Favorite New Hair Products

I'm always on the hunt for new hair products that'll help give my super fine hair the lift it needs while also giving it extra shine since it tends to get dull pretty quick after my visit to the hairdresser.

Lately, I've been loving L'Oreal's Boost It spray and TRESemme's Keratin Smooth spray (both were purchased at my happy place - Target). They both not only work great, but smell great too. After washing my hair and letting it air dry for a bit, I spray my damp roots with the Boost It spray by lifting them up with a comb. Then I spray the rest of my hair with the Keratin Smooth spray and comb it through. I let them both sit for a few minutes before blow drying my hair. 

Tips:

1. For the Boost It spray to work, you need to blow dry you hair by lifting from the roots or flipping your head upside down so that the heat works it's way in while your hair is lifted. I'm not talking some drastic 80's do, I'm just looking for a little more body so that my hair isn't laying flat.

2. For the Keratin Smooth spray, you want to make sure you're blow drying your hair in a downwards motion to aid the smoothness of your hair. 

The combination of these two products give my roots the lift they desperately need, the smoothness I've been looking for, and an added bonus of heat protection to keep my hair looking healthier longer.

What are your favorite heat protection hair products?

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B-Day Gifts for the Eye Makeup Beginner

In honor of my wonderful mom's birthday this week, I thought I'd share what I decided to give her to celebrate. Back around Christmas, with all the holiday parties and family get-togethers she mentioned how excited she was that she got back into doing her eye makeup and trying out different looks. So, I knew back then what I'd be getting for her when her birthday rolled around in February.

I thought I'd send her a great "starter set" for doing her eye makeup. Everybody... beginners, experts, and those of us in-betweeners benefit from using eyelid primer and UD's Primer Potion is the best. Your eye makeup won't budge all day, so this product is great for any eye makeup focused gift. I also threw in Sephora's Take the Cake brush set *perfect name for a b-day gift*, the Naked Basics palette, E.L.F.'s eyelash curler, and makeup removing cloths.

I hope she loves her birthday gifts and gets a lot of good use out of everything.

beauty e.l.f. polyvore Sephora Urban Decay

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Spring will be led by example

Spring is in the air, and I'm looking forward to beautiful dresses and pops of color.

I'm loving ModCloth's Lead by Example Dress for spring and think some pops of yellow would compliment the dress beautifully. And of course no spring ensemble is complete without a cute umbrella as we all know "April showers bring May flowers".

What are some of your favorite spring looks?

Modcloth polyvore

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New Link Up: Tuesday's Recipe Swap

I'm excited to be co-hosting this brand spankin' new link up with Emily and am looking forward to finding great new recipes provided by our fabulous followers.

I made a delicious pot of french onion soup recently and it's just such a good hearty meal on chilly evenings. The funny thing is my husband hates onions, but for some reason he really enjoys it when I make this soup.

Ingredients

3 medium onions, chopped

1/4 cup of butter or margarine

6 cubes of beef bouillon

1/8 tsp. of pepper

1 quart of water

1 tsp. of Worcestershire Sauce

Sliced french bread

Sliced provolone cheese

In a large saucepan, cook onions in butter until tender.
Add bouillon cubes, pepper, water, and worcestershire sauce.
Simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes to blend the flavors
To serve, top each serving with a slice of french bread and a slice of provolone cheese over a bowl and place under broiler until cheese is bubbly or you can place the bowl in the microwave.

Makes 4-6 servings.

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Link-up Rules:

1. Follow Emily and myself via GFC and Bloglovin

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food related posts

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to both of our blogs

4. Be sure to visit other blogs and find new recipes!

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Epcot & Brunching on the Lake Weekend

I know we all feel this way, but why must it be so hard to get back into the groove on Monday morning after such a great weekend? Now, all we can do is look back at pictures while sipping on coffee instead of mimosas.

Saturday, we went to Epcot and rode some rides and did some drinking around the world. It rained off and on so I'm not sure why I bothered doing my hair. I had serious Monica Geller hair that grew several inches and I had to keep saying "It's the humidity!". So embarrassing...

Top - VS | Skirt - Gap | Bag and Watch - MK | Bangles - Kate Spade | Necklace - Express

Sunday, we headed downtown for some brunch with friends on the lake. Absolutely perfect weather mixed with 1/2 priced mimosas and beautiful views. Perfect way to end the weekend.

Yep I ate pretty much all of it....

*Typical*

Yummy cake I made for H's dad's birthday

Perfect weekend....

P.S. Don't forget to link up your favorite recipe with Emily and I tomorrow with the launch of our brand spankin' new link up: Tuesday's Recipe Swap. Grab the button from my sidebar and join us :)

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Ready to drink around the world

Oh sweet Friday you're finally here! I can't wait to kick back tonight by the fire pit with zero cares and a drink in hand.

I'll admit I'm a tad upset that after this weekend the Olympics will be over. What will I watch every night? At least after the summer games we have Shark Week to look forward to once it's over to stifle the blow, but we have to go cold turkey after the winter games. I'll be a busy-bee this weekend which should help distract me from the end of one of my favorite things.

Looking forward to:

~ Going to Epcot tomorrow for some good food and drinks around the world. Excited it'll be warm enough to ditch the jacket, scarf, and jeans I had to wear last month at Disney. Mickey doesn't approve of the cold weather...

~ Catching up with friends over half priced mimosas at brunch on Sunday

It's also my father in-law's b-day and my mom's b-day this weekend. I got my mom's gifts out in the mail, which I'll be featuring on here next week and will be baking a cake for H's dad's birthday dinner.

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I'd also like to introduce everyone to a brand new link up hosted by Emily and I every Tuesday called Tuesday's Recipe Swap. I'm excited to join Emily in this new link up, and hope to see everyone linking up with us each week. Get your recipes ready this weekend and grab our button below and join us on Tuesday.

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Happy Friday! *Cheers* to the weekend.

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Bring on the Poof

 Happy Friday-Eve! You can also find me over at Rachel's blog talking about how I create my look for big nights out. Hop on over and check it out :)

I don't know about you, but I am so ready for spring and breaking out my flowy skirts and dresses again. I'm used to only stowing them away for about 2 months around these parts, but this has been a much colder winter than usual. I know it's no "polar vortex", but it's definitely too cold for my skirts and dresses, and I'm getting sick of jeans jeans jeans....

I've always loved wearing skirts or dresses over pants, but this season I'm obsessed with the fuller skirts... stripes, tulle, polka dots... I love it all.

What are you most looking forward to for spring?

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Daily Face Routine

I've struggled for a while (ever since going off the pill) with bad skin, and I've tried everything... and I mean everything to clear it up. I tried Proactiv which worked at first but then stopped, I tried the Clarisonic and gave up on it for a while, and tried various pills and creams from the dermatologist with little to no help.

Then I decided to ditch the prescriptions and went back to my Clarisonic using an oil-free acne wash while applying an acne stress control toner afterwards which seems to be working better than everything else I've tried. I love how the Clarisonic is so deep cleaning and really gets down into my pores and removes dirt and makeup. At night, I also apply Olay's Regenerist for the wrinkles that are starting to develop around my eyes, and in the mornings I use a moisturizer before applying CC Cream that contains SPF in it and apply my favorite new lip balm EOS for my lips.

Daily Facial Routine

I feel that once I stopped fighting my skin so hard, is when it started to calm down. Using a gentle cleansing brush like my Clarisonic with an oil-free wash has been the answer I was looking for. It's still by no means perfect, but it's much better and that makes me happy.

What has or hasn't worked for you in terms of skin care?

beauty CC Clarisonic Eos Neutrogena philosophy polyvore

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