Winter Skin Care

If you are like me, then the dry winter months wreck havoc on your skin. My normal skincare routine just doesn't cut it anymore. I still have an oily t-zone but literally, every other place on my body is dry. I have come up with a few tips to keep moisturized...

First, I switched to a body wash that had better ingredients. It's made without parabens and sulfates. It's infused with coconut milk and vitamin e. I would link it to you, but apparently, it's now discontinued. :( But like our hair, those ingredients strip our skin of some of the oils that it needs. Also, while we are still in the shower, I use a sugar scrub every time I shave my legs to remove excess dead skin. This not only helps to get a smoother shave, it really gets all that dead skin exfoliated. I always get itchy with dead skin, so this is a must for me. I exfoliate my face at least twice a week during the winter, also. And don't forget the lip scrubs, because chapped lips and our beautiful liquid matte lipsticks just don't mix well!

After my shower, I slather on my favorite lotion while my skin is still a little damp. It is best to do this step fresh out of the shower because the hot water opens up our pores. We need to put moisture back in while they are open and soak it up. Don't forget your facial moisturizer!

My nightime routine has changed a little, also. I like to use all my normal creams and moisturizer, but for the last step I use a good face oil. I've been loving the Tarte Maracuja Oil for this step. It feels really thick and coats my face well, but when I wake up, I don't feel greasy or oily, it soaks right into my skin. I also like to use a chapstick plus vaseline on my lips at night. I feel like layering products is the only way to go in the winter, just like we gotta layer those clothes! ;)

For anyone suffering from severe, dry cracked feet you should try to massage a generous amount of coconut oil on them, then put on some cozy socks. If you don't like to sleep in socks, then do this while you are enjoying your favorite Netflix show before bed! Do the same for your hands if you need to! Coconut oil forms a protective layer over the cracked skin that helps to keep out other bacterias, it has healing properties, so while it is protecting from the outside it is also healing from the inside.

I hope that my little list will help you with your winter time skin. If you have any other tricks for beating dry skin this winter, share in the comments down below.

Goodnight my lovies, thank you SO much for stopping by!

Easy *NOT quick* Turkey Soup

My favorite Holiday is Thanksgiving. You get to be around friends and family without the stress of gift-giving PLUS you get a fabulous meal. If you're like me and typically cook enough food for double the guests, you're wondering what you can do with leftovers. My favorite thing to do with leftover turkey is to make turkey soup. Basically chicken and rice soup, but obviously made with turkey. 

This is such an easy thing to do, but it is very time-consuming. Not in the sense of having to watch it every minute, but you will need a few hours to be at home.

Enough blabbering lets get into it.

So first, take your leftover turkey carcass and remove any big pieces of turkey meat left on it. You can use this for sandwiches or whatever you normally do with turkey meat, OR you can be like me and set it aside to make your soup extra meaty.

After you've removed the meat you want to put the carcass in an extra big pot. Like, you want to be able to fill enough water in it to cover the carcass. I don't measure this, I just add enough to cover the bones. Next, you want to throw in some celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and a couple tablespoons of salt. When I say throw in, I literally mean you don't have to cut the celery or carrots just put them in whole. The garlic I just smash and peel then throw in the chunks. With the onion, I just peel it and cut it in half then toss it in. Your turkey will add a little extra flavor from any seasonings you used while baking it. When you get everything in the pot, put it on the stove and bring it to a boil. I let mine boil for a good 3 hours at a rolling boil. This will cook down your liquid by at least a quarter, and that is a good thing.

Once you're satisfied with your boil time, take the pot off the heat and let it cool down. You want to strain the liquid into an extra large bowl. Place it in the fridge until your ready to use it. The worse part of this whole ordeal is now picking off the rest of the meat from the bones in the pot. Since we left our veggies large, it will be easy to discard them from the pile. Pick through all the bones and get any meat left behind. This meat will be so tender and juicy, you want to get it all out for the soup!!! Once you have all the meat off the bones you are ready to make your soup!

