Friday, February 28, 2014

Shany Brushes Review

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to take a few minutes to do a quick review on the new Shany brushes that I received.

This is what they looked like:



This is the box they came in: very simple, yet a lovely design. 


The brushes are very nice. They don't shed and there is a huge selection. I really think that they are worth the money. This whole set only cost be about 25.00 for 32 brushes. My only complaint is that there is no foundation/ flat top kabuki brush. But other than that, I really like these brushes. 

These are all the different brushes that came in the kit...






I would recommend this kit to anyone who is starting out in makeup. Save up for you 100.00 kits by XO Beauty or Sigma,and use these brushes until you are confident in your skills. I think that these brushes are afforable, well made and utilitarian. They are soft and very easily manipulated. You get a great variety of brushes and you won't regret buying this set. 

I bought mine from Amazon.ca and you can also go through their site, though if you're outside of the US their shipping is quite expensive. 

I hope you found this mini review helpful. You will see me use these brushes in all of my beauty tutorials, check back next week for more Beauty is on the Inside. 

Have a lovely day. 

Warm wishes. 


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Super Quick Review

Hello ladies and gents!
I had a wonderful day of shopping with HelperBaby today and one of the products that I got has been raved about by many YouTube make-up gurus (as I love to call them).... the Porefssional Pro balm (to minimize the appearance of pores) by benefit. It is on the pricey end, but I am hoping it will be worth the money, though to be honest, unless I have a horrible reaction to it, I will still use every last drop to get my money's worth out of it.
So, as you can see there is a before and after shot of my nose (this is the area I need the most pore help) ((also, I am doing this on my phone for the first time to see if doing these super quick little reviews will work, so if anything turns out hinky, sorry!)). Oh that is terrifying.
And then there is a picture of my nose with the product on it.
I think it works quite well. At least from what I have seen in the mirror. I think that it is very much like the Five Second Blur by.... oh man, I just forgot.... I think it's by Garnier. Sorry, I swear I will comment below and let you know what brand it is. Again, this is just a super quick, non formal review, so we will see how this goes. So far... bad.
Anywho... it definitely reduced the appearance of the pores on my nose. It is very very silky and has a silicone like consistancy. I really like the feel of it. It feels like Five Second Blur and the Smashbox Photofinish primers. I like it, but I would also say see if you can get a sample first and try it out. While it is a really nice product, it also could be replaced by less expensive primers or even the Five Second Blur.
If you want to try something new today, be brave and shell out the money, but if you're looking for something that you know will work, go with your current primer, or I recommend Rimmel's Stay Matte Primer or if you like a dewy natural finish to your skin, go with L'Oreal's LumiMagic Primer.
I hope you enjoyed this impromptu review.
Warm wishes.


*Just a side note, the 5 Second Blur IS by Garnier and the pictures do correspond with the before and after . 

Monday, February 24, 2014

Lipstick Swatches

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to take a minute to show you the swatches lipstick that I have. I am not brand loyal, so that means I have everything from Rimmel, Revlon, and Maybelline to CQ and Wet N Wild. These are the colours I like, and I use, so I hope you enjoy them. And I hope you find this swatch post helpful. 

And of course, HelperBaby is right by m



























1. HelperBaby
2. Elizabeth Arden Lip Balm
3. Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Rose
4. Mayballine 910 Bare All
5. L'Oreal Colour Riche Balm SPF 15 218 Rose Elixer
6. Revlon Matte Nude Attitude
7. Revlon Creme 683 Demure
8. Mayballine 015 Born With it
9. Revlon 011 Matte STormy Pink
10. Revlon Creme 677 Siren
11. Mayballine 885 Vibrant Mandarin
12. Revlon Colourburt Lip butter 010 Raspberry Pie
13. Revlon 006 Matte Really Red


Happy kisses!

Warm wishes. 

Home made Lemony Whipped Cream

Hello all,

I just wanted to give you a mini post. Super fast, super simple, super lovely.

Lemon Whipped Cream.




None of that processed suff here, just lemon juice, sugar and whipping cream. It's light and fluffy and creamy and can be served along side berries or cobbler or even something as rich as chocolate cake. I love it and hopefully you will too.

You will need a hand beater or a stand mixer, measuring cups and a container to store your whipped cream.

This makes a lot of whipped cream, so you can always scale it down or make this when you will be having a party or a lot of guests over. it keeps in the fridge for a week, and however long you want in the freezer.

1 L of whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar, 2 lemons, zested and juiced
Extra lemons, or even lemon extract to taste.

Pour all of your ingredients into the mixer and mix from low to high speed for about 1 minute. Go longer if you want it really fluffy, only about 30 more seconds. Taste your lovely creamy, tart mixture and if you want more lemon, add the juice of half a lemon, or a 1/4 tsp of lemon extract until you like it.

And enjoy.

That simple.

Enjoy!

Warm wishes.

