Dare to be . . .

                                                                                                       
At my company, Soul Deep Beauty Skin Therapy, I am not only focused on helping people take the lead in realizing the importance of skin care, but I also want to  help encourage both men and women to take the lead in their own personal lives. Encouragement can help empower, and it's life's little experiences that help get us to our big goals.

So, I have decided to start a "Dare To Be" campaign. This journey will be little baby steps towards living outside the box. Not all steps will be for both men and women (unless that's your thing), but it's just a way to experience things we never have before.

The rules are simple: I'll pick a topic every month, and write about/ post pics of my experience of that topic. And you can feel free to post pics and comments of your experience as well. So join me on this empowering journey. I dare you ;)

My quick morning fix

I get about 6 hours of sleep at night, if I'm lucky. So it should come as no surprise that I utilize my "snooze" button every morning. Sometimes two or three times. On really hard mornings, I accidentally turn the alarm "off" instead of hitting the "snooze" and I find myself on a mad dash to make it to work on time. I don't have time to put on a complete face, so I have to utilize my quick morning fix. After I wash my face, here are my must have beauty products to get me ready for my workday.

1. Moisturizer- Moisturizer is used to off course, add moisture. It helps prevent and treat dry skin and it is a protectant for sensitive skin. It is a must for me. My combination skin will not have it otherwise. My favorite is Olay Complete for sensitive skin because it has an SPF of 15 and it's unscented. Sunscreen protection is equally, if not more important so I love finding formulations that have it already mixed in.

2. Concealer- There are two different types of concealer: colored and skin toned. The colored concealer has colors like purple for dark under eye areas or sallow looking skin and green for redness. It is applied under a skin toned concealer or foundation. The skin toned concealer is easier to blend and it conceals blemishes and undesirable pigmentation. Because some concealers tend to make me look ashy, I use a foundation stick and I just swipe it over my problem areas and press it in with a sponge.

3. Bronzer or highlighter- I love bronzer. Most make-up artists describe it as giving you that sun kissed look, but I love mine because it has shimmer in it that gives my skin a healthy glow. It can be placed on your forehead, just at the hair line, your cheeks, tip of the nose and chin. Mostly places where the sun would hit. I usually just apply it on my cheeks and decollete`. Highlighter is used to accentuate. I place it just under my eyebrow arch and the apples of my cheek.

4. Lipgloss- There is nothing more irritating than dry lips. You lick them, and that makes it worse because the saliva is evaporating quickly and it's taking whatever moisture you may have had. So my favorite lip protector is lip gloss. I don't like sticky ones. It has to be a kind that glides and gives my full lips that extra uumph.

5. Eyeliner and/or mascara- I've been told that I have beautifully shaped eyes, so I play them up a lot using both eyeliner and mascara. They go together to me like cake and ice cream. Eyeliner (used correctly) widens the eyes and the thicker the line, the more dramatic the look. Mascara is a heaven send because it darkens, thickens and lengthens sparse lashes. I put on false lashes on special occasions but because of my issue of sleep, they usually are bent from me literally sleeping flat on my face. So mascara is my best friend.

The good thing about my quick fix is that it takes not even 3 minutes to do. What beauty products do you use as your quick fix?

Baby Shower Pamper Party

So I hosted a pamper party for my best friend's baby shower over the week-end, and it was a success! The ladies enjoyed their facials (a few of them were facial virgins) and I heard it being said that "this is the best baby shower, ever." My head was so big after that, I'm surprised I was able to stand up straight without falling over. But, anyway, I think it's safe to say that we all had a ball. So much so, that I didn't get to take many pics, but I'll add more as those who did take some email them to me.

So here's the run down:

Theme: Teddy Bears and Mocktails
As each guest came in, she was treated to a chocolate covered strawberry and a mocktail (cocktail minus the liquor), and the guest of honor has chosen teddy bears as the accent for her baby's room decorum.

Food: Main entree of lasagna, garlic bread, salad and cheese and craker tray provided by other host, LaRhonda (pictured below). I provided the chocolate covered strawberries, the fondue pot and the fixings, which were strawberries, bananas, apples, brownies and donuts. I also had water bottles that had cute labels on them of the guest of honor and the hosts.

Pamper party: Facials- Because this was my first party and I was doing it by myself, (even though I did get some help), I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy a facial, so we set up a couple of tables and I talked them through a do it yourself facial using Dermalogica products. I didn't get to go into too much detail because we had so many activities planned, but I was able to give them a few pointers on taking care of their specific skin type. They seemed to realy enjoy it, and everyone was feeling how smooth their skin was afterwards.
Hand Treatments- I brought along my parafin bath and gave hand treatments to the ladies. As a precurser, a scrub presentation was given by Diamond's Bath and Body with one of her wonderful sugar scrubs. The ladies nearly melted when they felt their hands after the scrub and parafin treatment.

There were other stations as well, but we had so many activities, I din't have a chance to do make-up and the nail color station is pretty much self explanitory.

Games: I planned 4 games for the ladies to play, but my favorite two were the Dirty Diaper Game and a game called Tinkle in the Pot. With the dirty diaper game, you melt candy in diapers and whoever guesses what candy bar is which, wins a prize. Sounds kind of gross, but it was fun. I had them play this while their facial masks were setting. The Tinkle in the Pot game was hilarious as two teams did a relay race. But, it was complicated by having to hold a quarter inbetween their knees and dropping the quarter in a pot. If they dropped the quarter or missed the pot, they had to start again.

I definetely enjoyed myself and hope that Andrea loved her baby shower, too. It's something that I will surely add to my list of services. For more info on spa party options, go to my website.

LaRhonda, Mom to be, Andrea and me.

The facial table

Hand treatment table

Nail color table

Chocolate fondue pot

Chocolate covered strawberries. Yum.

The guest of honor set up her cake table. It's so cute.

Do something about it

I was flipping through an old "O Magazine" the other day when during an interview someone said, "Like anyone else, there are days I feel beautiful and days I don't, and when I don't, I do something about it." That made me think back to when I was pregnant with my first child and I was very sick. I lost thirty pounds, was put on bedrest and a host of IV fluids, pumps and other undesirable contraptions attached to my body.

But, what I'm thinking about know is how when I was laid up on my mom's couch, wearing pajamas and a jacked up wig, my mama looked at me and shook her head. She told me that she understood that I didn't feel good, but she was tired of looking at me with that crooked wig on. She made me go put some clothes on and she called over my aunt to do my hair. Of course, at first I was a little hurt. I was sick and didn't feel like looking pretty. I felt like if you didn't like what you see, don't look at me. But, I am so glad that she brought me out of my funk. Even though I was attached to an IV, making myself up a little bit had me working that pole and it did lift my spirits.

It's easy to fall into a rut, especially when you have to deal with illness, or working too many hours or whatever card life hands you. But, you have to remember to take time out for yourself. Sometimes you have to fake it till you make it, but you'll make it eventually. Because if you feel tired, more than likely you look it too. Something as simple as lipgloss can make a woman feel brand new. So fight against that urge and stop making excuses not to take care of yourself. Do anything- just do something. And remember, smile because happy looks good on you.

Allow me to introduce myself...

Soul Deep Beauty is for "beauty that is more than skin deep." I believe that how you feel on the inside falls in line in how you look on the outside. If you are stressed, tired or just plain have an ugly attitude, please believe that it shows. My goal is to not only teach people how to maintain their skin fron the outside-in, but to also give advice and inspiration on healing from the inside, out. There will definetely be more to come.