Cellucor Super HD- peach mango

First off I'd like to say that I love a good fat burner, key word being good. I'm not trying to get crazy jittery and all out of sorts taking a supplement. That's not my style, I don't live on the edge with my health, except for drinking black coffee on an empty stomach. So usually I try to take things that are fairly tame. The first fat burner I took was Advocare's Thermoplus. I liked it but really the only benefit I had was that it helped me go longer during my work out. I knew it wouldn't necessarily melt fat off of my body. Granted at the time I was a small person and it didn't make much of a difference weight wise.
This time with Cellucor, I did have extra weight to lose. I didn't follow instructions initially or very well. Here's what worked best for me since I liked to workout in the morning.
Get up, drink a scoop of cellucor in my water bottle. Eat a protien bar. 
I forgot to eat something one day and wondered why I was dead tired in the middle of a hard workout, I had no fuel.
Drink at least 32oz of water before working out.
The second and third steps were just as crucial as drinking cellucore on an empty stomach to start. There is 160mg of caffeine in it and a bunch of vitamins. I started this with a very intense workout that I had written up doing as many as 30 reps on one leg in one set and I usually had about 7 exercises in my circuit.
What the SuperHD helped me do was get through my reps in a set without wanting to stop and help me do more reps in the next set. Instead of feeling tired after the previous exercise I felt energized and could really get the most out of my workout.
If you read the label, you'll notice that it says to drink plenty of water.
A) this is no joke.
B) I got a headache if I didn't drink enough water and usually wound up drinking 4-32oz bottle of water in a day.
Also, the label does say to drink it twice a day if you can handle it. This makes sense because on the days I did my intense workout I would feel absolutely exhausted for the rest of the day until bed. I probably should have had another serving of the Super HD to see if that would help, but I was trying to watch my caffeine.

In conclusion, I've noticed with fat burners, I go to the bathroom a lot and drink a lot of water. They primarily give me more endurance when I workout. I don't notice a crazy amount of weight-loss mostly because I don't really think that's the purpose, it's not a magic weight-loss drink. It supplements a fitness lifestyle.

Younique 3D Mascara & eyeshadow review

A good friend of mine started selling Younique and asked if I wanted to do a party. Of course, who doesn't love makeup? We got together and she showed me all of their products. I already had the mascara as a gift from Christmas and I loved it. What I fell in love with next was their eyeshadow, which I will get to. First let's look at a comparison of Younique Moonstruck 3D Mascara and, what I had been using, Avon Super Shock.

On the left is Younique and on the right is Avon Super Shock.

As you can see this is some serious mascara. Yes it's $29. $29 for falsies in a tube. It generally lasts about 6 weeks if you use it everyday, which is a serious possibility. But if you don't get addicted to it, just send it back for a refund, their return policy is wonderful.
I've talked to a few people who were a little intimidated by the fact that there are Youtube tutorials about how to apply it. Really it's not hard, coat lashes in transplanting gel. Starting about mid lash length apply the natural fibers. Seal with transplanting gel. That's it! I only do one eye at a time so the fibers are applied when the gel is still wet on my lashes. It takes a little getting used to but it's nothing serious. Plus, who wants to mess with glue and trimming and waiting and pressing. 5 minutes and you're done.


As I said fell in love with their Moodstruck Minerals Pigment Powder aka eye-shadow and subsequently purchased their eye brush set, which I use all the time. On top of being nice brushes they're convenient for the sort of blending I do most of the time.

I'll show you what I'm wearing today, please ignore my disastrous eyebrows.

 Firstly I start with an eye primer. I prefer Avon's, I think it has better staying power for this kind of eye shadow, though I do love Younique's Glorious primer for my face.

I did the minerals pigment powder in Curious over the inside half of my eyelid. Then I took their crease brush and used the shade Confident on the lower part of my brow bone, very lightly. Next I put Corrupted, using the shader brush, on the outer third of my eyelid patting it on. Lastly I dampened my liner brush and lined my bottom lash line with devious. I finished everything off with my mascara.

