Beauty Tip | 4 Holy Grail Products for Dry Skin

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For a dry scalp

• Coconut Oil

I've been struggling with dry scalp issues for as long as I can remember. I was strictly using head and shoulders for a while, but all the chemicals and weird ingredients in it made me want to switch over to something a little more natural. This cold-turkey quit made my scalp disgustingly dry. After months and months of testing out different all natural products, I decided to just try with good ol' coconut oil.

Dry scalp means that your scalp isn't producing as much oil as it needs to to stay hydrated. This can lead to embarrassing dandruff, brittle, dry hair, and a very VERY itchy head. I had it to the point of signs of possible psoriasis - red, dry, scaly patches all over my scalp, all the way up to my hairline where it was visible to other people. I could go days without washing my hair and my roots would never get oily. A blessing? Not when the oiliness of your hair is replaces with gross dandruff flakes all over the place.

What I do is quite simple, I just lather my scalp and roots with coconut oil, massage it in, and leave it in over night. Your hair will look extremely greasy and dirty, do don't plan on leaving the house after this.

I've only done this treatment once, and there's already a huge difference in the dryness of my scalp. Using moisturizing shampoos and conditioners along with this once in a while treatment will help too. I use an argan oil based shampoo and follow it up with a leave-in argan oil serum. The coconut oil is what really does the trick though. The other things are just supporting roles.

For a dry face

• Trader Joe's Spa Face Wash with Tea Tree Oil
• Lush Celestial Facial Moisturizer

I don't have terribly sensitive skin, but with just the slightest change in the weather, my T-Zone dries up like the Sahara. I use the Trader Joe's Spa Face Wash with Tea Tree Oil after taking off my make up every night, and also anytime I wash my face in the shower. It doesn't leave my skin feeling dry or irritated, which is really important.

After anytime I wash my face, I follow up with Lush's Celestial Facial Moisturizer which is packed with almond oil, almond milk, cocoa butter, and lots of other ingredients that your skin will love. It doesn't leave my skin oily or dewy, so I'm able to use this moisturizer in the morning as well as at night. It doesn't make my make up slide off or anything funky like that. It's also Vegan!

For dry hands

• Lush Helping Hands Hand Cream

Every since I started babysitting and washing my hands a lot, my skin has not been forgiving. My hands would crack and bleed from being so dry and very few things seemed to help... until I tried this product. It's got Chamomile water, almond oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, honey, lavender oil, and lots of other skin-loving goodies. I just massage this into my hands whenever I feel they're a little dry. I tend to especially lather them up before bed.

I hope this helped someone out there with annoying, itchy, gross dry skin! Give these products a try. Maybe they'll become your holy grail products, too!

xo Sam

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FOTD | Friday

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1. Tarte Clean Slate Poreless Primer
I wanted my make up to stay on for quite a while today, so I started off by priming my face with this. (I know I should be priming my face every day for a smoother make up application, but I don't. Let's get over it) My all-time favorite primer is Veil by Hourglass, but this comes in at a very close second. It does leave me looking poreless and it prepares my skin nicely for a very smooth foundation application.

2. yaby Natural Finish Liquid Foundation
After priming, I evenly distributed this liquid foundation all over my face and down onto my neck with a dense kabuki brush. I don't know anything about this company. I just got this in my latest ipsy glam bag and decided to give it a try. I like it! I'll have to look into the company information to figure out if I'll be purchasing it in the future, but for now I'm enjoying this sample.

*Products 3 and 4 should actually be switched*

3. Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder
I use this to set my foundation every damn day. My favorite pressed powder. 'Nuff said

4. Make Up Forever 5 Camouflage Cream Palette
I used this to conceal underneath my eyes today. This is definitely my favorite concealer for under eye circles and overall redness. It works OK for blemishes, but there are other products out there that do a better job at that.

5. e.l.f Blush - Mellow Mauve
Applied to the apples of my cheeks. I love e.l.f blushes. The pigmentation is honestly comparable to NARS but costs 1/8 of the price. I'm sure I'll splurge and buy some NARS blushes in the future, but for now, as a broke college student, I'm sticking with e.l.f.

6. N.Y.C Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder
After the blush, I blended this bronzer into the hollows of my cheeks. I've tried, Hoola by Benefit, and while it's great and all, I keep coming back to this cheap drugstore one. It's perfect for just about any skin tone.

7. LORAC Behind the Scenes Eye Primer
I used this to prime my eyes today. It created a nice neutral base to apply my eyeshadow.

8. Urban Decay Naked Palette
From the naked palette, I used Buck all over my lid.

9. LORAC Pro Palette
From my pro palette I blended Sable into my crease and also smudged some into my lower lash line, patted Espresso into the outer corners, and blended everything out with Nude, focusing that color in the middle of my eyelid.

