Sweet Sundays: The Ritual

1 C Booth Body Scrub. 2 Macadamia Hair Mask. 3 Venus Embrace Razor. 4 Queen Helene Masque. 5 Nail polish. 6 Biore Pore Strips. 7 Jergens Tanning Lotion. 8 Bobbi Brown Eye Creme. 9 Korres Sleeping Facial. 

Sundays are my jam. My pampering ritual before the work week starts is one of my favorite things. 

I start with a piping hot bath. Since I'll be washing my hair, bath salts or bubbles aren't really a good choice. I use my regular shampoo and follow with a deep conditioning mask for about 10 minutes (this one by Macadamia is the best best best). I have pretty fine hair, so I keep the mask out of my roots to cut down on grease. 

While that's workin' I'll use this C Booth scrub all over. This stuff is pretty great - it's super moisturizing, smells good, and gives you enough exfoliation without making it raw. I'll shave my legs after that, rinse the hair mask and get out of the bath. 

Now it's face masque time --- can someone tell me if there's a difference between a mask and a masque? This is one of those green, slimy masques that dries up all your nasty stuff. Honestly it's one of the few masques where I can see a difference after I use it. After I wash it off with a hot towel, I'll use an old school Biore strip to get out what the masque couldn't. These are so rewarding... to see all that crap come out of your skin. I want to try these black ones and see if they work even better. 

The only time I apply body lotion is right out of the bath or shower. I really hate the greasy feeling and luckily my skin doesn't really need it. So I'll take this opportunity to use this Jergen's lotion about three times a week (probably five in the summer). I've been using the firming kind and I really don't know if it makes a difference but it certainly doesn't hurt to try. 

Eye creme, you sneaky SOB. You take my money because the counter lady told me I needed to buy you. I really can't tell a difference, but it feels nice and I'm sure it helps somehow... Maybe I'll understand when I'm older. 

But dat sleeping facial tho. This thing is pretty great. It's basically a heavy night creme that soaks into the skin fast and is non-greasy. I use this most nights. 

After all that I'll paint my nails. Check out a quick tip here. 

So that's it. I'll grab a glass of wine and watch a few episodes of a TV show and spend too much time on Pinterest and then go to bed. 

How do you spend your Sunday's? Anything special you do to get ready for the week?

Christmas Gift Idea

So every year Sephora, Ulta, and other beauty companies put out holiday gift sets. Sometimes I think why the heck would you want 8 of the same thing but in different colors? Other times it's a good time to get a deal on stuff you like or want to try out. This year, my Christmas gifts to my friends include taking some gift sets and splitting them up to create a personal gift set for each of them. So if you get one of these from me, please act surprised. 

Here are a few of the best gift sets I've found...

1. Buxom Shimmer and Shake Lip Gloss Set - You can never have too many lip glosses. Also I find that I never fully use a lip gloss up, so this is a good size and way to try it out before you buy the big guy. (There are a ton of lip gift sets out there, so if you wanted to do this gift set too, you could just do a bag of all different lip products.)

2. Tarte Best for Lash Mascara set - These are some great mascaras and rarely do you see just mascaras in a set. These mascaras are pricier than drugstore, but your friends can really see how great they are. And they are a nice size. 

3. Fresh Sugar Treasures set - Alright these are the bomb diggity. I have a few of these myself and have even finished a couple. Again, a great size and a great product. 

4. Urban Decay Ocho Loco 2 set -This is the most exciting one I found. 8 full size eyeliners- some of my favorite! There's even a bright teal and purple for one friend that wears that stuff. 

5. The Body Shop Body Butter set - I'm not a huge fan of moisturizers but these body butters will do wonders in the winter. 

6. Caudalie Hand Cream set - These are a little more pricey than I'd want to spend for three products, but these are very nice hand creams and would be perfect for a mom, grandmother, aunt, etc. Fancy shmancy. 

7. Philosophy Season of Sparkle set - Philosophy has some great scents every season and these are no exception. Also these are 3 in 1 (Shampoo, Body Wash, and Bubble Bath) but let's be real I wouldn't use this on my hair unless it was a total emergency. Anyway, nice set!

8. Formula X by Sephora The Twenty Two set - My second favorite set in this group. 22 nail polishes that are incredible. Long lasting, gel-like polishes. And honestly who uses an entire bottle of nail polish. I'll probably include 2 or 3 in each gift. 

Those are a few of my favorite things! Forgot to mention the best part of giving this as a gift... you can keep a couple for yourself. I know I'm going to make my own gift set and I can't frickin wait.