At Home Spa Pampering: How I Cram Hours of Pampering into 90 Minutes or Less

Sample Provided For Review, I Bought This

After my recent vacation (Disney World with a 2 year old), I fully admit that I needed a little peace and relaxation. It was fun but... super exhausting! Unfortunately, I didn't have the time (or money) to head to a spa for the full treatment for a day. I did have a few hours at home alone, thanks to a day I didn't have to work and my toddler at "school". So, I took advantage and crammed as much pampering into a 90 minute period as I could! I don't remember exactly what order I did everything in, but here's the kind of multi-tasking I usually do to fill a roughly 90 minute pampering session.

I'm not really one of those girls that likes to lounge around in the tub. I'm busy and have a lot of things to do (and multitask) and they aren't really easily done in the tub. I'm usually doing one thing while another works away, like scrubbing down while a hair mask is soaking, etc.

Things I usually do:

Hair
I have some eczema or atopic derm near my ear, and a small amount of Head and Shoulders Advanced once a week is all I need to keep it at bay in the fall and spring. Something with zinc just keeps my skin happy. I also really love the Green Apple Head and Shoulders, but I just ran out last week, so I'm back to the blue bottle. I'm going to repurchase in the Green Apple after this one runs out, I love the smell of the green apple.

While the H&S is on those little areas, I wash the rest of my hair. Lately I'm really loving the L'Oreal Advanced Hair Care line! I've been using the Total Repair 5 line, and you can see the Shampoo & Conditioner here. The collection is very hydrating and seems to be really improving the condition of my damaged hair with each use. I also have the mask (which I recently repurchased, you can see it on my Instagram), it's hiding under the DermOrganic Hair Masque. So, I wash my hair with the L'Oreal, then I'm masking with the L'Oreal, and then I actually did a second mask with the DermOrganic (I was super pampering!). My hair loved this and was super soft and silky, but not at all weighed down. It still had a lot of volume.

Face
I washed my face with my First Aid Beauty Cleanser, using my Clarisonic.

Body
Obviously, in the shower you need to get yourself clean. When pampering I like to use a really yummy scented body wash, and my favorites are the Aromatic Blends from Kiehl's. They smell ah-mazing and have a nice lather. They don't overdry my skin, but aren't crazy hydrating like my usual Olay, so I don't use them a lot in the winter. I used my Beautisol Exfoliating Mitt with the body wash, so I was super soft and glowy after my shower.

I'm usually afraid to not use my typical Cetaphil cream, when I'm not super hydrated my eczema likes to flare. For about the last week or so I've been using the new Dial 7 Day Moisturizing Lotion, and it seems to be working really well! It's a slightly lighter lotion, and I love that I can just use a pump instead of having to open a tub and smear very thick cream everywhere. (That pump really is so much easier!) It has a very light scent, sinks in to my skin pretty quickly and the lotion does keep me well moisturized for a long time. I'll definitely be using this throughout the summer!

Finally, under all of those products you'll see my Solevation Shower Mat, which I'm totally in love with. I stand on it while shampooing and washing, just twisting and turning. The end result is pretty feet!

Once I'm finally out of the shower, I like to spend some time masking/doing my nails. First I should point out that the Rembrandt strips are there because I actually start those before I get in the shower (this is the Rembrandt 2 Hour Whitening System).

Next I start masking!
Kiehl's Rare Earth Mud Mask: This mask still doesn't have its own page, but it is amazing. I use it right after getting out of the shower so it can pull as much junk out of my pores as possible. It gets the job done but is very gentle, which I love!

First Aid Beauty Instant Oatmeal Mask: After masking I like to do a soothing/hydrating mask. If it makes me smell like a cookie, so much better!

Next it is time for nails. You can read more about my preferences in my 8 Pedicure Essentials post from last week, but I use a lot of the same products for my manicure. I have the Nails Inc Kensington top coat here, which dries things in about 45 seconds (though it seems to take more like 4-5 minutes for really dry enough to do stuff). I also have a hand scrub and cream from Julep, which I've really loved. They sent them to me in a free Maven box, which I've found is a great way to find new products. That hand cream is amazing!

Also, I use the 30 second cuticle remover from Sally Hansen, which I've probably bought about 30 times over the years (no joke). I'm loving the CoverGirl nail polishes, they last for a looooong time. This one reminds me of my Chanel Particuliere, but with much better wear. I swear I buy a new bottle every time I go to the grocery store.

Finally, if I'd had time, I would have probably tried to include these items as well!

The Clairol Natural Instincts Clear Shine treatment: Since going dark my hair is definitely not as shiny. I'm about to get my hair done again so I'll have my hair dresser do something, but otherwise this is already sitting in my cart on Drugstore.com!

Beautisol Self Tanner: This doesn't turn my skin orange and it doesn't smell! I don't really have time for the "full" treatment, but my plan is to get a bottle to mix in to my lotion and just use it every day. According to Beautisol's Founder, Sinead, this should work really well!

SpaSonic: Like a Clarisonic, but not. It has a head that is big enough for your body! They sent me one to test, but I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet. I won't let it in my bathroom until I do, but it's in my office, taunting me.

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5 Must Have Products: My Favorite CoverGirl Products

Samples provided for review

Recently, CoverGirl shared a picture of Pat McGrath's Favorite CoverGirl Items, and I was loving it! The picture showed some of my favorites, and it really got me thinking about my favorite items from some of my favorite brands. So, I thought I'd start sharing! So, every 1-2 weeks I'll start sharing some of my favorite items from different brands, high end to low end.

