BEAUTY IS A LIFESTYLE THING

May you be blessed in the new year ahead! May prosperity and happiness be yours! Here's a couple of drink recipes that are easy to make, use only a few ingredients and are very refreshing! Mango Vodka In a tall glass, fill with the desired amount of ice cubes to your liking.(I filled approximately half full) then, use 1 1/2 parts of Mango flavored Vodka poured over the ice. Then add about 5 parts orange juice. Stir. Garnish with sliced orange. Cran Vodka In a small tumbler, fill with several ice cubes use 1 1/2 ounces of regular vodka to this add 3 ounces of cranberry juice and 1-ounce orange juice (or desired splash) stir. *garnish with lime wedge, lime peel or orange wedge Arctic Kiss Chill vodka in freezer & chill flutes in freezer (I wet them and then stick them in) In flutes add ice cubes then add 2 ounces of chilled vodka 3 ounces of champagne stir. Don't forget to kiss at midnight! *Drink and be merry r...

I agreed to review the Hair Sanity products, Step 1 anti-itch shampoo, and Step 2 anti-dandruff conditioner and I am glad I did. I give the Hair Sanity system a 5-star review and here’s why: As a beauty ambassador, I’m always reaching for things that are new and different and I’m always searching for products that contain less and less harmful chemicals. I was impressed first, with Hair Sanity’s commitment to the products and second the simple fact that it is not tested on animals period! Hair Sanity is a unisex shampoo and conditioner that has been developed by Board Certified Dermatologist Dr. Rebecca Kazin and has been tested for five years now. It was made available to the public on August 2017. These products currently have 41 patents on them. All ingredients are FDA approved. The Shampoo and conditioner are considered a two-part system. They work best when used together. Step 1 the shampoo contains hydrocortisone acetate 0.5%. This is an agent that is an anti-itch ingr...

Here's a sweet little story about my memories for Christmas time... Christmas At The Walnut Room Aglow with splendor, it rose before me and I am astonished at the sheer size and grandeur of it all! The Christmas spirit comes alive for me and my mother and my grandmother as we now make our yearly trek to the city to see Christmas at The Walnut Room. I stand and look up feeling almost dizzy, there are 6,600 lights and over 2,000 silver and gold ornaments on the Christmas tree that stands some 45 feet in the center of The Walnut Room main dining room. My eyes dart around, there is so much to see in every direction. It was lavishly decorated everywhere! An icon in the city of Chicago, The Walnut Room is considered to be the very first restaurant to be located on the inside of a large department store. In 1907 when Marshall Field’s opened South Tea Room, it was to help the lady shoppers. One version of this story exists that appears to be the most valid is...

Whatever and however you celebrate may peace, tranquility and happiness be yours throughout the season!   Be Merry and please be safe!

I hope you're beginning to enjoy your holiday season, and that you are completely done with your Christmas shopping! Now we move on to phase two, the cooking stage. This stage is where one downshifts gears and brings the festivities home. If you're like me you may be hosting the dinner too~ good luck and take a deep breath. P.S. it's ok to ask for help. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have done a great job delegating! For the first time I "downsized" my dinner and asked guests to bring something. It was a good feeling to feel less burdened. It will be a great and memorable dinner still yet. While I have others bringing desserts, I still wanted to make goodies and cookies. So I made batches of traditional cookies and lots of things covered in chocolate! Here's a quick recipe for Chocolate covered pretzel rods. You'll need: *Chocolate melts or almond bark *Pretzel rods *sprinkles/ small candies (optional) *Waxed paper *cookie sheet *a ...

Thanksgiving comes and goes so quickly and when we're in the moment, we can see clearly and be thankful for all that is around us. Thanksgiving is a holiday that lifts most of us up; where our spirits soar as we prepare a feast for our guests. But it is also a holiday that sometimes shows us that we could and should be thankful all year long If just to our immediate families and friends but for others we don't know.  As we go into the fast rush of the Christmas season, I myself am preparing to give of my self further. I am thankful for my family, but I'll be giving to another family because I know that I have so much to be thankful for and have enough to give and to share with another family. I encourage you to share your gifts of talent, time, food and friendship for those that may live in your community. I'm falling for giving year round! I hope you will too! Here is an example of the above quick & easy project. Just using junk wood pieces, simp...

