haha!

On the way back home, I called everyone and their mom and then of course facebooked it :)

See below for some pictures of our special weekend.

I am SO excited!