The White Hot Mani

You know what I love about the color white? 

Even if you are really pale like me, wearing it in the summer can make you look like you have a tan.

I could use some help in this department. Tattoos & tanning don't mix so I'm pretty pasty looking. 

The only problem is I don't think I own one piece of white clothing. Not even white shoes! After going to beauty school and working for Lancome I just got used to wearing a ton of black. I tend to stick to jeans or leggings with some variation of a black top. That's my mom uniform!

So instead of white clothing I opted on a white manicure.

I've never tried it before, but I've seen it a lot and always wanted to give it a try.

So what do you think?

I'm not as white as my nails now am I?

I'm pretty happy with the White Hot Mani. I am a perfectionist when it comes to polish so I ended up doing 3 coats of white. Yeah, 3. Pretty sucky! Plus a base coat. And a top coat. Somehow even with 5 layers of polish on my nails I managed to not fudge it up at all. 

Here's what I did & the products I used:

1. Dehydrate the nail. I found this awesome pin on Pinterest that said to use Dawn original dish soap to soften cuticles and remove all of the oil from the nail.                                           

This...the blue kind. It's really inexpensive too.
I had never heard of this method but decided to try it out & it worked amazingly well. Pretty cool.

2. Base coat. I use Creative's Stickey base coat. 

3. Polish. I actually picked up a cheapy bottle of Wet & Wild white polish because it would supposedly dry really fast. I have a ton of OPI professional polish but the white takes forever to dry, so I'm glad I went the cheap route here. Again, I did 3 coats of this to ensure there were no streaks. I'm kind of insane.

4. Top coat. I used Creative's Super Shiney high gloss top coat. I love this stuff because it's super shiny! Just like the name promises.

5. Cuticle oil. Lots of cuticle oil! I love Solar Oil. I drench my nails in this stuff nightly. It's great stuff that keeps your cuticles and nails moisturized.

My son took this bottom picture, and I think from the angle of the camera my fingers look short & stubby. I actually have very nice looking hands, so I'd like to point out that this picture is slightly misleading. That is all.

My hands (while slightly man-ish in appearance here) don't look as pasty & veiny as they usually do. I think the white compliments my skin tone nicely.

This look kind of reminds me of grade school when girls would paint their nails with White Out. Anyone else remember that?

Only this is more classy and less clumpy.

What do you think of the White Hot Mani? Would you rock the all white for summer? I will definitely be doing this one again. I got a ton of compliments on it, especially from all of the little girls at the park today. See? The kids were on to something with the White Out! ;)

Have a great weekend.

xo, Melissa

Don't forget to check out my feature on Classy Clutter's weekly top 20 from yesterday! My apple cider vinegar skincare post is the 2nd one on their list! Hooray for great skin!

Linked up to:

I'm being featured on Classy Clutter today!

That's right!

My amazing DIY skincare post is being featured in Classy Clutter's Spotlight Saturday top 20! Yay! I'm so freaking happy more people are going to learn about the amazing benefits of apple cider vinegar! If you still haven't read my blog post on ACV & what it can do for your skin, check it out here. It's seriously amazing stuff people!

I love Classy Clutter. I've been a follower of them for a couple of years now. Pretty much since I joined Blogger. I was featured by them once before too for my Tiffany inspired dresser. Check it out here!

Go show some love over at Classy Clutter today. They are some seriously crafty girls. I love all of the furniture they paint & refinish!

Acne Scar Fading Mask

I bravely decided to try this mask that was nicknamed "The Burning Mask." Not a fun sounding name! I did some research on the interweb and came to the conclusion that it's the lemon juice in the mask that causes the burning sensation. So you can adjust the amount in the recipe accordingly for your skin and based on how brave you are. 

Here's the recipe (and ingredient properties) for the mask from Twist me Pretty:

1/2 tsp cinnamon (anti-fungal, astringent, anti-viral)

1/2 tsp nutmeg (anti-inflammatory)

1 tsp honey (many healing properties)

2ish tsp lemon juice (vitamin C is great for fading scars or lightening skin)

I decided that since it was my first time trying the mask I was going to modify the recipe (and I didn't want to totally mess up my face or perhaps melt it off after finally getting it clear of breakouts). First of all, I didn't have nutmeg, so that was out. Also, I was going to use less lemon. I've experimented with putting straight lemon juice on a few of my acne scars and I know I'm pretty sensitive to the stuff. So instead of 2 tsp lemon juice, I probably used about 5 or 6 drops. That's right, 5 or 6 drops of lemon juice. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Trust me, if you're not used to using lemon juice on your face, a few drops will definitely get your face tingling.You don't want to have a red face for a week so take it easy.