Obviously, I had to start with CoverGirl! I didn't include the lippie pencil that Pat did (though, I do really love it), only because I decided to showcase items that while CoverGirl has sent them to me in the past, I've repurchased these items for myself over and over.

1. Clump Crusher Mascara: Yes, I really did put on 30 coats of that stuff, without a clump in sight! These days I'm much more likely to be layering it with another mascara (great tip for tons of volume and length, I layer every day), but the Clump Crusher is always there. Always.

2. Vivid Impact Liners: The Queen line can be hard to find depending on where you live (I have a much easier time finding it here in the Ann Arbor area than I ever did when I lived in the OC), but it is well worth the search! My favorite item is the Vivid Impact Liners, which come in some very pretty colors, are super easy to apply and last all day. They definitely rival much higher priced liners.

3. Perfect Point Plus Eye Liner: I don't have my own review of these liners, though you've probably noticed they pop up in my looks quite often. They're a little harder than the Vivid Impact liners and are automatic, which I love. My basic black and brown liners are both Perfect Point Plus and I use them pretty much every day.

4. TruBlend Foundation: When I recently went to a much darker hair color, suddenly the little bit of "give" I had in my foundation match was... gone. I high tailed it to ULTA and spent about an hour swatching different foundations on my skin. High ends, low ends... only TruBlend worked! It was what I was mostly using at home, but 1 shade lighter. I'm 410.

5. TruBlend Pressed Powder: I'm a pressed powder girl, and this one is the one that looks the least "powdery" on my skin once applied.


CoverGirl

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Makeup Wars: The War of the Greens

So, remember how Pantone declared Emerald Green the "It" color of 2013? And suddenly, the color was everywhere. You can now get green everything. In the correct Pantone shade. And naturally, this includes makeup.

Obviously you shouldn't simply apply green makeup everywhere. You'll end up looking like Elphaba, and while the Wizard of Oz is "in" right now, in that variation the Wicked Witch of the West is Theodora (Mila Kunis), and she's not green.

So, for this week's Makeup Wars we've decided to share how each of us are adding a little green in to our beauty closets to stay on trend. You might see nail polishes, shadows, or even a lippie. I've decided to share my favorite way to make green more wearable, by wearing it on my eye with a little brown/metallic mixed in to tone it down.

I decided to use eye shadow cream pencils to create this look. They're quick and easy, and it really does seem that each new version that comes out is even better than the last! They're becoming better pigmented, they last longer and they are usually faster to apply than typical powder shadows. If you do want to use a powder eye shadow, my favorite green is MAC Eye Shadow in Guacamole, and not just because I love guac. It's a little bit different than the deep green that most people reach for, and with some medium brown it really is very pretty!

For this look I grabbed a few different colors, as you can see above. In the pics, the Milani Brown and Mally Beauty end up looking similar, but I can tell you that in person they are very different. I wish I'd had time to take swatch pics of them, but the Mally is a little lighter, more coppery and has a lot of metallic shimmer. It is more highly pigmented, and when blended looks amazing. The Milani is more matte and when blended works really well as a crease shadow, but doesn't have enough depth to be all over the lid and balance out the green.

I started by prepping my lid with NYX primer. It's a near perfect match for my skin tone, so I love to use it all over to take away all of my visible blood vessels. The 10 seconds I spend doing that make it all look so much better later!

Next, I used the NYX Milk over the inner half of my lid. This is a very pigmented white, and by applying it under the green it will just pop. A little blending with a finger tip and that's it.

Here's that amazing Mally Beauty Saddle Shimmer I was talking about. You can see that it isn't flat at all and has a lot of dimension. I've found that the brown and green need to be kind of sandwiched together where they will be blended. I don't know why, but it looks better that way on me. So I do it. I also add a little in the crease.

Time for greeeeeen!!! Green, green, green. You can see that with the white under it the green looks very vibrant and just pops! I pat a little to make the colors blend, but not much yet.

Now I add a little of the Saddle Shimmer back over the green. That's the sandwiching I discussed. It works better this way for me, it might not for you.

Finally, the brown Milani goes in the crease to be smudged out. I didn't do it on this day, but I will sometimes run one of the colors under my eye as well (this was a quiet day at home), the Saddle Shimmer is really pretty there, but I'll use the green (without Milk under it) if I'm feeling sassy.

Next I complete the look! I used brown liner CoverGirl (Perfect Point Plus), though I switch to black if I've put shadow under my eye or I want a more intense look. As usual, I want major lashes, so I went for Cargo's Texas Lash. The volume and length are good, though I have to admit that the Texas in the name somewhat implies insane amounts of volume. It's not quite that, but it is good!

For my face I used L'Oreal Visible Lift cream foundation in 123 and 125 (I need mostly 123 but a little 125 in the middle of my face), Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer and CoverGirl TruBlend Pressed Powder. I have Cargo's Beach Blush in Cable, and finally L'Oreal's Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stain in Eternally Nude (2 layers to intensify the color, I was afraid it wouldn't show up in the camera).

I end up with a green and brown look that has a bit of a gradient of color (most intense towards the lashes and the inner corner of my eye) and while you get the impression of green it doesn't scream "look at me! I have really green shadow on!" Which isn't a look that I am comfortable enough with to really rock.

Are you wearing green? How did you add it in to your look?

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