DIY Lip Scrub

Good morning, y'all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. 

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I think I've made it pretty clear that I have a love for lipstick. Well the key to having lipstick looking it's best is to have a good canvas. Yep, you read that right. Your lips really have to be in good shape for the lipstick to look right. No one looks good in flakey lipstick that clumps. As I really fell in love with lipstick I've learned a couple tips for good application...

1. Your lips are still skin so they can burn! If your going to be in the sun make sure you put chapstick with a sunscreen on. It can really damage your lips!

2. Don't be afraid of lipliner. If you use the right color and apply it well it can really enhance your look.

3. And the reason this post was born...your lips need exfoliating...just like any other part of your skin. 

It seems a little uncomfortable. The idea of exfoliating your lips!? But let me tell you, it works! Not only does it help lipstick go on SO MUCH MORE SMOOTHLY it makes your lips feel great. I honestly will exfoliate them sometimes even when I'm not wearing lipstick.

Warning: Awkward lip pictures ahead! I just want to prove that it helps!

Before scrub

After

With lipstick

It really makes a difference!

I've always preached my love of exfoliating your lips to my roommate. Well, the other day she was complaining about how dry her lips were. She said she needed some lip exfoliant and I decided that I would make her some--and write a blog post about it at the same time :)

A little back story...when I became really into lipstick I found that my lipstick sometimes was hard to apply because it would get stuck in the dry patches. I started looking for lip exfoliant on Nordstrom's website but couldn't get myself to commit to that price tag. And that day, my DIY Lip Scrub was born.

What you'll need is:

1. Vaseline

2. Sugar

3. Cinnamon

You can make as much as you need. A little goes a long way so I decided to use a tablespoon for mine.

Pour a heaping tablespoon of raw sugar in your glass.

Then add a tiny bit of cinnamon. I just eyeballed it.

Mix well.

Add a heaping tablespoon of vaseline.

This next part gets messy! It is hard to thoroughly mix all the ingredients. If it gets really tough stick it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds just enough to loosen up the vaseline.

Then I just added it to tupperware so that my roomie can use it whenever she needs it!

Such glamorous packaging...not. How cute would it be to make this in bulk and put it in jars for Christmas gifts!? It's an exfoliant for really anything. I've sometimes used it on my elbows and knees when they are dry.

That's it! The vaseline gives it that sticky consistency you need and the sugar adds the exfoliant. The cinnamon? Well it's a natural lip plumper! So this is really natural, simple, and inexpensive way to help your lipstick go on more smoothly. 

I would love to hear if y'all give this a try! Let me know. xoxo

Friday Favorites

Good morning, friends! Today I'm linking up with Erika, Narci, and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

This week has been crazy! Being in the finance industry, the market has made work very interesting! I like a little shakeup every once in awhile. 

ONE

My Mom and sister came to visit this week. They met me at my apartment after work and then we went to dinner. Of course the only pictures I took was of my delicious food!

I had gnocchi for dinner! YUM!

Seriously, drool. Then we went to a bakery in the city. I had creme brûlée and a dark chocolate and cinnamon macaroon. So remember that diet I mentioned last week...oops.

TWO

When I get ready in the morning or before bed I always play some music from my Beats Pill. Well I decided to bring back an old playlist with some of my old favorites. This beauty came on and suddenly everything was right in the world....

I'm slightly obsessed with Britney. She's my all-time favorite. I have her autograph from when I was little...I might need to find that.

THREE

As much as I hate that it's dark when I drive to workout in the morning...

I know dark mornings mean fall is approaching. I'm pumped about fall! 

September is next week...I can't wait for my favorite season. 

FOUR

I hadn't bought a nail polish in awhile and wanted to mix it up. So at Publix the other day I grabbed Essie in "Wicked." It's a deep red so much so that it appears black or dark purple. It's perfect for heading into fall. 

FIVE

This weekend is going to be so much fun because my friend from college, Lisa, is visiting! It's going to be a weekend full of girl talk, going out with friends, and yummy food! She's such a great friend. I love you, Lisafer!

Friends, it's been a great week. I feel like I'm in a really great spot mentally and enjoying where I'm at. All in God's timing. See you back here on Monday! xoxo

Pssttt...and if you missed this week's posts don't forget to check them out! Read about my trip to the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia and learn more about me thanks to Julie for nominating me for the Liebster award! 

Liebster Award

Thanks to my sweet blogger friend, Julie, at Say Yes to Happy for nominating me for the Liebster award. How it works...you're nominated for a blogger and you answer the questions they chose for you. I'm going to answer these questions so that y'all can get to know me better!

What is my favorite thing about blogging?

Well, as cliche as it sounds it's the amount of encouraging, supportive, women I've "met." I feel their friendship through the computer. I learn so much from them! I would love the opportunity to meet up with blogger friends!

How did you get started blogging?

I really mentioned it in my first post. I wanted a creative outlet as an escape from a pretty uncreative job. I only started less than 3 months ago!

What has blogging taught you?

Hmm...not sure what my answer would be. I have learned so much about myself throughout the process. And from my blogger friends I've picked up so much from them! Blogging teaches you to really look into who you are. What makes you tick.

What are some items on your bucket list?

That's really tough. There's so much world out there! I want to travel more so badly. Here are some countries I want to visit:

1. Greece
2. Switzerland
3. Germany
4. Amsterdam
5. Sweden
6. Spain
7. Italy

There are definitely many more but those are my top ones. I'm hoping in the next couple years that I'll take one long trip and cross several of them off of my bucket list. Another bucket list item--buy my fixer upper! I have found this house in the perfect neighborhood with great bones in Charlotte. I'm not in a place to buy a house and probably won't for awhile but it's still a dream! I think about it all the time and even have a Pinterest board with decorating ideas for it...eek! Is that too far???

What's your favorite thing about where you grew up?

Eek, that's so hard! I love where I grew up but it's not that exciting of a place. It would probably have to be the great neighborhood/school district I lived in. I had an awesome group of friends and we had way too much fun!

For fun...here's a picture of me on my first day of Kindergarten:

I had a great high school experience. Here are some of my memories. This is what I love about my hometown. These awesome friends I grew up with!

Where is the best place you've traveled to?

Well I documented my great trip to San Diego here and here. Also, I talked about the highlights of my trip to Russia. Those trips were fantastic. But my favorite trip ever was probably my senior year of high school trip to Scotland, England, and France. Here are a few of my favorite memories...

Who are the most influential people in your life?

My Grandma. I love my Grandma so much. She's one of my favorite people in the whole world. I'm sure a lot of my love for her comes from the fact that I hardly get to see her. So I always miss her fiercely. She is tough but sweet and she loves each of her grandkids so much. She always sends us the funniest Christmas gifts but we feel every ounce of love in each gift. I love her so!

Okay, I'm realizing we don't have the best pictures together. She's the best.

What's your favorite book you've ever read?

That's an impossible question to answer! One of my favorite classic books is The Great Gatsby. But I'm a big reader so I have lots of favorites!

What are 5 things that make you happy?

So obviously my faith, family, and friends are my absolute favorite things. But here are some "fun" favorite things:

1. A summer thunderstorm. It's weird, but I love it.
2. Christmas! I love the whole season. Everyone is so much happier. I touched on it here.
3. Lipstick. I have an insane amount of lipstick.
4. Anything to do with houses. Zillow is my friend!
5. Traveling. I want to do so much more!

Where or what is your happy place?

My happy place is back at my alma mater...Clemson University. I love Clemson football so much. Cannot wait to be back in Death Valley cheering on my tigers!

What has been a life changing experience for you?

Last fall I made the decision for the first time in my life to go to church. Don't get me wrong, I grew up going to church but it was never my decision. I still have a way to go in my journey so stay tuned. Lots to come!

Okay, so the next step would be nominating bloggers to answer some questions as well. I know several bloggers have already been nominated but here are a few that I don't think have been!

Rachel @ Floral and Fudge
Lindsay @ Not a Mom
Seri @ Seri's Blog
Kimm @ Kimm's Korner

If you haven't been nominated before--feel free to join in on these questions!

1. If you had $300 to spend at any store, what store would it be and what would you buy?
2. What is one nerdy thing about you?
3. Where have you traveled that has the best food?
4. What was your major in college? Did you use it?
5. Where do you see your blog heading in the next year?
6. What one beauty product can you not live without?
7. Tell me about your first car.
8. What's your favorite tv show?
9. What are you top 5 favorite blogs?
10. Describe your perfect day.

Thanks so much again, Julie! Have a great Wednesday, everyone! xoxo

Russia Trip

Happy Monday, friends!

2 weeks ago in my Sisterhood of the World post I mentioned that I went to Russia for the Paralympics. One of my blogger friends, mentioned that I should post about it. I was excited about that idea because I want to remember this trip for the rest of my life. 

So, I was in Russia for about 2 weeks. We went primarily for the Sochi Paralympics event. Then after the Paralympics ended we went to Moscow. It was a very full trip so I'm just going to give my highlights rather than trying to recap the entire trip. 

Here are a few general thoughts on my experience with Russia:

1. Life is harder over there. I definitely returned home with an appreciation for all I have. 

2. The Russian people blew me away with how many of them spoke at least some English. 

3. People often asked if the people were nice to us since we were Americans. Yes and no. Some people were obsessed with us and would want to take pictures with us. Others, weren't so thrilled to see us.

4. It was a 2 week study abroad trip through Clemson so there are a lot of selfies with my trip friends :)

We started our trip in Sochi. We went to several Paralympic events such as skiing events, hockey (my personal favorite), and curling. 

Here's our group of ladies the first morning before heading to Olympic park. We stayed at a great, small hotel in Sochi. 

Us on the inside of Olympic Park.

My friend, Meredith, and I in front of the Paralympic symbol. It's equivalent to the Olympic rings. 

We also had the opportunity to go to the opening ceremony! We were in the same room as Puten...my claim to fame.

We always had lots of fun with the greeters that were throughout the park!

 

My favorite event was hockey. The men were such incredible athletes. It didn't hurt that America crushed Canada for the gold medal!

We had great seats!

We were able to see the athletes come in!

The night after America won the Gold medal in hockey we celebrated with a picture in front of the Olympic torch.

When we had some free time we walked along the Black Sea...

...and we went shopping.

This will probably make me sound so lame but whenever I travel abroad I like to go to a McDonalds. It's more for away to compare different countries. It started when I went to a McDonalds in France. So naturally, we enjoyed some french fries!

We went to a skiing event and it was kind of warm. I didn't end up needing my jacket. When we were there a sweet girl, Darya, came up to us because she was so eager to practice her English. Also, she wanted to have the opportunity to learn more about us. One of my favorite memories. She is such a sweet and smart little girl.

Then the next day we headed back up the mountain and it was FREEZING. It was snowing like crazy and it was miserably cold and wet. Not one of my favorite days.

Then we headed to Moscow. We just landed!

 We headed to Red Square. St. Basil's cathedral was absolutely stunning.

The buildings were so beautiful.

We went inside a church where women had to have their heads covered. 

 This is probably my favorite picture of the trip. I loved traveling with these ladies and the background really captures the beauty of Moscow. Shortly after this picture it started to softly snow. It was slightly magical.

Well this post just scrapes the surface of what I saw and did in Russia. It was an amazing trip that I'm forever grateful for.  Have a great day, everyone! xoxo