I saw one of my new favorite You Tubers, Chloe Morello, talking today about her frustration and actual anger about accounts in the beauty industry possibly committing fraud. She fired me up! She got me thinking and she's right, we all should be mad. All of us bloggers, You Tubers, Beauty Ambassadors, Influensters, and Freelance Writers are being taken advantage of by the infiltration of all the fake or "enhanced" accounts! Today Ms. Morello was calling the fakers out  & explaining to us how the industry works and how the fake accounts accomplish their mission. Representing a Brand is an awesome thing to land! It does help your blog to get followers, but a blog such as mine is simply more about the content than about the followers. But even content driven accounts like mine enjoy a haul or swag in exchange for a shout-out, an organic post about a really great product, or a true and honest review. It is hard to grow in this business unless you are consistent an...

In recent news, a woman is suing a make-up chain store because she claimed that she caught Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1) when she sampled lipsticks with a beauty associate in the store. She brings her suit for many reasons. She missed many days of work, costing her thousands. She also claimed that the store didn't have proper hygiene and did not follow their own protocols. So here's the low down...... can you catch that? Yes! Yes, you can, in fact, catch the above-mentioned virus as well as a host of many more! First things first, be vigilant at all times, making sure you or the beauty associate uses a disposable tube or swab to apply your sample of lipstick.  In the particular case mentioned above, the person could not prove that the virus indefinitely came from that application; still, it was probable. The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 can live on a surface for several minutes and up to one week, thus it is possible to transfer it to another person from that t...

I've wondered and heard about essential oils and their benefits. I am always seeking out alternative things as I try really hard to get away from the "processed world" if you will. I like to seek out beneficial things for my family as well.  I was invited to and also saw a posting on Facebook about a "class" on essential oils. I got excited and decided to attend this class. While the moderator was very kind and her presentation was good, and she did dispell some valuable educational material about essential oils themselves, alas, it was just a selling tactic for her distributorship. Needlesstosay, I left feeling less educated and more "had" than anything! I knew I had to start doing my own research. I set off on my mission. Here are a few things I found out. I hope this might answer some questions you have about your own. Essential oils have been used for thousands of years. We know that many cultures have used them. Then, each culture that used ...

Just In Case You Hadn't Heard... As of 10/30/17, Benefit beauty products company initiated a voluntary recall on their extremely popular Gimme Brow Gel (tinted brow volumizer). According to the company, it said it issued the recall because certain batches did not meet their high-quality standards. It further stated that with normal usage on the brows their product poses no risk. But if the certain batches in question get into the eyes it could cause eye irritation. The recall includes all full sized products, all sample sized products, and all Gimme Brow that is part of a gift set. One can receive money back for the purchase if the product is brought back to Sephora, ULTA Beauty or any other fine department stores where Gimme Brow is sold. *At this writing, there has been no one that has been harmed by this product. *photo credit: google

Starting right out of the box, this is NOT a paid endorsement!  I am a consumer just like you. I enjoy good products and I enjoy paying fair prices for them.  As a consumer, I also expect the quality and wearability of clothing, shoes, and handbags to be good as well. I also like products that either give back to organizations, either through hiring or good for the environment products. I also like to buy things that make me feel better either in the commitment that the company gives or that I am not harming anything by my purchase of this product (sort of a commitment from me as a consumer). I stumbled on a fantastic brand. They are from Los Angeles and have regular prices that are considered "mid-level", in other words not over the top designer dollars! But when they have a sale, trust me, it's good!  I just recently bought the bag below, It is called the Rianne, a gray bag with accordion sides that have one pleat in navy blue, one in a light sky blu...

DaVinci Pasta is offering sweepstakes for a trip to Italy!   Enter here!!          #endlesspastabilities http://www.worldfiner.com/davinci and click endless pastabilites sweepstakes Great pasta great prizes! Sweepstakes ends October 24,2017 *this post may be compensated

While matcha and green tea are fabulous to drink, did you know that many beauty products will include this ingredient? The beauty industry has been actually touting the “tea” in their products, in fact, using it as a selling point. Matcha powder has the highest concentration of naturally occurring antioxidants, followed by green tea. Matcha powder is the pulverization of the whole leaf of tea; no oxidation takes place in the harvesting. Green tea uses the leaf but is left to dry in the sun in the first level of oxidation. Matcha powder is very stark green, while green tea is more “kelly green” in color. Both teas do contain very helpful naturally occurring chemicals called polyphenols and they contain catechins and the catechins are filled with EGCG. These chemicals will fight and trap free radicals, inflammation and combat redness. All of these good chemicals actually help with anti-aging and even aid in the reversal of sun damage. When applied to the skin, the tea begins a...

