The Spare Tire Liquidation Blast Off & Enter to win a $1,000 SpaFinder Gift Card!

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Brooke

Let’s just keep it real. I want to look good. I want to be comfortable in my skin and stop feeling like complete crap. I want every single item of clothing that I love and try on to look fabulous on me. I want collarbones. Oh! Oh! And I want people to be all like, “WOW, girl, you look amazing, what is your secret and why can’t I be like you”.

What I don’t want. I don’t want my pants to be tight. I don’t want people to ask me if I’m pregnant and when the baby is due (I swear to you I’d punch someone if that went down, and I don’t think that there is a jury in the world would convict me of any form of assault). I don’t want people to think I peaked already and am not-so-gracefully falling into a pit of chocolate bon-bons and french fries (that pic below is me in my senior year of high school… also known as “The Golden Years” when it was considered cool to display those green garden balls and pose by them. Before you ask, yes I had the Jennifer Aniston haircut, affectionately referred to in the 90′s as “The Rachel”).

Most importantly, I don’t want to run into an ex at the store and have him think he “dodged a bullet” when we broke up. For this reason, I avoid exes in the store like the plague.. unless, of course, they look worse than I do… in which case I run right up and say hello (not really, but I totally would and maybe, just maybe I go out of my way to be sure I walk by them. You know you do this too.)

That being said, why didn’t you tell me it was June? This is now the time when I have to put away my wonderful bulky sweater and jeans combos that hide the fatness and bust out the t-shirts, tank tops and shorts that will mercilessly accentuate my gut (thank you, my children).

Bathing suit season has never (and I really mean never) been my fave. Regardless, I still like to amp up my daily fitness routine (which is nil in the Winter) and watch what I eat (and not just as it’s going into my mouth). Even if you only drop 5-10 pounds it helps with your health and is an amazing confidence booster.

Herein lies the problem – I’m a horrible eater. That is, when I actually remember to eat. I used to roll my eyes when people said that, but that mess is real talk. Other than coffee and lip gloss, nothing hits my lips until about 2pm when my stomach starts to yell and eat itself. At that point I’m ravenous and grabbing whatever is quickest and closest.

To re-ignite my way into a healthy noshing routine I’m doing Slim-Fast. It’s quick, simple and the perfect way for my mindless self to move on from excuses and jiggly body parts.

What say you? Time for YOU to keep it real with me. Tell me the REAL reasons you’ve had for losing weight. (Like, for example, deliberately running top speed into an ex)? Just leave a comment below. Entries will be pooled between participating blogs and two lucky winners will be picked at random to each win a $1,000 SpaFinder gift card!

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 6/13/13 – 6/30/13.

Be sure to visit the Slim-Fast brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

Don’t forget to check out Slim Fast on Facebook!

Upgrade the Way You Shave with the Schick Hydro Silk Razor

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Brooke

Recently I decided I needed a face upgrade. Everyone knows that when you are too young for a facelift and already own too much makeup you go for sunglasses (which are also cheaper than a facelift). I have a weird obsession with buying aviators. I can’t own too many of them. The biggest problem with aviators is that they get stuck in your hair, and at the rate I’m going I’ll be bald before I’m 40. However, the only plastic framed sunglasses that I own are from Nine West and they are older than my kids (who are 6 and 4). Also, I swim with them on. Above water, underwater… I beat these things to no end. Longer story short, I needed a pair of plastic framed sunglasses I could look relaxed, yet chic in… enter Rebecca Minkoff.]

(Left: New Shades – Rebecca Minkoff; Right: Old Shades – Nine West)

The new shade upgrade (see that? I can rhyme #BloggersWithHiddenSkills) changed pretty much every outfit I own and made it a little more awesome. I can wear these with jeans or a dress, not to mention the rose gold metal around the eyes makes me go off the rails because it’s so gorgeous. Upgrades = smiles! Smiles = a better, brighter face.

