Foundation 101

In any project, you must first lay a good foundation to have a desirable outcome..and the same goes for makeup. We've all seen or been that girl..I know I have...whose foundation color was a little off whether it be the shade or the wrong undertone and you looked like an Oompa Loompa or a ghost, neither of which is a good look. 

It's a mystery for a lot of women trying to determine what shade and correct undertone is right for them. It's a constant cycle..as soon as I find my perfect shade for the summer with my nice tan..it starts to get cold and you lose that nice glow and you have to start from square one all over again. I want to share with you a few tips and tricks on how to find your perfect foundation. 

First, you need to figure out what undertones you have in your skin. You are either warm, cool, or neutral. In the picture below you can see the huge difference the undertones can make. All 3 of these foundations are the same shade but the first is warm with more yellowy tones in it, the middle one is neutral, and the last one is cool and you can see just how pink it looks when compared side by side to the others. 

If you have warmer undertones, the veins in your wrist appear more green than blue, you tan easily in the sun, or gold jewelry flatters your skin. The majority, not all, of women with darker eyes have warm undertones. The foundations that you are going to want to look for are more yellow than they are pink..you are going to want to stay away from all the really pink looking foundations. 

If you have cooler undertones then the veins in your wrists are going to appear more blue than green, you tend to burn a little easier in the sun, maybe be a little more freckled, and silver jewelry looks better on you versus gold. Foundations you want are going to be slightly pinker in color, shades with the words "biege" or "almond" are code words for pink. 

Now, if you have a neutral undertone, you can't really tell if the veins in your arm are more blue or more green, both gold and silver are flattering on you. This is kind of an ideal undertone because you can pull off almost anything as long as it's not too pink or too yellow. 

Once you've deciphered that, it's pretty simple as far as finding the right shade that is going to fit your skin. Until you get really comfortable in finding what shade you need I would highly recommend going into a Sephora or Ulta or a MAC so that you can actually swatch the foundations and not play the guessing game in the drugstore. Be wary of MAC counters though..I have warm undertones and my shade at MAC is NC25 you would think that means that I have cooler skin..MAC is the only cosmetic brand that for some reason unknown to me has flipped the system..so think of it this way, NC stands for Not Cool and NW stands for Not Warm.

When you are color matching make sure you match the foundation to your neck and chest and not your face, most people's faces are a completely different shade altogether and the whole reason for doing all this is so that you will match right? So make sure you match it to your neck and chest and then go outside in natural sunlight and look in a mirror..sunlight is the BEST lighting when it comes to makeup and it will be the true test as to whether or not it matches you correctly. 

Life update!!

So it's been awhile since I've made a post..kinda been neglecting it. 

Got caught up with life stuff, school has started back for me and John so we are trying to get back into the swing of things after almost 5 weeks off! (John and I are still trying to coordinate who gets the computer on which nights)

The boys are such a handful as always but lately it's been on a whole new level. 

Landry has so much to tell me now and it's so funny to carry on little conversations with him. 

A few examples..

Landry playing in his room with his trains.."oh no! Look out! Be careful, follow the signs!" Lol 

During the day I leave our bedroom door closed and randomly Landry will go open out door and poke his head through and say "hi Dabby, I love you!" And then close it...even though John isn't home. Pretty sweet. 

Speaking of pretty sweet this past week he was giving me lots of kisses and I told him he was a sweet boy..he then looked at me and said "yea I sweet boy....and I ca-ute too!" :) 

Baylor is cutting more teeth..joy! 

But he has also learned how to take off his diapers...lots of nasty messes to clean. 

The weather here has been really odd..but that's Louisiana for you. Monday is was 75 and sunny, we spent a few hours at the park and had an iice cream date. It was gorgeous! Thursday it was freezing over and snowing! Two days later it's 60 and pretty again..definitely ready for spring to be here! 

A few pics of us enjoying the pretty day together! 

DIY Body Scrub

So I've been brainstorming the last couple days on what to talk about, and I have a few good ideas but they're still in progress so as I was making my sugar scrub earlier today I realized this would be perfect to share!

I have been making my own sugar scrubs for almost 2 years now, I started when I got pregnant with Baylor and was trying to find ways to save more money.

This is one of the easiest at home projects you can do and you can use it for almost everything from your feet all the way to your lips and face. All of the ingredients are 100% all natural and safe, so even if your toddler gets into it and takes a bite or two...they will be perfectly fine and probably going back for more!

So here is what you will need:

• a small container (I use a small tupperware container) 
• coconut oil 
• sugar (white or brown either will work fine) 
• honey 

These are items that are always in my house so I can whip up a new batch whenever I need it.

