How to Instantly Liven Up the Look of Your Eyes With Shimmering Radiance and Textures

This beauty uses shimmery pale color to open up her eye area through light.

Though I love doing a dramatic smoky eye, I always have a tendency to turn to shimmery pale shades of eye shadow for giving my eyes extra impact.  Dusting the lids with a sheer veil of sparkling pink, peach, gold, champagne, etc. seems to have the power to magically open up the eye area without much effort.  Relying on a shimmery pale shade also does perk up the look of the entire face from my experience to give the eyes more life, a bubbly sort of inner radiance, if you will.  

How Shimmer and Light Can Open Up the Eyes

When your eyes are first starting to show age, you naturally assume matte eye shadows are the only ones suitable for you at this stage.  I used to feel that way until experimenting with shimmery pale eye shadows as I shared with you in an earlier makeup tips post for brightening the eyes that totally took me by surprise.  After I noticed how much delicate sparkle of color falling against my lids enhanced without appearing overly made up, I was impressed because it was more a show of light.   

The way the color reacted on the lids was like that sparkle of sunshine when it hits your skin, illuminating it with pure light.  Therefore, I highly recommend giving the pale sparkling shadows a try because it can do more than you might image.  After all, light brightens and brings the area forward to make the eyes appearing larger whereas dark colors make the lids recede, which has the opposite effect.  

The Secret to Use Pale Shimmer Shades Effectively is All About Blending

If you want to use light shimmer eye shadow to your advantage, you can’t overload the color or risk looking gaudy.  To best pull this off, you need to blend the shade carefully.  After all, you could encounter harsh lines that would ruin that angelic effect that you’re striving for.  

Therefore, it is important to use a variety of your different eye shadow brushes such as your basic all over brush for the lid, a crease brush for softening your work that is tapered and a smudging brush with a flatter, shorter head than your flat basic, all over brush for limiting any sharpness of lines.  Having these different sizes of brushes can keep your application polished.  

Contrasting Shadow Textures Further Livens Up Eye Radiance

An interesting effect is playing with the shadow texture against the light.  When pairing a pale sparkling lid against a medium matte shadow in the same color family along with a slightly darker crease color for the far corner of the eye, you can benefit from that radiance and accent eye shape. What looks really great is using a pale rose-gold and then slightly deeper pink tones for sculpting together to shape the eye.

The important thing to remember is to keep the entire lid reserved for the shimmery shade with just enough of the mid tone and dark corner shade like a brick tone to define the shape of the eye. To really carry this off, make sure the mid tone color of whatever color family that you want to do is only slightly darker than your skin.  This barely distinguishable degree of color for the mid tone choice creates the best natural shadow when pulling this look together and blending thoroughly.  

To really make the eyes pop, make sure to line with a black eyeliner pencil that you can smudge or a matte black shadow that you use by wetting an eyeliner brush and several coats of black mascara.  Laying down a line that is too bold when attempting this technique such as using liquid eyeliner or pen eyeliner seems to diminish the effect of that glow of wholesome beauty.

My Best Banana Layer Cake Recipe is So Delicious, Yet Simple to Make

You won't believe how easy and moist this banana cake is until you taste it yourself.

Anyone that bakes layer cakes from scratch knows that they can be more complicated to get the same beautiful results as a packaged box cake mix.  Trying to go for perfection is especially true when you don’t use cake flour for the recipe.  However, I believe where there is a will, there is a way like with this great recipe for my Best Banana Layer Cake that uses plain flour and oil instead of shortening or butter.

Those that happen to think as highly of the banana as I do definitely need to try this recipe because it is one of my best banana layer cakes.  To me, it is a winner all around for taste, the ease of preparation and staying moist–that is if your family doesn’t devour it the first day.

The Secret Behind This Light, Easy Banana Layer Cake

You may find it difficult to believe, but this cake is just as moist and light as it is easy to make without the need to cream butter or shortening with your sugar.  The reason for this is due to the extra lift of folding in stiffly beaten egg whites that you gently stir through.  Remember that you don’t want to beat.  Instead, you want to see bits of the white still intact as chunks in the batter.  

I stirred in some shredded coconut flakes in my butter cream icing instead of just sprinkling on top.

Something else that can matter for cake success is leveling off your baking powder and soda before adding it to your mixing bowl.  Use your measuring spoon and a knife to take off any extra because an excess of what you need will cause your cake problems.  

Another thing I want to mention is that you can use sour milk, buttermilk or make your sweet milk sour by adding one teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to it for this recipe.  Besides a perfect way to use any overly ripe bananas, this recipe is also just as handy for making this variety of cake over a chocolate cake when you have sour milk.   

Also, if you have a manual potato masher, this is wonderful for mashing the bananas over a fork.  