They had a really great deal when  I did my party on their eye shadow set of 4, which I highly recommend, so I bought two sets. Here are the colors that I purchased.
Curious, Sexy, Confident, Daring (shimmer)
Corrupted, Beautiful, Infatuated, Provoked (matte)

One of the other great things I like is that other Younique lovers post their pictures and what products they used in the Younique Looks section on the website. That was key in helping me decide what pigment colors to buy. Another great thing, while yes loose powder is messy and you have to be careful not to spill it (trust me I have a toddler and treat this stuff like gold so he touch it) a little goes a long way, so $45 for a set of 4 will really last you a long time. My friend had a container of Sexy that she used everyday and had it for 6+ months and was maybe starting to get low at that point.  These eye shadows definitely last you and it's worth every penny, and if you don't think so, you can get your money back. More details are available on their website concerning returns.

My suggestion, have a younique party. Their hostess perks are sweet, you get Y cash which is money off and you get half price items. While their products are quality, they are pricey so getting these perks definitely helps. Besides, who doesn't love playing with makeup? You can also locate a presenter near you on their website.

The 30 Day Squat Challenge

I wish I could give credit where credit is due, to whomever came up with this squat challenge, because this is a serious leg and butt toner.
If you'd like to learn about what got me here, continue reading, if you want to get to the challenge skip the next three paragraphs.
I worked out for about 8 years before I got pregnant fall of 2013, thanks to morning sickness and a busy schedule fitness was the first thing to go. Since the birth of my son in May of 2014, I've had a lot of weight to lose. Really that's a relative statement, for me it was a lot. When I was admitted for my induction I weighed 190 lbs. The weekend I was home after his birth I was at 171 lbs. That's the most I've ever weighed. Before that the highest I let my weight get was 145. For awhile I said I didn't care, that I was over working out, who cares, blah blah blah. Then I ordered some jeans.
Pre-pregnancy I was a 3/4 or 5/6 at Rue 21, they have a curvy fit jean that I adore. Post pregancy, 13/14. The highest size they had in the line I preferred. Once I was cleared for physical activity I began fitting a workout in when my baby was asleep. I did this for about two months. Only now I got really sweaty really quickly. How I longed for the days in high school when I could do a workout routine and not break a sweat. Thanks to the 30-40 extra pounds I had, this was no longer possible for me. Unfortunately my knee gave out when I was doing single leg deadlifts and the area targeted by the 15lb weight in my hand became my lower back. I gave myself a week off and attempted working out again, tweaked it again. This happened a third time and I threw in the towel for about 2-3 months.
Then came the holidays. I was determined, despite Thanksgiving and Christmas food gatherings, to gain weight over the holidays. In fact, I might have even lost a few pounds. Around this time an acquaintance of mine had her baby and was back into her old clothes two weeks later. Seething rage didn't even  begin to describe how I felt. Granted, she carefully watches what she ate and was still hitting spin classes. I hunkered down and got serious about losing weight since I had learned this acquaintance would be visiting in the spring. In March I finally got into the 150s. I had said I would start working out again when I hit this point since, well the amount of weight I was starting with seemed like a mountain. Enter The 30-day Squat Challenge.

I had found this challenge in Pinterest some time ago. I'd tried to complete it several times, I may have done it once, but I can't be certain. This time I was determined to finish it. I started on March 6th and finished on April 8th.

Here are my numerical results for the challenge.

Weight at start: 150.8 lbs
Weight at end:148 lbs

Relevant measurements.
Start: Hips 40", Thighs 24"
End: Hips 38", Thighs 23.5"

Now it may not sound like a drastic loss, but it entirely reshaped my legs and behind.

The image on the left was taken march 16th and the image on the right was taken April 9th.

