Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder

We all know that when it comes to flawless looking skin that you see in pictures that a lot of it has to do with lighting (and maybe photoshop). Hourglass has a line of powders that offer you that perfect lighting for you specific skin needs.                                      WHAT IT IS:
A universal finishing powder that features state-of-the-art technology to recreate the most exquisitely flattering types of light. 

WHAT IT DOES:
Create your perfect light. Ambient Lighting Powder is a groundbreaking collection of finishing powders that capture, diffuse, and soften the way light reflects on your skin. Unlike traditional powders, which merely cloak imperfections, Ambient Lighting Powder utilizes photoluminescent technology to filter out harsh light and refine the appearance of the complexion. The powders deliver a multidimensional luminescence to every skintone, making it appear softer, younger, and lit-from-within. The finishing powders enhance skin in any type of light, including flash photography. With six universal shades available, you can create your desired effect—not unlike having a personal lighting technician. Ambient is free of talc, gluten, fragrance, and nanoparticles. It is available in six universally flattering shades from least pearl to most pearl.

ETHEREAL LIGHT: A sheer, cool tone that eliminates shine and mimics a moonlit glow—even in broad daylight.
DIFFUSED LIGHT: A soft, warm, pale yellow that reduces redness, eliminates shine, and gives skin clarity. 
DIM LIGHT: A neutral soft beige that provides a perfect balance of warm and cool tones to blur imperfections. 
MOOD LIGHT: A soft, sheer lavender pink that mimics the softest, most forgiving light and brightens the complexion. 
LUMINOUS LIGHT: A champagne pearl that creates a soft, incandescent candlelit glow—day or night. 
RADIANT LIGHT: A sun-kissed golden beige that enhances the overall complexion with believable, subtle warmth. 
 The Hourglass powders are gluten and paraben free.

  I myself own Diffused Light because when I went to Sephora to look at all the powders Diffused Light seemed to match my skin perfectly and I can use it all over my face to cover redness and almost blur out pores and imperfections in my skin. Other people use it only as highlight but my skin is fair and since there is no sparkle I can use it as a face powder. I apply it by dusting it over my face to set my makeup. It is almost like using a filter on a photograph to give it that flawless look. This is my everyday go to powder. I have had it for about six months and still haven't even made a dent in the compact because you only need a small amount of product to get the job done. I am very interested in trying the other Ambient Lighting Powders out to see if maybe one would be a good higlight or the perfect go to summer powder when my skin is tan and I am looking for more of a glowy powder.

Hourglass also just came out with Ambient Lighting Blushes that are supposed to work with the powders to give you the perfect match up of blush and powder without all the guesswork of finding your perfect shade. I can't wait to give them a try and see if they are as great as the powder.  

My Lupus Story

As many of you know from my other blogs I was diagnosed with a Systemic Lupus back in December. I was dealing with what I was told was pain from a kidney infection that just didn't seen to go away no matter what medicine they out me on. At one point I was heading to the hospital everyday for IV meds. So to make a long story short my blood test came back positive and I started seeing  a Nephrologist (speacializes in Kidney disease) and got bombarded with more information then my brain is capable of processing. I was not surprised by the fact that I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease becauses the chances are if you have one then you are more likely to have two. I always thought Lupus only caused problems with your joints and had no clue about all the other symptoms like fatigue, kidney problems, swelling, rash, and numbness in your hands and feet just to name a few.

   I just started my journey and have not exactly figured out which path I will take. Most likely I will wait until June when my kids are out of school and I am off for the summer to start my first cycle of immune suppressants and steroids but until then I am looking into more of a "Chinese Medicine" approach so that I can continue to work and keep things at home on a normal schedule that doesn't involve me taking a medicine that pretty much poisons my body and shuts my immune system down (as you can tell I am not thrilled with my options). I do my best to not let my children see me sick because I don't want them to ever worry about my health. So I plan on being as healthy as possible and push through the times when I feel like staying in bed and feeling bad for myself because my body doesn't want to cooperate with me.

     I will of course continue to review beauty products and makeup because I Love doing it. It makes me feel like I am helping other people out there who are dealing with similar problems. Everybody deserves to feel beautiful inside and out no matter what skin issues, allergies, diseases, etc.. they are faced with on a daily basis.

