Drinking 64 oz. of Water Per Day

So we’ve all heard that it’s good to drink water throughout the day, 64 oz. a day to be exact, but how many of us actually drink all of that? Definitely not me. Although I’m constantly being reminded by my healthy friends, concerned family members, and at almost every doctors visit, I find that its a miracle if I drink half of that. People try to make the goal of 64 oz. a little less intimidating by recommending that we drink eight 8oz. glasses of water throughout the day, which seems doable for most people. Heck, I drink 2 or 3 8 oz. cups of coffee in the morning like it’s nothing, so water should be no problem, right? Wrong.

Healthy water-drinking habits don’t just help you to feel better though, they can help you look better too (although the latter nearly isn’t as important as being healthy in general, but this is a beauty blog so…). When our bodies have sufficient water our skin is less prone to breakouts, is more supple, and doesn’t get as dry. I have noticed that on days when I feel more hydrated my makeup application seems much smoother as well. So if water makes you look and feel better why doesn’t everyone drink water religiously? Here’s why I don’t (but really want to!):

I’m a flavor girl, so I prefer the taste of something with a little more oomph than water- tea, beer, wine, juice even, as well as my beloved coffee- and water just lacks the flavor my taste buds crave. If you have this same problem then I recommend trying to get yourself in the habit of drinking more water by being a princess (or prince) and finding a brand of bottled water that has a good flavor for you. I prefer Smart Water personally, and although the concept of paying for something that we thankfully have free access to in the country does seem silly to me, I dislike the taste of tap water and I obviously have a problem committing myself to water, so buying your favorite bottled water seems like a good place to start to get you in the habit of drinking it more often.

Another reason why I don’t drink more of because I don’t have it around me all the time, so I don’t really think of it. I realized that if I constantly had a large cup/bottle of water in my car, at my desk, and by my bed I would probably drink a lot more than I currently do. Several weeks ago I started keeping a glass of water by my bed and then decided to set a rule for myself: I wanted to begin my day by drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning and end it by drinking another glass right before bed. That alone is 16 oz. and a quarter of the daily recommended intake! I was amazed at how religiously I started drinking my morning and nightly glasses just because they were there, in sight, to remind me that I needed to drink! I used this idea as an excuse to head over to Starbucks and buy a bunch of cute 24 oz. cold cups (below are a few that I got- on sale!) to keep around me at all times.

I admit that I am still falling short of my daily 64 oz. goal, but it a work in progress that I’m hoping to get better about. What about you guys? Do you have trouble meeting the 64 oz. requirement? Do you have stories or tips about what helped to get you there? I would love to hear!

Social Media is up!!

So I finally got around to posting a thing or two on Instagram today, which is also linked to my Twitter account! Yayy!!! Please follow me, links to both are below, and look out for a review of my March Ipsy goodies as well as a MASSIVE Sephora haul. Thanks loves!!

Why You Should Purchase As Many Of Your Beauty Products As You Can From Sephora

 

Ahh, Sephora. The only store other than Target in which we walk in for one $25 dollar stick of eyeliner (which is terrible to begin with, but the things we do in the name of beauty…) but walk out $200 poorer and with a season-friendly nail polish, three eye shadow palettes, travel sized hair spray, a multi-use foot mask, and eyebrow conditioner. Did you even remember the eyeliner? But we keep going back because, if it’s a beauty product that is not sold in a drug store (not that there’s anything wrong with drugstore beauty products), Sephora has it. And since we are constantly on the look out for the best of the bests we want a large selection of the newest products to see if it is really worth trading in cult favorites like Dior’s Diorshow Blackout mascara for Benefit’s newer They’re Real mascara. So if you’re as much of a Sephora junkie as I am, or even a fraction as much as I am, here’s more reasons why you should exclusively purchase your makeup at Sephora.

1. Beauty Insider:

Sephora has a not-so-secret points membership that is amazing. It’s free to sign up and you’re automatically considered a Beauty Insider, which means that for every dollar you spend you get a point, and then you get to spend those points on awesome trial-sized products of your choice (from the current selection). There are categories to there selections that vary by points: 100-, 250-, 500-, and sometimes even 1000- points can get you anything from a new tinted lip balm to a luxury beauty service. You also receive a cute goody on your birthday and have access to free beauty classes. Praise the makeup Gods.

Their membership has tiers too. After you spend $250 in one calendar year you get upgraded to VIB status which includes all the perks of the Beauty Insider membership as well as exclusive special savings days and one free makeover. And if you have an obsession like me (the first step to recovery is admitting there’s a problem, no?) and spend more than $1000 in a calendar year you get upgraded to VIB Rouge- meaning whenever you walk in they shower you with rose petals and champagne (just kidding, kind of). You do get all of the perks of the first two tiers, as well as invitations to private events (maybe there will be champagne and rose petals there?) and a private number to call for questions, comments, and requests to have your purchase shipped to a different location so your partner/parents/mailman doesn’t see exactly how often you are receiving Sephora packages. You also have access to Sephora’s new Flash Shipping, which I will get to in a second, for FREE (the first two tiers can utilize this feature but for a $10 yearly fee).

 

2. Samples, Samples, Samples:

One of the best features of Sephora is their willingness to give away free samples. Of everything. Seriously, if you don’t walk out of that store with a minimum of three samples, you’re doing something wrong. Not only do they give you some samples in your bag when you checkout (you get to pick them online!), but if you’re not 100% committed to whatever product you’re thinking about buying they will whip out a nifty little container and squeeze some in there for you. They also write down the brand and product name as well as the color, if necessary, so when you come back ready to commit or say hell no you know exactly what you were trying out.

