Trying out PRO Beauty Tools' Iridescent Curling Iron

After mentioning my PRO Beauty Tools hair dryer in a post this past summer, the company got in touch with me and asked if I'd like to review their iridescent curling iron, as well.  Of course I said sure!  I've actually been wanting to see that I could do with a curling iron for a while, so PRO Beauty Tools was most welcome!  The representative I spoke with assured me that, even though I'm a complete curling novice, this tool would be the one for me.  I finally got to try things out this week, and here I am to share my findings!

How to NOT Spend Hours Drying Your Long Hair

A few weeks ago, my hair was very, very long.  No, it wasn't to my butt, I don't think it was even to my shoulders, but it was really long, and it took a very long time to dry.  In fact, by the time I'd got my hair 98% dry and reached the point where I wanted to give up, my body was all sweaty again after spending so much time around my hair dryer's heat!

Out of necessity, I had to find a different option, and I've actually been able to collect a few ways to make thing better!  All of these are anecdotal solutions, and I know everyone's hair is different, but maybe these will work for you like they worked for me.

photo by Morgan Sessions via Unsplash

On Aging Gracefully and the New Trend

I just saw that #grayhair and #grannyhair is trending (as in, girls are dying their hair awesome shades of gray), which reminds me: I have many gray hairs, and they're slowly multiplying.

When I found my first gray hairs in high school, they were easy enough to pluck out.  Thankfully, no one, not even the girl behind me who would point them out, made a big deal of them.  I would hold the yanked hair between my fingers, laugh, and casually mention that my mom's hair was mostly gray by the time she was 18.  When my thought process gets to that part, though, the part where my mom started dying her hair its original dark brown color before reaching her 20's, my mouth stops the family story.

via Google 3.29.15

I don't want to dye my hair.  At least right now, I don't think I do.  For one, I'm cheap, and I don't want to invest tons of money on maintaining an artificial outward appearance that naturally comes with age.  Another thing, though, I would love to be happy with my hair, how it naturally is, and dying it could lead me into worrying more about it than I would like.

We're an Almost-Paleo Household (what the heck??)

In this second year of marriage, Caleb and I haven't fought very often, not really.  One of the nights we did, though, was about our diet.  Caleb comes from a rather active and health-conscious family.  His mom used to be a registered nurse and now sells Juice Plus vitamins, his sister is diabetic, and Caleb himself has researched the heck out of many nutritional topics.  When he came to me requesting that we cut out carbs and sugar from our diet, I knew he was coming from a position of knowledge and care, but something jolted in me (i.e. my love for ice cream), and we had an all in fight.

For the record, I firmly agree that refined sugars and refined carbohydrates are bad for your body.  The things they do to our our systems immediately and over time can have devastating consequences, and there are many other significantly better ways to reach your daily caloric intake.  Plus, so much of processed foods that are high in sugar and bad carbs have other things I try to avoid, too, like dyes and preservatives.  Really, Caleb was/is right in this conversation, but for the sake of all things delicious, I had to duke it out.

Picture by Webvilla via Unsplash

Lemon + Peppermint Essential Oils Review

With the new changes and subsequent new schedule, I haven't had much time for blogging lately, but I've had the opportunity to review some products, and I wanted to share!

InstaNatural sent me a bottle of lemon essential oil and >peppermint essential oil.  (They were going to send some lavender EO, too, but I think they ran out.)  I've wanted to explore what EOs could do for me and my household for a while now, so I was excited for this chance to try them out. 

Skincare Rescue Plan: Sunscreen

Sorry for running a little slow this week.  I was getting up to speed at my new job yesterday!!

Now, as scheduled, the next installment to our skin rescue plan!

 What's So Bad About Sunlight?
Get this straight: sunlight isn't the enemy, the dangerous UV light that comes with the sunlight is the enemy.  The sun actually emits 3 different kinds of bad UV waves.  Twenty minutes of un-screened sunlight a day gives you plenty of Vitamin D (another thing emitted by the sun), but further exposure allows more UV light onto your skin than you want.  As you can see in this light graph, Ultraviolet light is not visible to the human eye.  Because we can't see it, we aren't always aware of its presencs.  We also assumme that because it's cloudy outside, then there must not be much risk for sun damage.  This is a myth.  Keep in mind that you can't see the UV light that damages your skin, and its presence is not indicated by how sunny it is outside.  This is why you need to wear sunscreen every day., even in the snow.  In fact, snow reflects UV light up to your face!  Take precautions no matter the weather.

Skincare Rescue Plan: Moisturizing

Moisturizing!  I think this one is the easiest figure-it-out step of a skincare rescue plan.  Everyone needs a moisturizer, even those with oily skin.  Read on for some tips!

Skincare Rescue Plan: Serums and Spot Treatments

Today we'll be learning about the special creams and serums that help your face get rid of acne or scarring,  reduce the appearance of wrinkles, and just help your skin look its best.

Skincare Rescue Plan: Exfoliating

This is another fun one that totally changed my perspective on skincare.  I think it has the most wow factor, too.  Chemicals?  Good for my skin?  Yes!

Skincare Rescue Plan: Cleansing and Determining your Skin type

Part three!

