Confessional Friday - Getting to Know You

Hello, everyone! Guess what beautiful, glorious day it is? That's right, it's Friday!  Today I'm doing a special "Getting to Know You" version of Confessional Friday. As usual, I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition. I think you may have caught on to that by now though! Now since this blog is only a month old as of today and I introduced myself fairly recently, I'll try to do more of a story rather than just list some boring old facts. Let's get started, shall we?

I am the youngest of three kids.

My family lived in Michigan but I was born in Toledo, OH. Detroit had the nearest hospital but even then Detroit was still pretty yucky. My dad's side of the family owned a restaurant and sports bar so when we weren't in school or at home we were there and it was actually really fun! It had a bowling alley and arcade and I had a dad in the kitchen who would cook whatever my heart desired, so as a kid I thought we had it made! We lived in Michigan until I was 7 1/2 then moved to good old Bentonville, AR when my dad had a job opportunity here. 

I went to public school for a year, then was home schooled for three, and then went to private school for another three. Then when high school rolled around I went back to public school and I graduated from Bentonville high school in 2010.

After graduation I attended NWACC to work towards my Associate's Degree and they had a program tailored towards students transferring into the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas so once I received my Associate's in Business I went on to the UofA to pursue my degree in Marketing.

During this time A LOT was happening. Along with graduating high school and starting college in 2010, I also met TJ that November.

Here we were in 2011, just wittle babies still.

We hit it off the moment we met and fast forward almost 2 1/2 years and we got the best surprise of a life time! I found out I was pregnant at the end of March 2012, already 8 weeks along. TJ and I had always talked about marriage and starting a family together so we were ecstatic, (yes scared for the first 15 minutes), to be receiving such a blessing. 

We wanted Carson to be welcomed into a family with a solid foundation so we made the decision to get married. Nothing fancy, I wanted to wait to have our actual wedding sans baby bump haha! So in October of 2012 we got married and then welcomed the most beautiful baby boy later that month on October 24, 2012!

Time has absolutely flown by since he's been born. We've celebrated a one year anniversary, a first birthday, and many other milestones.

So here we are today!

TJ is finishing up his teaching license this semester and is being called "Mr. Bray" by a bunch of middle schoolers while we speak. God bless teachers because I do not know how they do it!

This will be my last full semester! I decided to walk at graduation in May and finish up my other hours over the summer. 

We are so thrilled to be starting the next chapter in our lives with degrees in hand and school behind us.

So there's a little bit about me! I hope you've enjoyed reading my story and that you'll stop by again.

Have a great weekend!

Makeup Mishaps

When it comes to cosmetics MAC has made quite the name for themselves and, unfortunately, they have the price tag to go along with it. I have built up a decent amount of their products over some time and I needed to clear some space on my bathroom counter. So I purchased a surprisingly cheap palette of theirs and an eyeshadow insert and a blush/bronzer insert to depot my makeup into.
I knew this was a tricky process so I made sure to watch a YouTube tutorial from a credible source before I went on this mission. What they failed to mention is that when heated up, matte makeup products get ruined.
So after I had depotted everything and set it into the palette I noticed that my matte shades looked a little darker. I figured once they cooled off everything would be fine. No, everything was NOT fine. They are completely ruined. They no longer have any color pay off whatsoever, when I rub my finger on them absolutely nothing comes off. I tried all that I could to fix them with no luck.
Basically the point of this post is to prevent anyone else from making this heartbreaking, expensive mistake instead of learning the way I had to. A word to the wise: purchase the eyeshadow and blush pans online and save some money rather than risking them getting ruined.

RIP 5 eyeshadows and 1 blush.

Mario Badescu Review

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! We had quite the busy weekend here, TJ's family came in town Friday night and stayed the weekend, we got a chance to go out to dinner with some friends on Saturday night while they watched Carson for us (THANK YOU), and then on Sunday Carson attended his first birthday party for a buddy of ours!

