Casual Make-Up

  

Here are a few photos showing my most often used casual style of make-up. I use brown a lot because it’s a simple, day time color that goes with any outfit. Although some days when I wear bright colored clothes, I usually like to match my eye make-up to the clothes I’m wearing. My birthday is coming up this month on the 27th (I’ll be 20 years young!) and I only want two things. The first thing I want is a huge multicolored eyeshadow palette with a bunch of bright colors. The second thing I want is a professional make-up artist brush kit. I already have the EXACT palette and brushes I want added to my Amazon account wish list. I can get both items for unbelievably less than $40.

32 Piece Set for $16.15 @ Amazon.com

96 Color Palette by Shany Cosmetics for $15.11 @ Amazon.com

A couple days ago I finally found the decorative diamond rocks I was looking for. I bought the cutest blue, pink, & clear crystals for only $5.55 on Amazon, free shipping! I swear that’s like, the ONLY place I shop at because they have everything in the entire world for some good prices. Anyways, I wanted these decorations so bad because I want to put them in a pretty glass cup and use it to hold all my brushes. Not to mention, they are the same as the accent colors of my bedroom. It will be the perfect addition to my vanity. I can’t wait to re-organize and set up all my make-up.  Before you know it, my bedroom will look like a mini salon with everything from hair accessories, to nail polish displays, to shoes displayed on the wall, to the perfect cosmetic collection. I’m looking forward to the results and will be taking many pictures to show everyone. I feel like this is going to be my little practice for when I open my own salon in the future, hopefully after I’m retired.

Here is where I ordered the blue pink and clear crystals.
Here is where I’m going to order the make-up palette and the brushes.

A Work In Progress

As I have mentioned in several of my other posts, I’m reading this AMAZING book that teaches you how to manifest your desires. It inspired me to make this “Creation Box” project that it talks about and so I felt like blogging about my progress! I got paid a couple days ago and went out to the store to buy some supplies that I would need to make the box exactly how I imagined it. I want it to be a representation of everything I like, so I bought some animal print fabric, sparkly sheer fabric, hot pink ribbon, loose glitter, decorative bows, acrylic gems, rhinestones, buttons, glue, my favorite sharpie pens to write with, and there’s still a couple more items I want to purchase. As you can tell, I’m a total girly girl and I love all things pink and sparkly! I think I might be spending a little more money than I should on such a simple project, but I am totally okay with it because for one, I can afford it (fortunately with the help of my financial planner) and two, I want to go all out and put all my creativity into this box because I’m THAT excited about it. After a few minutes of brainstorming I created a mental picture of exactly how I want my box to look and wrote it all down in my notepad. I want the entire box to be covered in a plaid, quilt style with a mixture of different animal prints. Then I want to outline the edges with hot pink ribbon, add some rhinestones in the middle of each corner where a new pattern begins, and make a big pretty fabric bow to glue on top. I want to use my font skills to draw “Whatever is contained in this box – IS!” in really pretty letters covered in glitter. Then I want to decorate the inside too, so it looks pretty when I open the box. I want to decorate the underneath of the lid with pretty paper that says “Laura’s Creative Wish Box”. And on the very bottom I want it to say “It never ends”. I want to put this saying on the bottom because it’s “the end” of the box and as I have learned from Abraham’s teachings that I’m reading, it never ends. You never stop desiring new things, that’s how the world expands and that’s how we, as souls, evolve.

All my supplies (:

I also had this great idea to get some decorative stones that look sort of like diamonds, preferably pink, to put in my box. I want to do this to add some pizazz and also so I can tape my clippings to a toothpick and stick it in the stones so they stick straight up. I just think it would make the box look better, more organized, personal and creative. The only problem is, I can’t find them anywhere! Lake City, FL. is a very small town so there are not many options of stores for me to find these stones that I want so bad. I looked at every store, every craft section, looked it up all over google-couldn’t find them. I found some on google but they were WAY too expensive, and I’m just not going to pay more than $10 for some rocks…