Top with your favorite butter cream icing and you have something delectable in a relatively short time to enjoy.  Shredded coconut flakes on top or added to the icing like I did are another option. 

The next time that you're in the mood to bake, I hope that you'll make this recipe because I promise you that you'll love it.  

Check my sidebar for some of my other banana cakes and pie recipes because I do love my bananas!


My Best Banana Layer Cake

2 large eggs, separated
1-1/3 cups of sugar
2-1/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder, leveled
1 teaspoon of baking soda, leveled
1 teaspoon of salt 
1/3 cup of corn oil or canola oil
1 cup of ripe, mashed bananas
2/3 cup of buttermilk or sour milk or sweet milk + 1 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350-degrees.

Grease and flour two 8-inch layer cake pans.  You can also take two sheets of wax paper and cut the rounds to insert in the bottom of each pan.  This prevents sticking and makes for easier removal as well.

Separate the yolks in one mixing bowl and the whites in another.

Beat the whites with your electric mixer with the salt until it starts to get frothy.  

Slowly add 1/3 cup of the sugar to the beaten egg whites until it is incorporated into the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Mix together the oil, mashed bananas, half of the milk, and vanilla in another mixing bowl alternating with the rest of the sugar and sifted dry ingredients.  Add the remaining milk and yolks last before gently folding in the stiff egg white mixture.

Pour into your prepared layer cake pans and bake at 350-degrees for about 30-35 minutes, depending on how your oven is regulated.

Use a cake tester, toothpick or a slender knife to test if done.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for about five minutes or so before attempting to remove.

Frost with your favorite vanilla butter cream icing.

ENJOY! 

Should You Concern Yourself Over the Safety of Our Food?

How safe is your food source?

Unlike years ago when farmers grew food the old-fashioned way, what was served on our tables was healthier and closer to what nature intended.  Of course, technology does not stand still and changed lives for all of us.  While better for maximizing profits, our high-tech agribusiness is hardly better for the average consumer with all the outbreaks of foodborne illness and contamination that keeps happening on a regular basis with an estimated 76 million illnesses per average year.  Therefore, how worried should each of us be?

The Safety Relationship Between Global and Domestic Food Production

You might want to remember that we have a global food supply and trade with countries of all sizes and economic conditions.  Quite a few of our trading partners are poor countries with unhealthy conditions whereas diarrhoea affects about a third of their population.  Those microorganisms can pass directly onto us, making a domestic grown problem worse.  This is just one example.

Technology and Convenience Linked to Food Safety

In addressing the need for convenience for busy working families, a few major players in the farming business devised bagged salads for lettuce and spinach.  These are prewashed greens that are meant to be safer, but are they really?  The reason this method of preparation may be dangerous is because the greens are harvested at a much younger stage.  Lettuce, spinach or other greens mature  the traditional way and have longer leaves that limit the passage of Listeria, salmonella or E. coli compared to a more vulnerable leaf from an immature plant.

All it takes is just a couple of heads of contaminated lettuce, chopped and then distributed through other bags to cause an outbreak or even death.  Once contaminated, these harmful bacteria cannot always be cleaned.  However, you can wash your greens in a basin with water and a tablespoon or two of vinegar.  Afterwards, wash your hands carefully for least twenty seconds before touching your greens and rinsing them with fresh water a second time.

A Helpful Idea for Safer Locally Grown Food

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a community garden where you lived?  Many people don’t have the space or the need to grow their own fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs.  Yet, many others may like to have a hobby and tend the garden.  It would be a great way to meet your neighbors and share food and expenses for planting the garden.

The Safety of Growth Promoting  Hormones and  Antibiotics in Meats

Factory farming of livestock means more animals crammed together to maximize profits.  In order to ward off infections and stimulate growth faster, the industry has widely used antibiotics in our meats.  The problem is that the animals are receiving the same penicillin or tetracycline that humans also depend on when prescribed, which can later come back to haunt us.  How feeding antibiotics to animals can hurt us is that bacteria have a tendency to survive and mutate.  There is always a possibility that a strain of bacteria can become resistant to those antibiotics that might be one day end up in your grocery stores or market.  If you happen to cook meat that is resistant to those antibiotics from a sick animal, then the antibiotics you might be given could fail.

Cooking Meats Thoroughly Can Lower Your Chances of Potential Illness

Unless the animal is sick, you can normally avoid illness from consuming meats when cooked at the proper temperatures.  Therefore, it is extremely important to use a thermometer to check temperatures first before serving.  

According to the USDA, meats basically need an internal temperature of between 145-160 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the variety. For example, ground beef and eggs need to be cooked to 160-degrees Fahrenheit.  Poultry should register at 165-degrees Fahrenheit.  Steaks, pork chops and roasts must be cooked to 145-degrees.

