July Favorites!

This month's is going to be pretty short, but have no fear, August's monthly favorites will be very long. I'm leaving for Mexico the 9th, so I've done a little splurging for it.

Anyways, on to July's favorites!

This month nothing is new, I've been going through all of my products trying to use up everything (apparently I have a habit of using a product a little more than half way then forgetting about it). Some of these products are just essentials for me that I wanted to share, for example the eye cream I'll be starting this post with.


1. Origins - GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream 

"A clinically proven eye cream that instantly de-puffs and reduces dark circles." 

I remember using this almost everyday for a month or two and being blown away by the results. I got this about 2-3 years ago (yeah I know I need a new one) after walking into Sephora and asking a sales associate what would help my dark under eye circles. She brought me to this eye cream and said that it was a miracle worker, and I decided to try it out since it was much cheaper than the other eye creams I was looking at.

That next day I went to use it and was immediately disappointed. I saw the salmon pink tint and thought 'oh no, she thought I meant a makeup/cover up...' which is not what I meant at all. I wanted an eye cream that over time would improve my dark circles not a makeup that would just cover them. But I decided to just use it under my concealer since salmon is supposed to be a good correcting color for dark circles. I won't lie, after a couple of days I was pretty satisfied with it as a makeup base, it hid my bags much better than concealer alone. After about two weeks I went to apply some when I looked in mirror and realized my dark circles looked a million times better and they were only visible in certain lighting/angles. After a few more weeks I felt confident on skipping concealer and just wearing the eye cream alone. 

Flash forward to today and I couldn't tell you what made me stop using this. It must have been that I noticed that there wasn't an SPF so I switched to a different eye cream, or maybe I just got lazy. Either way I just rediscovered this eye cream recently and I've been using it since. What I do now though, is apply this eye cream, then a separate eye cream with an SPF over it. 

Overall: Only complaint is that there isn't an SPF but I'd still give it   4.5/5 stars

2. Bath & Body Works - Plum Moscato & Almond Harvest Triple Moisture Body Cream

"Join us as we toast to an abundant fall harvest with a glass of sumptuous plum moscato, accented with creamy notes of toasted almond."

I'm going to start this post by saying that this lotion smells absolutely amazing. On the back it says the key notes are: Plum Moscato, Toasted Almond, Blackcurrant, Lily Blossom, and Vanilla Woods. I actually wasn't the one picked this up last Fall since I usually go for cinnamon, honey apple, or slight pumpkiny smells in the Fall. So I would have never noticed a fruity scent during a Fall collection, but my mom picked it up and I guess used it a couple times. 3 seasons later, my mom walked into my room and asked if I wanted it. Never saying no to a body cream, I decided to test it out. It moisturizes just the same as any other Bath & Body Works body cream (which is amazing) but I just can't get over this smell. I really hope they bring this back this Fall, or at least something similar.

Overall: Love it 4/5 stars

3. Mac - Fanfare Lipstick

Once again this isn't new, and I've actually had this lipstick since senior year (wow, two years ago ...) and when I bought it I truly thought this was going to be my new every day lipstick. At the time I had been using either Hue or Pure Zen, but I wanted something a little deeper and colorful. I guess I had my hair up when I bought this, but when I went to put this on before school I absolutely hated the way it clashed with my hair color at the time, which was a deep red. So I put it with the rest of my Mac lipsticks and started reaching for Shanghai Spice more. 

So when the Giambaitisa Valli Mac Collection came out this year, I rushed to my closest Mac to grab the red & corally orange. I came home and decided to go through my lipsticks, when I refound this. I decided to try out since I'm back to my natural dark brown/black hair, and I fell in love. I've been using this non stop since, and I've received a bunch of compliments. I highly recommend this shade to everyone. I feel that it's slightly warm, but I don't think it will be harsh or anything to those with cool skin tones. 

Overall: I'm obsessed with this shade 4.5/5 stars 

That's it for this month's favorites! Be sure to come back & check out next month's!!

Super Quick Berry Protein Smoothie (30 grams of protein!)

Hello everyone! Today I have a recipe for you - a berry smoothie with 30 grams of protein! And if that wasn't enough, this protein shake actually tastes good! I find myself craving this, and since it's so quick, I make it for breakfast before I have to run out!

This smoothie is inspired by one I got at the gym the other day! It was so good I couldn't believe that it had 23 grams of protein! So I went to the store and bought some vanilla whey protein powder to try this out for myself. I gotta say, I think mine turned out a little better ;) it has more protein, and to me it doesn't taste as chalky.

All you need is:

* Mixed berries (I bought a frozen bag to save money)
* 1 banana
* Orange juice
* Vanilla whey protein

Steps:

1. Slice up the banana. It's your choice if you'd like to use the full banana for 1 smoothie, or use half and save the rest for later (or to use for a friend's smoothie!). When I make this for breakfast I use a whole banana and add extra of the other ingredients, but if this is just a protein shake or a snack I'd recommend you use half of one.

2. If you're using the full banana throw the chopped slices into the blender, then a handful of frozen berries. If you are using half a banana, grab the cup you will be using to drink this and grab enough frozen berries to fill the cup 3/4s.

3. Next pour in a splash of orange juice. Personally I like to use a good amount of juice since it helps for flavor.

4. Pour everything into a blender and blend until you can't see any chunks. Now you can put in the protein powder. If you used half a banana pour in a 3/4 scoop, if you used a full banana you can either use 1 or 1 & 1/2 scoops. Blend again until you can't see the powder.


It tastes amazing and is a great, easy breakfast! This has been such a great alternative to the milk and chocolate whey protein I usually have.