Beauty Tips, Tricks & Secrets!

I love makeup, and everything to do with it. But, I don't always have the money, nor time to spend on getting dolled up. That's why I wanted to share a few cost effective, quick and unique makeup/beauty tips.

Need Nail Polish To Dry Fast?
Put a drop of vegetable oil, or vegetable oil cooking spray on your nails after painting them. It dries them instantly!

Want Clean Makeup Brushes?
Use baby shampoo! It's less expensive and way more convenient than brush cleaner. It's also less harsh and will not ruin your brushes.


Want Longer Lashes?
Put Vaseline all over your eyelashes overnight. Just be careful not to get any in your eyes. Vaseline provides excellent conditioning and moisturizing for lashes that are dry and brittle. It helps strengthen your eyelashes, and aids new thicker hair growth.



Ran out of makeup remover?
Don't go to bed with hard to wash off mascara still on your lashes. Just squirt a little moisturizer on a q-tip, and rub in on your lashes. Wait a couple seconds then wash off. It does the same thing as most makeup remover creams.


Need A Lip balm A.S.A.P?
Just go into your kitchen (or bathroom) and use any one of these items: Olive oil, Coconut oil, Sweet almond oil, Shea butter, Cocoa butter, Jojoba oil, Vitamin E. They all moisturize dry, cracked lips beautifully!


Need To Sharpen Your Eyeliner?
Place it in the freezer first, it will sharpen much easier. Especially in muggy and hot weather.



Eyes Aren't As Bright As They Should Be?

Use a light blue pencil or shadow under the eyes. The color blue works as a brightener.  Have Under Eye Bags And Circles? There are many different tricks that can be used, here are a few of my favorite: Raw potato slices contain potassium to take away dark circles under the eye. To alleviate puffy, swollen eyes place bags of frozen peas under the eyes. More remedies for under eye bags- cucumber slices, or wet tea bags. Want Whiter Teeth? Peroxide and baking soda used as a toothpaste will whiten teeth. Going to Dye Your Hair? Don't wash it! - Only dye hair that has not been washed for 1 day. The natural hair oils will assist in making the hair color application more successful. The color will cling better to hair that is not dry.

Want To Get Rid Of Breakouts?
Use apple cider vinegar, it's perfect for fighting acne. Use it daily and you'll see results. You can dab it on with a cotton pad, or make a mixture. Steep a handful of clarifying parsley, then mix the cooled infusion in a spray bottle with a splash of vinegar and a few drops of tea tree oil.



Need To Shave?
Be sure to exfoliate your skin before shaving. It gets rid of all the dead skin cells that could clog up your razor, preventing a close shave. Wait until after your shower to shave. The steam softens hairs for smoother results. Don’t use creams that contain heavy fragrance or alpha hydroxy acids on freshly shaven legs. They’ll sting and cause rashes.




Have Annoying Flyaways?
Use a dryer sheet. All you have to do is rub the sheet on your hair! The cling of a dryer sheet will get rid of that nasty bedhead!


Want A New Nail Polish Color?
Make any shade with eyeshadow, and clear polish! All you have to do is take any old eyeshadow you like the color of. Use a toothpick to scrape the eyeshadow out. Then place the shadow in any clean nail polish. Shake, well, and you're done!

Want To Make A Face Mask?

This mask is best for women (or even men) who have oily skin. The ingredients to make the mask are: 1banana, preferably ripe, 1 tbsp honey and an orange or a lemon! Mix the banana and honey together in a bowl. Add a few drops of juice from an orange or a lemon. Apply to face for 15 minutes, then rinse.

Simple & Delicious Chocolate Truffles!

If you're looking for an easy and delicious chocolate truffle recipe, you've came to the right place. My family absolutely loves this recipe, and the best part is it's gluten free!

Ingredients:
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon extract (I use vanilla)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Toppings of your choice such as coconut, cocoa, nuts, sprinkles etc.

Place only the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.

 Heat in microwave at 50% power. Constantly check chocolate to make sure it doesn't burn. (Stir occasionally as well) Melt until chocolate is completely melted.

Combine the vanilla and sweetened condensed milk with the melted chocolate.

Allow ingredients to chill in the fridge. (At least two hours!)

When chocolate is ready to use, it will be easy to handle.

Shape into 1-inch balls

Roll into desired toppings, then they are ready to serve!


I used cocoa powder, nuts, chocolate sprinkles and coconut flakes for toppings.

Happy Mothers Day 2012

Just wanted to make a quick little blog to wish all the amazing mommies in the world a happy day! May you all be appreciated not just today, but EVERYDAY! Sending lots of love to you all! ♥

***

My mother stayed over at our apartment last night. When we woke up, we had a surprise breakfast made! My fiance cooked us both a delicious breakfast. Ham, bacon, eggs, toast... The works! It was a great surprise! I also got some beautiful presents, I'm so thankful to have such great boys.

DIY Silhouette Wall Art

I wanted to give my mother something unique for mothers day. Instead of the typical flowers, jewelery or chocolate. I made her wall art of her favorite little boy, her grandson! I started off by getting my son to stand in front of a window. I made sure to have him look straight ahead, then I snapped a picture quickly.

Afterwards I uploaded the image to my computer, and enlarged it to the size I wanted. I then cropped it and edited it to my liking. (I used the ''vivid" setting on my picture editing program. It brought out the black, and made Tyson's silhouette pop!)

I gathered all the supplies I needed to create the silhouette wall art. I purchased a 12x16 canvas, paint and paintbrushes. I also printed out the picture I edited of Ty's silhouette, and cut it out!

Trace the silhouette using a pencil. Don't worry if it's not perfect, you'll be painting it, and it can be fixed easily.

Paint the silhouette using black paint! (Or any color of your choice!)

Once the silhouette is completely dry, add a background color. I wanted to keep it neutral. (You will then be able to fix any mistakes with the background color.)

This part is optional -- Since this is a gift for my mother, I wanted to add a little extra something. I painted my little guys hand and foot, then made prints of them on the canvas.

I also painted "Nana's Boy" on the bottom of the picture. (Oh, and I can't forget the three little hearts!) Ta-Da! :) A very simple, and great keepsake! It's not perfect, but, we know Nana will love it!

How To Make Microwave Popcorn

This is an incredibly simple way to make popcorn. It's also very inexpensive and a great alternative to commercial bagged popcorn!
All you need is:
All you need is:
- 1/4 cup popcorn kernels
- Paper lunch bag
- Microwave
Optional: Butter/oil and seasonings

Place popcorn kernels into brown paper bag, and fold the bag a couple times. (If you plan on seasoning your popcorn, adding butter/oil first will help the seasonings stick to the popcorn.) Then place the bag into a microwave. Cook at full power for 2 minutes, or until you hear pauses of about 2 seconds between pops. Carefully open the bag to avoid steam, and pour into a serving bowl.

DIY Earring Holder

This simple DIY earring holder only cost me two dollars to make. I purchased the materials I needed from my local Dollarstore. If you're interested in creating your own, all you need is:

- A frame of your choice

- Shelf/door liner

- Scissors

Once you have all the materials, measure out how much liner you'll need to fit your frame. To make sure I had the correct measurements, I used the paper backing that came with the frame as a guideline.

Then, place the liner in the frame, along with the paper backing, glass and the back of the picture frame. 

Once everything is placed together, your frame should look similar to this.

 I added a small butterfly decoration for color. But, this is of course optional. You can make it as fancy as you want, or leave it plain.

And, here is the final product! It took a maximum of 10 minutes to put together!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust Recipe

Recipe:
1/2 Cauliflower "riced"
1 cup shredded cheese
1 egg
Spices of choice
Toppings of choice
Pizza sauce
Cooking spray

The first thing you want to do, is grate the cauliflower. To do so, I used a standard cheese grater. You can also use a food processor.

For this recipe I'm doubling it up. I'm using a whole cauliflower, instead of half. This will make two nine inch pizzas, instead of one.

 
Once the cauliflower is grated, place it in the microwave for 8 minutes. The moisture from the cauliflower will allow it to soften. There is no need to add water, or other liquid.

Add all ingredients and mix well. The texture will look and feel somewhat like an actual dough. For spices I used garlic powder, onion powder and chili spice. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Grease a pizza pan, and evenly devide the "dough". If you wish, you can add extra spices on top of the pizza. Basil and oregano are great choices! Put the dough into the oven to bind all the ingredients together. Allow to cook for 12-15 minutes.

while the dough is cooking, you can prepare your toppings. For this pizza I used chicken, red onions, green peppers and marbled cheese.

The pizza should come out of the oven looking similar to this, It should have a golden brown shade.

Place all toppings onto the pizza as you wish, then bake until all the cheese is melted. You can also broil the pizza if you prefer crispy pizza

 And, here is the final product! It's absolutely delicious, and even my 4 year old LOVES it!

The pizza cuts great too! :) I hope you all enjoy! It's a favorite in our home!