Fortunately for me, I found them yesterday on Amazon.com (where they have EVERYTHING you can imagine). Not only did they have the EXACT color stones I was looking for, but they had a 2000 count for less than 6 bucks! I was so ecstatic about finally finding the rocks I was so desperately looking everywhere for, and then came to the conclusion that the Law of Attraction really does work! And since I’ve been feeling so good and positive about everything lately, it worked in less than 48 hours for me! I really could not believe how fast it came to me exactly what I wanted. I didn’t think about how I was going to get it or where or when, I just kept thinking to myself “I want these stones so bad. They will make my box PERFECT, just the way I want it. I’m going to find them somewhere. It will make me so happy to buy the very thing that will complete the perfection of my box.” Sure enough, I found the exact ones I was looking for. So I ordered 2 of them for almost $11.00, free shipping! Anddddddd, they will be delivered to my house in a week, which is great because everything else I have been ordering on Amazon has been taking almost a month to be delivered due to the fact that they are being shipped from out of the country. I love that I can make things happen for myself just like that. I’m going to use the same way I attracted these rocks to my life, to attract even bigger things, such as a car, into my experience and see how quick that happens for me. I’m thrilled to have found ways to make my life exactly how I want it to be and I will be applying this in every aspect of it. I think it would be in everybody’s best interest to try this Law of Attraction way of thinking to improve their life. But start with small things, because that will give you the confidence to know that it works and then attract bigger things into your life, like I did with the decorative rocks. I am still in progress of making this box, but as soon as I’m done, there will be plenty of pictures to show you guys how cute it turned out!

The Box Lid, Almost Finished!

Underneath The Lid, Still Working On It!

The rest of the box.

Putting Fabric on the Box. This is a little tedious because I’m using silk fabric. ($2 on sale!)

Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

I have previously posted about prenatal yoga and how good I feel when I perform it on a daily basis. However, I found some very interesting new information that I wanted to blog about. I was going through some prego magazines that I’ve collected from my doctors and classes throughout my pregnancy and found an article with the most interesting facts about the benefits of prenatal yoga in addition to what I already knew, so I just wanted to share it with you guys. Here’s the article:

Prenatal Yoga Classes
Preparation for labor and birth

The blessing of a new baby brings joy, excitement, and a new love that you never thought possible in this lifetime. This is a life changing, empowering, and absolutely most beautiful moment of a woman’s life. To fully enjoy this transforming journey, many women turn to prenatal yoga. Yoga is a wonderful way to stay healthy and help pregnant women prepare for the birth of their baby. During a prenatal yoga class, moms work on strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, and stability, while focusing on breathing and relaxation.

The classes are designed to be safe and gentle enough for moms at all stages of pregnancy, whether they are newly pregnant or due any day. Modifications are always shown to provide alternatives to each pose. Participants adjust the class to meet their own needs while working with their ever-changing body. Throughout the class, women listen to their body above all and work within their own limitations.

Many exercises and stretches done in prenatal yoga class not only help to alleviate common aches and pains of pregnancy, but also are good practical birth training. Many exercises and stretches can be done during labor and some can be used during the actual birth itself. For example, “cat” and “cow” poses are wonderful to help stretch and release tight back muscles, and can assist in rocking the baby into the proper position for birth. For those with sciatica pain, “pigeon” pose can help open the tight muscles that are putting pressure on the sciatic nerve. Doing kegel exercises help to tone and strengthen pelvic floor muscles. As these muscles become stronger, they tend to be more elastic and stretching with more ease during birth. This can help prevent tearing or having to received an epsiotomy during birth. Deep squatting (like a frog position) during birth can help to open the pelvic floor, creating more room for your baby to descend and being upright allows gravity to assist in bringing baby down. Yoga also gives an expectant mom time to block out all distractions and focus only on their body and baby. The quiet time helps them prepare not only physically, but also mentally, for the event of their baby’s birth. Mothers learn breathing techniques that they can use during their labor and birth. They also learn to fully relax the body and mind, which can aid in a much easier and enjoyable childbirth.

Lastly, during prenatal yoga, there is a constant reminder to the moms that their body is very strong and very wise. Their body was made for this, and it knows what its doing. Women have been birthing babies for thousands of years and through prenatal yoga, mom’s learn to find the confidence within them, so they can enter their labor with strength, confidence and courage and ultimately achieve the birth they desire.

Editorial provided by Michelle Baur,
MSH, certified prenatal yoga instructor
at Jax Prenatal Yoga in Jacksonville, FL.