The steps are pretty self explanatory, you spoon some coconut oil into your container, about 3/4 full to allow room for mixing, add a few tablespoons of your choice of sugar and then a tablespoon or so of honey and then mix really well.

I use this little concoction for almost everything, especially this time of year! I scrub with it in the shower to get a super close shave and it leaves my skin super hydrated afterwards, you can use it as an exfoliator for your face, you will feel really clean after using it (the coconut oil is my all time favorite makeup remover!) And you can use it to exfoliate your lips to remove any dry flaky patches that are very noticeable when you apply your favorite lipstick. After gently massaging it across your dry lips you just wipe off with a damp washcloth and put on some lip balm! Your lips will be noticeably smoother immediately!

My husband often makes fun of me for how much I use this stuff for anything and everything..but it works!!

I hope you try it out and enjoy it!! 

Maybelline Baby Skin Review

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

The long anticipated Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser is now being sold in drugstores in the U.S.!

As soon as I heard that it had been released, I had to go search for it and I found this little beauty at my Target for $5.99.

A lot of people have compared it to the Benefit Porefessional (which retails for $30 for the same amount of product), so I had really high hopes for this, because we all know how amazing that primer is.

First I want to start out with what this primer claims to do and then I will get into the details of what I found it does for me, and whether or not you should go out and find it.

• Instantly blurs the look of pores, without clogging them. 
• Transparent gel formula, smooths on clear. 
• Smoothes and refines skin's appearance. 
• Non-comedogenic and fragrance-free.

It also says that you can use it alone or underneath your makeup for a smooth-looking finish.

 Now what are my thoughts on this product?

Basically.....I LOVE IT!!

In my eyes, Benefit Porefessional was like my #1, go to primer, me and this guy were in a committed relationship until I experienced this Baby Skin.

The Baby Skin is SLIGHTLY different from the Porefessional. It is a clear transparent gel, whereas the other is tinted. The Porefessional will fill in your pores and other imperfections, while the other blurs the look of pores, fine lines, and other imperfections. The Baby Skin leaves your skin feeling more moisturized, the Porefessional is a much drier formula.

Now with my oily/combo skin, I didn't think that I would enjoy the moisturizing aspect as much as I do, but I find that I actually like it more than the high end Porefessional.

As far as it prolonging my makeup, I don't see much of a difference between using either of them, then again, I do like to use a pretty long-wearing makeup on its own. Maybe one day soon I will wear it with a BB Cream and update on how it wears.

A few tips on applying this product, use a very small amount of it, too much makes it feel like your foundation is sliding around on your face. Also pat it into your skin then rub it in, it will help "blur" everything much better.

I used my husband as a guinea pig since his pores are more visible. On the left is with nothing on and on the right is with the Baby Skin applied.

To sum up, I definitely will not be splurging on the $30 tube of Porefessional anymore. The Baby Skin works wonderfully for me and I would much rather just spend $6. 

Let me know if you've tried it and if you liked it or not! 

Codi

Cloth Diapering 101

This is a highly requested topic from people who know me. Everyone wants to know about our cloth diapers and if we like them, what it's like using them and where to get them from. Well they will all be answered in this post so get ready!!

When we were expecting Baylor, John and I realized that we would soon have TWO babies in diapers..a very scary thought for us! Trying to figure out how to cut some costs became a major subject of ours. We started to brainstorm, I already planned on breastfeeding again, so buying formula wasn't a problem, and then after some researching we decided to seriously consider cloth diapering.

We were met with lots of hesitation from family and friends, who warned us that we wouldn't like them at all. They were all thinking of the old school cloth diapers that you had to pin on and then put a cover over, little did they know that there was a newer, more modern cloth diaper.

So after all of our research on all of the countless brands and types, we finally decided on a brand called GreenBees Cloth Diapers. You can find their website here!!

The most popular diapers that she has are the one-size pocket cloth diaper, these are diapers that will fit the average baby from birth to potty training. The same diaper that fits my 1 year old will still fit my almost 3 year old with just a little adjustment with the snaps.

We purchased a few of the newborn size when Baylor was born, just because he was extra tiny and the regular size was just a little big for him. Little did we know that those "newborn diapers" fit him all the way through his first birthday, he weighed just over 20lbs when I switched to the regular one-size.

This photo shows the difference in size of the original one-size and the newborn size.

 A little bit about the diapers...

So basically its called a "pocket" diaper because there is a pocket in the diaper where you slip your insert in. The inserts are microfiber inserts that absorb all the moisture and wick it away from your baby's bottom very quickly. If you have a baby that is considered a "heavy wetter" then you can put two inserts in the diaper, we did this at night when they go longer between changes.There is elastic around both legs and on the back of the diaper and multiple snaps along the front so you can adjust the fit in both the rise and in the waist.

