Book Review: The Everygirl's Guide to Life

   One of the books on my summer reading list was, The EveryGirl's Guide to Life, by Maria Menounos.  I ended up borrowing it from my library because I tend to like non-fiction books to be real books as opposed to ebooks.

       I've never really watched a whole lot of Maria Menounos on tv, but I like her personality and I'm really a sucker for any girly self-helpy type of book.  This book was a fun read and actually was full of great tips and tricks.

Here are some of my favorite tidbits from the book:

*Maria stresses the importance of having a regular cleaning schedule.  This way when guests are coming over you won't have to do a deep cleaning, things will already be spic and span.

*She recommends setting up a "black book" otherwise known as a home management binder.  As I begin condo shopping I think this will be very helpful, and I'll be setting it up more or less like this.

*Every New Year's Eve she writes out her resolutions and the steps to get them.  She then posts the goals and steps to obtain them in a very visible place.  I know we all have resolutions, but seeing the steps to get them everyday may act as a gentle reminder.

*This is a great tip for when dressing for a night out or when you know you are going to have your picture taken: take a flash photo of your outfit to make sure nothing shows up sheer or see through on camera!

*Maria emphasizes the importance of meditation in her life.  I have never once given thought to meditation, but as a frequent sufferer of anxiety and migraines, I will be looking into this.  I didn't know meditation has been proven to lessen severity of migraines.

*A tip I've never heard to help with a minor panic/anxiety attack is to use a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel placed on your chest.  The weight and the warmth of the bottle is supposed to be soothing.

*In a world where the economy still sucks, making connections is super important.  Maria recommends keeping a little notebook to collect business cards.  Glue the business card in and jot down a few notes as to how you know the person and what you may have chatted about.  It's a great resource to have.



All in all, I have to say I really enjoyed this book.  It had quite a few makeup and hair tips that were new to me, great advice on how to design your dream home on a budget, some lazy girl workouts and great recipes.  This is a book that I wouldn't mind having on my bookshelf to take out every now and then for inspiration or to use as a reference.

Are you a Maria Menounous fan?  Would you read this book?

Tips for Making Your Makeup Last

    As this is a blog for my fabulous budget minded beauties, I was contacts by HSN about a recent blog post they did on saving makeup, saving money.  I decided to share some of their great tips and add a few of my own!

1. Build a Better Makeup Bag

At times, I look through my stash and find no fewer than a dozen variations of the exact same lip shade. None of these products get used consistently and they mostly end up expiring before I can even scratch the surface. I've learned that by better editing my purchase decisions, I can make sure that I have a variety of products that I use more frequently – and I’m more likely to use them to the very last drop.

*Fabulously Thrifty Tip- Keep a list on your phone or planner of colors, finishes, products that you want or feel your collection lacks.  Hopefully this will keep you from purchasing 5 of the same shades of coral.

2. Clean your Brushes

Not only are makeup brushes expensive, but they also touch all of your makeup. By keeping them clean, not only are you extending their life, but also the life of your products. Keeping powders and blushes free and clear of oils and bacteria that tend to break them down will help them live a longer life.

*Fabulously Thrifty Tip- Washing is super important, but just as important is the way you dry them!  Try to dry them with the brush head facing downwards so water can't enter the ferule and eat away at the glue.

3. Keep it Pretty

You will never find my hard earned makeup knocking around in a vanity drawer or at the bottom of my purse. Oh, the horror! I’m careful to keep my beauty treasures tucked inside of pouches when I’m on the go or on a tray sitting on my vanity at home. This way, there’s far less chance that they will crack or explode, wasting precious product.

*Fabulously Thrifty- Traveling with a palette?  I tend to keep my palettes separate when traveling and wrapping them in towels or wash cloths to keep them safe.

4. Scrape the Bottom

I recently discovered these little spatulas that you can use to actually scrape the bottom of your makeup bottles to get to the very end of them. I’ve also been known to use them after cutting open tubes of concealer and lip glossto collect one final application. Brilliant!

5. Portion Control

It may go without saying, but using only what you need can really make your makeup last. I found that I was always left with unneeded foundation or extra moisturizer after applying, so I downsized my dose and I’m wasting less. Making other small changes like not spraying my fragrance into the air and walking through it has also helped!

*Fabulously Thrifty- Apply concealer after foundation.  A lot of foundation application methods will just wipe away concealer, which means you will need to apply more.  

How do you guys make your makeup last longer?  

My Beauty Emergency Car Kit

     As a suburbanite I spend a lot of time in my car.  Unless I'm going into the city, I'm traveling by car. I decided to put together a little beauty emergency kit to keep in my car so I don't have to haul around all of this stuff in my purse!
    If you don't want to keep this in your car (due to temperatures maybe?) than it would be a great thing to stash in your desk for impromptu happy hours.

I got this cute Coach makeup bag for Christmas from my dad.  It's a nice material and easy to clean in case something spills on or in it.

*Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo- I feel like every beauty emergency kit should contain a dry shampoo!  This dry shampoo not only sops up oil, but provides great volume!  It also gives your hair a bit of texture in case you want to throw it up into some sort of undo.

*Mini Hairbrush- I don't know about you, but this constant change of cold weather into heated buildings and constant hair crushing  by jackets makes my hair turn into a rat's nest!  A baby brush is a must!

*Victoria's Secret Lotion and Body Spray- I normally have a hand lotion and body spray in my purse, but in case I have a clutch for some reason or want something a bit more girly I go for this combo of Victoria's Secret Such a Flirt Lotion and Aqua Kiss Body Spray.

*The Body Shop Coconut Oil Hair Shine- This pomade is great in TINY doses for providing hair with shine and for taming frizzies.  It also smells AMAZING!

*Secret Deodorant- No one likes a stanky gal!

*Hair Tie and Bobby Pins- I usually have a hair tie around my wrist or in my purse, but again it's nice to have an extra just in case.  I also have a lot more bobby pins in my emergency bag, but didn't need to show you all of them.  I need to get a cute little container of some sort to store my bobby pins in.

*Pointed Q-Tips- I was going to keep a sample size bottle of eye makeup remover in my bag, but no matter where I take remover and what kind I take, it always seems to leak!  This q-tips will have to do until I get to Target to get that ELF Eye Makeup Remover Stick.

Does anyone else keep a beauty emergency kit in their car, desk or purse?  I'd love to know what else to add to mine!!


**The Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo was sent to me by Influenster in a Voxbox.  I am not affiliated with Not Your Mother's or Influenster in anyway.  All other items were purchased by me or gifted by friends and family.