DIY Eye Makeup Remover

Yesterday I was trying out different makeup looks for Halloween, most of these looks involed a lot of  eye liner and I was really running low on the makeup remover I had left. I remembered watching a youtube video a while back on how to make your own eye makeup remover so I thought now would have been the perfect time to try it out. I'm sure many of you already know about this, but for those who don't I thought I would share. You only need 2 ingredients, equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and witch hazel. 

Extra Virgin Oilve Oil

In addition to the internal health benefits of olive oil, topical application is quite popular with fans of natural health remedies. Extra virgin olive oil is the preferred grade for moisturizing the skin, especially when used in the oil cleansing method(OCM). Olive oil has been known for generations not only for its healing qualities but also as a natural, deep penetration moisturizer, regenerating skin cells and softening the tissue.

Studies on mice showed that application of olive oil immediately following exposure to UVB rays has a preventive effect on the formation of tumors and skin cancer.^[58][59]

Benefits of witch hazel

The benefits of witch hazel are broad and varied. Witch hazel has traditionally been used for the treatment of wounds, itchy and dry skin and bleeding. It has also been used to treat inflamed eyes. There is no doubt that witch hazel is an effective natural pharmaceutical. It is one of the few natural remedies to have obtained US FDA approval for sale specifically for medicinal use.
Witch hazel is often used as a cleanser or toner, for facial care routines and has success as a toner in the treatment of acne and is particularly suited to oily and combination skin types.
One of the benefits of witch hazel, which has excellent anti-inflammatory properties as a blood vessel constrictor, can be applied around the eyes, to reduce the appearance of swelling

Conclusion:
I've always been wary of putting oil on my face for fear of breaking out or it clogging my pores. Supposedly extra virgin O.O won't do that and actually makes for a great all natural moisturizer.To make my eye makeup remover, I put equal parts of both oil and witch hazel into one of those small travel size bottles that you can find at the $1 store.  Apply it onto one of the flat cotton pads and use. Witch hazel is also known to relieve signs of the puffiness around the eyes too and surprisingly it doesn't sting. What I found surprising is that this didn't leave my eye area feeling greasy at all. At least no more than what my Neutrogena eye makeup remover would feel like. Besides, the olive oil is really good for your lashes too. Overall I really liked using this stuff and It did a great job at removing the heavy liner and mascara. I did notice it kinda smeared the liner around a bit, but you can go over it with another pad w/ just witch hazel on it and it cleans it right up. 

Have any of you tried this combo out as a makeup remover? What were your thoughts on it?

My Halloween Outfits Throughout The Years

So with Halloween quickly approaching, I've been thinking about what I want to dress up as this year. You'll notice that most of my costumes leave very little to the imagination, with 2008 definitely taking the cake. I literally wore lingerie as my "costume" lol. I dressed up as a dark angel that year. You can't really tell from the pics, but I was suuuper wasted that night. I actually got drunk before we even went to the club b/c I was feeling shy about my outfit. Needless to say we didn't stay too late b/c I was totally donzo by like 1am.
2008

For 2009 I dressed up as a Saints tight end haha. The Saints were on fire that year (and eventually went on to win the Superbowl XLIV). I'm a huge Saints fan so I thought that outfit would be perfect and I saw quite a few others dressed up in football outfits as well. Here I am doing my Heisman Trophy pose :)

2009

For 2010 I just wanted something cute and sexy. I found this outfit on eBay for like $30 which included shipping. I love the second pic below this one. My friend's husband dress up as Tony Montana and right before this pic was taken he swiped some baby powder on his nose to really give it that coke-like effect. The really funny part was that he left it on there and when we got to the club, one of the bouncers was like, "hey bra! You got that coke on ya nose!" and signaled him w/ that thumb to nose move lol. Frank replied to him in character, "No, I'm Tony Montana, it's part of the outfit" haha. 

As for this year, I'm not sure what I'm dressing up as just yet. I'm thinking maybe a hippie, but not like an Austin Powers type hippie. Who knows, knowing me I'll probably change my mind 100 times by then.

Are any of you dressing up for Halloween?

(Not So) Innocent - NOTD

SinfulColors nail polishes can be hit or miss sometimes as far as application and durability goes. Usually I have pretty good luck w/ them and I love their wide range of colors. Walgreens was having a sale on their polishes, so they were all $.99. I picked up, Innocent since I don't have anything even remotly close to this color; and because I thought it was pretty interesting looking.

I bet it would look great w/ black crackle over it too. 

The application of this was amazing! It's really opaque and it went on really smoothly and evenly. I think this maybe one of my staple colors for falls. I also really love blackened plums and burgundy's for fall too.

What are some of your favorite nail colors for fall?

EDIT: When I removed the polish I noticed that it stains your nails terribly. Make sure you use a base coat to help prevent that. 

Straw Dogs Pre-Screening Review

I went to a pre screening of Staw Dogs last night. This was the first time I've ever been to a pre-screening so I was excited, but mainly b/c the reviews of this looked pretty bad ass and scary! The movie was actually a remake which I had no idea about and the original is said to be pretty scary and the rape sceen in it caused a lot of controversy.

Movie comes out Friday the 16th

So on to the review: (Don't worry, I won't give it away for those that want to see it) I'm no movie critic, but I know what I like and this was not it. First of all, the movie took a really long time to get started. I guess it was trying to lay the groundwork of the story, but an hour later I found myself yawning. The movie is basically about this husband and wife who move to a rural town in Mississippi from California. It's the wife's home town and her husband is a writer, he thought going away to a quite town would be good for him since he's writting a documentary. Well right from the start there's this group of guys who start fu*king w/ him really bad. In the end (like literally the last 30-40 min of the movie) he has enough and gets his revenge on these guys.

My conclusion: So is this movie worth watching on the big screen? Definitely not IMO. It wasn't scary at all, it took a really long time for the action to start and the story line was pretty bland. The trailer make's it look MUCH better than it actually is. I would say this is more of a Redbox $1 rental.

New Jewelry Purchases & Splurge Vs. Steal

I was on Hautelook.com the other day when I came accross some gorgoues piece by Bansri. I'm not really much of a jewelry person, but I do like unique pieces. One of the items I purchased was a black and gold clover necklace that instantly reminded me of the one by Van Cleef & Arpel's Alhambra. If any of you watch the Real Housewives of Orange County you may have noticed that Alexis wore this necklace a few times. 

This necklace is so expensive that you actually have to request the price. I'm not sure of the exact price, but I've seen similar shorter versions of the necklace going for over $6,000 on eBay. Yeah, it's that expensive!

So I purchased this gold plated Bansri piece for $41 marked down from $98

I also got these gold plated evil eye bracelets (in Turkish we call call the evil eye a nazar boncugu).  I love things with the evil eye, despite it's name which can be kind of strange; it's actually kind of like a talisman as it's known in many cultures to protect against the evil eye. The idea of using these is that it will attract the evil eye (nazar) before it can damage the thing or the person that it is directed to, absorbing the damaging power of voluntary/involuntary "evil look". Therefore the nazar bead is always out in the open, not a secret talisman. In Turkey you will often see a nazar boncugu pinned to a baby's clothing and if it ever breaks it is usually replaced immediately. 
  [There's your educational info for the day hehe]

The closure has a little hamsa (hand) that dangles from it.

To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in the quality of these. A set of 2 was also $41 marked down from $98. They are definitely cute, but too pricy for the quality.

My Labor Day/Birthday Weekend ~ (pic heavy)

Despite the fact that I had to cancel my much anticipated Destin vacation for Labor day weekend I still had a really fun weekend. My husband was so sweet trying to make it fun for me knowing that I was disappointed about the trip and also because tropical storm Lee made the weather extra shitty all weekend. 

For starters he managed to score amazing club level seats for the Saints football game (I'm a huge football fan)

Saturday we went to the aquarium, since there wasn't anything we could do outdoors on account of the weather. Plus, I haven't been to the aquarium in years so it was lots of fun. On the way home we stopped by the mall and he got me a F21 gift card so I did a little shopping. 

Sunday Jason planned a birthday dinner for me at Zea's followed by Harrah's casino for some roulette. I won some money, lost more money, had a few drinks and did a little dancing. 

The waiter wasn't so good with the camera so it came out blurry :(

How funny is this gift bag my friend made me!? She taped my face onto this girl haha

Monday my parents took Jason and I out for some lunch in the city at Grand Isle restaurant. I completely forgot to take a pic of my food, I guess I was too excited to eat it and forgot lol, but it was pecan crusted catfish and fries, delish!

How was your labor day weekend?

Thank you mother nature for raining all over my plans!

I had planned a really nice vacation to Destin, FL for labor day weekend. I found an amazing deal on BookIt.com, $385 for 2 nights at the Ramada beach plaza hotel w/ an ocean front view w/ balcony. As soon as you go down stairs your already on the beach. I was so looking forward to it, but of course, of all the weekends for a storm to be forming in the gulf it would be on Labor day weekend! I ended up cancelling it yesterday and they were nice enough to refund me all of the money on account of the weather. I'm super bummed about it, but there's really thing I can do.

 I guess on the bright side, the rain should help put out that huge fire that has been burning in the marsh. It's been causing some people a lot of health problems and 2 days ago the city (New Orleans) looked like a volcano had erupted because of all the smoke and people were walking around w/ face masks on. It was pretty crazy.

Aaanyway, I leave you now with what I'm looking forward to most this fall season as far as clothes go:

Wool Hats

Blazers

Scarves

Ankle boots

Classic trench coats

Shinny a.k.a liquid leggings (I'm not sure if it will still be in style this season, but I really hope it will be. I love them! Same thing goes for lace leggings)

I mean, how hot are these outfits?

What did you guys have planned for Labor day weekend? What are you looking forward to most this fall season?