Another quick way to feel like you’ve upgraded yourself (again, also cheaper than a facelift) is getting smooth, moisturized, hydrated legs. Or, as my daughter so eloquently puts it “shaving your sharps”. For this I use the Schick Hydro Silk® razor.

The Schick Hydro Silk® Razor has been a favorite of mine for over a year now (see here and here). My favorite part about this particular razor is the Water Activated Moisturizing Serum which has a Better Hydration Boost than any other razor, keeping you moisturized for up to 2 hours after you shave. Which means, no diving out of the tub and frantically slapping on lotion so you don’t feel the skin dry out (I know you know what I mean *shivers*). You can step out of the bubbles, towel off, relax… and moisturize at your leisure.

This razor boasts five (yes, I swear there are five) curve-sensing blades so that it will move along the arcs and contours of your body with ease for an incredibly close shave while the oval shape maneuvers easily into hard-to-reach areas. The skin guards help protect against irritation and the soft rubber handle adds comfort to your grip.

Clearly, it’s no joke that I’m a huge fan of this razor since it’s been a holy grail shaving item of mine for well over a year.

Now for the contest! It’s time for a Razorvention™!!!!

Upgrade your shave with Schick Hydro Silk® razor and you’ll be rewarded with silky smooth, hydrated legs… Once you experience this little bit of fabulousness, you may just want to upgrade some other things in your life too.

Enter the Razorvention™ Revamp, brought to you by the Schick Hydro Silk® Razor, promotion for a chance to upgrade more than just your razor every single day through the end of June, with fabulous summer prizes in beauty, fashion, fitness and home decor. They’re also giving you a chance to win amazing experiences – from a luxurious spa retreat to a $3000 shopping spree – each time you enter to win one of the daily upgrades.

There are 28 daily prizes in total – everything from a designer beach tote to a glass chandelier to yoga gear.

Why are you still here? Tour of the Schick luxury suite and submit your photos to the Razorvention™ Revamp sweepstakes!

Video: Date Night with Almay!

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Brooke

I’m always on the look-out for quick and simple, yet refined and sexy go-to looks for date nights. Videos tend to inspire me the most to get active on applying my “face”, so I was excited to be asked by BlogHer to share this Almay-sponsored video series, “Different Occasions. Different Looks. Always Pretty.”

In the first video, find out how you can get Kate Bryan’s (The Small Things Blog) Date Night Look using products from Almay!

Inspire Color Into Your Life With Crystal Light Liquid & a $100 Sweepstakes!

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Brooke

Don’t be afraid of color! It’s so easy to feel timid when it comes to vibrant hues, but it’s simple to integrate these loud colors into your everyday life, essentially making you more comfortable wearing them.

Crystal Light Liquid is a new and easy way to start the process of revving up your everyday boring, clear water and make it flavorful and sassy. There are six flavors to choose from in Pomtini, Peach Bellini, Blueberry Raspberry, Iced Tea, Mango Passionfruit and Strawberry Lemonade.

I picked up the last three–Iced Tea, Mango Passionfruit and Strawberry Lemonade during my last shopping trip and am ridiculously impressed with the yum factor, as well as the fact that the vibrant colors being shot into the water totally amps up my mood. Look how the liquid filters in and just makes water happy!

While my mood is kicked into high gear with the Crystal Light Liquid, it inspires me to add a little bit of color into my life. Within my years of blogging, I’ve definitely become a lot more comfortable with color, though I still feel a little timid when it comes to wearing it in public. How did I begin to add color into my life? It started with flavorful drinks and fun foods!

A zero-calorie drink mix means you can have a little sweet snack on the side

Then I moved on to my nails, tips and toes! Call attention to your digits by painting them anything from a siren red to a bright neon blue!

How could you look at that pic and not instantly want to paint your nails?! Seriously, go do it, you’ll feel amazing!

Are you comfortable with loud nails already? Then you’re almost there! Add in a bold lip of red, hot pink, ORANGE…whatever you feel!

