June Birchbox 2016

LOC One and Done Shadow Stick in Haute Cocoa — $10.00

From Birchbox brand LOC, this creaseless, waterproof shadow doubles as a long lasting liner

Nuxe Reve deMiel Facial Cleansing and Makeup Removing Gel– $19.00

This French multitasker dissolves dirt, oil and makeup while soothing and softening skin.

The Beauty Crop PBJ Smoothie Stick Raisin the Roof–$14.95

This stick boasts a soft, sweet tint and moisturizes lips with good for you ingredients.

Air Repair Complexion Boosting Moisturizer — $21.00

Packed with antioxidants and humectants, this rich formula works as both a mask and a daily moisturizer.

Davines Authentic Cleansing Nectar Hair/Body– $28.50

This nourishing shampoo-meets-body -wash uses organic oils to cleanse and hydrate from head to toe.

Bonus Davines Authentic Moisturizing Balm Face/Body/Hair– $26.50

We’ve added in this tree in one balm that conditions hair, nourishes skin and even removes makeup.

24Jun2016

WalMart Beauty Box Summer 2016

Posted in Acne, Combination Skin, Dry Hair, Dry Skin, Hair, Hair Care, Manicure, Nails, Normal Skin, Oily Hair, Oily Skin, Shampoo, Skin Care, Subscription Boxes, Uncategorized, Walmart by whateverlara

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Schwarzkopf Essence UltIme Diamond Color & Radiance Shampoo seals-in hair color for anti-fading and provides deep nourishment. Get intensified shine and color luminosity and up to 85% less hair breakage and split ends. Essence Ultime contains a precious Ultime-4-Complex, a unique combination of pearl essence, panthenol, refined protein and keratin. Indulge your hair with luxurious care. $6.97 at Walmart

Schwarzkopf Essence Ultime Diamond Color Conditioner seals-in hair color for anti-fading and provides deep nourishment. Essence Ultime contains a precious Ultime-4-Complex, a unique combination of pearl essence, panthenol, refined protein and keratin. Indulge your hair with luxurious care. $6.97 at Walmart

When you have very dry, rough, irritated skin you need something that will moisturize to help it heal fast. In our Vaseline Intensive Care Advanced Repair Unscented lotion, we’ve combined healing micro-droplets of Vaseline Jelly and our highest levels of moisturizing glycerin. The result is a rich yet quick absorbing lotion that gives you intense moisturization. This lotion deeply moisturizes to heal very dry skin in only 5 days. It provides prescription strength moisturization without the prescription to restore soft, healthy looking skin. It’s also been awarded the U.S. National Eczema Association (NEA) Seal of Acceptance. With its seal of approval from the NEA, Vaseline Intensive Care Advanced Repair Unscented Lotion is suitable to use as a daily moisturizer for people with eczema or sensitive skin. Apply Vaseline Intensive Care Advanced Repair Unscented Lotion to your skin daily to heal dry skin. $5.84 at Walmart

America’s #1 Scrub gently cleans pores and helps stop breakouts before they occur.

St. Ives Blemish Control Apricot Face Scrub:

St. Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub is made with 100% natural exfoliants
This face scrub helps prevent blemishes before they even occur
St. Ives Apricot Scrub is paraben free
This St. Ives face scrub will help instantly reveal radiant skin
This apricot scrub is dermatologist tested

$3.48 at Walmart

For a bold, adventure-ready manicure, try Desert Rose, a coral and turquoise tribal nail art look. Coconut Nail Art by Incoco delivers effortless nail art without the mess, hassle, and dry time of liquid polish.

Coconut Nail Art by Incoco Nail Polish Strips:

12 double-ended strips per set for a perfect fit
Instant, beautiful, nail art design
Self-stick strips includes base, color, and top coats
Up to 10-14 days of wear
Remove with nail polish remover

$4.97 at Walmart

Top Notes: Honey, Apricot Middle Notes: Saffron, Orchid, Belladona Base Notes: Incense, Musk

$24.87 at Walmart

Arm And Hammer Truly Radiant Whitening Toothpaste, Fresh Mint – 4.3 Oz, 3 Pack – Helps to remove stains, improve enamel strength, restore gloss and luster. – Arm and Hammer Truly Radiant Whitening Toothpaste, Clean Mint

Arm and Hammer Truly RadiantTM toothpaste is the only toothpaste with baking soda, peroxide and Active Calcium.
Remove stains.
Improve enamel strength.
Restore gloss and luster.
Baking soda.
Active Calcium Peroxide.
Fluoride cavity protection.
Unsurpassed enamel strengthening.