Mix these ingredients up and slather it all over your face. I guess even with only a few drops of lemon mine still ended up a little runny. 

I cannot believe I'm even showing this picture to anyone. Mine looks more like I smeared a melted Hershey bar on my face. It did smell good though, so eat some candy while you're wearing the mask or something.

Leave it on for anywhere between 10-30 minutes, depending on how long you can handle "the burn." Since I didn't go crazy with the lemon mine didn't really burn. It just felt like a warm tingle. I left it on for about 20 minutes. This stuff is kind of hard to rinse off, but take your time and for goodness sake's, don't rub! You don't want to exfoliate with that cinnamon and nutmeg right after soaking your face in this stuff. Then pat dry.

Your face will probably be pink.
 I was a little horrified at first.
It seriously did not feel like my face was burning at all. 
Definitely pink! See?

Do you love this awesome high tech picture I Photoshopped? 

I should be a graphic designer.The arrows clearly point out a pink line where the mask was. The red circles indicate the lovely acne scars I'm trying to fade. So my face was pink, but I didn't have anywhere to go, thankfully. I just prayed that I didn't give myself 3rd degree cinnamon-lemon burns or something.

Afterwards, I applied a small amount of ACV toner, my normal serums, and a dab of moisturizer. About 30 minutes later the redness was completely gone and so was the redness from some of the scarring.

Will I try this mask again? Yes, definitely. I think I will try to do it at least twice a week, and gradually increase he lemon amount.

 Seriously people, do not, I repeat, do NOT use 2 tsp of lemon like the recipe says to. Your face will melt off. I'm not even joking. Try just dotting a little spot of lemon juice on your skin for a couple of minutes and see how red it makes it. That little patch test should give you a good indication of how sensitive you are to vitamin C. It's pretty potent stuff but I've read some amazing things about it's lightening ability, so I'm going to definitely stick with it. Just be cautious.

I'm making progress! I took a few cute pictures of me & the kids at the park yesterday. Now, usually I'd cringe at these pictures when I'd see them in their full sized glory on my HD computer screen. I don't like seeing pictures of myself outdoors, because in full sunshine you don't miss anything on people's skin. Am I the only one who is crazy and/or vain enough to think about this stuff? Well, call me crazy then because I do think of this crap all the time. 2 weeks ago I would have deleted a picture of myself in bright sunshine because you'd see bumps and uneven skin. I noticed in these ones though that my skin looks pretty dang good if I do say so myself.

Yes, I do still have foundation on. And no, I didn't airbrush my skin in Photoshop or anything. It doesn't look that perfect...yet ;)

 You don't really see any bumps or anything sticking up, which is what you would have seen before in similar pictures. So yay for a little boost in my self confidence.

And aren't these kids seriously cute? I chased them around all afternoon with my camera yesterday and got some good park pictures. I'll do a nice picture post and summer update ASAP.

So have you tried "The Burning Mask" yet? Have you even heard of it? What about ACV? Anyone seeing results with it? I'd love to hear your updates!

*Check out my amazing DIY skincare post here.*
My 2 week update on my DIY skincare here.

2 week update on my skin!

You GUYS.

Do you know how mad I am that I was too vain to take a before picture of my face?

I didn't! :'(

I'm kicking myself in the butt now. I am not one at all to ever, ever, (seriously NEVER!) post a picture of myself with no makeup on, but I'm thinking I'm getting close to that point with my skin now. Even though the idea scares the crap out of me, I so wish I had a before picture so you could see the transformation in my skin. It's amazing. I feel like a new person.

In case you missed my post of my super duper amazing DIY skincare ingredient, check it out HERE.

No, go read it if you haven't. It might change your life. Or skin, or whatever.

Ok did, you read it?
If you did you'd know my super not-so-secret-now ingredient is Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).

I've been using ACV as a toner for my face for 2 weeks now and I am absolutely shocked by the results. I have zero pimples. That's right. Zero. I have not had any new zits since I started using ACV. 

I don't think I can stress to you how amazing that is. I always have at least one blemish. One or two little ones that are always there, no matter how much I wash my face and take care of my skin. It's been very frustrating over the years. 