10. Rimmel London Extra Super Lash Mascara
I then packed on lots of coats of this mascara to lengthen and add volume to my lashes

11. Revlon Brow Fantasy - Brunette
I've been using this brow crayon/setting gel to do my brows lately. I just define my brows with the crayon and then set them with the tinted gel on the other side

12. Buxom Full-On Lip Polish - Dolly
I didn't go for a bold lip today, just a lip gloss. This is another product I got from one of my glam bags. Love it!

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Update | Snow Day

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Although snow is probably the most inconvenient form of precipitation EVER, I feel pretty relaxed today... probably because I don't have to worry about shoveling my car out of the snow for any use of it today, or tomorrow, or even Friday. I was going to put an extra day in at my internship today but the roads are pretty bad and my car doesn't exactly get along with snowy/icy conditions.

Oh yeah, it's been a while since I updated whoever the hell reads this thing- I got the internship I've been wanting! It's at a jail (relax -- it's as safe as safe can be). I started on Monday and it's really everything I was expecting/hoping for. It feels good to be in an environment that I eventually want to work in as my career.

Hmm what else... well classes started yesterday, sort of. With all the snow (10 freaking inches are you KIDDING ME?! it was 55°F last week!) my school actually closed the campus late afternoon yesterday and even today as well. I don't have classes on Wednesdays anyway, so this doesn't really feel like much of a treat. I don't have any work today, though, so I just get to hang out with Benji and binge watch The Mindy Project. Maybe I'll do some apartment cleaning. Maybe.

I don't really have a recipe for you today, I just made some toast this morning with some tasty toppings for breakfast.

One slice of toast was topped with hummus and slices of cucumber, and the other was topped with avocado and tomato chunks. Both were sprinkled with some salt, pepper, onion powder, red pepper flakes, and chia seeds. Quite a delicious start to a rather relaxing day.

I hope you guys are having a great day/week/month/year so far!

xoxo

Sam

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Health Tip | 5 Tips for a Healthier Lifestyle

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To start off the new year, a lot of people jump into healthier eating habits, exercising, and taking care of their body. However, most of these practices start fizzling out by mid February and don't really ever turn into "habits".

I got into working out and developing a healthier lifestyle during my sophomore year of college. Since then, I've lost about 35 pounds. I've had some fluctuations with my commitment here and there due to a busy schedule, wanting to see my boyfriend, and trying to go back home to see my mom whenever I had the time to. Although I still have a relatively healthy diet, recently I've been missing the way I used to feel from going to the gym 4-5 times a week. I realized I had fallen into a slump that I desperately needed to get out of. Yesterday I had an unexpected day off from both babysitting and barista-ing. I took advantage of this free time by getting up early, having a good breakfast, and getting my butt over to the gym and having a particularly sweaty, awesome workout.

What does all that have to do with this blog post? Well, I came up with 5 tips to help anyone who might just be starting to get into the workout/healthy eating lifestyle, or anyone who, like me, has falling into a lazy slump and needs some help getting out of it. Here we go:

1. Be realistic

Face it, you're not going to end up running 5 miles non stop on your first try at the treadmill and you're not going to lose 30 pounds in a month. These are not realistic expectations, nor are they necessarily healthy. Losing weight and getting healthy takes time, and the more patient you are with your transition, the better your results will be and they will LAST. With that being said, I have 2 sub-tips that go alongside with this one:

1. Listen to your body: It's okay to take breaks and it's okay to not go as fast or for as long as the person working out next to you. You want to push your body, not punish it. If your leg starts cramping up, take a break. If you're running out of breath, take a break or slow down your pace. If feel faint or woozy or nauseous, stop working out and rest for a while. Pace yourself and your body will thank you later on.
2. Give yourself some rest days: It's unrealistic to workout 7 days a week, every single week of the year. Your body needs to have rest days to recover from previous workouts so that you're workouts will actually pay off and not result in injury. Designate some rest days within your workout regime. If you don't, you're risking an injury and you'll end up taking a month's worth of rest days at a time and screw up your routine. 

2. Don't get discouraged!

You won't drop 5 pounds after your first workout, sorry darling. Just because the scale isn't showing you what you want, doesn't mean you should give up! You're not working out and eating right for nothing; your body just needs to time to show you your well earned results. If your weight starts fluctuating, don't let that get you down either. Just remember that muscle mass is heavier than fat, so when you're building muscle to replace fat, your weight may fluctuate, but your clothes will fit you differently and you will look leaner and feel a hell of a lot better, trust me.

3. Set goals & rewards - don't set deadlines!

It's important to keep yourself on top of things while getting into a new workout routine. To do this, I think it's important to set goals and rewards instead of going by deadlines. Bodies are weird and unexpected things happen and sometimes our bodies can't work as fast as we want them to. Telling yourself that you will lose X amount of weight in Y amount of time will most likely leave you disappointed when you couldn't make your own deadline. Setting goals and then rewarding yourself when you reach those goals (buying yourself a new piece of clothing, going out to dinner with some friends, going out on a fancy date with your significant other, etc.) no matter how much or how little time has passed will leave you much more satisfied. This way, you're not only working for the reward of a healthier body, you're working for a physical reward that you've earned for yourself. 