$3.48 at Walmart

2May2016

Pinterest Test:: No Heat Headband Curls!

Posted in Dry Hair, Favorites, Hair, Hair Care, Oily Hair, Pinterest, Pinterest Fail, Pinterest Win, Review, Uncategorized by whateverlara

Over the past year or so I’ve been trying to take better care of my hair. I’ve been lucky in that my hair has been kind to me even though I’ve treated it horribly over the years. Many other peoples hair probably would have not been as kind to them with all the drugstore dye, heat and various other infractions. On the journey to better hair I’ve started taking Vitamins, limiting how often I wash my hair and I’ve thrown away the box dye and for the most part use heat very rarely on my hair. My hair is fine but I have a lot of it so in a way it could be classified as thick. I don’t think my hair is thick but according to my hair stylist JoAnna, I have a lot of hair. My hair is also stick straight so of course I wish it was wavy/curly (always wanting what you don’t have….) The picture you see below is me doing nothing to my hair, it was washed earlier in the day and left to air dry.

Headband curls are something that I’ve seen for awhile on Pinterest but until last year when I cut my hair it was really too long to attempt this! As I said my hair was washed earlier in the day and before I started the process I put some sea salt spray in my hair (check out this link to my post about making your own! ) and made sure to run my wet brush through my hair to evenly distribute the spray. Next all you do is put an elastic headband over your hair and wrap your hair around it! I’ve included a few links to videos and other blog posts that show you how to do this if you still need a little more explanation.

Cute Girl Hairstyles (video ) ** if you are someone who likes to watch YouTube – Guilty…- check out their channel!

Trade Secrets (video)

WikiHow (blog post with illustrations)

When I undid my curls the next morning I used a little hair spray and just ran my fingers through to break up the curls. Of course I did this experiment on a day when I wasn’t doing anything but running some errands and vegging on my couch! If I was going out with this hairstyle, I personally like a little more lift at my roots so I would have added a volumizing powder or spray and teased the crown and sides a little.

This is definitely a Pinterest win and I will be doing this style again for sure!

Follow me on Pinterest if you like

18Apr2016

WalMart Beauty Box Spring 2016

Posted in Acne, Argan Oil, Combination Skin, Dry Hair, Dry Skin, Favorites, Foundation, Hair, Hair Care, Hits, Hits and Misses, Lipstick, Make Up, Makeup, Moroccan Oil, Normal Skin, Oily Hair, Oily Skin, Shampoo, Skin Care, Subscription Boxes, Walmart by whateverlara

Lets open up the Spring WalMart Beauty Box and see what goodies are in store for me!!

** CeraVe Healing Ointment Full Size $14.63 for 5 oz which if my math is correct makes this sample of 0.085 worth about 35 cents… ok I’m hoping that the rest of this box will make up for this 🙂

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample 35 cents

Worth of Box 35 cents

** Biore Baking Soda Pore Cleanser, is $6.12 for 6.77 oz which makes this 1 oz sample size worth 90 cents.

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample 90 cents

Worth of Box $1.25

** Colgate Optic White Platinum Express White Fresh Mint Toothpaste, is $9.94 for 4.5 oz and the sample size is 1.45 oz Because math isn’t by best subject I’m rounding up to 1.5 oz which bring this tube of toothpaste (which I actually needed ! LOL ) to $3.30

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample $3.30

Worth of Box $4.55

** Burt Bee’s BB Cream with Noni Extract and SPF 15 ( I wasn’t able to find this on the Walmart website so the link is for Target. $14.99 for 1.7 oz the sample size is 0.03 oz so again using “special math” I’ll say this is worth 45 cents.

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample 45 cents

Worth of Box $5.00 Whoo Hoo we are at value!

** Neutrogena Acne Correct & Cover Pink Grapefruit Moisturizer is $8.99 for 1.7 oz which makes this about $5.29 per ounce. There is not a listing on the sample which tells me how much is in the package but it looks about the same size as the Burts Bee BB Cream so we are going to go with 0.03 oz which would equal 16 cents.

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample 16 cents

Worth of Box $5.16

** L’Oreal Paris Age Perfect Cell Renewal Golden Serum Treatment is $18.97 for 1 oz so this should be easy! But no there is not weight on the sample size so again seeing as it looks about the same as the others we will just guess its about 0.03! Which means this is worth a grand total of 57 cents!

