What's in your beauty bag [Grace]?

My hair stylist extraordinaire allowed me to rummage through her beauty bag and ask about her favorite must haves for right now! Grace is the talent behind Hair Haus in Jenison, Michigan. I have had the pleasure of knowing her as a friend since our high school days and she has been working her magic on my hair for the past 5 years. She is currently pregnant with a little bundle of joy expected to arrive in just a couple weeks! I cannot wait to meet him! Here are some things from her beauty bag that she is loving right now!

"Neuma smoothing creme is organic and I really love that! It adds lots of moisture and it's also weightless on your hair. It is so versatile and can be used on all different hair types." I also love this stuff personally and every time she uses it on me I also can tell a difference in my hair. My frizz has smoothed itself out and I love that it smells likes citrus! I purchased this smoothing creme at my last appointment. I love physicians formula just as much as Grace! She uses the mineral wear and applies it with your typical foundation brush. "It has such buildable coverage and it's talc free. That is important to me because I have sensitive skin. It's one of the first foundations I have used that doesn't break me out. I am getting a little upset though because Walgreens doesn't carry Physicians Formula anymore!" Grace and I are both fans of Revlon Matte Lip Balms but she is braver than me and is rocking 215 shameless desinvolte. "This one feels moisturizing to me which I like and is rare to find in a matte lip color. I bought it because last year I was looking for the color of the year, "pantone" This one seems to stay on evenly without leaving cracks on my lips. I just love it!"

Grace has also experimented with oatmeal masks. She originally found a recipe on pinterest and has fine tuned it to her liking. Here's her recipe!
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. nutmeg
15 drops of lavender essential oil
15 drops of tea tree essential oil
[Blend up your oatmeal then add the honey, nutmeg, and essential oils.]
"I blend it to more of a powder consistency. And before I apply it to my face I remove my makeup with a coconut oil and caster oil mix and remove it all with a steamed towel." 

[photos taken by Katy O Photo] 

Ulta Haul [again...whoops]

This Ulta trip was not planned at all. I had my free birthday gift to pick up and honestly just needed to get out of the house. [when you work from home it's very easy to become a hermit.] With my birthday money in hand and an evening to myself I headed off to wander the aisles of Ulta. Here's what I walked out with and what I think about it. 

I have worked with my esthetician to come up with a solid skincare routine and we both agree that the Mario Badescu line is amazing! 

The facial spray is so refreshing. The rosewater in it gives it a light floral scent. I have been using it in the morning and evening after cleansing. I also will spray it on during the day to refresh my makeup. It is very comparable to the Urban Decay setting spray. 

The buffering lotion is used on trouble spots. I just shake it up and tap a drop of the lotion on in the evenings before my moisturizer. In the morning the spot is gone. 

Not your Mother's Kinky Moves: In an effort to wear my hair in it's natural state I am searching for a product that will let my curls do their thing but keep the frizz away. This product first off smells really good. The grape and jasmine are a perfect scent combination. I have used this both on wet hair and on dry hair. It works best for me when I apply it to my air dried curls. It tames the frizz and smooths out the curls. I found if I used it on wet hair and let it air dry that the frizz was worse. 

Not your Mother's Beach Babe: Now with all the texturing spray hype I thought I would try this one. I haven't really used a spray like this before because my hair has enough texture in it already. [yay for being a latina!] I did not like this at all. It made my hair feel really chalky and the scent of the sea salt was not great. I returned it. 

Revlon ColorBurst in Audacious: I saw someone use this and thought it would be something I could be brave enough to wear but... it wasn't. The color was very very orange for my skin tone. And I personally didn't think it was that flattering on me. So, I returned it. I will stick to my nude balms for now. 

Calvin Klein Mascara: This was my free birthday gift. First off, the packaging is just gorgeous. If I had a line of cosmetics I think it would look just like this. Matte black and a glossy white! This mascara isn't anything special. It is a nice dark black pigment but I will stick with my L'Oreal Telescopic for now. Thanks Ulta for the full size product. 

Essence Colour & Go [let's get lost 128]: Here is the real winner of this trip to Ulta! *Here's an Ulta shopping tip-> go with naked fingernails and test out the polishes that you plan on buying.*

There is nothing worse than buying a polish that looks great in the bottle but dries matte instead of glossy! I had painted Essie 'Strut your Stuff' on a fingernail and was debating on purchasing it or not until... I found a great dupe for it from Essence for $1.99! The whole polish line from Essence is amazing! I am slowly building up a collection.