Happy Holidays!

 

Making A Change

Hello my lovely, beautiful people!

Today I want to talk about my plans for transforming my attitude on food, fitness, and health as soon as my semester is over (I'm too stressed out about finals right now to make diet/exercise my top priority!).

Right now I am undergoing laser treatments to help minimize the appearance of my stretch marks from having Phoenix. I have stretch marks on the front of my stomach (lower) and on the back of my hips. I have some minor ones on my thighs, outside and in between my legs. These marks have made me really struggle the past year. I've had a hard time feeling young and beautiful with skin so damaged looking. Although at this point I've only had one laser treatment, the act has inspired me to start thinking about my health and body in a new light.

Over the summer, I started doing Hip Hop Abs as a fun way to get in shape. Almost immediately I lost 6 pounds, and looked like I did before a had a baby (albeit the stretch marks). But then I went on vacation and lost all the drive I had to work out and be in shape. From that point on, I started developing a stronger and stronger love for food, which I feel has been my way to cope with the stress of school, as well as the sadness it brings me that I cannot stay home with my son as often as I'd like. I am a full-time student Tuesday-Thursday, and I work 20-25 hours per week Friday-Sunday. I think I look food as a way to cope because it is instant gratification, you get your happiness from it so instantly that is has become the easiest way for me to feel better.

Now, I want to start taking control of my relationship with food. Yes, food is delicious, but my happiness should definitely not depend on it. I want to be able to go out to dinner from time to time, and enjoy food all the time, but I want to make smart decisions as well. I want to think about the long-term consequences of putting junk food in my body or drinking soda. I want to think beyond how good something will taste or how much better it makes me feel emotionally. I want to think about the positive long-term effects of making the right decisions with food, not being crazy strict, but overall being healthy. The first step for me is definitely getting rid of my lifelong love for soda, and replacing it with good, old-fashioned water! I suffered from gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and now I tend to have higher blood sugar, and when I drink soda I can tell that a spike in my glucose levels occurs, but I can't stop drinking it. Working through what makes me feel like I NEED that soda is going to help big time with kicking the habit. I purchased Deepak Chopra's new book, What Are You Hungry For, to help me really zero in on what's going on with my eating.

I bought a groupon for hot yoga in my area, one month unlimited classes, and I am going to use this as my tool to get back into the mode of fitness and working out. When I was working out six days a week over the summer, I felt amazing about myself. I want to get that back. I am also starting the T25 Focus workout dvd with my wonderful hubby-to-be, Jordan. I'm hoping that this program will help us get into better habits. Since it is only one 25 minute workout a day 5 days a week, with a 6th day to stretch and one rest day, it easily will fit into our schedules. I'm hoping that when I finish T25, I can muster the ability, time, and a focus to do Insanity. I have tried before, but with asthma and not a ton of endurance, I gave up fairly quickly as I was modifying every workout within 5 minutes of the start. I think T25 is designed with people like me in mind, people who want to start out with results but also don't have their whole lives to dedicate to fitness and working out.

I'm excited for these changes in my life, and I really feel like I will be able to make it happen. It would be easy, and I know my diet will never be perfect, but I think that I should get some good results, and hopefully feel a lot better emotionally and physically!

That's all for today! Sorry I've been slacking on the posts... This semester has been crazy at school and now that I've started working, I feel I have barely any time to spend on my blog :( Hopefully that will also be changing soon!

With love,
Brittany Rose 

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

Video!

Hey guys! Check out my youtube video for my easy seasonal makeup tutorial!

 

or the link here if the video above doesn't work

With love,
Brittany Rose 

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

Work at Sephora!

 Hey beauties!!

Today I'm working at Sephora and decided to do a smokey eye and red lip, channeling a 1920's feel with my makeup :) I went light on contouring because I didn't want my whole face to be so heavy in makeup for work, since the more wearable your look is, the more people will want to copy it and ask about the products you used!

Don't mind my crazy frizzy hair! Didn't have time to heat style it...

For work I wear black button up shirts, and I feel a red lip really makes black look extra chic!

I'm wearing Rimmel London Kate in the Matte finish in red number 110. It's 5 dollars and honestly, has such an amazing finish. It doesn't necessarily last all day, but it's more comfortable to wear than lots of lipsticks I own.

For reds lately, I'm also crazy about Stila's liquid lipsick in beso, which instantly dries to a stain! You can kiss you significant other and still have perfect red lips!

