Gift Guide

I'm back! I'm so sorry that my blogging has been so spotty! I feel like I've been going a million miles an hour and to add to it I've been working overtime everyday at work. EEK! So I appreciate your patience with me :) Today, I thought it would be fun for me to cover some gift ideas for Christmas. These gifts definitely cater towards the ladies...sorry to any of my male readers!

So I've mentioned it before but my coworkers absolutely make my job! They are some of my best friends. I want to bring all my work friends a little treat for Christmas but don't want to blow the bank or leave anyone out. So I thought an edible gift in a pretty package would be absolutely perfect. I haven't decided which one I will make but here are some of my ideas...

This just looks so delicious! There are some people that are chocolate people or peanut butter people but I'm a sugar cookie person so this speaks to me.

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I'm all about my slow cooker so I love the idea of utilizing it for my gifts!

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Toffee just screams Christmas to me. 

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Here are a few ideas for friends, moms, sisters, aunts, cousins, etc.

ONE

I've recapped some of my Birchboxes here and here. I absolutely adore my Birchbox. It's only $10 a month and you get 5 sample size items. It's like getting a gift every month. You can buy someone a 3, 6, or 12 month subscription.

TWO

The other week my roomie and I went to Nordstrom for a shopping event. I had the chance to see MACs new lipstick collection and it's absolute PERFECTION!! It's bold colors but matte. I adore it.

The new ones are in the bottom left corner :) You can check them out here. Seriously, any lipstick lover would swoon over these colors.

THREE

Full disclosure, I don't have a Yeti tumbler but I've heard great things from a lot of people! Apparently, it is great at keeping cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot. This would be great for the coffee and/or tea drinkers in your life. Check them out here.

FOUR

When I recapped my trip to the mountains for my mom's birthday I mentioned how I got her a selfie stick! We've had so much fun with it. It's a really inexpensive gift that provides endless entertainment. Just for fun here are some of our selfies...

FIVE

Hello, my name is Lauren and I'm addicted to my Keurig. When I first became a coffee drinker I had a mini coffee pot and I despised cleaning it everyday. Then the Keurig entered my life and it was a match made in heaven.

If you have a coffee lover in your life who doesn't have a Keurig, your job this Christmas is to fix it!

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Last, but certainly not least, the fantastic beauty blender. I have a love affair with my beauty blender. Nothing in the world puts on makeup or is more versatile than the beauty blender.

Well, those are some of the gift ideas I have for you! I would love to hear some suggestions from y'all! Happy Wednesday, friends! xoxo

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

Coloring my Hair

This post might make my Mom cry. See, for 22 years of my life I've never colored my hair. Not even one highlight. But I love a change. Fun fact about me...I donated my hair twice in college. I'm constantly growing my hair out, cutting it, wearing it straight, wearing it curly, etc.

Here's me after my most recent donation. Oof...I need some mascara and some blush STAT!

I never really had the desire to color my hair because I like that it's different than most and I don't really feel like paying a ton of money every 6 weeks. Now that I have a job and am in the "grown up world" I think I'm ready to take the plunge!

For kicks, this is what my hair looked like when I had it long.

That being said, I still want the color to correspond to my naturally strawberry blonde hair. I don't want all my red gone and just be blonde. Trust me I love blonde but there's a bunch out there! I've been told by several hairdressers that I have a natural ombre. I think that comes from the fact that I used to go out in the sun more so my hair turned blonder and now I don't hardly at all so the blonde has grown out. I really would love to stick with a soft ombre of blonde and red.

I would love to hear y'all's input! Should I stick with my natural hair or should I color it?

Here's my hair now. Do you see what I mean by the natural ombre?

My hair color inspiration...

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Do you like my ideas? I would love to hear y'alls feedback! And let me know if there are any tips, tricks, or secrets I need to know about coloring my hair.

Also, today is a big day for me. If you get a second, could you pray for me? XOXO

July Birchbox Review

Ahh...Birchbox. I love getting that pink box in the mail every month. If you missed my June Birchbox, you should check it out! Sorry that my July box is posted on August 10th...oops.

Well the slip says it all...this was a bold box. 

Here is the loot for July...

1. 

Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray

Okay, I was so excited to get this. I love trying new dry shampoos because I workout before work. Also, I was excited that it was texturizing spray because I'm all about some beachy waves. My hair is naturally wavy and thick so often my hair weighs it down and can make the top of my hair flat. Does that make sense? This product was said to add volume so I was super pumped to try it out.

So the verdicts in, I LOVE this product. It added volume, soaked up oil, and smells delicious! Here I am...second day hair.

I would absolutely buy the full size product...one tiny little problem...it's $42! Eek! I might have to ask Santa for it this Christmas :)

P.S. I'm wearing one of my favorite lipsticks.

2. 

Supergoop! Serum

I've mentioned before, but I'm anti sun. Maybe I was a vampire in my past life. I've tried several Supergoop! products and have always really liked it. This is a serum sunscreen that is meant to go under your moisturizer and makeup. I've been wearing it since I received it and really like it. It feels really light for being SPF 30 sunscreen and a little bit goes a long way. I would definitely recommend this!

3. 

Harvey Prince Hello Body Cream

I have a secret. I feel like I violate girl code because...I don't like lotion. Maybe it's because I'm lazy but it just doesn't seem that necessary for me all the time. I really only wear lotion when my skin is visibly dry or when I'm wearing skirts, shorts, or dresses. 

That being said, this lotion is awesome! I've worn it a handful of times already. It smells so delicious and is really moisturizing. I would definitely buy this as a gift.

4. & 5. 

Stila Liquid Lipstick

Juice Beauty CC Cream

I'm combining the last 2 products because I have pictures of me wearing both of them at the same time! So first, I had really high hopes for the Stila lipgloss. I've heard such great things and I am a total lipstick junkie. I have to admit, I was less than impressed.

The color is super bold, bold even for me. I had to blot a ton and add a little lipgloss just to make me feel more comfortable wearing it to work. Also, I didn't think the consistency was that great. It was kind of dry and didn't go on very smooth. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're looking for neon lipgloss!

Hate to continue on a negative track but I didn't like this CC cream AT ALL. I would say that one of my favorite products to receive in my Birchbox is CC cream because it has sunscreen in it and it has more coverage than a BB Cream. Well, this guy had nothing going for him. It provided no coverage whatsoever not to mention you had to use a ton for your whole face. And the icing on the cake...it smelled awful. It's organic so that's probably why it didn't have a perfume smell but it really bothered me. 

Overall, this Birchbox had some hits and miss. Can't wait to see what August box has in store! Happy Monday everyone xoxo.

Birchbox Review

Good morning! 

I mentioned in my Friday Favorite's Post that I have a Birchbox subscription and I loooooove it! If you're a fellow beauty junkie, it is completely worth the price. I figured since I try all these products they send me I can review them here and let you know what to try and what not to try.

For those of you who don't know what Birchbox is, it's a monthly box with 6 beauty samples of various brands and products. It is automatically mailed to you every month like a magazine subscription!

I travel a good bit (or try to) and shower/get ready in the gym at work most days so I really like how I get monthly travel size products. If I don't use it I save it for when I need to stock up my gym bag or go on a trip. So I do like it for the products but I do have an ulterior motive :)

I got my June box last Wednesday. Here is the loot from my box...

1.

Temple Spa Good Hair Day Shampoo

2.

Temple Spa in Good Condition Conditioner

I'm going to combine my comments on the shampoo and conditioner. I liked these. But I know this isn't politically correct to say but I don't see a big difference in different shampoos and conditioners. Gasp! I do see that drugstore brands of shampoo definitely strip your hair but all nice shampoos tend to work well for me.

Several of the reviewers online didn't like the smell. The smells didn't bother me at all...I would even say I liked it. For my hair, I wash it every 2-3 nights and let it air dry to it's natural texture (thick and wavy). So when I use shampoo and conditioner, I'm looking for products that won't weight down my hair and will help add texture while still making it soft and bouncy.

I think it worked! Here are my very early morning selfies...yikes!

3.

L. Erickson Grab & Go Pony Tube

Well, this was a new one for me. I haven't ever received a hair tie in my box before. I first I was confused and thought it was a bracelet. Maybe the company did that on purpose so that when you wear it on your wrist it can look like a bracelet? I don't know. But I was weary of this one. I'm plenty happy with my regular Target hair ties.

This hair tie is supposed to hold more and tear your hair less than others so I thought I'd put it to the ultimate test: my cardio gym class. If it could hold my short, layered hair during a class where we're running, jumping, moving around then it probably could survive anything.

Here it is...

Great picture, I know. But it shows that it held my hair pretty well! I don't know if I would go out of my way to buy it but I definitely do like it! If you have hair that breaks, creases, or is damaged this would probably be a good fit for you. I'm not crazy about the fact that it's so big. I don't really like my hair ties to be seen if that makes sense. 

4.

COOLA SPF 50 Sport--Mango

I love getting sunscreen. Anytime Nordstroms gives out samples or I go to the dermatologist I always stock up on nice brands of sunscreen. It really is crazy how much better nice brands (read: Expensive) feel and work! I only had one opportunity in the past week to wear this. I wore it to my cousin's cookout birthday party. The verdict is...

I loved it! It smells so delicious...like sunshine, coconut, and mango. Also, it went on like a lotion not like a sunscreen. I'm not a huge organic everything kind of person but it certainly does help that it isn't full of chemicals! I would definitely buy this again!

5.

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 8% AHA Gel Exfoliant

Honestly, at first I was kind of confused on how this works. I've heard of Glycolic Acid and how good it is for your skin but this was different. It says it's an exfoliant but that's it. In true Lauren fashion I went to use it as a face wash before doing my research to see what it is really for. I could instantly tell it wasn't mean to be rinsed off. The back of the bottle offered no help so I retreated to online. It's an exfoliant that is meant to go on after your face wash and before your serums and moisturizer. #Duh

So I learned my lesson on reading instructions first :) I used this exfoliant day and night as suggested. I definitely agreed with some of the reviews that my skin got worse. But don't fret, I don't believe this is a bad thing. Apparently, how this product works is that it purges your skin of all the junk to make room for the good stuff. I think this product came at the right time because when I began my job I started wearing full makeup all day everyday and it shocked my skin. I'll keep you updated if I think this product works long term.

6.

Marcelle Mini Waterproof Eyeliner

This little guy is definitely out of my comfort zone. I didn't know when I would have the chance to try this out because my work dress code is pretty conservative so I decided to try it out at church :) I was apprehensive because my eyes are blue so I thought it would look weird. I've always heard that blue eyes look better with shades of brown. But I think it looked good...here are some awkward selfies of my eyes! haha 

These selfies crack me up! I think it looks good but I'm not sure if I'll buy it. I'm not really an eyeliner kind of gal. 

Phew, that was a long one! I hope you found these reviews helpful! You should definitely check out a Birchbox subscription. Check back on Friday for Friday Favorites! Have a great day!