National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System Is  Hope for the Future 

There is still a lot of lead way for those that raise cattle, hogs, poultry when it comes to the amounts of antibiotics and hormones the animals are fed.  The reason for this is because those business owners are not required to disclose by law what drugs and dosage were used before going to market.  Therefore, data of the precise effect of health and the link to those drugs are still being studied.  Nonetheless, the government established an agency called the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System just to regularly test bacteria from animals, people and the meats we consume for resistance to some common drugs, which is a hopeful beginning.

What We May Be Risking With Genetically Modified Plants

Corn and soy were big crops that are now genetically modified for their added value for the manufacturing of processed foods.  After all, the chemical engineers can alter the plants old DNA and make it stronger from insects feeding and other chemicals it may usually be subject to.  When you change the plant’s structure, you also change how a body will respond to the altered food.  This modification could spur new allergies in certain people.

Though as alarming as that thought may be, it is even worse when seeds are modified not to be grown again just for the sake of profits.  With all the hunger in the world, why would anyone think of such a thing?  

Does This Mean Organic Offers the Safest Food?

Turning to foods labeled “organic” does not necessarily mean that they are totally healthy alternatives.  All that label promises is that the food is not grown with commonly used pesticides, antibiotics or fertilizers.  What you want to do is to dig deeper and search for more than just organic with sustainable farming when researching.

Bad Habits That Could Be Aging Your Complexion and How to Initiate Change

This beauty keeps on open mind when comes to her gorgeous skin.

No one sets out to intentionally wreck their complexion.  Needless to say, it just happens for a variety of reasons.  Nonetheless, if your skin is less than ideal and you hope to rectify that, then you need to change some bad habits that are minimizing its potential beauty.

Sleeping With Your Makeup on Because You’re Too Tired Destroys Skin

Regardless of the excuse that you give yourself for going to bed without removing accumulated makeup and grime, you are doing your complexion harm.  You may tell yourself that skipping cleansing occasionally because you forgot or don’t have the energy will be fine.  Unfortunately, you are only fooling yourself because the skin’s natural oils along with dirt and those makeup ingredients get imbedded deep in the pores to cause blackheads and pimples.  

Despite how exhausted you may feel or how little that you consider the importance of a clean face before bed matters, you can simplify the problem of makeup removal by keeping a stash of makeup wipes in a handy place such as by your bed or night stand, if needed in an emergency.  

Be sure to buy the variety that states makeup remover, which is specifically formulated to actually dissolve makeup ingredients not just facial wipes.  Facial wipes are more for freshening up the complexion with a gentle washing without the lifting power of makeup wipes.  Makeup wipes can be the best thing that ever happened to your complexion if sleeping with your makeup is a fairly common practice of yours.

Not Getting Enough Sleep Ages Skin Prematurely

Striving for eight hours of sleep a night should be your goal.  After all, this is the amount of time the skin needs to recoup and rebuild cells.  Without enough, the complexion can pale with a pasty look and dull instead of glow as it should since the blood isn’t circulating as efficiently.  Instead of the blood flowing optimally through the complexion, it is pooling up more beneath the eyes, ringing the under eyes with darkness.

To initiate change, you need to establish a bedtime schedule with a specific hour designated to sleep.  For example, promise yourself that by eleven o’clock in the evening that you’ll be in bed except for occasional special times.  Make it a point turn off televison, wind down from the computer at least two hours prior and disconnect so your brain can relax in time and won’t take the effects of those blue waves with you to interfere with your sleep.  For more help, you might want to read my earlier post on how to unwind for bed after a stressful day.

What You Drink Is Linked to Aging Skin

Maybe you are as naughty as I am when it comes to caffeine.  Too many cups of coffee can dehydrate and deplete the complexion of valuable nutrients.  When you overdo, you risk the skin losing its plumpness from the underlying moisture.  This does not mean that you should give up coffee. I would die without that beverage in my life.  What I’m saying is that you need to replace every cup with an extra glass of water to quench your skin’s constant thirst.  Otherwise, your complexion can dry, dull more and tend toward wrinkling, especially if the skin is normally dry already.

Of course, your vice could be sugary drinks or alcohol.  Sugary drinks may taste great, but they also can rob the skin of collagen.  Therefore, you may want to cut down on the number of sugary beverages you normally drink and substitute more glasses of water as well for optimally helping your complexion.

Then again, you may love to indulge with alcoholic drinks.  An occasional drink is fine but remember that alcohol is quite dehydrating to the skin from how it depletes valuable skin vitamins such as A and Bs, other nutrients, electrolytes and fluids from the body, besides the effect it has on the liver.  Keep in mind, but you must drink water to counteract the lost fluid due to drinking alcohol or risk skin swelling trying to satisfy that demand for fluid by stealing it from other cells.

