health and beauty – Laughingly Ever After

Skin Care – again….

November 17, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

I know, I know. I seem to change skin care routines all the time. It’s nice now that my skin isn’t so super sensitive, I can change things up for time to time and not worry.

This new routine is a mix of several previous skin care routines. So here’s what I’m currently using:

Cold pressed, unrefined Coconut Oil (I get mine from Costco for around $15.00)
Cerave Foaming Facial Cleanser
Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System
VoilaVe Rose Hip Oil

I start with Coconut Oil. I scoop out a little bit with my fingers and massage the oil into my skin. I find this is a good way to breakdown your makeup. Once I’ve massaged my skin I will use a cotton round with a little Coconut Oil to remove my eye make up. I would suggest lightly wetting the cotton round, otherwise you’ll get cotton fibers stuck in your eye lashes. Once I get the majority of my eye makeup off, I flip the cotton round over and wipe off the rest of my face. You will still have a decent amount of oil on your skin. And most times I will actually use whatever oil is left on my hands to massage my skin a bit more. I basically just use the cotton round to remove the makeup before massaging more oil in. You can do this as long as you want. Some nights I take my time and others I just do a quick once over before moving on to the next step. This is the facial massage I kind of follow, but not really. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h022_ZDnv0&app=desktop

Once I done massaging the Coconut Oil into my skin, I get about a quarter to half a pump of my Cereva Cleanser. I add a little water and rub it on my skin but just enough to get the product on my skin. Then I use my Olay Pro-X to cleanse the rest of my skin. This doesn’t actually remove all the oil but I feel like it does a good job of removing any remaining dirt.

After I rinse my face off, I pat it dry and apply 3 drops of the Rosehip Oil. True Rosehip Oil does NOT smell like roses. It has a very earthy smell. Matt says my face smells like grass after I apply it. The Rosehip Oil absorbs pretty quickly into the skin (like 5-10 mins). I then apply my Mary Kay eye cream and moisturizer.

As you can see, this is kind of a process but it seems to be working pretty well for me. My skin has gotten drier as I’ve gotten older and I really like using oils. I feel like my overall complexion has evened out some since I’ve started this routine. I also feel like my blackheads getting better. I haven’t had any crazy breakouts either. I would recommend this routine for all skin types. Dry skin needs the moisture and oils actually help oily skin not over produce oil.

You can also search the blog for OCM and that will pull up a post or two regarding the Oil Cleansing Method. You could do this with Coconut Oil instead of the process I am currently using.

IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream

September 8, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

Okay so I am FINALLY doing my review on the IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream. I’ve had this product for a few weeks now and I must say, I really like it. Do I love it? No. Would I repurchase? I’m not sure.

Let’s review it. First off it has a nice thick consistency but, to me, it doesn’t feel heavy on the skin. I feel like it “melts” into my so it doesn’t feel like I have foundation sitting like the Lumi does. Next, the box says it is medium to full coverage. Eh, I think it’s more of a light to medium coverage. Now maybe this is purely based on application. I tend to buff my foundation in pretty well. I don’t really care to have foundation sitting on the skin. And well, I’m not great at building coverage so…yeah. The foundation has a bit of a citrus scent but I don’t find I can smell it once it’s on my skin. Apparently, the scent comes from the snail exact? That’s just something I found online.

One thing I really like about this foundation is the finish. Since I have oily skin, this gives me a nice velvety finish. I don’t find it to be matte but it’s also not dewy. Even by the end of the day, I don’t really feel too shiney. I also feel like it has pretty good staying power. I normally set it with my Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder. I should add, I don’t think the powder really helps to keep me “matte” but I do like the powder.

Like I said, I’ve worn this for a few weeks now and even after being out in the hot this weekend and last weekend, I felt like my makeup held up pretty well. Saturday Matt and I went to the NC State game and when we got home I took a pic of my makeup. It lasted through fairly hot temps for several hours.

Okay, I guess I should discuss why I don’t love it and why I might not repurchase. While I love the finish, honestly, I don’t feel like there is anything so super special about this foundation. It has a nice finish and pretty good coverage. It has pretty okay staying power, but for the money I feel like there are other things out there that should work just as well right? Overall, I’m not completely blown away by it. (My favorite foundation of all time was from Estee Lauder but it has since been discontinued for the Double Wear – which I am also not a huge fan of but might revisit at some point. )

This is after the game on Saturday. I’d had makeup on all day plus 4+ hours of being outside in the heat and sweating.

