Product Review: Yes to Tomatoes Daily Balancing Moisturizer

I mentioned this product in my January Favorites post last month but never actually did a review on it. This is the moisturizer I use everyday and have been loving. Usually, I will mix this in with a little bit of foundation and rub it all over my face and neck. Lately, my skin has gone crazy with breakouts and I don't like to crowd it with a full face of makeup. If your liquid foundation is too heavy for you, adding this will make it lighter.

One of the great things about it is that it's 98% natural. No harsh chemicals or weird perfumes.

Price: I got this for about $15, which is a bit pricey if you're on a budget, but it does last a while.

Texture: Like I said before, it's very light and has a creamy feel to it.
Packaging: I love anything with a pump. It just reassures me that I will get as much product as I can and it's more hygienic. The back is clear so you can tell if you're running scarce and need to replace it soon.
Pros: It keeps my skin moisturized throughout the day. After I wash my face, my skin feels very tight and dry so it gets rid of that feeling. It has a nice, natural smell. I did see my skin tone start to even out after a while.
Cons: Probably the price, it's not too bad, but definitely too expensive for a drugstore product. It did take a long time to see actual results in the discoloration in my skin.
Overall: Probably my favorite moisturizer I've tried so far, but I haven't tried a lot. Since I have oily skin, I thought that I didn't need a moisturizer, but I do. My skin was making extra oil because it wasn't getting enough moisture. The Say Yes brand always catches my eye because it's natural and has a lot of different uses. I will be checking out more from this brand.

What Say Yes product have you tried?

My Healthy Snack

I've been told that I eat like a rabbit. Which is kind of true, I eat pretty healthy, and enjoy it! I love the feeling healthy foods give me verses junk foods. I'm more energetic and happy. Basically, if you're on a diet, you should come to my house and just eat what I eat.

Whenever I get hungry during class before I have lunch, I like to sneak some dried fruit to keep my rumbling stomach in check until I can eat a real meal. This box is from Walgreen and it was under $2. It has dried apricots, papaya, pineapple, and coconut shavings all cut up into cute little chunks. Dried fruit might not seem like the most tastiest snack, but it is really good! Whenever I take it out during class or lunch, my friends always mooch some off me. If it can get teenage boys like it, then I think you will like it, too.

One thing I have to add, this packaging is so cute. It has a big Nice! and bright colors. I just thought the fish was very creative by making it out of the fruit in the box.

A healthy snack that's really cheap, fits into your backpack nicely, and tastes nice. Definitely getting more of these. 

Nails of the Day #4: I've Been Reading Too Much/Gradient

So, I finally got some foam makeup sponges. That is the only tool I used to make this nail look. I thought it was perfect for a dragon, if one was living among us. Sorry, I just got done reading a dragon book and now I'm on a fantasy kick. All I want to read about is magical creatures. If I was one, I would have these nails, permanently! Warning, it does get all over the sides of your nails. But that's nothing a shower can't fix.

Polishes Used

How to do it

1. I took my yellow nail polish and lightly dabbed it onto my nail using the make up sponge. You want to pat vertically more in the places that so the color slowly disappears. Make the area close to your cuticle more transparent than other parts. The tip doesn't need to be perfect, you are just going to go over it with another color. Just make the place where you know is going the yellow is going to be showing through. This can take a couple layers for it to show up.

2. Wait for the yellow to dry completely

3. With an orange color, you want to paint your nail like the picture below with a light layer. Then dab away like the first step. You might want to do this more lightly because it might take away some of the yellow and leave you with a "bald spot", so to speak. Again, make it more transperent near the cuticle and darker as you get closer to the tips. Wait for that to dry. If the nail polishes do eat away at each other, just reapply it. 

Here's an example of the "bald spot"

4. Put a red on the very tips and use the make up sponge again. Wait to dry.

5.  Go over it very lightly with a gold glitter polish. If you don't want glitter, skip this step.

6. Seal it all in with a clear nail polish to prevent chipping. It should make all the colors blend together, even if you didn't do such a good job. 

