L'ORÈAL Smooth Intense Hair Care Review!

Wow. It has been a while! I went through a rough time over the summer, but I am

back for the fall and ready to blog! 

So the other day I went out to get the mail and I found something exciting in the mail! L'ORÈAL had sent me a free sample of their smooth intense shampoo, conditioner and xtreme straight cream. They also included a $1 off coupon. Awesome! I LOVE free stuff! So I decided I had to try it and review it! 

It claims to have 72 hours of ultra-polished frizz control! That sounds great because my hair can certainly get frizzy, especially when it's humid out! I was super excited to try it out! 

The shampoo and conditioner were fine. I didn't feel that there was anything extra special about it. It had a very strong floral fragrance. It was fine for me, but I can see how this could really bother some people. 

Next I used the smooth intense xtreme straight crème! It sounds so fancy... You put a quarter size amount in your hands and work it through your hair before blow drying it. I was really excited for this part- I figured this product would be the miracle  worker I needed to de-frizzify my hair. 

My hair was no longer frizzy... But it was extremely oily and gross looking! It left a horrible residue on my hair and it did not make my hair "straight" what so ever... 

I ended up washing my hair again with my regular shampoo and conditioner because I could not stand the oily residue on my hair. 

Boo hoo! I was really disappointed! :( 

But I do want to say kudos to L'ORÈAL for sending me free samples and coupons! Even if I didn't like the products (at all) I am still impressed at how they take care of their customers. 

These products were part of the advanced hair care line by L'ORÈAL. There are 5 different groups of products for different hair needs.... 

1. Power moisture for dry hair 

2. Triple resist for fragile hair 

3. Total repair 5 for damaged hair 

4. Color vibrancy for color-treated hair 

5. Smooth intense for frizzy hair (what I reviewed!) 

Have you ever tried any of these products? Did you like them? Have a product for me to review? Let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear from you! 

Xoxox Becca 

Jergens Natural Glow Firming Lotion Dupe?

Hey everyone! 

So it's been a while... Sorry! This summer has been crazy! And it might not have been the best time to start up a blog... But I'm going to stick it out and make the best of it! 

Today I am going to talk about Equate Healthy Glow Firming Daily Moisturizer! 

Yeesh, what a name! For those of you who don't know, equate is only sold at Walmart and it offers a lot of cheaper versions of many popular beauty and health items! For example....

The Jergens Natural Glow Firming Daily Moisturizer is a very popular gradual tanner! So many people rave about it! It costs about $9 at my local Walmart! The equate version of this product is only $5! Nearly half the price! But does it actually work is the question!? 

After hearing great things about the Jergens gradual tanner I just had to try it! So off I went to the local Walmart! Sadly, they didn't have any left! Sadness. What I did find was the equate version! It even says on the package that it's comparable to Jergens. I was a little skeptical at first- $5? It couldn't possibly work.... But it was so cheap I just couldn't resist! I bought it in medium/dark.

I went home and showered/shaved. I also used an exfoliator- which is very important to get rid of the dead skin and get the longest lasting tan possible! Any exfoliator should work- I used one by St. Ives.

Next I applied some of the product on my legs and arms! Be sure to put minimal product on knees, elbows and feet! You don't want anything to look weird. The product can take a while to rub in, but I don't mind that so much. Wash your hands as soon as you're done because you don't want funky coloring on your palms! Another way to avoid this is by wearing gloves when applying the lotion! Wait for the lotion to dry a little bit before putting on your clothes- you don't want it to rub off right away! 

The lotion is white with a yellow tint to it. It does contain some sparkles, but not as many sparkles as the Jergens product. The product does have a strong scent... Almost like cocoa/coffee scent but way too strong. It's hard to explain. I can see a lot of people not liking the smell, but it doesn't bother me that much. I sleep with it on, so that helps. I have never seen a self tanner that doesn't have a prominent stench. This one is not as foul smelling as some self tanners- it's all about your personal preference. 

The next day I woke up with a nice glow! I had no streaking and I was actually pleasantly surprised! I get my desired color within two days- amazing! No orangy Oompa Loompa look going on- just a nice glow! 

This tanning lotion does say firming and it's suppose to help diminish cellulite. I didn't notice a huge difference, but the color was so great I didn't even care. 

Overall I love this product! :) I don't feel the need to try the Jergens version- $4 cheaper? I can handle the smell. 

Do you love this product? Hate it? Want me to review another? Let me know in the comments! 

Love you all! Xoxox 

Becca 

Cowboy Cookies!

Hey everyone! 

Today I wanted to tell you about one of my FAVORITE types of cookies! My mom has been making these for years and they never fail to cheer me up. She got the recipe from someone I'm sure most of you have heard of- Laura Bush! I don't care if you are republican or democrat- this recipe is fabulous. I'm pretty sure everyone will love these cookies! Here's the recipe! 