Sephora often has value sets of the products you already know you love with travel-sized samples of something you can use with it (there’s a couple GlamGlow sets that include an applicator brush and two trial-sized containers of another mask and a cleanser in addition to the full-sized mask for the same prize of the full-sized mask alone. No brainer.). Finally, they have a gift set of nine best-selling fragrances in mini bottles (not sample vials) that you get to keep, choose your favorite, and bring the included coupon back to get a full-sized bottle of it FOR FREE. I got one of the men’s fragrance set for my boyfriend for Christmas one year and he got to keep the big cologne for him and he made a little tray for my son so they could have matching colognes. Awww.

 

3. Flash shipping:

Ok, so here’s that thing I was talking about with the memberships. Sephora took a hint from Amazon Prime’s amazing free 2-day shipping feature and applied it to their online purchases. That’s right people, if your a Beauty Insider or VIB member pay a measly $10 per year to have anything Sephora sells at your door in two days, or get it for free as a reawrd for your addiction with the VIB Rouge membership, with no minimum purchase. Sephora already offers free shipping for all items over $50, but you can expect to wait a good week to have it delivered. That means you can stop making ridiculous excuses for meeting the $50 minimum when you just wanted to buy the $25 eyeliner (we already went over the likelihood of that happening) by adding the $35 under eye concealer to qualify for the free shipping, but then you have to get the Beauty Blender minis for blending perfection, and end up checking out with an $80 cart. No more. $10 one time, if that, and it’s there in two days. Say no more.

 

4. Return Policy:

Finally, Sephora has a no questions asked return policy. as long as you have a receipt, the card you used to purchase the product, or are a Beauty Insider of any level (they track your purchases, remember?) you can return whatever, whenever, for whatever reason you want. I purchased a liquid foundation not too long ago and realized 6 weeks after using it that the foundation was the reason behind my mystery break outs. I brought it back and they took it back, helped me find some new foundations I might like and gave me a sample of each (I’m telling you, the samples…). Now that’s customer service to fit the beauty queen that you are.

 

 

There are probably no less than 300 other reasons why Sephora is the greatest store in the world (ok, maybe just the mall), but these four are the biggest reasons that I shop there and will be coming back time and time again.

Favorite Facial Cleansers

I once read a tip saying not to spend too much money on cleansers since they wash off almost immediately after application, thus the active ingredients don’t spend a lot of time on the skin, and instead save the big bucks for serums, masks, and moisturizers that stay on the skin for longer. While I somewhat agree with this tip- if you’re on a budget, cleansers are definitely the area to cut spending- it’s not entirely true that the ingredients in cleansers don’t stay on your skin long. Have you ever used a scented cleanser and your face still smells like it after you’ve rinsed and dried off? That’s because skin is extremely porous (it soaks in what it comes into contact with) and even if the product isn’t on the skin for too long, the face wash will still do what it says it does. Still, it’s probably best to skip cleansers that are for targeted purposes and choose ones that will help you to scrub away dirt, grime, makeup and oils, and to help open your pores so the good stuff that you should invest your money in can work effectively. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser- $28 for 5oz. Buy it from Sephora now

This cleanser has two of my favorite ingredients: charcoal, which de-clogs pores and actively draws impurities out of the skin, and glycolic acid, which is good for uneven skin texture like mine. It has a slick gel-like consistency and heats up on contact (no you weren’t imagining your face getting hotter!) to help open up your pores even more. I like to use this cleanser in the evening because I feel like it best prepares my skin for the other products that I want to soak into my skin overnight, however I use this AFTER I have removed my eye makeup with a different cleanser or makeup remover because the warming sensation on my eyelids freaks me out

 

2. Clinique Liquid Facial Soap- $17 for 6.7oz. Buy it from Sephora now

I personally feel that Clinique can do no wrong when it comes to skin care products and this cleanser is no exception. It comes in three formulas- extra mild for sensitive skin, mild for normal/combination skin, and oily for oily/combination skin. This is perfect for me since my skin tends to be more oily in the summer and drier in the winter, so I can buy which one I need according to the seasons. These cleansers work wonders to remove makeup on the face, neck, and eyes and give you a super clean and fresh feeling. Want to feel even cleaner? This cleanser works beautifully with a skin cleansing brush.

 

3. St. Ives Apricot Scrub- $3.09 for 6oz. Buy it from Target now

I have had a tube of this in my home since before I can remember- in fact it’s the first scrub I ever used on my skin. My mom used to use it and when I became of age- and by that I mean when I got my first pimple- she told me to use it too. Products like these that have been around for decades are always a safe bet. I like to use the Blemish Control formula, which is oil free and has salicylic acid for acne (shown above), but there is also a formula for normal skin too. The heavy duty scrubbing power comes from 100% natural exfoliants, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend using this product more than twice a week at most. The goal is to remove dead skin cells to reveal fresh beautiful skin, not to remove your face from your skull.

 

I am sure there are tons of other amazing products out there, these are just the ones that I have always found myself coming back to. Please let me know of there are some other really good ones that I missed or may have not tried!

Welcome to Jaylie Beauty

“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.” -Audrey Hepburn