TGIF.

I am sick! I am being whiny about being sick. I haven't photographed any makeup or hair because guess what?... I'M SICK.

Actually I just started getting really sick and feverish tonight. Otherwise I have just felt like poop all week. I could have slept this entire week and not regretted it a bit. However, it is Friday night and my spirits are slightly up. Zach is home. I get to see him tomorrow, so I feel like I can finally really rest. I worry a ridiculous amount. I can't help it. I am one of those people that has to physically touch the wall socket to know that my flat iron is, in fact, unplugged. I may or may not check it once (or twice) more before leaving the house.

While Zach has been gone I have had to find things to keep me occupied. The main thing keeping me occupied is...

Sherlock. Oh mah gerd. Why have I not discovered this show sooner? I think I may be obsessed. Zach and I started the series before he left and I have been trying my damnedest not to watch it without him, but I totally slipped up. Oh well! It is seriously one of the best television series I have ever seen. When we started it I was a bit wary that it was set in modern times, but I was completely hooked by the first episode. Everyone should go onto Netflix this very moment and start watching! There is so much I want to write, but it is hard to describe the show without giving away the plot. It isn't a bunch of random episodes. Every episode is connected to this one main plot. Go! Now! Netflix!

Any recommendations for what I should watch when I finish this?

 

Eyelash extensions and Bettie bangs!

This weekend has been a wee bit hectic and I have been without internet for the most part. Zach left for Illinois today for some training program for his work, and I spent my weekend spending time with him and trying not to be whiny about him going. It's kind of silly for me to get upset considering he will be back Friday and we hardly see each other during the week anyways since I am in school all day every day and he works all day every day and we live about an hour away from each other. Really I am not seeing him any less than I normally would... but still. Illinois is a long way away.

I am a baby. I know.

I wish I had more than just instagram pictures to post, but I have barely been home and my camera is sitting uncharged on my desk. The above photo is me getting ready to have eyelash extensions put on. Now, to be posting a before picture would only mean that I have an after picture as well, right? Nope! Turns out I am allergic to the adhesive on the medical tape they use. While my lashes look lovely (thanks mom!), my eyes are really raw and painful. I have really sensitive skin... especially around my eyelashes. Towards the end of it my eyes felt like they were on fire and I was starting to squirm.

The process itself is not really that bad if you aren't a wuss like me. After I took that photo we got a few lashes on before I started burning, so my mom put some really soothing anti-wrinkle pads on my eyes and applied the tape over them instead. That worked wonderfully until the end. I even fell asleep during it!

In other news, I am getting closer to achieving the Bettie Page bangs I have been trying to do! My bangs always freak out slightly when they are cut... so, hopefully they will look a bit better tomorrow when I style my hair. I feel like I need to go up slightly more on the edges, but my bangs are crazy and hard to cut. One thing at a time. Also, this picture was taken after the eyelash extensions (as you can tell by the fact that I actually have eyebrows here...). I had slapped on some makeup, so you can't see how irritated my eyes were. I promise to post some actual photos of them soon!

PS- Is anyone else as obsessed with "Sherlock" as I am? I just started watching it on Netflix!

 

Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque: A Review!

Queen Helene Mint Julep Mask



You know what I love? Super cheap beauty finds that really work.

I discovered the mint julep masque while lurking around http://www.makeupalley.com/ and pretty much all the reviews preached about the magic that is in this tube.  For only a little over $3 how could I not try this out?  The description says:

" Helps dry up acne pimples, rinse away blackheads & shrink enlarged pores. Mint Julep Masque is the original natural home treatment developed by a dermatologist that helps dry up acne pimples, rinse away blackheads and shrink enlarged pores. Simply apply Mint Julep Masque to your clean face and neck. Within minutes it firms and hardens, drawing out impurities from your pores. After the masque is removed, your skin will feel clean, refreshed and smooth. Even for individuals who are fortunately free of skin problems, Mint Julep Masque is a refreshing facial treatment that helps relax tired muscles and ease tension lines on the face and neck. Made in U.S.A."

Sounds too good to be true, right? It isn't! 

