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Amazon Freebie

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Amazon Freebie

Hi everyone and TGIF! I am finally getting up to date on all of my summer purchases posts and this one pertains to my new favorite sweatshirt that I got on Amazon for FREE! Thanks to completing surveys on IPoll, I received a twenty-five dollar Amazon gift card in April or so. Since then, the card has been burning a hole in my pocket but after watching Animal House with my parents last month, I knew just what to spend it on. Take a look:

Animal House is one of my favorite movies because it’s basically the original Old School – which happens to be another one of my favorites! In Animal House, the “COLLEGE” sweatshirt that Bluto sports while downing a bottle of Jack always cracks me up. The shirt is just so ridiculous and as soon as I saw it while watching the movie last month, I knew that I wanted one of my own.

After the movie was finished, I turned to Amazon and hoped that they would have one for a reasonable price. I was in luck because they had a great selection and all of the sweatshirts seemed to be in my gift card budget and had excellent reviews. I was able to snag my Animal House style sweatshirt for twenty-seven bucks but thanks to my gift card and the points that I accumulated from my Amazon credit card, I got it FO FREE! Now that’s what I call ballin on a budget!

So there you have it, my Animal House Amazon Freebie! What is your favorite crazy college kids movie? What is your favorite quote from Animal House? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. –Sarah

Wanted: Fall Guest Bloggers

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Wanted: Fall Guest Bloggers

Hi everyone and TGIF! Similarly to my summer time guest bloggers series at the beginning of June, I would love to have a series to kick start the beginning of fall during September. I will be looking for seven to ten guest bloggers to create articles about anything from fall beauty and style to autumn inspired crafts, food, and drinks. If this is something that might be of interest to you, please shoot me an email at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com with your information as well as a topic that you would like to write about. I look forward to hearing from all of you soon! Much love. -Sarah

Six Common Skin Care Mistakes to Avoid

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Six Common Skin Care Mistakes to Avoid

Hi everyone and welcome to a fantastic article from Fix Your Skin that teaches you some major skin care no nos. Take a look and then be sure to check out Fix Your Skin’s website for even more beauty and skin care tips of the trade:

Six Common Skin Care Mistakes to Avoid:

Taking care of your skin is hard. Like a cranky baby that constantly demands attention, you need to put all your time and effort into getting results. All of this is totally worth it, though, when you end up with glowing skin that ages well. However, some women may not get the desired results and find it tough to maintain healthy and beautiful skin all year round.

No doubt, everybody likes and wants to have beautiful skin. It has always been the main indicator of your inner health. Youthful and glowing skin indicates vitality and good health. However, people commit various mistakes thinking that they are following the best skin care techniques asnd they end up with all sorts of skin problems.

Below are the skin care mistakes you might be making which needs to be corrected before extensive damage occurs:

1) Not Paying Attention To Ingredients

To get an accurate idea of what components are present in the product, check the back of the box where the list of ingredients is displayed. Nowadays, people are aware that silicones and parabens are bad for the skin while hyaluronic acid and ceramides are good. However, don’t just scan the list for bad or good ingredients to Fix Your Skin. You need to take note of the order in which the ingredients are displayed.

Sometimes pharmaceutical firms may overload the ingredient list with fillers. So, some of the beneficial vitamins may get buried at the bottom. Keep in mind that fillers are like empty vitamins. Make sure you are looking for products that are rich in natural oils, healthy antioxidants, and vitamins.

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2) Avoiding Sunscreen

One of the biggest mistakes people make while going out in the sun is skipping sunscreen protection. Yikes! As stated by various dermatologists, the primary cause of premature aging of the skin is exposure to the harsh UV rays of the sun sans sunscreen. Make sure to apply the sunscreen lotion on exposed parts like hands, face, legs, and neck 15-20 minutes before you leave home. Go for a sunscreen that has an SPF of 30 or more.

3) Not Cleaning your Makeup Tools

One of the major reasons why you should not leave your makeup brushes unclean is that you are subjecting your skin to dirt, bacteria and other kinds of irritants. These can cause rosacea, acne, and even eczema. So, the smart thing to do is to wash your brushes every week with a soft sulfate-free cleanser.

