Home-Made Concealer

So, most of us have experienced the frustration with rising cosmetic prices, and a lot of us have decided that they just aren't worth that extra money you may need for milk later this month. Here's a little solution that might get you through for a while. Sure you can go to a drug store or a super market and pick up a concealer stick for $7, or you can make your own at home. This is really cool!

*Above are all the tools and products that

were used to make this concealer*

1) This can be so versatile. You can make it for covering up blemishes, smoothing out your skin, and even to help contour, and simply cover with a translucent finish powder.
2) This can be made with any array of products, colors and scents even.
3) It only requires 2 ingredients. Thats right! Only two!

And what are these ingredients? Moisturizer/Primer, or something like those thats not going to dry out, irritate or damage your skin. You can use your favorite moisturizer or liquid primer. You can even use your favorite lotion, provided it doesn't cause blemishes later on. You want something that will help your skin stay and feel healthy. The other ingredient is any shade of loose powder. If you don't have loose powder, you can use packed powder and shave it off then crush it up until its smooth like loose powder. If you don't know what it should look like because you've always used packed powder, it should look something along the lines of flour or powdered sugar.

I'm gonna be as honest as possible and let you know that there really is no specific quantity to either of these things. You just have to do what you think is gonna make the best consistency for your liking.

I used a little more complex recipe, and included a tiny bit of a soft blush I love, to make it look more natural for my skin. Like I said, you can do this however you feel is right for you. Here's what I did, and you can change this however you want.

I started with a little clear container from a sample of wax melts from Avon that I had from when I used to sell it. You can get little containers like this with screw caps, and snap caps pretty cheap online. You can also use an old powder container. If you buy stick concealer, I would not recommend using those containers, as they have holes in the bottom under the stick that your homemade concealer, especially if very thin and liquid-y, will sink into and you won't be able to use every bit you made. You can use any little container you have lying around. If you have any old lip gloss containers, or anything similar, clean them out really well.

I used a little antiseptic towelette to help sanitize my hands and my container, along with my work bench and my tools and products. You don't want any nasty bacteria in your make-up.

Here are the products I chose, and just what I had on hand. I didn't purchase these, I've had them for a while.

Avon Ideal Shade Foundation Lotion; medium moyan (This is a white primer-like lotion with spf 15)
Rimmel London Stay Matte Pressed Powder; Creamy Natural 011
      *I would suggest buying a few different shades to get the right one for your skin. Your press powder may work alone on your skin perfectly, however, mixing it with a liquid form of anything may make it darker. This happened to me, so I ended up using a lighter color from an eye-shadow palette which I would not recommend because this makes the make-up very shimmery and is harder to wash off even with towelettes.
The eye shadow I used is also an Avon product.This one is the Baie d'amour (Berry Love) F1703. It has four different colors, as part of a 4 step process to get that nice cat-eye shadow appearance. I used the lightest color in the palette to help even out the darkness on the concealer.
I also added a little bit of light blush which is another avon product. Smooth Minerals Blushing Mauve M301 and this is a very light, shimmery, soft pink blush that I really love to use, and its perfect on my skin tone, which is a very light ivory color.

I started with 1/4 Teaspoon of both the foundation lotion and the Rimmel London powder.
This was a little bit too liquid-y for me, so I added a bit more powder. After getting it to the consistency I wanted, I added a little bit of the smooth minerals. This made it darker. I added a bit more of the lotion to get it back to consistency, and then added the lightest shadow I had. Again, I would not recommend this, I would recommend buying a powder that is a shade or two lighter than your skin. If you want a concealer thats lighter, but you can't find a powder thats lighter, you can use a translucent powder. If you just want a thicker translucent coverage, you can use just a white moisturizer and translucent powder. You can also use air-brush foundation for this, but use less moisturizer or it will become very thin. I also suggest, if using air-brush foundation, you use translucent powder to make it thicker. You can also add some blush powder, but don't use a dark blush, get a very faint pink color, or a faint color of whatever you like, and only add a tiny pinch. Remember that any colors besides your skin color will make this darker. If you get darker color that you can't seem to brighten up, you can use this for contouring by making it a little bit darker and then using a beauty blender to help even out your colors on your skin.