Book Review: Seraphina

Title: Seraphina
Author: Rachel Hartman
451 pages
Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Humans and dragons have been on edge with each other for a long time. Dragons are made out to be heartless, nasty creatures with no remorse  Humans are thought to be worthless pests. When the humans lose their Prince Rufus, who is mysteriously decapitated, sets the humans on their toes. Seraphina, a musician in the palace, gets wrapped up with her country's affairs, which includes the Captain of the Guard, Prince Kiggs.

First of all, I love a good fantasy book with a bad ass heroine. The fact that this book also revolved around dragon told me that I had to read it. Now that I've read it, I'm doing a review on it.

The writing in this book is probably the most confusing I have ever read in a Young adult novel. Honestly, the language was so far out there that it was a little hard to comprehend at times. Either that, or I stayed up too late reading and my mind got a little jumbled.

For this book, I'm not so sure what to make of the plot. It's not random, I'll tell you that. There's nothing that pops out of nowhere so the author can have something to write about. Slowly, suspense is built up until the very end.

The end is something that I have problems with. It came so sudden that I actually sat there thinking, that's it?  I felt like the author realized that this book was going to be really long and wanted to cut off the story as fast as possible. To fans of this book, the extra pages wouldn't have mattered.

Over all, this book got 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it for band nerds who like dragons, or anyone who likes dragons.

Book Talk: Buzz Words and Deal Breakers

I've seen this going around on the youtube end of book reviewing, and I felt like this was a good introduction to do for new reviewers like myself. Basically, you just list some key words that make you either snatch up a book and clutch it to your chest in fear someone else will take it, or make you drop in like a hot coal.

Buzz Words

1. Ancient Egypt- I've been in love with Ancient Egypt since the second grade. It was the only thing I found interesting at the time. I read every book in my elementary school's library and then moved onto the public library. I still haven't grown out of it.

2. Mermaids- You might have guessed this if you saw my Nails of the Day #3- Mermaids! post. I explained there that instead of pretending I was a princess, I wanted to be a mermaid. My family and I would migrate somewhere warm and near the beach if we could.

3. Pirates- They're dirty, swear a lot, fight a lot, steal a lot, they talk funny, and they get a crap ton of gold. What's not to like?!

4. Jane Austen- I love her writing, her stories, her personal story. I love everything about her.

5. Bad Ass Heroines- Who doesn't like to read about a chick that can kick some butt?

6. Fairy Tale Retelling- Disney movies were my entire life growing up and I still have a strong attachment to them. Anything that has a similar plot line and feel to it, I will read it.

7. Cafes/coffee shops- I just find that books with a coffee shop as the main setting are really fun to read about.

Deal Breakers

1. Insta-love- I don't like it when characters automatically think they're in love. It's not realistic in real life, and it just seems cheesy in books.

2. Sex Scenes- I don't need to know what you do in bed. Honestly, I'm scared to for an image for this.

3. Snobby girl cliques- When I read, I want to get away from high school, I don't want to read about school drama when I spend the whole day dealing with it already.

4. Vampires- There was a phase where all I read was about vampires, but now I just think it's juvenile and the plots are always so similar and predictable. "He's so mysterious" and "He could kill me, but I love him". It gets old really fast.

6. This is probably the biggest deal breaker for me, Aliens. They terrify me. I used to have nightmares about them creeping in my window when I was a little. With their slotted nostrils and big black eyes, ugh. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

That's all that I can think of. Really, I like to give everything a chance when it comes to reading. Limiting myself to just one genre just seems silly to me when there are so many other books that I might fall in love with.

What are some of your buzz words and deal breakers?

The Little Things Make Me Happy

No matter what, I think that the little things make up for what makes you happy. I mean, those big moments like graduating high school or getting married are great, but what about the moments in between? No one can sit waiting for the next big milestone to be happy. My life is only small pleasures right now since I'm not graduating anytime soon, or getting married for that matter. I wanted to make a list of small things that make me happy. There are many other things than just this. Most of them can't be put into pictures. Anyway, here we go.

Food! This needs no explanation.

Hiking in the woods. It's always so peaceful and I feel energized after I exercise. Especially when I go with a friend. We get to goof off and we hardly see anyone on the way. I actually had to lay on my stomach to take this picture. It was an awkward moment when a jogger just happened to pass by. Oh, well! My friend was also sprawled on the concrete, too, so it wasn't all that embarrassing.

I love the feeling of clean, fresh brushes. It's so much better for your skin.

Funny faces! In all of my family photos, I think at least one of us is making some kind of distorted face. We're not very serious.

I think we all love those no make up moments. I like my blonde eyelash moments just as much. I'm not one of those girls that won't leave the house without all of her makeup. Sometimes concealer and power is fine with me. I actually don't mind my blonde eyelashes and eyebrows. It proves I'm a natural blonde!

Homemade gifts are the best. This key chain was made by my friend for Christmas one year and it fit me perfectly. My family nickname is Sonya Bunny. Why? I have no clue, neither does anyone else. And he's blonde, too! But my eyes are green, not blue. But I guess he needs a little bit of his own personality, right?

I get so excited when pictures come out perfectly with my crappy camera. Usually, it's all blurry or has something wrong with it. Those few moments when it really helps me out make me happy.

I think my cats are the funniest things in the world. The black one's name is Jack. Get it? Black Jack, Jack Black? No? Okay. Anyway, the orange and white one's name is Milo. We named him after the cat in Milo and Otis. We had no idea that they would like each other when we got them. They were both farm cats. Milo suffered through the years when my siblings and I were younger. We thought a kitten was the best thing we could ever have and definitely showed him. We would carry him everywhere and hold him in awkward positions. Now he's probably the most tolerant cat I've ever know. He even let my older sister and I wrap him in wrapping paper last Christmas, that's what's in the picture on the right. Jack doesn't really like anyone except me. He's one of those cats that are very vocal. He will talk about everything and anything. Sometimes, it feels like he's having a conversation with you

I always get fun coffee mugs as gifts. I don't know how you can be sad or cranky while holding a mustache mug. Sometimes, my little sister likes to come home with trinkets that were on sale and give them out as random presents. That's how I came to have the penguin and the mustache mug. The pirate one is from this run down tourist trap in Northern Minnesota what sold shells, star fish, and ocean novelties. My dad would always promise us a small present if we went to on one of his motocross weekends. We would all be packed into the camper for two days. Needless to say, we weren't happy to be there.

The last thing instantly makes me smile. It's this solar powered flower that dances when the sun hits it. It's just too cute, I love it. It's nice to see when I come back from a long day at school.

Well, there you go. I think this is the first post that I actually had pictures of myself in it. It took me a while to search around the house for small things and take nice pictures of them. I hope you like it!

What little things make you happy?

Product Review: Sonia Kashuk's Perfecting Transparent Mattifier

In  a recent trip to Target, I picked up Sonia Kashuk's Perfecting Transparent Mattifier. It's strange having my name plastered all over a whole line of make up, but I spell it with mine with a y instead of an i so I guess it's different. Anyway, I know this looks like a tube, but it's actually plastic. 

 

There's a pump, which I really like. It's more hygienic  yay! I feel like I can get more product out if it has a pump verses a tube. There always that one bit that you can't seem to squeeze out.

Here's what it looks like.

Here's what it looks like rubbed in.

Packaging- The fake tube is a little weird. Why didn't you just make it a bottle? Why do you want people to think it's a tube? But I do really like the pump. It just makes everything a whole lot easier.

Texture- It's like nothing I've ever felt before. It feels very oily, which is why I felt sceptical about it. Overtime, the oily feeling goes away.

Last ability- It does help keep my oiliness in check throughout the school day, which is about 6 or 7 hours. I still get a little bit of shine, but it has been drastically reduced.

Price- This is expensive for a drugstore brand. I think I got it for around $15, which is why it's the only thing I got. 

Overall- I think the price is definitely worth it if you are frustrated with shine or oil. It doesn't change the look of your make up in anyway. It can be put on either under or over foundation or whatever you slab on your face. I guess the oil in the product works to keep the oils in your skin away. I don't think I will purchase this exact product again, but I will look into getting other oil controlling items.