They had it at a gymnasium and this little boy absolutely LOVED it and wore himself out. He usually takes two, two hour naps a day and after the party, for his second nap he took a 3 hour and 15 minute nap so you know he had a good time!

Here is The Regimen Kit and the drying lotion I will be doing the review over today, great quality pic, I know. I'll do a review over each product individually so let's get started!

The drying lotion is meant to be worn at night, you just take a q-tip, get some of that pink stuff from the bottom on it, and dab it on any pimples you may have. When I get pimples I tend to get more cystic, underneath the skin acne and I can say that this does not work for that. My husband has good skin and if he ever gets anything it will be an above the surface, little white head. He let me try this on him and it worked wonders. His spots cleared up over night! So if you just have white heads every once in a while then this product is for you, otherwise save your money.

This is used for an everyday face wash for morning and night. After using this for over a week, twice a day, I will say that there is nothing too special about it. I didn't notice any difference in my skin compared to my Neutrogena oil free face wash. I will say though that it is good at removing make up. Now this isn't a bad product, I fully intend on using it until it is empty, but if I can get the same thing, just cheaper and a different color, I'm going to do it.

This is meant to be used as a toner every night after you wash your face. It says it "Removes pore clogging residue and disinfects skin’s surface for thoroughly clean skin to prevent future acne problems." I think it is good at getting anything left on your face that you can't see and may still be there after washing but I can't say this has done miracles for my skin or made a big difference. I'm sure a drug store toner would work just fine in place of this. I will keep using this though until it is empty, might as well get my money's worth!

This can be used day or night but I prefer to only use moisturizers at night, unless my skin is particularly dry that day and I don't plan on using makeup. Now my face can get a little dry sometimes in the winter after everything I do to combat any acne so this moisturizer was very helpful for me. When I used it, it didn't leave me feeling oily after applying it, it soaked in pretty quickly and left my skin feeling hydrated. When I woke up in the morning it left my skin feeling smooth so this product is a win for me!

If you follow me on Instagram then you've seen me use this mask, perhaps frightening some followers I have but thats okay. I have used this mask twice now after washing my face and using the toner and I LOVE IT! After washing it off, my face felt so clean and smooth and then in the morning it even had a nice glow to it! This is the only product that I bought that I will be purchasing again when it runs out, it's just that wonderful.

So if I had to grade Mario Badescu's brand after using all of these products I would probably give it a B-. The products aren't bad, and there are some that are worth the money, but a lot of them give the same results as drugstore products and I would rather save my money if I can. 

P.S. you may have noticed that I did not review the seaweed night cream, and that is because I haven't used it! If I use it soon and end up loving it and thinking it worked miracles for my skin I'll make sure to pass the word on. 

Have a great week and may your Monday treat you well!

Confessional Friday

It's Friday, you know the drill. I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition.

1. I confess that I am slightly disappointed by my lack of blogging this week. I had a bunch of post ideas lined up to write but my little boy had croup and had to stay home and cuddle this week.

2. I confess that as much as I hated seeing Carson sick, I sure did love staying home with him. It even made me think about being a SAHM after graduation! But then I did the math in my head and remembered things like mortgage payments and students loans and that brought me back to reality.

3. I confess that missing the whole second week of classes caused A LOT of stress. Which caused my professors to receive many apologetic emails while I try to play catch up. It doesn't help that I really don't enjoy my classes this semester, now that I finished up my marketing classes for my major and I'm just taking random ones to meet the degree requirements, I kind of hate it. I just keep having to tell myself that theres barely even 3 1/2 months left of the semester and it will all be behind me soon. I hope.

4. I confess that I haven't gotten prettied up since Monday. We're talking yoga pants and t-shirts with hair undone and no makeup for 3 days. I'm hoping between all of the homework, house cleaning, and errands today I can find time to throw some makeup on. But we'll see, no promises.

