Get Ready With Me: Gryffindor Girl

Well, this is going to be quite the ordeal, isn't it?

As you may know, Harry freaking Potter's birthday is on July 31st. (Also, shout out to my cousin Devin who shares a birthday with Harry Potter. So: happy birthday, Cous.) Anyway, to celebrate the birthday of The Boy Who (I guess technically never really) Lived, I decided to put together a Harry Potter inspired look. Since the great HP was housed in Gryffindor, I went so far as to betray my totally Ravenclaw heart and rep the crimson and gold. (It's all for you, Harry. All for you.)

Now, as you may know, I'm all about the ALMAY. So, my first three steps were exclusively ALMAY. I used ALMAY smart shade perfect and correct primer as my primer. I mentioned this stuff in my June Favorites video, because I am such a fan. Then, I used ALMAY smart shade cc cream complexion corrector. I love this stuff because I really think it's correcting some flaws, discolorations, and scarring that impact my complexion. Plus: it has an SPF of 35, which is always nice in the summer time. Then, I covered up any other blemishes/discolorations/etc. with ALMAY clear complexion concealer which as been my preferred concealer for quite some time now.

Next, I moved on to my eyes. I used LORAC eyelid primer to prep my eyelids. Now, I'm pretty new to using primer at all, and I'm definitely new to using eyelid primer, but I started using this stuff and, honestly? I feel like a complete fool for not using all sorts of primers years ago! It's crazy the way makeup just lasts throughout the day if you appropriately prep your face first.

Next, I used one of my absolute favorite eyeshadows all over my lids: L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Iced Latte. Then, I dusted Maybelline Color Tattoo Pure Pigments in Breaking Bronze along the crease at the corners of my eyelids--the way you would do a smokey eye. I used ULTA's "beauty gem" eyeshadow pallet--specifically, the chocolate brown color--and a small brush to apply dark, brown eye shadow as eyeliner along my eyelashes. (The beauty gems pallet was a seasonal product, but the dark chocolatey brown is pretty much a staple in most eye shadow pallets.)

I used Anastasia Beverly Hills Eyebrow Gel to keep my eyebrows in place. I got this in a Birchbox. I don't know how I would feel about paying $22.00 for eyebrow gel, but my friend Katie Sierra uses Anastasia Tinted Eyebrow Gel and she gives pretty solid advice... SO...

Anyway! For my mascara, I used ALMAY intense i-color volumizing mascara in mocha.

I used pur Mineral Glow Pressed Mineral Powder to contour my face (just below my cheekbones, up around my temples). Then, I dusted NYC Cheek Glow Powdered Blush in Central Park Pink up along my cheek bones. I used Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation to set the look.

I threw my hair into two fishtail braids and flat ironed my bangs to really capture the boarding school wizard look. For my lips, I used NIVEA a Kiss of Milk and Honey to moisturize and NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Monte Carlo to color. (I am a huge fan of the NYX soft matte lip creams. I avidly recommend them.)

I also switched up my nails to embrace the Gryffindor theme. I started by using Sally Hansen Extra Strength Nail Polish Remover, a few cotton balls, and a few cotton swabs to remove my pre-existing nail polish. Then, I washed and dried my hands.

For my nails, I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Nail Hardener as a base coat. Then, on my thumbs, index fingers, and pinky fingers, I used Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine Nail Color in Burgundy Frost as a primary color coat, with butterLONDON Lacquer in Rosie Lee as a top coat. On my middle and ring fingers, I used Sinful Colors in This Is It as a primary color coat with Wet'n'Wild fastdry in Gold & The Beautiful as a top coat.

Then, for my Gryffindor wardrobe:

I wore:

• Cardigan: Walmart, $5.00
• Shirt: The Parents, $0.00
• Owl Necklace: Amazon.com, $0.99+s&h
• Skirt: Vanity, $16.00
• Socks: Target, $5.00
• Boots: Payless, $50.00

And that is my Harry Potter inspired Gryffindor look. You can checkout my full Gryffindor Girl fashion blog post here! Here's a collection of other things to get you in the witchcraft and wizardry Hogwarts spirit! 