My next review will be a review of some new fiber mascara! :O

First Impression – Bare Minerals

August 21, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

I couldn’t stand it so yesterday when I got home I washed my face and immediately reapplied the new Bare Minerals BareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation. I put 2 drops on my brush (I used the ELF Flat Top Kabuki) and started to buff it out.

Immediate first impression, yuck! I continued to try to buff the foundation in but I felt like it was clinging to the peachfuzz on my checks. Next I noticed it looked pretty streaky and was sitting in my pores. I buffed for a quite awhile and never really felt like the foundation was settling into my skin. I added 2 more drops to my brush and proceeded to do the rest of my face. My nose was still pretty red even after I’d finished. I tried to add a little more but it just sat in my pores.

I think this pic reflects how I felt the foundation actually looked. It’s super cakey and uneven.

Next I decided to add some concealer under my eyes. I’m currently using a Rimmel one that I really like (I like it better than my Mac Prolongwear). It’s not too heavy and doesn’t seem to crease too bad considering the lines I always have. The concealer sat and caked under my eyes. As you can see I didn’t use very much. I actually used a little less than I do on a normal basis.

I wore the foundation for the rest of the night and noticed that after an hour or so the foundation started wear and “melt” more into my skin. While it didn’t look bad, it didn’t look great. It actually just looked pretty greasy.

This is the foundation alone.

This is with powder.

In order to give this a fair shake, I decided to wear it to work this morning. I have to say the application this morning was a little better than yesterday afternoon but I only used one drop instead of two. I basically used one drop on each check, my forehead, nose and chin. I still wasn’t happy about the coverage or the feel. My under eye concealer did go on a little smoother today. That could be because I put it on a little more quickly. The foundation continued to feel tacky even after I applied powder. Lots of powder. I will say that from afar it didn’t look terrible this morning. The color is actually very nice. Honestly, that’s about the only good thing I can say about this foundation.

I know there are tons of people out there that love this foundation, and I really hoped I would be one of those people. Unfortunately, I’m not. For me peronally, this foundation is a huge miss! Again, I have naturally oily skin and uneven skin tone. I think if I had pretty flawless, normal skin I might be singing a different tune right now. I dislike this so much I will be taking it back to Ulta. I will be replacing it with the IT Cosmetics CC Cream. I’m hoping to have better results. I’ll do a first impression of this one too incase anyone is interested.

So. Darn. Excited!

August 19, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

A few months ago Bare Minerals came out with their very first liquid foundation, the bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation. Needless to say, I have been DYING to try this stuff but due to my recent foundation swapping Matt would kill me if I bought something else so I’ve waited. Add to that the fact that we are now in hard core save mode and I thought I would be waiting a while longer before I got my hands on this bad boy but alas, tomorrow it will be mine!!!! I volunteered to do some testing at work which will give me a $25.00 gift card. My testing is from 11-12 and I will immediately drive over to Ulta to buy my new foundation.

I’ve watched numerous tutorials/reviews on Youtube and read numerous reviews online. For the most part, it seems like people love this stuff. But there are the few who don’t like it. I know no product is everyone going to please everyone and that’s okay. I just really hope I fall in the love category. I currently LOVE my Lumi but it doesn’t have tons of staying power plus it seems like make me oilier now that summer is here. But really, we all know I just love makeup. I can’t help it. 😉

My plan is to try my new BM foundation on Thursday so as long as work isn’t too busy I will write an initial review on Friday. I would like to write a follow up review about a week after that as I’ve seen some people say you need to give it a chance and find what works for you. So we’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

#curlyhairdontcare

August 8, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

After I burnt the hell out of my hands trying to curl my hair I went and got it cut. In the process my stylist added more layers. I normally have a decent amount of layers in my hair but the last haircut, we cut some of them out and went with a few long layers. Long layers aren’t really good for helping my hair curl. Well on Saturday, I showered and then went downstairs to eat some breakfast. This turned into me sitting on the couch interneting for a while too. By the time I got upstairs to put on my make-up and dry my hair, my hair was almost dry. And curly. Like really curly. So I went with it. I hit my roots with some heat and straighten out my bangs. I then added a little water in a few spots that were a little less curly. What’dya know? I have curly hair again! So explain to me why I’ve been burning the shit out of my hands trying to curl it? HAHA!

