All Over Body Exfoliant!

I have searched high and low in every beauty outlet imaginable from Sephora to your favorite cosmetic counters in department stores for the perfect exfoliant. No luck. I have tried every brand you could possibly think of; that resulted in me buying all of these products and feeling like I wasted $20 to $60 bucks each time. After putting myself on a budget, I came across St. Ives Apricot Scrub at my local CVS. It was on sale for about $4 for a 10oz jar (which is great being compared to the 4oz tubes I was getting for quadruple that price!)

I have been using this product for almost two months and I am so in love with it! This scrub is strong enough to use on your entire body but gentle enough to use on your face and for $4 you can't beat that! I use it every other day on both my body and face, it scrubs away any dirt and dry skin that is coating your top layer on skin. This makes for extremely clean and smooth kissable skin.

My Must Have Palette for Fall!

I am absolutely loving this new palette that Lorac just launched! Anytime Lorac comes out with a palette I have to have it! This is the new Ooh La Lace that is a Sephora exclusive and for only $36! The eyeshadows are baked and have a very smooth feel which make the application much easier. This palette is perfect for the upcoming fall and winter months. The six shades that are included are as follows:

Top l to r: Lust (cream with shimmer), Smolder (matte gray), Risqué (matte black)

Bottom l to r: Stunner (light bronze with shimmer), Knockout (bronze with shimmer), Racy (matte brown)

I'll be wearing it, will you?

Must Haves: Fall 2011 Nail Colors!

Nail polish is one of my favorite things to collect, and every season I look forward to the newest and hottest colors on trend! Although Fall may not be my favorite season, fall nail colors are what I look forward to most during the year!

Among my favorites are:

The burnt orange: Osaka-To-Me by OPI

The grey: Recycle by China Glaze

The plum: Luxedo by Essie

The nude: Opaque Nude by Rescue Beauty Lounge

The deep red: Shanghai Red by Chanel

A few honorable mentions are from Chanel's silvery metallic collection. 

From l to r: Quartz, Peridot, Graphite

I LOVE Peridot! These are limited edition colors so get them while you can!

Fishtail Braid!

The fishtail braid was my best friend over the summer! I had to watch over a hundred videos to master it! This is the video that made it easy for me to understand, it also helps to watch the video and try to do it at the same time!

Co-washing Your Hair!

What exactly is cowashing your hair? It is simply washing the hair with conditioner only! The point of cowashing is to give your hair a midweek picker upper in between washes. Conditioning your is one of the single most important things you should do when trying to maintain healthy looking and feeling hair.

I picked up on cowashing at the beginning of this year from various hair boards and YouTube videos, so I implemented it into my hair routine. I used this technique for a few months before I decided that it was not a good match for me! Everyone's hair is different but I just noticed that when I washed, deep conditioned AND cowashed all in one week that my hairs' natural oils were unable to thrive. I now wash and condition my hair once a week or every other week to allow my hair to thrive on its own.

(If cowashing is something that intrigues you, you should definitely use a drugstore brand of conditioner as you will be using it A LOT! The brand that I was using was the VO5 Moisture Milks. These are very wallet friendly as I got most of mine for less than a $1 at CVS Pharmacy wit my CVS extra care card!)

New Hair Regimen!

I have decided that I want to grow my hair even longer than it already is, therefore I need a new regimen to get me there! My hair is in pretty good shape in general but I'd like more length. I have noticed that since July of last year my length is not the same as in the below picture, so here is what I am going to be doing in addition to some of the things I already do to gain some more length. See previous hair posts here and there!

July 2010                                                                                                  March 2011
I had some split ends that I HAD to get rid of!! (My hair was also just blow dried in the July picture so it looks a lot thicker, the March picture is flat ironed) My goal is to have my hair right above my tush, so I have about 6-8 inches to go!

Every six to eight weeks:
Apply a no-lye relaxer

Weekly:
Shampoo and deep condition
Co-wash (washing the hair with only conditioner)
Moisture and seal every other day (applying a moisturizer and sealing in the moisture with an oil)
Overnight hair masque

Time Flies!

WOW! Almost four months have past and I have not blogged! How dare I! Well I am back and better than ever! 2011 has had a great start for me so far and only better things are to come (you have to will it to happen, speak it into existence!) Stay tuned! I promise I won't leave you again! :)