4. Figure out what motivates you

Motivation is the number one thing that will keep you striving for a healthier lifestyle. Some people find motivation in weighing themselves once a week. Others find motivation in sticking photos of people with ideal bodies all over the place to remind them of what they're after. Is your motivation fitting back into your high school prom dress? Maybe you're trying to feel a little more comfortable in your bikini this summer. Or maybe you just want to develop a fondness for working out because you know it's good for you. Whatever your motivational source is- just use it.

5. Stop making excuses

I understand that there are certain obstacles that get in the way of working toward your healthy goals. However, if these "obstacles" come up more than once a week, chances are you're fishing for excuses for yourself, and the sooner you realize this, the better off you'll be. If you really want something, go for it, and stop coming up with reasons for why you can't.

I hope this helps! I'll be keeping these in mind while I get back into the swing of things back at the gym. Here's to a happy and healthy new year to you all! :) xo

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Recipe | Lemon Ginger Quinoa with Fresh Herbs

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I cooked this last night along with my Zucchini Pizzas, so this recipe will yield two servings, if served with a side dish, or one serving, if eaten alone.

1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup quinoa
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Set a pot over low heat and bring the vegetable stock, ginger, and lemon juice up to a very gentle simmer. (You can throw the lemon half into the stock as well, like I did, for extra lemony flavor).

You just want the mixture to gently warm up so that the ginger is able to infuse the stock.

Once your vegetable stock is gently simmering, add the quinoa and bring to a vigorous boil. Once a a boil, bring the heat back down to low and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid.

You can remove the ginger and lemon before you at the quinoa if you'd like. I chose to leave everything in so the flavors can cook together with the quinoa. If you do leave the ginger in, make sure to remove the big chunks when the quinoa is finished cooking. There are few things worse than chomping down on a huge chunk or fresh ginger. Ouch!

Once the quinoa is finished cooking, turn the heat off and add the red pepper flakes, onion powder, oregano, salt, pepper, parsley, and basil.

You may wish to squeeze a little bit more lemon juice over top of the quinoa before serving.

Enjoy! :)

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Recipe | Zucchini Pizzas

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Pizza?! On zucchini?! Well, I'm sure you've had a veggie pizza with zucchini on it, so why not the other way around? These zucchini pizzas are a healthy and delicious alternative to everyone's favorite carby, cheesey food!

I made these tonight for dinner, so this recipe will only yield enough for one or two, if pairing with a side dish.

1 zucchini, sliced in half and seeded
some extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
about 1/4 cup crushed tomatoes - use however much you want, really
roughly 1 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced or diced
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Take your halved and seeded zucchini and drizzle with some olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Pop that in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, or until the zucchini is starting to soften up.

Once the zucchini is roasted a bit, take it out of the oven and start assembling your pizzas. Split the crushed tomatoes between the two halves, as well as for the fresh mozzarella. Put the zucchini back in the oven for another 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese melts.

Sprinkle with the fresh parsley and basil and enjoy! :)

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Recipe | Vegan Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I took the base recipe for these cookies from Oh She Glows (one of my favorite food bloggers) and tweaked it to make my peppermint chocolate chip cookies.

Makes 12 cookies

1/2 cup vegan butter + 1 tbsp melted vegan butter
1/2 cup packed coconut sugar OR brown sugar
1/4 cup raw cane sugar
1 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 3 tbsp water (egg substitute)
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
a pinch of salt

*I do not have a stand or a hand mixer, so my cookies came out a little more crumbly than they probably should have, which is find with me, but I'm assuming a mixer would make the dough a bit smoother with the initial creaming of the butter and sugar... But smushing everything together with your hands makes for a perfectly tasty cookie as well :)*

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

Combine the butter, coconut or brown sugar, and cane sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Either mash everything with your hands, or cream together with a mixer. Then incorporate your chia seeds and water mixer to the butter and sugar.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and peppermint extract and combine well. Again, either use your hands to combine everything, or a mixer.

Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.

Prepare a baking sheet with either parchment paper or some cooking spray. Form your cookies into 12 good sized spheres. Pat them down a bit so they're a little flattened out.

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes, or until the cookies start to brown on the top and bottom. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring them off the baking sheet. They may crumble if you omit the cooling step.

Enjoy!

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Recipe | Vegan Granola

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A lot of granola recipes aren't vegan-friendly because honey is used as the sweetener/binder. This recipe is 100% vegan because agave is used in place of honey. Maple syrup is another good substitute if you don't have agave on hand

2 cups old fashioned oats (rolled oats)

1 cup steelcut oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup agave

1 tbsp coconut sugar OR brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup canola oil

a pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 325° F.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Make sure you mix everything well so all the oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit are coated with the agave, canola oil, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and salt.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake at 325 for 15 minutes, or until the granola starts to brown.

Let the granola cool off before transferring to an airtight container.

Enoy! :)

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