Friday, February 21, 2014

An Updated Schedule

Hey guys and gals, 

I just wanted to give you a schedule or sorts of what I will be TRYING to stick to. Things do come up, and if I can't do a full post, I will let you know. I know there isn't a lot right now, so hopefully I will be able to fill the blog a little more over the next few months. 

So every other day, I will be posting a beauty (Beauty is on the Inside) post, once every two weeks I will post a children's post (Babies, Toddlers and Kids Oh My). These are the easiest and most abundant in my life, so they will be featured the most. Again, I will let you know if I can't do a huge post. I will be posting these at 4pm EST everyday. I will be doing a favorites post every month so you know what I'm into and enjoying. 

On Monday: Home Cooked Meals
On Tuesday: You Can DIY Too!
On Wednesday: A Lookbook for Moms
On Thursday: Reduce, Reuse, Reorganize
On Friday: Real Life Hacks
On Saturday: A Lookbook for Dads
On Sunday: Man's Best Friends

So, this is what a month would typically look like:


March 2014
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday






1
February Favorites
2
Man’s Best Friend
3
Home Cooked Meals
Life in Motion
Beauty is on the Inside


4
You can DIY too!
5
A Lookbook for Moms
Beauty is on the Inside

6
Reduce, Reuse, Reorganize
7
Real Life Hacks
Beauty is on the Inside

8
A Lookbook for Dads
9
Man’s Best Friend


10
Home Cooked Meals
Babies, Toddlers, and Kids! Oh my!
Beauty is on the Inside

11
You can DIY too!
12
A Lookbook for Moms
Beauty is on the Inside

13
Reduce, Reuse, Reorganize

14
Real Life Hacks
Beauty is on the Inside

15
A Lookbook for Dads
16
Man’s Best Friend


17
Home Cooked Meals
Life in Motion
Beauty is on the Inside

18
You can DIY too!
19
A Lookbook for Moms
Beauty is on the Inside

20
Reduce, Reuse, Reorganize
21
Real Life Hacks
Beauty is on the Inside

22
A Lookbook for Dads
23
Man’s Best Friend
24
Home Cooked Meals
Babies, Toddlers, and Kids! Oh my!
Beauty is on the Inside


25
You can DIY too!
26
A Lookbook for Moms
Beauty is on the Inside

27
Reduce, Reuse, Reorganize
28
Real Life Hacks
Beauty is on the Inside

29
A Lookbook for Dads
30
Man’s Best Friend
31
Home Cooked Meals
Life in Motion
Beauty is on the Inside








This schedule is what is best for my life, and I hope I can stick to this schedule. 

Hopefully I can stick to this. And hopefully this will let the blog fill out a little more. 

Have a great evening, I'm going to go work on a new tutorial. 

Note: This schedule will most likely change again at the end of March, I am just trying to do this for February and March to fill the blog out so I can introduce it to everyone. 

Also, if you want to see me review anything in particular, or you have any questions about the products that I use, the price, or if you want me to do anything different, let me know.  I am just starting out, so let me know if you think I should change anything, or you want to see more of a particular subject. I am open to any and all suggestions. 

Warm wishes. 

Friday, February 7, 2014

Real Life Hacks

Hello all, 

So this post might not be a life hack, but for my household it was. 

We buy in bulk, which means that we don't have a lot of room in our freezer most weeks. We did just recently get a deep freezer, but freezer space is still at a premium. 

So for our family, this worked perfectly. 

Reusable ice cubes.





I'm sure everyone has seen them, you can buy them in the Dollar store or Dollarama or Home Sense or Winners during the summer and it has enough ice cubes in there for a family of four. 

They are dishwasher safe, just put them in the utensil rack by themselves and run them through, then you can freeze them. they are made of safe and BPA free plastic and pure mineral water so if one does break, don't worry, it's just water. 

All we do is put them into a ziploc baggy and freeze them. They take about three hours to freeze, much faster than regular ice cubes and they don't take up a lot of room in your freezer. Buy a whole bunch if you're having a family party and keep them in a container for special occasions. They are great for marking drinks at a dinner party. Just portion the ice cubes out by color and you just say, "Jessica, the red iced drink is yours!" and your party guests won't be confused about whose is whose. 

We love these in our home. Good in iced tea, iced coffee, juice, and the even better part: milk! Because these won't water down your milk, you can keep it super cold in the summertime. 

Again, this probably isn't a life hack, but it has been a life saver for my family, and maybe it can be for yours too. 

Another plus: lowers your water bill because you don't have to take the water to fill up your ice cube trays 
every day. 

Note: This pack of ice cubes I actually got in a reusable cup and it could probably only cool two drinks at the most. The ones from Dollarama are much larger. 

I hope this Real Life Hack helped a little and gave you an idea how to stay cool during the summer. 

Here are some websites you can purchase them from:

Bed, Bath and Beyond
Amazon
Ebay
Golda's Kitchen
Starbucks

Note: I am not being paid to promote these items or these websites, I am only try to provide you with as much information and help as possible. 

Warm wishes.