Cowboy Cookies

 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups butter (at room temperature)
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened flake coconut
2 cups chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl. In 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla extract. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake for 17 to 19 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies from rack to cool. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
 

Some of you are probably reading this thinking 1/4 cup of dough per cookie? That is going to be a BIG cookie. And they are! That's one of the reasons why they are so great! They're huge- and delicious! After trying this recipe, I'm 99% sure you will be making these again and again. Thank you Laura Bush! You make a superb cookie. 

Comment what you think about this recipe and if there are any recipes you want me to try! I hope you love these as much as I do! 

Love you all!

Becca xoxox 

DIY Manicure tips

I think all girls love to feel pampered every once and a while and a manicure is a great way to do that! However we all know that nail salons can be quite expensive! But have no fear- you can still have a little pick me up without breaking the bank. I have 2 words for you- DIY manicure. (Does DIY even count as a word?) 

1.Before you begin pampering yourself try lighting a scented candle or turning on some mood music. This should help put you in that relaxing, spa state of mind. 

2.Clip and file your nails! You can file your nails into any shape that pleases you- oval, square or my personal favorite- a combination of the two. I file the top of my nails so that the nail file is at a 90 degree angle, or perpendicular to my nail. Then I file the sides of my nail at a 45 degree angle. This makes a square/oval look. File your nails gently in one direction, DO NOT file in a sawing motion- that splits and damages your nails. I have my nails cut fairly short because I use my hands a lot at my job and long nails can be a problem. 

3. Apply a cuticle remover and gently push back your cuticles. There are many different cuticle removers out there. Check out your favorite brand of nail polish and see if the have one! I also recommend reading Makeup Alley's reviews! It's a great site with TONS of reviews on pretty much every beauty product out there. 

4. Apply a base coat! Many people skip this step but I highly recommend it. Base coats help keep nails strong, keep the polish from chipping and make it so your nails won't be discolored once the polish is removed. There are SO many base coats out there- use one from a brand that you like and that works well for you. I frequently use Sally Hansen Complete Care extra moisturizing 4-in-1 treatment (which can also be used as a top coat) or Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps Powerful Acrylic Gel. Apply a thin layer because if you apply too much it will take forever to dry. 

5. Once your base coat dries completely you can apply your nail polish. Do not shake your polish before opening. Instead, gently roll the bottle between your hands for 30 seconds! Shaking it creates those nasty bubbles that we all hate. Apply 3 strokes of polish- one in the middle, one on the right and then one on the left. Multiple thin coats of polish is much better than one thick, goopy coat. 

6. Allow the polish to dry then apply your second coat (and third if necessary) the same way we did in step 5! 

7. Allow the polish to completely dry before applying a top coat! Your top coat will make your nails look glossy and professional. It also prevents chipping! Let your nails to dry completely again! This could take about 10-15 minutes unless using a quick dry polish. 

And there you go! Your perfect DIY manicure! 

**I used Rimmel London 60 seconds polish in mintilicious. I love the color- it's almost like a Tiffany blue!**

A few tips... 

1. Don't soak your nails in water before applying polish. I read in women's health magazine that "This makes it hard for polish to adhere, which results in chipping."

2. Try to minimize buffing your nails as this thins your nails! 

3. For easy clean up on skin around your nails try using a nail clean up pen, q-tips and nail polish remover or putting Vaseline around your nails and cuticles before applying polish. The polish on your skin will easily wipe away when you are finished. 

4. Have fun! 

 

Note: I am not a professional in any way (as you can tell!) This is just how I do my nails! 

That's it for today! Comment how you do your nails and if you like my method! 

Love you all!

Xoxox Becca 

L'ORÈAL Magic Skin Beautifier BB cream

Hey everyone! 

It has been SO LONG since I have posted! I'm so sorry! I had bronchitis and then I got a new job, so things have been pretty crazy! But I am back and I should be posting regularly (fingers crossed)! So, getting down to business... Today I am going to talk to you about ANOTHER bb cream! After my maybelline dream fresh bb cream horror story I was kind of afraid to try another bb cream! But I did need a new make-up product to even out my skin tone and being a teen, I feel that foundation is much to heavy for my face. So back to Walmart I went. This time I picked up L'orèal Magic Skin Beautifier BB cream. It is 1 fl. ounce and it cost about $7 at my walmart.This BB cream is MUCH different than the Maybelline BB cream. For starters the product comes out white with little black beads in it. The beads are where the color comes from and as you rub it in the color begins to appear! 

(Ignore my awkwardly hairy hands. Kids actually use to call me monkey arms or man arms because I have so much hair! Haha) 

I I originally bought this color in light. This bb cream comes in 4 shades: fair, light, medium and deep. I tested the color on my hand in my car before leaving and was SHOCKED. Light is not light AT ALL! It was dark and orange!

I immediately went back in the store and asked to exchange it for a lighter shade. They took it back, no problem and the fair shade looked MUCH better! 

(NOTE: I don't have fair skin- it might look like I do in the pictures but if you ask anyone that knows me they would definitely not describe me as fair.) To me the shades of this product are misleading. Be careful when choosing a shade! I recommend testing the colors on your hand if possible. Other than the problems I had choosing the right shade, I really loved this product. 

