ELF Essential Jumbo Lip Gloss Sticks Review

Ok, I'll admit it was the packaging that made me want to try these lip gloss sticks. Have you noticed that every drug store brand seem to have something like this? At $2 each, I thought it would be fun to try a few of the colors.

It's funny that they call them lip gloss; they are basically a colored lip balm. They are kind of like Maybelline's Baby Lips, but some of them have glitter.

Although they are like a lip balm, they aren't incredibly moisturizing. They are bold on color though. I was very happy with the color pay off. A little goes a long way.

 I purchased Flirty and Girly, a cool pink with sparkle, and Sangria Starters, a red with brown undertones. The colors on eyeslipsface.com are off. I recommend looking up swatches on Youtube or blogs to help you get a better idea of the colors. Also be aware that some of this are heavily glittered.

The color wears off fairly quickly. It's definitely not a stain.

Overall, the lip gloss sticks are fun, and the colors are pretty. They aren;t my favorite, but for $2 each ($1 each when eyeslipsface.com has a 50% off sale) they are worth trying.

UPDATED: Although I still say these aren't lip glosses, they wear longer and are more moisturizing if you apply them generously. I had been afraid of the color and had put just a little bit on. I'm now excited to try some of the other shades!

Here are the colors that are available.

Maurice's: additional 75% off: Cute Plus-sized Clothes

A few days ago I posted about finding cute, plus sized clothes for a reasonable price. (see that post here) Well, I stumbled across a sale at Maurice's website. They will take an additional 75% off their sale items. They have non-plus sized clothes, too, of course. Check some of these out:

Contrast stripe crochet sleeve top, originally $34, now $7.50

Button Front Bias Plaid top, originally $36, now $7.50

Thick Stitch Embellished Jeans, originally $69, now $17.50

Click here to check out the sale!

Vanity DIY: The Nailpolish Rack

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I finished the nail polish rack in my makeup area today. I started with a spice rack that I found in one of the storage units my husband bought. I nailed two tacks on the back and stretched a wire twist tie between them to create a hanger. 

Then I hot glued some wallpaper to the back of the rack so that the pattern would show. I had orginally planned on painting the rack, but decided the brown looked ok with the wallpaper.

And lastly, I hot glued some artifical leaves and flowers to the top board

I like how it turned out. I think it may be a bit small though. :)

ELF Corrective Concealer Review

I wanted to love this product, I really did. But I don't. :(

I purchased the Neutralize and Brighten colors. It consists of two peachy skin tone colors, a pink to neutralize yellow areas and a green to neutralize red imperfections. The idea is a good one, but the cream concealers are too sheer. They don't cover enough.

It Iincludes a cute little brush, but I found I was able to apply the concealer thicker using my finger. The compact has small mirror and feels pretty solid.

In addition to their sheerness, the concealers cake up under my eye. They don't do this on the rest of my face, but I got this pallet to cover my dark under eye circles.

The concealer pallet is available at Target, Kmart and eyeslipsface.com and retails for $3.00. I will not be buying this again, but I am considering trying the pressed powder version. I'm thinking it won't cake and I could build up the coverage.

ELF Regular and Waterproof Mascara Review

I found ELF Regular and Waterproof Mascara at the Dollar Tree and for a dollar, I couldn't resist trying it out. Boy, was I surprised! The formula was just the right thickness to cover the lashes. Both the regular and the waterproof stayed put and didn't flake. I really didn't except that from a $1 mascara!

I would definitely buy this again. If not at the Dollar Tree, then at Target, Kmart or eyelipsface.com. If you see it at a store near you, grab one and try it. You may be surprised.

DIY Vanity: painting the mirror

I picked up some gold spray paint and painted the mirror to my vanity. Here's the before and after:

 

Cost:

Can of gold spray paint: $3.68

Masking Tape: $.98

Total: $4.66

Next up: The nail polish rack. (See original post here: The project overview.)

Plus-sized Fashion That's Actually Cute... and Affordable

Alright, I admit it. I have to wear plus-sized clothes. I'm not happy about it either. Partially because it's so hard to find cute clothes in larger sizes. Clothes my size look like they were designed for senior citizens. Or they are tent-like polyester nightmares. Or, if you do manage to find cute clothes in your size, they cost an arm and a leg. Come on, you know what I'm talking about. In this post I'd like to share some sources I have found of adorable plus-sized clothes that are reasonably priced.

