Mary Kay Botanical Effects Skin Care Review

Courtesy of Mary Kay Website

Ok, this last Saturday I went and did a "Free" makeover and of course, being a blogger, I ordered some Mary Kay products. My representative is Athena Cook from here in the valley. She was really knowledgeable and helped me out pretty well. Saturday I had gotten my skin care product line, Friday I will be getting the makeup products.

So far, to be honest, I am only liking the mask and the freshen spray, which is much like the Mario Bedescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater. BUT, I don't like the hydrating lotion and the face wash. Within a couple of days, I started breaking out. So immediately, I stopped using the face wash and lotion. With a history of massive acne breakouts, I was not going to be chancing anything.

While the face was is really nice, it's for normal/sensitive skin. Not oily/combination skin. The only thing I didn't realize when I got them. I bought what was recommended to me. Lesson number one in buying Mary Kay. Make sure it's for your skin type.

The face lotion is nice too, but.....it's too oily for my skin. Wanna talk about pore clogging city, this is where this product is from. Something that is completely NOT for me. It would be great for those that are not acne prone and don't have oily/combo skin.

The mask, though, completely is the redemption of this line. I LOVE IT! You can use this 2-3 times a week and only for 10 minutes or less! I love it. When I take it off, my skin feels softer and so much tighter afterwards!  When I think of masks, I always think of those ones that you feel like you have to leave on for 30 minutes or so. With this, you don't have to. It's 10 minutes or less. With being a mom, time is of essence when you are trying to do skin care with all little feet running around.

The freshen spray is another redeeming factor. You spray a little bit on a cotton ball and gently wipe it all over your face. I use it twice a day, in the morning to wake me up and at night to help me relax before bed. Tell you what. I will continue to be using this spray. I really enjoy it.

So overall thoughts? While I do enjoy a couple of the products, there are other's that I wish I hadn't had gotten. But, I will pass them on to my foster daughter because it works for her skin. But, I will continue to use the mask and the freshen spray.

If you are interested in getting Mary Kay and you live in the Boise Valley, Idaho, you can contact Athena Cook at 208-409-1305. She is a wonderful representative that will help you get what you need and is a wealth of information. You can also check out her website at : www.marykay.com/athenacook1.

For business inquiries, please email: Beautylearningwithlaura@centurylink.net

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Acne Proned Skin

Me in my ugly mask by Freeman

As I sit here in my ugly mask as it dries, I feel my acne. At 33, I am proned to some of the most hurtful, ugly, scaring acne there is. Cystic Acne. If I do not take care of it the way I usually do, I break out like crazy. And this last week? I didn't do my job for my skin. So I naturally broke out.

While I did drink a ton of water, I didn't wash and moisturize everyday like I normally do. I always wear a mask about 1-2 times a week. I have my face wash with Benzoyl Peroxide for in the mornings and my purifying cream cleanser for at night when I'm taking my makeup off. Then, of course, I have my moisturizer with Salicylic Acid in it.

I don't go to a dermatologist for my facial cleansers and moisturizers. I actually use the Neutrogena line. I use their Oil-Free Acne Moisturizer, the Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Cleanser and Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Cream Cleanser. Then add my mask I use, I usually stay zit free.

My face BFF's.

For a month of facial cleansers and moisturizers, I spend less than $20. I have never used any of the more expensive brands, but I am looking into them. But, there's the fear that my skin will once again rebel and break out and cause my whole face to just hurt. Does anyone have any great recommendations? Let me know, please! LOL.

Garcinia Cambogia Pure Extract 75HCA Review

We all know that I've been trying out a lot of different Garcinia products, but I have yet to get a favorite. I do know that this product works. I do know that if I stop taking this product, I gain weight back and then some. So when I was sent this one that has 75HCA, I was kinda skeptical. But after a week of trying it, I found that I still have the energy I was getting before, but not the nausea. For me, that's huge! So what I decided is this, I will keep taking this for now until another comes in the mail, and then in 4 months, we will have a throw down on which one I feel is the best. Stay tuned!