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4) Smoking

According to various skin experts, smoking is one of the habits that you need to stay away from and it is one of the major skincare mistakes to avoid. The ill consequences of smoking are well documented in the media, and everyone is aware of them. The immediate effect of smoking is that it leads to dehydration of the skin and early aging. It dries the skin and absorbs all of the nutrients. So, in no time, skin becomes saggy, pale, and wrinkles start to appear.

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5) Not Drinking Enough Water

One of the most common skincare mistakes many people make is not drinking enough water. Frankly, it is the easiest and most important thing that you need to do every day. Did you know that water is one of the best moisturizers that you can give to your skin? If you don’t drink enough water, your skin will become dehydrated and blotchy. Various doctors and health experts agree that it is important to have at least 6-8 glasses of water each day. Consuming a lot of water will make your skin glow as it helps in flushing out harmful toxins from the body and keeps skin hydrated from the inside.

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6) Avoiding Fruits And Vegetables And Going For Junk Food

Fruits and veggies are the richest sources of minerals, vitamins, and various other antioxidants. They help in maintaining the elasticity of the skin and also in keeping it healthy. You need to include them in your diet as recent studies have shown that carotenoids present in fruits assist in improving skin tone. Doctors and skin experts feel that junk food not only has harmful effects on your waistline but also on the skin. The biggest cause of breakouts is junk food like white bread, soft drinks, fried snacks, and pizzas. They produce oil and clog pores, thereby impacting the health of the skin.

Final Verdict:

Trying to avoid these common skincare mistakes and having healthy skin can be a huge challenge. Your day-to-day duties for your family, friends, work, and other events are bound to come in between your skin care routine. It might not always seem like the right thing to do but you have to put yourself first. Taking care of yourself is just as important as caring for others. By avoiding the skin care mistakes mentioned in this article, you can get vibrant, glowing skin and can become healthier overall, too.

I want to thank the Fix Your Skin team so much for providing such a fantastic article and graphics for lifewithlilred! What are some of your skin care secrets for healthy skin? What is one of your must have skin care products? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

 

 

Bath & Body Works July Freebie

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Bath & Body Works July Freebie

Hey everyone and TGIF! This month’s Bath & Body Works Freebie was a good one because the coupon was for a full sized product! This was very exciting for me because 1) Who doesn’t love free? And 2) A full sized product means lots of choices to pick from. I went with their Pretty as a Peach body cream which was a thirteen dollar value that I didn’t pay a penny for. Check out the adorable packaging for my new lotion steal and let’s discuss:

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My favorite fragrance when it comes to perfume is anything apple scented. However, my favorite scent when it comes to bath and body care is, hands down, peach! I live for the Vineyard Peach body butter from The Body Shop (In fact, I’m using it right now!), so when I saw a peach scent from B&BW that I didn’t even know existed, I was stoked. What I really like about peach scented products is that it’s the perfect combination of a sweet and fruity fragrance. Peach scented anything walks the fine line between too sweet for my preference and just right and I friggen love it for that.

Bath & Body Works’ Pretty as a Peach scent is dangerously close to crossing the line to something that I don’t care for. However, this was redeemed by the fact that Pretty as a Peach is a really unique take on a peach scented product. Instead of being solely peach scented, Pretty as a Peach has a lot of really interesting fruit and floral undertones. These include vanilla orchid, apple blossom, and jasmine.

Normally, I despise really floral-y fragrances. I like scents that are tart and have a little bit of bite to them so I am kind of shocked that I like my new lotion as much as I do because the floral undertones in it are really evident. I still really like the scent despite this because it smells like total and one hundred percent summer. It will be really nice to break this lotion out on a cold fall or winter day and be reminded of sweet summertime thanks to the juicy peach and fresh floral combination that is Pretty as a Peach.