Forever 21: I didn't realize until recently that this popular store carried plus sizes. The prices aren't too bad either. The style is hit and miss for me. I really don't need a teal bandage mini skirt. But they do have some cute things. Here are a few:

No-fuss Skater Dress $13.80

Must-Have V-neck Cardigan, $10.80

Poetic Embroidered Blouse, $27.50

Deb: This is another store that is gear toward the younger crowd. They have some really cute things and some things that are a bit short or tight. As of right now they are having a 40% off sale. The sale prices are reasonable. Here are a few of my favorites:

Dolman Top is Twist Back, $11.94

Tie Dye Top with Cold Shoulder, $14.94

Bootcut Jean with Lace Back Pockets, $23.94

Zulily: Zulily is a site sort of like Haute Look. They have sales events where a certain brand is available for a few days at sale prices. A lot of the plus sized clothes I've seen on this site are adorable. They had the cutest jeans for $16.99. The down side? Popular styles can sell out quickly.
 LOVE these, although they are some of the most expensive items on there:

Navy Floral Status Surplice Dress, $39.99

Beige and Black Zig-zag Hooded Dress, $39.99

 Here are the jeans of which I spoke, so cute!:

Dark Blue Denim Stitch-Pocket Straight leg Jeans, $16.99

So as you see, cute, affordable plus-sized clothing can be found. It's not always easy, but it's out there. Share your favorite sources for cute plus-sized clothes by leaving a comment below.

Cvs Couponing "Brag" Post, 1/17/14

So excited this week to get some good deals at CVS. Thought I'd share.

Garnier Fructis Fall Fight Shampoo and conditioner, $.99 each after coupons.

Mitchum Power Gel for Women antiperspirant,  $.99 each after coupon.

Not pictured because we ate them: 2 Skinny Cow candy singles, free after coupons and ExtraBucks.

Surprise Find: ELF at The Dollar Tree

I was so excited to see that our local Dollar Tree had some ELF products. I know these products are normally a dollar even in other stores, but none of the other stores in my small town carry them. Yes, we're a little backwoodsy. :)

Here are the products that I noticed:

• Essential Brightening Eye Color Quads in Drama, Day 2 Night and Nouveau Neutrals.

• Essential Duo Eye Shadow Cream in Coffee and Cream, and Berry 

• Essential Regular & Waterproof Mascara Duo 

• Essential Eye Shadow Brush

• Essential Super Glossy Lip Shine in Candlight, Party Peach, Malt Shake, and Angel

Here's what I picked up:

The mascara duo, eye shadow quads in Drama & Nouveau Neutrals.

Quick review: 

• The mascara surprised me. I actually like it. Especially the water proof. It is so much better than the elf Essential Lengthening & Defining Mascara that I got in my last elf order. It's just the right wetness coat the lashes, it stays put and doesn't flake. 

• The eyeshadow quad in Nouveau Neutrals has really pretty colors, but they added WAY too much glitter. I think it was a manufacturing mistake. You should have seen the glitter fall out when I wore it the other day. It was ridiculous. I wish I had taken a picture.   

• I've purchased the gloss before and wasn't impressed. It is very sticky and leaves glitter on your lips after the color fades.

Vanity DIY: Before Pictures

Ok, so technically it's a dresser not a vanity, but it will serve as my makeup and hair area. It's in the corner of the dining room. This way I can be with the kids while I'm getting ready for the day. Trust me. You don't want to leave a two year old alone for too long!

The dresser was found in a storage unit that my husband bought at an auction. He only paid $30 for the unit so I didn't feel too bad for keeping it. I'm thinking of painting it white. I may paint the pulls, too. Here's the Pinterest inspiration picture:

 

Next is the mirror. I was in the very back of the master bath. As you can see, I tried to paint it white a long time ago. The bathroom was too humid for the paint to stick. There's also still masking tape stuck to the glass. I'll clean that off and paint it gold.

 Then there's my plastic drawers for holding my make up and hair stuff. It was full of last year's school books and not being used. It's kind of an eye sore. I may paint it? At the very least, I'll clean it up and take the books out and the labels off.

And last, but not least is a spice rack that was also found in a storage unit that my husband bought. It will be used as a nail polish holder. I plan on painting it and attaching wallpaper to the back as shown in this Pinterest photo:

I'm using wallpaper found in the back of my closet that I never got around to using. It's a floral on a beige background. (See a little of it in the picture of the dresser above.) Not sure what color to paint the spice rack.