L'orèal claims

 "4 beautifying actions in 1:

primes, corrects, hydrates and perfects." 

This product smoothed my face and blurred my blemishes. It gave me an even skin tone and hid any redness on my face. I thought it was easy to apply evenly and you don't have to use a lot to get a nice looking face. I have heard many complaints that the beautifying beads in this product irritate many people's faces. I did not have this problem whatsoever, maybe because my skin is not sensitive? I loved the packaging SO much better than the maybelline product! It was not messy AT ALL.
Overall I would buy this product again but ONLY IN THE FAIR SHADE. What did you think about this BB cream? Do you love it or hate it? Let me know! 

Love you all! Until next time, 

Becca xoxox

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream!

Hey everyone! For my first real post I decided to do a review on Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream. As most of you probably know, BB creams have become very well known in the beauty industry. Pretty much every cosmetic company out there offers some type of BB cream. For those of you who don't know, BB stands for beauty balm or blemish balm. BB creams are known as an all-in-one facial cosmetic product. They are intended to replace moisturizer, primer, foundation, and sunblock.
I bought the Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream in light medium about a month ago after a good friend of mine raved about it.

What Maybelline says about this BB cream:
Why You'll Love It
Our BB cream combines skincare + makeup in 1 simple step
8-in-1 Skin Perfector:
• Blurs imperfections
• Brightens
• Evens skin tone
• Smoothes
• Hydrates
• Enhances
• Protects with SPF 30
• 0% oils and heavy ingredients

This BB cream was around $8 at my Walmart and it comes with 1 oz of product. I was excited to see that the BB cream my friend recommended had one of the best prices when compared to other drugstore BB creams, because who doesn't love a good bargain? I also think the packaging was kind of cute, but what really matters is how well this BB cream actually works.

Something I have noticed about most BB creams is that they have HUGE claims, however those claims aren't always accurate. For example, this BB cream calls itself a skin PERFECTOR and after using this bb cream I definitely would NOT call my skin perfect.

I have been using this BB cream every day for a couple of weeks so I could appropriately review it. One of my pet peeves is when people use a product like this once and write a review on it. You can't tell if the product improves your skin over time or if it breaks you out by using the product one time. You really need to give the product a couple of days to get the full effect, in my opinion.

PROS
I think this BB cream was very easy to apply. I just put a little bit of product on my chin, cheeks and forehead and rubbed it in with my fingers without a problem.
It wasn't streaky, which is great, and it left my skin feeling very smooth. It gave me a little bit of coverage and made my blemishes less noticeable. It did not completely hide my blemishes. Something you need to understand before buying a BB cream is that it is NOT a foundation. It is closer to a tinted moisturizer. It will give you light coverage, but not much more than that. Don't expect full coverage from a BB cream. My face seemed noticeably softer after using this product for a couple of days. It also did not have an offensive fragrance. It has an SPF of 30- which is the highest SPF offered in all of the BB creams that I have seen. Another great thing about about this BB cream is it comes in 5 shades, so it is more likely that you will find one that matches your skin color.

CONS:
I personally found this BB cream to be very messy. I could barely hold the squeeze tube without product spilling out everywhere when the lid was off! This product left my face looking orange, which I absolutely hate! I want to look natural- not like an Oompa Loompa!!! It also did not give me as much coverage as some other BB creams, however this wasn't that big of a deal to me because I almost never break out. Remember BB creams aren't meant for full coverage! The staying power of this product is not great. For me it lasted maybe 3 or 4 hours. I decided to set the BB cream with some powder and that seemed to help. And now for the worst part.... This product made me break out!!! Like I said before, I almost never break out. However after using this product for a couple of days my mom approached me asking if I was using a different skin care product because I was breaking out so badly! After stopping the usage of this BB cream my acne went away.


Overall I would not recommend this to you, mainly because of it's orange tint and the fact that I broke out like crazy! However that is just my opinion! Like I said I bought this product because of a recommendation from my friend, so you might love it!

Let me know what YOU think about the Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream in the comments and if you want me to review another product!

Have a lovely day!
Xoxox
Becca

Welcome!!!

I've always found blogs to be so interesting. Being able to see into another person's life and hear their thoughts can be very powerful, as each person is so unique and we all have different experiences. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to have a blog- because I figured who WOULDN'T want to read about my life? ;) While I now know my life isn't always as interesting as the Queen of England or Taylor Swift's life, I still have never been able to shake the dream of becoming a blogger and sharing a little piece of my life with the world. I'm now 16 years old and I have decided not to put off my dream any longer. Life is short and if you want to do something you're best just getting down to business and getting it done. All of this just to say, welcome to my blog! Basically this blog will be about my life (hence the name "The Becca Life"). I'll be talking about beauty, fashion, getting fit, and whatever else I can think of. I'm brand new to the blogging world so any advice would be greatly appreciated! :) I know this first post has been a wee bit boring, but I PROMISE my posts will get better! For now I just want to welcome you all to my blog!
Thanks for reading!
Love you all! xoxox
Becca