The Bridesmaids Gifts and Goodies

Caitlin and Jayden were the only 2 girls left on my bridesmaids list, I had a couple more but for one reason or another they couldn't make it which was kind of expected due to the fact it was a destination wedding. My husband and I live in England but most of our family and friends live in either Mexico, Germany, and the USA.

Now Cailtin is my lil love bug baby girl, to my eyes she's the little sister I never had and I wish I was there in her life a lot longer to teach her all the things! She's 25 now and I'm 30, she had just began to start using makeup along with other girly things around the time I got engaged, so hair products, how to style your hair, eyeliner, all that fun stuff was new to her. She had done theater makeup before when she was in school but lets be fair, it is quite different to your everyday look or your going out tonight look.

Jayden my drama ridden half breed, British mum who is always looking for an excuse to not go to work and her very set in his ways American dad pushed her to mature a lot faster than most of her schoolmates. She just turned 21 this past weekend, she's a good kid with a good heart but is put into the position of having to be the grown-up a lot. She's familiar with makeup, getting her hair done, but as most youngins' makes a lot a mistakes along the way (heck, I still do!). My biggest beef with her is that she sometimes forgoes washing her face after a long night of partying and those ridiculously dramatic eyelashes she wore at my wedding.

I told the makeup artist I was going for a natural beauty look on my girls because they're both very youthful looking and there's nothing worse than a beautiful young girl with perfect skin caking their face up with unnecessary goop.

#bridesmaid gifts #tarte #Revlon #wedding #theknot

A photo posted by Laura Cain (@lau_is_gone_now) on Apr 11, 2015 at 1:07pm PDT

So what I got them was a lovely Tarte palette each including the mother of the bride and groom which contained very lovely and neutral colors that would enhance their natural beauty yet have a lil bit of glam, just enough for such a fabulous day and of course the most amazing mascara ever.

We all had matching earrings and bracelets and I got them each a set of makeup brushes in that lovely flowery pouch, they were about $12 a set, yes they are cheap and not the greatest brushes ever but these were their first makeup brushes so I figured it would be good for starters because even though Jayden is familiar with makeup she never really used makeup brushes, she used the applicators that come with your regular Covergirl makeup sets.

She looks so precious!

Think skinny!

Jayden (left) Caitlin (right)

We look precious! 

Our engagement photos... and the hangover

So my best friend/maid of honor has a super talented husband, Greg Bales, he did our engagement photos and most of our wedding pics too, we did hie and extra 2 photographers so he could enjoy himself as-well.

My husband had this whole thing planned out, we had gone to Edinbururgh every year for his birthday and this time was no different except he planned his birthday trip around all the wedding planning. He made the appointments with the locations, the venue, the whole enchilada and all I id was plan the engagement photo shoot, lazy bride? No, apparently this was his plan from the beginning.

But also we were celebrating his birthday and our engagement, so what did we do you ask? We got shitfaced and a heavy metal bar called Opium where they had this magical concoction called "The Opium Bomb and my husband thought having 20 of those was a great idea the night before our photoshoot. I also thought it was a great idea to drink all the scotch placed in front of me that night so of course we were super hungover the next day so here is what I did to try and avoid looking like crap in our engagement photos:

Slept in as much as I could, eat a heavy breakfast, shower for like 40 minutes and then applied the following:

I washed my face with my Clarisonic Mia and First Aid Beauty (FAB) cleanser, toned with Olay's witch hazel toner, applied my Josie Maran argan oil and then the magical unicorn Shiseido's Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Pure Retinol Express Smoothing Eye Mask
I left this on for as long as it was wet, this puppy help mask the nightmare under my eyes. Of course I packed on the makeup like crazy but I think the under eye mask helped sooooo much.

Here are some sample photos where you can't really tell that I'm actually dying inside:

Empties Vol 2

My first empty is my holy grail of skin care products. In the past I have used acne focused moisturizers for my face, Retinol SA's, Retin A's, AHA's, BHA's, Salicylic Acid, Benzoyl Peroxide, OMG! You seriously have to study biochemistry engineering to be a woman, or a very self-conscious human being for that matter, to "look good". So when I came across a sample of Josie Maran's 100% pure Argan Oil, it was a blessing... that's literally all it contains: Argan Oil.