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My Konjac Sponge Review

I have to admit, I've tried a lot of things in my time to help with oil control and acne, and none of them worked really, until I tried this sponge. The Konjac Sponge is not what I thought it would be. Now, I wasn't sure if I used soap with it or not, so I tried it both ways. For 2 days, I used just water. I liked how it was working, but then I did 2 days with Adovia soap. I instantaneously loved the results! The combinations together is like the sky opening up and the angels singing! 

Now, the sponge is made out of biodegradable material, which is a plus. The materials are Pure Konjac Powder, water, and Bamboo Charcoal. That's it! Three ingredients to help with your face. I love it.  I love it's everything I feel it should be. Cruelty Free and Vegan, so those that don't use products that are iffy, this is for you!

I have never heard of the Konjac plant until I got this, and so I had to do some reading up on it. As per Wikipedia, my favorite place, it's a plant known in Japan, China and Indonesia. They use it to make  konnyaku (yam cake). It's used in many dishes basically as a filler. Now I don't eat much asian foods, but what I have tasted has been wonderful! This is also known as a diet food! While I'm not going to try it for a diet, I know it's in many types of foods as a filler.

So it make sense to put this into a sponge, because it can be molded into a sponge in jelly form.  So with the research, I do recommend this sponge to you. I use it with soap, but you can use it alone also.  You can find it on amazon.com for a great price of $10.00 and it's worth it, that's for sure! If you have prime, it's only 2 day FREE shipping! 

So I dare you to try it and not fall in love with it, cause I know you will!


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 I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Review: Healthy Now Nutritionals Colon Cleanse Detox

Ok, I'm a person that usually has no problem talking about anything, but when it comes to poop, it's a little different, but when I agreed to try the Colon Cleanse Detox, I was seriously at a loss. How do you talk about poop? Well, I guess we just plunge right in, right? Literally, plunge right in. LOL.

I got cleaned out, quickly, I might add. I was literally grabbing my butt rushing to the bathroom to go. I swear I had a 5lb. baby out of my butt. But, honestly? I feel better. I feel better than I have in years. How is this possible? Well, I will give credit to this colon cleanse. It better be squeaky clean.

Would I recommend this? YES. I feel everyone needs to detox once in a while and this is one way to do it. From what I've read most of the ingredients are all natural. So, for me, that's a huge plus. You can take up to 4 capsules a day, but I only needed 2. I think I would have a broken butt if I took more than that. I will definitely do another review when the hubby gets home so I can have him try it. I do recommend that if you are on any prescription medication to consult a doctor. You don't want it to interfere with your meds if there's a chance for a reaction.

You can buy it on Amazon for $19.97 and is Prime eligible. You can go straight to the product through this link:  http://bit.ly/healthynow_cclax .

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So go get a bottle and take a detox......just be sure to be by a bathroom. I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Milani Bella Eye Shadows

Milani. When I think about the brand, I see pretty gold packaging and not much else really. Well, then they came out with the Bella Eye Shadows. They have polishes too, but they don't have them here that I've found yet. I admit, I really like the ones that I bought. I only bought 4 of them, and I do plan on buying more.

When I heard that these were out, I stalked my Walgreens. I got 4 of them to just try out to see if I would like them. Oh, boy, do I! I got 4 neutral colors simply because I wanted to be sure that I would like them. I always figure go for the neutral colors before the racier colors to test. Well, I have to say, they are wonderful! They truly remind me a lot of Urban Decay or Lorac. More Lorac than Urban Decay though. True pigmitation and wonderful color payoff. I didn't see a single fall-out while using them!

New Milani Bella Eyeshadows

While I do love the packaging, I really wish that Milani would have just put these into palettes, cause singles can take up a lot of room. But, packaging isn't really my concern. It's the products inside that I'm most fascinated with. Ivory is a color I have been using the most with any eye shadow I have lately. I blends beautifully and a perfect compliment to any color.

Espresso is a rich dark brown that reminds me of the drink. A nice rich coffee to brighten your eyes. Pink was a bit harder to work. While it didn't go with the browns that well in my opinion, it worked well with Ivory and other pink shades. Champagne is such a beautiful bronze color that blended so well. You didn't need much of it to achieve a beautiful, amazing glow with it. Works wonders with green eyes.

