Current Skin Care Routine

       Trying to dive back into this blog thing, since I basically fell off the face of the earth for a minute.  So in an effort to not fall off into the Abis again, we're gonna go nice and slow wit the blog posts this time.  Easy, baby steps, and with spring here (Kinda) cold weather still seems to be lurking, I figured I'd do a current skin care routine, products I'm loving......for the skin, my skin, you get the jest.
Okay, here we go!!!!




                                                             

Makeup Remover

Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm.

This stuff is amazing at removing makeup and being gentle to the eyeballs.

La Roche Posay Micellar Water Ultra

I will use this after the cleansing balm, just to make sure I have removed all of my makeup, sometimes I'll even use this place of toner.

Cleanser

CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser.

I'm not really picky about my cleanser, as long as it doesn't break me out I'm good.  I like CeraVe products and this cleanser is really nice and does well for my dry skin.

Neutrogena Deep Clean purifying clay cleanser and mask.

This is nice as well, you cant really go wrong with Neutrogena products in my opinion.  Plus, this one is like a 2 for 1.  You get a nice cleanser plus you get a purifying clay mask.  It leaves your skin feeling soft and clean and not dried out.

St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Green Tea Scrub.

Now we move on to scrubs.  I have dry skin, sometimes crazy dry skin and with that said I have to exfoliate.  The St. Ives scrubs are pretty bomb, they range in how coarse the exfoliants are plus you can get them at the drugstore, so you won't have to decide whether to pay rent or buy skincare!

 St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub.

I also like the apricot scrub from St. Ives for when I really need to sluff some dead skin off my face.  Be careful and don't press to hard, this stuff is no joke and is extremely coarse.




Blemishes

Origins Out of Trouble 10 minute Mask.

This. Mask. Right. Here! Works wonders!!!  I don't know about everyone else, but sometimes my skin is so on point and other days, its like a 14 year old getting ran over by the puberty train.  Okay well maybe not that bad, but still, no one likes blemishes on their skin.  Depending on how my skin is acting, I will use this twice a week and it really helps me out.  

Eyes

Olay Eyes Pro Retinol Eye Treatment.

I'm kinda whateve about eye cream.  Mainly because I haven't found one that actually seems to make a difference, at least for me.  But I thought I would try this one since I'm getting older and it says its a retinol eye treatment and we all know retinol is great for anti-aging.

Serum

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair.

Now, Serum is something I'm willing to throw a shit TON of money at! Especially if I see that its doing something for me.  This gem does amazing things for the few lines I have noticed on my face and it also plumps my skin up.  There are some others I do want to try and plan on trying, but if you ask me what skin care products to invest in I would say your treatments and serums/facial oils.

Moisturizer

Estee Lauder Day Wear.

This cream is actually quite new to me, I picked up 2 travel sizes during the Ulta 21 days of beauty sale the was going on in March.  I figured I'd give it a try since I love the Advanced Night Repair Serum so much and so far its been good.  Which translates into it hasn't broke me out.  It has a nice, thick consistency but doesn't clog pores and doesn't feel heavy on the skin. It also has SPF 15 so it does have some sunscreen.

Lips

Elf Lip Exfoliator.

What can I say, it's hella cheap and it works!!! I use it after I get out of the shower and it gets all the dry skin off my lips and mask them feel nice and smooth.

Well, there you have it.  My skincare routine, skincare products I use on the reg.  Whatever you want to call it.  I know skincare is vastly personal and not everything works for everyone, this is what I use and what works for me.  
Whats some of your fave skincare products?!



xoxo
Emily

This Crazy Thing Called Life and How I'm Attempting to Navigate It..........(And Failing)

            Life, and where you're in it, is very different for everyone.  We are all at different stages, winning at it, failing miserably, staying the course, holding our heads high, sticking it out, for our love, our family, money whatever the reason.  Then, for some of us there comes an instance, where none of that is enough anymore and you don't see the benefit in trying any longer or you just wake up one day and this isn't what you want anymore.  All fault aside, when you're an adult life can suck and shit happens and it usually happens on a dime, BAM!!
        Whatever side your on when this happens, doesn't matter in retrospect, you gotta do what you gotta do to get your head back in a good place and get your shit right.


