Dont Miss Out On Getting The Right Bra For Your Bust

The holidays are approaching just around the corner and I don't know about you, but I always see it as the perfect time of year to wear a sexy little dress or cute outfit to celebrate the occasion. However, one thing always seems to get in the way... boobs. Sometimes is as if you have to go bra-less in order to wear the fashion trendy outfits that are out there. That's not always true. I am going to give your boobs the best bra guide around.

When trying to spot a backless dress or corset top try adhesive, strapless, gel cups, which I like to call "cutlets." They look just like chicken cutlets! You can get them at Victoria Secret, Bloomingdale's, Cache, but the best deal I have found has been the D'Eva Gel Bra from As Seen On TV, you can order it online by clicking here (they also sometimes carry them at CVS in their specialty aisle). What I really liked about the D'Eva Bra is that is has a clip that clips the cups together in the middle to still give you a little extra push and cleavage. I hate wearing a dress when your breast don't fill it right.












The other probing problem usually is with halter tops. I used to work at Cache and I swear by their U-Plunge Bra. The bra is convertible, but I prefer to wear it only for halter top use, and once in a great while as spaghetti straps. This bra works with almost any dress and does wonders with any halter top. It's unique in the way that it dips low, so that even while your wearing a low cut halter you wont see the middle part of your bra by your v-neck in your shirt, like you do with most bras. The only place I have been able to find the U-Plunge is at Cache, so go to the closest store near you or click Cache to check it out online. Because it's shape is so unique it may feel awkward the first time you put it on, but give it a chance and I promise you, you'll be thanking me.

I can't forget about notorious Victoria Secret. I must give them some credit when it comes to their Multi-Way Bra. The Multi-Way is also a convertible bra, I always rely on it when I need to go stapless, but this one is just as good when worn as spaghetti straps or criss-cross.


The great thing about all of these bra's is that they have you covered under almost any circumstance and provide the right comfort and support for your next night out.

To find out the right way to measure your bust check out Victoria Secret's Measurement page.

You Can Give Yourself a Perfect French Manicure Using Scotch Tape!

It's hard enough to paint our nails, but giving yourself a French manicure is almost unimaginableable unless it's done in a salon. Not anymore! You can give yourself a beautiful French manicure from your very own home with the use of some scotch tape.

What you'll need for a French is two different colored polishes, a neutral, light pink or buff beige and then a white for the tips. It's also great to have a top coat for the finished look. Set aside a q-tip with some nail polish remover to help clean up any mistakes. Most of all we can't forget our secret weapon, the scotch tape (you can also use masking tape if that's all you have).

1. Remove any existing polish from your nails and make sure they are trimmed to the length you like.
   
2. Place a piece of tape over each nail bed on all your fingers, leaving the tip exposed. The tape will serve as a stencil for the white tips on your French manicure. Make sure to tape all of your nails before starting the polish.
   
3. Once the tape is place on each nail, paint your nail tips using the white polish, it's okay if you get some on the tape.
   
4. Let the white tips completely dry. Once dry, carefully peel off the tape from each finger.
5. Now apply your neutral, pink or beige to the entire nail, going over both the unpainted area and what was already painted on the tip.
   
6. Allow nails to dry for at least 15 minutes and then if you like you can apply a top coat to give your French a clean, shiny finish.
7. If you made any mistakes you can now clean them up by dipping the end of a q-tip into the nail polish remover and wiping off any excess polish.
   

Voila! Your nails should have clean natural look to them, that will make all your friends jealous.

*If you feel like adding a little funk to your French, then try some bright colors in exchange for the neutral and white. When you really want to pamper yourself do the french to both your hands and feet!

See how other people have used similar at home manicures and what they think by clicking here, on Seventeen.com.

Load your beauty bag with FREE goodies

I hope you have enjoyed pampering yourself with some of my best tips and tricks, but there are plenty more on the way.

I have been hit with bad luck the past couple of days so I decided to look into the one thing that I knew would cheer me up, a good beauty spree! It's hard to get very far when your on a college kid budget. I can't afford to stuff my bags with cosmetics and skin care from France or some feng shui spa. I've managed to build myself a free beauty spree! There are plenty of brands that promote their products by sending out free samples. Why not take advantage of loading up on free products? You never know, you may just find your best new beauty weapon through a free sample.

I have found and listed this weeks freebies below. Just click on the links, look for "Free Sample," fill out your personal information and within a few weeks your special gift will await you.






Pantene Pro-V Expressions Shampoo & Conditioner










Dior Mascara














Dove Body Lotion













Daily Flosser












Calvin Klein- Secret Obsession Perfume











I can't vogue for any of these samples because they are all new to me. We can be guinea pigs and test them out together. Happy free shopping!

Total Stress = Total Break Out

As if stress isn't bad enough on its own, it usually drags along a break out. I have completley overworked myself this week at both my internship and school. I've allowed myself to get so stressed and sadly my face has been the one to pay. I woke up this morning and noticed I was starting to break out. How embarrassing!

Earlier this week on the Y100 radio morning show I remember them talking about how to rid a zit quickly. Both radio host Carolina Bermudez and TJ the DJ swear by the Clean and Clear's Invisible Blemish Treatment. I'm dying to try it. Of course there are other products like it out there, but I've never given them a chance because of the outrageous prices. Clean and Clears Blemish Treatment is much more in my budget, costing only $19.99. If any of you are brave enough to give it a try, please let me know if its the next new blemish blasting miracle.

Need a hand?

Our hands take the brunt of everything we do. Are your hands getting rough and cracked? It's time to sack them!

What you will need:
-two zip lock bags
-body or hand lotion
-oil (any therapeutic, natural or vegetable oil)
-two rubber bands
-two dish size hand towels

Pull out your favorite hand or body lotion and add two tablespoons of oil. You can use almost anything from therapeutic oils including lavender, rose and mint or you can even grab something out of your kitchen cabinet. Vegetable oil works great! Place your mixture of oil and lotion into a microwave safe bowl. Heat for about 60-90 seconds. Stir up the concoction and pour evenly into two zip lock bags. If you have someone to help you, you can try doing both hands at once, if not then do each hand one at a time. Place each hand into the bag and fasten closed with the rubber band around your wrist. Then wrap the dish size hand towels around each zip lock bag to entrap the heat. Allow your hands to rest and relax for about 15 minutes as the mixture moisturizes the skin.

After the 15 minutes take your hands out of the bags and wipe off the excess lotion with one of the dish towels, you can then massage the rest of the mixture into your hands. Do this once a week and you'll have hands as soft as silk!

Don't Let Your Feet Stink!

As I looked down at my feet today I realized, "Yuck! I need a pedicure, pronto!" Sometimes we spend so much time on other areas of our body, such as our face or teeth, that we neglect our feet. There is nothing worse then walking out the door in flip flops with a huge, flaky callus for everyone to see. Since I live in Florida, I consider it flip flop season all year, which means it's important to address the wear and tear flip flops cause.

Lucky for me, my sister used to own a beauty salon and was a pro at pedicures. From my sister, I have been able to master my own at home pedicure procedure. With my expertise and the wide range of products available on the market we can get your feet looking fabulous in less than 30 minutes a week.

1) First, you'll want to remove any nail polish you have on your toes with a cotton ball soaked in nail polish remover. Cut your toe nails straight across with a pair of good clippers and then file down any rough edges along the nail.
2)Place your feet in a large bowl or bath tub that is filled with warm water. Add a full cup of Epsom salt (a natural disinfectant) to the water. You can also add a capsule full of Johnson and Johnson Soothing Vapor Bath for Colds, which contains three therapeutic, cleansing herbs (rosemary, eucalyptus and menthol) that will help to transform your room into your very own spa. Soak for at least 10 minutes.
3) Pull your feet out of the water. Dampen a foot file and scrub away all those flaky rough dry areas and callus's on the balls of you feet, your heels and anywhere else you see fit.
4) Rinse feet off and pat dry with a towel.
5) Massage a significant amount of foot lotion onto your feet. I love minty foot lotions, the mint tends to calm and sooth your foot with a gentle tingle.
6)Put on a pair of soft sleeper socks. You can get sleeper socks anywhere. My favorite socks are from Bath and Body Works. Their sleepers feel like your feet have been engulfed by giant marshmallows. You wont want to take them off!
Keep the socks on your feet when you go to sleep at night allowing the skin of your feet to absorb the foot lotion and the magic to happen. In the morning you will wake up with silky soft feet! Add a coat of nail polish to your toes and you will have yourself a superb pedicure without ever leaving your home.

Visit the OPI Studio and try on some of the hottest nail colors by clicking here!

Be Bronzed and Beautiful without Ultra Violet Rays

My last blog may have scared you from tanning for good, however I'm here to rescue you. You can still be a bronzed beach babe without the UV rays. We've all heard horror stories of people turning into a giant orange after using self tanner. If you prep the right way and use the right tanner for your skin type then you can be bronzed in minutes without the sweat, the peeling or wasting your time. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved sunless tanning products as a safe alternative to sunbathing when applied to the skin.