Reference: Expectant Mother’s Guide to Jacksonville · 2012 · Volume 1

I suggest yoga to be done by everybody, pregnant or not. There are many different types and levels of yoga for people with all sorts of particularities, such as prenatal, beginner, intermediate, advanced, young people, old people, yoga that targets specific areas of the body, like back yoga, leg yoga, abs, hips, and the list goes on. It is not only physically good for you, but mentally and spiritually healthy as well. It will do your mind, body and spirit wonders and you will come to realize this for yourself when you start doing it. I personally try to do it every day, but the reality of my yoga schedule is every other day, sometimes two days if I’m really busy. I try to make sure I do my yoga as often as possible because I feel that it is an important thing to do, so I make it part of my daily routine. Like I have mentioned before, yoga gives me this indescribably, positive and good feeling throughout my entire being and I enjoy it every single time I do it. So If you’ve never done it before, now is the perfect time to start!

Creative Workshop Project

In my book Ask and it is Given, I read about this process that helps you to focus your positive energy on things that you want to improve in your life experience. Its supposed to get you into the habit of looking at everything in a positive manner. You can perform it in writing, or in your mind, but I think it would be more fun if I wrote it down. I’m going to try this process to see if it works. I have a feeling that it does because everything I’ve read about works so far. But it’s a fun activity that I want to try to prove to myself, once again, that these processes will in fact better my life. I took pictures of what I wrote down so you could see my own personal example of this creative workshop process:

This Creative Workshop Process will assist in focusing upon the areas that are most immediate and important in your life experience. When you identify the four basic subjects of your life, a focusing of Energy occurs. When you make more specific statements of desire, you activate the Energy around those subjects even more. And when you think about why you want those things, you can usually be softening your resistance around the subject while you are adding even more clarity and power to the thoughts. Why you want something defines the essence of what you want…the Universe always delivers to you the vibrational essence of your desire.

When you think about why you want something, you usually soften resistance, but when you think about when it will come to you or how it will come or who will help it to come, you often add resistance, especially if you do not already know the answers to those questions.

This Creative Workshop Process advises that you only visit it when you are in an optimistic mood. You should not go here if you are not feeling good. Here’s what Abraham had to say about it:

As you enter your workshop already feeling good. and then you bring to your workshop specific aspects of life experience that please you, and as you envision these things in greater detail, your life outside of your workshop will begin yo reflect images that you have created within your Creative Workshop. This is a powerful tool that will help you create the perfect life for yourself.

I love reading about this, and I can not wait to see the results of my workshop! If it really works I will feel invigorated with my own sense of powerful to “create” any kind of life I want, and I will do so. Please let me know if you decide to try this activity and if it works out for you. I would love to know about other people’s experiences doing the same thing that I’m doing.

Cosmetic Talent ♥

This blog post is dedicated to my make-up talent. Included are a few photos of some of my most recent techniques and color uses. I want to expand the variety of the kind of make-up I can do, so I’m in the process of creating an online portfolio that will show all of my work. I want to make a portfolio to demonstrate it to people in person as well. I’m eventually going to need that when I go to Cosmetology school. I’m also making tutorial videos soon! I’m going to teach other people how to apply their make-up like I do mine. (:

   

Pregnancy Post #9 – I Found The Video, Hearing Baby’s Heart Beat!

I was looking through my Facebook video’s when I noticed that there was one on there that I had uploaded from my phone a little while ago of me and daddy hearing the baby’s heartbeat for the first time, and then realized it was already deleted off my phone. I was a little upset about it because I’m keeping every single little detail and memory of this entire pregnancy. I was even more upset when I clicked on the video to see if I could save it and found that I could not even download it if I wanted to! I thought the video was gone forever, so I was going to re-record it on my phone. The quality would have been really bad, but at least I would have the video. Fortunately, while looking through all my untagged photos on my computer, I found the video hidden in a picture file!!! I was so excited about finding it that I immediately uploaded it to my YouTube. Somehow I knew I had this video saved somewhere, because I don’t ever just “delete” anything without saving it first. I’m one of those people that hoards countless pictures and memorable items. I love the feeling of having something to look back on and it will feel even better when I can show my children my life growing up. I’ll post the video on here so you guys can see it. It’s less than a minute long, but it was the happiest less than 60 seconds of my life up until that day.