     I hope this answers your questions but feel free to message or email me if you have any other questions.

xoxoxo Diana

Whitening lightning

If you watch YouTube or ready beauty blogs on a regular basis then you have most likely heard our read about Whitening Lightning. The products that's I am going to review are there brow bar to go, lipglosses (Fiji and pink frosting), and the Super Booster whitening pen. All their products are gluten free and cruelty free.

I am going to start with the brow bar to go. This products as you may have guessed is used to fill in, lighten or darken your brows as well as using the wax to keep your brows looking polished and set. You are given a clear wax, a light powder and dark powder as well as an small brush. You can use both powders to create the perfect shade for your eyebrows. I was never into doing anything to my eyebrows except plucking them. I only realized what a difference your brows can make by doing the one thing I think we all do at least once, over plucking. You start off fine but as you look into your magnified mirror you feel like you should just take a little more, a little on that side, then poof you have almost no eyebrows. That was the look a few years back but now it's all about the fuller brow. Which would have been great if we didn't pluck them off for years and now we don't have much to work with and the hairs we do have refuse to lay in the same direction. That's when the brow bar to go comes in. First you want to grab a spooly and get all the hairs going in the same direction. Next add some wax and work it into the brow with a spooly so the hair stays flat. If you have perfect brows and that's all you need then your good to go but if you have areas that need to be filled in or you want to make your brows look fuller or change the shade or shape then you grab the brush and start filling in your brows at the fullest front section, working your way back making small hair like strokes. It is a good idea to do a little at a time and stop and look to see what progress you have made otherwise you might end up looking like you used a sharpy (not a good look on anyone). Once you like the look you can add a little more wax and comb through with a spooly to make sure everything is blended and looks natural. The two powder shades you are given in this palette are also perfect for using in your crease to blend out your eyeshadow because they are both matte. I know all this sounds like a lot but it literally takes 2 minutes and really can pull a look together and make it seem more polished. Once you start filling in your brows you will see what a difference it makes and you will find yourself reaching for this product everyday. I prefer this method to fill in my brows rather then using a eyebrow pencil because it comes out natural and softer then when you use a pencil and you are less likely to look like you used the sharpy and decided to give yourself a "Disney Villain" makeover.

When it comes to lipglosses I am not ashamed to say that I have a bit of a hoarding problem. I have way to many and I am sure by the time I post this I will have more. It's a problem. I am aware but I like it. Okay back to the Color your Smile lipglosses in Fiji and Pink Frosting. First off the packaging is pretty cool because when you unscrew the wand it lights up and there is even a mirror on the lipgloss for you to look in if you are out and need a touch up. You can even do a touch up in the dark if you need to! The formula of these glosses are great they are not to sticky or overly scented and they really feel nice on your lips. Fiji is a Barbie pink color and Pink Frosting is a nice natural pink with sparkle. These glosses are shiny and last longer then most but you will need to touch up after you eat or drink. The colors are beautiful and I can see them working for all skin tones.

Last up we have the Super Booster Whitening Pen. This is the product I have read about everywhere and was excited to try because it has great reviews. All you do is dry your teeth off and twist the pen until a clear gel comes out the end and you put a thin layer over your teeth, smile big for 60 seconds while it dries and go to bed (for best results). I have read review after review of people seeing a huge change after 1 or 2 uses but on the box it says to do it everyday for 14 days for best results. After my first week I really didn't see that much of a change so I emailed the company to make sure I was doing everything correctly and they emailed me back immediately with suggestions and all the steps I had been following already. Now that my 14 days are up I am glad to say that I do see a difference and my teeth are a few shades lighter. I think in my mind after reading all the reviews I thought I was going to get the whitening effect you get when you have your teeth whitened at the Dentist. A result a lot of other people seem to get but for me it was only a few shades which is still great. Especially because my teeth are super sensitive and the one time I tried to have my teeth whitened  at the Dentist I had to stop not even half way into the process because I was in so much pain (never again). This product was easy to use and they have an amazing customer service team who answer all your questions and immidiatley get back to you. Another great thing about Whitening Lightning is they are always doing sales or bundle deals and you can always find codes online to get huge savings on any of their products

Simply Smooth Magic Potion Shampoo

Shampoo is one of the hardest things for me to find that is gluten free and that doesn't contain anything that will not only leave my scalp feeling like it has been set on fire and not make me break out. My scalp is just as sensitive as the skin on my face and I truly believe that topical products we use on our skin and hair are absorbed and can cause damage.  So when I find a shampoo I like the first thing I want to do is blog about it, but because I like to really test the products I review I wait until I am sure about a product before I recommend it.

