Beauty Loves: Winter 2017

I used to spend WAY too much money on make up. I felt (imaginary) pressure to have all the new products. Then I had a baby. I stopped working. I started wearing make up only like once a week. And I realized I had over 50 lipsticks.......Time to purge! I got rid of over 30 lipsticks (along with other products I didn't use), decided to use up what I have, and made a goal to only buy things that 1. I really need, 2. I really use, and 3. are affordable.

I thought I'd share with you some of my winter beauty loves that are all pretty affordable. The last thing I want is for you to feel like I'm telling you to go out and spend money on these things. My hope is to share what I love, hear what you love, and hopefully help each other feel more beautiful!

Loofa: This Eco Tools Bamboo Bristle Bath Brush has changed my exfoliation game. I use it as a dry brush before I shower and exfoliate all over (except my face). Utah winters are no joke and the skin on my body can get really irritated if I'm not constantly exfoliating and moisturizing. Sluff off the dead skin (I hate that phrase) before you shower and moisturize right after! Only $7.90 at Walmart and I've never had softer skin!

Wet Skin Moisturizer: I feel like these just got popular in the last year or two. I tried the Nivea brand, but my favorite is from Jergens. The coconut scent is very faint and it leaves a subtle oily feel to your skin which is exactly what I want! Apply before drying off in the shower, pat dry, and all that moisture is locked in. $5.57 at Target!

Turbie Twist: I've always hated how heavy towels are when I wrap my hair and twist it on top of my head after a shower. This one I definitely didn't NEED, but I use it every time I shower and it's pretty affordable, if you ask me. Only $5.99 at Walgreens, what? Now, the main reason I love it is that it is not bulky at all and it's super light. My least favorite thing in life is how cold I am when I get out of the shower. This makes it so that I can get into my warm, cozy clothes while having my hair wrapped up nice and warm, too! They claim it's "super absorbent" and your hair will require less blow drying....I've yet to see that actually be the case, but maybe I'm just not observant enough.

Setting Spray: If you have never used a setting spray YOU NEED TO. I feel like I can confidently say that because they really are life-changing and you can find them super cheap! The Nyx Dewy Setting Spray is my favorite (dry skin for life) and you can find it for $5.99 on Amazon. There is also a matte option. The cheapest, though, is by Wet n Wild and you can find it at Walmart for only $4.68!

 
Aquaphor: In case I haven't said it already....I HAVE DRY SKIN. Sensitive and dry. Woohoo! I got pretty sick of my flakey skin and it looked horrible when I applied make up. I exfoliated occasionally (my skin freaks out if I do it too much) and I moisturize morning and night, but it finally cleared up when I started applying Aquaphor on top of my normal moisturizer. Here's how I use it: Morning and night I wash or splash my face with water, pat dry, wait 5-10 minutes, apply moisturizer all over, and then Aquaphor on the dry patches (my T zone). No more flaky skin! I even stopped using it for a week because I was lazy/forgot and my skin got soooo yucky without it! Never again. My husband was sure it would clog my pores and make me break out, but nope! Shout out to my freshman roommate, Haley, for using this on her lips everyday. Never knew it existed until then! P.S. A little goes a long way! $12.89 for a big tub at Target, or try the small tube for $4.99 and get 5% off with your REDcard!

       

Matte Lip Color: Cheapest option here is E.L.F. Matte Lip Color in Natural (I also LOVE Tea Rose), longest lasting option here is NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Tea & Cookies (much pinker in person), and my favorite color and most moisturizing here is Maybelline Color Senesational Creamy Matte Lip color in Lust for Blush (I also love Faint for Fuschia). I tried to link the cheapest options, and I know, it's pretty clear I have a love for rose/blush/nude shades.

          

What are some of your favorite beauty loves?

Taco Tuesday: Street Tacos Don Joaquin

Location: 150 W 1230th N St                

                 Provo, UT 84604

                (On Bulldog between L&L and Subway)

Asada: Super tender and juicy meat. Lovely flavor. Tortillas were little softer here. Jake loved them, they were alright with me. 

Pastor: Yummiest flavor! A little dry and not the most tender, BUT they throw on a slice of pineapple which makes up for it tenfold. Now I just need to find a place with tender meat, perfect flavor, and pineapple! Any suggestions?

Meat of the week: They had lots of other options, but all of them were a little too out of my comfort zone. For example, cabeza (head), tripa (gut), lengua (tongue). They also had chorizo, but I wasn't feelin' in the mood for that. 

Rice and beans: Beans were just a little chunky, but it wasn't too noticeable and the flavor was nice and plain, just like I like 'em. Rice was great with a smokey flavor, too. Not my favorite, but I can appreciate the individuality. 

Salsas: If I remember correctly, there were 3 to choose from. Two green were my favorite, as usual and nice and mild. The other option was hot, but I found myself really liking it. Cilantro, onion, and lime, were great as well. I never really go beyond that, but maybe I'll be more adventurous next time and try the other options!

$: Tacos were $1.25 to $1.50 and rice and beans were $1.50 each.

Atmosphere: Pretty dang clean. They were busy, busy, busy, so we wiped down our own table, but no complaints. Staff was very friendly and lively. I like that you could see the cooks workin' back there. Looked like they were having fun together. Lots of sweet families and a big old BYU group date lookin' thing. Those are always good for people watching.

My plate:

Taco Tuesday: Doña Mary Mexican Grill

Jake had the brilliant idea of hitting up a new taco joint every Tuesday this semester before we leave Provo after graduation. Whoop, whoop! After week one, we decided maybe this should be an every other week thing.....trying to eat healthier plus stuffing our faces with tacos doesn't quite add up. BUT we won't let that stop us from finding the best tacos in Utah County.