You will want more celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. This time you will dice everything up into medium size pieces. Except for the garlic, mince that as fine as you can get it.

In my dutch oven I added 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauteed the celery, carrots, and onion until soft; add the garlic and let that saute for just about one minute. Add your homemade stock to the pan plus all the meat you want to add. In my opinion, the more meat, the better! Bring this to a boil and let it cook for at least 30 minutes before eating.

While your soup is boiling, cook some rice. I like to add my rice to each individual bowl instead of adding it to the soup. If you have leftovers, the rice just swells and turns your soup into moosh.

You are now ready to enjoy your HOMEMADE turkey and rice soup. You won't need to add extra salt, at least I didn't, but adding a little pepper won't hurt.

Let me know in the comments down below if are going to try this, or if you have a turkey soup recipe you'd like to share with is!!

Goodnight my lovies, thank you SO much for stopping by!

Recipe break down:
Turkey Stock:
1 leftover turkey carcass
5 stalks of celery
3 whole carrots, peeled
4 garlic cloves
2 onions cut in half
2 tablespoons of salt
Lots of Water

Place the turkey carcass in a large pot. Fill with water. Add all the veggies and salt and bring to boil. Allow to boil and cook down for 3 hours.
Strain out liquid -- set aside.
Pick meat off of turkey carcass --  set aside.

Turkey soup:
Homemade turkey stock
1 cup of diced celery
1 cup of diced carrots
1 medium yellow onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
leftover turkey meat.

In a large dutch oven, saute celery, carrots, and onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic and saute for one more minute. Add your homemade turkey stock plus turkey meat and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes before eating. While soup is simmering, cook some rice. Add as much rice you want to your bowl and fill with soup. Enjoy!

November Favorites

I wanted to start a little monthly blog to dedicate to my monthly favorites. I'm always switching up my makeup routine so I thought I'd share a few products that I've been loving this month. This month I have five products that I want to share with you guys!

one:
Tarte Maracuja Oil $48
This oil has a few different uses. The one that it's sort of marketed for is to use on your face and neck. Apply two or three drops to your fingers tips then massage onto your face and neck. It's said to moisturize, firm, brighten, and smooth skin. I've been using it in my nighttime skincare routine and even though it's an oil I don't wake up with super oily skin. It kind of just melts into the skin. My makeup applies so nicely the day after I've worn this overnight. You can also use it on your cuticles and smooth frizzy hair.

two:
Loreal Paris Brow Stylist Definer: Brunette $8.99
I love this brow pencil. It's my current go-to pencil when I just want a more natural looking brow. It has a super fine tip making hair-like strokes so easy. It comes with a spoolie attached to the other end to help blend and comb through your brows.

three:
Maybelline Fit Me! Matte + Poreless Translucent Pressed Powder $7.99
This has easily become my favorite drugstore pressed powder. It is silky smooth and does everything it claims to do for me! I don't use it with the little sponge it comes with, I just use a brush. I load up a small brush to set my undereye concealer and my eyeshadow primer, then use a bigger brush to set my whole face. It sets my foundation perfectly and keeps my shine away all day!

four:
the Balm Bahama Mama Bronzer $20
I forgot how much I loved this bronzer. It has the perfect nuetral undertone to use as a contour powder. It's silky smooth and blends into the skin so effortessly. I typically used it to add a slight contour to my cheek bones then go over it with a warmer shade of bronzer to get such a natural sunkissed look.

five:
Lancome Blush Subtil: Rose Fresque $32
As much as I love this blush, I don't think I'd shell out the money for just a blush, this one was gifted to me. It is such a pretty shade on my pale skin. It has a nice satin finish that just makes the skin look so fresh. Hands done one of my all time favorite blushes!

So, that's it for my November favorites. Let me know in the comments down below what your favorite products are this month!

Goodnight my lovies, thank you SO much for stopping by!