Alcohol also makes a condition like rosacea more of a problem.  It affects blood flow and dilates blood vessels to compound redness or even cause broken capillaries.  

When you need to drink, your best choices for the least damage are clear alcohols shots such as vodka, gin or tequila.  Limit yourself to one of those shots for that time for the sake of your skin’s appearance and liver health.

Better still, you might want to switch from the harder liquor to red wine since is it loaded with antioxidants such as youth promoting flavonoids, resveratrol and tannins to replenish collagen and elasticity to the skin.

Besides increasing your water intake, you might also consider switching to green tea  that is loaded with skin beneficial antioxidants for aiding with any inflammation and redness.  

Another skin boosting drink is coconut water for the value its lauric acid can provide for dealing with acne, inflammation and anti-aging.

Your Diet and Eating Habits Can Hurt the Skin and Speed Up Aging

Perhaps, you are too tired after a long day at work to come home and cook a healthy meal.  If you pop a frozen dinner into the microwave, make a sandwich or randomly fill up on junk food just because it is the easiest solution to appease your hunger, then you are speeding up how your skin ages.  The problem of eating “junk” is all the fats, salts, and preservatives disguised in a small amount of food to keep the skin nourished.  

What your complexion desperately is in need of is a balanced diet of protein, healthy fats, fruit and vegetables.  Read my earlier posts for the most effective foods to help your complexion thrive and how to give your skin and hair an overhaul through what you eat.

A simple start when you’re too tired to cook is advanced meal preparation.  Over the weekend, you might want to cook enough for the week to later store for future meals that you can reheat in the microwave.  Doing so will help keep your meals healthy instead of lacking the nutrition that your skin may be missing.  

You can also buy packages of frozen, skinless chicken breasts or fish fillets and reheat an individual piece in the microwave along with a baked potato and fresh salad or another green or yellow vegetable.  This is far better for skin and your body than constantly subjecting it to a pop-in frozen entree, sandwich, a bowl of chips or a cup of ramen noodle soup.

Using Skin Care Products in the Wrong Way Could Age 

Sometimes, we try to hard to get the perfect complexion.  We may over exfoliate, trying to get rid of old skin cells to help in skin renewal, believing more of a good thing must be better.  Yet, we are not allowing the skin a chance to renew itself.  Instead, we are rubbing it raw and risking scarring that can damage it. 

In those attempts to fight aging, we can use products in the wrong way.  Perhaps, you like to mix up your skin care with a multitude of the latest anti-aging products.  Yet, attacking the skin with lots of different active ingredients at the same time can backfire to cause irritation or reduce effectiveness of some of those ingredients.  A wiser approach is taking a simpler approach to the number of anti-aging products that you use to prevent the possibility of sensitization.

Excess Stress Ages Skin

No one is immune from stress, but it can be made manageable.  Try to discover a healthy relief outlet from talking with family and friends to redirecting that negative energy in more productive ways such as through Yoga, exercise, dance or anything physical such as cleaning, etc. 


You also might want to read my earlier post with tips on how to stay calm, three great techniques to handle stress, solutions for tackling those little stresses of daily life to another on stress busting techniques.

Even One Small Change Can Provide a Promising Future for Your Skin

This is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to bad habits.  Still, what I shared here with you today can be the start of a more promising future for the appearance of your complexion just by initiating a change or two in your normal skin care habits.

Recipe: My Lemon-Marshmallow Cream Pie in My Oil Pie Crust Is Easy and Yummy

The texture is slightly firmer than typical lemon meringue pie due to the marshmallows and coconut flakes.

I think that I love pie even more than cakes.  A part of the reason is how much easier they are to whip up than a layer cake, especially when you have a no-fail recipe for pastry such as my oil-pie crust.  When you have a trustworthy pastry crust that you count on to turn out, then all that is left to do is to make a delicious filling like the one that I have for you today. 

My Lemon-Marshmallow Cream Pie Offers Unique Texture and Chew 

My Lemon-Marshmallow Cream Pie will remind you of a creamy, lemon meringue pie only much better since it was tweaked to perfection.  What I did was reduce the sugar and added giant sized marshmallows and grated coconut flakes that improved the texture by firming the filling up somewhat over the typical cooked pudding consistency.  The shredded coconut that I only added to the filling also contributed a different element of both sweetness and chew that was extra delicious in this pie.  

Though as delectable as this pie may be, I like to top it with a meringue or even better, some mounds of whipped topping like Cool Whip, if you have this in the house at the time.  Unlike the typical lemon meringue, this particular filling is built to withhold all that fluffy, extra goodness.

I used six of these giant marshmallows for this lemon-marshmallow cream pie recipe. Don't you love the size?

