Instacart.. groceries delivered to your door.

My husband and I have some pretty crazy schedules.  We are both college students, and we do not always have time to go to grocery shopping. The last time we went to our grocery store, we saw a sign stating that they were going to start delivering groceries via Instacart.  We were so excited and  really happy to try out the service to see if it would be something that would work for us.  

Even though we have only placed one order, I already see a ton of advantages. For example, no more impulse purchases!  So many times at the grocery store it is easy to go off budget by being tempted by sweet treats or other yummy goodies. I looked at the ingredients we needed for our meals this week and went through Whole Foods virtually adding everything that we needed.  

It gave the options to pick between organic, etc. and the site was easy to navigate although I saw that sometimes I had to be very specific.  For example, we love Amy’s frozen Margherita Pizza.  There is more than one type and the one that uses Daiya cheese.  When I saw all of Amy’s pizza’s listed, ours were not there.  I had to be very specific by typing "pizza Daiya" to see the pizza with we wanted.

Once I placed my order on Instacart, I saw our projected total, and they authorized $20 over that cost which is going to be refunded within 7 days following the completion of our order.  There was a service fee, I believe it was 10% of our total bill.  Delivery was $5.99 but free for your first delivery, I also applied a $10.00 off coupon.  

We could decide the time-frame we wanted our groceries delivered, and they were delivered about 10 minutes before the time-frame begun.  I heard from our shopper while he was shopping, but unfortunately I was not awake to respond!  He let us know if something was out of stock, and what he was replacing.  Overall, the experience was great having our groceries delivered at our door, and we can’t wait to use instacart again!  

Use code:

SALZINA1109

 for $10 off your first order.

Wildflower Marble iPhone case

A few weeks ago I purchased my first cell phone cover from Wildflowercases.com.  I have the iPhone 6+ and that can make it more difficult to find a good selection of cases, most come in the regular size and not the plus version!  I was pleased to see a lot of selection on Wildflower's website for my iPhone, I saw this one and loved the granite... especially around the fall season. This time of year I tend to paint my nails a darker color, and I really loved the colors in the marble case.  It slid on my phone easy and has protected the sides really well, I love the look and it looks so much like real marble!  I would definitely recommend this company to anyone looking for a trendy case, there are so many options on their website!  

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Wildflowercases and purchased this cell phone case without any representation from the company.  

Check out Wildflower cases here

          

Mary Jo K

 

 

 

Beauty tip

Beauty tip! I have a huge love for mink eyelashes..  before applying make sure your natural lashes are curled and loaded with mascara. After you apply your mink strip pinch your natural lashes to your false ones to that they blend effortlessly.  

Bedroom eyes

 "How do I get amazing eyelashes?"  Ever since the bedroom eyes of Marilyn Monroe, the eyes play the most important role in getting that sexy bombshell look.

Last year I went the route of getting eyelash extensions and let me say, horrible experience!  For me anyway.  My left eye irritated me so badly that I could barely keep it open, puss was coming out of my eye and by the end of the night my eye was redder than your favorite shade of lipstick that's tucked in your back pocket.  No matter what I did, my eye was angry.  I know pain is beauty but sometimes you do have to have your limits.... so the next day I painfully (and I mean, painfully) had them removed by a professional and haven't looked back.  So, now I just stick to my favorite mascaras and my favorite fake eyelashes.  And some of my favorites are:

Benefit really has some of my favorite products and not to mention, their packaging is usually pretty adorable.  They're Real mascara is an addiction.  Who needs fake lashes when you have a tube of this! My advice for people trying for the first time- this is a build-able mascara, you need about 3 good coats to see its magic. Let each coat get semi dry (sticky) in between the next layer. Then enjoy!

Roller Lash by Benefit.  The newest mascara by Benefit hit the scene with another hit.  Use both"They're Real" & "Roller Lash" to really get those intense bedroom eyes.

MAC 36 lash.Tons of compliments whenever I use these, if careful they can be used more than once

MAC 48 lash

Flutter lashes (mink) in Ashley

Flutter eyelashes (mink) in Annabelle

More tips and my faves to come...

MAKEUP TIP OF THE DAY

Try this one by MAC

Every artist needs their tools

Highlighting & Contouring

I have a home video showing myself as a 3 year old celebrating my Birthday holding Wizard of Oz figures.  I squeal in delight as I open one of my gifts, what is it?  My first tube of lipstick, of course.  A great shade of red and who knew where that would take me down the road.  I guess I have always had a passion for all things beautiful, on the inside and out.  I love makeup and it has always been a passion of mine.  I would like to introduce the wonders of highlighting and contouring.  Highlighting and contouring has been done for ages, the greats such as Kevyn Aucoin showed documented details about what products to use and how.  The likes of Kim Kardashian's made it BOOM into a normal makeup staple, just like mascara, you need your highlighting and contouring products that you know you can rely on to achieve that supermodel-look-at-my-amazing-bone-structure-look.

Here are some of my favorite products:

First: start with your clean, blank face.  Usually I start out by doing eye-shadow first so anything that flakes off will not ruin the face makeup.  I also apply the fake eyelashes and then proceed onto the face.  I use a primer such as:

MAC's Prep + Prime Skin

MAC Prep + Prime Fix +

or

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer - Radiance

MAC is 99% of my staple and has been since the beginning but I have ventured and found a few products that I love.  These are all great primers and will help create a smooth and flawless palette for you to achieve the look.

Next I use concealer under my eyes, by my lips and sometimes around my nose if needed.  I swear by MAC's 

Pro Longwear concealer

This stuff is amazing.  It covers any dark circles or veins or anything else you can imagine.  I put this on using a MAC #195 concealer brush.  This puts the concealer on perfectly and flawlessly.

Second I like to use touche' eclat' along the bridge of the nose, around the nostrils, in the corner of the mouths to brighten up that area and the chin to make it look more projected.  I apply and blend it in very well.

Touche Eclat

Now it's time for the cheekbones.  I have a few staples I like to use for highlighting.  I apply a liquid highlighter (Watts up!) with the built in applicator in a sweeping motion under the eyes and towards the hairline. Be sure to quickly blend this one with your fingers as it dries fast and becomes immovable.

Watts Up

I like to enhance the highlighting with powder and I like to use the banana and vanilla color from Anastasia's Contouring Kit.

Contouring Kit

Now for the fun part! Contouring (shading) can be rather flat and dull without the highlighting, but in the end, contouring is what makes the most difference. 

I use one of the darker shades in the Anastasia kit for contouring and I also like to use Kevyn Aucoin's  

The Sculpting Powder

What I like about this powder is the color is not muddy and it looks like a natural shadow opposed to an orange color or something unnatural like some contouring shades tend to be.

I also like to use MAC's darker eye-shadows for contouring since the pigment is so good and it blends effortlessly.  One of my favorite brushes for contouring is MAC's #163 flat contour brush.

#163

This brush makes it insanely simple to get that perfect line for contouring those cheekbones.  Brush and build the contouring shade of your choice in the hollows of the cheeks. When you extend this color, do so down, not up. Make sure it doesn't just stop, either. Then apply your contouring shade along the jawline, but from below. Making it look sharper and more defined. That strong jawline is almost as commanding as those amazing cheekbones.  Next, a small fluffy brush contours the nose lightly. Try to accentuate the natural bone rather than adding something that isn't there. For a narrower nose, contour the sides. For a shorter one, contour from below and of course make sure to blend, blend, blend!  

Tools are as important as your product, some of my favorite tools are:

MAC #109

MAC #116

MAC #130

MAC #190

Sincerely,

Cat scratch your tongue?!

Last week I was so excited to see a box on our back porch that said, “Hepper”. If you have read my previous post, you should know that I love their products. My cats have loved their chairs which I like to refer to as the little “spaceship chairs” and they LOVE their newest addition, the nest pod. Now, here comes another favorite product and one I was so excited about for our kitties, the Hi-LO scratching post. My husband and I like to spoil our kitties, so this was going to be their Valentine’s Day gift. We made ourselves resist the urge to open it early and opened it on Valentine’s Day to reveal to our 3 kittos!

One of the things I love about the hepper products is not only do they have your cat in mind, but they also really make great addition to your house.  I loved the sleek and modern look of the hi-lo scratcher right away, there is plenty of room for our kittos to dig their claws into.  My husband “put it together” really fast; I say “put it together” because it was SO simple.  Just insert the silver stand into each hole on the side and voila, there you go.  A sturdy hi-lo scratcher that is not limited to one position and is brilliantly designed with the cat in mind.  The hi-lo scratcher can be placed into 5 different positions.  I don’t know about you, but our cats can get bored fast and they like to move onto the next thing.  Now, you can adjust the position to suit your cats wants and help preserve the scratching post for as long as possible.  

Measurements of the Hi-Lo taken from Hepper's website.

The scratching post is even big enough for your kitto to take a nap, we caught Nephthys taking a nap on it the first night we gave it to them.

              There is a little pack of cat-nip included to sprinkle onto the scratching post.  We sprinkled some on and needless to say, the hepper won an award for romance in our house.  Our cat dropped to her paws and was rolling all around the scratching post.  Literally..

& if you have a kitto that is more interested in finding a new hidden oasis, the hi-lo also makes a perfect little hideaway.

If you want a new addition to your home that will scratch your cat's fancy and maybe save your favorite chair, try out the hi-lo scratching post.  It'll make a great addition to your decor and your cats will thank you for it!  

Sincerely,

* These are opinions based on my own purchase and I have no affiliation with the company.

Purchase the hi-lo here