I am now using less concealer every day. I used to have to apply my foundation, then dot concealer on the 20 different breakouts in various stages of healing scattered across my entire face. Again, I stress to you that it was never really bad acne. I know it could have been a lot worse. Like I said, it was just annoying and slightly embarrassing. You know how you feel when you know you have a zit & you attempt to cover it up but you know everyone can still see it & you just want to be like "Listen, I know I have this huge zit on my face. I'm not dumb...I know you can still see it. Let's all just acknowledge that we all know it's there, and I'm not trying to pretend like you can't see it." No? You never have this internal conversation with people in your head while they are staring at a zit on your face? Just me? haha

Anyways, back to the concealer thing.

Yeah, I'm only having to use a teeny tiny amount. 

Once some of these minor scars have fully healed & faded more I'm hoping to work my way down to a lighter foundation. Maybe even a tinted moisturizer. 

Does anyone else understand how awesome this is?!

I could never ever get away with just a tinted moisturizer before. I've never had nice enough skin to do that. 

I've always envied people with nice skin who could just wear a little liner & mascara, lipgloss, and call it good. I would love to do that and not have to plaster on foundation every day. I hate it! Absolutely hate it. I don't have a problem with wearing makeup every day, but I wish I didn't feel like I had to wear a full face of foundation just to be comfortable with myself. 

So yeah. My face is 100% clear. No pimples, far less black heads, & pretty much no excess oil. 

This is amazing too, because I used to have to blot & repowder my face like 10 times a day.

I am now no longer using any acne medicated products. None. No acne washes, no benzoyl peroxide creams, no alcohol based toners...nothing. I'm simply washing my face with a basic cleanser, toning with ACV, and using my normal slew of serums, creams, moisturizers, etc. My skin has never looked better! 

Two days ago I made a new ACV solution. This one is 50% ACV & 50% pure, pristine tap water from my kitchen sink. It's still working amazingly well. If you're not seeing the results you desire I would up your ACV percentage a little and see if that helps (as long as it's not irritating your skin).

Seriously, I hope a lot of you are using this out there. Go to my original post and tweet about it or pin it on Pinterest or something. Seriously, spread the word. I am so happy about this that I want everyone to know! I know there are so many people out there whose self esteem and self confidence has taken a toll from struggling with acne. I've been there myself. It's not fun. I feel your pain. If you get breakouts, whether big or small, just try the ACV for like a week and see what happens. Stick with it faithfully morning and night and don't skip a day or get lazy. What's the harm it could do? You might end up with amazing skin like me.

Next, I'll let you on what I do with all of these DIY ingredients that are now in my bathroom:

Check out my amazing DIY skincare post here.

The acne scar fading AKA "The Burning Mask" post here.

Are you ready for an update on my amazing DIY skincare routine?

It's almost ready.

Check back tomorrow morning for the 2 week update. You won't want to miss this! :)

Have you been using Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) on your skin?

Check out my post on the amazing must have DIY skincare item here.

Fun summer activity: Make a fort!

It's finally summer break in our house.

For most people that means every day is spent pool side, at the lake, camping, going to the water park, or even just playing in the backyard in a kiddie pool. That was us...last year. And every year before that. 

But now?

Well, we live in the greater Seattle area, so it rains. A lot.

Oh yeah, and we went from a 4 bedroom house with a yard to a 2 bedroom apartment...temporarily of course.(that's what happens when you move a week before Christmas. Not a lot of options in the winter!)

We are trying to make the best of it because the weather here sucks. 

It's killing me.

Rain, rain, & more rain. Today it's going to be 63 & rainy. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 63 & rainy. The day after that? Ooooh, 66 & rainy. Supposedly it's only supposed to be partly cloudy with a 30% chance of rain on Wednesday, but that's like 5 days from now. Doesn't seem very summery, that's for sure. At least not summery like what I'm used to.

So,what's a mom to do when it's the 2nd day of summer & you're home with 2 bored, restless children?

Build a fort!

Duh.

I love this picture from Pinterest.

I was putting my son's laundry away yesterday when I saw him struggling with a huge, heavy blanket trying to build some kind of tent looking contraption between his toy box and his bed. The thing ended up being about 2 square feet & was draped 3 inches above the ground, but my 7 year old was pretty pumped.

Then I had an idea! How about I help the kid out?

I could build him a really awesome fort, and the kid would love me forever.