I decided to break up my review into categories. My favorite taco is carne asada, but I feel like tacos al pastor is very telling as to whether or not a restaurant knows their stuff, so I'll try to keep those in the mix every week. I'll also do my best to throw in a review for a third taco just to keep it interesting. Next would be rice and beans (Cohen's domain), salsas, then price and atmosphere (cleanliness, friendliness, overall viiiiiibes). I didn't take a pic, but I will try to remember to do that next time!

Located at 1462 State Street in Orem, Doña Mary's is our first stop for Taco Tuesday. 

Asada: Beefy (obviously) and moist. Still tough enough to make you rip into it with your teeth, in a good way, but not so tough that your jaw gets a work out. YUM. Add cilantro, lime, and onion, and it's Anna's perfect taco. 

Pastor: I have had a couple 'womp, womp' experiences with tacos al pastor, so I wasn't too pumped about trying a bite of Jake's, But helloooo, these were amazing. So saucey, so much flavor, cooked onion in there, too. I was very pleasantly surprised. "Definitely top notch pastor," says Jake.

Meat of the week: Birria! Jake says, "The birria was juicy and very flavorful. My two favorites were the asada and pastor."

Rice and beans: We got a HUGE serving of rice and beans for about $3. All three of us shared it and we couldn't finish! Cohen ate a ton of the beans and even enjoyed the rice, which is not usually his favorite. The refried beans had no weird flavors and not a ton of whole pieces of beans (I like 'em smooth). They did, however, have a couple little pieces of some kind of green chile which I was not expecting. Cohen spit those out, but I didn't mind. The rice was not overpowering, but had some good flavor, too. 

Salsas: The light green avocado sauce was, surprisingly, the spiciest! Green chile sauce was yummy on the carne asada. I didn't try the red pepper sauce and the red salsa with cilantro was pretty good on chips, but not my favorite in the whole world. Had an interesting flavor that I couldn't get over and have no idea how to describe....not for me. 

$: Tuesdays AND Wednesdays $0.99 tacos!

Atmosphere: This place was so clean! They had soccer on TV, which totally set the mood, especially when the announcer was yelling GOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL. That was probably the highlight of my evening. So fun! And the girl who helped us was great! She spoke very little english and was very smiley and kind. I'm pretty sure the only other guy in there was her boyfriend, who was very friendly and kept making Cohen laugh. I was shocked at the lack of a crowd because it was SO good. Although, a group of co-eds did arrive as we were finishing up. Granted, we eat dinner a little early around here, so maybe they are busier later!

Other: Free single serving of chips for each person at your table!

What's your favorite Taco Tuesday joint? We just might have to add it to our list of places to try!

Thanks for reading!

Probiotics: What is the Best Option For You?

Remember how I agreed to write some blog posts for a company reviewing their probiotic supplements in exchange for free product? The agreement was for two months and I never received the second month's supply....so I decided to try a less expensive option that was recommended to me. I ordered and waited for it to come in the mail. After a week off of probiotics I knew I needed them back! The return of tummy issues. I immediately got another bottle from Silver Fern to keep Cohen on them, and tried this cheaper brand for myself. It seemed to work fine, but I still had issues every once in a while. Yes, it was the holidays and I wasn't eating my best.....or anything close to my best, but I didn't feel like they were doing their job. I decided once I finish that bottle, I will switch back to Silver Fern with Co. Wish me luck!

How to have success:

Follow instructions. One a day for a week, then two a day from then on (for Silver Fern brand). It can hurt your tummy if you start with too much, depending on the brand.

Do you have to take them forever? No. BUT, taking them for a short time will not correct a lifetime of poor gut health. To work best, a combination of probiotics and a whole food diet work well. It is even better to start with a healthy diet and THEN add in the probiotics once you've made it a lifestyle.

The most damaging things to intestinal flora are sugar, excessive grains, caffeine, and alcohol. And, of course, antibiotics.

I don't really have an answer as to how long you need to take probiotics....sorry! I am going to try it for a year and see how I feel about it.

Other benefits: 

Did you know that taking a probiotic might help prevent cavities? There are currently tons of studies out there testing this. If you've had a lot of cavities, you know that too much acid breaks down your tooth's enamel, which leads to cavities. Lactobacillus strains help neutralize your overall pH balance, including in your mouth. I haven't been able to find information that says taking a probiotic WILL prevent cavities, but I think it's only a matter of time until we discover a way to make that happen.

Probiotics also boost your metabolism. See this post to read more about it.

What are your options?

Please note, I have not done any research on these brands except for price. I still believe Silver Fern is the best product based on what it contains, how it is stored, and their quality assurance process (which can be found here under Why Silver Fern Brand?).

Silver Fern: $0.66 per capsule if you take one*, $1.33 if you take recommended dose.

Walmart: Equate, $0.39 per capsule

Walgreens: Walgreens brand, $0.59

Target: Up & Up, $0.66 per capsule

Costco: Florastor, $0.47
             Nature's Bounty, $0.14
             Trunature, $0.13
             Align, $0.65
             Culturelle, $0.29
            Digestive Advantage, $0.22
            Webber Naturals, $0.31

Smith's: Kroger, $0.66 (On sale for $0.56 when I checked last month)

*Babies and children should only take one capsule per day. Adults who take one Silver Fern capsule have also seen benefits.

Where I found some of this information:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/probiotic-pill-oral-health-cavities-377698

http://curetoothdecay.com/blog/how-lactobacilli-bacteria-prevent-tooth-decay-oral-thrush/

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Quality-control-of-probiotics-is-lacking-study-suggests