 These pictures show the different snaps that make the diaper so adjustable.

Cleaning the diapers is also a breeze! If the diaper is just wet, you just take the insert out, and throw both the diaper and insert into your dirty diaper bin (we just use a small trashcan in the bathroom). If the diaper is poopy, you take the insert out, and throw it in the bin, drop the solids into the toilet and then use a diaper sprayer (a little attachment that looks like a kitchen sprayer but attached to your toilet, you can find a similar one here) to spray off the rest and then put it into the bin too. Once the bin is full, you empty it into the washing machine, rinse them on cold, wash them with hot water and a special diaper detergent (regular detergent is too harsh) and then run an extra rinse cycle on hot. You can dry them in the dryer on low heat, or air dry them, and they are ready to reuse!

Example of a diaper sprayer

How many diapers will you need for the average baby?

I would recommend having about 10 diapers per day, if you had 20 diapers you could go about 2 days without having to wash them. It's all a personal preference and depends on how often you want to wash the diapers and how frequently your baby does the doo... I can tell you that we have about 40 diapers for Baylor and we only wash about once every 5-6 days.

Next thing you are probably wondering about is the cost of cloth diapering. When compared to a case of Huggies or Pampers, which will run you anywhere from $18-$20 a case or $0.20-$0.25 apiece, depending on where you shop, these diapers will pay for themselves within the first few months. If you purchase one of GreenBees package deals, you can get these diapers for as low as $5 apiece.

We LOVE our cloth diapers, we find that we have less diaper rash, we haven't had ANY blowouts while using them, and I personally love all the colors and prints that there are to choose from.

If you are considering cloth diapers or know someone who is, recommend that they check out this brand, it's very affordable and high quality for the price!

If you have any questions that I didn't cover please let me know in the comments below!

Until next time!!
Codi

A year in review for mommy

This is a video that my thoughtful husband made for me to recap our 2013 together. Can't wait to see what 2014 will bring us!!

Refinished furniture for under $100

Like I mentioned in my first post, my family has moved a lot in a short amount of time and the last time the Air Force moved us, our bedroom set took a huge beating--I was not a happy camper when I saw it. We couldn't afford to just go out and pick out something new, and I didn't want to get rid of our stuff anyways..after all it wasn't totally ruined, it just looked really worn out. So I got the bright idea (thanks to Pinterest!) to refinish our old furniture and make it new! I always wanted some bedroom furniture that was distressed and was mismatched and a little eclectic looking so why not just go for it?! 

My inspiration for the colors I chose came from the new bedspread my hubby bought me for Christmas. I absolutely love all the colors in it! 

We really neede to keep the budget low, so when we went looking for paint we found a DISCOUNTED section of paint at Home Depot and we got 3 cans of paint that would've been $100 (our entire budget) for only $17!! It was a huge steal! So next time you are doing a project make sure to check for discounted paint. 

We borrowed a sander so we saved there, so try to borrow someone's if possible. Your parents, your friends, your neighbors, someone you know is bound to have one. 

So step 1- we sanded everything down 

Step 2- paint with your base coat. I chose to paint the headboard with a light gray initially so that when I distressed it later on, some of the gray would show through the blue that I did. 

This first coat doesn't have to be perfect or opaque because you're going to go over it with other coats. 

Step 3-paint your primary color (the color you want to show most) again this doesn't have to be perfect either.

Step 4- take a brown paint and water it down a little, I'd say 1 part water and 3 parts paint. For this step, I used a very cheap old brush, like you would find at the dollar store. Here you want to barely dip the end in the paint and lightly stroke the brush across the furniture to create a wood grain affect.  

Step 5- OPTIONAL repeat step 4 using a white or cream paint, watering it down a little more to give the piece a whitewashed affect. 

Step 6-lightly resand over entire surface. Hitting edges and corners a little bit more. Also, any other areas that you want to look more aged (this is all a personal preference and don't worry if you make a mistake you can always touch up with paint).  

The places that are whiter, are places that I retouched after sanding. 

Step 7- Last step!! Put a coat of polyurethane/stain over entire surface. It's hard to describe what this does, but it makes a huge difference. 

Left side is without and right side is with so you can see the difference it makes. 

After it has dried for about 8 hours, it's all done!! 

Here are a few pictures of my finished bedroom set, I really love the way it all turned out. 

That's it! If you have any questions or get confused with any steps just leave a comment below. 

Thanks for reading! 

Codi