Pregnancy Post #8 – 28 Weeks

Me @ 27 Weeks & 4 Days Pregnant
Taken: Dec. 23, 2012
♥ Happy Holidays ♥

Today, I am officially 28 Weeks pregnant which means I am now entering my third trimester, Yay! I’m THAT much closer to meeting this tiny person that I’ve already fallen in love with! I am feeling so positive about myself, mine and baby’s progress, my growing body, my accomplishments and my ability to maintain a good attitude throughout this life-changing experience.

Right now I’m sitting in the waiting room getting ready to take this gestational diabetes test and my rhogam shot because I am RH- . I’m not really looking forward to it, so I’m passing time by Blogging to keep myself from thinking too much about it.

Last week I scheduled an appointment to take a tour at a Birth Center in Gainesville. My final decision after reading many forums of experienced mothers giving birth, is to deliver my baby in a Birth Center. So next week, me and my mom are going to take a tour. I envision myself having an all natural water birth – NO MEDICATION. I want this to be a completely natural process, as it’s supposed to be. From what I read on their website, this particular birthing center promotes my ideal birth plan. I’m looking forward to meeting the people that are going to be around when I’m in labor.

As for my body, I am embracing my growing figure (Especially my new curves) and I can feel baby girl several times throughout the day every day. Sometimes she wakes up before I do, which wakes me up. But it is the best feeling to wake up to and I don’t mind it not one bit. Sometimes her blows literally take my breath away and result in me practically jumping out of my chair. I find it the most humorous when there’s a dead silence in the room! It truly amazes me. I can tell she’s going to have a very outgoing personality, just like her momma. (:

I saved the best for last – my first stretch mark! Normally, any woman would see this as a negative thing. But me, I actually love the new marking. It’s the most adorable little stretch mark that appeared right on top of my Belly button ring hole. (That’s really the only reason it happened, because there was already a hole there before.) I noticed it at first when I felt the most irritating sensation under my clothes. When I went to look at it, I noticed my skin stretched. It was so uncomfortable! Little did I know stretch marks could be painful, especially for it being so small! I put lotion on it right away and have kept it lubricated ever since to prevent it from getting any bigger. Butttttt, it’s the only one I have so far, so I’m very appreciative and happy about that. I prefer to look at this stretch mark as a kiss from the baby, right in the middle of my tummy. ♥

I can’t wait to meet my little darling. xo

28 Weeks Pregnant

Tattoo still looks good! :}

Holiday Make-Up – First Cut Crease Using Glitter

This Christmas year, I am 27 weeks pregnant, just coming into my third trimester. So instead of going out, I’m staying in. Besides, it’s way too cold to be out there having to wear layers of clothes! And God knows clothes are uncomfortable enough for me as it is, lol! Anyways, I felt like dressing up; like a Christmas tree that lights up the whole room. So I put on so very cute brand new red clothes that I bought and haven’t worn yet, and did my make-up with glitter and red to be festive for the holidays. My make-up turned out so good, it kind of made me want to go out and show it off! I took pictures instead, and when I uploaded them, EVERYBODY loved it. I actually learned the eyeshadow cut crease technique from this girl on YouTube (she’s referenced below) who I thought did an amazing job. So I tried it, and it came out perfect! The picture is the proof.

Holiday Make-Up 2012 – Smokey Glitter Eye Shadow & Candy Red Lips

I used a white eyeshadow for the base of my eyelid. I use white because it makes the color you put over it brighter. I then used a sparkly silver eyeshadow over the white. I used Maybelline’s eye studio eyeliner with the brush to draw a perfect line along my crease. I actually went a little bit above my crease just to give the illusion that my eyelid is bigger than it actually is. I like to do this because I’m using glitter and I want people to see a lot of it without having to close my eyes. After I draw the line, I go over it again to make it a little darker and thicker, then I fade it outwards. Next, I used Wet n’ Wild’s sparkly black eyeshadow ($1.95 @ Walmart – you don’t have to buy expensive make-up for it to look good) on my brush and dabbed on the outer edge of the faded black line to add a little shape to my defined crease. I help fade it out by blending a sparkly light skin color  eye shadow to give it a less “racoon-ish” look. Next, I add a light colored creamy eyeshadow over the lid to use as an adhesive for the glitter to stick. After this I used a clean brush to pat it in silver eye shadow, dab in the glitter and then on to my eyelid. I cover the entire lid so that it’s nothing but glitter. I then used Maybelline’s liquid eyeliner with a pointed tip to draw an Egyptian cat-like line on my upper lid, and filled it in keeping out/wiping any excess glitter that falls onto the black. Last, I add eyeliner and mascara and there you have it; Holiday makeup! I think this look is great for any celebration: Christmas, New Years, a birthday, a party, etc. To add a little Christmas spirit to to my look, I put on Revlon’s 725 Love That Red lipstick with clear lip gloss. I think this makes me look like one of those porcelain dolls! Believe it or not, this was actually my very first attempt at cutting my crease when applying glitter. As I mentioned above, I learned from this girl on YouTube, which I will add a link to her video below. Eventually when I get around to fixing my camera, I’ll make the tutorials I keep talking about. Hopefully for now, you can learn by reading and looking at my example photos. Stay tuned for more beautiful make-up designs. I take pictures of my make-up every time so there’s a lot to look forward to. (:

