5 Fav Lip Balms!

As a special request from my dear sissy, I am here to talk about my 5 favorite lip balms....but I'm sure you were well aware of that from the title!!!  I definitely am a girl with on OBSESSION with lip products.  I have about a million lipglosses, lipsticks, lipstains....you name it, I probably have it or have tried it!  But lip balms are great for the everyday wear and also because they are so low maintenance!  Just slap it on and you're good to go!  There isn't much need for a mirror to make sure the product is correctly in place or on your teeth :)  The main purpose of lip balms is to give your lips protection and moisture!  Your lips will thank you for thinking of them, I assure you :)  So lets get started! ( btw...these are in no particular order in case you are wondering....)

1.  EOS Lipbalms

Left to right: Strawberry Sorbet, Sweet Mint, Medicated Tangerine, Honeysuckle Honeydew,  Summer Fruit ,  Lemon Drop SPF 15

Aren't these things the cutest?  I absolutely love the packaging and yes, they do look like little Easter eggs!  They are so fun and I am obsessed with these suckers!  I actually have every flavor except for the Strawberry Sorbet. I have found all of my lip spheres from Rite Aid and CVS, not too sure where else they have them.  These lipbalms all go on smooth and clear and that's what I love about them.  These are perfect if you want to wear your lips bare or if you want to prime your lips for a lipstick or if you want to give your lips some moisture after using a lipstain as well.  These lipbalms also are gluten free, paraben free, petrolatum free and phthalate free and are 95% organic and 100% all natural.   So in other words, its healthy for your lippies!  These are also very inexpensive, they are around $2.99 and whats great about them is that they have a lot of product in the sphere!  So well worth the $3!

2. LipSmacker in Dr.Pepper

Now this product has to be one of my favorites of all time! I have been a faithful user of this product since my junior high days and let me tell you, that has been a LONG TIME AGO!!!!!  This product as well is super super cheap, like a buck and some change.  It is easily accessible, you can find it at any drugstore out there.  But what I love most about this product is that it gives the perfect slight tint to your lips.  It is seriously the perfect shade!  The balm is hydrating as well and the reason why I find myself reapplying the product over and over is simply because I love it and the smell, not necessarily because I need more on my lips!  

3. Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil

This product is very similar to the Dr.Pepper Lipsmackers, but it is on the pricier side.  Some people are just really in to the whole organic and all natural thing and so that's where you have a product like Burt's Bees.  I love this product because it gives a nice slight tint to my lips.  But the main difference that I see between this product and Dr.Pepper is that it doesn't give off that glossy effect.  Now if you're someone that's looking for something a little more matte without as much shine then this is the product for you.   It smells great and keeps my lips well hydrated!  Burt's Bees products have been making their way around drugstores a lot more.  I would say that Wal Mart is going to be the place to find their products the cheapest.  

4. Maybelline Pop Stick in Fruit Punch

I have all 4 of the colors but I love the Fruit Punch flavor the best.  I am writing about this one simply because I love it so much, but unfortunately, it is a limited edition product.  So if you can get your hands on one, I recommend this flavor!  I found mine at CVS.  I know that Wal Mart for sure doesn't have them but I think Walgreens does.  These are a little more expensive, they were $5.99 at CVS which is on the pricier side for sure.  But this is why I love these things.  You know how your lips look right after you eat a popcicle?  That is the kind of tint these babies give you and they are super moisturizing.  I love the packaging how it looks like a lipstick, but it reminds me of jello too because its clear!  Also, the hot pink casing is just as cute.  

5. Blistex Silk and Shine

This is a great lipbalm and have been using this for years now.  One of my favorite ways to wear this is to wear a lip liner close to the shade of my natural lip color, blend out the edges and put this on top!  It really is silky and it gives your lips a great shine!  It also has spf 15 which is a great plus for everyday wear and you can pretty much do anything with this product.  You can find this anywhere you go pretty much and it will cost you around $2 at drugstores, but sometimes if you look closely, they have great sales on these!

Here are swatches of the products that I mentioned (except EOS woops)....

Left to right: Burts Bees, Blistex, Dr.Pepper and Fruit Punch

This is just to give you an idea as far as tint goes, they all kinda look similarly just as shiny, but I think they all look different on the lips!