Please brace yourself for what you are about to witness....

 

I have been testing this for months now and it is never a disappointment. It's a thick yet creamy consistency and smells like spearmint gum. I apply it clean, dry skin and I make sure to avoid my eye area because this stuff is drying. For some, it may "tingle" a bit... and by "tingle" I mean burn, but this is also coming from the girl that cries every time she watches "My Girl". Seriously though, it's really nothing bad and if I let a fan blow in my face for a few seconds it doesn't bother me a bit. Also, I have combination skin, leaning towards dry due to acne medication so this could explain any mild discomfort. After the initial tingle, it feels cool on my face while it dries. I leave it on for about 15 or so minutes before I rinse it off with cool water and pat my face dry with a towel. Then I apply moisturizer.

Also, I am aware that I have like three false lashes left. They are going to have to fall out on their own because I am not about to risk ripping my eyelashes out. Haha.

And here comes the gross part. It sucks all the nasty stuff out of your pores. That would be oil sitting on top of my nose. Also, any white heads I may have on my face are literally sitting on top of my skin when I wash this off... I didn't photograph that, though. I don't want anyone crying themselves to sleep tonight. 

Overall, I think this is probably one of the best masques I have ever used. It really lives up to the description. My face looks smoother and my pores look tighter when I rinse it off. Also, it is a FANTASTIC spot treatment. Dab some of this on a zit before bed and it will be pretty much dried up by the next morning. 

What are your favorite bargain beauty tricks? 

Autumn Eyes!

I am so ready for fall I can't stand it. Tennessee is beautiful once the leaves change. With the hot, muggy summer we had this year you can't blame me for wishing for cool weather.

Scarves... bonfires... corn mazes...

PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES.

Autumn was my inspiration for my FOTD. The one down side about this time a year? Ridiculously swollen allergy eyes. No amount of cold tea bags is helping me. I think it is time I got over myself and went to get an allergy shot, because my eyes look so tired. And wrinkly. Am I the only one who gets weird under eye bags/wrinkle things when my allergies get terrible? They are really itchy, too!

FACE-
Revlon Color Stay Whipped in Buff
Hard Candy Glamoflauge Heavy Duty Concealer

Eyes-
BH Cosmetics 120 Palette 2nd Edition
e.l.f. Essential Liquid Eyeliner in Black
e.l.f Studio Mineral Infused Mascara

Lips-
e.l.f. Studio Matte Lip Color in "Rich Red"
And a red from the 120 eyeshadow palette I listed above. 

Please ignore how chapped my lips look. I currently only own one red lipstick and it was too pink toned for this look, so I put a bit of red eyeshadow on top of it. Dried my lips out like crazy.

Also check out my birthmark under my armpit. I think birthmarks are awesome. I am weird, I know.

Today was my first day taking pictures outside and I was kinda nervous about it... The thought of the neighbors watching me freaks me out. Also, taking pictures is hard when dogs are tackling you trying to get you to cuddle them. I had to let them get in a picture with me! The pug I am holding is named Big (my little brother named him) and Pocky is the pretty girl watching us. Not pictured are Mookie, Alice, and Kota.... we have too many animals.

P.S.- Yes, I am pigeon-toed. I wish I were just doing the cutesy pose girls are always doing where their feet turn in, but mine just naturally do that.

P.S.S.- Sorry about my bra strap! I just now noticed it. ;p

Hope everyone has had a great day!

This week in Instagram.

1. Four people in a tiny photobooth.... it was very warm. This is from a recent trip to Murfreesboro. I love my friends.

2. Last night with Matilda living here. I have had her since I was 15 and I am horrible and have yet to blog about her. She is so different from Murnau and very hard to get pictures of. She is very, very independent and only cuddles when she feels like it... which is rare. Since I rescued Murnau my tiny room has become too cramped with both fuzzy sneeze creatures living in here, so last week Zach took her since Murnau requires a bit more attention. I am crying like a little baby in the picture, so luckily it is dark haha.