My hair used to curl like this all the time a few years ago. It was affectionately named my “porn hair” several years ago. I’m not sure what it is about me with curly hair but men seem to like it, a lot. To the point of being a little creepy. (My husband is excluded from this group.) Anyway, I stopped wearing it curly for a really long time, mainly because a coworker always make comments when I wore that way. Said co-worker no longer works with me so it doesn’t really matter anymore. I feel like I might start to wear my hair curlier now. I’m kind of ready for a change but cutting my hair is not an option. I’ve worked too hard to get it as long as it so currently. It’s probably close to as long as it’s ever been. YAY!!! So curly hair is the one thing I can do that is a change without going shorter.

curly hair — This is from 2007. I love these waves.

Curling Iron = 1, Kelly = 1

July 31, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 1 comment

The other day I decided to try and curl my hair. It was getting kind of late and I put minimal effort into it. I’d done my homework, watching numerous Youtube videos, and thought I could do it. Several really bad burns later I ditched my effort with only about half my hair done. It didn’t look great and my finger was hurting pretty bad.

About 10 mins after my failed attempt I looked down and noticed I had a nice blister forming on my finger. BOOO! 🙁

I was kind of bummed over my failed attempt but decided to give it another go on Saturday. Matt and I didn’t have any plans so I figured if it flopped it was no big deal. Much to my surprise, it actually turned out pretty well! AND I managed to not burn the hell out of my hand this time. After the first try I really thought about what I was doing and realized I should be holding my curling iron differently. You see, I’m using my curling iron as a curling wand since I think it’s ridiculous to buy a wand when my curling iron will do basically the same thing. I figured out that for the right side of my head I should hold the iron/wand with my left hand and wrap the hair around with my right hand and vice versa for the other side. YAY! (Sometimes I can be smart!)

This is my burn a few days later. Hello scar!

Too much of a good thing?

July 28, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

A few months ago my skin was super dry. I’d seen a few Youtubers raving about L’oreal Lumi foundation but at the time I’d just spent $45.00 on some Stila foundation. I knew Matt would not be happy about me wanting to try something else. I was chatting with my mom one day and she mentioned she had some Lumi that she’d bought and only used a few times. The next time I saw her she gave me the Lumi to try. I immediately fell in love but the color she had was a little dark so I had to buy more in the correct shade. Now that summer is here I’m back to the darker shade mom gave me.

Anyway, the problem now is that my skin is back to it’s old oily self. Add foundation that has tons of hydration and well, yeah. I bought some Rimmel Stay Matte powder but that didn’t help. Next I decided to try some stay matte primer. I’d heard about the Rimmel Stay Matte primer on Youtube and for $5.00 decided to give it a go. Um, needless to say, it did NOT work, like at all. I tried it first on Saturday over my regular moisturizer and I still was pretty oily in a matter of a few hours. I figured I didn’t really give it a good shot so on Sunday I skipped the moisturizer and used it alone. A few hours later I was back to oily. The problem is that I LOVE my Lumi! I love the finish, and I love the coverage. Overall, I’m a fan!

This morning I mixed in some of my Clinique BB cream and I decided to use some of my Dewy Finish Setting Spray by NYX. My face doesn’t currently feel like an oil slick and I’m going on a few hours of wear. I must admit that I have already lightly blotted my face but it wasn’t terrible. The look on Matt’s face when I sprayed my newly applied makeup was pretty priceless. He was like “WTH are you doing?” HAHA! Boys!

I feel like the last few months have been one continuous foundation hunt after another. If my skin isn’t dry, it’s oily or vice versa. Maybe one day I’ll find a happy medium.

Scrub a dub dub

May 12, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

Since this has turned into a beauty blog, I’d like to share a new product I found at Ulta. It’s the Freeman Facial Polishing Mask with Charcoal and Black Sugar. I stumbled across this a few weeks ago but I wanted to try it out a few times before I reviewed it. I’ve used it several times over the past few weeks and I’m impressed! For $3.99, this stuff is GREAT! I try to use it about 2x a week and after each use I notice my skin tone looks more even, not to mention my skin feels really soft. I haven’t had any big break-outs while using this either. I’ve had a few small ones but I don’t know that I can contribute it to the scrub.