Thanks for visiting the site today!! What tutorials do you want to see now that I'm starting my youtube videos? What do you want to hear about motherhood? Let me know!

With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

Easy Seasonal Makeup Tutorial

Hey guys! So it's that weird fall/winter time here in the midwest. Technically it's fall but WE HAVE SNOW! With Thanksgiving coming up, I wanted to put up an easy tutorial for this time of year. I'm putting the pictures up on my blog and will be getting up a video soon!

 Neutral Smokey Eye

 I like using burgundy and brown shades to make blue eyes pop

 MAC Diva, I feel like this color photographs a lot lighter than it looks in person

 Full face look

Ready for Thanksgiving!!

That's all!

With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

My Engagement Ring

Just wanted to share my amazing ring with you guys! Originally Jordan and I had a custom made 1/2 carat alexandrite and silver ring for my engagement ring because he didn't have as much money when we first got engaged. Recently, for our 1 year engagement anniversary on Nov. 2nd, Jordan got me this 1 carat black and white diamond ring with a white gold band.  There is a little bit of dust on it from the lighting but I can assure you the clarity is great and it is so beautiful!! I'm in love with the claw-like prongs!

Just wanted to share!

With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

Baby Essentials for the First Year!

Hey guys! So it seems like lately I'm finding more and more women my age with babies on the way, and no clue of what they need! The trouble with being a younger mother is typically you don't have any peers to seek advice from, and a lot of things your parents used/did are so outdated. For all my friends who need to know what to register for baby showers or what to pick up themselves, I've compiled a short list of baby essentials of the FIRST year!

Baby Essentials

Diapering:

*Changing pad or table

*Diaper genie/diaper pail

*Wipes (unscented) or rags (you'll soak in warm water) for wiping, you can also look into water wipes

*For disposable, 1 pkg newborn is all you need, they grow into size 1 so fast

*For cloth, get a waterproof covering to go over it so it doesn’t leak through while they are sleeping. sometimes with cloth it can soak their outfit without the thick covering

*For cloth, diaper sprayer for cleaning poopy diapers

Clothing:

*For the first six months, one piece sleepers with onesies underneath are pretty much what your baby will live in aside from events like holiday and parties, just because it’s easy and it’s warm. You’ll need a fuzzy-lined thick sleeper to keep warm for car rides because nowadays they don’t recommend a puffy winter jacket in the car. Also get a car seat cover for winter.

*Don’t get too many newborn sized clothes, they grow out of them so fast!

Get plenty of socks, and baby bunting or sleep sack, it’ll help for the really cold winter nights with a newborn.

*There isn’t an exact number of clothes you need, but make sure you can dress her in up to 3 outfits in a day without having to do laundry, because spit-up, soaking through, pooping up their back, etc… all can get them pretty messy and needing a whole outfit change.

*Get mittens! Before you can cut your baby’s nails, it’s likely she might scratch in her sleep. Some sleepers come with mittens. You can also use socks, we did a lot of the time, though the mittens stayed on better.

Gear:

*Carrier/car seat, you can always rent from your health care provider for a small amount

*Stroller, it’s nice to have one that is infant and toddler, so you can put the carrier in it when they are young and convert it when they get older.

*Baby personal carrier, this is a good way for Daddy to bond with the baby strapped to his chest. It’s also nice if you need to go to the store and they want to snuggle instead of being in a stroller

Breastfeeding:

*Optional: Boppy, it’s a nursing pillow. I didn’t use mine much, but some women love it

*Breast Pump

*Storage bags/bottles, with the bags, you can freeze them to save up supply for when you go back to school or work

*Burp cloths, honestly, you can never have too many of these, they get used all the time and when they are older you can use them to clean them up after eating solids

*Supplement formula in case milk production is low, mastitis, or you just need a little help, I recommend soy or hyperallergenic  to keep her from getting too gassy. Nutrimigen by Enfamil is expensive but works wonders, their soy and their gentlease are pretty good, too.