So moving on rather quickly, (because this is Kinda heavy stuff and I don't articulate so well when intense feelings are being talked about) Clearly from the date of my last blog post, what was is summer of 2016? Ive been dealing with some real world adult shit, the I don't really care to dive into at the moment, frankly, because I'm over it and attempting to move on. I'm just writing this to somewhat give an explanation as to my absence on here.  Not that one is necessary or expected.
Anyways, As I have said in the past, I am a sometimes blogger and I kind suck at life, especially at the current moment so please just bare with me.  I am trying to do better, but I'm not making any promises.



xoxo
Emily

Spring Wants!!

With the ever changing seasons comes the wishlists we have to go with them.  Most people have a favorite season, I personal like all but winter, I just wasn't made for the cold. Honestly though, living here in Kansas sometimes the "seasons" don't even apply. It can snow here in May and then be in the 90's a week later. Mother nature can seriously be off her meds sometimes.

All that aside, spring is in the air. The weather is warming up and I'm so happy about it, and with the new season comes all the new collections of everything under the sun retail wise. Everything from jewelry to clothing to dishes and bake ware. Everything coming out has a spring/summer feel to it and I just LOVE it!!

I think Spring/Summer are my spirit animals, they just understand stand me on a spiritual level. The weather gets warmer, flowers start to bloom, the nice rain we get, you can start wearing cute shorts and dresses, school will be out soon. It's almost like everything just slows down a bit. We don't have to be all business anymore until August rolls around. For me, I feel like I can breath a little easier.

Plus we live in a small town, so people are out walking their dogs, riding bikes, barbecuing. There's softball and baseball games to attend. Church of course and meeting new people. I'm just very taken by this time of year. It gets me.

Call me.......... luxuriously laid back  if you will. I like nice things but I also like being very comfortable and well the southern girl in me can't say no to anything monogrammed. 

I love the crocheted distressed shorts because they could be dressed up or down. I love aviator sunglasses but these mirrored aviators just spoke to me. I can't get enough BBW candles let's be real, these 2 I really want but there's more, so. many. more.

I have wanted a monogrammed necklace for quite a while, their simple but still so sweet and wonderfully southern.

Love my converse sneakers. nough said

and the Michael Kors bag and matching wallet in this beigeish gray I just love it. I just love Michael Kors, period!

I love mixing things around, dressing things up and then just being super casual and there's just so much more you can do during spring and summer!

What's your favorite season? What kinds of things do you find yourself placing on your spring or summer wants list? and what kinds of things can you just do without?!

Stay Beautiful Y'all

XOXO

Emily

Etsy Sticker Haul

So, I'm sure y'all know by now that planners are a pretty big deal. They're EVERYWHERE!! All kinds, personal, life, meal, school, the list goes on and on. As does the list of companies that make and distribute them.

Let me give you a little insight, back story, whatever you wanna call in on my, planner history per say.

I've used a planner, since probably the 6th grade. I believe my language arts class was given one and we had to fill it out for a grade every week, as a way to teach us to be organized or some shiz. Wonderful idea, actively work on getting your shit together now rather than later, right. Well, it stuck. Every year after I have used one, mainly found inexpensively at target or wal-mart with some cute design I liked on the covers. It didn't have to be fancy, just something I could write all my stuff down in that I needed t o remember and could carry it will me easily. Simple! 

Speed up to 2013, my cousin and I were talking and the topic of planners came up. She asked if I still used one, blah blah layouts I liked ect.... then she asked if I had heard of the Erin Condren Life Planner....I had not, she said she had seen a lot about it on youtube and was really considering buying one. I honestly didn't give much thought to it. She got one, and raved about how awesome it was, which peaked my curiosity. So i checked out the web site.....and my mind kinda of exploded. Here was this almost whole other/new world of planners and little extras for the planners and pens and God you name it, it was there and there's even MORE now. Anyways ,I was blessed to receive one of the life planners as a birthday gift from my mamma and I'm still using it and have recently gotten another planner for school which is from the company Plumb Paper Planner.  