I start by removing all of my makeup and I lightly pat my face dry. Then I apply the scrub. It’s not quite as “masky” as I thought it would be though. I’ll include a pic so you can see what I mean. I leave it on for the recommended 5-7 mins, normally while I’m brushing my teeth. Then I wash it off, I also use it to scrub my lips. After, my skin tone looks so much more even, even more so than with the Mary Kay Microderm kit I think. I think for the price, you can’t beat this mask. It’s pretty great!

No Primer, No Problem!

April 7, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

As you all know, I’ve recently become OBSESSED with make-up tutorials on Youtube. Well, I have a few of my faves, but I also have a few others that I will occasionally check out. GossMakeupArtist is one I occasionally watch. Last week he posted a GREAT tip on how to make your foundation last. Seeing as I’ve been having foundation issues, I wanted to know what his tip was.

Now, before I go into exactly what you do, I just want to say that after I watched the video I was totally skeptical. So much so, that I refused to try this tip during the week. I waited till the weekend so if things totally went South I could just start over. But guys, it worked! Like really worked! So here’s what you need:

Moisturizer
Loose powder – translucent or colored (I use my Mineral Veil)
Powder Brush
Foundation

Okay, here goes. Apply your moisturizer as usual, then while its still damp, apply a little bit of loose powder on top. I tap out a small amount in the top, swirl my brush, and tap off the excess. The key here is to not use too much. Once you’ve powdered your face, you will apply your foundation. If needed you can add a little more powder over your foundation. (I have combo skin with an oily t-zone so I add a touch more powder to set the look.) Now I know, you aren’t supposed to use liquid over powder. But it works! Essentially you are creating a primer for your foundation.

Here’s what I like most about this tip. You have all the stuff needed already. Plus primers can be expensive. I bought a NYX primer a few weeks ago and feel like I need to use it sparingly even though it was only like $12.00 because I have to use a lot. The other good thing about this tip is, for me anyway, the moisturizer/powder combo also helps to smooth out my pores which helps your foundation sit better.

I’ve done this a few times since I saw it and I have to say, I’m impressed! My foundation seems to stay on a good bit longer than before and I’m not getting as oily in my t-zone. Not to mention it’s free!

Give it a try!

A New fave (yup another mascara post)

April 3, 2014 mrs_ellyk Comments 0 Comment

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write a post about mascara!

A while back I wrote about my current favorite mascara, Revlon Lash Potion. This stuff is pretty wonderful but it’s waterproof, like really waterproof. Honestly I don’t really mind if my mascara doesn’t fully wash off at night. I personally think you should wear mascara 24/7 but there comes a time when not washing off starts to make the next day’s mascara all clumpy. I started to have this problem and instead of investing in makeup remover, I decided to buy a cheap non-waterproof mascara to wear under the Lash Potion. Now, here’s the deal, if you wear a non-waterproof mascara under a waterproof mascara, your waterproof mascara will wash over easier. There’s another added bonus to layering your mascara, it will make your lashes fuller. You can really do this with any 2 different mascaras but the easier cleanup was my motivation. I already have long, full eyelashes which also makes me super picky about mascara. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I LOVE mascara! I think it’s the Bee’s knees! 😉

So here’s what happened. I ran to Target one day and started looking for some super cheap mascara. I finally found the Rimmel Extra Super Lash for about $4.00. Score! This was in my target of how much I wanted to spend on “cheap” mascara. Besides, this wasn’t the star of the show, the Lash Potion was right? Wrong.

I got the Rimmel home and found it had a long skinny, tapered brush. I usually prefer the fuller brushes but who cares right? I applied the mascara and was pretty surprised at how awesome my lashes looked. A little on the skinny side but this made them quite long. I continued on with my plan and applied the Lash Potion over. Overall it was okay, but not really what I was hoping for. As the weeks went on, I found myself using the Rimmel more and more and the Lash Potion less and less. I learned how to control the brush to make my lashes appear thicker and was pleasantly surprised that the non-waterproof formula had good staying power! I could wear it all day with no smudges or smears and this is pretty impressive since I touch my eyes A LOT! Don’t get me wrong, if it gets wet it’s going to run some but I don’t feel it’s as bad as some non-waterproofs (but really I wouldn’t know because I haven’t worn anything other than waterproof, like ever!)

Overall, I am super happy with my discovery! I love happy accidents and in this case a cheap happy accident. If you are like me and you love mascara definitely give the Rimmel a go.

I was going to include a pic but my mobile app is being a pain so, no pic.