After you’ve gotten cozy with these juicy shades laying game on your face and hands, head for the closet and begin to integrate color into your wardrobe. The easiest way to do this is with your handbag. Who doesn’t want an excuse to buy a new handbag?!

Ahhhh, my beautiful, vibrant, periwinkle purse has a tasty companion =)

For a chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card, tell me: What influences or inspires you to alter your everyday beauty routine?

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the
following unique term in your tweet message: “”#SweepstakesEntry”"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post”
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 6/5 – 6/30.
Be sure to visit the Crystal Light page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

Ulta Invites You to Their 21 Days of Beauty! Take the Hair Pledge & Enter to Win $100!

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Brooke

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Did you ever notice that when you take just an extra few minutes to do up your hair, you feel fabulous? Your confidence level goes up, your smile gets extra wide…and, trust me, people take notice. ULTA Beauty wants you to love the hair your have, so they’re taking the Mom’s month of May and giving you 21 Days of Beauty (May 12 – June 1) as well as the chance to take the hair pledge! All items featured in this post are available always, but during their Love Your Hair campaign, they are going to have featured Beauty Steals™.

My hair pledge is to do my hair as much as I do my makeup! As a stay-at-home mom, it’s easy and habit to just throw my hair up on top of my head. So, here I am running around in a full face of makeup with scraggle hair. My pledge only takes an extra 20 minutes out of my day to blow dry and flat iron myself into something presentable. DO-ABLE! With the 21 products provided by ULTA Beauty, I chose my faves and did three hair looks.

Look 1: For this look I used Rusk Brilliance Shampoo and Conditioner, Conair You Style Hair Dryer, Hot Tools Nano Ceramic 1/2″ Flat Iron, Chi 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protection Spray, Matrix Biolage Style Mousse and Kenra Volume Spray.

On the first day I wanted to start simply and just basically do what I’d normally do but amp it up. I washed my hair using the Rusk Brilliance Shampoo and Conditioner, which smelled like grapefruits and had an excellent lather. The conditioner is technically a leave-in, but my hair tends to look weighed down, so I rinsed it out after leaving it in for a few minutes. I dried using the Conair You Style Hair Dryer, which dried my hair fast and had a gentle blast. After that I put in Chi 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protection Spray then flat ironed with the Hot Tools Nano Ceramic 1/2″ Flat Iron (which is mini and perfect for getting those hard to handle flyaways or would be amazing for short hair). Finishing off, I added in the Matrix Biolage Style Mousse and Kenra Volume Spray, which added thickness and volume to my hair.

Look 2: For this look I used Schwarzkoff Professional: Osis + Mattifying Powder, Conair More Big Curls Hairsetter and Redken Control Addict 28.

On the second day I wanted to definitely test out how the mattifying powder worked. I have such problems finding a product that will actually suck the grease out of my roots. The Schwarzkoff Professional: Osis + Mattifying Powder does the job tenfold. With this, I found it’s best to tap a little in your hands and work through your roots. After I rolled up my hair with the Conair More Big Curls Hairsetter and left them in for about 20 minutes. Upon taking them out I flipped my head over and spritzed in some Redken Control Addict 28 and voila. Volume. Normally, if I don’t wash my hair every day, it’s flat as a pancake and basically pretty disgusting. Between the Mattifying Powder and Hot Rollers…we’re in business.

Look 3 For this look I used the ABBA Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner, Big Sexy Hair Root Pump, TIGI Bed Head Straighten Out Straightening Cream and the Hot Tools Cheetah 1″ Tapered Iron.

This was my fave look because it was so bombshell and really very different for what I do on an every day basis. The ABBA Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner smell AMAZING. The Shampoo had an excellent lather and the scent was energizing and minty. While my hair was still damp I put in the TIGI Bed Head Straighten Out Straightening Cream because my hair is so frizzy I had to straighten it a bit before I went ahead and curled it. I know…it’s a rough life. With the Big Sexy Hair Root Pump, I simply flipped my head over and sprayed, then after I curled and sprayed it again just sort of around my head using it as a hair spray. Those curls lasted all day, through heavy wind. Amaze. The Hot Tools Cheetah 1″ Tapered Iron is the stuff dreams are made of. It includes a glove so you won’t burn yourself and curling my hair was quick and easy.