If I'd been writing this post for my teenage self, I think it would have mostly been filled with information on what not to do.  There are so many ways I messed up this step, and I didn't even know I was making mistakes!  Also, figuring out my skin type always seemed really complicated, for some reason.  Well here we are again to knock out some research!

Skincare Rescue Plan: Removing Your Makeup + Oil Cleansing

Ladies, if you're wearing makeup, you need to be removing it each night before you go to sleep.  I know, I know, it can be a time consuming pain, especially when bedtime is so inviting during these cold and sleepy nights.  That's why we're going to talk about the consequences of leaving your makeup on at night, because I want to scare you into taking better care of your skin.  Stick with me, though, because I promise it can be easier than you think.  Here we go!

Skincare Rescue Plan: Overview

Guys, it's starting!  I'm sharing all I've learned, all my resources, and all my budding passion for skincare!  I'm starting a new series that originally began as a cheat sheet for my sister, but there's so much information about skincare out there, things quickly began to mount into an ever growing Google doc.

In this initial post, I'm going to break the ice on the topic of skincare and give you an overview of what we'll be learning.  There's always more to learn, but I'll be covering the solid basics, offering additional resources, and sharing my own experiences with what I've tried.  Let's start with some super important information.

Argan Oil Hair Mask Review: Sister Edition

This week's real life recommendation!
(Click here for this week's recommended links.)

This thing works, guys.  I'm glad I had the idea to wrangle my sister Taylor into this project, because this product made such a difference in her hair.  We've got a survey, before and after pictures, and great results today, woohoo!  Let's get started!

Paula Dorf review: Lipstick and Blush Reviews

 Every lip needs a touch of legend.

Put a pop of passion in your day.

These are the slogans for the products I got to review this week.  Paula Dorf's lipstick in "Legend" and blush in "Passion."  And once again, I have before and after pictures for you, because science.

Gift Ideas for the Budding Nail Artist

New polishes are always fun, but here are some things besides polish that can take nails to the next level.  If there's someone in your life who loves to do nails, I can guarantee that she'll appreciate anything off this list.  By the way, this post is very information heavy, but it's all for you!

Sponsor Post: Paula Dorf 2+1 for Brows

Today we have our first little adventure in makeup together!  I had an opportunity to try out this brow kit from Paula Dorf, and I wanted to go for it.  Of course you might have already known this, but I've been learning more about makeup since August, and I found that lots of girls will fill in their brows if they have sparse spots (like me).  I wasn't sure if I wanted to make eyebrow coloring a part of my daily routine, but I did want to see what the difference would be for me, and Paula Dorf was kind enough to oblige.

I received my brow kit just yesterday and was able to try it out this morning.  Now I've only ever used one other brow product, ELF's brow kit with the floppy brush. That kit and my natural brows are all I have to compare to.  Without further ado, here we go!

Tea Tree Oil Review

I can't remember if I've talked about this before on the blog, but I've been increasingly interested in essential oils and their alleged benefits.  Stress relievers, mood revitalizers, digestion aids, immunity boosters, all these things sound very good to me.  The thing about the properties of essential oils (EOs) is that they haven't been properly studied by medical folks.  Know why?  Because EOs can't be patented, which means they can't be sold as medicines, which means medical companies can't make money off of them.  All the information we have on EOs is actually anecdotal evidence.  Still, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence out there, and I've been wanting to give all this a shot for a while.

Into my life came Apothecary Extracts with a free 4 ounces of Tea Tree Oil for me to try!  They're also willing to give a lucky reader a sample, too!  For free!  (Scroll down below for a chance to win!)

Simple Nail Art Collection

I've got a few more looks from the summer to show you.  (Yes, I'm still trying to catch up!)  These ones were all very simple, but pretty.  See all the details below after the jump.

My Easy New Plan for NOT Overeating

One of my biggest vices is not saying no to food when I know my stomach is full.  It's been a habit since becoming an adult, and it's gotten me into some very painful stomach aches.  Also, it's a wasteful thing.  Taking more than you need is wasteful and unhealthy.  It's not good for me to overwhelm my stomach, and I never feel well when I do.  So, I've come up with a plan.

Health Journey Update + FREE Online Health Course!

The last time I wrote about health was back in March, and boy has a lot happened since then!  A lot of exciting things!

• I started taking Juice Plus vitamins in February, and while I still do have the occasional sniffles and scratchy throat, I haven't missed a day of work due to sickness since starting!  Not even during allergy season!
• Fun cardio!  I started taking weekly hip hop classes and I'm going through a 5-week belly dance class right now.  I really enjoy these classes, which means I prioritize them and make sure they happen.
• Quite a few months saw me drinking hot tea almost every day.
• I've started substituting stevia in for almost all the sugar in our recipes.
• I started using Mary Kay's Timewise collection, but I'm now in the process of filtering in other products that will be better for my skin.
• We now only eat whole wheat pasta.  This change was a hard one because I just hated the whole wheat consistency at first, but now I don't even notice the difference!
• We've started using coconut oil a whole lot more in cooking, and I put it into my smoothies, too, when I have them.