I can't wait to show the after pictures!

Losing Weight on a Budget: Part 3: Exercising without spending a dime

It would be easy to spend thousands of dollars on exercise equipment, gym memberships, work out clothing, and other workout equipment. But if you're like me and don't have any money to spend on these things, you can still get a fun, varied workout. Here are some free ideas:

• Walk. This is common sense, I know, but grab the dog or the kids and go for a walk around the neighborhood. We are lucky enough to have a trail in the woods on our property that we can walk (if it hasn't rained recently.) Right now the temperature where I live in like 7 degrees or something crazy like that, so the walking will have to wait until spring.
• Exercise with YouTube.  As if I needed another reason to love it, I have recently discovered that there are free, full length workout videos on YouTube! There is so much variety there: classic aerobics, step aerobics, yoga, tae bo, dance, boot camp, you name it. The quality ranges from professional, to someone filming workouts in their home gym. Here are a few channels to check out:

• Lionsgate Be Fit
• Fitness Blender
• Livestrong Woman

• Work. Put the "work" in workout. House work and yard work can burn serious calories, plus you get chores done! According to myfitnesspal.com thirty minutes of gardening can burn 220 calories. I like this type of exercise, because I don't fell guilty - like I should be doing something more productive.

Did I miss something? What's your favorite no-cost way to exercise?

Coastal Scents Revealed Eyeshadow Pallete, Dupe for Naked Palletes, On Sale!!

I know I just posted about a makeup sale, but just got an email from Coastal Scents telling me there Revealed eyeshadow palette is back in stock and on sale for $14.95 (regularly $19.95.)

Why am I excited by that? I just read this morning on Beauty Broadcast that it is the perfect dupe for the Naked 1 and Naked 2 palettes! (Click here to read the post and see the comparative swatches.) I have been wanting to try the Naked palettes, but at $50 a piece, I can't even think about it. That's why $14.95 looks so good! (Shipping for USPS Pririoty is $7.15, for me.)

I have $3.00 worth of "Points" for registering and signing up for emails, so my total would be around $19.15-ish. Pretty cool!

 

SALE! ELF 11 piece Studio Makeup Brushes for $2.14! ends 1/13/14

Need makeup brushes, but wallet still empty from Christmas shopping? Yeah, me, too. I found this deal on the 11 piece brush set on eyeslipsface.com and wanted to share. It is normally $30, but you can pick it up for $2.14!  All you need to do is add a minimum value of $20.14 in your cart, add the brush set, and then enter the code BRUSH2014. You can even end up with free shipping if your total is $35 or more. I've heard really good things about the ELF studio brushes. EmilyNoel83 from Beauty Broadcast swears by the "C" eyeshadow brush from this collection which is included in the 11 piece set.

Losing Weight on a Budget: Part 2, Keeping a Food Journal

According to WebMD, a recent studied showed that dieters who kept a food journal and wrote down everything they ate, lost twice as much weight as dieters who did not.

Keeping a food journal is a simple way to help yourself out when your trying to loose weight. It's simple: if you bite it, write it. Often times we eat more than we realize and recording what goes into our mouths makes us more aware of exactly how many calories (or fat or whatever else you are counting) that you are actually getting.

 I first started recording what I ate when I was dieting after the birth of my first son. Back then I wrote everything down on paper and looked up the calorie count. Then I had to add it all up at the end of the day. It was tedious, and eventually I stopped doing it.

There's a much easier, more convenient way to keep a food journal. And it's free! (Remember the goal is to loose weight without spending any extra money.) With www.myfitnesspal.com you can record your food intake online or on an app on your smartphone or tablet. Or all three through out the day. It is available for IOS and Android. This is starting to sound like a commercial, but it's not. I'm really excited that I don't have to write everything down any more. :)

The app and website are pain-free. Simple click "add food," click the meal you want to add to (breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack) and search the food you have eaten. There's a large data base full of common foods including name brand packaged food. If you can't find what you've eaten, you can add it.

This website/app also doubles as a weight tracker. Enter your weight after every weigh in and see your results in chart form. Very motivating.

Another feature that I like is that you can add friends how are also using myfitnesspal and share your results. Weight loss becomes easier with encouragement from friends!