I told my son to step aside and watch his mom build the fort of his dreams.

This is what we ended up with.

I dug through his closet and I found these 2 camouflaged pieces of fabric my mom had sent the kids last summer. She found them at a garage sale & I think they are meant to really make some kind of canopy or cover type thingy for a playhouse. They are just big pieces of fabric that have been hemmed and they have these little elastic loops around the edges and on the corners so you can hook them onto stuff. Pretty cool, but we'd never really done anything with them before. I want to make some in different colors now too.
More on that later!

So I used the camo fabric thingies and I just started draping them over stuff. I moved Lily's kitchen set up onto the edge of the bed to give it some height. I secured the fabric with one of the elastic loops and then I draped it up over the TV. This probably isn't the best solution, but to secure it there I just set a couple stacks of coloring books up there. They are nice and heavy and they fit perfectly on  top of the TV without tipping over or falling off. (My kids are old enough that I simply warned them not to pull on the fabric or the stacks of books would fall down...possibly on their heads...and they haven't touched them at all so far. No injuries as of yet!) Anyways, I just kept draping the fabric & securing it with whatever heavy items were laying around, or I'd loop the elastic thingies around whatever I could find. Repeat with the 2nd one.

Next, I had to do something to raise the middle of the fort since it was sagging quite a bit. I needed something to hold it up in the center and I had a feeling a pole in the middle of the fort wasn't going to work. So my only option was to go from the ceiling. I didn't have a lot of options. I had a pretty dumb idea that I wasn't sure would work. I tested my theory and was surprised to see that it held just fine.
What did I use? Dental floss and a couple of thumb tacks.
Yep, that's it. I stuck a thumb tack in the ceiling, wrapped a long piece of dental floss (doubled up) around it and then tied the other end to an elastic loop on the fabric. It worked! My 7 year old can almost stand up completely inside of the fort.


The kids' awesome fort from the outside.

This thing has been a huge hit with the kids! They can hang out in there, play, read, watch movies, and even play Xbox inside. It was so much fun that they wanted to sleep in it, and I was totally cool with that idea. Camp out in the bedroom!

I moved Ayden's toy box out of the way & laid out some comforters on the floor for some extra padding. Then we just loaded them up with pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and popcorn and they were good to go. 

Snuggled up with some popcorn, getting ready to watch a movie.

Watching the beginning of Aladdin.

Look at how much room they have!

They slept comfortably all night.

Camping out again tonight.

Go build a fort for your kids!

Father's Day/Sunday Dinner Recipe

Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast & Creamy Mashed Potatoes.


This is by far one of my family's all time favorite meals.
I'm sure I say that a lot, but they are pretty easy to please. And this dish doesn't disappoint!

I made it on Sunday for Father's Day.

I got this recipe a little over a year ago on The Pioneer Woman's website. If you've never made a Ree Drummond recipe, you must be living underneath a rock. Or maybe you're just on a diet. Because Ree's recipes are not for anyone watching their weight or with a fear of using too much butter or heavy cream. Her food is delicious, savory, and what I like to call "rib sticking." Lots of meat & potatoes type of stuff that would make any man happy and full. Sounds perfect for my husband and kids!

(My camera was malfunctioning for the first few steps, so bear with me while I skip a few pictures in the first steps!)

To start, you'll need a good chuck roast. Find one with some good marbling. You don't want a super lean cut of meat here. A beautifully marbled chuck roast will cook up nice & tender and should melt in your mouth by the time you're done cooking it.

Next, you'll need some carrots, an onion (I forgot mine!), a large dutch oven or pot that can be used on the stove top and in the oven, olive oil, kosher salt & pepper.

Heat up your dutch oven with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Let it get really hot. Your pan might start smoking a little bit, so crack a window. Peel & quarter your onion. Toss it in the pan for about a minute on each side. They should sizzle & pop & brown up real nicely. Then remove them from the pan & place in a large bowl or on a plate. Scrub (don't peel) the carrots & cut them up roughly. Toss them around in the pan until all of the sides get nice & browned. Then remove those & put them on the plate with the onions.

(Again, I forgot to buy onion!)

Next, add a little more oil to the pan & let it get hot again. Now salt & pepper your chuck roast. Don't be afraid to season it! You wanna salt that baby really well & add as much fresh ground pepper as you like. Then place it in the dutch oven and sear each side for about 1 minute, or until it's nice and browned.