3. My makeup this morning. It was gloomy, so I threw on some orange and purple to brighten my mood. AND I GOT BANGS. I love them. I am going to rock these for another week or so before going full pin-up fringe. Yaaaaay. Also, boo puffy allergy eyes. 

4. A picture I found of my aunt and mom.... oh my goodness. I love this. Look at those awesome handmade dresses my Mammie put on them. And I love the contrast between my dark featured aunt and my fair-haired mom. Looks like my family ran out of all the Native American traits before my grandma had my mom haha. Which is probably why I look so different from my cousins. Oh well.

5. Murnau enjoying belly rubs. He is getting to be a little lard ass since he doesn't have to share food. Lazy bum.

6. ANOTHER of Murnau. I miss Matilda a ton, so I am taking a ton of pictures of my Murmeooooow (Zach loves it when I call him that. And by "love" I mean he considers breaking up with me when he hears me do that.)

7. Posing with my friends before my first night clubbing. We went to Play in Nashville, which is a gay club. Everyone was really cool and it was fun not having to worry about getting hit on. We talked to some really cool people and I could seriously watch drag queen shows all night. They are beautiful!

8. On the way to Play. Sarah and I got bored (because we were lost and had been driving forever) and started taking silly pictures in the backseat. Look how sleepy I look and we weren't even there yet.

9. One of the drag queens. I want them to teach me to do makeup. I loved this one in particular because she was so unique. However, after the show, I was ready to go. I realized I am too much of an old lady for the wild nightlife.

10. My mammie's cooking. Fried chicken, mashed taters and peas, and egg gravy and biscuits. Oh my gosh. My stomach is growling just thinking about it.

11. An old pic of Zach, but one of my favorites. I am so bad about sneaking pictures of him because I think he is the most handsome thing ever. I think we had been together a little over 6 months when this was taken.


Follow me on instagram! @emilylovesbacon

How I clean my brushes!

Wow.... I am a truly terrible blogger. It is now Monday and I haven't posted a single thing since Wednesday. I fully intend to one day have a decent blog schedule down, but as of right now so many things are happening at once and I am finding myself too tired to muster up the desire to post.

That sounds terrible, doesn't it?

Don't get me wrong, I love my little corner of the internet. I am very thankful for all 157 of you that have viewed my blog so far. I want to have readers that come back more than once. I am a baby in the blogging universe, but that's okay. I have a lot of faith in this thing. Words can't describe how excited it makes me to watch my blog grow little by little. I can't wait to get comments and start connecting with people. I think that is one of the reasons I started this. I want to connect with people who are like me. I have been lurking different blogs for years now, and I love the sense of community they seem to have.

Anyways, on to today's post!

My brushes get gross. I maybe do a full face of makeup once a week, so my foundation brush tends to just sit there with week old foundation hanging out on it. Also, my friend Ana tends to stay the night several nights a week in order to carpool to school and she loves to use my eyeshadow brushes in all kinds of crazy color combinations and NEVER wipes them off. Never. I want to strangle her... I mean, what?... I have found that, for me, the best way to clean my brushes is with things found in my kitchen.

WARNING: IF YOUR BRUSHES ARE SUPER GRIMY THIS WON'T CUT IT. BE SURE TO CLEANSE THEM WITH A GOOD CLARIFYING SHAMPOO ONCE/TWICE A MONTH DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH YOU USE THEM.

You only need three things!

• A lemon
• Apple cider vinegar
• Olive Oil

 First I take a large coffee mug and fill the bottom with the apple cider vinegar. I do not measure it exactly, so use your best judgement. I then take my lemon and squeeze some of the juice into the cup. It helps to roll the lemon around on the counter beforehand to loosen it up a bit. I normally just use the rest of the lemon on my face later to help with my acne scarring, so I just stick the remainder of it back in the fridge. Lemon has natural antibacterial properties, so I also cut off a slice and put it into the mixture. I use a knife to break it up a bit. Then I fill the cup up a little over half full with hot water and allow my brushes to soak in it for 10 to 15 minutes.