Here is the video of the girl I learned how to cut my crease and add glitter from.

My “Creation Box” Project

After reading another miraculous chapter of my amazing book Ask And It Is Given, I have decided to put what I just read about into action. It is a process to use that helps you practice the Art of Allowing; meaning, letting the things you desire into your experience. It’s called “The Magical Creation Box”. You use it when you are in the mood for a pleasing activity that will focus the Energy that creates worlds into specific directions of your personal preferences, or when you want to give the Universal Manager (God) even more specific information about the details of things that please you. But in order to be able to use this process effectively is if you are in the Emotional Set-Point of joy, knowledge, empowerment, freedom, love, appreciation and optimism. You can’t and won’t be able to use this process if your are feeling none of these.

Long story short, you pick a box that is appealing to you, whatever you like. You write on top of it “Whatever is contained in this box – IS!”. You clip pictures of anything that you want to experience: furniture, clothing, landscaping, travel destinations, vehicles, photos of people interacting with one another, anything that is appealing to you; clip it, put it in your box. If you have an idea, write it down with details and throw that in the box. This activity is to help you practice being in a nonresistant state so that you can allow the Universe to bring you whatever it is that you desire. The more things you put in your box, the more the Universe will deliver to you other ideas that match them. And the more you drop things into your box, the more your desire will be focused, and you will be in state of allowing those things to come into your experience.

When I read this, I felt my entire body overfill with joy and inspiration! I started thinking about what box I could use, and how I would decorate it, what kinds of things I would put in it, so on and so forth. I actually adjusted my financial planner just so that I could make room to buy some decorations for my box. Tomorrow, I’m going shopping to buy some loose glitter, ribbon, glue, stickers, colored paper, and a magazine to start clipping things that represent exactly what I want. For example, one of the things I’m going to put in my “Creation Box” is a red or black car, because that’s what I plan to have in the mere future. I also want a digital camera, so if I see a picture of that, I’m going to clip it and put it in the box! I’m also going to add pictures of college, learning a new language, a picture of a receptionist, because that’s the kind of job I want to have after I have the baby, along with a few other things I have written down. I’m getting excited just talking about it. I wish I could go buy everything right now, but unfortunately, I don’t have any money until tomorrow.

One of the greatest aspects about applying this process to my life is the fact that I will be practicing the law of attraction and learning how to attract the things I want in my life. It’s such a liberating idea and every time I think about it, a positive energy flows all through me. I love it! And I’m so appreciative about learning how to be in control of my own thoughts and experiences. It brings so much positivity in my life, I recommend everybody to do this so they will now how I feel.

I plan to start this project tomorrow after my shopping spree. I’m excited that it’s right after Christmas because I’m likely to find a lot of the things I want on sale. Once I finish making the box, I’ll post a picture about it. And when something I put in the box happens, I’ll let you know, so you’ll know that this process really works! Then you can do it too. (:

Happy Holidays 2012

This year, instead of the traditional seasonal greeting Card, my mother and I decided to
get all dressed up and pretty to make a Holiday Video to share with all  our friends and family.
We want to wish everybody a very happy holidays from us!

Merry Christmas (English), Feliz Natal (Portuguese), Feliz Navidad (Spanish), joyeux Noël (French),
frohe Weihnachten (German), buon Natale (Italian), merii kurisumasu (Japanese),
felix dies Nativitatis (Latin), vesele vianoce (Slovak), god jul (Swedish).