I do have to warn you that a serving of this pie is more filling than the same size piece of lemon meringue pie.  You might want to make this pie on a day when you plan a light meal because it is richer when trying to eat the same portion.  

You can top with meringue like here or mounds of whipped topped like Cool Whip!

Why You Need to Try My Oil Pie Crust 

Seriously, if you never made pie crust or have problems with making one with shortening, then I really hope that you try my crust.  No joke, this is the only pie crust recipe that you will see from me on my blog because it is the best one that I ever encountered.  Don’t let the idea of a playing with what feels like a greasy, oil dough ball scare you off.  Otherwise, you will be missing one of the flakiest, easiest and a healthier corn oil or canola oil crust than one made with shortening or plain vegetable oil. 

Another advantage of using my oil pie crust recipe is that it will save you money.  The  pre-made crusts in the freezer section cost significantly more than the few ingredients of oil, salt, milk, and flour that go into this one.  They also have preservatives, less than healthy artery-clogging oil and are stuffed with other chemicals.  The only thing in their favor is your kitchen and hands don’t get messy.  Unless that is more important to you, then by all means buy your prepackaged pie crusts.  I refuse to eat them.

Furthermore, I use my oil pie crust recipe for everything that calls for a pasty crust from quiche, pot pie to a dessert.  This recipe never once disappointed me, my family or guests in all the times that I made it.  In fact, you might want to keep an index card on your refrigerator with a magnet like I do for all its varied uses. 

Eat a light meal before attempting to eat pieces of this size or serve them smaller.

My Lemon-Marshmallow Cream Pie

10-inch pre-baked pie crust (my oil pie crust)
1-1/4 cups of sugar + 2 tablespoons of sugar
½ cups of cornstarch
6 extra large, cut marshmallows about (12 regular size)
2 cups of cold water
4 egg yolks
2/3 cups of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/3 cup of grated coconut flakes

Meringue Topping:

4 egg whites for meringue
1/4 teaspoon of salt (for meringue)
4 tablespoons of sugar (for meringue)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

To Prepare the Filling:

Take out your eggs and leave at room temperature before attempting to separate them for yolks and whites.  

Here’s a trick that I do when I want to speed the process along.  Run some warm water over the eggs first will help before cracking so the yolks separate more easily.

In the pot that I plan to cook the filling, I add the yolks, cornstarch, water, lemon juice and the sugar.  Mix this on medium heat.

Cook the filling mixture until it starts to thicken, stir occasionally to keep it from burning. 

Once it starts bubbling, add the cut marshmallows and melt mostly through.  

Take off the heat, then stir in the vanilla and coconut flakes.

To Make the Meringue:

In another mixing bowl, add the whites with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and beat with your electric mixer until it becomes frothy.  

Slowly, add a little of sugar at a time to the whites while you continue beating until stiff peaks form and all the tablespoons of sugar are incorporated into the meringue.  

Add the vanilla last.

Pour into your prebaked pie crust.

Top with the meringue and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 12-15 minutes or so, depending on how your oven is regulated.  You want the meringue to slightly brown.  Therefore, keep an eye on it because you don’t want it to get too dark.  

Cool thoroughly before serving.

ENJOY!

How to Save Money With a Budget and Curb Household Expenses

Dollars accumulate once you know you determine where your money is going.

Some people are surprised at how quickly their paychecks disappear.  Yet, the same people are often too free with their spending due simply to bad habits that they fail to notice the growing financial pit they are digging for themselves. Therefore, it is always a good idea to draw up a budget and examine exactly where your money is going each month.  

A Budget is a Value Tool to Understand Your Spending

The easiest way to start saving is by understanding where your money is going by creating a monthly budget.  The first priority is basic household living expense.  Write down items such as food, clothing, shelter, utilities, transportation, grooming, clothes, and medical expenses.  Next, jot down the extras like how much goes for entertainment, dining out, gifts, vacations, etc.  

Now all that you have to do is write down your monthly take home pay at the top of your page.  Add additional expenses to your list such as tuition, pet expenses, funerals, etc. Remember, you always need to save a little for a rainy day because the unexpected does happen like broken toilet, the car breaks down, gas leaks, water breaks, etc. that can sneak up on you.

Monthly Income

1.  Food
2.  Shelter (Mortgage Payment or Rent)
3.  Medical Expenses
4.  Utilities
5.  Transportation
6.  Grooming
7.  Clothes
8.  Entertainment
9.  Vacations
10. Dining Out
11. Gifts
12. Credit Card Payments
13. Savings


After you determine your actual expenses for the month, you will see how much money you have left.  Is there anything in those expenses that can be curbed down?