UPDATE:  This was a successful giveaway, and one happy follower has received this book!   Thank you to all who entered and I'll have another soon!!  Be watching out!! (update 11/5/17) Giveaway Announcement! Giveaway Announcement! Giveaway Announcement! Starts Tomorrow!  9/26/17!!!!  Be sure to go to https://www.literarymerry.wordpress.com to get into the giveaway!!! I'll be hosting a contest for 1 signed book from author KariAnne Wood called So Close To Amazing!! Please go check out my book review at my WordPress site and the contest will be held there too! I'll send another reminder, there will be no cost to the contestants and all shipping is on me! It's a great debut novel, that contains DIY fun for your home as well! www.literarymerry.wordpress.com The contest will be held at my WordPress site.

photo credit: johnnyseeds.com As you may know, I love Sunflowers and of course life. This post today is to remind you that when you dream and you have hope and when you have hope you might just have it all! Don't ever give up on your dreams or tangible goals.  Dreaming when asleep is a succession of images and emotions along with ideas that occur involuntarily and having Hope is an optimistic state of mind based on an expectation of positivity. You can have both hopes and dreams if you have that optimistic attitude; they will naturally "manifest" toward you. Even if you think you may never reach those goals or dreams, you may be closer to achieving them than you know, because sometimes the goals /dreams show up slightly different than we dream them.  We may have to recognize the parts of the goals and work hard to achieve the "dream" part.  Unfortunately, sometimes the dreams only come after much hard work. But having great opt...

Is this you?  Can you relate?  Does your family roll their eyes the minute you see an old piece of furniture and you say... Can I paint that?  Or make shelves out of it?  Or can I make a bench or a closet organizer out of it?  If you're me, your (my)family is a bit wary of you (me) wanting to go to junk sales or antique markets. But those places are heavenly!  I think my superpower is being able to see something beautiful in an old piece, that might just be loved but cast away. I also think that in some small way, we might be helping our world by recycling and upcycling one piece of furniture at a time! You are a visionary remember that! Photo Credit: Pinterest

Quick Review: My first impressions were that the 22 oz.  Body wash seemed to be a lot for the money!  It's also quite heavy!  () It was really a pretty purple,  my favorite  color, it was soft and flowing,  the lather was good and it washed off easily without any residue. I really enjoyed the scent,  I used Orchid  & Black Currant and smelled it long after my shower! @influenster #influenster #olay #olayatwalmart #contest #blogpost #instagram

Sometimes you can't beat them, so you join them! I just joined Sephora subscription box for August.   I have box #197.  As beauty insider already it seemed like it was inevitable that I'd join in as well. I'm not disappointed, being that this is my first one. I'll be doing reviews on the products in the nearest of future. As you can see from my photo, the contents of the box were nice. The box contained: Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo,  Kopari coconut oil (coconut mini melt), Too Faced Mascara Melt Off, Kat Von D lock-it concealer creme' (in medium 19 cool), Micro Mini Beauty Blender, both Kat Von D Saint & Sinner Perfume samples, very cute Make-up Geek beauty bag, plus a 50 point  Play card worth 50 Beauty Insider points  (expires on September 30, 2017). And finally, also accompanied by the Innovators guide to the products, its contents and how to use them. I'll be doing my reviews shortly!   

Do you love getting free things?  Do you love being on the edge of new and never before launched beauty products? Do you love doing reviews?  Do you love getting to test high-end beauty things? Sign up to Influenster ~  Lots of activities and a large community of diverse and interesting people connecting together.  Influenster can be seen at every single type of social media today. Here's my referral link to get you started!  I hope to see you there!  Connect with me when you sign up! www.influenster.com/r/1707849

I Just purchased my MAC Lips Duo and MAC Creamsheen Lipsticks and as usual, I am super satisfied with MAC!!! The limited edition Lip Duo's were out for this past Spring 2017, each Lip Duo contains a regular full-size lipstick and a full sized lip pencil. I purchased the Soar/Mehr set because I love the dusty rose lip pencil and the lipstick is a cool toned rose. It goes great with my medium complexion and blue eyes. I understand that MAC reports, along with her makeup artist, that this was once Kylie Jenner's go-to lip before she had her own brand! This duo is considered part of their "Nudes" collection, they glide on so smoothly, And the pigmentation lasts forever. This can be worn as an everyday lip. I give this duo a fabulous five-star rating***** Included also, in my haul was my personal long-time go-to lip, the creamsheen lipstick in Hot Gossip. I have worn this color for years. My daughter was in the modeling industry and she and I attended a MAC cocktail p...