Pug Luv

This week my little pug has gone through quite a bit and although he didn't look this happy a few days ago I am happy that soon he will be back to his normal self.

Happy Easter!!

The Easter Bunny came to our home extremely early this morning.  I had a hard time going back to bed after the excitement of baskets being dismantled...

Finally went back to sleep ... got back up a few hours later and headed to church.  I love it when mass goes just as scheduled and there isn't any overtime.  Love it!  

After church we headed for milkshakes, if we all behave during mass we are rewarded with milkshakes ... hmmm, not sure that this is the right thing to do, but it's working so don't judge. hahahah!

Now for the good stuff - not that church wasn't good, but let's be honest, I love something  yummy in my tummy - Dinner got off to an early start, chopping the vegetables to go along with our  ... ready ... ready.. Roasted Lamb.  Oh my goodness was this yummy!  Not to toot my own horn but it's probably one of the best I've tasted.  This is also probably the easiest meal I have ever prepared since the ingredients were minimal.  

After our delicious dinner we headed out for a bike ride.  The rain clouds seemed to be moving in as the sun started to set and I was lucky enough to able to capture this beautiful colorful sky. 

  

What a way to end this amazing day.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday ... enjoy the photos ... also, don't forget check out all the other Simple Things Sunday entries on Rebecca's blog.

-Hizles

Simple Things Sunday - Mercedes

If you know you me personally, you know that I am not a cat person, at all.  Maybe it’s their piercing stare that frightens me the most.  But today I met this little face and while at first I was afraid to look into her eyes, I have to say that she just won me over.  Her name is Mercedes and she belongs to a dear friend of mine.  She is just adorable and so cute that I had to make a post to show her beauty. 

For me this week I submit this photo for Rebecca’s Simple Things Sunday to share with everyone the simple beauty that can be found in all of Gods little creatures.

Stop by Rebecca's Site to see all the other entries, you will love them!

-Hizles

My dogs are barking ...

Lately my feet have been hurting A LOT … I am always on my feet but hate the thought of wearing sneakers through this hot weather ... what's a gal to do?

Over the last couple of months I’ve had to leave all my girly heels in the past and start using something more comfortable without them being completely flat.  Flat shoes are so bad for your feet and sadly I had to find out the hard way.  Flip-flops (especially the flat ones) just don’t offer much support for the foot, but even with my foot issues these babies make my footsies feel so comfortable. 

Brace yourself ….

They are Crocs.  I have had a number of different flip flop styles but this particular pair just feel great, so much that when I do wear other shoes they just feel hard and stiff.  The best part about these shoes is that they are in black.  Crocs tend to make very funky colorful shoes that I would only see on kids so I was shocked to find that this pair were made by Crocs. 

These will welcome in the summer with me ;)

-Hizles

Spring Lips

Take a peak inside my makeup bag …

These are just some of the goodies you’d find inside my makeup bag .. which goes with me everywhere.

If there was ever an excuse to wear pinky corals or just plain corals, Spring is the best time to pull that look off.  As one of my favorite lip colors, regardless of the season, I always love these two shades on my lips. 

Urban Decay in Lovechild

YSL Rouge Volupte in #13 Peache Passion

Victoria’s Secret Perfect Lipstick in Heartbeat

Victoria’s Secret Perfect Lipstick in Wish

Happy Spring Lips!

-Hizles

Divine and Immortelle

After weeks of trying these product I thought it was safe to say I have seen a difference in my skin after using this on a daily basis. 

A friend and fellow blogger recommended L’Occitane Divine Immortelle Crème.  I am not normally keen on forking out $95+ for a moisturizer but since I saw great results in my friend’s skin I had to try it.  It has now been over 2 months (if not more) since I have been using this cream as part of my nightly regimen.  This cream is meant to enhance the skin tone and give the skin nourishment.  Kind of like vitamins for our lovely faces ;-)

One of the most important things I noticed before I started using this product is that I did have patchy dry, flakey skin.  My skin now is not as dry in certain areas as it once had been.  What use to feel tight and dry now feels more even than before.  Trust me, I get it, different climate and seasons react in ones skin.  But now that I have traveled to cold and hot climates I can honestly say I do enjoy using this cream either time of year.  The scent is a bit hard to describe as I find it has a botanical scent much different than a synthetic scent that you most other creams. 

Along with this cream I am also using the L’Occitane Immortelle Eye Balm … I had been slacking in the eye cream area for some time. 

The Immortelle Eye Balm is light and nothing like a balm to me.  When I think of balms I think of a thick wax-like consistency.  This is more of a gel, maybe slightly heavier than a gel without the sticky feel.  I also use this only at night and have noticed no additional fine lines. 

As for my day routine it changes from day-to-day but always has SPF of at least 35.  Living in a sunshine state it is important that I protect my skin, not just my face but my body too, from the harmful sunrays. 

I hope you enjoyed this post on my nightly regimen.

-Hizles

March Favorites

Hi All!  Just look how beautiful my March favorites look as they lay out to soak up the sun.  Are you ready to take a look and see what made it to my favorites list?  

As you all know I was on holiday this past month so my makeup was cut down to minimum and just essentials.  Here are a few of the products that came with me on the trip and have become my March Favorites.  Let’s get started …

 Z-Palette containing:

MAC e/s in Quarry, Omega, Shroom, Dazzlelight, Ricepaper, Ground Brown, Texture, Corduroy, Vanilla, Black Tied, Swiss Chocolate

MAC Blush in Melba, Well Dressed, Cantaloupe, Accentuate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brow ex-press by Anastasia in Brunette

MAC Warm Soul Blush

L'Oreal Double Extend Tubes Mascara

Laura Mercier Powder Foundation in No. 4

MAC Mineral Skin Finish Natural in Medium/ Dark

MAC Mineral Skin Finish Natural in Medium/ Deep

MAC Mineral Skin Finish in Cheeky Bronze

Soleil Tan De Chanel

Christian Dior Poudre Shimmer in 002 Diamond Amber

Essie Nail Polish in BBF Boy Best Friend

Essie Nail Polish in Fifth Avenue

Essie Nail Polish in Topless and Barefoot

I forgot to include my MAC Face and Body Foundation in C3 and C4 but be sure that it was the #1 items on my favorite bag this past month while on holiday.  Without a clean, fresh face all the color in the world would not look as well as with my MAC Face and Body.  One of the reasons I decided to include this foundation was because it is long lasting and build-able.  If you need extra coverage, just add a bit more ... you can use your hands, brush or sponge to apply ... although, my favorite is using a flat head brush.  You get a much better application this way.

Of course I didn't use all these at once but with the right combination you can make countless looks while away from home.  I personally don't use eyeliner on a daily bases, especially while on holiday but if needed eye shadow would work to create a deeper more define look.  

I use darker shades to contour my face and create depth; hence why you see 3 different shades of powders.  Lighter colors are used to highlight parts of my face that I would like to enhance or stand out.  

I hope this was useful to some of you.  I enjoy these types of post and also reading people's favorites because I often discover something new that suits my skin type ... or new techniques.  

Have a wonderful day and see you in the next post!

-Hizles

Cozumel, MEXICO

As I promised in one of my last post … here are my photos from Cozumel. 

Honestly, this is one of the destinations I hope to visit again in the future.  The Mayan Ruins in Cozumel are the ones I wish to get to see and have added to my bucket list.  Besides the beautiful beaches that are located in Mexico there is so much history that I would love to be able to see one day.  As a child history was one of my favorite subjects.  Mainly because it is important to know ones history, to get a better understanding of what occurred in the past.  If you love stories than history would probably be something that would interest anyone who wanted facts and truth. 

To think that someone actually built these building many years ago and to see them still standing is just amazing to me.  I suppose I still love history even though my memory isn’t as good as it use to be. 

As I had mentioned in my previous holiday post, I didn’t take many photos because I was so caught up on what was in front of me, so these are all I managed to salvage. 

Enjoy!

A view from land of the ship.

On the road next to the beach ... how do these locals do it? 

The beach was calling for me ...

I love everything about this photo ... the bright color of the buildings to the uneven sidewalks.

I actually had to ask this police officer if he would suggest a restaurant for lunch ... we got a police escort!

...and this is how they seal the deal

I wanted to buy everything I saw.  

As we get on the boat we get to listen to this solo mariachi.  

Back to the boat we all go ...

-Hizles

Sigma Synthetic Face Kit

I am super excited to have receive my Sigma brushes this week!  So far I have used two of the set of three and am very impressed with how well they apply my foundation and cream bronzer. 

This time of the year is when I wear most of my cream products because they make my makeup last a lot longer if layered … cream-power, cream-power.  In my case it’s just cream-powder but on days when I know I will need extra coverage or long lasting power, I will be a bit heavy handed. 

Most of you may now how much I raved about the Kirkland Brand flat top brush for my foundation.  Well … this new Sigma brush is a whole lot more dense than the Kirkland brand and work soooo much better when blending.  Besides it being extremely soft, it blends my cream, liquid foundation with so much ease.  For many years I was a strong believer in powder foundations because of my oily/ combination skin, but with the right products I can use the cream or liquid foundation and make them last all day .. with a lot more coverage than my powder foundations. 

I have always been a MAC Studio Fix Powder user but I have found over the years that it does not photograph well.  Most of my photos have clearly shown a white mask due to the Studio Fix Powder and sometimes even the Studio Fix Fluid.  I love both products but honestly they just don’t do well if you are being photographed. 

I took this post on a whole other route by discussing my opinion of the MAC Studio Fix Powder and Fluid.   Although the Fluid blends in well with this new brush it just does not look well in photos.  Perhaps this should just be a foundation that should be used if you plan on NOT being photographed. 

If you have not tried the Sigma brush line, I encourage you to give them a try.  I own a lot of MAC, Crown, Smashbox and Sigma brushes and can tell you that Sigma makes brushes that are very comparable to MACs line. 

I hope some of you found this post useful and can assure you I will be using these three brushes for all my summer makeup needs.

-HIZLES