The first thing you want to do before using any self tanner is to exfoliate your skin with a deep scrubbing exfoliater, usually the kind that has grainy beads or sands in it. Doing this will eliminate any dead skin cells on your body. Make sure to give some extra exfoliation to areas that tend to be dry; elbows, ankles and knees. The drier areas are where the tanner tends to clump and look spotty or orange when not prepped properly. Use self tanners that are not messy or complicated.

Tanners that spray are usually the easiest to do on your own and apply most evenly. The best self tanner that I have found is Neutrogena Micro Blast. What I like about the Micro Blast is that at first it sprays on clear, so you don't end up driving yourself crazy thinking its darker in one area or not dark enough. The Micro Blast comes in levels "two" or "three,", meaning that you can choose to either go two shades or three shades darker than your current color allowing the tanner to adapt to your own skin color. The more you use it, the darker you will get. I was scared to use the self tanner my first time, because I didn't want to look like a giant tangerine before heading out with the girls, but it worked great and gave me a very subtle tan. Next time I might even trying using the level three for some extra color! Take it from me the girl with tons of freckles, the sun is not worth loosing your skin!

If you want to looked toned and tan, then check out this cool video on how to tone up in seconds! Click on the picture and learn how >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(The Mayo Clinic can tell you more about what is in self tanner and how it works.)

Sun-sation

Everyone loves a great tan, but sometimes the risk is not worth your bronzed glow. It's easy to forget that protecting your skin is important all year round and not just during those sunny summer days. There are easy ways to incorporate protecting your skin into your daily beauty routine. It is important to use a moisturizer that has an SPF of at least 15 or 30 every morning. This will help keep your skin hydrated while preventing wrinkles, sun spots and skin cancer. If you still feel the need to moisturize before bed then do so with a heavier moisturizer or cream that does not contain SPF.

For those of you that wear makeup, buy foundations and lip balms that also contain a high SPF. Through personal experience I find the best foundations contain SPF are also oil free. For people that have an oily skin type you can use a powder that has an SPF, rather than a foundation. Making small improvement like this will dismay unnecessary wrinkles and oddly toned skin. The American Cancer Society has estimated that there will be 62,480 new cases of melanoma in 2008, in which 8,420 will die from the disease by the end of this year. A very frightening statistic! The sun can harm several areas of your body besides your skin, including your eye, lips, and even your hair.
Make sure to get a stylish pair of shades, strong enough to block the sun from your eyes. Even your hair can be saved from sun damage! While not all of us our lucky enough to escape gray roots and obtain natural highlights, we spend quite a bit of money on getting our hair colored. There is nothing worse then going to the salon, walking out with the perfect hair color and then having the sun ruin it for you. There are now hair protector sprays you can spray on your hair everyday to keep the sun from ruining your sleek salon color. My favorite spray is made by Lanza, it goes on lightly without leaving a heavy residue.

Here are some of my top choice sun-sational SPF products:

Foundations
CoverGirl Outlast Liquid Makeup SPF 14 ($9, drugstores)
Max Factor Facefinity Long Lasting Make-Up SPF 15 ($9.50, drugstores)
Origins Nude and Improved Bare-Face Makeup SPF 15 ($18.50, origins.com)
Shiseido Sun Protection Liquid Foundation SPF 42 ($30, www.sca.shiseido.com)
Lip Balms and Gloss
M.A.C Tinted Lip Conditioner ($14.50, maccosmetics.com)
Bobbi Brown Lip Tint SPF 15 ($17, bobbibrowncosmetics.com)
Hair
Lanza Swim and Sun Daily UV Protector ($16 , Beauty Distributors and Salons)

So make sure the next time your strolling in the sun, do so with some SPF!
Find out your sun safety IQ by taking this quiz!

Welcome to my Beauty Blog!

Many of us girls and even guys, have gone through several beauty products and spent thousands of dollars to beautify ourselves. I have come to the rescue so you can skip all the steps of trying hundreds of products, spending thousands of dollars and most of all saying "beauty is worth the pain." It's not! There are several ways that you can easily beautify yourself at home on a cheap budget without all the painful procedures. I have grown up around the beauty industry all my life and have learned my fair share of the best beauty tips and tricks! With my help you can get yourself looking and feeling more beautiful and glamorous than ever before!