One simple way is packing a lunch for work instead of buying one.  When you subtract around $7.00 a day during a five-day work week, you can return $35.00 more back to your budget.  Stopping at Starbucks for coffee may be delicious and convenient.  Instead, try brewing coffee at home or using the coffee maker at work.  Eliminating the daily coffee stop can add another $25.00 more to the budget. Bottled water is another extra expense.  Take an empty water bottle to work and fill it up there will save you more money.  

How many times do you dine out each week?  Try going less will save you even more money in your monthly budget.  

Some Common Ways to Curb Costs at Home

The kitchen is a good place to begin.  Do you use paper towels?  Some brands are so thin and weak that you waste more money trying to clean up from one job than others that may cost more.  For instance, you can by a 12-pack of Bounty Paper Towels for $17.47 at Walmart, which is about $1.45 a roll.  On an average, most of us use at least a roll or two a week. A monthly cost of $5.80 for using one roll per week doesn’t sound like much, but using two rolls a week is $11.60.  Yet, the approximate cost of using those paper towels for the year is $69.60 (one roll) to $139.20 (two rolls) for the year, which is more significant.

Though disposal dish cloths may save you laundry, I use reusable microfiber towels that I can throw in the washing machine. The cost of laundry detergent is minimal. This saves you money besides shelf space.

Cable television is another expense that you may want to give a second thought. First of all, do you really sit down to watch those programs and how many of those are there?  I know people that have cable television just because it was a package deal with their internet service or they couldn’t pick up any television programming in their vicinity without it. They didn’t necessarily sign up because of the programs.  

This does not mean that you should deny yourself what you see on cable television.  It just means that you can save seeing those programs maybe a bit later by checking your library.  Libraries are a wonderful source of borrowing the latest movies and television series.  I don’t have cable and watch the latest cable series and movies without the interruption of commercials from my local library.  I recommend looking into your library and if they don’t have what you want to see, they often have a suggestion form or box to recommend a book, movies, DVD, etc.   If you see the same programming just not immediately, think of all the money that you would save eliminating that expense of your cable bill.

I have a friend that has one internet service for the wife and husband, but a separate internet service for their daughter because she didn’t care for the service.  This was a rather extravagant and an extra drain of money.  One provider for that internet service would be enough and save them money.

Dry-cleaning expenses also can be reduced.  Did you know that there are bulk dry cleaners where they charge a certain amount by the pound?  Check your local area because this is much cheaper than a visit to a typical dry-cleaner.  

Speaking of dry cleaning, you can launder some labels that you may think only being dry-cleaned.  Usually, “dry-clean” on the label can be interpreted as it is best to dry clean, but the item still can be laundered without damage.   However, “dry-clean-only” means the item needs a professional cleaning or will be damaged or shrink.  

Look at Your Motivation for Spending

When glancing over your monthly budget, notice the gifts category.  Perhaps, you work late and don’t spend as much time with your children as you would like.  If so, maybe you buy them extra little gifts basically every time you go shopping out of guilt.  Then again, maybe you feel buying someone a more expensive gift than that person gave you will help win them over personally, professionally, etc.  Ask yourself the real reason and if it was called for before possibility downsizing or eliminating some of that buying in this category.

I have endless ways to save money.  These are just a few ideas.  How do you save money?  Tell me what you do because I would love to know.

The Reasons Your Formerly Clear Adult Complexion Suddenly Has Acne and What Could Help

Squeezing a blemish forces bacteria deeper into the skin, which is the wrong approach for adult acne.

Acne is something that you associate with teenage skin.  However, adults do get acne more often than you may realize.  In fact, you may never have experienced acne in your youth only to find your complexion under attack once you get in your late 20s, 30s, 40s even through your 50s.  Why skin trouble at this stage of your life you may wonder? Here are some likely reasons for the unwanted blemishes plaguing your face.

The Tie Between Increased Stress and Adult Acne

No one can pinpoint the exact cause of adult acne because various factors can contribute to this condition, but experts tend to agree that an increase in your stress level is a top contender.  The reason is the body under stress responds by releasing the hormone cortisol, which pumps up oil production rapidly.  The pores can’t keep up with the constant flow of oil and clog in the follicles along with dead skin cells and bacteria, resulting in those skin eruptions.

Being a Woman With a Menstrual Cycle and the Link to Adult Acne

Just because you are born female, our hormones are different and can do some wacky things during a monthly period, peri-menopause or even through the years of menopause to cause breakouts.  The way the estrogen and progesterone jump up and down during those times can wildly increase oil production. 

If you’re just starting taking birth control pills and switching to another type or medicine or even stopping, this can play with your hormone levels too.  This is why some birth control pills can help some women have clear complexions while others are known to aggravate the skin.  Each of us is different and unique in how our bodies respond to any foreign substance.  You just need to discuss the effects of medication with your doctor because it may need a different dosage or a change in the prescription to clear up that acne.