5. I confess that I feel an unnecessary need for these gorgeous pieces of jewelry. They are just so pretty and so well priced and way too easy to purchase!

On their instagram account all you have to do is leave your email and she'll send you your paypal invoice, I mean how tempting is that? I found myself typing out my email and hitting the backspace button, I mean it, it's tempting. Here is their Instagram and their website.

That's it for today, I will be back on Monday and hopefully everyday after that as well! I hope all of you have a lovely weekend!

5 Things

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend filled with family, friends, and relaxation. Somehow Monday is already here and it's the start of another week filled with anticipation for another weekend. Here are 5 things from my weekend!

On Saturday we went to my parent's home in Bentonville for lunch and they did not disappoint. My dad always spoils us with his cooking whenever we see them. It's gotten to the point to where even if they come to our house for a meal they bring the food to us! I didn't get the cooking gene unfortunately, but that just means I get to reap the benefits of my dad's out of this world culinary skills, so I think I'll be just fine.

I have this weird obsession with real estate and looking at homes. I don't quite know why but I absolutely love it. I'm always on Homes.com looking for my new favorite house and I had saved this one to my "Watched Homes" list. After we left my parents' Carson fell asleep in the car and I wanted to show TJ this home in Rogers just to check out the area. But I was in luck and they were actually having an open house! So TJ stayed in the car with Carson and let me peruse this house that we will not be buying anytime soon, or be able to afford anytime soon haha. If you want to take a look at this beautiful home click here!

Carson was still napping his little heart out after we left Rogers and I had a Friends & Family coupon to use at Ulta that expired that day so I stopped in there. I had been hearing my favorite YouTube beauty gurus Nicole Guerriero and Jaclyn Hill rave about Mario Badescu products and I wanted to try some out so I picked up The Regimen Kit which contains a face wash, toner, moisturizer, mask, and night cream. I also picked up the drying lotion which is supposed to zap problem spots overnight. So far I love the products but I'll do an in depth review after using them for a week so look out for that!

I've been letting these bad boys ripen up so I can make a batch of banana muffins. Now, as I stated above, I basically do not possess any cooking skills; about two years ago I made one or two successful batches of banana bread but ever since then it has been awful. Beginners luck maybe? I have tried countless different recipes with no luck but I am determined to make some good muffins! I'll let you know how my mission goes.

Last, but not least, is this sweet boy. Carson caught croup over the weekend and this is now the third time he has had it. It is probably my least favorite thing that he has ever caught. He had a high fever and was coughing so much that he actually projectile vomited all over me while sitting in my lap. It was everywhere, we're talking all the way from my hair down to my ankles, a very pretty sight. But after we both were cleaned up all he wanted to do was cuddle and I was able to capture a sweet moment of this mama's boy asleep in my arms. Nothing beats that.

I hope everyone else's week goes well and Monday treats you nicely! Have a good day!

Confessional Friday

Ah, the week is over and now to enjoy a much deserved relaxing weekend. Let's kick it off with Confessional Friday! I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition.

I confess that I haven't worn a mask since high school and decided to try out Lush's much raved about Mask of Magnaminty.

I didn't think it was all that it was hyped up to be, but I'll try it again next week with more product and see if it makes any difference.

I confess that there was absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in purchasing this makeup bag. Like none, at all.

"My lipstick is redder than your lipstick."

I confess that I laughed for a good 5 minutes when I saw this photo.

TJ had taken this at his parents house a month or two ago and I had forgotten about it until he showed it to me yesterday. That boy is strange but I love him and I can't really expect anything different seeing as how kooky his parents are.

That's it for today, I hope everyone else has a nice weekend! I'll be back Monday!

New Beginnings

Usually change is fun and welcomed with open arms. It's nice to break from routine once in a while. But no, that is not the case with this semester. It was so wonderful over break, sleeping in until 9 or 10, not having plans for the day or anywhere I needed to be. Every once in a while I even got bored. Yes I, a mother of a young child, just said I got bored. Very rare.
How early in the semester is it acceptable to have a mental breakdown? Because mine was yesterday, only two days in. So naturally I sent a lengthy, worry-filled email to my advisor and dropped classes without a back up plan. Patience is not a skill that you have when you're as antsy as I am. So instead of waiting for a reply I sat myself outside of the advising office this morning at 7:30 AM when they don't even open until 8. It was worth it.
I am now back to my Tuesday/Thursday schedule with three additional online classes. So even though I won't be in class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I will still be doing homework for my online classes, preparing for my Tuesday/Thursday classes, cleaning the house, going to appointments, keeping up with laundry, and running all of the errands. But honestly I would take that any day over actually going to class, especially one that I don't enjoy.

This Kate Spade planner will be my best friend this semester, I didn't use it nearly enough in the Fall so I have some making up to do.

I hope everyone else's new semesters, for those of you in school, are going smoothly. For everyone else, I hope your weeks are going well, we're halfway through!

Ombré

 I had been going back and forth about going ombré for such a long time. The idea of bleaching my already dry ends was frightening when it took so long to grow my hair out after impulsively having it cut to my chin in early 2012 (never EVER again). But when Crown Beauty Bar opened this past fall and I started seeing their beautiful pictures on Instagram (follow them @crownbeautybar) I knew I had to go there and get it done!

Before 

After

I made my appointment with Bonnie and she is the sweetest, so talented, and does such a wonderful job! I was there for three hours and was laughing the whole time and had such a great first experience there. I highly recommend her and can't wait to go back! 

I've even convinced TJ to go there! Now if my husband, who hates spending money, will pay $5-10 more then what he was paying before at Sports Clips (yes only that much more), and keeps going back, then you know they're good at what they do! He goes to Ashleigh if anyone is looking for a stylist that is great with men's cuts. 

Crown Beauty Bar offers services from anything with hair, makeup and nails to waxes, facials, massages and spray tans. On top of this they sell Jane Iredale makeup and a wide variety of hair products such as brushes, waxes, and oils, just to name a few things, from a number of brands. I picked up some Oi spray by Davines that adds shine, detangles, moisturizes, defrizzes, and serves as a heat protectant and root lifter. I love it and have incorporated it into my everyday hair routine!

If there are any men reading this post, they also sell gift cards! Valentines Day is coming up and that is a perfect way to show your love to your sweety, if you ask me!

I also have to add, if the owners ever get tired of the hair business they need to go into interior design. They have such a great eye for style and created a beautiful atmosphere in their salon! Their attention to detail is impeccable and it shows in their business cards, salon, and the services they perform. Go to Crown Beauty Bar and you will not be disappointed!

Golden Globes Hits and Misses

I unfortunately didn't get to watch much of the Golden Globes due to a fussy baby. But I made sure to check out everything I had missed from the red carpet because really, seeing all of the dresses is the best part right? Here's my review on the best and worst dressed stars of the night!

Best Dressed

Madison Walls

Olivia Wilde

Margot Robbie

Kate Beckinsale

Honorable Mentions

Melissa Fumero

Michelle Dockery

Amy Poehler

Emma Watson

I Love You But WHY?

Tina Fey

Sandra Bullock

Lena Dunham

Drew Barrymore

Stop it. Go Home.

Zoe Saldana

Zooey Deschanel

Sarah Hyland

Hayden Panettiere

Cutest of The Night

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons

I hope you had a chance to see everyone's looks of the night too so you can tell me who was on your best and worst dressed list!

Confessional Friday

Hello, everyone! Friday is here again so that means it's time for another Confessional Friday linkup with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition. Let's get started!

1. I confess that I definitely skipped blogging the past two days. I underestimated how much time it takes! But hey, practice makes perfect, I'll get better at this.

