Yo Mamma!

What? No one else thinks of Yo Mamma jokes when they see the "Not Your Mothers" hair care products? Well fine then, onto the actual point of this blog.

I was terrible and had some retail therapy yesterday and while in the hair aisle I decided I need to start trying to do my hair.  So naturally I went for the most interesting bottle that was also fantastically cheap.  No kidding at Target this brand is $4.75 across the board.  For a big bottle might I add.

                                                         

Sorry terrible pic but you get the basic idea of what it looks like. 

 So the proper name of this is actually "Not Your Mothers Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray"  Infused with Dead Sea Salt and Sea Kelp.  That might sound scary but anything with sea salt in it I'm all over. I keep seeing this sort of thing pop up as well. But seriously back to the price, the size of this bottle ( 8 oz) for $4.75 how cool. 

So basically I've always sucked at hair and this seemed perfect for summer, just spray and go and have it be wavy and awesome and be a model. Well in my head. It is supposed to add waves, texture, and separate. All you have to do is mist generously all over your hair and you can use it dry or wet.   

My hair does tend to have some wave to it already but nothing great and some pieces are flat while pieces like my bangs curl so weirdly that it looks like the letter L.  But after I came home I tried it on my pretty straight dry hair.  I have to say I wasn't a big fan of it that way. I felt like it made it chunky to the point of looking like I hadn't washed my hair in a couple of days on the top of my head.  It also just felt strange. I brushed it out a bit and that helped but it looses some of the effect that way.  

This morning right out of the shower I decided to try spraying it in wet hair.  I think I like it better this way  but for me it does make my hair take quite a long time to dry for some reason.  I think the wave looks better, though I did miss pieces. And another downfall is that it made my hair incredibly frizzy and had a lot of fly aways. I guess that does happen after being on the beach but I have a problem with frizz to begin with. But no matter I took some styling spray (I'm sure you could take hairspray or anything you use with frizz normally) and just sprayed it on my hand and combed where I needed it. 

                                                           

This is what it does for me. It's a little difficult to see with my dark hair but it does add nice wave. 

I'll continue to experiment with this but I do like it. The smell is strong but lucky for me I love it haha. But for the price why not try it?  Hope you have a good day!  

Should You Believe the Body Shop Hype?

So if you are like me and constantly watch beauty videos on Youtube or look at beauty blogs you may have seen The Body Shop pop up a few times, more specifically, their body butters.  Now I love the idea of putting on lotion, and I have a few but I just can't stand the slippery feeling forever after I put it on, and then when it does go away I don't feel very moisturized. As much as I love Bath and Body works I just can't be bothered to put the lotion on. Which really sucks since I have a few bottles. But anyway I tried the Bath and Body works body butter once and I liked it more, and used the whole tub but I couldn't be bothered to run out and get another one.  But after all the attention and love these body butters were getting I really wanted to try one. However they are about $20 a tub and it's a little bit of a drive for me so I wanted it to go on sale when I was up there, which isn't often.
    Well my husband and I walked into the MCX on base one day and right as you walk in they have little tables with different perfumes and whatnot on them and immediately my eye caught none other than a table full of The Body Shop body butters.   Of course I flipped and raced over and started sniffing each one. Sadly they didn't have the coconut one which is the one I wanted to try the most and after consulting with the other person who would be sniffing me all day I ended up buying the Clementine scent.  Oh and why did I buy it there? It was $16 which is the same as Bath and Body works.

                                                       

Clementine...orange..whatever.

Anyway this is what it looks like.  Basically they all look like this just with a different fruit on the front to go with the scent. So I did go into this with pretty high expectations but ready for disappointment.  Holy cow you guys....this stuff is so amazing I can't even tell you.  I don't think I've quit putting it on and for me that's huge because like I said the idea is fine  but eh I always forget or don't want to. This stuff makes me want to put it on which is good. It fells really nice on the skin and for me it doesn't leave you greasy, the more you put on you will feel it but not in a slippery sort of way. I think it really sinks into your skin  and makes it nice. I put it on my feet which were..quite nasty to say the least from wearing flip flops and ballet flats all the time and I could tell the difference the next morning. My legs feel super soft and I have been having dry patchiness on my arm that I was honestly considering going to a dermatologist for since nothing I used worked to make it better. This stuff has reduced that patchiness and it hasn't even been a week! I am in love with this stuff and already want to go back and get more. So yes believe the hype! 

Now this does linger on your skin for quite some time after you put it on so be conscious of that and get a scent that will go with your perfume, or hey maybe this can act as your scent. They do have perfumes to go with it if you want.  The only downfall with this was my own, we were in a hurry when I was smelling these and my husband picked this one. Well once I got home and put it on I realized it didn't just smell like oranges...to me it smelled like that citrus cleaner. So at first I was all...."crap!" and the funny thing is my husband smelled it again and said "more pledge?" joking around. So I wasn't the only one. So I won't get this scent again but its ok once you get used to it. But the product itself I can get over it for sure. Who knows maybe you will like it, just smell it a few times before you buy it lol.   

                                                              

                                                                  

Just a creamy white/orange

It is more expensive than the average lotion but for me, if it works and fixes my problems like it has and I love it why not. Plus it is a pretty big tub.

                                         

See it's 200ml, 6.75oz, or 192g

A small swatch, very thick and creamy

Overall I think this is a great product to at least try, they do have travel sizes you can buy too to try them out over the big jar. Can't wait to try more things from The Body Shop! 

I'll Do It My Way

Hello everyone. So if you read my "goodbye" post, which I only think 1 person did you probably realized I hit a pretty rough patch. Everyone does. But understand I went from a completely sedentary state all day every day, to doing exercise every day except weekends. Eating better and less, being totally committed. And I know losing weight takes time. I would have been ok if I had just stayed where I was. Instead I had somehow gained weight. That made me lose hope and motivation. I just didn't understand how that could happen unless I really was just destined to be fat forever. So I just said whatever and ate what I wanted when I wanted. What did it matter right?

So my husband struggles with his weight standard for the military, he's never ridiculously off but he has problems keeping the weight off the healthy way. So we decided to try and eat mostly vegetarian. A big leap. But we have been doing it, granted I only have a few recipes and it's weird not preparing meat but it's actually not bad at all. We also bought a new blender to make smoothies more often and have protein shakes for lunch. So now that we are going all out on that front I decided to get back on the treadmill and do small arm workouts. Yesterday I also bought the green coffee bean extract to take before meals. It's starting to get a lot of hype about managing weight so I thought we could try it, not like it could hurt.

So we are trying that journey again. I can't say I don't have a bad body image and that I'm embarrassed to talk to strangers, or even people I know. But that's going to take time. Sitting here trying to be a "plus size inspiration" to you all was kinda a lie. By trying to just inspire you and help you really didn't do anything. I can't be fake and being fake happy. SO this blog is going to take a different direction. It will be beauty, it will be reviews, recipes, or just boring stories of my everyday life. You can see my ups and downs and maybe since that will be real, you can draw real inspiration out of it. Who knows what will be in this blog anymore, so stay tuned to find out.

Maybelline Color Whisper: Pin Up Peach

Alright I'm back!  Today I have a new find over the weekend for you. I had a rave review awhile ago about the Maybelline Color Whisper in Mad for Magenta and have been eyeing the rest of the collection ( I know that's a bit overkill) for the last couple of months. Well I finally got another color.  This one is called Pin up Peach.

Now this one is hard for me to model, the camera doesn't do it justice and on another note my lips are already really pigmented so if it's a lighter color generally it doesn't do much for me. However its a gorgeous shade that I think is another must have for just about anyone.  It is a wonderful peachy pink color and of course feels great on the lips, not sticky at all.

                                                           

Excuse my face, no makeup on whatsoever. plain lips as you can see they are pretty dark already

Nice little swatch, not as bright as mad for magenta but a nice color

Ok I do have it on here, as you can see it doesn't do a whole lot for me but in person it does add a little color and evens out the color of my lips. I love that it's not super bright because this make it a great every day lip for me. 

A little closer. 

Overall  think this is a great color, especially if you have lighter lips than I do. Any darker I'm not sure how well it will show up on you its very light on me and like I said mainly evens out my lips. I wasn't sure that I liked it that much the first time I put it on. But once I knew it wasn't going to be bright and tried again I actually really liked it.  Great for just easily completing a look if your going out shopping or something. No fuss! Love these color whispers.  

Tips and Tricks for Doing Your Nails

Hello everyone, so today I thought I'd share a couple of my little tricks that I do when I paint my nails. Or better yet my nail care routine. Nails seem to be that tricky part not many people talk about unless it involves nail art but the care is very important. I've learned that the hard way these past few weeks.

• My first recommendation is to find a nail strengthener that you can use as a base coat as well. A couple of years ago I thought I had pretty good nails, they always grew pretty long on their own and I didn't think anything of it. I started noticing them slowing down in their growth and I picked up a strenghtener + growth polish that, you guessed it, could be used as a base coat.  

                                                             

Salley Hansen Green Tea+Olive Growth

I love this little gem. Let me just say I had no idea how bad my nails really were until I started using this. My nails were so much stronger and healthier looking. And they did grow a bit faster. 

   I picked up a different base coat when I finished this bottle and I think I need to go get this again now that I haven't been using it my nails are the shortest they have ever been and they constantly flake. I hate that. 

• Next I say always always file your nails before painting them or even just to keep them in check. I figured out otherwise you might paint them all nice only to have a random jagged end snag and break. Or they might look ok but be weak and break. So frustrating!
• Next is probably a little weird but take the little file thing out of the nail clipper (I hate those things so I personally use the thick end of special tweezers I designated just for my nails) and gently scrape along the base of your nails. Why you ask? Well because even when we wash our hands a lot of gunk that we may not notice builds up there. When you scrape I bet a bunch of white (gross I know) stuff will come off. After this I always wash my hands with soap so my hands are nice and clean before the polish goes on.  For me this helps the polish not have a weird edge on the back of my nails and stay on longer.
• Ok so now that's all the prep work so just choose your color and paint like normal. But I do have to say my biggest thing is to do all this at night. For me this is relaxing and I need to relax at night. Plus I don't have to chase a toddler around or anything. But the biggest thing is if you paint sloppy like I do, don't worry about getting it on your skin!  I used to take hours doing my nails because I had to go in with a Q-tip and fix up the edges and every once in awhile i'd take off polish and ruin it and I'd have to do those nails again. Plus it's just a pain. So I just do it at night, don't worry about it, go to sleep.  The next morning in the shower just shower like normal and I bet you most if not all those little bits on your skin are now gone! I sometimes help some stubborn parts but it comes off easy and you don't even really have to think or take extra time since you were going to shower to begin with (I hope haha) 

Another note on doing it at night and not showering right away is that polish really takes 4-5 hours to completely dry. Even if it's not super wet and all that it still technically wet. I know I've done the nail test only to go about my business, look down and see my polish completely ruined by who knows what. Well this is the secret! 

So those are my few little tips, I hope they help out! 

Mani Mania: I'm seeing orange!

So I have a quick nail color for you today. I fell in love with the Essie Resort Collection this year and now have all 4 colors. It's a problem I know.  Last night I had just enough time to get 1 coat of Essies "Come Here!" color on. So do bare in mind this is only 1 coat of polish, no topcoat. Also my lighting today is crap because it has been cloudy and stormy the last few days so I apologize.

These pictures do not do this color justice, it is brighter in person, brighter than what I was expecting but it's still good!

                                       

So this is quite a glare but hopefully you can see orange!

This is the most accurate picture I can get with the lighting. It's a quite bright orange color.

Granted it's a lot brighter in person but it's gorgeous. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had expected orange just because it sounds scary but this is wearable somehow haha.

    I would say it's similar to Cute as a Button but this does not have a pink undertone like that one. I'm sure if you look at the Essie website this would say coral but in my book it's orange. I'm simple like that. 

Well Hello Again

Well hello there, it's been awhile. There has been a lot going on and just as a warning, if my sentences aren't understandable I've had about 5 hours of sleep the last 2 days because of a sick kiddo.

So I do have to say while it's been busy I also could have posted but I was at a loss as to what to post. I was also feeling pretty down about things and myself and didn't want to bring that here. It is supposed to be a place to feel good and enjoy not be a downer. So now that I think I've had that out of my system here I am haha.

Sometimes life just throws you curve balls and even if you try to have a pretty positive outlook on life some things can just get overwhelming. My husband is getting out of the Marine Corp and that's scary. Then I found out we will be getting half the pay we do now so I've been worried on how to survive here with a growing daughter. Then I've just had my weight problems and not having the motivation, you know that "I'm gonna be fat forever so what does it matter?" stage. But I'm hoping to get out of my rut, get back into it and hopefully, prove myself wrong.

I realized too I've been spending way more and letting my husband spend more so I wouldn't feel bad going out of our budget just because I was trying to not be sad or overwhelmed I just wanted to forget and get things. Stupid I know. I have a shopping problem.  So I think I'm going to be putting myself on a restriction for awhile, there are some bigger things I want to get for other people and if I'm going to be able to do that I think I need to quit spending to make up for this last month. So not too many reviews coming up sorry for that. Maybe if I get my butt to reading more again I'll start doing book reviews. That would be fun right?

I've also started crocheting a blanket, I haven't decided if it looks good or just a jumbled mess yet but it's soft so if anything I'm sure my kid will play with it...or destroy it, whatever she enjoys.  Anyway I hope to have more posts up today or tomorrow but we will see what the kid allows. Sad how it's what they allow right?

I'm going to leave you with this song, which I've had on repeat all morning and has put me in a decent mood despite my sleep deprivation. Enjoy!