Simply Smooth Magic Potion Shampoo is hydrating and reparative. Perfect for those of us who highlight, color our hair or just have dry damaged hair. When I ran out of this shampoo and didn't have time to stop at the salon to pick it up I just grabbed another gluten free, parben and sulfate free shampoo that I have used in the past and thought it wasn't bad but it wasn't great either but I was in a pinch so I decided to use it. BAD IDEA! My scalp became dry and flaky but also oily at the root (I didn't even know that could happen). I try to go every other day with shampooing my hair but my hair looked so greasy and I had flakes from my scalp being so dry that I had to wash my hair everyday otherwise I would have been a hot mess. Even my neck shoulders and the sides of my face were breaking out. Finally I managed to get to the salon but I honestly thought that there was no way shampoo was going to be able to fix my hair drama and that maybe my hair was having a midlife crisis maybe my diet or medication was causing the problem. Thank Goodness I was wrong! All I had to do was wash my hair once using Simply Smooth Magic Potion and my hair was back to feeling and looking healthy. The shampoo is really light weight but it leaves you with hair that feels and looks clean unlike other shampoos that can leave your hair feeling heavy and like you need to maybe wash your hair twice to get that clean feeling. My skin immidiatley got better and the break outs were completely gone after a week. I am finally back to washing my hair every other day sometimes even more if I put my hair up in a messy bun or any style that requires my hair to be pulled back. We all know the texture of dirty hair makes it much easier to pull back and keep in place.

So if you are looking for a gentle shampoo that hydrates  and brings damaged hair back to life without weighing it down I would highly recommend this shampoo. Especially if you have sensitive skin or allergies.

IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness

    Let me first start off by saying that IT Cosmetics does not label their products gluten free (at least that's what a rep told me when I called) but since this was a requested review I decided to do some testing of my own. As most of you know I have the gluten tester kit (Glutentox.com if you want more info on it check out my old product posts section). So like I do with all products that are from a line I have never tried (yes even the ones labeled gluten free) I used the test and it came back clean with no traces of gluten. Horray!!

The product I am talking about is one of the best products I have ever used on my highly sensitive and red skin. (Drum Roll) The product is  Bye Bye Redness from IT Cosmetics. I have had many people ask my opinion about it, Could I do a review? Are their products worth the money? 

    Let me start off with saying  IT Cosmetics customer service are not only friendly but very knowledgable about their products and trust me I am sure they think I am a little crazy for all the emails and questions I sent them. They went out of their way to help me and answer all my questions. I got my first Bye Bye Redness a few months ago and when I first saw it I immediately thought of Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer that I am sure you have read about on beauty blogs and seen on YouTube videos. Bye Bye Redness comes in a small jar that contains 0.37oz. I know it seems like a small amount but you need such a small amount of product because it is so pigmented. The product claims to neutralize redness and contains skincare ingridients that are supposed to help nourish your skin and over time help get rid of some of that redness. So your not only concealing your redness, you are helping heal it as well. You all know I love the idea of makeup and skincare all in one especially if it really is a two in one product. Unlike some of the CC creams and BB creams on the market today that really don't give you the added skincare benefits like the original ones did that were created in Germany and then became very popular in Korea years ago. Most drugstore brands here in the U.S. literally just repackaged their tinted moisturizers to say CC or BB cream. Back to my review, I was skeptical at first because the product only comes in one shade and for me that usually means way to dark or way to orange. How to use the product seems to be confusing for some people because it can be used as a spot treatment to cancel out the redness of a blemish or the areas of your face that always have a little redness like around your nose, on your cheeks, (if you have Lupus and have the "butterfly" redness then you know what I am talking about) or to cover up hyper pigmentation left behind from a break out. After spot treating you can continue with your normal makeup routine and you won't have to use as much foundation/base because the redness is gone and you won't have to worry about applying more layers of foundation and ending up with that cakey makeup look that we all try to avoid. 

       I on the other hand have all over redness and use my Bye Bye Redness as my foundation. It gives me full coverage that looks like natural skin. Plus it has the added benefit of skincare ingridients that I spoke of earlier so why wouldn't I use it all over my face? In my opinion it's a win win situation because it cuts down on the time I spend getting ready and leaves my skin looking flawless and it feels like I have nothing on.