• My Friend Jacob's Very Potter Medley
• A Very Potter Musical (Team StarKid)
• A Very Potter Sequel (Team StarKid)
• A Very Potter Senior Year (Team StarKid)
• My Harry Potter Foods Video!

Orange Julius!

Okay, friends. The hot July skies are PROBABLY starting to get to you by now, am I right? Well. If that's the case, I have the perfect treat for you. An Orange Julius! This is a pretty simple recipe because your blender should do basically all of the work for you.

Okay! So, step one:

Throw about 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt into a blender.

Add about 1/3 cup of frozen orange juice concentrate into the blender.

Now, add 2/3 to 1 cup of your preferred milk. Here, I used Vanilla Soymilk. But I definitely would have preferred Vanilla Almond Milk. Pro-tip: if you're younger than, I don't know, 40, Almond Milk is actually, usually a better milk-alternative for you. In children and young adults soymilk can negatively impact your hormones.

I mean, you would have to drink a lot of soymilk. But still. 

Those are all of your ingredients. So you just blend it up and then it's done!

And now you have a nice, cool, refreshing beverage. Happy July. 

Get Ready With Me! Red Lips + Fishtail Braid.

Okay! Start to finish, this is the look that we're creating!

See? It's lovely. What with the fishtail braid and the red red lips? Right. Let's get started.

You want to start off with your regular old every day what you were born with face. See? My unmasked face has lots of discoloration and several spots of acne. Also a giant nose, but my masked up face has that, too. So. You know.

Then, I used NYX Pore Filler as my primer. As you can see, it was on its last leg. Side note: I really liked how this primer worked on my face. I was very pro this primer. I like my new primer better, but, you know. This stuff was good, too. 

Okay, anyway. Then used a Sugargoop CC Cream which came from one of my Birchboxes. I liked the stuff, but it's $32.00. So, you know, I probably won't officially adopt it into my official makeup regime until... well, until I can afford $32.00 CC Creams. Also, maybe not even then, because I really like my new CC Cream and it's cheaper. But, you know, who knows?

Then, I covered up bits of discoloration and spots of acne with my ALMAY Clear Complexion Blemish Heal Concealer. It's my favorite concealer. Does it actually heal blemishes? Meh, maybe not. But does it conceal nice and smoothly without making my skin worse? Yes. Thank you. Sign me up.

Okay! Then, for my eyes, I used L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in Iced Latte. I used this one all over my lid. Literally, from my lashline to my brow bone. Just covered the whole thing Iced Latte. AS YOU DO. 

Next, I used Napoleon Perdis Loose Eye Dust in Pink Champagne (which I got in a box of stuff for $19.00 at ULTA. It was a pretty sweet haul. I also got eyelid primer, eyebrow gel, and some butter nail polish. SO.) I dusted the Pink Champagne eye dust over my eyelids with a little bit extra focus on the crease of my eyelids.

Then, I used my ALMAY intense i-color volumizing mascara in mocha as my mascara. 

Next: powdery things! Okay, I used Pur Mineral Glow Powder for my bronzer--side note, I'm like 86% sure I also got it from that ULTA box. It was $19.00 well spent.--and I just dusted below my cheekbone, as you do. For my blush, I used bareMinerals blush in Kiss which I dusted over the apples of my cheeks. Then, I set the look with my tarte Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder which is basically the best thing ever and I love it so much okay thanks bye.

Okay, next, I used some spearmint chapstick that I got in a bundle pack from Trader Joes one time when my lips were super chapped and I left the house for the day without chapstick. Anyway, I got like 6-8 in the pack for only a few dollars, but somehow I can't find any of them? 

And I used NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Monte Carlo to finish my look.

