Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment review

Ok this has got to be the least flattering post I have written to date (it's a toss up between this one....) but I’m trying to keep it real here. I crop out the messy living room behind me in my FOTD photos but I’m going to show you this? Ay, ay, ay, Michelle.

Let me just say that apparently I’m 30 going on 13. I don’t know what happened but I’ve suddenly broken out like a pubescent teenager. Hormones, stress, perhaps my new foundation? Either way, we all get pimples now and then and for whatever reason I’ve suddenly got months worth at once. As you know I am a fanatical face washer and because that alone wasn’t fighting off the blemishes I knew I had to call in some back up. During our recent grocery shop I stopped in the skin care aisle to look for some astringent or spot treatment or a magic wand to help combat this issue. I browsed through the aisle and stopped at the Clean & Clear products as I remember liking some of their items in high school. I came across a few very similar products and to be honest with you I don’t know the exact difference between them, but the one I opted for was Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment.

 

The packaging read that 100% of users saw a difference within 4 hours of application. That’s a pretty hefty claim and I was anxious to see how it would help my problem area. The directions said to cleanse skin and apply 3 times daily. I haven’t been wearing any makeup to allow my skin time to heal so as soon as I got home I applied it. It is clear, has a medicinal scent and the consistency is a thin gel. Upon application it felt cool on my skin and tingled/stung a little bit – which I was glad about – stinging means it’s working right?

I came back for a peek a few hours later and I was shocked. The puffiness of each blemish had decreased as had the redness surrounding it. I knew they claimed I would see results almost immediately but I didn’t think I actually would. As this product does create a thin film on the face I washed it off and applied more to fresh skin. After applying it 4 times (I know they said 3 but you can’t stop me now!) I was amazed and am thrilled to say that I saw a remarkable difference in just one day.

The photo on the left was taken after one application and the photo on the right was taken the next morning. It is cliche to say but the photos really don’t do it justice. You can see the decreased redness and the inflammation is significantly less in the second photo. After 2 days of use the smaller spots were gone and after 3 days the entire problem area has nearly vanished. My blemishes have never healed this quickly and while the product has left my skin a little dry and tight in that area that is much more manageable than a patch of pimples.

I am happy to have found this product. I do not often have break outs as grand as this but believe this product will be useful in combating even the random pimple that appears. I feel armed and ready!

MAC Creme d' Nude

I have briefly mentioned in past posts how much I adore MAC Creme d' Nude lipstick. It is my favorite, must have, can't live without nude lipstick. I bought this one about a year and a half ago and I'm  just about reaching the bottom. :( This shade goes with virtually everything and I wear it a few times a week.

I will absolutely be replacing this lipstick when I hit the bottom, it's one that can not be absent from my collection.

If you are looking for a cost friendly nude lip alternative you can look at Revlon Soft Nude. It is not a dupe by any means but for girls that aren't as fair as myself it may be something that suits you even more. I searched for comparisons and found a couple great reviews on the 2 nudies here and here.

Do you wear a nude lip and what is your favorite nude lipstick?

UNREAL wedding proposal

I think I'm just going to call this YouTube week or something. Here's another video I want to share. :)

I didn't see this when it aired - I only heard of it when my mom called and told me to watch the link she had posted to her facebook. She wasn't even half way through it when she called to tell me to watch. Haha! I may not have cried when our car exploded but I sobbity sobbed through this! It's almost 15 minutes long so get your kiddos some pretzels and sit them in front of the Backyardigans cause you don't want to miss a second of this. Tell me what you think!

Gotye

While I am in the business of sharing things I was somehow completely oblivious to here is a song that was released last summer. I stumbled upon it this weekend (while half heartedly watching the Much Music Countdown while folding laundry Saturday night .... can you say PARTAY!) and I am a little bit obsessed.

I'm sure many of you have already seen this video and heard the song but it's new to me and I wanted to share. It's from Australian artist Gotye (I'm not the only one that had to google how to pronounce that, right?) and unfortunately from what I can tell it's a bit of a gem amongst his other work but I won't be too quick to judge, I've got to explore him more.