If you are a fan of sweet, fruity, floral, or all three fragrances, then I definitely recommend this B&BW scent. Pretty as a Peach is a light and lovely fragrance that will keep you in a summertime spirit all year long. You can shop on Bath & Body Works’ website to check out Pretty as a Peach and all of their other fun and fabulous products!

So there you have it, my Bath & Body Works July Freebie! What is your favorite B&BW scent? What is your go to summer fragrance? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

If The Shoe Fits – Jennifer Lopez Edition

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If The Shoe Fits – Jennifer Lopez Edition

Hi everyone and TGIF! Last weekend my mom and I had to go to Kohl’s to make some returns. We were going there strictly to make said returns and then leave. But, of course, that never really happens, does it? While my mom was making the returns, I decided to go look at the shoes. I wasn’t interested in any new clothes since I’m pretty well set for the summer and I figured that the shoe department was a safe place to spend five minutes until we had to go…WRONG.

It turns out that Kohl’s was having their last ditch 80% off sale to get rid of all of the out of season shoes to help ring in the warm weather. As soon as I saw this, I crumbled under the concept of such amazing deals and began to scour the aisles for my size. There were so many pairs that were cute but not necessarily cute for me. However, there were two pairs of ankle booties that totally reminded me of my mom so I set them aside for her to try on when she arrived in the shoe department.

As always, I was right and my mom loved the booties. When we decided that those were the pairs we would leave with, we began to head out of the shoe department and to the registers. But that was until we saw that there were shelves of shoes set up in the middle of the main aisles that were marked “Under $10”. We ended up taking a look (shocker) and found a pair of boots for FOUR DOLLARS for my sister. We also saw my latest addition to my shoe collection – a pair of beautiful Jennifer Lopez wedge boots. Take a look:

^^^ ❤ ❤ ❤

I had my eye on these boots ever since they came out in the winter. Unfortunately, they were priced at a cool one hundred and were never marked down enough to make the purchase worth it. So when I saw that these boots were priced at just ten dollars, I knew that I had to try them on. They were as perfect as I had hoped and looked so cool with my black skinnies because the opening of the boot was so big. It created a super edgy contrast and I was smitten.

As if the ten dollar deal wasn’t already amazing, my mom and I had a thirty percent off coupon which brought these originally one hundred dollar pair of boots to SEVEN DOLLARS!!!! My mom and I ended up walking away with four pairs of shoes for forty dollars. I couldn’t believe our luck with all of the shoes we found because I feel like we snagged the best of the pairs that were left. And, of course, nothing is sweeter than a great steal!

So there you have it, the latest issue of If The Shoe Fits – Jennifer Lopez Edition! Has anyone scored any good off season deals recently? What store do you go to that has the best clothes for the right price? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

All Done!

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All Done!

Hey everyone and TGIF! This week my spring semester at Tri-C finished up and I could not be happier. This semester seemed to drag on like no other, especially considering I only really enjoyed one of the classes I was taking. Despite disliking some of my courses, I still ended the semester with straight A’s for days so that was cool! Now that all of my classes are over and done with, I get a little break until the end of May when my summer classes and internship begin.

This summer I’ll be taking a course on Shakespeare, cultural anthropology, and the psychology of personality on top of my internship on campus. In fact, I just logged on to my student page a few minutes ago and saw that I have an official employee email account now so that made me feel…official. 😉 I’m excited that I’ll get to have some time off before my busy summer but I’m so amped to start my new classes and campus job that I just want it to get here now!

My time off will be well spent, though. During my little vaca, I plan on finishing all of my home interviews for a research project my job with NCI (National Core Indicators) is working on. After ten or so more interviews, I’ll be done until we start up our research again this winter. I also have lots of plans to catch up with some old friends as well as perfecting everything for my birthday party at the end of the month! Then it will be off to North Carolina for some much deserved R&R for the family. Can’t wait!

