Best Spring 2012 Foundations

I started using foundation when I was in college. My sophomore year roommate introduced me to its magical powers and I never turned back! I couldn’t believe that liquid in a bottle could quite literally smooth out your face and make it look flawless.

I must admit, I do remember coming home for a weekend and my mother looking at my face and saying, “Audrey – you’re using way too much foundation.” So I do know that you don’t want to cake it on… you want it to look as natural as can be, which I why I wanted to write this post today.

There are so many incredible new foundations hitting the stands this Spring, and I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. I’ve been trying and playing and working with about 10 different kinds of foundations over the last few weeks, and I’ve narrowed down my faves to 3 of them. This is what I was looking for in them: 1) I wanted something to feel lightweight. 2) I wanted something to last long on my face without having to reapply 100 times 3) I wanted something to look natural.

Here is my FAVE list:

1) Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam

Aaaaaaaaa-mazing! Let me just say, this is like putting whipped cream on your face! It’s in a can and at first it’s a little weird putting it on, but it’s awesome! It goes on easy. It stays put for the whole day. And it’s ultra-lightweight. You’ll love it. They offer 12 different shades.

2) COVERGIRL & Olay ToneRehab 2-in-1 Foundation

I just tried this foundation while I was away in Miami and I fell in LOVE! First off – I love that it’s doing 2 things at once, for a busy mom – I appreciate anything that cuts down on my beauty regimen. The foundation is so lightweight and absolutely looks fabulously natural. COVERGIRL offers 14 different shades in this.

3) Neutrogena Healthy Skin Glow Sheers

If you’re looking for something ultra-sheer, this is it! This is FANTASTIC for skin when you just want something lightweight and amazingly natural! I love love love this!

Mom Fashion: I can’t wait to wear something like this…

I haven’t dressed up – I mean, really dressed up – in more than 2 weeks. Usually with work, I get the chance to “doll up” (as my Nana used to say) more than 2-3 times a week. It’s been strange not having to do it and in all honesty, not even thinking about it.

But… I saw this dress today on ASOS and I just fell in love…

With the recent events that have happened in my family, I’m not sure when or where I’ll be able to wear something like this with my husband, but I just love it.

I’m going to bookmark the link and keep my eye on it.

You know, sometimes finding a little something extra-extra special can easily put a smile on your face. And yes, even a sexy Little Black Dress can do the same thing, too.

Find something extra special and pull it out! Embrace it and WEAR it proud!

Update on Matty

I wanted to make sure I updated everyone last night, and then after I shot this video and put the kids to bed and checked on Matt… I feel asleep before I was able to post it. My body just crashed… but I wanted to make sure I posted this morning:

Thank you all for your continued prayers and love… xoxo

Muscle Leggings. Really?

OK, I think I know the answer to this question, but these were too great to pass up not blogging about! They’re making a huge splash all over the fashion blogs right now and I just couldn’t resist.

Oh, yes… would you wear Muscle Leggings?

Front…

Back…

I must admit, when I first saw them shock came over my face before a smile. I mean, really – these are seriously over-the-top. I don’t even know necessarily what you could wear with these to “tone them down” properly, but it seems there are some people who just love them. I’m just not one for wearing leggings that aren’t 1) a solid color 2) designed like body parts 3) a little young looking for me.

I just can’t believe the play these are getting every where and how fast these are trending on the internet.

So I’m curious…

Tell me… what’s your first reaction to these muscle leggings?

On the Sharing of Information

A question many bloggers get is – “Why did you start a blog?”

There are so many ways a blogger could answer this question and it’s one of those questions that doesn’t have a right or wrong answer… it’s a personal thing, and we all have our reasons – which is the beauty of blogging.

Well, one of the reasons I was intrigued by blogging and truly wanted to start back in 2007 was because I loved the idea of sharing information.  It wasn’t so much about sharing about my life… it was sharing fashion advice and beauty tips and product reviews.  I loved the idea of having an outlet, a corner of the world where I could put anything and everything I wanted.  I started doing just that in 2007 and have continued throughout the last 5 years.

But this past week showed me the true beauty and power and connectedness in being a blogger.

I shared something about my life that I never have had to share before… I shared that I was scared and terrified and worried about the health of my husband.

When we found out my husband had a tumor in his abdomen last Monday morning, all of a sudden life changed.  I didn’t know what to do or how to express what I was feeling.  There was not a chance in hell I could keep it bottled up inside and not share this information with someone… somewhere.  I decided to open myself up and just be 100% real and raw and honest about everything that was going on with Matt on my blog… I wasn’t sure how people would react, but I knew I needed to share it.  It’s funny – here I blog about fashion and beauty every single day, and the LAST thing on earth I felt like putting on was makeup or even caring about what I was wearing.  As a matter of fact, I think I wore the same clothes all week, just washing them as I walked in and grabbing them from the dryer as I was heading out.  I can assure you Matt didn’t care what I was wearing to the hospital.

I can’t tell you how helpful it is to share everything on my blog.  It’s the sharing and the togetherness that is so incredible to me.  It’s people I don’t know wishing Matt well and praying for him.  It’s people I do know finding out and being there for us with calls, texts and visits.  It’s people across the country whom I have met through blogging sending cards and food and Valentine’s Day packages.  It’s all because of the sharing.