And there you have it! We're done. Here's the finished product:

Oooh. Woooh. So pretty. Vair classy. So nice. Lovely. Way to makeup. Yay. 

Sorry. I wrote this when I was pretty tired. I'm not revising it, though. It's going straight to you as is. Congratulations!

Banana Chocolate Chip Smoothie!

So, it's July. And if you're living in the Midwest like I am, you know that means it's hot as hades. The best way to handle excessive heat is to have a nice frozen beverage for breakfast. So, since we're such good friends, I'll give you my not-so-secret recipe for a delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Smoothie!

 Okay! So. Here's what you'll need:

• Vanilla Almond Milk (if you can't swing this, any sort of milk + a bit of vanilla extract + a teaspoon of sugar will achieve a similar effect.)
• Rolled Oats
• Dark Chocolate Chips
• Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 Banana Worth of Frozen Banana Slices

Now, what I like to do is buy a bushel of bananas, slice them up, put them in sandwich bags, and freeze them at the beginning of the week. That way, you can have frozen banana based smoothies every day. Point is, you want to start out with one banana's worth of frozen banana slices. This gives you a nice texture to your smoothie PLUS you don't have to use ice (AKA the bane of my smoothie making existence). So: frozen bananas? Good. Frozen water? Less so.

Put your frozen banana slices in a blender along with...

One cup of vanilla almond milk (or whatever), one tablespoon creamy peanut butter, 1/4th cup rolled oats, and a handful of dark chocolate chips.

Then, you blend that all up and produce one freaking delicious smoothie. 

Some days, I might have this for breakfast on its own. Other days, I'll eat it with... toast and jam! Or whatever, but mostly toast and jam. They pair well.

Patriotic Nails!

So, as we all know, 4th of July, AKA the day that everyone's patriotic levels increases by 20-120%, is JUST AROUND THE CORNER. It's a day for legally blowing things up. It's a day for eating watermelon and corn on the cob. And it's a day for decking yourself out in red, white, and blue as though wearing any other colors may get you shunned from the community. So, to help you embrace your patriotism and transform into a living, breathing flag, I'm going to show you how to give yourself a patriotic manicure!

Now, there are two looks that I'll be showing. And, what's this? Yeah. You have two hands. So, you can be like me and have a different style on each hand, or you can opt to do the less-crazy-not-writing-a-blogpost-about-it-just-walking-around-living-my-normal-everyday-look thing. Whichever you prefer.

First we have the four blue nails, one red/white striped nail, and a star. Or multiple stars. I don't care. I just did one, but you can do whatever.

So, I used four polishes. To start, I used Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Nail Hardener as a base coat because sometimes my nails get pretty weak and flake off. What? Too much information? Sorry.

Then, for my thumb, index finger, middle finger, and pinkie finger, I used Sinful Colors Endless Blue. I did 2-3 layers on each nail. Next, I used Petites Rock N Red on my ring finger.

At this point, I dipped my nails into cold water in thirty second intervals spanning a minute and a half. This, ironically, helps your nail polish dry faster and helps prevent you from smearing it all over the place.

Then, I used a Salon Perfect Nail Art Pen in White to draw a star on my thumb and a few white stripes on my ring finger. I wasn't able to find a link to the Salon Perfect Nail Art Pen, but I believe I got it at Walmart for pretty cheap. That having been said, I found it a little difficult to use. To be honest, that could be because I don't have a lot of nail art pen experience, but it also could be because it's a cheap nail art pen. Probably a little bit of both.

Then, I used the Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Nail Hardener again as my top coat. After which, I dipped my nails in cold water for thirty second intervals spanning a minute and a half again.

All right! On to the second patriotic nail look: four blue/white polkadoted nails and one red one!

Okay! So, just like with the first look, I coated my nails in Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Nail Hardener as my base coat. Once again, I used Sinful Colors Endless Blue on my thumb, index finger, middle finger, and pinkie finger. Once again, I used Petites Rock N Red on my ring finger. And, once again, I dipped my nails in cold water for thirty second intervals spanning a minute and a half.