Keep repeating your process until you have the shade, consistency and amount that you're happy with. If you try this, show me pictures and let me know what you did down in the comments! If you have any recommendations, also share those for all other users!!
I hope this helps you save a bit of money on concealer, and I know this way goes a lot longer than buying it. Good luck and have fun making your own make up thats good for your skin!

I'll be trying out a home-made foundation Powder here in the near future. If you have any recipes for those, let me know also in the comments!! Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!

This.

I MADE THIS

A week or so ago, and the family Loved it! And so did I! I did change up a few things in the recipe when I made it though. Serving a family of 5, and especially My family, 8 slices of bacon just wouldn't cut it. So I bought a package of Wright Bacon and cut every slice in half, then cooked all the halves. I started the process of doing this (on the stove) about the time I put the potatoes in the oven. Keep the bacon soft, but not too soft. It needs to be cooked, but not crunchy.

Then when I finished cooking all the halves I started making the crumbles of bacon. You can do this with a knife or with your hands, but make sure your hands are clean! This was fairly easy to do, but it was pretty time consuming. By the time the bacon was finished, so were the potatoes. Luckily, and I was quite thankful to past me for being bored and deciding to start prepping ingredients,...

I had the cheese and scallions all prepared, but I didn't use any cream cheese and it still came out just fine. I bought a large, I think 8lb bag of preshredded cheese. Having been my first time making this, I wasn't sure I'd have enough so I overachieved, which turned out to be a good thing. I had the scallions chopped up, and mind you they should probably be pretty thin, and the cheese separated into two baggies. One for the inside of the casserole and one for the topping. I put in the baggies what the recipe called for and a little more. Maybe a handful more for inside the casserole (and a handful can mean whatever you want it to mean) and 1/3 cup more in for the topping. (After all, even if that wasn't enough, I had left over cheese, right?) So I let the potatoes chill out on the stove to cool for just a few minutes, then started the process of making them into a casserole. I did forget the salt and pepper, so I'd suggest putting it in the potatoes with the butter and sour cream. AND if you have any picky eaters in your household, who don't like sour cream you can substitute the sour cream with a little more butter or a couple of table spoons of cream. (Heavy Whipping cream would work fine). To do this, prepare your potatoes after they've been baked and put in the amount of butter the recipe calls for. Then use a potato masher to get the potatoes fluffy. Add a tablespoon of cream if you want it softer and fluffier. Take out half of the potatos and place them in a seperate bowl. Then to one half of your mixture add your sour cream. I added the full quantity of sour cream, but you don't have to if you don't want to. Then to the other half add half the quantity of butter listed on the recipe. If you don't want to add that much butter, substitute in with cream instead, but use about 1/3 or less of the cream compared to the quantity called for of sour cream. Then add in half the quantity of milk to both bowls and mix it together to form a fluffy and thick potato casserole. From there, take half the quantity of scallions and cheese for the inside of the casserole and add to each bowl and mix it together.

I used One casserole dish for this and lined it with some aluminum foil with a little bit of it folded at the middle to create a barrier for each half. You don't have to do this you can use two casserole pans or you can make two quantities of the entire recipe and do half and half in two dishes. Once you've lined your pan with the foil spray the sides with some non-stick baking spray (You can use a butter flavored spray with this, and it will work just fine.), then top the entire casserole with the topping cheese. If you grated your cheese, you might not have as much as I did on top, but it will still taste just as good. Before I stuck it into the oven I added a sprinkle of garlic salt right over the top of the entire casserole just to give it a little extra flavor. You can make this however you like or for as many people as you like, but just experiment to find the way that works best for you.

