Beauty Product of the Week: Glitter

I personally love glitter. I love shimmer mists and glimmer creams and glittery nail polish. Here are some of my favorite ways to use glitter.

• In my hair. It adds just the right amount of shine and sparkle.
• In my nail polish. No trip to my DIY bathroom salon is complete without a glittery top coat.
• In my perfumes and creams. If you see the word shimmer, pick it up and run to the register.
• In my makeup. I love lip glosses with glitter and sparkly eye shadows. 
• On my clothes. It makes me look like an artiste. 

So go out there and shine!

Beauty Product of the Week: Would You Like Some Sugar With That?

The news is in, and it's sweet. Sugar isn't just for baking anymore. Try these fabulous recipes to help keep you looking your beautiful best.

Kaija's Awesome Sugar Scrub For Chapped Lips

2 teaspoons sugar

A few drops of honey, syrup, vanilla extract, and/or cream

The best part of this scrub is that it's edible! Stir up the above ingredients and apply by gently scrubbing the mixture onto your skin. Then lick it all up and enjoy the sweet, sweet taste of honey-smooth smackers.

Kaija's Super Duper Awesome Shower Sugar Scrub

1 part Epsom salts

1 part honey

3 parts sugar

A few drops of your favorite essential oils

Fire up your shower and slather this bad boy all over. It'll gently exfoliate your skin and the antioxidants in the honey will leave you with softer, more youthful-looking skin.

Now go out there and rock the world, beautiful!

Beauty Product of the Week: Nail Polish

Nail varnish gives your nails a beautiful, polished look. For many, it's a fashion statement and a way to express themselves. For some, it might be an essential accessory. For others, it's just for fun. But there are some tried and true rules I personally recommend you follow. You can take my advice, or you can go out there and be the awesome rebel you are. It's up to you.

Rule #1: Neon orange does not look good on anyone. Ever.

Rule #2: Save the citrus colors for summer. Yellow, orange, and lime green are summer colors and should be treated as such. Feel free to use them in a design on your ring finger, but try not to wear sold yellow in the middle of winter.

Rule #3: You can't go wrong with pastels.

Rule #4: Deep red is a classic for the ladies and matches almost any outfit or situation. Gents should try to stay away from it, and go for a nice light pink, baby blue, lavender, or emerald green instead.

Rule #5: Blue, grey, and beige are awesome winter colors.

Rule #6: Pastels, pinks, greens, and purples are great for spring.

Rule #7: Autumn is a bit trickier. Go for a deep color like dark, dark red, brown, or smoky orange.

Rule #8: Summer is the season to have fun with your nails! Step out of your color comfort zone. Pick up a neon. Alternate colors. Get a wacky design. Bend the rules a little.

Rule #9: The 'different color on every nail' look stopped being cute in middle school. If you want to wear two different colors, try pairing a gem color with its pastel cousin, or alternate complementary pastel colors. If that's a little too risky for you, try getting a different color on just your ring finger instead of, or in conjunction with, a design.

Rule #10: Make up your own rules. Unless your place of work or school has a specific rule against it, play around with your nail polish. Wear lime green in the depths of December. Men, wear red and be proud of it. Put a different color on every nail. And even though it pains me to say it, if you absolutely must, wear neon orange brighter than the sun. Be you, because you're beautiful.

Julep Lucky Mystery Box Reveal

Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you want your mystery box to be a complete mystery, DO NOT PROCEED. If you'd like some idea of what you're getting, feel free to go on.

Here's what came with my mystery box:

Nail decals - Gold clover. I love this one. Just in time for St. Patty's day, too. (Though I'll probably end up using them afterwards as well, or saving them for next year.)

A small box of Junior Mints that will be going to my MorMor as neither me or my mum like them. 

A Go Big Volumizing Mascara that will be going to my mum as an early Mother's Day present (just joking) because I can't stand anything near my eyes. I know this is a mystery box, but I think they should have a feature that lets buyers select items they DON'T want to receive, especially for people with possible makeup allergies or just for people who don't use certain types of product.

Clean Slate Polish Corrector Pen, which I think is going to come in VERY handy because of a small tremble in my hands that always, always makes me mess up my mani.

Now for the polishes. From left to right:

Marla - Boho Glam, which is a reddish-purple that changes depending on the lighting you look at it in

Dawnelle - Boho Glam, which is this amazing glittery gold that I can't wait to try out

Darby - Boho Glam, which is a dark green perfect for the upcoming holiday

A beautiful gold which came without a name

Missy - It Girl, which is an amazing silver I got as an add-on so I could qualify for free shipping

Lola - It Girl, which is this deep, deep blue that I think I'm going to be trying out later today

I paid about thirty dollars for this box, which claims to be 100 dollar value. Since Julep nail polishes go for 14 dollars each, that's $84 dollars right there. The mascara brings it up to a whopping $108, and the corrector pen brings the value up to $118. If we count the little extras as a dollar each, that brings the final value of this box to $120. #worthit

You can get one for yourself right here, or you can become a Maven through my referral link to get affordable nail polishes delivered to your door once a month. The best part is that your first box is free. 

Beauty Product of the Week: Coffee, Anyone?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to present you with one of the best beauty hacks I have ever encountered in my long, interesting, long, adventure-filled, long years of life. Coffee. It wakes a great many people up in the mornings, it's an essential ingredient in any fika, no mid-morning break would be complete without it, etc, etc, etc. It even comes in dessert and decaf varieties, for when it's late and you just need to feel that silky smoothness sliding across your tongue, or for when it's not and you're a mere mortal who cannot handle the awesome power of caffeine racing through your veins.

For most people, that's the end of coffee's usefulness. It tastes good going in, it comes out at inconvenient times, and it wears off far too soon. And those left over coffee grounds are just a pain in your butt, clogging up the machine and making a mess of everything if you accidentally spill them. Urg, best to get rid of those as soon as possible.

Except, you might want to consider keeping those grounds for a few minutes longer, because let me tell you, they are beauty gold. Here's what to do to take your next shower or DIY spa day to the next level.

Kaija's Super Awesome DIY Coffee Scrub

1 part Epsom salts

3 parts used, dried coffee grounds

Several drops of your favorite essential oils (Optional)

After you have about three handfuls of this stuff mixed up, step into your shower and get yourself nice and wet. Then just pick up a handful and start scrubbing. It'll look a little bit like you just took a run through five kilometers of muddy swampland, but it'll leave your skin perfectly exfoliated and baby-soft. As with any exfoliant, remember to moisturize afterwards.

Kaija's Super Duper Awesome DIY Coffee Face Mask

1 freshly used batch of coffee grounds

2 tablespoons of milk or cream

A dash of honey

A pinch of cocoa (optional)

Mix the above ingredients into a paste, pull your hair back, and smear it all over. Just make sure to avoid your eyes, mouth, and nostrils. This recipe might sound delish, but used coffee grounds are anything but.

You can also use plain old used coffee grounds as a quick hand or foot scrub to beat callouses and get rid of unpleasant odors.

If coffee just isn't your cup of tea, experiment! Replace coffee grounds with used tea leaves in the above recipes and get scrubbin'. 

Keep being beautiful! Kaija out.

Disclaimer: Although Kaija used to be a beauty blogger and likes to think she has some idea of what she's talking about, always take into account your personal needs, allergies, and sensitivities, and remember basic safety and fire hazard precautions before trying anything new. Failing that, call you're mum; she'll know what to do. *thumbs up*