Next I put a bit of olive oil onto a paper towel or a cotton round. I take my brushes out of the apple cider mixture and gently squeeze to get some of the water out. Then I gently rub them around in the olive oil and begin wiping them on the clean areas of the paper towel. The olive oil really softens your brushes and helps loosen the product stuck to them. For my rounder brushes, such as my beautifully dirty foundation brush above, I swirl it around on the paper towel.  For my eyeshadow brushes and other flatter brushes I sweep back and forth as if I am painting.

Lovely, isn't it?

After the olive oil I set my brushes back in the apple cider vinegar and let them soak for a few minutes, before thoroughly rinsing them in cool water. I have found that the olive oil works wonderfully for some brushes, but for others it can make them feel greasy. Synthetic brushes are usually the worst about this, mainly my E.L.F. brushes, so you may also want to shampoo some of them in a mild baby shampoo as well. I do not recommend the olive oil more than once a month because it will make your other brushes feel too greasy as well. 

Also, the apple cider vinegar smell does linger on your brushes. Personally, it does not bother me, but if you are sensitive to that particular scent you might want to stick to good old baby shampoo.


How do you cleanse your brushes?

French Braided messy bun!

We are in the hair sculpting division at school meaning I am having to do a lot of weird 80's blowouts and teasing, but I am also getting to try updos! Today I tried and failed a Regency era inspired style, so we ended up playing around with her hair for the rest of the time. My friend Sierra (who is a much neater braider than me) and I did this look on Lindy. 
Looking back, I really wish I had done a more in-depth tutorial with pictures for this. Maybe even a video?  Fortunately, this is not a unique look. I am almost positive there are a bunch of reviews on youtube, and I know I have seen variations of this on Pinterest (that's where we got the idea!)

Here is a step-by-step, just in case.

• Apply a root lifting powder, a mousse, sea salt spray, or something along those lines to help your hair mold into the style you want. You can do this on second day hair as well. The reason I do not suggest doing this on squeaky clean hair is because it will be harder to maintain the style. For Lindy I used the root lifting powder put out by Big Sexy Hair, and shook it through her ends a bit. The powder adds a ton of volume to her very long, very straight hair and shaking it through the rest makes it a bit easier to manipulate. Next time I will probably use other products as well.
• French braid your hair all the way to the nape of your neck, then secure with an elastic.
• Take your fingers and lightly tug at the braid to loosen it. It is also a good idea to do this on wavy or second day curled hair for extra texture. 
• Curl the remaining hair at the bottom loosely. It does not have to be perfect! I grabbed random sections and hit them with the flat iron. 
• Take a teasing comb and tease the curls slightly. Not too much! You want to be able to section your hair. 
• Divide the hair into three sections. Twist each section and then either wrap them around each other and form a bun or make three separate buns and bobby pin to secure. There is really no right or wrong way to do this step. It is just whatever looks best to you! 
• Tuck in any loose ends and secure with bobby pins.
• Take down small pieces in the front to frame your face. You can either loosely curl these or leave them as they are.
• Hair spray. Lots of hairspray. 

I really hope that wasn't too terribly confusing! I have trouble explaining things like that in words and some things may have been worded awkwardly. Then again I am an awkward person. I just sent a picture of a cat toilet-training kit to my boyfriend.

So, what would you rather see next time? Pictures or video?

My iPhone ruined my skin!

I got my iPhone a few months after Zach and I started dating. That is about the time my once (mostly) clear skin started breaking out all over my cheeks. I was really self-conscious about it... well, I am still self-conscious. Who wants skin like a hormonal 14-year-old boy? Not this girl. First, I thought it was the birth control I was on for my ferocious cramps and mood swings. I stopped taking it due to the fact that it turned me into a psycho hosebeast, but my breakouts still kept on. I ruled that out. I had also started gaining some much needed weight and I had suddenly grown these lovely womanly hips, so I thought "hey, maybe I am finally hitting puberty at eighteen! Maybe I will get boobs next!"
Well, I am twenty now, and still more or less boobless. I think the puberty fairy got lazy and distributed all my lady lumps to my behind, but that is besides the point. The point is I have been trying to combat my bad skin for two years now, and nothing has seemed to help. Not any expensive acne product, not any one of the quirky tricks I found on Pinterest... besides lemon juice, that does help. I will write more on that later... it was getting to the point where I was getting pretty miserable. I would look in the mirror and just be devastated by the fact that NOTHING worked. Then, one day, a little light bulb went off in my head. I had been clicking away on Pinterest when I saw a little thing about what causes acne on different parts of your face and then it all made sense.