Application: The application I am going to share is on how I apply  Bye Bye Redness as a foundation. I decided not to go into a full face application with blush, eyes, lips, contouring and highlighting. You have read and seen me do many full face tutorials and I wanted to focus on the product itself. My very first step no matter what I am using is to moisturize IT Cosmetics suggest applying Bye Bye Redness with one of their brushes but as you know I have dry skin so I prefer to use a dampened Beauty Blender and do the usual bounce and press into the skin method. I follow it up with some powder to lock it into place. Sometimes I just use a a powder brush and apply it by getting the powder on my brush, then I knock the brush a few times so that I can apply a very light amount of powder to my skin sweeping (sweeping not buffing) it very lightly across my Tzone and anywhere else I feel I need it, making sure not to move any of the product. If I really want lock it in place and have it stay put for a long period of time (from early morning to when I take my makeup off right before I go to bed at night) or if I feel I have used to much powder I just spray my face with some setting spray and I am good to go.

 Who this product is for: This product is perfect for people with very sensitive skin, rosacea, hyperpimitarion, people with autoimmune diseases who have skin issues as one of their symptoms or because of their medication, people with acne who have really red blemishes or those red spots that breakouts can leave behind, someone who has had a face peel or microdermabrasion, anyone on a a perscription topical medication for acne that causes your skin to be dry and red.

Would I buy this product again? YES and if they ever discontinue it I will buy every single one I can find. This is a HG product without a doubt. I have had issues with my skin being red, broken out, super sensitive, etc.. For as long as I can remember. This product not only does everything I want my foundation to but it is also making a difrence in how my skin looks. Even when I am not wearing it I notice my skin is looking much better and it is doesn't look as red as it used to. It has been confidence in a jar for me. I definitely give this product 5 stars. Have you ever tried anything from IT Cosmetics? Leave a comment and let us know about your experience with their products. I myself plan on trying more of their products and of course keep you updated. Let me know what other products you would like me to review by leaving a comment, emailing me or messaging me on Facebook.

Sneak Peak: My review on some products from Whitening Lightning will be up soon as promised:)  

A look inside the many sides of Celiac disease

I learned a lot today about Celiac disease that I didn't really know before but thought I would share. Besides the biggest misconception of Celiac disease being an allergy the second largest misconception Is that once a person with Celiac's begins a gluten free lifestyle that all their symptoms will disappear with no long term side effects. For some this is true in fact some people never even show any symptoms at all but for a majority of people this is not the case. Some people can be gluten free and symptom free for years and then out of the blue they start experiencing some of the side effects and or symptoms associated with the disease (its a very long list). Others (like me) go gluten free and  still have symptoms no matter what they do. Maybe it has to do with how long the disease was reeking havoc on your body and causing your organs  to go into fight mode. Celiac disease is not a one size fits all diagnosis. People's bodies react differently to different things and chances are if you have one autoimmune disease you are more likely to have another. Some people assume that once someone with Celiac disease starts living a gluten free lifestyle that they are fine and lucky in fact that they don't have to take any medication. Well I myself wish I could take a medication that could stop the severe stomach pain, digestive problems, pancreatitis, joint and muscle spasms that leave all the muscles in my body locked to the point where I am curled up in a ball and my hands and feet are clamped shut like lobster claws. Never mind the migraines, fatigue and nausea, etc.. Is it like that everyday of my life all day? No but it does take its toll on not only your body but your mind and spirit as well. We all have our own personal issues that are hard to deal with but we adapt. Since knowledge is power I thought I would share what I learned by passing it on. Oh and for the millionth time CELIAC DISEASE IS NOT AN ALLERGY IT IS AN AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE. I am not saying allergies don't suck because they do I know (yes add allergies to my list of issues)

but they are not even close to being the same thing.

Gluten free Makeup for Christmas

This time of year makeup companies all have great kits for sale that let you try a bunch of products for a great price. Both tarte and Stila have great gifts sets available at sephora. If you are looking for a less expensive option Elf has quite a few palettes for sale with different combos of eyeshadow, blush, and lipgloss. Kits are a great way to try products from a line that you have had your eye on but not sure if you wanted to spend your money on. Kit's are also a great gift to give. Just make sure that if you are buying for yourself or as a gift for someone with Celiacs or gluten intolerant that you do your homework and check the company out online or give them a call to make sure their products are gluten free because most sales associates at Sephora, Ulta or any beauty counter have no clue if the products they are selling contain gluten or not. It's always best to contact the beauty product company itself and not just the store that sells the product if you are looking for up to date product information.