 Granted it slipped my mind to take a very beginning photo so I did one about 10 days in, though I'm not sure how many days of the challenge I had completed at that point but still a good example of what I started with. The second was taken the day after I completed the challenge. You can't argue with these results. I will say, for me, when I stopped it did revert slightly so I knew I needed to keep doing squats. I'm not 17 anymore, I can't just work out for a month and expect my muscles to stay. It also doesn't help that I have a part time desk job where I sit for 5-9 hours on a given shift.

If you want to take the plunge yourself, here's the plan I followed. I will also say that I did alternate wide stance  (sumo) squats and hip-width squats are more akin to sitting in a chair as a way of keeping things slightly less boring. I also broke them up into manageable sets rather than going the full amount at one time.

If you are interested in going even farther there is an extreme squat challenge that starts at 250.

As far as concerns go about this challenge, the good thing is that it's three days on then a day off. The benefit I found in this was the second day you workout, it helps to work out the soreness that you would have from the first day. If you are able, taking a couple ibuprofen usually helps any over whelming soreness that you might have. Also remember to hydrate.

Avon's Mega Effects Mascara.

I have to say that I was intrigued by this new product Avon released. The mascara brush, a revolutionary design. The best way I knew to describe it was as a paint brush. I don't even know if this is a correct terminology and as a representative I suppose I "should" know this. Regardless, I ordered it as soon as I could. I was just short of ripping the entire box open when it arrived on my front porch. I ran in the bathroom to put it on and, well, it was a bit anti climactic. It is just mascara, it isn't a miracle. However, as my pessimism grew I decided I would do a final test. A side by side comparison of my other Avon mascara SuperShock Max. Here's the final product:

 They both sort of look the same. So lets look at where we started from because mind you, these are my own lashes.





The Starting Line:

                                      NO MAKEUP  

Here are our two competitors:

Now here's a photo with just the SuperShock Max on one side:

 Now here's the side by side with one coat each:

I will say that I think the SuperShock Max is much more feathered than the Max Effects when applied, however, that isn't a brand new tube of SuperShock Max and it is a new container of Max Effects, and if you've worn enough mascara you know that a new tube isn't the same as an older tube. Mascara changes it's consistency.

I kept applying mascara to each just to see, also in disbelief that Supershock Max looked better, or at least the same.

I was better pleased with how each respective mascara looked in this photo with two coats. The Mega Effects didn't even try to go spider lash on me when applied, which is especially a problem with a new mascara. 

I figured that the Supershock Max would begin clumping if I did another coat so I held off but did another coat on the Mega Effects and this is the end product

I don't know about you, but those are some intense lashes either way. Check it out again:

So far it doesn't look like you can go wrong with either product.

Be your own judge.

Here's my ruling:

Mega Effects Mascara Pros:

• Different sort of brush, less clumping even with 3 coats.
• Lifts the lash without weighing it down
• Serious coverage
• Easy to comb through

Cons:

• Not entirely sweat proof (Maybe I should blame the Jack3d I took, but still)
• The Brush is something to get used to, a little difficult to get the inner lashes
•  Most often get mascara on my eyelid
•  More mascara = more to take off (I don't know about you, but I don't always take my makeup off and when I get out of the shower I have some serious raccoon eyes)

I'm giving it a 7.5/10

If you'd like to buy either product feel free to order from my site and have it sent directly to your door!

Coconut Oil Experiments.

As a pinterest addict I've found a few interesting things during my hours of browsing. I don't usually do them, just repin and forget, however there were a couple of things involving coconut oil that I found particularly interesting. One of which was oil pulling. A process in which the participant, swishes oil in his/her mouth for 15-20 minutes in order to pull toxins out. The thing I was most excited about doing was using coconut oil as a hair treatment. I'm a hair conditioning treatment addict due to some adventures in hair color and other style processes that stripped my hair of all it's sheen (story below), so when I saw this I was very interested. My dad bought me 2 enormous glass jars for my birthday. Now let the experimenting begin.

