What's in My Makeup Bag?

Makeup Bag Collage

I have a fear of being at work or just living my life somewhere and my makeup will miraculously come off! I don't know how I think this will happen-crying jag, rogue fire hydrant, getting caught in a rain shower or what, but it is a fear. It has literally never happened, but if it does-I am ALWAYS prepared for it. 

My days can be very long however, and a touch up is required in the evening before whatever the next 'thing' is I have to do. Makeup goes on in the morning around 6:00 am-so by 6:00 pm I do need freshening up. So, if you do not need makeup or require any touch ups during the day-more power to you! The rest of you can read on.

In my makeup bag are staples that I always have with me. If my eye makeup comes off, I have my Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler and Nars Black Moon Eyeliner and that is pretty much all anyone needs to look fresh, polished and awake. 

Nars Black Moon Eyeliner

 The MAC Blotting Films soak up the excess oil on my t-zone and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural smoothes the rest out just right and does not look 'makeupy' at all. It looks perfectly natural.  In a pinch I can use this light powder as eyeshadow to make my eyelids look even. 

Rosebud Salve is a classic can-do for dry lips, rough cuticles, smudgy makeup, and even works as a highlighter on cheekbones and lids. I swear! It makes you look so awake, even if you are not. The second runner up to Rosebud Salve is Aquaphor, which you can find at any drugstore. 

Whirl Lip Pencil by MAC does not leave my purse. Ever. It is slightly darker than the inside of my lip, which is an ideal lip color. Pull out your bottom lip and take a gander at the color on the inside and try to find a lip pencil to match it. You can't go wrong doing that and mine happens to match Whirl pretty darn good.  I can mix it with other pencils or lip colors or just use Rosebud Salve over the Whirl pencil and I am all set. Of course, my favorite lip gloss is Nars Triple X and if I am feeling really fancy-I will use the lip gloss instead of just the salve over my pencil. 

MAC Whirl Lip Pencil

Garnier BB Cream is hands down my fave BB cream. It is extremely affordable and works wonders! I have heard some people complain about there not being enough color options, but I just mix a little spf moisturizer in it until it becomes the color I want and I do not have to wear foundation. The drugstores seem to sell out of this miracle product the second it lands here in LA-so my best friend in Reno buys them out there and will send them to me. She is a life saver. I have also seen an improvement in my skin since I have started using this.

Benetint Lip Balm saves me if my blush comes off. It moisturizes my cheeks and gives them a rosy glow if I need it. The best way to get a natural flush though is to workout! I try to workout after work and so I have a flush before the next item on my agenda anyway. But, you never know, right? Those rain showers in LA can be tricky! ha ha ha

Have fun packing your new streamlined makeup bag and watch out for fire hydrants and crying jags! 

Love,

Rae

Why Don't Diets Work?

Diets don’t work! I always say that because it is true. Unless one’s lifestyle changes into a healthy one, any diet will just fail over and over again. The best way to lose weight and keep it off is by eating in a healthful way that you can maintain.

Does it make sense to cut out carbs forever? If you cut them out for a diet, once you add them back in-you will gain the weight back. So, ask yourself- What kind of healthy eating lifestyle can I adopt and maintain?

One way to do this is to just change one thing in your daily eating routine and do that for a couple weeks. Once you have that change down, try another change and so on and so on. These are baby steps that allow you to adjust the way you eat that is not shocking to you or difficult to maintain. It also will not make you go crazy with cravings.

My favorite way to start a new way of eating is to add fruit for breakfast. Eating only fruit until lunchtime is a highly effective way to streamline your digestion making it easier for extra weight to come off.

When fruit is improperly combined with other foods, it ferments in the stomach and the body has a difficult time digesting the food causing you to keep weight on instead of allowing it fall off. Doing this also cleanses and detoxes the inside of the body. When you feel light and healthy, you will be more prone to want to be active, workout and take care of yourself.

Our bodies have 3 digestive cycles as outlined in the book Fit for Life. I have been using this book as my guide since I was 14 years old! I know that it really works.

From 4:00 am until noon our bodies are in the elimination cycle. This is when we eliminate body wastes and food debris. By eating only fruit during this time, it helps our bodies along the way. Fruit digests very quickly and goes right through our digestive system. Start out with juicy, high-water content fruits and then move on to more dense and dried fruit towards lunchtime.

From lunch until 8:00 pm, our bodies are in the appropriation cycle which is the eating and digestion time. During this time is when you will have properly combined meals such as veggies and protein or veggies and carbs. Protein and carbs are 2 other things that do not mix well together. Protein is best eaten alone with veggies and salad. When you mix carbs into the meals at the same time as protein, the food tends to not want to be eliminated from the body and stays inside your digestive tract for too long. When you want carbs such as bread or rice, have them. Just combine them with salad, healthy fats, and/or veggies. Any food that is not a fruit or veggie is a concentrated food and your body can only handle one concentrated food at a time. When we properly combine our foods, we are giving our body extra energy to burn fat and allowing more energy for being active!

You do not have to worry about counting calories or weighing your food or all that confusing and time consuming stuff.

Starting at 8:00 pm until 4:00 am is when our bodies are in the assimilation cycle. This is the absorption and use of all the nutrients from the food we have eaten during the day. The absorption cycle cannot take place until the food has entered the intestines. A properly combined meal is in and out of the stomach in about 3 hours and ready to be absorbed and assimilated. An improperly combined meal can take up to 12 hours to do this. Yikes. 

When our food is just sitting in our stomach we feel heavy, weighed down and just not well. This prevents us from having the life we really want and having no energy to go after it! You can turn this around by starting with some small life changes and creating your healthy Purifoid lifestyle. 

Here is one of my favorite properly combined meals. I use meatless taco meat, avocado, and veggies. Yum.

Rae’s Meatless Taco Salad

½ package of soyrizo

½ package of ground meatless taco meat

Oregano, paprika, and cayenne pepper to taste

1 can of black beans, drained

1 avocado

Juice of a ¼ lemon

½ tsp. of garlic pepper, powder or salt 

2 medium tomatoes

½ an onion

1 jalapeno

3 pinches of cilantro

Chop the onion, tomatoes, cilantro and jalapeno. Mix it together and set it aside in the fridge.

Mash up the avocado with the lemon juice and garlic salt. Set it aside in the fridge.

Mix the ‘meats’ together with the oregano, paprika and cayenne pepper. Place in the skillet and fry at high heat for 3-5 minutes depending on how crispy (or not) you like it. I like the ‘meat’ dry and slightly crispy. Reduce the heat to medium and add the beans until everything is heated through.

This will make a couple servings.

Put 1 serving of the ‘meat’ mixture on a plate with 1 serving of the tomato mixture on top. Place ½ of the mashed avocado mixture on top.

Enjoy your properly food combined meatless taco salad! 

Love,

Rae