Love, Lashes, and Lipstick by Mally Roncal

Hi!

I was lucky enough to receive one of Birchbox's January Book Club books through Birchbloggers!  The book is called Love, Lashes, and Lipstick written by makeup and beauty expert Mally Roncal.

It is a really cute book filled with everything from stories about how Mally got into the beauty business, to makeup tips (of course!), to stories about her childhood.  I love it!

There are lots of tips I read in this book that I think about or use daily now!  One example is how Mally says you don't need to rewash your face in the morning if you wash and moisturize well at night.  Washing your face again in the morning can take away all of the moisturization your skin got the night before.  She suggests just wetting your face in the shower or the sink in the morning instead of cleansing it.  I have been doing this some days and I think it's a good tip!  Of course, when I go to exercise classes in the morning, I wash my face afterwards.  But on days when I don't, I've been following her adivice.

Some other tips I think about now when I'm putting on my makeup are 1) applying blush in her swirly "Cinnamon Bun Method" on the apples of your cheeks and moving up and out toward your cheekbones, blending as you go, and 2) pulling your mascara wand either in toward your nose or out toward your ear at the very end, to get different looks!

I love seeing the old pictures and reading stories about Mally's life growing up with her parents, how she met her husband, the first time she sold her makeup on QVC.  It is so cool to read about someone who had a dream to work with makeup from such a young age be so successful in the field!

Another fun thing that she does throughout the book is show illustrated faces with examples of how to wear makeup.  There are faces showing everything from pretty wedding day makeup, good makeup for younger girls, and one that I especially like, which is a series that shows a 2-minute face all the way to a full "Classic Hollywood Face".



There are so many cute pictures from Mally's life and fun stories about all of the different famous people she has met and worked with through the years!  I mentioned in this post that I won a giveaway that Mally Beauty did with Birchbox and I just love the products of hers that I've gotten to try!

This was such a fun book to read, and I know I'll reference it all the time for great makeup tips!

Thanks for reading!

Mally Beauty Giveaway Prizes!

Hi!

A few weeks ago, I participated in a Q&A with Mally Beauty on Birchbox's Facebook page.  Birchbox does these from time to time with different beauty/makeup/skincare/hair experts and they're really fun!  They give you a time frame when you can ask a question about makeup, beauty, and skincare in general and Mally Roncal, in this case, may answer your question!  By participating, you were automatically entered to win one of ten sets of her makeup!  She answered my question, plus I was one of the winners!!

I asked her if she had to choose one makeup item to put on the morning, what would it be?



I was so so excited because I have read and heard so much about her products, but I've never had the chance to try any of them.

Here is what came in my prize!

Adorable makeup bag

Evercolor Poreless Face Defender 

Get the Last Lash Maximizing Mascara 

Evercolor Silk Long Wear Eye Defining System 



Age Rebel Shadow Stick in Sugar

Lash Illusion Lash Filler and sharpener



Eye Makeup Remover Pen (which I can't find a link for right now)



I have tried all of these products already and they are so great!  I love that I got such a variety of products to try, and they are all totally different from anything I already have!  I will write about each product specifically in another post.

I am currently reading her book, Love, Lashes, and Lipstick: My Secrets for a Gorgeous, Happy Life, which I received through Birchbloggers (it was the January Birchbox Book Club book), and I love it!  I will write a review on the book when I finish, but she is so cute and has such great stories, advice, and makeup tips!  Since I also received her book as part of this prize, I now have two and I'll be doing a giveaway soon so one of you can win it!

Have you tried any of these products, or any other Mally makeup?  What do you think??

Thanks for reading!

Lord and Berry, Milani, Macadamia

Hello!

A few weeks ago I wrote about some Milani eyeshadow that I won!  I never wrote about how much I like it!

Today I'm wearing that with my new Lord & Berry sparkly black eyeliner that I got in my Birchbox this month!  I really like both!

I'm used to using cream eyeshadow, so using a gel powder eyeshadow was a little different.  It works well if you layer it on to get the intensity you want.  I've been using these Avon eyeshadow applicators that my mom got for me!

I really like the Lord & Berry Paillettes Eye Pencil!  It's easy to apply and I love that it's glittery!  I don't wear eyeliner that often, but I think this is fun because it's not just plain dark black.  Love it!