Then remove the roast & place it on the plate with the veggies. Your pan should look like this:

Next, you're going to deglaze the pan. You want to get all of those tasty bits off the bottom of the pan. Add about 2 or 3 cups of beef broth and use a whisk to get all of the stuck on stuff off the bottom of the pan.

After deglazing, you're ready to put the roast & veggies back in the pan. Place the roast in the middle, and add the carrots & onions evenly around the edges. The broth should cover the roast about halfway.

Then it's time to add some fresh herbs. Do not skip this part. The fresh herbs play a critical role in this recipe. They really make the meal! Add a couple sprigs of fresh thyme. 

Don't you love my polish? OPI's "It's All Greek To Me."

And then add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Now, I was very annoyed at the fact that I went to three different grocery stores and all of them were completely out of fresh rosemary. So I had to settle for the dried kind. That's OK, but fresh is definitely preferred.

Make sure you tuck the herbs down into the broth so that everything can really soak up the flavor.

Then put the lid on your dutch oven & place it into your preheated 275 degree oven. That's it. Do not disturb your pot roast while it is cooking! Cooking time will vary depending on your roast size, but you want to cook it extra long to make sure it's really tender.

Now about an hour before your roast is done you'll want to start your mashed potatoes.

These are not just any ordinary mashed potatoes.

These are the most delicious, creamy, rich, mouth watering mashed potatoes you will ever have in your entire life. No joke. I can not go back to making "regular" mashed potatoes after this. No way. These are a staple item in my kitchen now!

I started by boiling about 7 large potatoes. That's the perfect amount for my little family of 4, and we usually end up with enough to have leftovers the next day.

Drain the potatoes & mash those babies up.

Next, you're going to add your arsenal of fattening ingredients. The recipe calls for half & half (I use 2% milk instead), butter, cream cheese, salt, pepper, & seasoned salt (whatever kind you prefer). I like this one that my sister in law sends me from Montana...it's really good on popcorn too!

Now, I don't measure any of my ingredients here. I just eyeball/taste test it. I had to adjust the recipe a few times to get it perfect, but it's going to vary depending on how many potatoes you have to cook for your family size. (and trust me, throw in a couple extras so you can have leftovers. You'll want a second helping).

I think I used about 1/3 C of milk, 1/2 stick of REAL butter, 1/3-1/2 block of cream cheese, and a ton of salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. 

Keep in mind, you do not want to just lightly salt & pepper these. You are going to salt the crap out of these because you aren't topping them with gravy or anything. They are delicious all on their own, so do not be afraid to "over" salt & pepper them. You want them really flavorful, so do not under season!

Normally, you'd be done here. And you can be, but here's where the extra yummy part comes in. I like to make mine a little beforehand because I bake them. Put them in a casserole dish, add a couple extra pats of butter (if your thighs/butt can take it), cover with foil, and place them in the oven with your pot roast for the last half hour or so that it's cooking. You can even uncover them if you'd like and they'll brown up a little bit. Perfect. Plus, this ensures that everything is hot & ready at the same time. 

I let my roast cook for about 5 hours. It was probably "done" after about 2 1/2 (it was a small, 2lb roast). But you want it to really cook for a while so it will get nice & tender. This one looks perfect.

Time to dish up!

Here's my 7 year old's dinner plate. It's his absolute favorite meal that I make. He calls it "roast beast" like from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Roast beast is the best.

First bite.

Oh yeah, he says the potatoes are perfect.

Here's my plate. The roast turned out tender and delicious. I would actually have to say that I think the carrots are my favorite part of the meal. The fresh herbs make them so delicious!

My little guy was hungry.

And I think I taste tested the potatoes a few too many times while I was mashing them, because I couldn't finish my dinner. Ayden had to help me :) 

My little lady was a grouchy girl and fell asleep on the couch, so I don't have any pictures of her beautiful face eating one of her favorite dinners. I made her a little plate, put it in the fridge for later, and she devoured it in about 5 minutes after waking up.

Also, if you'll notice, one crucial thing is missing from our Father's Day dinner. Daddy!!! Yep, he was working late, per usual. He sure is a hard worker! But he ate 2 big plates of pot roast, taters, & carrots as soon as he got home. He said thanks :) 

I hope you guys try out this delicious recipe. Your family won't be disappointed! 

And happy belated Father's Day to all of the amazing daddies out there. I am so thankful for my hunky husband/super dad. He's the best.

 My kids are so blessed.