I’m pleased as punch to be All Done with my spring semester – especially with the good grades to show for it! Where are all of my college kids at? How did you fare this semester? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Beauty Blogger Award #3

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Beauty Blogger Award #3

Hey everyone and TGIF! On Wednesday I was nominated by my blogging BFF, Nida, over at Shopaholic Blogs for my third Beauty Blogger Award. Nida is one of my literal favorite people who I haven’t met yet so please be sure to check out her page because I know you’ll adore her as much as I do! And be sure to tune in to lifewithlilred on Sunday for a special guest blog from Nida! Now, onto the rules for the Beauty Blogger Award:

The Rules:

  • Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you.
  • Answer the questions assigned to you.
  • Nominate your own makeup/lifestyle/fashion bloggers.
  • Frame 10 questions for your nominees.
  • Inform the nominees about their award nomination.

Q & A:

Your favorite thing to eat?

Taco Bell! Always and forever.

List five beauty products you use everyday.

My moisturizer from Trader Joe’s, Nutriganics eye cream from The Body Shop, Vitamin C Skin Boost from The Body Shop, some type of cream cleanser (I’m not picky), an exfoliator, and usually a St. Ives body wash. (That was six but I could have named twenty!)

One tip for writing a great blog post.

Write as if you were talking to your best friend.

If you could buy five things for free from Sephora what would you choose and why?

Uh oh…I’m going to sound like the worst girl ever but I’ve never purchased anything from Sephora before! I’m the queen of drugstore makeup so I never really bothered with getting sucked into the hype of high end beauty products. I suppose if I could try anything, though, I would love to give some of the Kat Von D lipsticks a try – I hear they’re amazing!

Perfume or body mist?

Body mist all day every day!! Country Apple from Bath & Body Works is my mist of choice and I have four extra bottles of it in my hoard just in case they ever discontinue the scent!

One tip for making your makeup last through the day?

I would say to stick with makeup that you know works. I have a very set in stone makeup regimen that I don’t often steer from so if you were in a situation where a makeup melt down would be disastrous (a wedding or a hot summer day) then it’s best not to be ballsy with trying something new. I like to stay within the brands that I love and know that work best for me because I’d hate to waste money on a product that doesn’t last/work well!

Straightening iron or hair dryer and why?

Straightening iron because I’m not patient enough for the hair dryer! I also prefer my hair to be pin straight and that’s something that I can never achieve on the rare occasion that I blow dry my hair.

How have you improved as a blogger over time?

I would say that my posts are way cleaner from when I first started out a year and a half ago. I’m a big grammar and run on sentence stickler so I’ve been trying to eliminate those faux pas from my writing and I think I’m doing alright so far!

Liquid eyeliner or pencil? Which do you choose? State your favorite brand and why you love it.

Definitely a pencil! I use Covergirl’s Liquiline Blast eye pencils and they’re so awesome. I don’t like the super hard pencils and the Liquiline Blast is so smooth and creamy, it makes applying it such a breeze. I also don’t have the steady hand for liquid eyeliner!

A makeup product you wouldn’t use even if you got it for free.

Lol, that’s easy! The brand, Nourish Organic, has the literal worst cleanser I’ve used in my life. You couldn’t pay me to ever buy it again.

My Nominees (I’m only doing three):

My Questions For You:

  1. What is your favorite beauty product to splurge on?
  2. What drugstore makeup brand do you swear by?
  3. What is your favorite fragrance?
  4. Your favorite junk food?
  5. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
  6. How do you usually style your hair?
  7. What is your go to nail polish color?
  8. What makeup shades look best on you?
  9. How about colors that just look awful?
  10. What is your favorite shade of lipstick?

So there you have it, my Beauty Blogger Award #3! Thank you so much again to Nida at Shopaholic Blogs for the nomination! Nida is the epitome of beauty inside and out so please give her page some love! How would you answer some of the questions that Nida asked her nominees? How about some of the questions that I asked mine? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

iPoll Website Review

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iPoll Website Review

Hey everyone and TGIF! One of my ways to make an extra buck is participating on online survey websites. They’re a great way to earn money, gift cards, and various other rewards and deals. I recently just received a twenty-five dollar Amazon gift card from completing surveys on iPoll. Despite one major issue that I had with the website, I’m overall semi pleased with it, so let’s discuss:

The nice thing about iPoll is that they give you five dollars automatically just for signing up for the website. I love when survey sites do that because it gives you a great head start to getting bigger rewards. I also really appreciated the amount of money that completing each survey was worth. Some sites that I’ve used in the past were only paying pocket change for surveys. Not iPoll. Almost every survey on their site was a dollar or more so that made getting to the twenty-five dollar cash out goal a piece of cake.

