Tuesday, August 30, 2011

GIVEAWAY!

Hey guys, this is not the official giveaway.
i need your help!
help get my twitter @MakeupByLaraLee
and blog http://xlaraleex.blogspot.com/
to 1500 followers so i can do a giveaway! :D

I have a ton of really cool things planned to giveaway, like:
makeup
jewelry
gift cards
and a bunch more.


So hurry and help me get some more followers so i can start giving you all a ton of stuff!

I love that i have a ton of viewers, but you guys gotta follow me too!
The more followers i have, the more i can giveaway :)
thanks<33



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

DIY Clip in Hair Extensions. (colorful highlights)

Ive been making my own clip in hair extensions for probably five years now.I prefer using clip ins rather than gluing them or doing micro links.
With clip ins, you have the option of taking them out, and just putting them in when ever you feel like it. Clip ins are also a lot easier to take care of, and will last much longer.
You dont really have to worry about tangling them or pulling them out of your hair while you brush.
And the main thing, you can do them yourself for pretty cheap!

What youll need:
1 weft of hair in blonde at your length.
15-20 snap clips (hair extension clips) to match your hair color.
Needle and thread to match the hair/clips.
Scissors.
*Optional*:
Flat iron.

You can get them:
Weft - Most hair/wig stores (that will most likely be the cheapest place) I got mine at a beauty supply store in Morrisville for $50, Sally Beauty is usually $70.
Clips - Sallys sells a 3 pack for like $2, but you can re use the clips, when the hair is too old and tangled just cut the thread and keep the clips for next time.

What to do:
(This is only for colorful highlights, not full head extensions I will do a post on that next)
Take your weft out of the package, and unfold/unwrap. If you want you can take your flat iron and straighten out the kinks in the track, it will make it a little easier later.

Measure about 4.5" and cut.


Fold the hair into thirds (You can take your flat iron again to hold the folds to make it easier while sewing)
Thread your needle so your thread is about 12" long (i double my thread over so its 2 strands, for a little added strength) and tie a knot in the end 2-3 times so it wont pull through.
Then you basically just wanna sew the hair through the holes in the clip.
Start at either end, make sure you go through the hair first, the thread will pull through the clip.


Go through the track and through the hole in the clip, then I just wrap it around and go through the same hole to give it a little more strength, then go to the next hole and repeat, all the way to the last hole. Then tie your thread off, make sure its secure on the end of the hair/clip. And cut your extra thread.

Do it again for the next piece of hair, repeat till you have no more hair.
It should look something like this.



Then just dye them to your desired color. Ill be doing mine hot pink and purple, some blue and turquoise. If you want them for natural highlights just buy that color.
For full head extensions check back later this week, Ill be posting that soon!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

What a week.

*This is not a beauty post, this is a personal post, if you dont care, dont read*
Its been about a week since Ive posted something, and I like to post at least twice a week..preferably more.
But I have had quite a hectic week. So I just wanted to take a little time and explain whats been going on.
This isnt going to be a beauty post at all, so If youre uninterested in my life and personal posts, please dont bother reading this. And please no rude comments.

So, my last post was tuesday.

Wednesday my sister moved back home. her and her boyfriend had an apartment together, and things didnt work out so she moved back home. during the day her and her bf were bringing some stuff home then after my parents got home we all went over to help her move her bed and dressers and everything. so that was an all day thing, no time to bloggy.

Thursday me and my best friend went to Belmar beach for my birthday.
We didnt end up leaving until about 1:30-2:00. Which I guess I didnt mind because we didnt hit rush hour and by the time we got there a lot of the morning people would be gone.
So I live about an hour from Belmar, so we got there at like 3:00. We put a TON of quarters in the meter..got down on the beach. Look to the right, tonnnnss of people. look to the left big open space then a ton more people. So we go hey lets put our stuff down here. Then we realize theres no swimming flags. No wonder theres no one here. So we decided to put our stuff down there and just walk over to where we could swim, it was probably about 30 feet, not far at all. So it was me, my best friend, her little brother, and his girlfriend. So we all went in at once. We were in there for probably no more than 30-40 minutes. We get out and go back to our blankets..well, the seagulls had gotten a hold of our food..they took a bag of doritos and like 20 seagulls were all crowded around our stuff. There were a bunch of people around and NO ONE could scare them away while we were gone..we thought that was kind of rude, then there were people taking pictures and videos and the one girl said "we could get this on the news!" because seagulls eating someones food is so news worthy! hahaha So we buried brian, gave him a pregnant belly and some boobs, he rinsed off, we packed our stuff and went back to the car. we had only been on the beach for like an hour and a half or something. we put our stuff in the car and walked a little bit down the boardwalk and stuff. we had so much time left on the meter but we just left anyway to find somewhere to eat. omgsh it took us probably an hour to find somewhere to eat. we went in three places that should have been normal places to eat but they were super expensive and like five star hahah. So we finally found a pizza place. the plates were dirty, the pizza was extremely greasy, we had some bad luck that day with food. so we made our way back towards the beach and stopped at this marina/park and just walked around by the water and stuff for an hour or so, then we left. so this trip that was supposed to be me and my best friend going to the beach all day ended up being a 7 hour trip to jersey where we spent 50% of our time in the car. i was a little disappointed because that was supposed to be my birthday thing and it ended up being all about her brother. but its whatever i guess. so that was my thursday.

Friday was my birthday. btw, i turned 20! :) i had all intentions of posting something quick on friday. but i ended up just relaxing. we didnt do anything special for my birthday..me and my dad went to get a cake, i picked the 'cookies and cream' one, omgsh it was so good. we didnt have any candles so my sister ran to walgreens to get some. she lit them all and they were like sparking at me i was like are they supposed to do that? hahah so i blew them out and she goes "that was lame they were supposed to be magic candles" as soon as she said that they all light back up hahha. i kept blowing them out and lighting back up. so we tried taking them out quickly and putting them in water so they couldnt light back up! hahah it was pretty funny, when my family is together we do nothing but laugh :) i love my family and im so happy my sisters home :)
My dog, daisy, had been sick for like 3-4 weeks. on july 1st, we put my other dog speck down, he had heart failure, he was an old man and lived a long happy life. (btw my dads bday is july 7th so speck passed very close to my dads bday) shortly after speck died, daisy got sick. it started out just throwing up a few times, then it was every time she ate, we took her to the vet because she had a lump on her side, and they gave her antibiotics, it helped the lump a little but it didnt help her stomach at all. so we took her back. she was dehydrated, they gave her an IV and some anti nausea pills. she lost so much weight and she was nothing but skin and bones, it was so horrible to see. we were giving her broth and peanut butter and Ceasars dog food and she seemed to be keeping it down better. thursday before i left for the beach she looked like she was doing good. then when i came home i tried giving her more food, and she would just walk away from it. friday was the same thing. and somewhere along the line her mouth had been bleeding. we thought it was just her tongue from rubbing against her teeth. but friday it started bleeding so bad she was leaving little puddles of blood everywhere she layed. she layed outside all night, i guess because it was cooler outside. she still wasnt eating, so i brought her some ice water she would drink some then i would have to get fresh water because the blood in it made it look like kool aid, i was so worried about her, and my mom had made an appointment for monday, but she wasnt doing good at all, and i wanted to take her sooner. it had gotten late so we wanted to bring her inside, but she wouldnt walk, so we had to carry her in, my mom made a little bed for her and we layed her down on it. we were all laying around it with her just petting her and talknig to her trying to make her feel comfortable. we were all crying because she looked so sick and the blood was just horrible.
I went to sleep so worried about her.

Saturday, I woke up to a phone call from my mom "were with daisy at the animal hospital, she has to be put down, do you want us to come get you" my eyes immediately filled with tears all i could say was are you serious, at first i thought it was a bad dream. so my parents came to pick us up, we went in the room and the lady was explaining what was happening. they said her trachea was paralyzed and they couldnt figure out what was wrong with her stomach yet, they would have had to do surgery to fix the trachea, but they couldnt remove her breathing tubes to fix it because she couldnt breathe without them. we dont know what exactly was bleeding but we assume it was something with the trachea. and we never found out what was wrong with her stomach, but they said it was two serious things, and it was better for her just to put her down.
they took us back to where she was, laying on a table with tubes and iv's coming out of her, her eyes looked so sad. the vets had made two little foot prints for us on cards. we had a minute to hug her and kiss her and tell her we love her. they asked if we wanted to stay for it. my sister couldnt stay, but me and my parents stayed. they gave her an anesthetic, then something else, they checked her heartbeat, and told us she was gone. we all kissed her and told her we love her one last time. and we left.
The rest of saturday we finished cleaning out my sisters rookm so all her stuff could go in there, it was all kinda just sitting in the living room.

Sunday my parents rented a carpet cleaner to clean up all the blood stains daisy had left in my parents room, it looked like a murder scene. so me and my mom cleaned the house and i shampooed their room, the hall way, and my room. when my dad got home he did the rest of the living room. then we had a delish dinner. me and my dad had been craving a thanksgiving-like meal. so thats what we were going to have, but turkey was expensive, so they just got chicken. but im a vegetarian so i got a quorn turk'y roast. and we had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and mixed veggies. it was so good :)

then yesterday, monday. my sister was on the computer job hunting all day so i didnt get a chance to get on.

So I apologize for the delay in posts, and that this is such a long one. I hope you understand.
<3LaraLee

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Are You Eco Friendly?

*None of the companies mentioned are paying me for this blog, all opinions are my own.*
Today I watched a YouTube video by Blair Fowler, a YouTube 'Beauty Guru' about being eco-friendly.
So that inspired me to do my own blog post of ways to be eco friendly.

Heres Blairs video:

Now my ways to be eco friendly are:
- Use a water filter.
I admit, I am guilty of using plastic bottles too, but at home I have a Pur water filter which I use alllll the time.

- When I do use plastic water bottles, I recycle.
In my house we have always recycled, and I kind of thought everyone just did it. But I noticed lately a lot of my friends dont. And honestly, I dont understand why. It doesnt cost anything to recycle, and its just as easy to throw a bottle into a recycle bin as it is a trash can.

- As Blair says, BYOB, Bring Your Own Bag.
Most grocery stores have reusable bags at the register for $1. Or just use a cute tote bag you already own. I also noticed at Target they have a little 'recycling center' they have bins for recycling old plastic bags. (as well as old cell phones, electronic cords, and the usual bottles and paper)

- Unplug things.
When youre not using your charger, or if you have 3 lamps in your room and only ever use one, unplug them. Even if its not in use, its still using electricity. Not only will you be helping the environment, youll save money on your electric bill.
- Turn off lights.
When you leave a room, during the day, even at night. If youre not in a room, why do you need that light on. If the sun is out, open your curtains, use some natural lighting. Or if youre sitting in your room at night turn off the lights in the other rooms, or instead of having all the lights in a room on just have one on, or use the light of your tv if youre watching it.

- Turn off unused electronics.
If youre not on your computer, turn it off. If youre not watching your tv, turn it off. Little things like that really do add up.
- Go vegetarian.
I have been vegetarian for about five and a half years now. There are so many benefits of being vegetarian. But to me the biggest one (aside from saving millions of little animals from dying for my dinner) is that its helping the environment. "According to the UN, raising animals for food causes more green house gas emissions than all the cars, planes, ships, and trains in the world combined." I do NOT want to be part of that!

- Lastly, buy environmentally friendly makeup.
There are tons of eco friendly, natural, organic makeup companies out there. Theyre great for your body, and the environment!
Click HERE to get buy one get one free all-natural, organic eyeshadows at sumbody.com.
But hurry! Offer expires Aug. 22!

Lets all go green together. Follow these tips and help make the world a better place.
Comment below ways you are eco friendly!


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Day 2 Night makeup..

Looking for an easy way to take your makeup from simple 'day' makeup, to dramatic 'night' makeup?
Look no further! With Rimmel's new 'Day2Night' Mascara, you get just that.

One tube - two mascaras.
Two brushes in one, you get the day time brush which give your beautiful length. Then the night time brush which gives you amazing volume.
(its not really two brushes, the tube just wipes more mascara off the wand for the day/length brush.)
This is super convenient to have even if youre not going from day to night makeup.
This is a perfect mascara for those girls who dont have a ton of makeup and but like to switch it up. Sometimes you want length, sometimes you want volume. But you dont wanna have to scan the aisles for the right one for each type.
With this you just need the one tube, and can achieve either look.

Ive seen other mascaras where they have two ends one volume one length, but that can get annoying having to flip it around, sometimes opening the wrong end when twisting it open..and theyre kind of long tubes with not as much actual mascara in the tube.
But with this its the same amount of mascara, and "both" brushes are at the same end.
Its a little easier to carry around (since its not super long like double sided mascaras) and its super convenient.


You can get it here, or check out your local drug store, or beauty supply. Its only about $8.
The product in this review was provided to me for the purpose of writing a review. This in no way effects the quality of the review provided. No monetary exchange occurred in exchange for the writing of the review. The views expressed in this review are strictly my own opinions. All reviews provided here are the work of the reviewer and remain completely unbiased.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Beauty Addicts?

Introducing  new SweetLIPS Gloss from beautyADDICTS - here to sure your need for a hydrating lip balm with a perfect hint of color. Since beautyADDICTS is made by and for makeup artists the pros put their two-cents into the development of this formula.

This NEW high shine gloss seriously hydrates with soothing Vitamin E and Jojoba Butter that moisten and heal battered lips. Plus it will leave you tasting as good as you look with a hint of Vanilla. Available in 8 shades that look great on all skin-tones.
I have never used any beautyADDICTS products before, so when I tried this I was a little skeptical.
I got shades 'veil', 'ginger' and 'sheer peach' from their 'sweetLIPS' collection.


"This high-shine gloss hydrates lips with Vitamin E and Jojaba Butter. With a hint of Vanilla and just a touch of sweetness it is the tastiest no calorie beauty boost you can get."
First of all, I love these shades. Im not big on reds or purpley lips. I like lighter, nude, pinky colors. So these three are perfect for me. 

They are a little pricey for their size. Theyre .18 oz, and $17. (plus shipping for online purchase)
The only place I know to get them is beautyADDICTS.com, from there you can find a beautyADDICTS near you, and see what salons or stores sell them.

But they are so worth it. a lipgloss this size will last me months.
The gloss isnt too sticky like some lipglosses can be, they go on pretty nice. Not too oily or greasy and they dont run off your lips and make you look like you just ate a bucket of fried chicken. I HATE when lipgloss does that.
All in all, I like these glosses, and will definitely have to try the other shades. If you have tried these let me know what you think, tell me what shades you have and how you like them. :)

To get these and other beautyADDICTS products visit beautyADDICTS.com

The product in this review was provided to me for the purpose of writing a review. This in no way effects the quality of the review provided. No monetary exchange occurred in exchange for the writing of the review. The views expressed in this review are strictly my own opinions. All reviews provided here are the work of the reviewer and remain completely unbiased.