Saturday Par-Tay x2

Happy Father’s Day to all the great Dads out there.  I know I sure got a good one.  My Dad has an annual Ihli-men fishing weekend each year so I won’t be celebrating with him today.  I’m actually at work (go figure).  So…if you are celebrating with your Dad, have fun and toast one for me.

My Saturday day-off was fun-filled and went by quick. I was actually pretty exhausted from my work week so I didn’t party all that hard.  I got myself gussied up and decided to wear my new Sassy Z Lipsense color.  I do like a natural lip but I also want it to be noticeable.  I like this color.  I put my glitter gloss on top and was ready to party!

First up was our realtor team’s Customer Appreciation party.  They had it in a nearby park with bouncy house and face painting for the kiddos.  Christina’s husband Lane cooked up hamburgers and hot dogs and guests brought sides and desserts.  It was a nice spread and very yummy.  I hadn’t eaten due to being really busy before the party so I was starved! 

Christina & Company collected donations for breast cancer research in which their company then matched those donations.  Kelli Day, an important part of our realtor team battled breast cancer a few years ago so this organization is near and dear to everybody.  They presented a check for the total amount at the party.  Some tears were shed taking about how wonderful Kelli is and how we are happy she is with us (and has a baby on the way).

We were about to say our goodbyes a little early when Christina told me not to leave yet.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but had thought maybe I won Client of the Year.  I had heard this award was up for grabs and knew I had referred a few Christina’s way.  My referrals ended up with closing on six homes and so I won Client of the Year.  WhooooHoooo!

We also won some super generous prizes.  Thank you Christina & Company.  You have always been an amazing group to work with and even though we don’t plan to sell/buy in the future, I’ll keep putting the word out to anybody that could use a good realtor in the Treasure Valley area.

I didn’t take any photos of Brenda’s Luau Party.  There was a lot more people this year than last year and it was great to see some familiar faces.  I had driven all over town looking for Watermelon Shandy beer and also found Grapefruit Shandy.  Both were good but I like the grapefruit better.

I am looking forward to some downtime when I get home from work tonight.  Tomorrow, I face the scale.  I’ll report back (but be prepared for ugly!)

New Lipsense Colors

When I had my Lipsense party in January, I barely squeaked by in earning my hostess rewards.  You have to sell $300 worth of product to get one free color and also 30% off your order.  Then, if two people book a party, you get a free gloss.  I have very generous friends so I met my goal of $300 and thus earned my free color.  One person booked a party but I needed another so I didn’t earn a free gloss.  I also earned the 30% off my order so I made use of the discount (you never really get Lipsense discounted) and bought some other colors and a few extra glosses to have on hand.  My Jamberry consultant isn’t wearing the product anymore so she gave me one of her Lipsense colors as well as a silver gloss.  I made my first Lipsence purchase on November 30^th and it has spiraled from there.

 

Right now Jamberry and Lipsense are my two favorite things!
 

The color given to me was Praline Rose.  I wore it with some silver gloss one day and then layered it with Fire & Ice the next day.

 

The colors I got/ordered after my party were B Ruby, Napa, and Pink Champagne.  I wanted a neutral color I could layer with my darker colors and thus settled on Pink Champagne although it looks a lot like Praline Rose so now I’m not sure if I should keep it or trade it in.  It turns out I had a coworker that was eyeing the Praline Rose and so I paid it forward and gave it to her.

Here is B Ruby.  I really like it and it is the slight red I was looking for when I ordered Fire & Ice.  I’m glad I went for a red lip color.

 

 

Here is Napa.  It is a shade or two lighter than Sheer Berry (my favorite) and I really like this color as well.  I also added some Silver Gloss.

Here is Pink Champagne.  I chose this color so I had a neutral option for layering colors and toning down colors that were too bold or dark (like Sheer Berry).  I don't like it just as because if I'm going to wear lipstick, I want it to be noticeable.  But, I am happy I have it for layering.  I put on Silver Gloss too. 

I just got talked into ordering to help out a gal who had a party and will soon have Violette coming.  It has a slight purple tone to it and should go nicely with my current lipstick palate.

 

The Last Few Days

Happy Weekend to most of you out there.  I’m on a short work week since I am flying out of town on Sunday for training all week.  It is sort of exciting to travel for work and I wish Kenyon could come with me.  I guess I’ll just have to get used to a big king size bed all for myself!

I hosted my Lipsense Party on Thursday night.  It was a little touch-and-go on if I’d have any guests as (once again) we had a large winter storm that dumped several inches of snow.  Seriously?

 

I cleaned house just in case and even woke up after going to bed just a few hours prior worrying about where I was going to park everybody.  I hired a neighborhood kid to help me shovel and my neighbor Trini also helped.  We managed to clear a path from the sidewalk through the grass and into the part of the street that was plowed.  I couldn’t have done it without their help. 

 

I confirmed that there would be five in attendance (plus my nieces and my sister’s boyfriend).  Just before the party began the snow plow came through and helped clear the road further.  Yahoo!  While we didn’t have an abundance of parking, it all worked out.

 

It was a very small party but we had a good time.  I was able to get most of the women to order.  I think I am at least earning a free color and I was able to exchange the color I had not liked much, Precious Topaz, for another color, Lexi Berry.  I’m looking forward to my Jamberry Ladies Night in two weeks.  Maybe by then we will have more parking but I’m going to say probably not likely.

Later in the evening Phoenix and her daughter Kiki stopped by for a visit.  On Friday I invited my friend Brenda over to look at the product colors and then met up with my friend Dorothy to also look.  So over the last few days I have been able to visit with lots of people.

On Friday at work I organized a crockpot soup night.  We had a good spread of food and it was all so delicious.

 

Between the Lipsense Party (44 SPV consumed at the party and a daily consumption of 64 SPV) and the soup party at work (47 SPV consumed at the party and a daily consumption of 51 SPV) I have officially blown through my WSPA and am now in the negatives.  I knew I would have some high points days but it sure does add up when you really look at how much you consumed.  I did the best I could with estimating.  I’ll do my WI at home on Sunday morning before I leave town.  There won’t be an official WW meeting and WI this week due to my work travel.

But, I’m going to be tracking while I am out of town to help keep me accountable.

Update On Lipsense Lipstick Review

I thought I would share with you an update on Lipsence, the smudge proof, kiss proof, all-day lipstick I’ve been wearing for about a month a half now.

You can read my blog post on my thoughts and where I document a full day wear of my favorite color Sheer Berry.  <-- Click here

I feel like my all-day wear has improved, especially when you were a lighter color.  The bold dark color of Sheer Berry starts to show wear along with waterline (the insides of your lips) and corners.  I find that when I wear a color that is closer to my lip color and/or a color that is more neutral, I don’t noticed that is it is wearing off as quickly and/or it is just less noticeable overall.  I figure if I am going to wear lip stick, I do want it to be noticeable. 

I went through a very dry spell a few weeks ago in which I just couldn’t get my lips properly moisturized.  I posted on my consultant Katee’s Facebook page and found others were also experiencing it.  So I think it was just the overall winter dry weather that was affecting me.  I hear using coconut oil is helpful when removing your Lipsense so you don’t dry out your lips.  I need to get to Trader Joes (best price in town) to get some.  I’ve also been told you can use a mix of coconut oil and brown sugar as a lip scrub for those dry spells.

In the meantime, when I’m not wearing my Lipsense color, I’ve been using the Lipsense moisturizing lip balm.  The lip balm also cost $20 but this way I can spare my lip gloss and only use it when I’m wearing color.  I went through my first tube of lip gloss really fast.  I seem to be using this second tube slower so maybe the lip balm is helping that.  I just tend to wear a lot of chpstick and since I can’t (once you being the Lipsence exfoliation process you shouldn’t go back to other lips producs), I’m using the lip balm.

I’m still really happy with my Lipsense an I’m looking forward to may party later this month.  I’m a bit worried on where everybody will park with the snow situation in my neighborhood.  But, I’m excited to share this product with my friends. 

I tried mixing some colors after I got my new color Fire & Ice.  I like Fire & Ice but it isn’t as red as I thought and sometimes it looks pink.  Here I am wearing just Fire & Ice.

 

Here I am with two layers Sheer Berry and one layer of Fire & Ice.

 

Here I am with two layers Fire & Ice and one layer Mauve Ice.

 

I love how you can mix the colors to create some new colors.  I stole this from the internet.  Using Dark Pink and Sheer Berry you can mix and match all sorts of colors.  It just depends on the layers and what you layer when. 
 

I’m hoping at my party I can find a color to compliment Precious Topaz.  I’m just not sure I am a fan of the straight brown.  I have mixed it with Sheer Berry but I think I need something that compliments the brown but maybe brightens it up a bit?  I’m not sure but I’ve got a great consultant to guide me!

Lipsense All-Day Lipstick Review

I wanted to write a blog post on a product called Lipsense.  It is a long lasting lipstick that I’ve been wearing for the last two weeks.  I am hosting a Lipsense party on January 19^th and I wanted write about my experience so I can share it with my friends.  Interested in ordering but don’t live close?  Don’t worry.  Lipsense can be mailed to you!

I’m going to try and organize my thoughts the best I can.  Let’s start with the colors.

I have purchased three Lipsense colors (If you are reading this Katee Bake, I’m sorry I bought from another consultant.  I caved when I was at my Jamberry party and another Lipsense consultant was there.  It is hard being around so many pretty lip colors).

Here I am wearing Sheer Berry:

Here I am wearing Precious Topaz:

Here I am wearing Mauve Ice:

 

When I first decided I wanted to try Lipsense (after watching a ton of You Tube videos on the application process) I knew I wanted a color that would stand out.  If I’m going to wear lipstick then I want it to be noticeable.  So far I have not had much success in all-day wear as the color just doesn’t stay on my lips after eating/drinking throughout the day.  I wanted to try some lighter colors in hopes that might help with all-day wear and it does.  The darker the lip color, the more likely you are to notice if it wears off throughout the day.

Now, I have been told that your lips go through an exfoliation process when you start using the Lipsense product and once I’m fully through that process then I’ll have better luck with all-day wear.  I did have some lip peeling early on.  Sometimes when I wear it for several hours it will feel a bit grainy.  So I don’t think I’m fully through the exfoliation process.  It isn’t bad enough that I have stopped wearing my Lipsense.  But, I do think I prefer wearing it for shorter periods of time.

So, how does Lipsense work?  You will need a color and a gloss.  The color is what stays on your lips and you seal in the color with the gloss.  As needed, you re-apply gloss throughout your day.  Ideally, you shouldn’t have to re-apply your color but if you need to, you can.  In one swift motion, you apply the color in three layers (This is where watching You Tube videos worked out well).  If you do a back-and-forth motion like you would with normal lipstick then you risk getting streaks.  You must let your lips dry between each coat and you want your lips to be VERY dry after your third coat.  Oh and it is important not to let your lips touch while you are applying your color.  It’s kind of sticky and it might cause streaks.

Once you have applied your three layers and it is completely dry, you then apply your gloss.  There are no rules to applying the gloss just make sure you get it everywhere so it seals the color fully.  You can re-apply gloss after eating/drinking an anytime your lips feel dry.  I found when I started using Lipsense that my lips felt dry.  The gloss has some really great stuff in it that helps with the dryness.  I used to wear a lot of chapstick but I find my lips aren’t as dry since using Lipsense.  When I’m not wearing color, I wear the gloss.  I also purchased some lip balm from Lipsense that I wear that when I am not wearing the color.  It keeps my lips feeling good.

Something else I should note.  The product has a cosmetic grade alcohol in it as it is designed to last you several months.  When you apply the color you need to shake it first.  This helps re-distribute the alcohol.  I think there is a little bit of a taste when you first apply your Lipsense color.  I noticed the taste got better when I shook my color tube a different way than I was after looking at a video online.  I think overtime you just get used to the taste and it isn't as noticeable as it was before.  Because of the alcohol you might get a little bit of a sting when first applying and I feel this more so when my lips are super dry or if I am re-applying color later in the day.

Okay, here are some photos of my first time wearing my Sheer Berry all day.  I documented my day with photos.

Photo taken at 9:21am.  A fresh application.

 

Photo taken at 11:45am.  This was after drinking water and coffee.

 

Photo taken at 3pm.  This was after eating lunch and drinking a pop.  You can see the color is starting to come off around the “water line” on the inner part of the lips.  This is where the Lipsense wears off the quickest on both the water line and the corners of my mouth.  I had also not yet re-applied the gloss as you can see my lips look dry.
 

 

Photo taken at 4:19pm. Here is where I re-applied my color over the exiting color already on my lips since I was attending an evening out.

Photo taken at 8:24pm.  This was after eating and drinking and where my lips felt very dry.  You can see again the color in the waterline is gone and my lips are very flaky.  I actually ended up removing the color and just applying lip gloss for the remainder of the night.  At the time I felt like it looked terrible.  Now I don’t think it looks too bad in the photo.  But, it’s not as pretty as a fresh application.

 

Despite struggling with all-day wear, I do love my Lipsense.  Your results may be more successful so please don’t not try it just because of my experience.  There are a lot of people out there that have had a lot of great success with all-day wear. 

Here are the colors Lipsense offers.  It is a very popular product so you may find that some colors are out of stock.  As you can see, there is a huge assortment of colors to choose from.

 

 

 

What is the cost?  Each color is $25 + tax and each gloss is $20 + tax (there is a variety of glosses but I've only used the glossy gloss).  To get started you will want to buy a starter collection bundle for $55 + tax.  The bundle includes one color, one gloss, and one Oops remover.  You will need the remover so you can remove your Lipsense color at the end of the day and also so you can correct any mistakes you make when applying your color.  Sometimes we draw outside the line so the remover is needed.  You shouldn't have to buy another remover but if you do it sells for $10 + tax.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me.  I have a fantastic Lipsense consultant that can answer your questions.  And, if you would like to buy some of the product when I have my party, let me know.  You can find a lot of reviews online as well has several application videos.