My Everyday Makeup Routine

 Hello beauty lovers! Let's talk makeup! I have really simplified my routine lately. Mainly because I have a baby and she only gives me about 10 minutes before she starts needing something from me to do my makeup. I don't put on makeup everyday, but I usually do at least 3-4 times a week, and when we go out. Let's start with the face.

Rimmel Long Lasting 24 hour foundation! This is my favorite foundation right now and its only about $7.00 at the drugstore. It is a full coverage foundation but I just use about 1 pump for my entire face and it is perfect. I used to use a bb cream/ sheer foundation but I was having to apply so much because of the redness on my skin that it was taking up a lot of time to do each morning. With a full coverage foundation I can use a little bit and not have to build it up saving time. This gives a great matte finish and makes my skin look really natural.

 Loreal true match powder in the shade C3. I use this to set my foundation and under eye concealer. It's the perfect shade and a great all around face powder. If you are needing a good powder check it out, they have so many shade options.

 Bronzer: NYC sunny bronzer. This bronzer is about $3.00 and it's one of the best. I feel like it is a really good dupe for the popular Benefit Hoola bronzer which I also own. I don't put a lot on, but in the winter its great to make my face not look so flat.

 My all time favorite blush right now is Mac Mocha. It is the perfect blush for me and is practically a my cheeks but better shade. I have been obsessed over this blush for the last month or so.

 Maybelline fit me concealer in the shade 20 is good for hiding the dark circles under my eyes. I heard once that wearing concealer is just part of having good manners, it makes it so people ask you less questions if you are tired or not. I really liked that.

 Onto eyes. My favorite primer is wet n wild fergie eyeshadow primer. It's so cheap and really really good. Very comparable to the two faced shadow insurance primer I used to love but used up last year. I never wear shadows without a primer and this is a great one.

 My current eyeshadow palette that is in rotation is the coastal scents revealed palette. I love all the colors and I am trying to pan this palette this year. We will see how this goes as there are a lot of shades.

 For eyeliner I really like liquid eyeliners. They are easiest to apply for me and last all day. This is from NYX and it is their classic liquid black liner.

Mascara I have been using the covergirl super sizer. This is a new mascara from 2015 and it is amazing. I love it, I have very straight lashes but this holds my curl and lengthens them really well. I love this stuff.

So there you have it my really easy everyday makeup routine. The pictures aren't the best quality because I took them at ten at night and my kitchen table needed to be cleaned but hey this is real life not blog life, and my kitchen gets dirty once in a while.
XO
Caitlin

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 

 * This will contain spoilers so if you haven't seen it, don't read

We finally saw Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. It was a classic Star Wars movie, what can I say. 

1) The plot was basically the same as Episode IV: A New Hope. Did anyone else catch that? In a new hope the force is alive again as Luke ventures out to help Leia and the rebellion against the Empire. They are trying to get out of Leia where the rebel base is and they end up destroying the death star. In this movie, the main focus seemed to be finding Luke Skywalker, who disappeared. Then the First Order, is trying to find the rebel base again and destroy it so they can build up a new empire. It was seriously the same plot. 

2) I did like that Rey, was a female lead character. Compared to all the other Star Wars movies it's always been focused on the male Jedi's so it was nice to have a potential female Jedi that the franchise would be focusing on. But that brings up my next point:

3) Who is Rey? They never talked about her parents other than the fact that she was taken from them and the reason why was top secret. Zack and I have a theory that she is just another Anakin Skywalker, someone who has a lot of midichlorians in them. Perhaps Rey and Anakin share a common ancestor? Who knows. A lot of fan theories have been presented at who Rey is, read this article if you are interested in finding out more. 

4) Finn or FN-2187. I liked him as an added character in the film. I liked that his conscience "awakened" him and he realized the error that was in the First Order. I don't know if he will train as a Jedi once he is healed from his injuries alongside Rey? Who knows. 

5) The storm troopers seemed to be better at shooting this time around, so at least their training has improved. 

6) Kylo-Ren/ Ben Solo. He made an interesting bad guy. He was pretty intimidating all up until the moment that he took his mask off. Why did they do that to him? As Zack so lovingly says, he looks like a Guber. It really made his character seem weak and ineffective. Maybe they had to do it so they could have him face is father (Han Solo) and make us all think that he was going to go back with him but ended up killing him (Han) instead. Also the actor who played Kylo-Ren looks like a younger version of Snape from the Harry Potter movies:

Am I right? Did anyone notice this?

What did you think of the movie? 

XO

Caitlin

 

Fitbit Flex Review

Happy Monday! I actually don't mind Mondays, maybe it's because I am a stay at home mom now so really all my days kind of mesh together. I do love the weekends though because that means Zack is home and we get extra family time which I love. Anyway, Mondays aren't the worst things ever but I have always been like that. Tuesdays, well Tuesdays are a different story.