Now with all that said, this new world of planners comes with another world of all the extras that accompany these said planners. A huge part is all the stickers!!! There's thousands of shops that make and sale all kinds of stickers for these planners and it's kinda hard sometimes not to wanna sale your family for some of these stickers (KIDDING, KIDDING) ha ha.

So here is a recent sticker haul I made off of Etsy, nothing big, but I thought I'd share it with you. Maybe you'r like me and get stupid excited about planners and stickers and planning out life. Maybe you're thinking the fuck is this chick's problem, this is the dumbest shit I've ever heard of. It's cool, whatever floats your boat right?!

Now, on to the stickers!!!

Weekly Eye Candy: Stunning Parents

The name of this post, pretty much says it all!

We all love looking at beautiful, stunning, ridiculously gorgeous people, okay well I hope I'm not the only one who enjoys it.  We all have our favs that we tend to gravitate towards whatever our reasoning and I'm no different.  I have included both men and women in this post because gorgeous is gorgeous regardless. I of course included one of my top guys Mr. Dornan because, well....I don't need a reason . Also I do believe all of these lovely individuals are parents. So we'll just call this Week..... Incredibly Attractive Parents...... no......I'll think of something...better then that.....hopefully.

I hope you enjoy this parade of hotness and be looking forward to this as a weekly occurrence.

You're Welcome

Stay Beautiful Y'all

XOXO

Emily

My Plum Paper Planner

I'm always in the market for a good planner. Especially one for the new year and while I love my Erin Condren Life Planner, I started looking at some of the other companies and the planners that they sold and how they compared to the EC life planner.

Visiting the different websites, watching different YouTube videos reviewing all kinds of planners, watching plan with me videos with different planners and how people organized the planner to fit their style. It got pretty over whelming.  But, one planner kept showing up and was getting really great reviews and feedback from respectable youtubers and bloggers, and that was the Plum Paper Planner.

This planner is customizable ,with different cover designs, you can add your name or whatever you want also you can add a monogram, which I love (I'm a southern girl at heart, so I'll slap a monogram on anything that will sit still!) They offer 7 different types of planners which include: regular planners, family, student, teacher, fitness, monthly,  and a larger teacher planner. 

There is also 4 weekly spread layouts you can choose from, these may differ slightly depending on the type of planner, I'm not sure. With the planner I got, you could choose morning, afternoon, evening, hourly 7am-8pm, regular columns, or horizontal layout with notes.  You can choose your start month and add extra pages to your planner if you'd like. Want extra note pages? You can add them. I opted to make mine an 18 month planner instead of the regular 12 month. I also got 4 pages of stickers.  

I got a Regular planner with added months to make it an 18 month calendar

Front Cover

Back Cover

Here at the front you have your monthly calendars for the year of 2016 and also 2017

Front of the tab for April

The back of the tab page has this dashboard for your month. Its neat and clean and it's right at the front of your month so you can quickly glance at it.

Here's your month at a glance

 Then your weekly layout. I chose the layout with just columns. It was the most simple to me and gave me the space to organize or decorate my week the way I wanted to.

You get a page of notes with every month

The months in the back where you can write down birthdays and anniversaries

Contact pages

Passwords page

Sticker pages

And you get a cute little pocket at the end of your planner, that you can put important papers, reminders in. Use it for anything you want!

This planner is very comparable to the Erin Condren Life Planner. There are quite a few similarities but also some differences between the two. The biggest difference I noticed, besides price, was the paper. Both have nice paper, but Plum Paper is very very smooth and has I guess, a slip feeling to it where the life planner doesn't.  So just do your research.

The Plum Paper planner regular price for this planner is $31. With my add ones I believe I paid $38 plus shipping. The EC Life planner, granted I didn't pay for it was a gift was $60 

Here they are side by side

I am and will continue to use both, and in 18 months I guess is when I will make the decision of which planner I will be repurchasing. Or who knows, maybe there will be another planner that catches my eye or maybe not. Guess we will just have to see!!

How do you keep your life organized?

Are you Ec LIfe planner all he way?

or have you jumped on the Plum Paper planner wagon too?

Stay Beautiful y'all

XOXO

Emily