Hope this was helpful!

Until next time.........

Always,

Aimee :)

                 

Dr. Feelgood

I think I have discovered my new holy grail!  I have been so excited about this product that I decided to share! Who knows, maybe this product will be a new must have for you too.

I have been using this product for the past few weeks and it has made a world of difference in how my skin looks.  I have very rollercoaster-ish skin.  Sometimes it will be patchy and dry.  Sometimes it will be super, super oily.  And then there are those in between kind of days.  Regardless of what kind of skin day I have, I most of the time get shiny throughout the day and that is not a cute look for me haha.  I have been on the search for something that would make my skin look and stay matte throughout the day.  I have tried various drugstore powders that work....that is if you want to keep piling the powder on your face throughout the day making you look like a walking piece of chalk.  So one night I was in Sephora and I saw Benefit's Dr. Feelgood.  I have heard so many good things about Benefit products all throughout YouTube and I had never tried anything from this specific brand.  But I was very intrigued.  I had seen YouTuber DulceCandy87 show this product in one of her haul videos and that is how I recognized what it actually was.  The product description is as follows: "The invisible refiner, blended with Vitamin C helps to smooth away the appearance of fine lines while leaving skin feeling and looking more silky, flawless and matte to the touch.  It's a colorless, weightless miracle worker.  How to use: Pat and smooth over makeup with its accompanying sponge.  Or, simply wear it alone".  When I first tried this product out, I patted it with the sponge over my makeup.  I noticed that my face looked matte, but I kinda had to use what seemed to me a lot of product.  Another downfall was that it made the sponge pick up the pigmentation of whatever foundation or powder that I was currently wearing on my face.  But the way that I actually use this product is more as a primer.  Now this product isn't necessarily called a primer, but I personally think that this is the way to go.  On a clean, moisturized face, simply gently press the product on your face in the key areas that get oily and shiny throughout the day.  After that, you are ready to continue on with your regular foundation/face routine.  Doing this, I have noticed that my makeup lasts longer throughout the day and also it controls the shine and oil so well!  I feel like its better to have the product directly touching your skin and having that barrier between your skin and your makeup.  I do have to say that the biggest downfall of the product is the fact that it is expensive......$30!  Now for someone who is an avid makeup wearer and someone who loves this sort of thing, I saw this as a positive investment.  That is exactly what this product is.  But I can see for someone who is maybe new to makeup or not an everyday wearer, the commitment may seem scary!  Well here are some reasons to give it a try!  You get 0.85 oz of product and while that doesn't sound like much, this product will last a long time.  It kind of reminds me of a jarred lip balm with a creamy, silky texture.  This is probably going to take me months and months to get through!  So if you think about it this way.......if you wear makeup avidly and it lasts you 6 months.....that is only $5/month to use it :)  Another plus to buying higher end products, they have great return policies!  If you buy something and it is absolutely not for you, go back and return it!  They never ask questions!  As far as customer service, you get what you pay for !!!  So essentially it is risk free to try things at department stores or places like Sephora.  Anywho, hope this may be helpful to someone out there!  Just wanted to share a current obsession of mine :)


Until next time........


Always,
Aimee :)

All you need is LOVE!

Wow, what a week it has been! I am proud to say that yesterday my beautiful sister, Nicole, finally got married!!!!!!!! I still am in utter shock right now.  But in a good way :)  She and her new hubster, Brian, had a very intimate beach wedding.  The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze and everything was the way that it was supposed to be.  Nicole's dreams came true! Love it!  These past few months since April when they got engaged, I was excited about the event but definitely not emotional in any way.  I think the reason for that was I kept thinking, " Oh, its going to be in a few months so I guess I really shouldn't think about it now".  Well boy was I an EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER!!!!!!! As soon as I saw my sister with my stepdad at the beginning of the boardwalk I completely lost it.  Thank goodness my new found friend, Liz, taught me a few nifty ways to hide some tissues because I needed them for sure!  They say pictures are worth a thousand words, and boy is that not a joke.  I wish I could describe to you the million things that raced through my mind.  And if such an emotional moment happened for me, imagine what the bride and groom were thinking!  Nicole looked so happy and so ready for their epic moment.  The way that Brian smiled and looked at her with such admiration was incredible.  I am such a hopeless romantic and I love things like this!  All the months of their hard work of making the event happen came down to those important moments and it was all worth it I am positive of that!  The dinner was amazing, the cake was stunning, dancing to 90's music was hilarious and it was just so great to see and meet all the people that have a special place in Nicole and Brian's hearts.  I will never forget this night and I am so blessed to have both of them in my lives.  I know they have nothing short of a bright future and like I said in my toast......I know what they have is real and true.  Congrats Nicole and Brian!!!!!!! I love you both with all my heart!