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample 57 cents

Worth of Box $5.73

** Neutrogena MoistureSmooth Color Stick, in the shade Pink Grapefruit retails for $7.97 cents for 0.011 oz of product now this is where it gets fun as the price for ounce is $724.54 Sooo….. we are just going to be generous and say that this is worth 5 bucks; everyone good with that?! 🙂

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample $5.00

Worth of Box $10.73 Yeah we are at double the price of the box!

** Curel Itch Defense Body Wash is $6.99 for 10 oz of liquid body wash which makes this sample worth 69.9 cents as it is 1 oz.

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample 69.9 cents lets make this 70 cents because… math

Worth of Box $11.43

** Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer is $11.37 for a 10 oz bottle which makes per oz the price $1.14 and our sample is exactly 2 oz (yeah for even numbers!) sooo… our little bottle is worth $2.28

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample $2.28

Worth of Box $13.71

** John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Visibly Brighter Subtle Lightening Shampoo is $8.97 for a 8.3 oz bottle which means it breaks down to $1.08 an ounce which makes our generous sample size bottle of 2 oz worth $2.16!

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample $2.16

Worth of Box $15.87

** Vera Wang Embrace Periwinkle & Iris Eau de Toilette Spray is $28.32 for 1 oz and our sample size is 0.04 oz is worth $1.13

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Sample $1.13

Worth of Box $17.00 Wow we are almost to 4x the amount of the price of the box!

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And we can’t forget the coupons!

$1 off Neaturogena Acne Products
$1 off L’oreal Paris True Match Products
$3 off Burt’s Bee BB Cream

So not only do I get $5 in savings (if I actually remember to use the coupons hahaha) but I will add that to the value of the box!

Walmart Box price $5.00

Price of Coupons $5.00

Worth of Box $22.00 !!!!

Click here to get your own Walmart Beauty Box!

25Feb2016

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and BH Cosmetics

Posted in Acne, Benefit, Blush, Bronzer, Combination Skin, Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Favorites, Foundation, Hair, Hair Care, Hits, Hits and Misses, Lipstick, Make Up, Makeup, Mascara, Normal Skin, Oily Skin, Powder, Primers, Review by whateverlara

I’m a die hard Jane Austen Fan. If it has her name on it I’m in. Now I’m also a purest so don’t go around trying to make my beloved Jane Austen into something she is not. All that to say, I”m also a weirdo and love the horror/thriller genre. When I heard that Pride and Prejudice was going to be mixed with Zombies, I knew I had to see it. It would either be an epic fail or something amazing. And it was something amazing; now you totally have to suspend your belief but it was over all an enjoyable if not ridiculous movie made all the more wonderful by Matt Smith as Mr. Collins. Seriously I laughed hysterically every time he was on screen. Enough with my movie review; I bought the BH Cosmetics Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Eye shadow and Cheek Palette and also the Lip Gloss kit.

I decided my eyes needed something a little more later in the day so I added an blue liner underneath my lower lash line and I love the way it looks!

4Jan2016

Inside Out French Braid Pony

Posted in Dry Hair, Hair, Hair Care, Oily Hair by whateverlara

PicMonkey Collage

This is a super easy hairstyle that I like to do on second or third day hair. I started with second day hair that had some texture and wave left from flatiron curls from the day before. An Inside Out French Braid is also called a Dutch or Reverse braid. All you do is begin like a normal french braid with three sections and instead of crossing your hair over the top you cross under the bottom.

After braiding down about half way down the length of my hair (the bottom of my neck) I tied it off with an elastic and then pancaked or stretched out my braid. If you have fine hair like me it can be difficult to add volume to your braid. I find that it’s best to have a little texture and grip to your hair which is why I did this style on second day hair that had some texture from hairspray and volume powder. I also blasted my roots with some dry shampoo before I started the braid. Once I have the braid tied off I started at the top and gently pulled on the sides of the braid to add volume. Next I gathered the rest of of my hair into a pony and added the top section that I had braided and pancaked into the pony and took the hair tie off the braided section. Then I used a piece of hair from the underside of the pony and wrapped it around the hair elastic holding the pony and used a bobby pin to secure the end of the hair for a more polished look. I also teased the ponytail a bit to have a little more volume and voilà!