Swatches

I will say these are some buttery shadows. They blend easily and are heavenly feeling. You don't want to miss out on these that's for sure! These are on sale I believe at Walgreens for $4.99. Not bad at all and if you have points, you can knock the price even lower!  This is a perfect product for those starting out in make-up to the most advanced in make-up. I do believe this is part of the permanent line, so they will be around, but prices may go up, so get them while you can!

So head to your nearest Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, anywhere that carries these and grab them. You won't be sorry!

Review: Covergirl XL nail gel

Something new is out and it's part of the new collection that Covergirl launched. The XL nail gels. I am fascinated with gel polishes and while these aren't quite the gel I had in mind for polishes, since they aren't gel at all,
I can still say that I am very happy with them. I'm picky about how polish goes on, and it only took me TWO COATS to achieve the desired affect. And i can use my UV dryer to dry them 10x faster than just letting them air dry.

I got Plumped-up Plum and Whole Lotta Guava, a hot pink color. I have been wearing these for 3 days and only got ONE chip! They are holding up extremely well, and trust me, they go through a lot of abuse, with my being a mom. I'm always looking for something that isn't going to chip, and I actually thought I was going to have to shell out a lot of money to get the gel polishes. Now I've found something in a price range that I'm happy with. I bought these for $6.99, at Walgreen's, on top of a buy one, get one half off. So definitely a pretty dang good deal.

Covergirl came out with 9 new polishes that is part of the Covergirl Instaglam collection that features lip gloss, foundation, face wipes, mascara. I forgot to take a picture of the display, and I didn't catch everything, but I can't wait to go back to get some more. The names of the polishes even suggests glam. I think the names makes the colors stick out in my head more than some like pink or blue. Cause I always ask, what shade of pink? What shade of blue? See what I mean? You can put the name to the shades easier I think.

These polishes are 13ml,(.44 fl oz) 2 ml's more than the regular bottle at 11ml (.37 fl. oz). I kinda wish that Covergirl's regular like looked like this, but it's fun to have it in something like this. The quality is really nice, reminding me of some of the higher end polishes that I love. You can believe that I am going to go back and get the rest of them. I sure hope that they come out with  more colors. I figure that I'll take a gamble and try the new makeup too, so be sure to keep an eye out for a review on that. So go, run, walk, or skip and grab some of these polishes for yourself.

BeautyJunkees Knot Detangler Hair Brush Set

 Today I got a great surprise when I went out to my mailbox. I'd gotten my BeautyJunkees Knot Detangler Hair Brush Set! Let me tell ya, I'm super stoked that they got here, but I also will be honest. I forgot that they were coming! Even though I had been speaking with Julie Ritzenthaler, owner of Beauty Junkees, Inc. I do feel silly for forgetting, but life is hectic when you have family!

Now, back to these amazing, wonderful brushes!I got these brushes online at www.Amazon.com. They sell for $14.97 and with a promo code, I was able to save $13.97 and only pay $1.00! I also got FREE SHIPPING! I guess you could call it Prime shipping. LOL. I got a large and a small brush. I love the way that the handle feels. Kinda of a soft rubbery feeling, and the handle is large enough that I can comfortably grip it to use it. The smaller one is the same, more of a mini brush of the larger one, and would be great for on trips. I got a large pink brush and a teal green colored small brush.

As you see above, the brushes have firm bristles, and upon inspection from myself and my two year old who actually tried to hide them from me, they're very well made. I do not see the bristles or the black padding of the brush coming apart any time soon. I've had this happen and there's nothing more annoying than being in the middle of brushing your hair and the bristle padding comes off the brush! When I looked at the edges, I did not see traces of glue that was used to attach it to the body. These are well made!

initially, when I got these, I had just thrown my hair up in a quick ponytail to go about my day since it's the weekend, but as soon as I got inside, I HAD to try them. I have NEVER had an easier time brushing my hair than I did the first time I used these. I just wanted to sit there and brush my hair all day!