My Linen Closet

Hey all, 

I wanted to give you a little peak of how I want to run this page. I want to show you how I organize my house little by little. Sometimes I have to buy new organizers, sometimes I re-purpose old organizers and boxes. it all depends on what I need. Though, I guess the biggest the thing to take away from these posts is that I don't spend a lot of money on organizers because I don't have it to spend. I slowly get the organizers that I do buy. Also, you don't need to completely remodel your kitchen or buy thousands of dollars worth of closet and cabinet organizers to be organized and have all of your products at your fingertips. 

So, I hope you enjoy this little little organizational blog. 

This is my upstairs closet, it was a mess before, but I forgot to take pictures of before, so you just get the lovely after. 

This is a multi-purpose closet for us. It holds our travel toiletries, our cleaning supplies, our bulk toiletries, our spare electronics, our vacuum, our extra towels and linens. 

To start at the top shelf, and work our way down....

Our top shelf has our box of toiletries, this was a hat box that I bought a long time ago for about $20.00 from Target. I have used it for a thousand different things and now it holds Ziploc bags of toiletries and my toiletries travel bags. Next, is the doggy travel bag that we have for Khaleesi. We have some dog travel bowls and poop bags in there right now, just to keep them out of the way and organized. Next we have an extra sheet, the other ones are in the laundry right now, and a small pile of bibs for the baby. 


The next shelf is the most used things in our family, so we put it at eye level, making sure that we can see and find everything quickly and efficiently, but also ensuring that the little grabby one doesn't get any ideas. 

As you can see, we have our stash of bulk toilet paper, and then to the right, we have an old utensil organizer that hold our air fresheners, our unique soaps, our light bulbs, our extra scrubby sponges, and extra travel tissue packs. Here is a closer look at that organizer:


To the right of that I used an old paper/magazine organizer to hold my husband's extra toiletries. I have his bodywash, and extra bottle of shampoo and an extra tube of deoderant.  Here is a closer look at that organizer. 


To the right of that is a huge row of lotions. I try a thousand different types of lotions, and there are all ones that aren't my favorite, but they're okay, so I will use them up to ensure I'm not wasting money. Then I have an old tote that has miscellaneous lotions, toners, oils and facial cleansers in it. Again, these are ones that aren't my favorite, but I keep them on hand in case a friend needs to wash their face or for when I run out of my good ones and I need to order more. Basically I will use them again sometime, but they aren't my favorite, but again, not wanting to waste money. Next, I have a huge pile of tissue boxes. And my bulk mouthwash. I have a little bottle in my bathroom, so we keep the big ones out here. 


On the next shelf down, I have several large totes, again, they are all mixed because I have collected them throughout the years. This first one has house cleaning supplies, stuff like Goo Gone or Goof Off, carpet powder, that orange cleaner for hands, and stove-top cleaner. 


Next is a box full of shampoos, conditioners, razor replacements, excess hair products, and my feminine pads, sorry if that is weird, but this is what is in my closet. 


Next is a tote full of sunscreen, Proactive, shaving cream and bug spray. Note: All of the green totes that you see here, I bought at Dollarama. Yes, 1.50 for a green tote that you can use anywhere. Great, I know. 


Next, I have this huge container of batteries. We have a little one, obviously, and so many of her toys are battery operated, not to mention my toothbrush, my face scrubber, Ty's flashlights, our remotes, and so many other devices in our home that are battery powered that it was just reasonable for us to have a ton of batteries on hand. This is actually an old milk jug, we had to buy a new one because every time we washed this one in the dishwasher it would deform more than it had before. This is the old milk jug without the lid on . Then next row is just my extra cleaning supplies. 

The next shelf down is a huge box full of dog equipment. Khaleesi went into heat last month, so in order to save us from having to buy another diaper for her so she could have a fresh diaper everyday, we bought some maxi pads and cut them in half and put them in her diaper, which is why the maxi pads are in there. This could be considered a RLH. If you want it to. But, this also holds the grooming supplies and diapers and poop bags. 
The next box is an extra electronics box. While my husband is home we share a computer, but when he leaves, he takes this white laptop with him. The rest is extra usb cables and internet cables and chargers and old cell phones that we have yet to sell or recycle. This just helps us keep all of our odds n ends electronics in one spot. 


Next is just my extra towels and my trusty Dyson vacuum cleaner. Note: If you want me to start doing reviews on household products I can start doing that. I love trying out new household cleaners and seeing if they work or not, so just let me know and I can try and help you out. 

The only two things that I don't have pictured are my plunger and my toilet brush. My hubby and I give the toilets a good scrub every Sunday to keep everything from getting too gross. We have found the best way to keep our space clean is to do little micro cleans between big ones. It turns a whole day of cleaning into two to three hours. 

That's it. This is my linen closet that was organized with odds n ends of totes and old boxes. it isn't the prettiest, but it works for our family. Maybe we will have the money to get more totes late on, but until then, we will be using this system because it works for us. Check back next Friday for more reduce, Reuse, Reorganize. 

Warm wishes.