Beauty – Page 5 – Unlikely Martha

Beauty

Gray Hair Today. No Gray Tomorrow

Thank you to No Gray for partnering with Unlikely Martha. I have been compensated for this post. All opinions are mine.

Indecisiveness is weaved into the fabric of who I am. One minute I’m feeling something, the next minute I am not. I can over think the smallest of things and jump the gun on far more significant scenarios. One thing is certain, I like options.

Options are great. Having the ability to change effortlessly from one option to another in a world where we have so many things to choose from is refreshing. Not having to feel totally committed to something involving the way I look makes me extremely happy!

I’ve been very vocal about not dying my hair and embracing my gray strands that I also affectionately refer to as glitter highlights. I take special care in making sure my stylist cuts them just right so that they fall as a continuous layer, but lately I’ve been thinking about how those glitter sprinkled strands might look like blended in with the rest of my hair.

I thought about putting in a rinse but I know those don’t often take well coupled with the fact that I don’t do hair salons creates a major problem. A huge mess of a problem, I know because I’ve tried it before.

Instead I’m giving No Gray a go. This small bottle comes equipped with a comb that can allow me to cover as many or as little glitter highlights as I like and the best part is the color is temporary. I don’t have to be married to the thought of living without my gray strands that I love so much depending on what day it is.

One of the reasons I have decided against completely dyeing my hair is the time involved and cost of upkeep. I did consider using a henna hair dye as my sister did this and her hair looks great. No Gray is a great choice for those of you that choose to dye. The small size makes it easy to slide into your purse to cover your roots until you can make it to the salon. We all know how soon those pesky roots can pop up and this is a great option to extend your color and investment.

Being open to options turns making hard decisions on whether to dye or not to dye your hair a little bit easier to make. If you are uncertain about whether to dye permanently I would suggest trying out No Gray as a great temporary option. You may find that you like the option of rocking your glitter highlights one day and having those strands fall in solidarity with the rest of your hair the next. With this option water and shampoo is your fix for going back to natural.

Are you at odds on whether to dye your hair, or are you embracing your glitter highlights?!

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Beauty

Neutrogena mom & daughter beauty rituals + giveaway

The fondest memories I have of my mom don’t just appear when I will them, they instead make themselves known when I witness something so simple as a mom and daughter shopping together, or catching a whiff of a fragrance she wore, or when I try my hardest not to stare at a woman that reminds me of her. I still see products in the store that were her favorites, Neutrogena having been around since the 1970s was one of our household beauty staples. Sharing some of my fondest memories of her in partnership with Neutrogena is like weaving together a story of a remembered friendship that lasted many long loyal years.

Memories are everywhere, and having surpassed the difficult part of the grief process, I can now smile when I see these tangible tidbits of everyday life that are evidence that she was once a tangible part of my life now reappearing as beautiful memories.

My mother was a stickler for beauty rituals and Sunday evenings for as long as I can remember she would put a towel over her head and hold her face over a pot of steaming water for her DIY facials. She washed her face daily with a clear Neutrogena face bar.

I remember those bars of soap. They would sit on the sink, brown and clear.The suds would dry on the top leaving a thin white layer and I knew better than to wash my hands with that soap.

Fast forward many years later and I have beauty rituals I’m sure my Addison will always carry with her. I shared with y’all my non negotiable for self care this year is keeping my nails done, and my Addi is following right in my footsteps. Whether she chooses to make a mess of her fingers on her own, have me do them or ask anyone that visits our home that has a steady hand , those little nails stay done!

As a busy mom, self care is a must and outside of keeping my nails done I love spending my evenings outside tending to my plants. With temperatures well into the 70s in the evenings, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you when I come in I am sweaty, itchy and to put it as blunt as possible nasty and dirty! Like do not pass go, go straight to the shower sweaty!

These showers/ wind down times over the past few weeks has involved washing away the filth with Neutrogena Rainbath. One of my warm weather jams is stepping out of a nice hot shower into a cooled house feeling fresh, smelling amazing and slipping into my house dress or Moo Moo as my mother called them! The Neutrogena Rainbath has been my nighttime wind down ritual that proceeds taking note of what is left to do in the day and planning for the day ahead.

Get your wind down ritual on as well with a Neutrogena giveaway. The Giveaway will include four Rainbath Shower & Bath Gels (one of each glorious fragrance!), and the Rapid Wrinkle Repair Collection (Rapid Wrinkle Repair® Serum, Rapid Wrinkle Repair® Eye Cream, Rapid Wrinkle Repair® Night Moisturizer and Rapid Wrinkle Repair® Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30). We’re giving away 10 packs (approximate retail value of $120 each). Tons of chances to win. Enter on the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Neutrogena. All opinions are mine.

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Beauty

sns nails| the pros and cons

Self care. Much like we are embracing the word NO as being a full sentence, I’m hoping the broken record like mentions of self care in our mom spaces will eventually help us to understand that the mere level of such abilities to juggle like a million things at once will make us understand how important it is to find that one thing for ourselves and do it. Often.

This year I pondered over what would be my non negotiable when it came to self care in 2016. I don’t care for the hair salon, I love clothes but I’m not a big shopper so I pondered and pondered on that one thing that would be affordable and convenient and I came up with keeping my nails done. As a reformed nail polish hoarder, I no longer have a desire to do my own nails so I decided to sign up for bi-weekly visits to the nail salon. My sister visits Hyannis nail salon all the time and her nails always look great, so I thought I’d try it for myself.

At just a month in I am hooked. Something about looking down at my nails as I type or drive makes me happy. After having tried manicures with my real nails that barely lasted for a few days and having gel done in the past and not caring for the light used to dry them or the thickness I decided to try the SNS nails option at the recommendation of a mom at the kids school. SNS stands for Standard Nail System

Got in the nail salon and didn’t have a clue what the process looked like for SNS nails but I liked hers so decided to give it a whirl and I am hooked.

Basically SNS is supposed to be a natural and healthy alternative to gels and acrylics. It overlays over your real nails no matter how short and consists of putting a clear top coat on your nails and then dipping them in a colored powder, that process is repeated twice. Your nails are then filed and evened out before a gel coat seals in everything.

The end result lasts for two weeks with amazing shine and no lifting. Sure you could stretch to 3 weeks but how my self care regimen is set up I’m on a bi weekly schedule….for now.

I love this process so much, here is a little more on my pros and cons.

SNS Pros:

Two minute drying time with no light
End product is very thin. Feels like your real nails
Minimal filing down of your real nails
The vitamin E and calcium in the powder strengthens your real nails

SNS Cons:

More expensive. Unlike gels or acrylic there is no such thing as a fill in, the color has to be soaked off every time. I pay $25 each time.
Takes longer than other nail options
It is hard to gauge how the color will turn out as it is in a powder form. You have to rely on the nail dummy instead of seeing the actual color in a nail polish bottle.

I hope you are practicing some form of self care this year. If you are not please find that thing or things to satisfy yourself.

Do you keep your nails done?

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Beauty• Featured• small business spotlight

small business spotlight: Miss Marie’s Hand Crafted Apothecary

As a woman working toward building her own little empire I truly get the struggle of women who gracefully juggle many roles while simultaneously burning the midnight oil and networking to bring to fruition those ideas that won’t let them sleep at night or let their brain idle. Those ideas they are passionate about and are determined to mold and refine into tangible representations to share with the world deserve to be seen.

Being a dreamer I know all too well the reality that some of those aspirations never make it off the paper. They are often defeated by thoughts of fear and the what ifs and never make it off the notepad on the nightstand and into viable action. Support is so important and I know in our society we need to do a better job at uplifting and encouraging women and moms to walk in their gifts.

This small business spotlight is highlighting Miss Marie’s Hand Crafted Apothecary

I had the privilege of meeting owner Alisa Matthews and was smitten with her quiet, and warm spirit. A mom, full time WAHM and small business owner she truly juggles all of these roles with style and grace. She is passionate about her business, and in her own words,

” It’s such a joy knowing that I am able to help polish, purify and perfect the skin of many!”

Her line of body products are hand made with the finest of organic ingredients to include essential oils. These products were the result of her being forward thinking about finding a great smelling way to combat her children’s problematic dry skin symptoms.

Miss Marie’s started in Alisa’s kitchen. I mean who doesn’t love a good grass roots start! It was in the heart of her home that she began concocting light and pleasant smelling organic body butters. Her signature products, Key Lime Coconut Butter (my FAVE) and Original SOS butter were the first products that put Miss Marie’s Hand Crafted Apothecary into business.

With a little word of mouth networking these products have found themselves into the hands of and have received glowing reviews from Olympic track star Funmi Kay Jimo and Maricela Cornejo, a female boxer from Floyd Mayweather’s camp.

With the impending opening of Miss Marie’s Hand Crafted Apothecary’s new Etsy shop Alisa is working to bring more organic skin goodies to her product line. You can look forward to a Pink Grapefruit body scrub and other relaxing bath bombs and bar soaps for the face and body made with goats milk, honey and a blend of natural and organic oils.

Be sure to visit her on the Web and on Instagram. Get 15% off your order with the code Mimi15.

She is also available via email at [email protected]

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