I can’t quite properly express how much I appreciate everyone’s help and love and well wishes and prayers.  I’m humbled and feel completely overwhelmed by the sweetness, the kindness and the sheer beauty of people.

Thank you so much.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for allowing me to share and listening to our story.

And thank you for keeping us in your prayers and thoughts.

xo

 

 

 

 

Mom Fashion: Glittery Happy Toes

There’s really one thing I “try” to do every other week for myself… get a manicure. I was always the regular manicure girl for $12, but then a month ago I switched over to the Shellac and I love! My sons love seeing my nails all pretty and with color. I know I shocked them a few months ago with black nail polish for Halloween, but it grew on them and on me. I think it’s fun to be bold and different on occasion… especially when it’s needed.

So I thought it would be fun to do a little something on my toes to make them smile. I saw this photo on Pinterest that was published by Polished:

This photo made me smile, so I thought for sure it would make my sons. I called Alex over to my laptop this morning to show him what I wanted to do on my toenails and he smiled and said, “They look like happy toes.” I thought that was the perfect way to describe this color for my toes.

So… hopefully soon, I’ll be heading to the nail salon to pamper myself a little bit with some happy toes. In the meantime, I found the color!

OPI’s Rainbow Connection…

xo

Snapfish Party

A week and a half ago I hosted a Snapfish “Lemonade Stand” playdate with some of my blogging girlfriends and their children.  My youngest 3 sons never have the chance to have a playdate without “older” kids, so I thought it would be a blast for Alex, Benjamin and Henry to have some friends over for the afternoon.  I also happen to be good friends with many of their moms, so it was exciting for me, too.

You know, when I had this party a week and a half ago, it was before everything happened with Matt.  It’s funny how life is because after the party was over, I said to Matt how great it was being able to capture so many moments throughout the afternoon with our friends and our kids during the party.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my daily to-do list that I don’t take the time to just capture and savor the moments.  The moments of everyday life. The real moments.  The moments when my sons are laughing and being silly with their friends.  The moments when my girlfriends are over and we’re chatting about life and kids and girly stuff.  It’s the capturing of the moments that makes Snapfish so special to me because this is what they’re all about. It was wonderful to have this afternoon to capture the moments, the smiles, the celebration of coming together.

I’m so glad I was able to host this party for Snapfish.  I took a TON of photos throughout the day that I’m going to turn into a photo book for the boys.  The beautiful thing about Snapfish is that I can create my own personalized gifts for the boys, my parents, my in-laws… for anyone.  It’s super easy to upload the photos right in and customize my very own photo book. Snapfish offers a variety of photo book styles from professional 12×12 signature photo books (I ordered one of these!) for your coffee table to 5×7 everyday photo books you can take with you as a brag book to show off to all your friends.

Snapfish has something for everyone… and so, let me give you a little sneak peek into my Lemonade Stand party (which was fun to do since it was raining that day and I had to move everything inside for the kids!) looked like:

Everyone had fun with the Snapfish props and everyone left very excited to create their own photo books.  Thank you so much Snapfish!  We had such a wonderful, wonderful day!

Disclosure: This was part of a sponsored campaign with Snapfish.  All opinions are my own.

5 Things That Will Always Make Me Smile

Sunday night… wow, last Sunday night I was in the ER with Matt trying to figure out if he had the stomach flu. It’s pretty crazy to think that was a full week ago.

Throughout the last week I feel like I’m learned a lot and sort of have a different outlook on things. I’ve always known that I’ve never needed money or power or “things” to make me happy. For me, I’ve always wanted to be a wife and mom… I knew those were the things that would make me happy. Make me fulfilled.

But it’s been this week… I’ve really realized that 5 things will always make me smile…

1. I will always smile when my husband winks at me. You know that wink you get from the one you love, it’s a sexy/sweet wink, that perfect mix wink. I LOVE that wink.

2. My sons getting their haircut. I have to say, it’s always been one of those things that makes me smile. They look so cute when they’re sitting in the seat like “big little men” just waiting for the scissors to cut away. My Henry just melts my heart because he refuses to relax his shoulders.

3. A fresh steaming cup of coffee. Without fail, it makes me smile.

4. Picking my sons up from school. I know it won’t last forever, but it’s nice seeing their eyes light up when they see me waiting for them.

5. Watching my sons swim. William LOVES it and has turned into a little flying fish. Alexander loves his lessons and parades around like he’s the coach. And Ben and Henry are too cute during their lessons, trying to be like big boys (like they’re brothers) and swim. They all have the same ear to ear grin when they get out of the water.

Red, White and Blue Super Bowl Fashion

Tonight’s the Super Bowl… the last time the Giants played the Patriots in the Super Bowl I was pregnant with Henry. What I loved then about it and what I love now is that it’s all about the red, white and blue – regardless of whom you’re cheering for!

Tonight I’ll be decked in red, white and blue for the Patriots… they’re my team, baby.

My sons and husband are for the Giants… oh, yes.

But it doesn’t matter – we’re all red, white and bluing it tonight!

GO PATS!

Update on Matty on Saturday

I wanted to share an update on Matty…

xo

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