<<<<Back story on addiction to hair conditioning treatments: Over the summer I had a color correction session which went quite well but my dumb ass rinsed out a deep conditioning treatment in bath salt water (= big vat of "beach spray") and poof went my hair, fried, it felt like puffy dog hair. After two weeks and some more deep conditioning treatments it was more normal. So a word or two of advice, 1) DO NOT EVER rinse your hair out in the bath if you've used bath salts, especially if your hair is already compromised. 2) don't do anything requiring a color correction session.>>>>

Today I decided to give these two things a whirl.

Here is a cute picture of me swishing my oil!













The swishing (pulling) rules are as follows:
1) Swish for 15-20 minutes
2) DO NOT SWALLOW- spit in the toilet. If you think you're going to swallow it before the time is out or need to spit it out for some reason, just spit and then get new oil and swish for remaining time.

....I guess those are all of the rules. I set a timer on my phone that would let me know when my swishing was done. I did have to spit out my first mouthful about 3 minutes in due to needing to cough from a dry throat.

This is my first swish session, so we'll see how this goes as a daily thing. Hopefully I'll remember to do it everyday and won't choke in the process.

I figured swishing during my hair treatment would help the time go faster.
Here's my greasy hair

 

 

 

For the coconut oil hair treatment, don't worry about melting the coconut oil before hand it will melt in your hair. The stuff I bought was solid when I got it. I read on the label that it stays solid below 75 degrees. Also, this is a pre-washing treatment, to be applied to dry hair. Leave the treatment on for 30 minutes. Shampoo rise repeat etc. throw some conditioner on it.

After about 30 minutes the oil really soaks in,  I just added some shampoo to it and made sure I really washed it out. Let me tell you, my hair hasn't felt that good in a VERY long time. I put some conditioner it, mostly out of habit but it does need to be conditioned. I found that I needed to shampoo thoroughly or twice to make sure I had all the oil out, especially if you rub the oil into your scalp, which is a great treatment, just make sure you thoroughly wash it out then condition.

I would recommend doing what you usually do to your hair after washing it normally. I thought I could get away with skipping my products and I was wrong.  Here's how my hair looked dry!



 

One of my friends even commented that my hair looked a lot healthier too.

Since I've had a plethora of this stuff around I've found that it makes a great moisturizer after you get out of the shower, although I will say it doesn't dry quickly. I suggest leaving it on for a little bit then blotting excess with a towel or if you have time just chill out while it does it's work.

Cellulite

Yup that unsightly cottage cheese that lives under your skin. There are A LOT of things out there that say they will get rid of cellulite. I don't believe most of them. One thing I will say that I've found helps make your skin smoother is stimulating the skin. If you think about your cellulite and where it is, is that an area of your body that doesn't get much action? I know mine is. Its on the side of my thigh going toward the back of my leg.

I've read up on this a little because I didn't really know that body brushing was the thing it is. Apparently what you want to do is dry brush before you get in the shower. Brushing upward.
This promotes circulation which gets blood flowing to your skin to remove toxins that have built up there. Your skin should feel smoother and the appearance of cellulite should go down. I know that mine shows the most when I sit cross legged. It's very unsightly but with doing the brushing it helps my skin feel smoother. According to one of the blogs I read it takes about 5 months for serious cellulite to go away. Happy brushing!

Bikini Season

Oh yes I know the temperature here just started teasing us by hitting the 70s and you're either hoping they canceled bikini season this year. If not you're already starting to think about it. I  recommend thinking about it if you don't want to wear a miu miu all summer.
I've been thinking about it since I'm going to Vegas in June and I realized I needed a little help toning up because it isn't just bikini season, it's Vegas pool bikini season.

For this I'm featuring another blogger, LifePlusFitness.COM and Michelle Freeman. She runs a fantastic fitness blog. I found this workout on it and wanted to share it with all of you.
It's called Brazilian Butt Workout. It's the BEST butt workout I've ever done. I noticed it toning my rear the day after I did it. I'm telling you, add this workout into rotation or do it for awhile and your tush should pass the pencil test (if you can hold a pencil under your bum while standing you fail the test).