beauty & life hacks
Happy Monday! I know this seems like a very random post but the other day I got to thinking about how I so enjoy hearing about all the hacks people use to improve their life. I love hearing tricks to make pony tails fuller and secret cooking tips, so I thought I would share some of mine. I was just with 9 awesome women in Chicago for a bachelorette, and while we were getting ready I was sharing some of these hacks. Here are my top favorites:
Beauty Hacks:
Use Body Oil instead of Lotion: This is huge especially in the winter. I have yet to try the L'Occitane in Shower body oil but I'm currently using the Neutrogena Body oil. It keeps your skin hydrated all day but it feels much thinner going on. I will sometimes break out or get bumps on my skin from lotion or body butter so this is a lifesaver. I have been using this for years, and now I am seeing a lot of different types of oil like Bio Oil pop up in stores and other people swear by using oil instead of lotion. Karissa just started using the Bio oil and loves it so far!
Sleep with your hair in a scrunchie & use a silk pillowcase: I use just a generic silk pillowcase and it works wonders! I use this pack of 5 scrunchies but Silk just came out with these silk scrunchies that I have been dying to try.
Lash Lifts - Getting my lashes lifted has changed the whole look of my face and made my eyelashes look so much longer. It is between $40-$50 and lasts 8 weeks to get your lashes semi-permanently curled or 'lifted'. I go to Salon lofts to get it done whenever I have a coupon code emailed to me! Read my post on this here!
Dry Brushing - Read about the benefits of dry brushing here, but basically it helps circulate your blood flow and helps keep cellulite at bay. I really need to remember to do this before each shower because I see such a difference and it really wakes you up. I use this brush.
Ordering samples of beauty product and using it every day - Rather than going into the store to buy your mascara or foundation, place your order online at Sephora or Nordstrom and get huge amounts of samples. I have samples that have lasted me months and I love finding new products I love through samples.
Pancaking Hair Braids - What a crazy name! This basically means once your hair is braided you pull out all the curved sides to make a braid double the size. Watch this video from Barefoot Blonde that taught me. I have really thin hair and wouldn't wear braids until I found out this amazing hack.
Life & Home Hacks:
Getting Meat from your local Butcher: If you read my post from a few weeks ago, you know we get most of our seafood bulk from Costco. We also get almost all of our chicken and red meat from the local butcher. We try and go every other week, but occasionally we get busy and will have to get meat at triple the price from Kroger. In Columbus, we like the Butcher & Grocer in Grandview and Carfagna's Italian Market off 71 and 161. This market is the cheapest we have found and so much fun to go to. It's owned by a local Italian family and we always end up with at least two bottles of Italian wine and an assortment of cheeses when we go.
You just pick your number at the counter and can select from all the different meats and prepared foods. For example, giant chicken breasts are $2 a pound. When I go to Kroger, we pay like $8 a pound.
Take 10 min a day to put stuff away around house - This makes all the difference and creates an immediately shift in my mood an anxiety. When there aren't papers or shoes laying around the house I feel like I can actually get stuff done like cooking dinner or my home workout.
Creating an illusion of a full-wall window with bamboo blinds - The window below actually stops short of the ceiling by 2 foot. We hung the curtain rod like normal, but then hung a smaller rod behind it that we put a bamboo blind and hung it over by looping it. This creates the illusion that the window is larger! It works better if you do not have actual blinds on our window in the first place, but we still love the look.
Share your hacks with us, we love to hear them!