Have you ever been talking on the phone and you look down and see all your makeup and face gunk smeared on your screen? I know that can't just be me. Especially in the heat we have been having. How about you've been eating some lovely fast-food because you are a poor cosmetology student like myself and scrolled through your newsfeed between mouthfuls of fries? Just imagine all that junk that is building up on your screen throughout the day.

Guess what... all that bacteria is apparently really bad for your skin.

Needless to say, I felt pretty much stupid. I was accumulating all these germs throughout the day onto my phone and then sticking it to my face while I chatted to my mom. I was texting with all kinds of nasty things on my fingers and then talking to Zach for an hour on the phone. No wonder my skin was so terrible. I might as well have been smearing crisco on my face and rubbing it against public bathroom walls. Okay, maybe that is dramatic... but still!

My solution: alcohol wipes. I wipe my phone off with them a few times a day. I give it a while to dry before attempting to talk on it, and when I do I make sure to hold it away from my face. My skin has started changing so quickly. I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner. I am also washing my hands more and using hand sanitizer more often. I have stopped texting while eating. I finally feel like my skin is getting better. There have been a few times where I have forgotten to sanitize my phone because we were busy in school and bam! breakouts, so I know I have pinpointed my problem. I am happy to say I finally feel like I have my skin under control and it is actually improving for once.

Also, if you want to take it up a notch higher and keep your face off of even more germy things, try putting a clean towel over your pillow every night.  It really makes a difference.

Well, I am off to watch Criminal Minds and cuddle with my kitties. Goodnight!

Eyelash extensions!

This weekend has been pretty emotional and hectic for me, hence the lack of posts. My cousins left out Saturday night/early Sunday morning, but not without waking up to Ethan on my bed giving me hugs and kisses. I barely remember it because I was so groggy. :(  Needless to say, Sunday was filled with a lot of random tearing up on my part. 
I am very much ready for life to get back into a routine. I like routine. When my routine gets thrown off I can't adjust. That is why I like scheduling and making blog posts. Unfortunately, this did not go according to plan. However, I would not trade my family time for anything, though. I love that kind of chaos.

I woke up early Sunday morning and headed to Nashville with my mom to be her guinea pig for an eyelash training class. I slept in the car for a few hours because the models weren't supposed to be in the class. It took place in this really ritzy hotel and I came in for a little while to eat lunch with my mom before she had to go back in. I knew I was in trouble when they brought me out my $15 dollar SANDWICH. Yeah. Maybe this is normal. Maybe I am just more cheap than I realized, but come on. It is bread, meat, and cheese. Not even fancy cheese, either. The waitress didn't even bring me a water or anything.
Aaaaaanyways, as you can see above I got a trial run of the eyelash extensions. I am definitely interested in a full set. The length between my own nubby little lashes and the extensions is pretty obvious in the picture, but they actually look pretty natural in real life. Especially when I put some lengthening mascara on my real lashes. My eyes were naked in that picture because we weren't allowed to wear any kind of makeup. The process itself is long. I have about ten or so extensions in the picture, but a full set is around 50 to 100 I think. Depending on what kind of look you are going for. I want pin-up lashes when I go for the full set, but you can get natural looking ones also. The only discomfort was from the surgical tape protecting my bottom lash line. Otherwise I just about fell asleep during it.

Afterwards my mom and I made a special trip to Krispy Kreme and (angels singing) THE RED LIGHT WAS ON. Many times I have heard of the magnificence that is the magical red light, but never have I experienced it. Let me just tell you... I will never be the same. I may have suffered 3rd degree burns and my butt may have slightly increased in mass, but I have no regrets!