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Friday, May 2, 2008

Things That Make Us Beautiful

My very dear friend Jenn has requested a blog-post reporting some of our favorite things we use to make ourselves beautiful. I was pretty excited by this request because I really like beauty products. I love to try new things and let's be honest... when we look good, we feel good, and who doesn't love that? So at the time I read Jenn's request, I already had another blog-post idea in mind that I really wanted to write. However after some thinking I decided I could combine the two because on some level, they're related (you'll see in a second). Alright, my list is as follows:

1. Giving to others.

Not a beauty product, I admit, but definitely something that makes us beautiful (and is a beautiful thing itself). Many of you know my gorgeous and brilliant neice Lacy was born with a genetic disease called Cystic Fibrosis, also known as CF. Without going into too much detail here (that's what the upcoming web link is for!) some of the symptoms Lacy suffers with are chronic and dangerous lung infections, vitamin deficiencies, and an inability to digest certain foods. She puts up with various daily treatments like pills (the size of an adult vitamin) with every snack or meal she eats, antibiotics for the lung infections, nebulizer breathing treatments to keep her airways clear, and this mechanical vest that hooks to a machine and shakes her for 25 minutes to keep the mucus in her lungs loose. If these things sound awful to you, imagine being 8 years old and never knowing a life any different. Furthermore, wondering when there might ever be a cure so you don't have to continue your life this way. A frightening statistic points out that 1/2 of all CF patients will live beyond the age of 35 which means that 1/2 will not. While 35 seems like a long way off for Lacy, we still have to get her there, and way beyond or the world will be a much less beautiful place. That's why on Saturday June 7th we'll be joining my sister's team in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's annual Great Strides walk to raise funds for research and treatment. If you'd like to donate to our team, you can click here (www.cff.org/Great_Strides/dsp_DonationPage.cfm?walkid=5125&idUser=221562) to see the team's web page and how close we are to reaching our fundraising goal for this year. In the past, TeamLacy has been the highest raising team at our walk site. We'd love to make that happen again. If you're interested in learning more about Cystic Fibrosis you can click here (www.hopkinscf.org/main/whatiscf/index.html) to visit the Johns Hopkins Hospital page explaining the disease. On that page Lacy is actually pictured at the top with her doctor (and the #1 CF researcher) Dr. Rosenstein. You can also visit this page (www.hopkinscf.org/main/living/index.html) to read about living with CF and see another picture of Lacy and Amberly that Hopkins chose to feature. Below is one of the cutest pictures of Lacy at the beach holding a tiny crab she found:




2. Target's 100% Acetone Nail Polish Remover
I don't know how often you polish your nails, but I do mine pretty regularly and have been since I was about 4 years old (just ask my mom). So removing polish is important to me but I've always found it to be such a pain. Sometimes the polish comes off my nails but just redeposits all over my fingers so I look like I've been picking raspberries. Other times if my polish has any sparkle to it I feel like I need to use a medium-grit sandpaper to get it off. Have you ever gone for a professional manicure and the girl gets all of your polish off with barely a swipe of the cotton ball? And no mess! That's what I was looking for when I found this polish remover. Yes, it's 100% acetone. And yes, it put holes in the vinyl gloves I wore when using it. But I've never removed polish as quickly or neatly in my life. I even used sparkly polish the other day without a moment's hesistation. My only caveat-- wash your hands right after using it :o) The picture I have is a Cutex brand, what I bought is Target's generic (hooray for cheap finds!).

3. OPI Nail Polishes
Obviously my number three goes with my number two. I've used a lot of nail polish since the age of 4, and I still have an entire shoebox full under my bed. I can say with certainty that OPI is the best polish I've ever used. There's truly a difference. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a nail polish snob or anything. I have my share of Wet 'n Wilds in that shoebox, but if I had my pick of any, this is my favorite. They have the best colors with the best names. I particularly like their new India line. It's full of deep jewel tones and bright unusual colors. And one of the best things is that you can find a reasonable selection decently priced at Target! (noticing a pattern?)

4. Clean & Clear Daily Pore Cleanser
I never really had problems with my skin until college and later. And then for some reason any little thing made my skin break out. I tried a variety of different cleansers creams and what have you. Every time it would break out again I'd try something new or a different routine. It was very annoying. I finally got fed up and switched cleansers again and bought this one. It has no medication but just some exfoliators. To my surprise my skin broke out a lot less (if at all) when I started using it. It's almost as though when I stopped treating it like problem skin, it stopped acting like problem skin. So far so good, and I'm hoping it stays that way.

5. j.a.n.e Blushing Cheeks Powder Blush in "Blushing Glow"
Here's another super-cheap product that I absolutely love. This color looks exactly how it sounds. It's the perfect peachie-pink shade of warm summery cheeks with just a tad of sparkle. It looks so very natural and really captures the non-make up look of a healthy glow. I'm one of those people who looks like a ghost without make-up so the healthy glow is always the look I'm after. Ok, and the very best part? It's only $3.22 for about a 1" round pot. The downside is that I couldn't find the brand at all in Target or in our Wal Mart here in Columbia. But the Eldersburg Wal Mart had a fully stocked section for it. I can't speak too much of the other products in this line because I've only used this and a few eye shadows. It used to be that none of their products were over $3 so I'd buy it back when I was in high school/ college and was, well, dirt poor. But it's still fun to buy it cheap now (if you can find it)!

That concludes my current thoughts on things that make us beautiful. I could go way deeper on the humanistic stuff (it is who I am, after all) and probably way farther on the actual products, but people have probably already gotten bored and quit reading. I hope you enjoyed reading it and maybe you'll try one of these things to find out that you love them as much as I do!

Have a wonderful weekend!

PS- Could anyone tell me how to insert a link without having to type out the url? Everytime I tried it would automatically put http://www.blogger.com/ in front of any web address I entered so none of my links would work :o(

1 comment:

  1. I LOVED the post. So clever to mix the two things! I love the OPI colors too. That's so great what you're all doing for Lacey and Cystic Fibrosis. I need to get on the ball and do something myself because my Grandpa has pancreatic cancer and that doesn't have a good prognosis either.

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