Homemade Skincare Pt. 1: Oatmeal Facial Scrub!

At FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising), the students majoring in beauty have the pleasure of having some pretty amazing professors! One of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Habermeyer, assigned a six part homemade skincare recipe group project for us all to do. They were really fun to experiment with and very inexpensive! My two group members and I had a great time with this 'homework' assignment!

The first one that I did was a Gentle Facial Exfoliator Scrub:

1/2 cup ground oatmeal

1/4 cup powdered milk

1 teaspoon cornmeal

water

I normally like my facial scrubs to really scratch my face so that I can tell my face is really getting clean. Well, the truth of the matter is, scrubs that have too harsh of scrubbing beads or particles actually hurt your skin. They strip and can cause damage to your skin. The oatmeal scrub is so gentle and soothing to the skin! It left my skin feeling so smooth and soft! When enough water is added, the substance glides on like a paste and not as if it's regular oatmeal!

All ingredients for this recipe can be bought at your local grocery store!

*this recipe can be a bit messy, I would suggest applying while getting in the shower that way it will be less mess!

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YouTube Tutorials!

I love watching those makeup tutorial videos on YouTube! They are so fun and you can learn a lot from the girls (or guys) who make them. I recently stumbled across a new member that I had never seen before and I fell in love! Her YouTube username is MakeupGeekTv and she's absolutely fabulous! While she was giving tips, I was grooving right along with her!! She gave me some new tricks! YES!
These are two of my favorite videos:

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2010's 'IT' Color: Turquoise!

Color authority Pantone has proclaimed that Turquoise will be the 'IT' color for 2010! Fabulous, because I just bought Makeup Forever's Turquoise Matte 72 eyeshadow! I guess I'm right on track for 2010! Celebs such as Zoe Saldana, Blake Lively, Megan Fox, Eva Mendes and more have been gracing the red carpets in stunning shades of this soothing, aquatic color!

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Happy New Year!! 2010 Is Here!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Can you believe it's twothousandandten?? Where does the time go?! How did you guys ring in the new year? I had every intention on staying in the house, mainly because I'm not a clubbing person. A friend of mine, at the last minute, was like "let's go out!" So I did...and I drank...and I'm not a drinker. To make a long story short, I did NOT ring in the new year on the good foot. I had a GREAT time until those drinks set in, oh man! May be no big deal to everyone else, but when I let myself down I feel like I let people around me down too. But at least I have 364 more days to get 2010 to make up for my first mishap of the year! *As you can see in the picture, I was 'feeling it'...*

What are some of your new year resolutions? I want to hear them! Here are a few of mine!

1. To become even closer with God!
2. To become even closer with MYSELF, and putting 100% more efforts into my making my dreams come true!!
3. Be more giving, doing more charity and volunteer work!
4. Overall being a better person!

Yes I have four resolutions, but I think they are fairly easy to keep if I truly focus on them!! May 2010 bring nothing but things for you all!

I'll leave you guys with my motto for 2010. A friend of mine posted this quote to her facebook and I immediately fell in love with it!

"In 2009 I was walking INTO my purpose, in 2010 I will be walking IN my purpose according to HIS will!"

Find your purpose and and run with it! :)

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Secrets to Obtaining Healthy, Strong, Beautiful Nails!

For one of my final presentations, I decided to give all of my secrets to obtaining beautiful and healthy natural nails! A true beautiful nail is one that is naturally taken care of, no acrylic powders and/or gels!

Problems:

Discolored nails?

Unusual shapes?

Dents or ridges?

There are a variety of things you can do to prevent your nails from being damaged and unhealthy. Nutrition is a major factor in how your nails look.

1. Vitamin A and Calcium are essential for preventing nails from becoming brittle and dry.
2. Vitamin C helps with painful hangnails.
3. Zinc prevents those annoying little white spots from appearing on your nail bed.
4. Vitamin B12 assists in preventing nails from becoming dry, like Vitamin A, but it also helps them from becoming dark and discolored.
5. Biotin and Iron help with nail thickness.
6. Eating foods that are rich with these vitamin can also help if you're not into taking actual pills. Lots of spinach (Vitamin B) and yogurt (Calcium and Protein) can help lengthen your nails.
7. Carrot juice contains high levels of Calcium and Phosphorus (for brittle nails).
8. Last but certainly not least, your diet should contain 50% fruits and vegetables!

Now for the Do's and Dont's of natural nail care!

1. Don't let anyone use your emery board, they carry your germs and can pick up the germs of others.
2. File and trim nails regularly. File in one direction, sawing back and forth can cause breakage and splitting.
3. Moisturize your nails daily and cuticles daily.
4. Don't go bare foot in public places, i.e. swimming pools and/or locker rooms. Those are breeding fields for germs and fungi.
5. No biting or picking at your nails or cuticles.
6. Keep your nails clean. Clean under your nails to prevent fungi from growing under them.
7. Keep nails short and oval shaped. Short, oval shaped nails are less likely to break or crack.

How to keep them nice and pretty!

Going to the salon for manicures is a good way to keep your nails healthy. BUT make sure the manicurist really knows what he/she is doing. If you don't want to pay someone each week for a manicure, you can always get funky and do them yourself! Pick up a manicure kit and outrageous nail laquers at a local drug or beauty supply store and have a girls night in with all your friends!

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Smashbox 'Springs' In The New Year!

With the start of a new year, most cosmetic company are beginning to launch their Spring 2010 campaigns. I always love Smashbox's themes and story lines for their seasonal collections, and Spring 2010 - Heartbreaker is no different.....
Here's to 'Breaking Hearts' in 2010! ==> http://tinyurl.com/yhrum72

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Urban Decay 24/7!

I am one of those people that when it's time to replenish any of my cosmetics I like to try a new brand just to see what's out there! This time I ran out of BOTH my liquid eyeliner and my pencil liner...I know right?! So off to Sephora I went! I marked up my entire hand with every eye liner in the store and only one of them stood out, Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide - On Eye Pencil. This is by far the BEST black eye pencil I have ever used! They really live up to their name, they glide on so smoothly and the last ALL DAY LONG! They don't smudge very easily either, I'm in love! & for $17, it doesn't get much better than that!
Urban Decay, going all night long in all different colors! ==> http://tinyurl.com/6basgc

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