*Bottles, 6 four oz bottles and 6 nine oz bottles

*Don’t worry about getting a bottle warmer, just run the bottle under warm water to reheat. If you microwave it (nothing wrong with that, I do it), make sure you shake it up a lot before giving it to her to avoid hot spots

Feeding (older):
*High chair

*Baby spoons

*Sippy cups

*Bibs (3-5) plastic exterior so they don’t absorb the food, then you can just rinse them off instead of having to push them in the washer

Soothers/Toys:

*Pacifiers, they are good to have as an option

*Teethers

*Baby swing!!! This was an absolute lifesaver

*Bouncy seat

*Exersaucer

*Books and toys, I recommend toys that look like electronics or anything that lights up/plays music

Safety:

*Baby gate(s) for up or down staircases

*Outlet plugs

*Cabinet /drawer latches

*Baby monitor

Health:

*Nose sucker (bulb syringe)

*First-aid kit

*Vaporizer in case your baby gets a cold or RSV in the winter, it’s pretty common

*Thermometer

*Baby nail clippers, don’t worry about clipping nails for at least the first month, you can just peel the tips off if they are getting too long because their nails are really soft as a newborn!
*Baby mits (optional, some sleepers include optional mits) they are nice for if they scratch when they are sleeping

*Baby tooth brush for when they get teeth

*Infant Tylenol (in case of fever) and Benadryl (in case of allergic reaction)

Sleeping:

*Crib

*Crib Mattress

*Bedding

*Swaddling blankets, come in handy for the first couple months

*Regular blankets

*Cloud B Sleep Sheep, helps ease them to sleep so they don’t have to cry it out when they are older, attaches outside of the crib... You guys, I swear by this!!!

That's it for today!


With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

Happy Halloween, Part 2!

Tonight we dressed up as a family!

Phoenix was the Cowardly Lion:

Jordan and I were Scarecrow and Tin Man:

My costume was borrowed so it was a bit big on me, hence the tank top underneath for modesty!

Together as an (almost) happy family! (Phoenix was tired...):

Poor little guy! He didn't want to pose for pictures, he wanted to play!

Jordan's dad took these pictures so they aren't as great as the ones Jordan takes himself!

My makeup:

Smokey eyes using light and dark silver shadows from a Stila palette, mascara is Zoom Fast Black Lash by MAC, gel liner by Maybelline

 Closeup of one eye, I don't know why my brows photographed reddish...

 Eye closed

Tin man! Err.. Tin Woman!

 If I only had a heart... da da da da da da...

Thanks so much for reading/looking! Kisses! I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Can't wait to get some videos up on youtube for you guys!

With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Happy Halloween!

To be festive I wore a striped black and white tank from forever 21 and black lipstick (Pagan Angel by Fergie for Wet n Wild).

 Sorry, just took these with my webcam while at school so picture quality is not so great!

Sorry about the hiatus from my blog, too! I have a video coming up for you guys soon with a blog to go with it and another blog post with my family and I's halloween costumes tonight!!

Here was Jordan and I last Saturday dressed up for halloween:

Note: I do not mean to promote violence or animal cruelty with the above photos, this was just a couple costume!

I was a deer and he was a hunter. Yes, I know does do not have antlers, but it helped further the point that I was a deer.

Be excited for some more blogs!


With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Going out tonight!

Hey, beauties! So tonight I am going out and so I decided to do a heavy smokey eye using MAC shadows in satin taupe (lid), vex (browbone), and contrast (crease), along with a stila shadow in black in the crease and maybelline gel liner.

My hubby isn't around so I don't have fancy pictures, just webcam pics!

And here is my awesome ring from Urban Outfitters!:

 

I need to paint my nails...

That's it for today I think. Tonight is a night off from mommy hood!

 With love,

Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Poetry!

Hey, all! If you're interested, check out my poem being feature this week on UW Flash Fiction's website here!

And another poem of mine published by Affectionate here!

Yay, poetry!

With love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

No Makeup Day/Makeup Removal

It's hard to put your face through a whole application of makeup everyday. So today, I have my fresh face on!

Removing my makeup last night, I was wondering if anyone else experiences little bits of makeup in their eyes after removing. I feel like every time I take off my makeup, I spend another 10 minutes trying to get all the junk off my eyeballs.

If you've experienced this, which I'm guessing you have unless you don't wear black eyeliner, it's nothing to worry about, as long as you do take care of it. When left against your eyes, makeup can actually stain the whites of your eyes! For the inner corner of your eyes, just use a cotton swab. If you have any of that stuff when you pull down your lower lid, just use eye drops or water, and it'll work its way out. The eye has mucus that is always there, and if you wear black eyeliner, sometimes it just mixes in color and brings more attention.

You also can stop putting eyeliner on your waterline... but that is like my favorite part of makeup ever. Besides filling in my brows.