The single recipe with no alterations yields 8 servings. The recipe I made with alterations had about 6-8 servings. If you have a hungry family I definitely suggest buying a 10lb bag of potatoes and making a double recipe. The prep time should still be about the same unless you have to do one tray of potatoes at a time. You can have many of your ingredients prepared the day before so actually mixing it and prepping it for cooking won't take as long as if you had to run back and forth gathering ingredients. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did, and I hope you have more patience than I do when it comes to making bacon on a stove! Happy holidays you guys, and I'll see you all later!

A Tale of the Impatient One

A Tale of the Impatient One

Growing up I'd always been a pretty impatient child. Never did I really realize this until now, in making a possible choice that might have forever altered the way I did things. Patience really is a virtue. It took me a while to figure this out, and over one of probably the silliest things. I wanted a new car. This new car was going to be like all the others. It was to be 'cool' and would make others like me more. Never have I lost pride in something I loved. It is a fact that I never did change my opinion, just tried to jump too fast at an opportunity that would be better off not taken right now. Maybe this opportunity was a once in a lifetime chance. However, I don't believe I've made any mistakes in figuring up my conclusion. My current car is a very reliable one, and I can trust it. While I miss home and would love the money to go back, even for a few days, I must be patient. I am where the great one says I should be. I feel as though my mother is guiding me in spirit. I feel as though, by selling my current car, and buying a new one, at my age, and in my sitiation, I'd be making a bad choice for my future. No, making a bad choice isn't always a mistake. To me, no one learns from a mistake. Its the choices they make that lead them in wrong directions that they learn from. They learn along the way that their choice in path was incorrect, and therefore have a chance to turn around. I feel it is almost never too late to fix something that may not be all put together at the moment. This choice for me, believe it or not has been very difficult. I smile to myself as I know now, what I should choose, and what will be best. A wise woman told me a story of how she waited for her dream car for a long time, and then she realized she needed the patience to get it. She now has it, and that can be me too one day. For now, Mali is my car, and it will stay as such, until I'm ready for something new.

Thank you mom for helping guide me. And thank you In-Laws for also guiding me, but in a different way. Life seems simpler when you sit down, think, follow your gut, and make a choice based on what may be good for your future. Light some candles, inscents, and turn on some soft music. Let yourself flow out onto the surface in front of you, before you come to a final decision.


-sips water-

Goodnight.

Home Was Home

Home was when she lived.When I was born.
While I grew up.

Home was when it was built
When it was filled
Where we had fun.

Sometimes, though, home becomes... not so home anymore.

Home was.

Home was home until she died.
Until I left.
After I grew up, and out.

Home was built.
Home was filled.
Home was fun.

Home was.

This is something I've realized and just come to terms with the fact of. Home was. I realized when she took that last breath I wouldn't be able to go back. When I did, it didn't feel like home. The old country road had turned into a road that was less traveled. A road that carried memories, like the trees beside it carried life.
The chairs were empty, the television silenced. All of the memories had gone, been locked up in a filing cabinet with everything else I forgot because bad things happened, and in turn of those bad things, I forgot. I forgot because I didn't want to remember. Because the bad things made the good things bad.

This place was just a house. It will be just a house for a long, long time. This house was built to be occupied by someone stronger than I. This house was built for those who want to settle down and stay, and deal with things that arise. This house was not meant for those who run. Run from fear, pain, emptiness. Who feel that a house cannot possibly hold anything to relieve that from them. This house was built with love, sweat, blood and tears. This house is held on memories. This house is not for the weak minded. This house is not for the emotionally obstructed.

Home was.

Home was full of memories. Some I still see faintly in my head. Those memories contain simple things that can be seen anywhere, but here it is special. The wind blowing on a fresh spring day where the air is filled with the fresh scent of rain, flowers and newly mowed grass. The water in the pond sparkling with the sun glistening off of it. The white siding on the house, too bright to look at directly, but if you looked to the side, you could tell it wasn't white, but off white, kind of gray-ish.