Today I am doing a review on the fitbit flex.  I have had mine since July but I stopped using it after I had Claire. I started using it again about a week ago and fixed a few issues I was having with it and it works much better for my needs now.

This is the one I have and I love it. I also got some interchangeable bands so I don't have to wear the pink one all the time, but who are we kidding it's me and I love the color pink. When you first get the fitbit you can register it on your computer and set up your preferences. When I did this I actually changed mine to say that I was pregnant and it readjusted my daily goals for me (6,000 steps instead of 10,000 steps which is the average). After you get it registered on your computer you can also download the fitbit app onto your iphone or android phone and update it that way.

 

I have the app in this folder on my iPhone called health. When you open the app this is what it looks like:

It connects to your fitbit via bluetooth and updates all of your stats as soon as it sinks. You can add in your weight and your own step goals on your computer. I added my weight but blurred it out because I just don't want that information out there for the world yet. Anyway if you click the different categories you can also adjust it here. When you click on the account sign down at the bottom it takes you to this screen:

 

You can set goals for all of those categories here. You can change your sleep sensitivity, what day you week starts on, etc.  I put mine to normal because I toss and turn all night and it was registering that as being awake even though I wasn't.

 

Those are just some of the things you can do with the  fitbit, it's really a great tool to use to track your exercise. I find it is difficult to keep accurate because I am holding my baby all the time in my left hand which is the hand that I keep the fitbit on. I still like it because it keeps me motivated to keep moving and exercising.  What have you found that helps you stay motivated to be healthy?

XO

Caitlin

 

 

Baby Items I use Daily

Finally a post that isn't about planners. I am trying to find a good balance between all the things I like to blog about so hang in there as I do that better this year. I have finally found a pattern of blogging I can work with, and if you haven't noticed my new schedule is to blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I want to blog about all my interests so right now its kind of just random what posts I do on those days. Maybe in the future I will be more organized and put planner content up one day, baby stuff another, etc. For now it's whatever I am feeling at the moment and I like that.

First item I use everyday is our diaper bag. Of course. If you are a mom you know you can't go out of the house without one. This is the one that I am currently using and it has been really great. I have loved it so far but if you look at my previous post on what I got for Christmas, I am actually getting a new diaper bag later this month.

 

Second item we use everyday is this baby bouncer Claire is sitting in

 

I got it at one of my baby showers and it is the best thing. Right now the cover for it is in the wash and I have been procrastinating laundry (surprise, surprise) and its been hard because we haven't been able to use the chair. She loves it, and its a great place to put her in while I shower, clean the house, do what ever I need to. 

This carrier is from Target and both Zack and I use it all the time with Claire. When she was super little to now, and we will continue to use it for a while. It has 4 different positions you can carry the baby in and it is honestly a life saver. Especially when the baby doesn't want to be put down, but I have to get stuff done I just put her in here and away we go. 

 

Don't mind my messy bedroom and the sponge bob pillow on the bed :) ha ha.  

We use these baby swaddles all the time. I have several from little unicorn and from nordstrom. We love them and they make for good emergency burp cloths too.

 

Let's not even talk about the fact that my baby is only 4 days old in this picture and now she is 4 months old.

Another swaddle we use all the time is from the brand Swaddle Me. They are velcro and really strap her in, it makes it so she can't move her arms (although she is an escape artist and gets out of it all the time) so she doesn't startle herself awake. You can find them here on Amazon. 

We use blankets and quilts all the time, every day almost 24/7. This one is from Little Unicorn (linked above) and its the perfect size for Claire as she grows. I just love the beautiful poppy's, the print makes me smile on these dark winter days.

 

Another blanket and the baby swing I got off KSL. She loves to nap in the swing, or sometimes she'll even tolerate just sitting there and smiling and laughing. Now that she is more mobile though it is way to confining so she doesn't use it as much. We still use it but not as much as we did when she was a baby. 

 

This play mat we use daily. It is a great toy for babies to learn skills such as grabbing toys, kicking, and even rolling over. Claire loves it!

Last but not least her bumbo chair! Seriously the greatest invention ever. At dinner time we just put her in the chair and she watches us while we eat. She seems to like it cause she just smiles and smiles while she is sitting up there. We bring it with us on days we have to be somewhere for a long time. I highly recommend getting one. 

 Oh goodness, that smile. She is too cute for her own good! 

Well there you have it our favorite baby items. We also use bottles and other feeding gadgets because I do formula feed. I will do an entire post about what I have learned about formula feeding. Even though I strongly believe in breastfeeding, formula was the way I decided to go and it has worked for us. I want to help educate other people on formula because it was a learning process for me too. Anyway I hope you got something useful out of this post and maybe added something to your amazon wishlist? Let me know what items you use most down below. 

XO

Caitlin