Monday, January 31, 2011

Weekly Menu

Trying to find something that I like to eat and isn't going to eat up my WW points is hard. Plus feeding a husband that only likes things with booming flavor and lots and lots of calories, is so damn hard.

This is what I've come up with this week.

Beef Fajitas
Sweet and Sour Meatballs w/veggies (maybe?)
Grilled Shrimp
Pork Tenderloin w/veggies
Calzones

I know the calzones don't sound too damn healthy but I've learned I can't cut out all carbs. I start seriously craving them. Baby steps. But, I am using thin crust pizza, skim milk mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni. Lets just hope my husband doesn't notice the difference. lol

Weight Watchers ~ week 2

Um ... I didn't do so good last week. Seriously I gained. I'm so disappointed, but at least I know what I did wrong and it won't happen again.

One problem was I didn't plan enough meals for the week. We ran out by Wednesday night so Thursday and all weekend was a free for all. That does not work with me.

This week will be better. A promise to myself. :)

Friday, January 28, 2011

Crown Brushes

I recently started following Kandee the make up artist blog and YouTube channels. She featured a segment right before Christmas about Crown make up brushes. She absolutely raved about how wonderful they were. She had a special deal going on with them that if you entered her code you can get an entire set of brushes for $29.99 shipped. Well, hot damn that's a steal. I'm in!

I ordered the brushes, patiently awaited their arrival. Shipping was actually pretty fast, especially since they were shut down for the holiday season. I think I ordered mine on a Friday and they came in the following Wednesday.

I ripped open the package, seriously excited and examined them. My first real set of make up brushes that a real make up artist recommended. They looked good, they felt good, let's go wash them and get them ready for first use.

I did a pretty thorough cleaning of them. I have enough skin issues, I need nothing else adding to it. I noticed when I was washing them that my water was tinted. Nothing too major. Then I got to the powder brush. The thickest of them all. The water was almost black. ???? Is that suppose to happen? I've only owned a few fairly expensive brushes and I never noticed them doing that. I know for a fact my Sigma brush didnt do it. I made sure to wash it again and make sure the water ran clean before I let it dry.

The next day I got up, eager to put my make up on with my new professional brushes. I used my Sigma F80 for my foundation, picked up the Crown powder brush to apply my powder. Um, it sheds as bad as my damn cat. WTF?!? They are suppose to be a very reputable company. They supposedly make brushes for other well known brand companies. Who!?? ELF!?!?

I'm disappointed in it. The face brushes just don't seem to be all that. The eye brushes are pretty good though. I've really had no complaints about them. Actually the eyeliner brush is wonderful! I've never had such a smooth line with my gel liner.

This is the kit I got.

I honestly don't think I would recommend this to anyone. Maybe if you stayed away from the face brushes and stuck strictly to the eye brushes you'd be fine....Maybe?

Again, you usually only get what you pay for.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sigma Make Up Brushes

For a while now I've been addicted to watching beauty/make up related videos on YouTube. 98% of the people out there doing the videos are obsessed with MAC cosmetics. I can not and honestly will not pay that much for make up. There are a lot of companies with dupes for most of their products.

Then I started seeing more and more people talking about Sigma brushes. I went to their website and the prices were so low, I honestly figured they would be just like other "cheap" products, not so soft and itchy. My skin is uber sensitive so I have to be careful what I use on it.

I kept seeing more and more reviews and people talking about the Sigma brushes. With a prices like that I thought, What the hell? I'll try it. I ordered the F80. I needed a good foundation brush. I dont like the normal brushes people use as foundation brushes. This one claims to give you a flawless finish.

I got my brush in and instantly was in love. It is so soft, it doesn't irritate my skin, and it is so well made. I instantly washed it and laid it out to dry, anxious for the next day so I could try it out.

I am very impressed with it. No streaks, no irritation. I am in love with this brush.

So, I became an affiliate. :) I've tried so many other brushes and nothing compares to this one.

You can check them out here via this link or you can click on the side banner.

~Sam

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Weight Watchers

So I started Weight Watchers Tuesday. I'm sick of being all tired and depressed about my weight. I want my life back. I know I can't eat like my husband does. I need to monitor everything. He doesnt. Asshole. ;)

I'm currently on day 3. I'm dying. Slow and painful death. I'm going through sugar withdrawals something awful. I honestly had no idea how much bull shit I was putting in my mouth until I started logging it. Now that I'm fully aware of what I'm eating and having to track it, I've cut out all of the sugary snacks. Whoamygawd I never new how much sugar was part of my daily life until I can't have it anymore.

I'm sitting here right now with hardly any energy what so ever. I'm also always hungry. My body is use to the carbs keeping it going.

I can say that when I started this it was an impulse decision. Kinda. I knew I had wanted to start it for a while. I just went ahead and signed up for the program via the website. (I refuse to go to the meetings bc I'm too shameful) So my pantry/fridge is stocked with foods I have no business eating. When I make my grocery list later this week, I'll make a lot more healthier choices and get me some damn fruit that I can snack on during the day. Seriously. I'm starving.

I don't plan on updating this a whole bunch with my "weight loss journey". I don't want to feel judged by strangers reading my blog. But, on the other hand, if someone out there has any recipes or they want to share their story I am more than happy to hear it. :D

I need all the help I can get.

~Me

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Revlon PhotoReady Review

I normally wear Merle Norman foundation and powder. I decided this last time I ran out, to try a drug store brand. My sister was using this and loved it. So I decided to give it a try.

I'm not impressed. Actually I hate it. I feel like I absolutely need a primer under the foundation,which I have none at the moment. The foundation is thick. It gives great coverage. Well, sorta. It covers all of my redness which is a serious plus in my book, but it shows all of my pores around my nose, cheek and chin area. Its horrible, very blotchy looking. I've tried making sure it sets up before apply powder but that doesnt seem to help either.
I do love the shimmer to it. It's nothing drastic but enough to give you a dewy glow. Even with my skin being as dry as it is now (which it is drastically better) after wearing this for about 3-4 hours my skin is like an oil slick. And seriously, don't even think about touching it up. The powder just makes it look that much worse. It makes it look like I have 10 layers on, not one with a touch up.

The powder is, eh. The brush that comes with it sheds more than my cat. Nothing like having to pull black 'hairs' off your face. Ew. Plus where you touch your face, make up comes right off.

So, needless to say, I will not be purchasing this again. I should have known not to veer away from my Merle Norman. I've had absolutely no problems with it.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

CoverGirl ShadowBlast & ShineBlast

CoverGirl on Facebook was doing a giveaway. They were offering a free full size sample of the ShadowBlast and ShineBlast. I'm all about some free stuff so of course I jumped on it. Took me almost 10 minutes of hitting refresh to actually get accepted to it.

Totally forgot about it until I get a FedEx shipment. By the way, does anyone actually use UPS anymore? So anyway, I open the box and I'm kinda all excited. Only really because it was free. That makes me happy.

So I hold out until the next day to try it out. I didn't want to put make up on just to try a free sample. The ShineBlast is awesome. I'm so scared to try a different lip gloss because most are so damn sticky. This however was not the case. Not only is it not sticky, it has an awesome melon smell. I was a little worried about the color though. The tube looks way too orange for me. Me being a red head I have to watch out for certain colors.They just don't work on me. Once I actually put it on, it was a perfect match. My lips are already pretty red without having lipstick/gloss on. So usually when I put my make up on, I have to put foundation/powder over my lips to cover them so the lip gloss/stick doesn't drastically change color. This, what I thought was too orange, was actually perfect. It was almost like my own natural lip color.
I totally give the ShineBlast a 9 out of 10.




The ShadowBlast is a whole other story. I received the white/charcoal stick. I'm not a real big fan of cream shadows. I think it depends on the creaminess. This just...sucks. It's so creamy that I can't just put it on and not try to blend it a little. Problem is, when I try to blend it a little, it just rubs off in spots. This was the white. The charcoal side of it, well, for a lack of better words, sucked just as bad. You are suppose to be able to create a smokey look with it. How? I'm not too sure. It might take some actual playing with to get it down and I was on my way out the door and didn't have time.
I have, however, been using the white side of the stick as a brightener/highlighter. It works very well for that. Up until this last time I used it. When I pulled the top off of it, the white fell out. No I didnt have it rolled up too high. I wasn't using too much pressure to apply. It just broke off.
I honestly give this a 3 out of 10. Two of those points are for the idea of it. It's a good idea. I'm just not a fan of the product.






*imgages curtesy of covergirl.com

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Winter Skin

I've always had sensitive skin. Wonder if that comes with the territory of being a red head? Having PCOS that fucks with your hormones is bad enough. Throw in a good dose of dry winter air and your skin should be diagnosed as bipolar.

I've never had problems like this before. I have rosacea so I already have redness on the bottom of my cheeks. Left is worse than right if you're wondering. :P So that area is already pretty sensitive. Now, throw in the hormones and winter air and you have one hell of a mixture. And not a good mixture like tequila and ... anything.
My skin started getting redder and itchier. When I used a certain cheap-ish make up brush, I would literally break out into hives. The brush irritated me that bad.

I tried everything I knew to basically lube my face up. I put vaseline on it. All that did was break me out because my face couldn't breathe. Then I tried a Kroger knock off of Olay moistuizer. Yeah that was a piece of shit. I had to reapply every few hours. At least it didnt break me out. I was even putting EVOO on my face. It was working and not breaking me out but left my face an oily mess.

Then I decided to get smart and google this shit. Basically its eczema. So I found an article (which I would link to but I have no idea what website it was) that listed a couple of drug store brand face washes and lotions to help. The ones that they asked people suffering from eczema what helped them. So most of the people said Cetaphil face wash and Eucerin lotion.

We had to go grocery shopping last night so I decided what the hell. It's not going to be cheap so here's to hoping it works and doesn't irritate me more.
I bought them both. $20 worth. That's cheap compared to big name brand shit. I just dont like spending money on stuff that I dont know if it will work or not.

So as soon as I get home, get groceries unloaded, I went to the bathroom and washed my face. I'm not going to lie, the Eucerin burned a little when I first put it on. I don't think it's suppose to but my skin is just that irritated. After the burning went away, I could feel my face calming down. I reached up and touched the scaly spot and it was smooth. For the first time in almost a month now.

I have not been using it for a full 24 hours and my face is already thanking me. Seriously.

So the point of this long ass post is, if you have dry winter skin. I STRONGLY suggest trying these 2 products. Seriously.