No fuss, no chemicals, just that. And guess what? My skin has never felt better; redness has been reduced, I hardly ever get any spots (sadly if I wear makeup I do get some), it doesn't feel oily, etc.
The pros could go on and on and the only "CON" is the price being a little out of my range although I can't really complain that much about the price either; I bought one full size bottle in Jan/Feb this year and I haven't finished the whole thing, we are now in August. It could've easily lasted me another month buuuut (this was unexpected) my partner has started using it to style his hair/treat a severe case of eczema he had for years which has been significantly reduced and has nearly disappeared since he started using Josie's Oil! Go Josie!

I know this isn't a "Single Product Review" post but I am in shock that now my guy is hooked on it too and he says he doesn't like using other styling products because this oil gives him  nice "natural" (non gooey) look. :)

Next empty that I swear by: It's a 10! Leave in Conditioner (purple lid, not orange). I've gone through 3 bottles already in the past 5 months.... I seriously need to find a dupe because this stuff is NOT pocket change friendly!  I am used to buying my own stuff with my own money, but I recently had to quit my job and go for anything else that was out there... and that meant a considerable pay cut. So nearly $20 for something that; yes, is amazing, but doesn't really give you the best bang for your buck (AKA tiny ass bottle) is NOT worth the splurge, unlike the previous mentioned product which was like $50 or $60 that has lasted about 6/7 months.

I thought I'd never go back to L'Oreal. I am currently on my second tub of L'Oreal's Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm. It claims to repair up to 1 year of damage in one use. That's overrating yourself a bit L'Oreal. But I do have to admit that after a month of use I began to see positive results. The one day; my curiosity got the best of me. Once a weeks I will put some coconut oil in my hair, leave it over night in a silk scarf and wash in the morning. So one Sunday night I did the same thing and before pining my hair up into my scarf, I stared at my tub of Damage Erasing Balm and decided to experiment on my hair, rubbed some on my hands and braided my hair (already covered in coconut oil) with the Balm as-well. The next morning after wash and letting my hair air dry to about 70% I ran my fingers through my hair to detangle it..... OMG!!!!! My hair felt like baby hair, in a good way. It was crazy soft! And stays that way for days and days without weighing down my hair.

That's another empty, my organic coconut oil LOL.

The not so great one: Tresemme's Two Extra Hold Non-Aerosol Hair Spray. I know I've said in the past that I just don't like hairspray in general, but sometime you need a sleek look for a formal affair or a special event. So I bought this one day during my lunch hour because it was a crazy windy day in East Anglia and my do was all over the place. I chose unwisely. It took me forever to wash this out of my hair, made me feel like I had a helmet on my head, I tried to brush it out a bit before washing... didn't help. I had to wash it again and again. Now I'm not bashing on Tresemme, I love their regular hair spray, it's not too sticky and stiff but unfortunately it is in aerosol form. Sorry ozone :(

Beauty Haul Vol 1

So yesterday after a whole day of not being able to eat, a lot of napping and drinking plenty of water, I was so bored of feeling ill that I went and had a little splurge.

Half asleep I went onto sephora.com and thought it'd be a good idea to review these "tester" beauty kits I see on there all the time. The first one was LORAC Rockin' Red Hot Lip Gloss Collection; until now I had never tried a LORAC product so I'm excited to receive and review these lip glosses. This kit was on sale at sephora.com for $20 (US dollars) with originalprice tag at $27. I thought it was a good deal considering LORAC lip glosses are between $10 and $15.

Next up was Benefit Cosmetics Feelin' Dandy Lip & Cheek Kit which contains a Posetint (never tried that before), Dandelion blush (also a first time for me), Highbeam (have tried, haven't learned how to use properly), Ultra Plush Dandelion Lip Gloss (also a first). I'm looking forward to reviewing these. I do have the option to go to a shop in town and try Benefit Cosmetics products but because of import costs; the price tag tends to go way too high for my liking. This kit however was only $28.

And finally; the Smashbox Try Kit. I have tried several Smashbox products in the past and their primers are by far my favorite ones out there. This kit contains: Photo Finish Foundation Primer, Photo Finish Eyelid Primer, Limitless Eyeliner, Full Exposure Mascara, & a Lip Enhancing Lip Gloss. The kit cost a total of $19, which I also found ideal to test the whole range.

