January 2014 – Relax, I've Had Coffee.

I clearly need to make a run to the store or place an order online or something, because I realized this morning that I’d run out of facial moisturizer. Now, I could have just used Egyptian Magic (which I LOVE!), but I normally use that at night. I don’t care to use it during the day, because it just makes you walk around looking extra greasy. That’s not cute. For some reason, milk kept coming to mind, so I had to search out and see if I could find a recipe for a facial moisturizer using milk. There were several out there, but I chose the most simple (and well known) recipe of the bunch. Mainly because I had all three of the ingredients here in the house. Yay, right? So I mixed it all up, tried it out, and my skin was instantly a bit brighter. That was eight hours ago, and my skin still looks pretty fab. This one may be a keeper! Will remember this when I run out of moisturizer again. 😉

Ingredients:

1/4 C milk (lactic acid for gentle exfoliation)

2 tablespoons lemon juice (exfoliating, brightening skin, evens out skin tone)

2 tablespoons olive oil (smooth complexion, soft skin, maintain elasticity, Vitamin E, and more)

photo (13)

Mix the milk and the olive oil until well blended. Then mix in the lemon juice, and that’s it! Use as the final step to your beauty routine. Make sure to keep this mixture in the refrigerator, as it does have milk as the main ingredient. Just pull it out of the fridge when you need it, shake it up, use, and put it back in the fridge when you’re done. This moisturizer should keep for a few days, and after that, the remainder should be discarded.

I will also say that this recipe yielded more than I will actually need or be able to use before it expires. If you think this will be an issue, consider halving the recipe. Don’t make more than you’ll actually use! 😀

Note: If you are allergic to lemons, don’t try this. Also, if you know that you will have prolonged exposure to the sun that day, you may not want to use this moisturizer, as the lemon can cause sun sensitivity. Be safe. 🙂

This week has been full of the fail. Can at least one project/recipe go right? I mean, my goodness! Here’s a partial list of what’s happened so far:

* Pinterest fails. I tried the “Use Pam cooking spray to dry your nails!” trick, as it seemed like an easy one to try out. Trick is right. It tricked me into spreading still-wet nail polish all over my fingers. The look on my face when it happened:

That was fun to clean.

* Cooking fails. I was trying to find a recipe for breadsticks that tasted just like the ones from Pizza Hut. Because those are my favorite. FAVORITE. I found a few recipes with this claim, and proceeded to try one out. It looked promising! The dough was beautiful, the seasoning smelled delicious, everything was going well! Until I tasted it. *deep sigh*

They tasted NOTHING like Pizza Hut breadsticks, you hear me? What Pizza Hut has this person been going to?!? I was so disappointed. SO disappointed. Ugh. *throws faux breadstick across the room*

* Makeup fails. Being a woman of color, sometimes I have to mix foundations together in order to come up with a color that is close to my complexion. Usually foundations with yellow undertones look fine on me, but sometimes I can use foundations with red undertones, which only adds to the confusion. Not just for me, but for the people that are trying to help me find the correct foundation as well! So I decided to get my mixtress on this week, since I have so many foundation samples in the makeup drawer, and went to work. I mixed up several combinations, and guess what? Nothing. Worked. Too light, too dark, kind of ashen, not golden enough, blaaaaaah blah blah. Wasted product is what it was.

Side note: The #1 foundation so far that actually seems to work on my skin is not even a foundation. 😉 I usually use Make Up For Ever HD Microperfecting Primer in #4 (Caramel). It’s a primer, but honestly, I just use it as a foundation. Because it works. Warms my skin right up! The second runner up would be NARS Sheer Glow in New Orleans, but I can’t find it at Sephora anymore. The two stores in my area have apparently stopped carrying it, and I could order it online, but I don’t want to do that just yet. Something tells me that I’m going to have to branch out to more expensive lines in order to get the right match for me. Chanel, anyone?

There were so many more fails this week, and it’s only Wednesday! But you know what? I’m going to leave it alone…and pretend that they never happened. I asked myself if I should try another project this week to make up for it. I said, “Self, should I try that other thing on Pinterest that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time? You know, the thing!” Self said: