January ipsy glambag review

Well hello my loves!

As y'all know, most of the things I do are about the kids and for the kids. When I talked to one of my lovely friends in October last year, she mentioned the ipsy glambag. It is a collectible beauty bag filled with 4-5 beauty products, many of which come in full size!!! You can subscribe to it monthly for only $10 with free shipping. I received my first bag in December but forgot to do a review on it (shame on me!!!). LOVED EVERY SINGLE ITEM!!!!!

This month's glambag looked like this:

- Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange Body Butter
- Nailtini nail polish in Bloody Mary
- Big Sexy Hair spray & play hair spray
- Josie Maran Argan oil
- SOHO concealer brush

The Pacifica body butter smells so fresh and summery (awesome distraction from these cold temps we've been having! Can you say -50 degrees?!) and it leaves my skin nice and soft. Being in ND I need something that moisturizes my skin VERY well. It's insane how dry it gets during the winter! And this body butter certainly does it! Go check out their products! Their made of natural ingredients without parabens, sulfates, animal testing, etc. I so want to try their coconut water cleansing wipes (amongst other things!!).

While I may not like to drink Bloody Marys I certainly LOVE it on my nails!!!! Not only is the color stunning, I technically would have only needed one coat, that's how great this Nailtini nail lacquer is and it dried super fast! Isaiah seems to be fascinated with my toes right now, especially when painted and I was worried he'd mess it all up when he touched them not quite so gently - and with that I mean he scratched them - shortly after I applied the first coat. But it was already completely dry! That's what I'm talking about! I usually do my nails during nap time thinking it'll give them enough time to dry. Uhm, nope! It's like he knows I'm painting my nails and just waits for the moment when they're all painted to wake up! Here's whats even awesomer (yeah, I made that up!): You can mix your own cocktail aka nail lacquer! How fun! And not just nail lacquers, lip gloss and eye shadows too!!!! Oh my word! Go here to find out how: tini bar

Big? Sexy? You can say that again! Big Sexy Hair spray & play hair spray does what it promises! It gives great hold without making my hair too stiff. I like it when my hair has hold but is still flexible. I mean, who wants to look like they're wearing a hair helmet? I love that it's sulfate free. It's also gluten free for those that are allergic to gluten. I can only imagine how big and sexy my hair would be if I used the shampoo and conditioner in combination with the mousse, gel or spray!!!

The Josie Maran 100% Argan oil is one of the most versatile products I've ever tried! The glambag came with the to-go size ($14 value so you see you get more than your money's worth!) Here's the argan oil society's list of some of the benefits of argan oil: benefits of argan oil
I didn't know I could use it in food too!!! Anyway. Here's why I was excited about it: Isaiah, as you know, has atopic dermatitis so while his skin needs moisture I can't use most of the products out there. Argan oil not only moisturizes the skin it also helps skin heal! One of the benefits for me is that it balances sebum production to help fight acne while still moisturizing the skin. For some reason my body has decided to act like it's 13 and so I've been having mild acne lately (funny thing is, only my skin acts like it's 13, smh). My doctor prescribed me retinae cream which dries out my skin, however I can apply argan oil and it keeps my skin from drying out and doesn't clog my pores! LOVE! I can already tell a difference and I've been using it for almost 10 days now. I'm seriously thinking about getting the concealer, also with argan oil!

The SOHO concealer brush is a skinny flat-edged brush so it works really well on that sensitive skin under the eyes, but also in the creases of your nose and to blend concealer into your skin when trying to cover up blemishes. I have a bigger one that I use for bigger areas but this one is perfect for when my skin has cleared up some more. SOHO makes a variety of brushes, make up bags, make up cases and beauty organizers. What's great is you can get them at Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS and HARMON so even I can get them at a store and don't have to wait til my order comes in :)

So, that's it for my glambag review. As you can see this subscription is a steal at $10/month! And every bag comes with coupons you can use for the featured companies! If you want to join ipsy and get in on the glambag love, you can go HERE to sign up!

Love,

Frotastic Curls

Hey hey!!!

As y'all have probably noticed, my kids have hair, A LOT OF IT! Not only do they have a ton of hair, because they're biracial their hair is quite different from mine. But if that wasn't enough of a challenge, Nia's hair is different than Isaiah's AND their hair changes texture over time!!!!

Here's Nia at 3 months:

 Her hair is straight!!!!! It only curled when wet, so momma put that lotion in! Oh, and how mad I would get when  we took her hats off and it was all nappy again....

Then at 6 months:
More curls but again, only with some hair product. I used Soft&Precious back then.

When she was 1 she started to have soft curls that got a bit tighter with time:

She's about 20 months here.

And now that she's 3 - ba-baam! Yeah, she doesn't wake up with cute little curls, sorry I have to break it to ya!

This is what I deal with every morning (Mind you, this is AFTER I detangled her hair)!!! Cotton candy craziness!! Someone doesn't want to keep braids in or a night cap on! Well, I don't blame her, her curls are gorgeous when tamed, haha, and at that age I wouldn't want to keep a cap on at night either! So I got her a satin pillowcase (cotton draws out the moisture in her hair and it doesn't produce oil like my hair does) which should keep those tangles to a minimum.

Now to Isaiah. See those curls? I didn't have to do anything, they just happened!  Back then he had a cute little fro-hawk, by nature by the way, though people kept asking me if I cut his hair like that. Uhm, yeah, I totally cut my 6 month's old hair into a fro-hawk.....NOT! Moving on.

Now we have encountered this:

Slight hair explosion! His curls are much tighter then Nia's were at that age so I have a feeling we're looking at a future afro!!! I say this with excitement and fear all at the same time! It'll look amazing BUT it'll be work, since he's a boy, it'll be much work. For some reason boys don't seem to care so much about their hair at that age. Anyway. Yes, their hair is more work than mine will ever be and it's not super easy to manage but it's not super hard either. You just need to know what you're doing. In my case that involves some trial and error, have I mentioned error yet? And with their texture changing it also involves a journey through the hair product world til you find what works for their hair at a specific stage.

So over the past 3 years I've used a variety of products, I washed their hair with Johnson's baby shampoo for curly hair and used olive oil when they were babies and the occasional Soft&Precious spray to define those curls. At some point I used Just Me Detangler for Nia and I'm sorry to say it went in the trash rather quickly. Her hair smelled yummy and it worked okay but left her hair very dry after a short time. After that, we moved on to Mixed Silk and Silken Child from Silk Elements. At first I was in love with Silken Child but it soon showed that it too wasn't for Nia's hair, as was Mixed Silk. It's a great product, just not for Nia.

I shall add, we've always had our routine: Wash her hair twice a week, condition it, detangle it and moisturize (with a mixture of oils). Every day we detangle. I try to braid it every so often if she lets me. Nia is VERY proud of her hair, as she should be. She'll flip it and tell the world that her hair is SO AMAZING! Oh yeah, quite the dramatic actress here! Getting side tracked! Sooo, I went back to Sally's as it is the only store with a decent selection for ethnic hair here in Minot. I wanted to try a different detangler, a spray, so I bought Lavish Curls from Curls. LOVE the smell! It's not exactly for children though and I think that might have been the problem. It is more of a moisturizer, not a detangler per se. I read awesome reviews about their kids line Curly Q's for Kids over at Treasures for Tots and Baby Big Hair, however, the stores here don't sell the kids line - insert sad face. So back I went to Sally's AGAIN and checked out a line I considered buying the previous time when I went with the Curls product: Taliah Waajid. She's a mom who's been in the natural hair business since 1996. You can find her products here. I chose her line because it's free of all those chemicals and alcohol that dry out my babies' hair. I could tell the difference after the first use! Her hair was big and had these beautiful but not weighed down curls, even the next morning, way less tangles too! I love the shampoo, The Great Detangler leave-in conditioner and the herbal comb out lotion, the latter is specifically for kids. Again, Sally's carries more of the adult products here, the comb out lotion and the herbal style and shine are the only kids products they carry from her line. I will go more into depth about the different products as well as some new combs and brushes at a later point. This post already is a bit lengthy!  :)

In the meantime, check out Treasures for Tots' tips on biracial hair care and make sure you also hop over to Baby Big Hair for some more tips, they have awesome shirts too!!! I'm going to get some for Nia and Isaiah!!

Til then, love,

Partay!!!

Hi y'all,

What a busy start in the new year it has been!!! Isaiah's 15 months appointment on the 2nd (details later), preparation for Nia's birthday party, the party Saturday and Max's vet appointment today....

About Isaiah's 15 months appointment: Some of you may know that he's been struggling with what was diagnosed as eczema. You also know that I had a dermatologist in Germany look at it and Germans differentiate between eczema and atopic dermatitis, which she believes it was Isaiah really has. Once we were back here, the ped assured me he had eczema and to keep treating it that way. Well, after fighting for almost 6 months now, I finally got a referral for a dermatologist!!! I still think we need to see an allergist but at least it's a start. Other than Isaiah's weight issue he did outstanding though. My kids will never fit in with the American weight charts, the average American child has an entirely different diet than my kids, lol. It's ok though, their complaints go in one ear and out the other....

With Nia's birthday being a week after Christmas and right after New Year's Day, planning it is always a pain. Ordering supplies and favors is usually out of the question because of shipping taking longer or being more expensive with the holidays so close and with this lovely town being quite limited I usually resort to making a lot myself. This year I didn't do as much, partly because the location was a bit pricey (our usual location is closed due to renovations leaving almost no other options) and I didn't have much time. Maybe I shouldn't have had Nia pick the theme either, lol. She wanted a Minnie Mouse party (but without all the pink since there were going to be boys. We wanted red, yellow, black and white instead, like the original), so I went to Walmart where they had these awesome Minnie Mouse bubbles, ring pops and lollipops that were reasonably priced and came in bigger quantities than some of the other favors. However, I wanted to have some Mickey items for the boys that were attending and for some reason everybody and their mother must have had Mickey Mouse parties because Walmart was ALL OUT of they matching Mickey stuff. So to Party City I went, only to have the same dilemma. AHHHHHH!!! I ended up getting Minnie/Mickey stampers, note pads to stamp on (duh!) and a few pieces of candy. Plus, I had picked up Mickey ears that I was going to add bows to for the girls. Those went in the favor bag too. I was going to make each set of ears but the pre-made ones were cheaper.

All you need is:
- Mickey ears ($2/4 @ Walmart)
- ribbon $1.97 @ Walmart
- hot glue gun
- jewelry wire (optional)

I cut the ribbon in 9 inch strips, glued the end together and after pinching the center to make a bow fastened them with some wire.

I then covered the wire with a smaller piece of ribbon that I wrapped around and glued on the back. I cut them 2 inches long but a tiny bit shorter would have worked too. Last, I glued the bows on the ears, right in the center. And voila, you're done!

Well, I was done after 11 more...

Nia's I made from a black headband, felt, foam and a bow so she can use it for dress-up later on. I used these instructions: http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2010/06/16/how-to-make-mickey-minnie-mouse-ears-for-a-party/

Here she is, in her birthday outfit. She picked it herself.

Max wanted to be in the picture too. I had planned on making her an outfit, I already pinned ideas, but her choice worked well and was probably cheaper too. It's from Walmart ;)

We already some 4th of July Mickey T-shirts from old navy but this is a cute and easy way to make your own using stencils and bleach!
I also made place mats for the kids. I used polka dot napkins from Walmart to make the bows. The card stock I got at Hobby Lobby and I used a dinner plate and a small bowl to trace the circles. I attached the ears on the back of the big circle with a glue stick. Easy peasy!!

The boys didn't mind having a Minnie place mat, they thought it was clever that the bow was a napkin. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the table set up before the guests arrived, which was also cause I didn't have time, haha. Here are shots of our guests, you can see the tables so you get the picture. How awesome is it that the Youth Center had red chairs which went perfectly with our color scheme!

We were in the art room so decorating was a bit limited, here are Nia's balloons. They were supposed to go behind her chair but Isaiah didn't leave them alone and made one pop so we put them on the food table.

Nia picked her cake herself and I decorated the cupcakes we ordered from the commissary because Joseph wanted Oreo frosting.

I used oreos and mini oreos to make the head and ears. For the bows I used 2 heart shaped sprinkles (good thing Valentine's Day is around the corner!) and attached them with a dab of red writing gel. I also got red and white polka dot cupcake liners for the Minnie cupcakes and red ones for the Mickey cupcakes.

Nia had a blast and so did Isaiah. He had to take a break from all the partying:

Nia has been wanting a car, no not a toy, a real car. A Ford Mustang Shelby GT to be exact! She threw a major fit at the car dealership last year but I just don't have $40.000 laying around. So I had looked into the power wheels version, it was around $400 once you customized it. Better than the real thing but still a bit pricey!!! I found a Mercedes Benz SUV power wheels when I went Black Friday shopping and got it for $89 (would've been $79 if my dumb behind had not left the coupon in the car!!!!!). That had to do it. Besides, we gotta keep up the German influence in this family, haha.

Did she like it? You be the judge!

She loves having Isaiah next to her and I love that she likes to share it! There's too much snow now for her to drive it outside and Joseph's attempt in her driving down the hallway didn't work out so well. - I'm not planning on fixing any damage in his house when we PCS so I told him NO! - We will probably make room in the garage one weekend so she can drive it. If you're looking for more ideas for your kid's Minnie/Mickey party check out my board on Pinterest!

Hope you enjoyed my post! Thanks for reading!!!

Love,