I also got a free sample of Bobbi Brown's CC Cream which I had never even heard of.

I will be reviewing all of these products individually in separate "Kit" posts that way I don't have to flood you with my ramblings.

On a completely different day a couple weeks ago I made another purchase, a gift from me to me. I have gone through quite a few flat irons and curling tongs since I moved to the UK. Either couldn't afford a higher end one before or just never got around to reading reviews or looking into what would suit me best, so finally I took the plunge and invested in a NuMe curling wand and a NuMe Hair Straightner. Fortunately one of the beauty bloggers I follow on youtube had a discount code which she shared with her followers and I got a $120 discount off my order.

This too I will be reviewing as soon as I receive the package (USPS and MPS have been a tad slow lately) but I am very much looking forward to reviewing these products for you.

Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil Review

Several months ago I purchase several sample sized products from Sephora.com one of which was the Josie Maran Argan Love Your Skin: Cleanse & Nourish To-Go-Duo. Both products I loved but I didn't seem to convince myself enough to purchase the full size bottle of Josie's argan oil, $50 was a little too much for my budget no matter how much I loved the results.

On the 23rd of January I said to myself: "Myself... you've worked for your money, you didn't get it for free. You deserve a lil something for yourself". And I did :)

From my first experience with this oil I experienced so many positive changes and the first one was... NO SPOTS, that's right no acne. I have blemish prone skin that goes a little oily in the summer and to my dismay I have hyperpigmentation issues as-well even if I don't touch the spot at all! Now that I've been using it again for a whole month I've had one tiny spot on my cheek and that was my fault because I fell asleep with my makeup on one night (in my defense; I had a fever).

Another one of the benefits I began to notice was my skin tone began to even out. As most women, the area surrounding my nose, the corners of my mouth and the corners of the eyes tends to get a little red (I noticed this began to happen to me around the age of 26 and panicked). This problem began to diminish significantly after about 2 weeks of use.

What pushed me to buy it? I had already tried it, plus it was mid December and I had to reapply moisturizer several times throughout the day to keep my skin from going completely dry, I needed a little something extra (it has been crazy windy/rainy/cold in England this winter).

REMEMBER if you do decide to purchase this marvelous product never forget that it is an oil and you only need 3 drops for your whole face, it's very easy to get carried away. Fortunately the bottle comes with a dropper so you can be extra careful :)

So there it is, would I recommend it? Yes, very much. Especially if you live in a cold and windy area. I have yet to put it to the test during summer but it's cold and windy in the summer over here as-well so I'm not too worried.

Hope this was a helpful read and remember to send feedback, I'd appreciate it greatly.

Have an awesome weekend my lovelies.

I'm back and I'm sorry

I was beginning to have a good rhythm; writing post, filming weekly but sadly I turned away from my blog. I'm not proud of it but I am not ashamed.

The reason was that my other half was being deployed to a non combat zone yet very far away with a poor internet connection. So the past 3 to 4 weeks of our time has been dedicated to precisely that "US time" and prepping for the separation to come.

He left this Tuesday and I fell ill the night before he left so now I've also been dealing with fever, coughing, stuffy sinuses, and much more fun without my cuddle monster and as up tight and cold as many people perceive me as, I am a mushy goop of sappiness in the privacy of our own home.

So now I'm finally starting to feel better! I am filming 3 videos on Sunday, writing a butt load of posts as-well :)

I hope my readers and followers forgive me for being on hiatus but a girl needs a pity party in these sort of situations (I gave myself permission to eat tons of chocolates and not wear make up for a week, so NO you don't want to see my face right now).

I have so much to show and tell you!!! Coming up soon:
Josie Maran Pure Argan Oil Review
bareMinerals; my long lost friend (story & review)
The Collection Grows (Nail polish haul)
Taking The Plunge - Investing in a Couple of NuMe Tools (straighter & curling wand)
Interviewing My Readers (2 volunteers so far)
My Nail Polish Rack Nightmare
Overseas Beauty Haul (goodies I've purchased from all over the place and had to wait to get them all in order to write/film this! LOL)
And I'll stop now before I spoil it all!

Thank you my lovelies, I'll type to you soon :)

#deploymentsucks

New Year's Eve 2013