Unfortunately, the quickness of completing the surveys did not translate at all to the receiving of monies. After you completed a survey, you then had to wait for what you submitted to pend. This could take one to over six weeks which just didn’t fly with me. The biggest pain in the ass was when I was one pending survey away from reaching the twenty-five dollar goal and it took the final survey EIGHT WEEKS to go through. At that point, it was easy to make the assumption that the website was just trying to hold on to the cash for as long as they possibly could before rewarding their participants. Not cool.

It took me sending an email to customer service for the final pending survey to go through but the waiting game was only just beginning. After I chose the Amazon gift card as my reward, I had to wait an additional six weeks to receive it. Frankly, I wasn’t thrilled with that, either. I finally got the email containing my e-gift card last week and now that I have it, I don’t plan on doing any more business with iPoll. I think that it’s a great site if you’re willing to wait around for months to receive your rewards but I’m just not that patient. It’s too bad, too, because up until those issues, iPoll was easily one of the better survey sites that I’ve used. Oh, well!

So there you have it, my iPoll Website Review! Who participates in taking online surveys? Which ones do you like the best? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

You’ve Got Mail

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You’ve Got Mail

Hi everyone and TGIF! This has been the week of treats for Lil Red! Thanks to my previous post, Beauty Bloggers: HELP! Again., I got spoiled with Avon samples from my friend, Angela. But the wealth continued to be shared because yesterday I was surprised with a package of Arbonne samples from the darling Nicole over at wychwoodwayfarer. I don’t get fun stuff like beauty supplies in the mail very often so thanks to Angela and Nicole, this week has me feeling like a kid on Christmas morning!

I had so much fun sorting through my haul of Arbonne samples that Nicole sent me with my mom. We divided the goods because I was sent doubles of some samples and I don’t use a night cream, I prefer masks. My mom was so happy to be included in the beauty festivities and I felt the same way times a billion! This morning I enjoyed using my samples of a cleanser, toner, eye cream, day cream, and serum from Arbonne. They were all simply fantastic. I especially enjoyed using the cleanser because the one I’m using currently sucks. -__-

I can’t thank Nicole enough for shipping such amazing samples to me and it was so nice to be able to try so many new products! I’ve never used or heard of Arbonne before and I think I just found a new favorite skin care line. Again, please be sure to check out Nicole’s page at wychwoodwayfarer and take a look at all of the wonderful Arbonne products that she has for sale! You’re fabulous, Nicole.  ❤

I hope everyone is having a great week so far with many fun things to look forward to this weekend. Has anyone received a surprise gift in the mail lately? Who is a fan of letter writing? (ME!) I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Happy Birthday, Sissy!!

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Happy Birthday, Sissy!!

Hello everyone and TGIF! In the past couple of weeks there have been a lot of birthdays in my family! Both of my parents and now my sister who turns twenty-four today! I refer to my big sister/best friend/soulmate, Kristen, frequently here on lifewithlilred so now it’s time to give her some birthday loving! Let’s do this thing:

Happy birthday to the best sister in the world…MINE. I love you so much, Kristen, and I can’t wait to celebrate with you this weekend! Thank you for all of the late night Taco Bell runs, borrowing my clothes without asking, and always providing me with a laugh or support when I need it. You are the bravest, strongest, most beautiful gal I know and I’m so happy that we share DNA with each other! I can’t wait to continue adding on to our endless list of memories and adventures now that you’re the big 2-4. You are beyond my best friend and I hope that you have the best day in the whole world! ❤

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❤ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KRISTEN!! ❤