5 Spring Beauty Essentials for Florida Living

Being a girl living in Orlando Florida

is very difficult.

75-80% of the year I live

in a tropical paradise.

I know, I know... Everyone who does not

live in Florida is hating me right now.

But you don't understand!!!

Having perfect hair and makeup in a 

tropical paradise is next to impossible!

Think Monica Geller in Barbados...

The humidity RUINS everything!

Whether the humidity makes your hair blow up like a balloon (like Monica) or fall

flat like a noodle (like me) - whether it melts your makeup off you face one hour 

into the day....

Fear not!

I have a few Spring/Summer beauty essentials

for the humidified lifestyle!

1. Primer (face and eye)

Because Florida has such a humid climate,
no matter what type of skin you have, you
face will normally have an oil sheen by the end of the day and
your makeup will normally melt off a few hours into
the work day. Primer really helps the makeup stick to
your face throughout the day.

A few of my favorites are:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance - To keep the eye makeup intact
BECCA Priming Filter - Luminous face primer
Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

2. Setting Powder

Another way to keep your makeup lasting longer is to
brush a little setting powder over it. Setting powder is good
for use all over the face or only in specific areas. Many will
even use setting powder for "baking".
I often find that setting powder, not only contributes to
my makeup longevity, but it also gives me a little extra
oil control.

My favorite setting powder is the
Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder.

3. Push powder

Living in a humid climate not only effects makeup,
it also effects hair!

Most people have the problem of humidity making
their hair bigger - I have the opposite problem.
For a southern girl, there is nothing worse than flat
hair.

If you have issues with flat hair - fear not...
Push Powder will become your new best friend.
Push Powder is a powder that adds texture
and lift to your hair when applied at the
root.
My favorite push powder is
Redken Powder Grip.

4. Redkin Windblown

I don't care who you are, we all want Beyonce's
wind blown hair!

Windblown is an extremely light hairspray that not only holds
but it really does give you an airy windblown look - and it lasts
forever!
I've had 1 bottle last for a full year.
Redken Windblown.
If you are afraid to take the plunge and buy the full version,
they have travel sizes!
Travel Windblown.

5. Setting Spray

If you aren't using a setting spray - you should be.
Putting your makeup on should be like building a sandwich.
The primer should be the bottom piece of bread, the
foundation, bronzer, eye makeup, blush, etc. should be the
ham - cheese - lettuce - tomato
and the setting spray should be the top piece of bread.
It is the finishing touch to you look.
It keeps your makeup on longer and depending on the
type of spray you get, it can oil control or add moisture to your
face.

I bet we can all guess which one I use!
I love Urban Decay's De-Slick.
If you have tried De-Slick and aren't
crazy about it, my second choice would be
Kat Von D Setting Mist.

If you are curious about how to use these products,
hop over to my youtube channel to see
me in action!

Holiday Photo Shoot

Christmas 2015, Ricky and I were talked into a holiday photo shoot. 

It was a great deal because Ricky's brother's girlfriend (Amanda)
dabbles in photography.

I told Amanda about a great spot for our setting and we set a date!

Our appointment happened to be the on
the coldest day of the 2015 winter in Florida (AKA Winter's Day),
and the cold was welcomed!

Our first outfits were in honor of our favorite team!

Ricky is from New York and is a die hard Ranger's fan. 

So die hard, that we paid an ungodly amount of 

money to see the Rangers play for the Stanley Cup

in NYC during our trip in May.

Sadly, the Rangers lost the Stanley Cup to the 

Tampa Bay Lightning, but we bought 

jerseys anyway.

Needless to say, when we have the jerseys on we get a little crazy.

Now on to a few serious ones:

You can't tell, but we are both FROZEN SOLID in these! 

It was like, 60 degrees...

It's not a party without a little champagne 

and a few perfectly placed candy canes!

Skip these mom.

Get ready for the longest pour of your life.

Pouring...

Pouring...

Still pouring.......

And I smack his hand away with a candy cane!!

This was one of the most difficult shots! I almost called for a 

stunt double.

"Life is like a box of chocolates..."

A pole!!!!

Our favorite thing to pose around!

*Insert cheesy saying here: something about looking back on 2015*

We had so much fun with Amanda and Jon during our photo shoot session! 

Thank you both for everything!!

Enjoy!!

A New Crew

I love boats.

I feel like my love of boats came at an early age.

I basically grew up on sail boats, canoes, and kayaks.

I am kind of a boat pro - so when I realized that

my high school didn't have a crew team I was devastated. 

But I was patient and waited a few years until I got to college.

My first year at UCF I decided that I was going to try out for the

UCF crew team.

It was a long two weeks of tryouts on the erg, 

but I made the novice team with 

no problems.

Our first practice in the boat out on the actual water, 

I fell in love with 

rowing.
I was a natural. 

I made top boat within a few weeks and stayed there.

Slowly but surely,
rowing became my life. 

If I wasn't at practice,
I was putting in extra time on the 

erg to get ahead,
or I was hanging out with my team. 

I knew it was true love when I decided to give up my spring break to spend

6 hours a day at the boat house practicing. 

Rowing was the first sport I seemed to be natural at. 

Where I didn't have to work twice as hard

just to keep up with my teammates. 

Our coach would take videos of our practices and use ME as the good example.

But sadly, all things must come to an end. 

When my grades started to suffer, I had to make the hard

decision to leave the team and focus on school.

For years I have missed the feel of being out on the water and 

the camaraderie of a crew. 

I didn't realize that there were crew clubs for adults until

a few nights ago when a friend of mine told me that her

husband was in a club!

I've decided to give it a try! Message sent! I will keep you

posted on if I join or not :)