Until next time........


Always,
Aimee

O.M.GEE.

Jersey Shore! Jersey Shore!  Not gonna lie, Jersey Shore is probably one of my favorite guilty pleasures EVER! I know it's seriously the most random show, but if you listen to the things those people say, it is pure comedy in my eyes.  Megan and I have loved watching the shore together since our days as roomies, so of course we had to carry on the tradition!  We get together on Thursdays and make ourselves a "classic Italian" meal and laugh watching those crazy people!  This week, we made our trip to our neighborhood Vons :) and got some bow tie pasta, gelato, french bread, and our fav apple muffins haha.  The gelato was delicious!  We kinda cringed at the whopping $4 and change that EACH one was!  But, go big or go home, right? Definitely not our frugalista find of the night.  Here are pictures of our oh so classy dinner :)

Sadly, this week was our last Thursday dinner together. So depressing!  Megan is going to be going to train in Kaui (so jealous) and then she is going to Indonesia to help women in need coming out of sex trafficking.  She is going to be gone for 8 months!!!!!!!!!!  It is going to be such a beautiful, life changing experience and I am so excited for these new steps in her life.  So proud that she is going out in the world to change lives.  It is really inspirational and so motivating.  Megan is one of the greatest people I have ever met in my life, she is such an amazing friend.  I have always thought Meg has been one of the most compassionate, loyal, funny, beautiful, trustworthy, caring and good hearted person I have known in my lifetime.   I am going to miss you Meg more than you will ever know! But as we say, its just a "see you later", no goodbyes.  We have too many things to cross off our bucket lists together!!! 

<<"She's too young for you bro....."

So I will leave you all with this: "Friendship is the glue that keeps our lives together."---Megan "just g" Gee

Until next time......

Always,

Aimee

The Good Life!

Life has been super busy lately! I recently moved and have been looking for a new place with 2 of my girlfriends.  My sister is getting married in 23 days! I can't even believe it!  I just wanted to write a quick post about how sometimes we forget how good we have it in life.  Life can get overwhelming and its easy to focus on the stress and that bad things going on.  I have been absolutely OBSESSED with the song "Good Life" by One Republic.  I am an avid follower of two YouTube Beauty Guru's  Carly Cristman and Hahn.  You should really check them out if you get a chance.  I love both of their style and you can tell they work hard at making their videos original! Both of them have used music by Alex Goot here on YouTube as well, and I have put his cover of "Good Life" on repeat for the past few days!!!!!!  I love his voice and I also love Megan Nicole who he sings the song with.

Enjoy! Be happy and share the love!

Always,

Aimee :)

 

Say yes......to tomatoes!!!!!!

This is my new OBSESSION!  I never thought I was going to fall in love with this stuff the way that I did.  One night my roommates and I were doing a little ritual shopping at Ross.  I ALWAYS have to browse through the beauty section, sometimes you can find the best hidden treasures there.  I found this product, it is the Yes to Tomatoes Totally Tranquil Facial Hydrating Lotion for only.....................$2.99!  What a steal! Of course I had to try it out.  Another reason that pushed me to trying this product out is my friend, Megan, loves the Yes to line of products.  Why? Because this stuff is actually good for your skin!

The Totally Tranquil Facial Hydrating Lotion claims that it balances and hydrates your skin.  The cream combines organic tomatoes, watermelon, chamomile and dead sea minerals.  This product is 99.6% all natural ingredients and it is also free of parabens and petroleum and SLS.

Looks like you can only buy it in the facial set. Buy it here!

Tomatoes are an excellent ingredient for skin.  Not only are they extremely accessible to everyone, but they carry large amounts of carotene lycopene ( in other words.....its one of the most powerful natural antioxidants around).  What is so important about lycopene is that improves your skins ability to protect itself against harmful UV rays.

When people think of watermelon, most think of a nice, refreshing, summertime treat.  But watermelon contains large amounts of Vitamin C and the red flesh of the watermelon contains lycopene as well.  Antioxidants=your skins bff!

Chammomile is a nice addition to this product mixture in order to help soothe skin and it naturally helps reduce your skins stress.  In that case, pass me buckets of this stuff!!!!

Most people get confused about why it is important for products to be paraben free.  Parabens are basically a preservative that have been used in products such as shampoos, moisturizers, shaving gels, pharmeceuticals, makeup, toothpaste etc simply because of how common their ingredients are, they are inexpensive and more "efficient".  Products don't use as many natural alternatives because making them isn't as efficient in cost, shelf life and production.  Parabens are controversial because they have been linked to breast cancer.  In breast cancer tumors, there have been low concentrations of parabens found.  Parabens can weakly mimic estrogen and estrogen is the hormone that plays a significant role in the development of breast cancer.  Even though there hasn't been a 100% definite answer as to whether or not parabens can cause breast cancer tumors, I'd say its best to stay away from them when you can!

Now.........enough with the formal stuff.  Here is what I think about the product.  I would absolutely purchase this product again, even at full price (which I believe is like $19.99).  The texture is thick and creamy and massaging this lotion in small circular motions all over my face and neck feels like heaven.  I have been using this product for at least 2 1/2 weeks now, and my skin is softer, more hydrated, my skin seems to be more even toned and the overall texture of my face and neck has greatly improved.  There isn't really a scent to this lotion.  Doesn't stink, but doesn't smell great either.  This product says its specifically for oily or combination skin, which is what I am. I'm not gonna lie, I was skeptical as to how a cream this thick wouldn't make me break out and even oilier.  But, it didn't make me do either one of those things.  (Sidenote: if you do have oily skin, make sure you are still hydrating your skin enough.  Just because you have oily skin, doesn't mean your skin doesn't need some TLC.  A lot of times girls with oily skin neglect to properly moisturize their faces which in turn makes their skin overproduce oil from the lack of needed moisture.  So you just need to find the right moisturizer for you ie: oil free, non-comedogenic).

So, I would definitely recommend this product to anyone.  Hope this review was helpful!  There will be more product reviews to come.....I've got a list! :)

Always,
Aimee

Ahora

I can't believe its been almost a month since I have written on here!  Even though I hate the word "busy", that is exactly what I have been.  But, a good busy.  I have been spending a lot of time with my friends and I have been loving every minute of the moments and memories in these past few months.  I care about each and every person that makes my life so fulfilling.
Sometimes though, I think we all need a little reset button.  There are times when I find myself needing a moment to sit, think and slow things down for a minute to see the bigger picture in life.  We all get so caught up in worldly things that we don't realize what we have now, in this exact moment in time.  I am sooooo guilty of this.  I am the type of person that likes to try and plan for the future.  I am such a little worry wort sometimes.  I wonder what will happen to me tomorrow, and I try and map out my life which is in fact such a joke to even try and do.  But I like to be in control of my life.  I don't want to make stupid decisions that could potentially effect the rest of my life in a negative way.  But with that all being said, I sometimes forget to focus on NOW.  I don't see all the good, all of the blessings that I have staring at me straight in the face.  How could things be more obvious?!  Duhhhhhh Aimee.  Geez.  But I think that I have learned to appreciate people that much more.  Because we never know how much time we have with each other.  I know that sounds sooooooo repeated, but why would people repeat it if it wasn't true?  There is no other way to live than to live with an open heart, spilling your every emotion and jumping head first.  Might be scary, but wouldn't you want those you love to know exactly how you feel about them?  Live everyday without a regret and you will feel complete, I assure you.  Those who are close to me have heard me say this so much.  I think you should just be the person you are, no bull s*&#.  People respect others so much more when they are just genuine and when they aren't afraid to just own up to who they are.  What makes us different, makes us beautiful people.  There are no limits to what you can be.   As long as you have that belief in yourself and that self assurance in who you are, no one can stop you from achieving anything.

Always,
Aimee