Then, I used the Salon Perfect Nail Art Pen in White to polkadot my blue nails. And then I used Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Nail Hardener as a top coat, and I dipped my nails in cold water for thirty second intervals spanning a minute and a half.

Personally, I think it would be cute to have horizontal stripes on the red nail, but since this look went on my dominant hand, I just couldn't swing it.

Anyway! There you have it. You're now all set to play frisbee and blow stuff up in the name of Independence!

Lush Moisturizers!

So, one of my dearest darlingest friends works at Lush. So, the other day, I tweeted about not liking face masks that didn't feel like they were setting your pores on fire with a hot flaming sword, she quickly responded with a face mask suggestion. So, I made my second-ever trip to Lush to get the "Mask of Magnaminty." She also recommended some face scrub, and I kind of always wanted to try the Cupcake Face Mask.

Now, Lush is the sort of store where the people working are super helpful. The girl helping me out suggested I go with a new face-bar-cleanser-deal instead of the face scrub (for now, but I'm going to try out Renee's suggestion sometime, too, because Renee's face is flawless), informed me that the Cupcake Face Mask needs to be refrigerated (meaning I couldn't buy it that particular trip, but, I still really want to try it out), and set me up with three moisturizers.

That's more background than you needed to know. But that's what you get. I'm all about the over-informative spiel.

So, I'm going to review the moisturizers here!

Celestial Moisturizer

Stuff I Liked:

• It makes my face smell like an orange julius. I love orange juiliuses. 
• It soaked into my face as soon as I put it on. So, I wasn't left with a slimy, lotiony feeling. Plus, I could go to my primer, like, right away without having to wait around for it to set. 
• It didn't break out my face, which was nice.

Stuff I Didn't Like:

• It also didn't do anything for my breakouts. It didn't, like, even out my skin or reduce my acne. I mean, that's not stuff I necessarily need from a moisturizer, but... it'd be nice.
• When I was using it, my lips got super dried out. Now, there's not necessarily a correlation. Sometimes, I just have super dry lips. But, I was wearing lipstick a lot fairly recently without any problems, and I don't think I was really using any other new products. So, it could be related. 
• Also, I had a dry patch of skin near chin, where I also had a bit of a breakout. Now, the dry skin is probably directly related to the breakout, but... shouldn't wearing moisturizer everyday limit that? Hmmm?

Vanishing Cream

Stuff I Liked:

• Like the Celestial Moisturizer, it soaked into my face as soon as I put it on--so! No nasty-lotiony feeling, which is always nice.
• My skin, at the beginning of the day, looked really nice. Like, smooth. 
• It didn't breakout my skin, which is nice. And, I'm not saying it was necessarily as a result of the moisturizer, but my skin even seemed to clear up a bit. I mean, not a ton, but a bit. 

Stuff I Didn't Like:

• I did not like the scent. It reminded me of model magic mixed in with a bit of doctor's office. Not appealing. 
• My skin, at the end of the day, looked dry and clumpy. How does one's face look dry and clumpy? I'm not quite sure, but that's the best description I have for it. 

Imperialis Moisturizer

Stuff I Liked:

• It actually worked like moisturizer! Like, after wearing it for a week or so, my face is completely free of dry patches! Even places where I've been using acne medication. SO...
• Like the other two, it soaked into my face as soon as I put it on. Which is nice. And now that I'm out of Lush moisturizer samples, I'm back to using Clindamycin Phosphate Lotion which is fine, except... it makes my face all slimy and lotion-y. I super miss having a moisturizer that soaks into my face quickly. 
• It didn't break out my skin. I have really sensitive skin, so I'm a fan of anything that doesn't actively harm it.