2. I confess that I STILL am not mentally prepared for this semester. I just ordered my books (and saved over $350, take that bookstore) but that really doesn't mean I'm ready for the early mornings, late nights and the anxiety that comes with being in your senior year of college.

3. I confess that my house needs to be cleaned. Bad. It's just hard to find the motivation during break! I am finally caught up on laundry besides the load in the dryer so that's a start, right?

4. I confess that I have been avoiding the scale like the plague. After all the holidays and being snowed in I knew it was not going to be good. But I actually lost 4 pounds from when I last weighed myself a month ago! How that happened I have no idea but I am so thankful.

5. I confess that I have a shopping problem with Gap and Baby Gap. It's unhealthy.

Here are Carson's Valentine's Day goodies that I picked up FOR 40% OFF. How am I supposed to pass that steal up?

And here are some jeans that I want to pick up but refuse to pay full price for. I'm waiting until I can get 40% off.

Well that's it for today, have a lovely weekend everyone!

MAC Haul and Review

Okay so here I am actually doing a post related to the makeup side of Mascara and Motherhood and I am so excited to get started! I just want to add though that in no way am I trying to boast about my purchases, this is just meant to be informative and to give my opinion on these products. Oh and I have to give a shout out to Emarie at the MAC counter in the Fayetteville Dillard's for helping me pick out all of this and even learn how to use some of these products! Now that that's out of the way, here we go!

Here is everything I have bought over the past two weeks, lets start with the foundation.

I was in the market for a new foundation since I had ran out of my Loreal True Match. Since that was making me have small breakouts I wanted to try something new. I was looking for something that was full coverage since my skin color is uneven. This is Studio Fix Fluid foundation in NC15 (the lightest shade in my skin tone) and it has a matte finish. I knew that matte meant full coverage so I went for it. However I do not like the matte finish, I set mine with a powder so it doesn't move throughout the day and it tends to make me look a little cakey. It also is slightly too dark for me. But I paid $27.00 for this so I'm going to try to use it up as fast as I can.

Next is this AMAZING lipstick. This is a satin finish and the color is Brave. This color, to me, seems like a nice neutral, dark pink with brown undertones. Since I depotted six of my eyeshadows into a palette, I was able to trade the eyeshadow containers in and get this lipstick for free. I told her that I wanted something that I could wear everyday so she suggested this color and it is perfect! I haven't worn any other lipstick since I got this. Also, since this is a satin finish it isn't drying for your lips so that's a nice bonus as well.

Here is the Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Soft Ochre. This acts as a primer for your lid to help your eyeshadow stay in one place and it gives your eyeshadow color a nice boost. I used to just use my foundation as a primer for my eyelid and since using this I've found that my eye makeup moves a lot less if at all, and I don't have to use as much product to get color payoff so win-win.

 Next are some eyeshadows. On the left is Bamboo in a matte finish and on the right we have a veluxe pearl finish in Woodwinked. Bamboo is a great color to give your eyelid a subtle bit of color and is perfect for blending out. I am a sucker for dark golden browns so I love Woodwinked. You can put it on lightly for an everyday wear or pack it on to darken your look so it's very versatile.

I also picked up some brushes for my eyeshadows. The 224 and the 219. The 224 is great for blending and buffing out the crease and the 219 can be used for highlighting the inner corner of your eye or buffing out eyeliner on the bottom. I don't think it deposited color very well in my inner corner but it was great for buffing out a darker shade of eyeshadow for eyeliner on the bottom.

I needed a new blush and bronzer so I picked up some blush in Melba and a bronzer in Harmony. I have nothing but good things to say about these. Before I was using a blush/bronzer palette by NARS but the color payoff was awful, especially for what I payed, and you had to put on so much product for it to even show up. These are so pigmented you barely have to put on any product for it to give you what you need. 

Let me know if any of you have other MAC products that you swear by or if you've tried out any of these products and have different opinions. Enjoy the rest of your day!