I'm Baaaack...and with a SURPRISE!!

Hellooo? Hellooo?? Is anyone around anymore? LOL!

Well, I didn't mean to get away from blogging for as long as I did! Since September 2013, it's been a roller coaster of events for me and my family. Having to deal with a family death, going through a very hard time in my marriage and just being so busy with my 2 kids, I felt the right for me to do was to take a short hiatus from blogging. I was thinking maybe a month or 2...but then the holidays came and went, finding out some truly exciting news!!! All the while we were selling our home and buying a new house, which means moving out of the old one and into a friend's house (temporarily) until our new one closes...which we will be moving in to this next weekend! Like I said...it's been a CRAZY 5 months! Soooo...would you all like to know what my SURPRISE is??

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A little more...

 

 

WE ARE EXPECTING OUR 3RD BABY!!! We are so excited! The baby is due: September 4, 2014!! We are extremely blessed and can't wait to find out if it's a Boy or Girl! Since we've had such a huge change in our life and it's taking us on a different path...I decided to adjust my blog as well. I figure I can still do posts on my love for hair, makeup and nails, but I want to blog my journey during this pregnancy (since this is my last one). I love being pregnant and thought that I could share any experiences and advice that I may have to anyone who needs it or wants it!

 

I hope that you all stick around through this wonderful and exciting time! And share my blog to any of your expecting mommy friends!

 

Thanks again, to all you beautiful people, for hanging around!!

 

Lots of love,

JEN

OOTD (All White)

Howdy do, everyone!!

I wanted to share an outfit that I wore out recently because I was so excited about the top I just bought!! Fall is almost here so I figured I'd wrap up another summer outfit post. Let me know what you think and if you would wear almost all white??

(Here is a full image of whole outfit...as you can tell the pants are not solid white...they're more of a bleached out shade. There are some studs on the right pocket but the shirt covers them.)

(Up close picture...the top is sheer as you can tell. You can choose to wear a camisole if you wanted to. I chose not to as it was super hot and humid that day)

(And here are my wedges. Sorry that the pic is so dark. I've only worn these babies maybe 10x! The glue is coming off the soles and I've risked them coming off completely by still wearing them and not taking the time to get them fixed! Lol!...it's on the "To do list"!)

Well I hope you all like the outfit that I out together! Let me know what you think!

Top//Tillys

Pants//Forever 21

Wedges//Azhara (don't think the store is still around?)

Accessories//Tillys

Hugs to you all!!

Jen

Love for Polish 6

Good day to you all!! I hope you're all having a beautiful Thursday!! Because tomorrow is Friday and the start of another glorious weekend!! 

As you can tell, I LOVE nail polish! I love choosing colors that fit my mood for that day or for special occasions or Just Because! I recently chose Essie-Butter Please. This color is that beautiful cobalt or royal blue! It's BOLD and super fun! 

Hope you all like this fun color!! Anyway, I'm not sure what my next color polish should be?! What do you think I should try?? 

HUGS,

Jen

OOTD (Casual Lace)

Hello sweets!!

So here is my very first OOTD!! If you don't know what OOTD is, it's Outfit Of The Day! It took me a long while to figure this one out! Maybe it's because I'm 30 and not quite up to date with the acronyms that EVERYONE uses on Facebook or on blogs, etc! But I finally figured it out!! Haha! Needless to say, I wanted to do a couple of these before but wasn't sure if I should? I've come out of my shell...ever so slowly! So here it is...

I have worn this skirt only twice before this!! But I have had it for a year now. I absolutely love lace and how you can dress it up or dress it down! Being that it's summer and I was doing some errands and such, I paired it with a plain black tank top and some flirty sandals. I chose gold accents because my sandals have black and gold in them. 

If you wanted to dress this look up for a nighttime look you could add a belt and some heels/wedges, which I've done before. 

Anyway, I really hope you like this look I put together! I am, by no means, a professional stylist, just a girly-girl who loves clothes and makeup and anything girly! So, let me know what you would do different with this outfit! I'm open to any tips! 

What I'm wearing:

Top//Forever 21

Skirt//Forever 21

Sandals//Target (old...like 3 years old!)

Jewelry//Forever (old, as well)

Nail Polish//OPI-Alpine Snow

TOODLES!!

Jen

July Beauty Favorites

Welp...I'm a little late in getting my 1st monthly Beauty Favorites up!! I've been so busy with my personal life (getting Parker ready of his 1st day of kindergarten!!) that my blog has been put on the back burner. With that said...I have a handful of products that over the last month that I have been loving!! 

Without further ado...here are my July Beauty Favorites:

1.  My first Favorite for this month has got to be Makeup Forever Mat Velvet+. This foundation is the best for the summer months! During the summer we all end up sweating at some point during the day and we're hoping that our makeup didn't just slide right off! With this foundation there is no need to worry about that!! It keeps your face from getting shiny and/or oily. This foundation is creamy and goes on very smooth. It has a very light feel to it so you can't even tell that you're wearing any foundation, but provides full coverage! This doesn't have to only be worn during the summer, it can be worn year round and for anyone who has naturally oily skin...this would be perfect for those individuals! 

2.   You've got to have a brush to apply your foundation...so here's my next Favorite...

 

 The Sedona Lace #928 Synthetic Flat Top makeup brush has got to be the best brush for applying foundation of all time!!! I've tried sponges, other brushes  and my good ol' fingers...but nothing comes close to this brush! This gives the most even application of your foundation. I don't think there will be any other brush that I will use! 

3.   To set your foundation, you need a good powder! The one that I've recently been loving is Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Translucent.

This powder is perfect, once again, for the summer and for oily skin. It keeps you dry and matte all day long! You won't get shiny at all! There is not much else to this powder other than it works amazingly well for a drugstore brand!

4. I enjoy highlighting and contouring my face! But my favorite is to highlight! I love how it puts a perfect glow to your face! My all-time favorite highlight is the Mary-Lou Manizer aka "The Lumanizer"!! 

This stuff is legit!! It has the perfect amount of gold shine to it! When applied on the right areas of the face it will hit the light at just the right angle and your face will glow and shine perfectly! Now, above I mentioned products that stop you from being shiny and glowing, but I love to build my own shine and glow with a highlight. And this stuff is the way to do it!

5.   Now, for your hair...during the summer I'm all about shortening my "getting ready time"! I'd rather be out in the sun spending time with my family then spending hours on my hair! To do this all you need is a little dry shampoo! The one that has recently become my favorite is the new brand Indie Hair Dry Shampoo!!

I can't tell you enough about how great this stuff is! It smells amazing and doesn't leave a white residue on your hair like most other dry shampoos! This gives your hair the right amount of "pick me up" that it needs to be able to restyle your hair! And it also gets rid of any oiliness that your hair might have! And lastly it puts back the volume and texture that your hair is lacking on the second or third day of not washing your hair! I swear by this dry shampoo and won't be using any other kind for quite a while!!

So...that's it for my first Beauty Favorites! I hope you all enjoyed my reviews and if you choose to go out and try any of these products, please let me know how they worked for you! I'd be curious to know how you felt about any of these products!! If you would like links to these items, please let me know and I'll put a link to them!

THANKS FOR READING MY REVIEWS! Love you all!!

Huge Hugs,

JEN

Liebster Blog Award!!

Hello dolls!!

I'm officially back! I took a short hiatus from blogging because I needed a break from the computer and some mommy and kiddo time! It's definitely a struggle finding time to be a mommy, work full time, record hair and makeup tutorials, edit the videos, do manis and pedis and still blog all about it!! Whew! I made myself tired just typing that! ;) Anyway, I'm back because I was nominated for the Liebster Award  by Amy at Amy's Annex!!! She is such a doll for nominating me and that gave me the motivation to start blogging again! So, thank you, Amy!!

Okay, so what is the Liebster Blog Award? Well, it's all about finding new blogs and meeting wonderful people who share the same interests as you! I've seen these all over the place and NEVER thought I would be chosen! I am super excited to do this and hope you all enjoy it!

Here are the rules:

1. You must link the blogger who nominated you

2. You must answer 10 questions given to you by your nominee

3. You must choose 10 bloggers (who all have less than 20 followers) to be nominated for the award

4. You must then come up with 10 questions you would like your nominees to answer.

5. Once you have done this, you must go to their blogs and let them know you have nominated them for this award.

Simple enough, right?? So here we go...

1. Who is your makeup inspiration?

I would have to say Jacalyn Hill...I found her on YouTube a while ago and fell in love with her (well not really, in love...but you know...adore her)! She is amazing and an inspiration to everyone out there! Plus she's absolutely GORG!! Can you say, girl crush??

2. What is the most expensive beauty product you own?

I try to limit myself to the cost of my favorite beauty products. I splurge on certain things like face products (foundation, eye shadow, lipstick/lip gloss, etc) but don't mind searching for a deal with the other stuff (blush, certain powders, etc). With that said, my most expensive beauty product I own is my foundation. I have always stuck with Makeup Forever HD foundation. I love the way my face feels and looks with that stuff. I believe it's $42 a bottle. So it's not TOO bad!

3. What is your favorite color nail polish for summer?

What a perfect question since I've been blogging a lot about nail polishes!! But for the summer I've been returning to OPI - You're Such a Budapest. You can read my blog review on that right here!!

4. Leggings or jeans?

Hmm...tough question! I would have to say jeans. There's something to be said for the perfect pair of jeans! One that makes you tush look just right!! :)

5. Red or Pink lipstick?

Another hmm question...I have been into the pink lipsticks a lot lately! They're so much fun and flirty!

6. What is your favourite holiday destination?

We don't travel much but when we do, we always choose San Diego! Love it there and it's perfect for the kids.

7. What made you start blogging?

This is a great question!! I guess I needed a hobby! No...I definitely needed a hobby! My husband is in love with golfing (really, in love with golfing! Lol!). I decided I love doing hair and makeup, to shop and computers (I know, nerdy!), and after seeing some other beauty blogs, I figured I could do one for fun! I love reading and posting blogs! There's something very therapeutic about sitting behind a computer and typing and reading!

8. What is your favourite post to a) read and b) publish?

I guess I love to read and publish anything beauty!!

9. Name your favourite thing about yourself.

I would have to say my favorite thing about myself would be my eyes! I have  green eyes and a "birthmark" in my left eye so it looks like a cat eye!! I would show you all up close but that would be just creepy!

10. What is your favourite piece of makeup/hair care/beauty product you own?

Wow...so much to choose from! I would have to say right now, being that it's summer, I'm loving my Makeup Forever Mat Velvet+ Foundation!! This stuff is perfect for hot summers because it keeps your face matte and your makeup does NOT sweat off! You don't become oily or shiny! You can build your shine with other products such as the Betty Loumanizer highlighting powder (which I LOVE!)!

Alrighty, I would like to nominate (in no particular order):

1. Jenny B at beauty R&R

2. Gabrielle at Gaborillaa
3. Allison at The Midlife Bride
4. Chelsea at Chelsea_bee Makeup Junkie
5. Katie at Live, Laugh & Love
6. Cassidy at Chronicles of a Stay at Home Mommy
7. Miriammm at The Bittersweet Diaries
8. Mylene at My Darling Pearl
9. Cate EC at The perks of being a hipster
10. Karina at Keeping up with Karina!

And my questions to you are:
1. What is your favorite thing about yourself? (I had to reuse this question because it's perfect and we always need to remind ourselves how beautiful we are...inside and out!)
2. Mani or Pedi?
3. What is your ultimate favorite nail polish brand? (i.e. OPI, Essie, etc.)
4. What is your favorite accessory piece right now?
5. Heels or Wedges?
6. Lipstick or Lipgloss?
7. What made you decide to start blogging?
8. What is your favorite shampoo/conditioner?
9. Chocolate or Vanilla or Strawberry?
10. What is your favorite lip conditioner or lip balm to use?

Well, that's it...I hope you all enjoyed reading this! I know I nominated 1 or 2 who had over 20 followers, but I couldn't find that many with 20 or less. Anyway, I had fun answering the questions and I look forward to reading your answers!

Huge hugs,
Jen

Love for Polish 5

Hello my beauties!!

So it's been a few weeks since my last blog. I figured I'd start back in with a polish update! This time, I chose a color that is bright and cheery! I needed something fun to liven my mood! I chose China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy!! Here I go again with the China Glaze! Like I said here in my first China Glaze review, this brand is NOT a favorite. Although their shades of colors are a FAV!! So, it's a catch 22 with China Glaze, but somehow I always seem to go back! ;)

So back to Flip Flop Fantasy...this is the perfect summer color!! It has the prettiest neon coral shade that we're all looking for! I think it's absolutely stunning!!

What do you think? Do you love the bright neon coral colors?! Which ones are your favorites? Let me know...I love to try new polish!

Hugs always,
JEN