Now the claim for these brushes are these:

1 Works great on wet and dry hair

2 Perfect for women, men and kids

3 For all hair typed: thick, curly and straight hair

4 Soft flexible bristles detangle hair with ease

5 Perfect for hair extensions and wigs

6 Not for use with hairdryers

Pretty basic claims, and I do like #6, because I have never seen a brush with a warning on it before, so it is refreshing to see. These are made in China, but I don't see anything wrong with that as long as the product is up to snuff when you use them. I don't see anything on the box stating these are made with recycled materials,but they could be and it's just not printed. I will have to write the owner and ask.

You can visit Beauty Junkees online at www.BeautyJunkees.com, on Facebook @ BeautyJunkess, Twitter: Beauty_Junkees and Pintrest @ beautyjunkees.

Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette

That's right my beauties, I finally got my hand on the new Too Face Chocolate Bar palette and I couldn't be more happier! Trust me this, guys, you want your lady to be happy at that time of months, give her this palette. You won't hear a single negative thought on the gift. The scrumptious smells of 16 different antioxidant-rich, cocoa powder yumminess is enough to assault your senses! They sure did mine!

When you have names like Amaretto, Salted Caramel and Triple Fudge, you can't help but think of the Tooth Fairy when you get near this! Not only does it smell like so many yummy chocolates, it TASTES like them too. Yes, myself and several others have done the taste test of this palette. Not to worry. No one actually ATE any of it, we just tasted. Yes, well aware that there are other ingredients in this besides cocoa powder, so no massive, major or any other harmful acts were done in testing out this palette. It does state on the package that the product is not edible, but why make the shadows taste yummy then? LOL.

The packaging is adorable, looking like a very large Hershey's bar. It is plastic, but only downside is that the names aren't under the shadows like traditional palettes. It's on a piece of plastic that you have to be careful not to loose or you so loose the names of all of these shadows.  I just taped it to a darker color and taped it over a mirror. I never use the mirrors in the compacts anyways, so it works out. Another downfall if that it doesn't lock tightly, so I am going to try desperately to keep the original box it came in to make sure that it stays shut and the shadows don't get hurt.        

All of the colors are matte colors and very rich in color. My favorite being Cherry Cordial, with its deep cranberry/burgundy color. Least favorite due to a bit of flakiness is the Black Forest Truffle. Beautiful color, but has a lot more fall out that any of the other colors. But, that can be dealt with in creating wonderful looks with this. This reminds me of a mixture of ALL THREE Naked palettes in one. Sounds great to me, cause $49 for this or $156 and tax for the Naked Collection. Granted, for me, I would spend both amounts. LOL. But for those that want the best of all three palettes and the cheaper price tag, than this palette is for you.

I promise that you will enjoy it. I have yet to name a palette my favorite and honestly, just from taste, texture, smell and the looks of this products, which hits all of the human senses, this could easily be my favorite. This is, thankfully, part of their permanent line, so if I use this up, I can get another, like with any of their other shadows. But, honestly, I think I will savor this palette for a while.

Late night rambling thoughts: Nail polishes

Ok, lately I've been wearing and collecting a ton of nail polishes. While I have given some away, I still have a ton of polishes. So my thought is this: when is too much, too much? I've had many questions as to how I use everything. Especially liquid foundation. But, right now, I am staring at a rack of nail polish and I honestly wonder if I am going to use every single one of them, or if they are just sitting there. I mean, I have colors that I know I'm never going to wear, but I got it because they appealed to me at that moment, not in the reality of what I like wearing.
For example, I hate orange. For reasons some know, but I really, really hate it. But guess what. I have 8 bottles of orange nail polish. Yeah. 8 of them. Reds? I have 14. Purples? 20! Now, while I do love a lot of the colors, most of these I probably wouldn't wear. Some of the purples, I got because they're an orchid color, and 2014 Color of the Year is Radiant Orchid. But the blues, greens, greys, black? I normally don't wear them. I am actually more into the nudes and reds. While right at this moment I'm wearing a shamrock green and bright yellow, I know that they won't last long. Just not my thing. But IF I want to keep up with YouTube and try new products, I have to wear the more daring colors. I just hope that more colors draw me to them. Maybe I just need to have a nail polish sale.......lol. We'll see about that.......


This is the most RECENT (as of 30 seconds ago) picture of the nail polish rack:

The picture below is right after I got done making the rack: