Health&Happiness: From Dull and Dry to Glowing and Golden

Welcome to my second segment of Health&Happiness. This time we are talking about skincare. It's summer time, and sun is beating down on us and making our skin nice and crispy. In addition to that we have to deal with scars, and in grown hair. It sucks. Similar to what toothpaste commercials would say, if you are not moisturizing you are drying. So let's talk about exfoliating and moisturizing.

Exfoliation and moisturizing can basically get quickly get you the skin you want. If you have acne or ingrown hair prone skin its best to exfoliate everywhere, just to rub off all that dead skin that is preventing the other beautiful layers of your skin from glowing. It also fades scars. I use a loofah. I use a flimsy dollar puffs from Walmart will not cut.  I don't recommend skin brushes either (the ones that literally look like hairbrushes) because they are brutal on your skin. Think of them a putting microtears in your skin. Loofahs are the best instrument for exfoliation, but make sure to keep them clean. They get moldy pretty fast. Use your loofah three to four times a week and toss it out every month or every two months, depending on how much of a sanitary person you are.

If you don't want to use an instrument like the loofah, use a scrub. This is very effective for acne. Make sure its full of beads and grain, so you will really feel like its getting into your skin. For me the grittiness one is St Ives Apricot Scrub. I've tried scrubs by Clean&Clear, like Clean&Clear Morning Burst . I recommend Clean&Clear for acne prone skin since it does have more saycillic acid, the active ingredient which fights off acne, and claims to fade scars. For cost purposes, St Ives is cheaper and it does exfoliate better.

I want glowing, scar-free skin. I have acne scars everywhere, and other scars from being clumsy. My skin is also riddled with stretch marks. Exfoliation helps with the renewal of skin tissue, so it fades the scar. What we need is a cream to even out skin tone. I am a huge promoter of Cocoa Butter. You will see scars fade before your eyes and its so awesome.

For the Acne Scars on my face, I will use a lighter form of Cocoa Butter after exfoliation: Vaseline Cocoa Radiant Lotion, I also use this on my arms because there's not much heavy scarring. The regular cocoa butter blocks up my pores, but this works well. I mix a little Tea Tree Oil, since its really good at preventing acne and other inflammation of the skin. Vaseline Cocoa Radiant is one of the best moisturizers I have used. Not only does it absorb quickly, its gives skin a beautiful flow and fades scars. Vaseline Cocoa Radiant also claims that it contains Stratys 3 moisture which penetrates through layers of the skin to bring out skin's inner glow. I believe that is exactly what it does.

For the scarring on my legs and the stretch marks everywhere, I use Palmer's Cocoa Butter Massage Lotion with tea tree oil, for those nasty ingrown hairs after shaving. The Palmer's bottle has a pregnant woman on it. I'm not pregnant, and I've never been, but most of the people who have used it aren't. Even men use Palmer's Cocoa Butter. It really helps with the stretch marks and the scarring, more so than the regular Palmer's cream. I have seen an increase is elasticity, and it has also help the cellulite paired with my weight loss. Scars are lighter, and skin is golden. Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lotion rules on all levels.

Try this for three days and see the difference. Kiss scars, cellulite, and stretch marks behind, and say hello to glowing golden skin. For any questions write in a comment.

Health & Happiness: Alternative Foundations for NC42/NC44

If you are brown and have deep yellow undertones like myself, you may realize how hard it is to find a foundation for yourself. And if you are changing skin colors in the summer like I am, you have a summer makeup and a winter makeup.

So since MAC is the standard for all makeup comparisons I am:
NC42 in the winter
NC44 in the summer

The 42 literally looks like a bottle of daal. Its that yellow. So using this information, I wandered into Sephora. Bad idea. Their skin match experts aren't experts at all. I've been matched to the darkest color almost every time. Especially the makeup with red undertones. The lighting makes everything looks great until when I look in a mirror outside and see I look as if I just dipped my face in  chocolate pudding.

I have found some good ones through my own sweat and tears ( this literally took me over twenty visits). I've tried over the drugstore too, but there has been no exact match.

Here is the closest match drug store list:
1) Loreal TrueMatch W7 Caramel Beige (a bit red)
2) Maybelline Dream Mousse Honey Beige (very red)
3) Cover girl Clean Tawny (a bit too dark, smells a like chai literally)

Here is the exact match high end list :
1) NARS Sheer Matte, Tahoe $42

   great color match, expensive, minimal coverage, no pump
2) For N42:Makeup Forever HD, 153 (Golden Honey) $42 

    great color, expensive, good coverage, pump
    For Nc44: HD 170 (Caramel)
3) Kat Von D Lock-It Tattoo Foundation, Medium 62 $36 

    great color, lower price, fantastic coverage, pump, long lasting, goes out of stock office
4) Makeup Forever Mat Velvet, 65 (Golden Beige) $36 

    great color, good price, squeezable bottle

My favorite is Kat Von Ds but it keeps a going out of stock due to popularity. I own the MUFE HD since it was what was available at the time. HD is great but it takes a couple of layers for exceptional coverage. The color variety for HD is almost a large as MACs so most likely you will be able to find a match for yourself. 

MM

Food Failures and Successes: Its Easier Than You Think

There have been numerous baking failures in my life. I'm getting better. Its a slow process, but its getting there. If you, like me, lack in baking skills, don't give up. (Don't worry the pic above is not my baking disaster)

Baking is pretty cool concept to me. At the simplest, you mix some stuff, whisk it maybe too, pour it in a floured pan and stick it in the oven. As my old computers professor said, "Baking is a chemical reaction. The measurements have to be right for it to end up the way you want". I didn't listen to him, because I figured what could an old information technology professor know about baking. I just want to throw stuff in a pan, and cook it. 

If you are like me, a lazy person who doesn't want to be be bothered by measuring cups and spoons, you have seen so many disasters. I get the flavors 100% of time. However, my lovely chai almond cookies were reduced to something scone-like, probably because I melted the butter in the microwave and didn't measure the baking powder. Learn from my mistakes, if not your own: MEASUREMENTS ARE IMPORTANT.

Here are two things related to baking I didn't know were so easy.

1) Finishing Glazes: The recipe for the simplest glaze.

    1 cup of confectioners sugar 

    1 Tablespoon or two of milk. 

For thickness add more confectioners sugar and to thin it add more milk.  For flavoring, add essence or even rosewater. I put some cardamom for a sweet Indian flavor. 

2) Pie Crust

    2 Cups of crushed graham crackers

    1/2 Cup of Melted Butter

    1/3 Cup of Sugar (You could exclude this - Diet Friendly)

Then bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

The nice things about this, is that graham crackers can be substituted for wonderful thing like oreos and other cookies, chocolate grahams, and crackers. Pie Crusts are easy to make. Don't buy them. If you want to make a really fast pie then just throw in any of those JELLO pudding mixes inside. For every box of the pudding, use one cup of milk to make a filling rather than a pudding. 

Heres a delicious, super easy coconut cream pie recipe I adore:

Toasted Coconut Cream Pie Recipe

Good Luck on your own baking adventures. Will post some traditional recipes soon.

MM

Empty Pockets: The Search for a Job

Hey,

Has anyone looked for a job recently? I suppose it doesn't come as a huge surprise that the job market sucks. I have been looking since early this year. No luck. Just going to run through three bad parts of the job search process: extensively long applications, group interviews, and "we want you requests".

FIRST: EXTENSIVELY LONG APPLICATIONS

To even work as a dishwasher Chili's you have to fill out a huge questionnaire after your basic information. This consisting of about  200 questions where I have to select, strongly agree, strongly disagree, or the degree in between, some scenarios, and mathematical conversions converting pints of tomato sauce into quarts . 

Who knew dish washing was so complex? I don't want to pick on  Chili's, so let me be fair and say that basically every employer puts potential employees through this as well. Chili's was just particularly unbearable. Some employers, like The Cheesecake Factory, will be straightforward send you a rejection email essentially saying, "No Experience? Sorry you don't match our requirements. We will keep you in the system if anything comes up", instead of putting you through an frustrating assessment. 

In the end if you have minimal experience in the industry, you usually will not hear back from the employer after this super long application, that probably made you delve into your documents and wonder exasperatedly how long the questionnaire will continue. 

SECOND: THE GROUP INTERVIEW

So usually at department store, they gather a few poor souls from all walks of life and basically pit them against each other. Keep in mind, these are entry level positions. You are usually not warned in the beginning that it is a group interview, but you just stick it out. It's kind of like an ambush upon arrival.

My group interview of seven people competing for two positions. We sat all clustered together a the dirty ottoman in an untidy break room. Most of us insincerely speaking about how much we adore the products in the store. Keep in mind, this was a baby store, and none of us have babies. 

When the questions are asked one person talks over the other, and then we are given a sketchy maybe two of you will be hired but you have to call me deal. Then the fun part are the shifts for one position start at 9 p.m or 5 a.m. Oh but we get good employee discount, the interviewer to maintain the excitement. 

Probably didn't get the job.

Employers, the group interview is not the way to do it. Can we stick to the tradition of one on one. 

THIRD: THE INCESSANT "WE WANT YOU" REQUESTS

Then there are the people that magically find my resume and leave five voicemails and six emails. Please avoid this kind of employer. The companies, mainly car companies, will string you along and try to convince you that there company is reputable to extract a training fee from you of 250+. Been there, done that. Please don't fall for it. Get all your facts before going to any employer. Don't worry. I got my money for now. Hopefully all those contracts don't bite me in the end. 

Let's not be desperate for a job. The perfect opportunity will come along. You at least have some love what you are going to do, or you quit and begin the job hunt again. 

So yeah, Welcome to my blog. 

Don't be scared of my first post. I will improve over time. Promise.