I used my Macadamia Professional Flawless Cleansing Conditioner this morning, too!  This is the second time I've used it.  I was so excited to see this in my Birchbox!  When I've tried cleansing conditioner before, I didn't love it.  I really wanted to try this brand because I loved their Healing Oil Spray I got in last month's Birchbox (I wrote about it here) and thought I might have better luck with their brand.

I love it!  It smells good, I only need one or two pumps to get it through my hair, it makes my hair feel so soft, and a lot less of my hair comes out in the shower!  After my hair dries, it's shiny and less frizzy.  I think I will probably use it every other time I wash my hair!  The sample is huge so I'll get a lot of uses out of it!  Today I used the Cleansing Conditioner and my Leave-In Condish by Miss Jessie's, which I use every time I wash my hair!  I got it in my very first Birchbox and have been using it every since.

Thanks for reading!

Wonderful Weekend! (Tons of Pics)

Hello!

Alex and I are back in Baltimore!  We had such a great weekend!!  

Saturday morning we went to Most Sacred Heart Church in Eureka, MO, for my Aunt Ginger and Uncle Marty's wedding ceremony in the library there.  It was so beautiful!  My mom, aunts, and girl cousins (that were there) helped Ginger get ready.  I had fun doing her makeup!

The ceremony was so nice.  One of Marty's grandsons sang, and his daughter and I both did a reading.  We took lots of pics before and after.

Their first look!

Here's everyone on Ginger's side of the family that was there.
I had so much fun making the invitations, guest "book" sign, and fans for the wedding!  We had this at both ceremonies and I think everyone had fun writing their names in the balloons!  

I'm going to this to my Etsy shop as an example of something people can custom order!

It was so cold outside on Saturday!  Luckily, nothing took place outside so we stayed pretty warm.

We had a very nice lunch at Fleming's Steakhouse in St. Louis after the ceremony.  Everything was delish!  There was a table set up with bread, crostinis, and burrata for appetizers, then we were served yummy salads, entrees (there was a choice between chicken, filet mignon, and salmon), and dessert (carrot cake or cheesecake).  YUM!  I got the filet and Alex got chicken and we both picked cheesecake.  Oh my gosh, everything was so good!  The restaurant is normally only open for dinner, so we were the only people there and we had a really pretty room in the back to ourselves.

That night, Carl, Alicen, Alex, and I went to see the movie Annabelle.  Scary!  It had just come out the night before so the theater was packed and everyone was screaming!  That was fun.  A new SNL was on that night too, and Sarah Silverman was the host!  I love her.  It was a really good episode!  All six of us (my parents, Carl, Alicen, Alex, and me, and Dudie!) stayed at the condo so it was a fun slumber party!

Sunday there was a second wedding ceremony, this time at Mt. Nebo Primitive Baptist Church in Greenville, IL.  It's our cute little church that my family has gone to since it was built a looong time ago!  There are pictures all over the walls of my family from years and decades ago!  I love it there!

I got to decorate the chalkboard that was hanging near the entrance.  One of my aunts brought that and a bicycle that she painted purple (their wedding colors were purple and green) with balloons.  It was soo cute!  It made an adorable place to take pics.

This time, the ceremony was done by my cousin Anthony.  He did so well!  Marty's grandson sang an original song, another of his grandsons said two poems, my mom and two of my aunts sang a song and my uncle accompanied them on piano, and my cousin Marion also read a poem.  It was all so nice!

My cousin Brooklyn was the flower girl in both ceremonies and she did so well!!

The happy couple!

After the ceremony, there were pies and ice cream for everyone!  Chocolate cream pie, peach pie, and apple pie!  It was set up so cute.  There was punch and coffee to drink, too.  My aunt Brenda made adorable bicycle cookies as favors for everybody!  She also made a really cute banner that they hung on the wall.

It was so nice to see lots of family from my mom's side.  I haven't been able to go for Thanksgiving in several years and that's usually when I would see a lot of these people!  We visited and took lots of pics after :)

We flew home early Monday morning.  We flew into DC and we were in Baltimore by 10:30!  That seemed so quick!

Tonight, Alex's mom and one of his sisters are coming to visit us!  They will be here until Saturday afternoon.  That will be so fun!  I will post about all of the stuff that we do while they're here!

Thanks for reading!