On to the Sweepstakes! Enter for a chance to win a $100 ULTA Beauty gift card! The rules are below, but the easiest way to enter is to simply leave a comment on this post telling me about your own hair pledge! Want more? Beginning May 12 enter ULTA’s Hair Pledge, where they are encouraging women to pledge to love the hair they have for the chance to win free blowouts for the rest of the year. Joining is simple – tweet your hair pledge with the hashtag #ULTAHairPledge and you’re entered. You can see sample pledges, more info, and other ways to enter here.

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 5/15/13 – 6/1/13.

Be sure to visit the ULTA Beauty page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

***This post is sponsored by ULTA.

My Lipstick Might Change, but Through the Seasons My Jergens Stays the Same! Enter to win $500!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Brooke

Watch Your Fave Soaps Anytime on HULU & a GIVEAWAY!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Brooke

It’s that time again! The soaps are back and ready to infiltrate your home by any means necessary! Why am I weirdly excited for soaps? I’m a closet soap addict from WAY back. I started watching soaps in the womb (it’s totally possible, ask anyone).

I remember always watching the soaps with my Grandmother especially. She had a real thing for her “stories”. Even still today, when I watch the episodes it’s a comfort seeing some of the same people that were on there when her and I used to watch them together. Even though she passed 9 years ago in January, I feel like she’s still watching these soaps with me. It’s so great knowing that with Hulu I can watch the shows and remember my Grandma as I sat on her lap and watched drama unfold and immerse my mind into the lives of these insanely beautiful and sometimes sinister people.

Photo by Kelly Hau Photography via Flickr Creative Commons

Beginning April 29, 2013 two of the most beloved Soap Operas of all time, One Life to Live and All My Children, are coming back to Hulu with all new episodes! The shows will be welcoming back original cast members are back as well as a hot new group of actors and I’m geared up to see what type of spicy new story lines will be added into the mix.

Because I have my own kids now who are active in school and sports and I also work during the day on bloggie things, I don’t get a whole lot of time to sit in front of the TV. This means DVR does me no good, plus it fills up fast. Hulu will let me sit at my computer and watch my favorite soaps from my iPad while I work on my little corner of the internet. It’s a multi-taskers DREAM.

One Life to Live: Follows the complicated lives of three main families: the wealthy Lords, the powerful Buchanans and the strong-willed Cramers. The quiet simplicity of small town living is often interrupted by the drama between them yet despite the struggles, strong family bonds keep them united.

All My Children: Revolves around the lives of the residents of fictional Pine Valley. For nearly forty years, this town has seen the trials and tribulations of its dynamic families. Now your favorite stories are back, and more dramatic than ever!

Each episode is only a half hour long and there are two options to catch the latest episodes on Hulu: Hulu.com and Hulu Plus.

Hulu.com is absolutely free and allows you to watch the latest episodes on your computer.

The other option is through the Hulu Plus subscription service. With Hulu Plus, for a monthly fee of $7.99 you will be able to watch all episodes through select internet connected devices such as an iPad, iPhone, gaming consoles and set top boxes.

Not only will you be able to watch your favorite episodes on-the-go but you will also have full access to the Hulu library which includes complete series episodes of top TV hits.

To begin a free week trial, click here.

With Hulu.com and Hulu Plus you will be able to watch your favorite episodes of All My Children & One Life to Live anytime, anywhere.

Ready for the Sweepstakes?

Answer this question in the comments:Why are you excited to start watching SOAPs on Hulu?

One winner from each participating blog will receive a yearlong subscription to Hulu Plus. One grand prize winner will win a Roku.

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b:Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c: Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d: For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 4/29/2013-5/26/2013

Be sure to visit the sponsor’s brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers reviews and find more chances to win!