Be sure to change out your eyeliner monthly, too, or else very carefully sanitize. This prevents styes, which are the worst!

Now if you get glitter in your eye, that is yucky. One Halloween I got glitter in my eye and my eye lid swelled to the size of a fifty cent piece! Since it was actual glitter and not made for makeup/your eyes glitter, it was very unhealthy! If you are ever going to apply glitter make sure the product was made for your face and don't apply too close to your lash line!

This was a random post, but just my thoughts this morning!

Happy Thursday! Hooray for coffee!

With love,

Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Outfit of the Day: High Waisted Jeans and Crop Top

 

Top: Forever 21 Here 

Pants: Forever 21 Similar 

Bag: Icing (I use this for my on campus bag) Here

 Shoes: Faded Glory

Earrings: (not pictured) Body Candy Similar

Sweater: (Around waist, black) Forever 21 Here

 

MAC Lipstick in MAC Red!

Golden smokey eye with red lip look for a retro feel, pulled back one side of my hair to get the "school girl" vibe

Photography credit goes to my hubby, Jordan Post.

Thanks for checking in, beauties! Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. Currently going through some health issues, but getting better! I will be posting my first youtube videos soon, I promise!!

With love,

Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Fall Makeup Look + Outfit of the Day!

Hey, beauties! Today I'm bringing you a fab fall makeup look with burgundy shades 

and a punk-rock inspired outfit of the day! Enjoy!

Face: 

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15

Makeup Forever HD Invisible Cover Foundation in 110 Pink Porcelain

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent

Cheeks:

Covergirl Cheekers Bronzer in Copper Radiance

Covergirl Cheekers Blush in Pretty Peach
Highlight: Revlon moonlit quad in lightest shade

Eyes:
Brow shadow: Revlon moonlit quad in darkest shade

Urban Decay primer potion tube in sheer nude

Highlight: Revlon moonlit quad in lightest shade

Lid: MAC shadow in Vex

Crease: MAC Shadow in Sketch

Kat Von D Tattoo liquid liner in black

Rimmel London Exaggerate Kohl Liner in black

MAC zoom fast black lash mascara

Lips:

Jordana lipliner in cabernet

MAC lipstick in Diva

Outfit:

Top: Forever 21 Here

Jeans: Forever 21 Similar Similar Similar

Boots: Forever 21 Here

Accessories:

 Earrings: Vanity Similar

Wristlet: Express Here (in other colors)

Photography credit goes to my hubby, Jordan Post.

Thanks for visiting! Happy fall!

Feel free to leave comments, questions, and requests!

With love,

Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Welcome to my blog!

Hello, everyone! My name is Brittany Rose Bavery, and I'm 21-year-old mother, student, and style enthusiast. Currently I'm attending UW-Madison as a full-time student, pursuing a BFA in English: Creative Writing (my focus is poetry). On the side, I'm beginning my job at Sephora inside JCP soon for the Holiday season. I am mother to a one-year-old boy named Phoenix, and he is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. His father, Jordan, and I are engaged and hoping to get married in December 2015, a year after I graduate college.

My family!!

My goal for this blog is to be a place to share my own makeup and style tips, constantly evolving to fit the life of a mother on the go. I also want to share my ups and downs of being a young mom, as well as share my thoughts and feelings on various topics that I'm sure many women can relate to. I hope you enjoy this blog, and I will try to post as often as I can. I'm just getting started and I'm not really sure how this whole thing will go, but I'm very passionate about trying the blogging process!

Please check back for new posts, and soon I will start weekly themed posts as well!

Thank you so much for visiting my website!

Feel free to leave comments, questions, and requests!

With Love,
Brittany Rose

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Rubber Ducky 1st Birthday Party

 The main table

 Party Favors (inside not pictured were duck shaped sugar cookies with yellow frosting, mints, and lollipops)

 Party Favors

 Candy for main table display

Cake Table display

Cupcake tower

Cupcake close up

Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake top view

 Plates, napkins, cups, utensils

Opening presents

Phoenix's cake

Phoenix smashing his cake (Duck iron-on from Joann Fabrics)

Outfit change (Iron-on from Joann Fabrics)

With father's side of the family

With mother's side of the family

Mommy, Daddy, and Phoenix

Yay, birthday boy!

What I'm wearing

Yellow Crocheted Tie-Front Top Here

Aqua Daisy Earrings (they are a little heavy) Here