Apples help the skin detox so eating more along with regular cleansing, not overstimulating the skin can be beneficial.

How often have you craved extra sweets or more salty, deep-fried foods when your period rolls around?  Though sugar and foods that are high in saturated fats don’t cause acne, they do affect hormone levels with how they oxidize in the body by turning into glucose and high insulin to cause inflammation.  Besides that, I hate to tell you this but too much sugar also ages the complexion faster from the way it breaks down in your system, latching onto collagen.  You just might want to try to reduce the refined sugar and saturated fats.  Instead, opt for some fresh fruit,  whole grains or other food choices that will not exessively raise your insulin levels.  Also, a great resource available online is called the Glycemic Index that can help find the right food, levels, etc.

Ingredients in Your Beauty Products That May Trigger Adult Acne

We all dread getting older and do our best to keep those lines away.  The only problem is that some formulas just may be too rich for our particular complexion, resulting in those breakouts.  Worst offenders are ingredients such as sunflower oil, cocoa butter, wax, petrolatum, mineral oil, fragrances, silicones, parabens, phthalates, alcohol, acetylated lanolin, silica, and coconut oils are just some. Talc and particularly, bismuth oxychloride that is found in a lot in dry makeup formula powders, can burrow into the pores due to its sharp, angular shape, causing cystic acne.  This is the type of big red pimple that hides deep beneath the skin’s surface, poking out of your face like a giant, red rock.

When shopping, do yourself a favor and also make sure to see non-comedogenic and oil-free on the packaging before buying that product.  

Your first thought may be benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid, but you might just aggravate your complexion more, especially if you’re borrowing your teenager’s high strength pimple product.  Something with 10% salicylic acid is too drying and harsh for adult acne so keep this in mind.

The better way to handle cystic acne is applying warm compresses once you cleanse your face.  The warm water helps the blood flow in that affected area to cause the eruption to either surface or dissolve internally.

You can also seek out skin care products with charcoal or soft clay to help dry out some of the oil.  It won’t budge cystic acne, but it is useful for other adult acne blemishes.  

Something else to look into is LED light, such as red and blue light for dealing with adult acne.  The red light calms the skin's inflammation whereas blue light targets and destroys acne causing bacteria. 

Adjust Your Diet and Internal System Can Help Promote Clearer Skin

You can also try adding more fiber and probiotics to your diet to help rid your system of toxins and promote better digestive health.  A glass of Metamucil isn’t that bad to drink as well as turning to some Greek yoghurt.  Then again, you might want to add a beta-carotene supplement since vitamin A is an antioxidant that can help the complexion renew and repair.  Another suggestion is adding more Omega-3s, whether in supplement form or through eating more fish, for its powers in calming the acne down.

Hopefully, your complexion is not suffering and will not have this adult acne problem in the future.  Nonetheless, the information that I am sharing can come to your rescue.

How to Go Green and Save Money and the Planet

You may want to rethink old habits in your quest to go green.

Perhaps, you have always wanted to make a difference in helping conserve natural resources.  At the same time, you might not know the best ways to get started helping the environment so it can suit your lifestyle.  However, when each of us makes a few small changes to reduce our impact on the planet, then those efforts are multiplied to bring real change.  Let me share small ways that can help inspire you.

Start to Examine What Is Important to You

The easiest introduction to going green is by asking what you really need before buying another item or returning things to your closet.

Ask yourself how much you value those unnecessary items and their holds over you?  Is the item something that you love so much that you must buy or keep it or suffer if you don't?  On the other hand, if the item is just something that you want to buy because it’s on sale and not necessarily one to steal your heart, then you might want to skip that purchase or recycle it.  

For example, maybe you bought an expensive top for a ridiculously low fraction of its original price that also happens to be a sickly shade of pale yellow with polka dots.  This color washes your face out while the cut and quality of this top are wonderful, but you don’t have many other pieces to coordinate this top with.  Instead, it keeps hanging in the back of your closet time after time, unworn.  The truth is you couldn’t help yourself from snagging such a tremendous bargain.   Judging by the marked down price tag of how much money you saved does not mean you are ahead if that top is too mismatched for the other pieces in your wardrobe.  In all honesty, the top that you don’t seem to wear is more a trophy for your bargain shopping expertise than a helpful addition to your closet.

Before Buying Try to Recall How Many of the Same Do You Have Already

I don’t know about you, but I do have a tendency to be drawn to similar styles and colors of clothes or makeup.  The cut of a pair of pants could be slightly fuller or slimmer, but I tell myself that one makes my waist smaller or gives me a better behind from the fit.  In reality though, I don’t need five or six pairs of black pants at the same time.  I am not even counting your fat pants, skinny pants or the ones in your current size. 