The song is called Somebody That I Used to Know. Have a listen and don't let the skin in the beginning of the video alarm you, it's totally PG I promise.



Is anyone more familiar with Gotye? What else should I check out?

Rio

I'm not sure what rock I was living under when this movie came out last year but we hadn't seen Rio until we watched it on Netflix a few weeks ago. Since then it's become one of our favorites. Am I the only one that completely missed the memo on this gem? In case you missed it as well here is a short trailer which happens to be a clip of my favorite part of the show. So funny.



Have you seen Rio? What are your other favorites we may have missed?

my day

I'm just looking for someone to whine to. Will you be a pal and let me cry on your shoulder? Although our morning was so ridiculous I haven't cried about it, all I can do is laugh. It's that bad. This may be long so if you aren't interested stop here before you are invested in this, because I'm sure you've got better things to go do. Like look on facebook... ;)

I had a quick errand to run this morning, just dropping something off at a friend's office downtown. Neil was home, Rigby was napping and I asked Porter if he wanted to go for a drive with me. We drove downtown and as I pulled into the parking stall in front of my friend's office the gas light came on. No big deal, there's always plenty of time before it really means it. I left the van running so Porter could watch 'New Groove' (don't judge, you've all left your kids in the vehicle to run something inside quick....) and I went inside to take my friend her stuff. When I came out the van was still on, as in the movie was still playing, but it was not running. I tried and tried to start it but nothing. **Insert a quick back story here - a couple summers ago in Edmonton my friend Sarah and I got stranded when I parked my van on a downward slope when it was low on fuel and it wouldn't start again because it thought it was out of gas... long story short, many strong men and a jerry can of gas later we got the van on level ground, filled up and it started without a sputter.** Thinking back to this I figured that's what was happening this time too as I was parked on a similar slope. I called Neil and asked him to be my knight in shining armour and come rescue us with some gas. So lame, who runs out of gas? He took the monitor to our neighbor and hopped in his car to come save us. We know the van battery is weak and needs to be replaced soon so instead of showing up with gas he came with jumper cables assuming the van just needed a boost. He tried a few times but the van would not start. We decided to go get some gas (as someone first suggested, just sayin') and try that. We all hopped in his car, took Porter home to the neighbor (thanks Vicky!) and then went and filled a jerry can with gas. On our way back to the dead van there was a loud *POP* Edit: Neil just read this and said, "POP!?" it was a KA-BOOM!!" under the hood of the car and then smoke started pouring out from under the hood and into the interior of the vehicle. Like billowing out. Smoke. Everywhere. We looked at each other and laughed. Could there be worse timing for one vehicle to die than when you are on your way to rescue another one? We managed to pull into the spot right beside our van and got out so we didn't die from the nastay-ness that was smoking us out. As Neil was filling the van with gas and realizing it still wouldn't start, a man in coveralls walked by and I asked him to come look under the hood of the car (wearing coveralls means you know something about cars right? I thought so.) He did and told us what had happened and said we shouldn't drive it and needed to tow it away. We stood back and looked at our van that wouldn't start and a car that had just exploded and I just want to say that when you're gazing into each other's eyes, holding hands on your wedding day and everything is bliss you don't think of moments in your future like this. I just kept telling Neil to laugh because at that moment it's all we could do. We formulated a plan and decided to walk to Neil's brother's office downtown and borrow his car so I could go home to the boys and Neil could figure this out. On the way home we called a tow truck for the car (we figured we could still get the van to start) and then Neil dropped me off. He drove back to meet the tow truck and I soon received a text that he got the van to start. Who knew this day would produce some good news? Apparently the tow truck guy tried to boost it again without success and suggested Neil go and get even more gas and eventually with another jerry can full it started as if it had never had a problem. Note to self: never let the van get lower than a quarter tank of gas and then park on a downward slope. Noted. He hopped in the van and met the car at the auto shop where they did some investigating and told us that if we wanted to spend x-amount of money, which is more than we even paid for the car, they would fix it but strongly suggested it wasn't worth it to which we agreed. The wreckers wouldn't pay a thing for it so Neil signed the registration, took off the plates and walked away. That's that. The silver lining on that dark cloud is that Neil had been meaning for a few weeks to take the car in for a wheel alignment among other things and since he didn't, we just saved a bunch of money on a car that was preparing to explode.

So, to summarize, I left this morning at 10 to run a quick errand and now later today we're down one vehicle and learned a valuable lesson about another. As most people try to do in these situations we chose to look on the bright side of things - our great van could have had a real problem, the car could have chosen to explode on any number of worse occasions, although I really appreciate that it did it when it was being used to rescue us, I got a kick out of that. OR the car could have started on fire as the mechanic said it very well might have. Although then we would have got insurance money for it. I suggested Neil drive it around the block at the shop to see if he could get it to flame up but he wasn't too impressed with my willingness to risk his life for some money. I suppose that's fair.

Anyway, nobody died, well except our car in a seriously dramatic fashion, and although that's a pain in the rear I'd rather that than a real tragedy. Anybody's day top mine?

stranded in the van, before we knew just how bad things were going to get

the great soother wean of 2012

Ok, I'm a little embarrassed to admit after Rigby just had his second birthday last week that he still uses a soother. I know. (I told you about him being a really sucky baby right?) I think I justify it with the fact that we do a lot of travelling and long hours in the van and sleeping at strange houses are much smoother experiences when there's a soother involved. I suppose yes, in some ways I'm the one that is still attached to it. Porter also had a 'soo-soo' but there was no "weaning" or "training" with that child. When it came to potty training, soother weaning and moving into a big-boy bed I just simply facilitated and stood by and watched as he did those things all on his own. Although it was awesome at the time it's left me quite ill prepared for Rigby. I guess I was hoping that the longer we left it Rigby would just give up his soo-soo on his own like Porter did. Nope. Anyway, reasons he still uses one aside, he does and we've decided that it's time to put an end to it. I have read many ideas online but I'm looking for tried and trusted methods from experienced moms. What has worked with your children, and with children that are really attached... like I'm worried this is going to get ugly. Well, I know it's going to get ugly but it's far past due.

Any suggestions?

perspective

Apologies to my more conservative readers but I’m sorry, I had to share this.

A few weeks ago I walked outside to see this drawn on some cardboard my boys and their cousins had been playing house with.

I kind of gasped and immediately wondered what on earth the kids had been playing!! The thought even crossed my mind that perhaps our backyard had been vandalized by neighborhood teenagers or something.

After a little investigating I learned that the kids had been drawing dog bones for Willow. Oooooooh, dog bones. It's unfortunate I didn't get a picture but it was my relief that the two round cirlces beside this dog bone were in fact food and water dishes for Willow as well. Dishes. Thank goodness.

Sweet, innocent kids.

Dirty minded mom.

birthday boy

I often write my posts in advance so that while I’m sitting uploading and sorting photos I can get a few posts done at a time. When I scheduled today’s post I neglected to remember it was my Rigga’s birthday. I could not let this day go by without saying something about this TWO year old!

Happy Birthday to my Rigby who has filled our home with a little more cheekiness, a lot more laughter, love, kisses and snuggles, tantrums and “NO!!” ‘s, learning and excitement for simple things, the cutest bum-chin, and those big beautiful eyes.

Rigby is a heart-melter, if you’ve met him, you’ve fallen in love with him. He is adorable, sweet, funny and did I mention adorable? But don’t be fooled, he knows how to use it! He’s got the devil in those eyes and I wouldn’t change that little spark for anything. :)

Rigby loves basketball or as he calls it "hoops." 

We didn’t find out what we were expecting when I was pregnant with Rigby and because his pregnancy was quite a bit different than Porter’s I assumed I was having a girl. I not-so-secretly really wanted another boy but was just happy to get that big baby out, whatever it was. When he arrived and it was announced the baby was a BOY I was thrilled. I felt like I had been given a special little gift in this big boy.

My favorite story to share about Rigby’s birth is that when he arrived he had two little raw spots on the backs of both hands, worn from sucking on them in the womb. He is such a sweet little boy that seeks out love and comfort and that came with him from the start. Throughout the day he often says, “’nuggle momma!” and I drop whatever I’m doing to snuggle because I know one day he’ll stop asking. And I also know that within the next minute he’ll be hitting his brother so I better enjoy it! These brothers are the joy in my life and Rigby is a significant part of that. Happy Birthday Rigotry, my sweet big boy.

tuck it in

I’ve been a tucker lately.

Like the look? All you need are a few key things and you can be a tucker too!

You need:

• A pair of pants. Any pair will do but I prefer this look with a pair of wide legged or trouser jeans.
• A shirt. I think a patterned shirt or blouse looks best.
• A skinny belt. The key here is skinny – we’re trying to look fashionable, not look like we’re wearing our 1980’s pair of Sears jeans that comes with a belt. Am I the only one that bought those? A pop of color in the belt is ideal, look for color or metallics.

Now put it all together and just tuck, tuck, tuck. You can throw on a cardigan for some rear-end coverage or go without and let that backside shine!

*tip* - scour your local thrift stores for skinny belts - I haven't paid more than $1.00 or so for any of the ones I have. 

drugstore scores part 2: Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hr eyeshadow

The next drugstore product I picked up earlier this year was Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow. I read many reviews of this product and was impressed they were being compared to MAC Paint Pots. I own a few paint pots and love their long lasting and non-creasing capabilities as well as the different color bases they provide for other shadows. I initially picked up the Bold Gold Color Tattoo and after using it a few times I went back and got Tough as Taupe and Bad to the Bronze. The other 7 shades in the collection are more bright and colorful (besides Too Cool which is a shimmery white) and I do not see myself using them at all.

 

Tough as Taupe is the only matte color in the collection. It is a concrete grey that looks beautiful on it’s own or worn under other shades. I’ve been wearing it under Verve from the Naked2 palette and I like the way it anchors the shimmery color. Bold Gold is a yellow gold that I personally only wear under other shadows. I don’t love the yellow tone on it’s own but when worn as a base it really pulls the gold out of other shadows. Bad to the Bronze is another one that I wear alone or as a base. I think it looks beautiful with MAC Satin Taupe over top.

L-R Tough as Taupe, Bold Gold and Bad to the Bronze, swatched heavily

Wearing Bold Gold with MAC Retrospeck and Gleam over top with Smut blended in the crease

Clearly I haven’t given the full 24 hr test on these eyeshadows but I can tell you that from the time I put them on until the time I wash them off they do. not. budge. In fact I was wearing Bad to the Bronze with MAC Satin Taupe over top when we went for a family swim. After being splashed and sprayed my entire face of makeup was washed off except my two little eyes with only Bad to Bronze still holding on for dear life. While washing the swatches for this post off the back of my hand with just water, I had to scrub to get the colors off. These shadows are quite remarkable and although in my opinion the color range leaves something to be desired, I’m confident you will be impressed with their high quality finish.

You can find these little gems at Wal Mart and other drug stores but like the Revlon Lip Butters, these are cheapest at Wal Mart. If you have been wanting to try a MAC Paint Pot but don’t want to spend the cash, for $6 a piece these are a fantastic alternative. I find them comparable in quality and in their ability to hold a shadow and last all day. I don't think I will purchase Too Cool and I have no need for any of the other shades in my collection but I am happy to have these 3 and reach for them fairly often. I recommend picking up a couple.

my faith

I'm going to interrupt the scheduled  programming because I feel a need to say something. It seems as though every time I hear the news or more personally, read my facebook news feed, there is a tragedy somewhere.

Recently a young mother of 4 lost her husband in an avalanche accident while another young couple are sitting by their 18 month old son who is not expected to live. Sadness and devastation are all around us and even though I am not closely acquainted with these people I can not help but ache for them. It makes me look at my own life and my own family and not want to take any moment  for granted. It makes me not want to speak a cross word to my husband or be too stern or impatient with my sons. I want to enjoy them and love them and cherish them. Because you never know.

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and it is my testimony that families are forever. I believe that after death our spirits continue to live, will eventually be reunited with our bodies, and that we can be with our families for eternity. It is through the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ that we have this blessing. He suffered and died for each of us, to give us the opportunity to have eternal life - so that when tragedy occurs and we lose a child or a young spouse, or any loved one, we can be comforted that we will see them again. I know this is true.

As much as I love makeup, hair, clothes and silly things, I love my family. I love the Lord. I love His gospel and the knowledge it gives me that this life is but a short moment in our journey. I love to share with you the awesome products I find and the tips and tricks I've learned but in light of these recent tragedies and with their families on my mind, tonight I want to share with you something so much more important than that: my belief in and love for my Savior and how being a member of His church has brought me peace and joy.

If it is my intent to blog about things that I think are of benefit to you then tonight is the most important post I have ever written. If I feel the need to share about lipsticks and eyeshadows I certainly could not keep this to myself. :)

drugstore scores part 1: Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter

It is the general consensus that drugstore cosmetics have really upped their game this year. With all the talk surrounding the release of a few hyped products I had to see for myself what all the buzz was about. I realize that in blogging land these products are old news but I purchased these items earlier this year so these are my reviews on them after a few months of use.

The first product I had to check out were the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters. Being a lipstick/lipgloss/lipbalm/lip-anything girl I was anxious to see if these lipstick/lip balm hybrids were up my alley. Revlon promises 'buttery balm plus shiny color.' Sounds good to me! I didn’t want to go overboard and buy all 20 colors in the collection so I picked up the 2 I thought I would use the most – pinks. I grabbed Cupcake and Strawberry Shortcake.

L-R Cupcake, Strawberry Shortcake

 Cupcake is a light lavender/pink while Strawberry Shortcake is a brighter berry pink.

 Cupcake

 Strawberry Shortcake

I am totally impressed with these Lip Butters. Not only are they soft, smooth and non-drying on the lips, they are more pigmented than I was expecting. They have a beautiful shiny finish without looking glossy or sticky. I can see these being really appealing to a gal that doesn’t love the feel of lipstick but would like more color than a gloss provides. These lippies retail for $8 or $9 and can be found at Wal Mart, Shopper’s Drug Mart, Zellers, London Drugs and other drugstores. I would recommend purchasing them at Wal Mart as I learned the hard way they are more expensive other places. As much as I love them I am content with just these 2 for now. When I do purchase another Lip Butter it will be in the shade Peach Parfait as it looks like a nice nude that suits everyone.

pic stitch

I have to tell you about the new (new to me, I’m always slow with these things) app I’ve been loooooving. It’s called Pic Stitch and look what it can do!

Choose the layout you want (there’s many) and then choose photos to put in it. You can then edit those photos – color, crop, brightness, rotate, etc. – the usuals, to your liking. You can change the size of each layout to better suit each photo as well as add text or silly stickers (mustache anyone?)  to the photos. I was really impressed with how many features the app offers.

I quickly made up these few collages of pics I had on my phone to show you a bit of what the app does.


I have been using it on my facebook and am excited to implement it on my blog. It makes presenting your photos in a creative and professional way so easy.

Pic Stitch – go get it!

bachelor finale

In high school I had a girlfriend that although we had our ups and downs I still considered us to be friends. Apparently she didn't feel the same way because years later when I got engaged her brother told me that when she saw our announcement she said,

"Oh good, now they can be miserable together forever!"

Haha, seriously. Well although I don't think that's a matrimonial well wishing anyone deserves I have to admit I'm feeling that way tonight. If you are an avid Bachelor watcher you, along with the rest of us are certain that Ben is going to pick Courtney tonight and well, I think he deserves her. She has been nothing but mean and manipulative and Ben has only made me like him less and less each week. Who does he think he is? They make quite the pair. 

I hope for their sakes that much like my friend we are all wrong and they aren't miserable together forever but I'm not sure that's possible in this case. We'll have to tune in tonight to see how it all plays out. Have you been following and what's your prediction? 

remember Sleek Storm? FOTD

It has been so long since I’ve said anything about the Sleek Storm palette. It’s been so long since I’ve used the Sleek Storm palette. I blame that Naked couple in my bathroom.

After perusing through some old My Funny Valentine’s posts I came across her review of the drugstore favorite and remembered why I love it so much. It really is great quality for such a great price. I dusted the old friend off and created this look. I’ve been sticking to neutrals so much lately I decided to add a punch of slate blue to the outer V and crease with blue eyeliner on my waterline.

I was once again impressed by these Sleek eyeshadows. Their pigmentation and finish is really something you would find in high end makeup. If you have wine taste on a beer budget this is a great find! Sleek cosmetics give you an opportunity to wear incredible makeup without breaking the bank. I would love to try some of their blushes and pout polishes. I'd like to explore this line some more. What are your favorite Sleek products?

a portrait

Porter finished this and said, “I’m sorry I drew your hair like that momma. Do you sometimes wear it like that?”

Love it. 

upside down french braid

Every time I see this hairstyle I want to try it myself but have never gotten around to it. This morning on my newsfeed I saw Whippy Cake had posted a tutorial on how to create this look and so while Rigby napped and Porter played with bubbles in the kitchen I decided I’d give it a go.

My style is a little less polished so I didn’t do the braid as tight as she did nor did I take as small sections. This was my first attempt so that tells you how simple it is. I was certain I’d have to start over a few times but I actually didn’t have to. It was a little tricky to wrap my brain around doing it all upside down but when it came down to it the worst part of the process was just a sore back from bending over. If you can french braid your own hair already I don’t see why this should give you any trouble.  



I followed Whippy Cake’s tutorial exactly and although I think it turned out cute I’ll probably try something different with the front next time. Having my hair all pulled back isn’t my favorite look for myself so I will try and work some kind of side swept thing or something next time. I have appreciated not having to fiddle with my bangs and pull hair out of my eyes all day though and having the hair pulled up off my neck without chance of loosening and falling out is really great too.



I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this hair-do is. I will definitely do it again and I’d like to try it while my hair is curled and has a little more volume and texture. Have any of you tried this style before? Do you have any variations of what could be done with the front?

the kindergarten question: we have made a decision

If you know me you'll know I did not arrive at this decision lightly. Choosing what scent of dryer sheets to buy sends me into a panic so you can imagine this was a big deal. I want to thank all of you again for your input and advice, we really did consider a lot of your thoughts when making our decision.

It's funny because even typing this now I am somewhat surprised at the choice we made. From the get-go I felt good about putting Porter into school this fall and thought that we would just go ahead with that plan when in fact, we have chosen to keep him home another year. I guess the most simple way to explain why we chose this is because it will make our life as a family unit much easier. As you know we move away every summer and with our job starting at the end of April we would have to be apart for 2 months. Not fun. Keeping Porter home this fall gives us one more year doing this job before we have to make any kind of decisions regarding how we will work that out. This wasn't our only consideration while making our decision but it was a big one, and I think a very valid point.

Of course we were also sure to consider what would be best for Porter individually. We took into account the fact that while yes, he is very bright and articulate he would definitely benefit from another year at home to grow and mature emotionally. I am not in a rush to get him off to school and think that another year home with his family will be a positive thing. I found myself saying over and over, "well, if we don't have to send him..." I don't see a point in making him grow up any faster than he has to. I foresee going to kindergarten at age 5 instead of 4 will help build his confidence and make him a leader as he will be one of the oldest in his class and will be with kids closer to his age which will be a more comfortable environment for him.

I believe he would have been fine either way but as so many of you have said there are no risks in keeping him home whereas there are potential risks in sending him too early. I felt like if we didn't have to send him, why would we when it would make our family life less confusing and he would have another year to grow and develop which only improves his opportunity for success.

So there. We decided. I have spoken to his teacher and she is in full support and looks forward to having him next year. I think we've done the right thing.

hair revolution

I know, another post about hair. I have mentioned a few times now that I don’t feel especially talented in the hair department but after a recent hair-doing-tutorial from my amazing friend Rachael I am confident in saying that deep down I really do have some skills. Look what I did!



Besides the insightful and helpful tips she gave me she also told me about a thermal spray she has been using and really likes. I have used thermal sprays in the past but after finding they made my hair too sticky, too heavy or too limp I stopped using them. She told me about an inexpensive (around $10) product from Sally Beauty Supply called Flat Iron Addict.

It’s an aerosol spray (I find those pump sprays disperse too much product and make your hair wet and weighed down) and it has a mild smell. Best of all while it protects your hair it makes it shiny and helps hold the curl. I think the lasting curl was what thrilled me most about using this product, surprisingly the above picture was taken after a long Sunday afternoon nap. :) This spray does not leave my hair feeling sticky, heavy or flat at all. I am really impressed with this thermal spray and wanted to share as maybe some of you have had a hard time finding a product that works for you too.

Happy good hair day!

Hard Candy Glamoflauge

I had been using MAC Pro Longwear concealer and absolutely loved it but when that pump pumped it’s last pump I was in need of something in a hurry. I knew it was getting low but hadn’t planned ahead and we don’t have a MAC in town to go and replace it. I had remembered Natalie from Miss Natty’s Beauty Diary say she had used Hard Candy Glamoflauge before and loved it (you can read her review here) and frankly if that gal told me rubbing peanut butter on my face was the next hot thing, I’d at least try it. I had to look at 2 different Wal Marts but I finally found a selection of these concealers. I don’t remember the exact price but this tube was around $7, much cheaper than $21 price tag of the Pro Longwear. I picked up the shade ‘light’ and it’s perfect for my skin tone.



The things I like most about this concealer are similar to the aspects I loved about the Pro Longwear. It is so blendable, almost to the point that no blending is even needed. It melts right into your foundation and some light tapping to smooth out the edges is all that is really required. This concealer is quite a bit thicker and more heavy than the Pro Longwear (the packaging says it can be used to cover tattoos. I don’t have any to test it on but I thought that was an impressive claim) and a little goes a long way. I have not had any creasing problems with this product as I have with other under-the-eye concealers, and it really covers. I have a small problem area on my chin right now and a little dab of this truly conceals any redness.



After using Glamoflauge for a couple months I don’t feel the need to go back to Pro Longwear. With the price of this concealer and it’s easier availability to me I am quite satisfied to say it is my new go-to. Once I learned that only a small amount was needed (the above dot would do for a week, no joke) I have been really happy with this product and think Hard Candy has done a great job with an inexpensive offering. I would highly recommend checking this out.

$1 cardigan

You know I love a good bargain but an exceptional bargain is something I get really excited about.

The other day when I was in Wal Mart I happened past a $5 clearance rack and saw these cute grey cardigans. I love me a cardigan so I stopped to take a look. I am on a shopping hiatus right now as there is nothing I need and I don’t wear all of what I’ve got. But a cardigan, there’s always room for a cardigan. I liked the fit and the light grey is versatile so I thought that for $5 this was allowed to come home with me. Wouldn’t you believe my surprise when I took it to the till and it rang through at $1! One dollah! I thought a $5 cardigan was a steal but a $1 cardigan is a joke, a purchase my deal-attracting-mother would be proud of.  She always takes things to the till just to have them ring in cheaper and I’m pretty happy she’s passed on those genes to me.



What’s your greatest bargain story? I once bought an $85 toaster oven for $30 because it was priced wrong, that was a good deal. Or the $20 jeans I loved so much I went back to buy another pair and they were marked down to $10. Or the jacket I bought for $15 when the original tag was for over $60.  I love a bargain.