Stuff I Didn't Like:

• It smelled gross. Like sweat and chlorine. Seriously, if a face cream is going to have the audacity to smell like summertime, it should at least match that with the decency to smell like sea salt and mango popsicles. 
• It didn't really do anything for my skin. If it kind of cleared up my acne or evened my skin tone? That'd be great.

Overall, I thought all were kind of "meh." But, I was stoked about the whole soak-up-as-soon-as-it-hits-my-skin thing. Of the three, I'd pick the Imperialis Moisturizer because it worked best as a moisturizer. But, I liked the smell of the Celestial Moisturizer better than almost anything I've ever put on my face. 

Get Ready With Me: Gold Eyelids and Fishtail Braid

Before/After

Okay! We should start this Get Ready With Me with... makeup! Now, I'm going to present it like I do all of my makeup and then I go on to something else. That isn't true. Usually, I take a really long time doing my makeup because I watch whatever I would've watched the night before if I watched TV in the evening and I check all of my social network sites while getting ready. Plus, halfway through makeup-ing, I usually make my breakfast. You don't need to know all of that, really, but since we're doing a "get ready with me" I thought I'd be honest about how this doesn't really reflect my "process."

So, first, I used LUSH Vanishing Cream Moisturizer as my moisturizer. Not too long ago, I bought a bunch of LUSH products and they gave me several moisturizer samples. I'm going to review all of them on here pretty soon, so watch out for that.

Next, I used Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser as my primer. I've been looking for a cheaper version of Dr. Brandt's Pores No More primer because I loved that stuff. I've heard some good things about the Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser, but, quite frankly, it's slimy and significantly less impressive than Dr. Brandt's Pores No More. It's disappointing.

As per usual, I used ALMAY Clear Complexion Blemish Heal Concealer. I'm practically obsessed with this stuff.

For my liquid foundation, I used Neutrogena's SkinClearing Liquid Makeup. I'm still looking for a really good liquid foundation that will help my numerous skin problems. This one suffices, but I'm not stoked about it.

I used e.l.f. Studio Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder for contouring. I did your run of the mill make-a-duck-face and splash the bronzer just below your cheekbone, grin and color the apples of your cheeks in with blush, blush/bronzing technique. 

Then, I set my face with ALMAY Smart Shade Loose Finishing Powder. 

For my eyes, I coated my eyelid and brow bone in L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Iced Latte. Then, I dusted Maybelline Color Tatto Pure Pigments in Breaking Bronze in the corners of my lids.

I lined Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Liner in Black Black over two-thirds of my upper lash line, missing the corner of my lids to keep my eyes "open." As usual, I use my Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Mascara, which is pretty much my favorite black mascara.

Now, on to hair!

I have crazy amount of thick, frizzy, and curly hair. So, after sacrificing a hairband or two, I beat it into a fishtail braid. And I would totally tell you how to do a fishtail braid, but... it'd be kind of hard to tell you, I'd have to show you. Speaking of, should I do a fishtail braid tutorial on my beautythekat youtube channel?

Now, for breakfast... I had an orange julius and chocolate peanut butter oatmeal. Recipes? Okay, here you go.

Orange Julius

Blend:

1 Frozen Banana

1/4th cup of Concentrated Orange Juice

3/4th-1 cup of Vanilla Almond Milk

1 splash of Vanilla Extract

1 dash of Sugar

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal

1. Bring 1 cup of vanilla almond milk to a boil
2. Stir in 1/2 cup of rolled oats
3. Follow instructions on box, you may have to let the oatmeal boil anywhere from 1-7 minutes
4. Stir in 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips

After breakfast, I brushed my teeth with my Crest Be Inspired Vanilla Mint Spark Toothpaste. I mentioned it in my April Favorites video. It's a pretty nice toothpaste, you guys. 

Then, post toothbrushing, I used my NIVEA "A Kiss of Milk & Honey" Soothing Lip Care chapstick? lipbalm? stuff. Then, I colored my lips with NYX Matte Lip Cream in "Prague." 

Then, uh, here's the finished product: