My Makeup Essentials

Hey y'all! Tonight I want to talk about the things that I put on my face everyday!
Makeup literally has to be one of my most favorite things in the whole entire world.  I just love it. My pink Caboodle has been my bff since the 4th grade, and while the products inside have matured and changed over the years, my love for the dang thing will never ever change. Let's get started!

• Clinique Even Better foundation (03 Ivory)
• This stuff is AMAZING! I used to use MACs Studio Fix in NW20, but after having used it for like 4 straight years I decided I wanted something different.  I went around to all of the counters in the department stores, and all of the brands in Sephora and got samples of EVERY. SINGLE. FOUNDATION. I'm not going to drop $70 bucks on the stuff if it's no good, and this stuff out shined ALL of the other brands that I tried.  It took me a good 6 months to get through all of them, but I always found myself going back to Clinique.  Now I've been using this for about a solid month or so now, and I love it.  I see a drastic difference in my skin tone, and I couldn't be more happy.  It does have an SPF of 15 in it, but it doesn't cause a white cast in pictures which is a major plus. If you haven't tried it I highly suggest going to Sephora or a Clinique counter and asking for a sample to try it out yourself.  It retails for $28.

• Maybeline Instant Age Rewind Treatment Concealer (50 Neutralizer)
• This is my current favorite concealer. It has super great coverage, and although I don't have dark circles (thank you skin gods), I still use it around my nose and on my forehead, or wherever I have a little bit of redness and it evens my color right out! It blends in perfectly, and I don't have to reapply it throughout the day. Lets be honest, anything I don't have to touch up on the regular wins an A+ in my book. It retails for $7.94

• Tarte Clean Slate Eye Primer
• At first I did not like this stuff at all.  It was a huge change from what I used to use, which was Benefit's stay don't stray, but after using it a few times I developed a bond for this baby.  It goes on an soaks right into my eyelids. I can put any type of eyeshadow over top and it will not crease! This product will pretty much speak for itself. It reatials for $19

• Naked 2 Palette
• This has been my go to palette since the day that I bought it.  I literally use it every single day. Most of you probably have it, so I'll skip the details, but I will say my go-to everyday eye routine is Tease on the lid, Bootycall for my brow bone, Pistol in my crease, and then I use either Suspect or MACs color Honesty over top of all of it to give it an extra something and blend everything out.  On days where I want to do something a little less noticeable, I will do Bootycall on the whole lid and brow bone, Suspect in the crease, and YDK on the outer corner.  The only thing that I dislike about this palette is that Bootycall doesn't come in a single pot. I dropped my palette and that was the only color that busted, and I spent hours in Sephora trying to match the color and the closest thing I came up with was Urban Decay's Virgin. It retails for $54.

• Benefit Porefessional Primer
• Not a whole lot to say on this one either.  It's amazing, fills in my pores, and makes my skin feel baby bottom smooth. It's matte too, so it doesn't leave me looking oily at all, but it also doesn't irritate my dry skin. It retials for $31. 
• Benefit Hoola Bronzer
• I like this bronzer because it's matte.  I'm not for the super shiny bronzy look at all.  I like to keep things subtle, especially when it comes to bronzer, because it is a hard product to wear.  This one blends super nice and just gives my face the dimension it needs. It retails for $28. 

• MACs Blush in Breath of Plum
• This is the perfect color for my skin tone.  I'm not much of a blush wearer at all; especially in the summertime, but when fall comes around this stuff gives me the perfect amount of rosy color without making me look like I just ran a marathon. It retails for $21.

• Benefit Bad Gal Lash
• If you know me at all, you know that I already have super long, voluminous lashes (so blessed, thanks dad), so finding a good mascara is hard, because most of them just clump my lashes together, or make them way more extreme than I need them to be...I literally can't wear glasses without them touching the lenses...But this mascara is the BEST. Fun fact though, I have yet to buy myself a full sized tube of this.  I feel like it's the freebie mascara. Literally anytime I buy something from Benefit at my Ulta they will give me a mini tube for free...so score on that one! It retails for $19. 

And that's pretty much all of the makeup that I use on a daily basis.  My tried and trusted favorites.  I hope this helped any of you who are looking to go out and get you some new goodies.  My birthday is coming up, and all I asked for is Sephora gift cards, so I'm excited and I will be sure to do a haul of what I get! 

Fitness Routine!

Well hello everyone! It has been a long time-as always-what other way would I start out a blog post?!

Today I'm going to share with you my fitness routine and what I eat!
I always love these types of blog posts and watching these videos on YouTube, and I'm feeling very inspired today, so I thought why not?! Let me add in a disclaimer that I have no idea what I'm talking about.  This is just what I do to keep myself in shape, and it works for ME! Everyone is different, so if these things don't work for you, or I don't do things how I should please keep in mind that I'm just a normal person who lives this lifestyle.

We will start off with exercise:
The types of workouts I do depend on my work schedule.  On days that I do have to work, I go to the gym.  I'll normally do 30 minutes of treadmill, followed by 30 minutes of the elliptical.  On the treadmill I don't do anything too special.  It really just depends on how I feel that day. Sometimes I just walk, sometimes I jog, sometimes I run on an incline, so you get the picture.  After I finish those I will go over to the free weights, and just do all different kinds of workouts with those.  I really just make things up as I go.  If I do the same thing over and over again, I just get bored, so I like to switch it up a lot.  Then after I get my arms burning I will go and do 2 circuits around the weight machines that my gym has. I also love the fitness classes that my gym has to offer, and when I get time I like to attend those.  I think working out in a class setting can get you more motivated.  I try to do a pilates and yoga class once a week, and then a lifting or kettle bells class twice a week.
On days that I don't have to go to work I like to spend my time outside! I'll go to my local park and I usually jog/walk any where from 6-8 miles.  I use the Nike Running app to track my distance, and I listen to various stations on the Songza app.  My favorite one at the moment is the Get Pumped: Pop Anthems play list..literally amazing. It's got everything from Britney to N*Sync to Rhianna and Katy Perry.  I need that upbeat music when I work out or I would go crazy.
Anyway..I do this 6 times a week, whether it's in the gym or outside.  Sundays are my rest days only because I normally have to work open-close, and am exhausted afterwards.

My Food:
Now I just recently got into prepping my meals, and I don't know why on earth I didn't start doing this earlier.  It is a blessing! Here is an example of what I'll eat on a daily basis:

Breakfast- scrambled egg whites on whole wheat toast
After I finish my workout - Smoothie- one banana, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, spinach, yogurt, water (I really just keep adding things until it tastes good, it keeps me full for most of the day)
Lunch- I eat one of my premade meals- ground beef with tomatoes, onions, green onions, green peppers, and spinach...It's basically like amazing taco filling that doesn't have taco seasoning on it..and brown rice.
Dinner- Chicken breast and veggies- I make mine beforehand, I just cook it in a pan with olive oil, lemon juice, and dill weed. For vegetables I really just eat what I have on hand; broccoli, mixed veggies, brussel sprouts, whatever.

And that's basically it.  Now I'm not all healthy all the time, I still like to go out and eat restaurant food...I am obsessed with chocolate, and I ALWAYS have some type of chocolate on hand, and I like alcohol.  The trick is to not deprive yourself.  I'm in no way unhappy...ever..I eat what I want, when I want, but pre-making my meals makes it so easy for me to just grab something and heat it up..especially since I don't have a normal set schedule.

This is what works for me, and I've lost about 10 lbs and went down a whole size since really kicking this routine into gear! I hope it has inspired you to get your booty up and moving!