Does the Item Save You Work or Is It Overcrowding Your Closet?

Too many of the same items like my excess number of black pants is far from ideal.  Having more of the same pieces restricts closet space and can overcrowd your other outfits, contributing to wrinkling and more work for you to later steam or iron them.  However, trying those pants on again and forcing myself to study my reflection in a full-length mirror to compare the best fit simplifies hunting through a stuffed closet and settling on the right black pair.

Another Way to Start Going Green Is Considering Condition

How many of us keep things around the house that may need a repair?  I have a sewing pile for rips, lost buttons and broken zippers.  A tiny rip to stitch up or hem something or replace buttons are one thing, but repairing a broken zipper that ran out off its track is more complicated.  The truth is my broken zipper pile usually never goes down because I avoid fixing them because of how much work.  I could have saved myself the trouble and just ditched the broken zippered items in the first place and never have missed them.

Have You Researched the Item and Compared Prices?

It is easy to walk into any store or to browse online and find something that seems perfect and made to your exact specifications.  Yet, you didn’t read the care instructions and how needy this piece like a leather coat would be to upkeep.  It didn’t make you feel any better when you forgot to do comparison shopping and assumed this was the average going price.

In summary, these are only a few examples of how you can save money, organize, recycle and do a small part to go green by thinking before purchasing.  

What do you do to go green?  

Inexpensive Eye and Lip Beauty: Rimmel Magnif’Eyes Colour Edition Eyeshadow Palette & Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colour Review + Swatches

**Disclaimer:  This post has been compensated through a free product (s) or monetary payment.  Opinions are solely mine. All links are "no-follow" links.**

Changing your makeup look doesn't have to cost a lot.

Rimmel London came out with some wonderful new additions to their line several months ago like the Colour Edition of the Magnif’Eyes Eyeshadow Palette and the Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colours.  I had reviewed the three original neutral palettes in an earlier post and really liked what they did for my eyes.  With that said, I couldn’t help myself and was determined to see what both would be like.

An Affordable Eyeshadow Palette With a Range of Color  and Possibilities

The Magni’Eyes Colour Edition Palette has 12 pans of eye-catching colors.  Three of the shades are more matte and the rest are quite shimmery.  

Inside this sleek, inexpensive palette, you get an amazing dual-ended applicator that you’re going to love.  It has one sponge-tip side and the other end is a brush, which is the perfect size for doing smaller areas like the corners of the eyes when making the V to smoke out.

Look at the vibrant range of 12 colors and all the beautiful eye possibilities at your disposal.

The palette is highly pigmented with a great range of color to play with that is suitable for all skin tones.  You can create a neutral eye, go bolder to all out glam easily with a sultry, smoky eye. 

The shadows don’t stir up a lot of dust, especially important if you have any sensitivity or allergies like mine.  These eyeshadows also blend beautifully and are ideally matched for coordinating lots of interesting looks when experimenting with the colors.

Long-lasting Formula that Can Keep Up With Your Day

I wore mine both with a primer and without a primer.  This palette does wear for hours without a primer.  I did not experience any crease problems, but it does hold up better for the longest wear when applying the primer.  The only thing that I noticed is if you’re going for an intense vibrant look, the eyeshadow stays put but the color lightens up somewhat.

The Magni’Eyes Colour Edition Palette is a fun and versatile eyeshadow set that gives you a lot of exciting choices to change your look according to the occasion or your mood without breaking the bank.  

Inexpensive Matte Liquid Lipsticks 

I also got to sample four of their Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colours with 100 Pink Bliss (warm pink-strawberry), 720 Mocha (medium nude), 110 Blush (dusty pink), and 210 Rose & Shine (rose-pink).  The pink range that was sent happens to be stunning and would suit all in my opinion.  The reasonable drugstore line has ten other shades available.  It also has a great doe-foot applicator that is the just right for shaping and filling in the lips without being too large, too small or awkward to work with.

Closest to my wrist and going down my arm is 100 Pink Bliss, 720 Mocha, 110 Blush, and ending with 210 Rose & Shine. 

The Formula 

The Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colour does stay on your lips for the most part through eating and drinking during a long day.  The only problem is you won’t have as much color on as you started with, but more of a stain.  

However, you aren’t forced to reapply.  Nonetheless, you probably will want to because of the dry feel on the lips after a while. Then again, this is common with many matte lip formulas.  To address that problem, I apply some lip balm and am good to go.

This formula takes effort to dislodge it with a makeup remover.  Washing with plain soap and water will not get this lip product to budge.

If you want trustworthy liquid lipstick coverage, you will like Rimmel’s Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colour for keeping up with you.  My advice is check this and the Magnif’Eyes Colour Edition Palette when you are in need of new affordable lip and eyeshadow.