GRWM – Smoky Neutrals

Hey y’all! Hope everyone had a fantabulous weekend.  If you live in the Northeast, you know that it WAS a fantabulous and WARM weekend.  The weather was seriously gorgeous.

We made it through Week 1 of this Whole30! Today is Day #8 – aka “NOOOOO – My pants are tighter!” which starts the second week, and hardest days of the entire program.

I’m feeling good, feeling confident.  Woke up today with a little more energy than I had last week, but know that I need to stay strong this week.  I didn’t get any of my extra workouts in last week because I was so tired, but I am committed this week.  My trainer actually sent me a few pictures yesterday, comparing my June photos to January.  And despite it being right after the holidays and me actually weighing MORE, it’s pretty nuts to see the difference in my body shape and size.  Do you take progress pictures?  OMG- It gives me SO much more motivation than just weighing myself or taking measurements.  It’s all fine well and good to see the numbers on a page, but actually seeing your body change is really just amazing.  I’m not quite ready to share yet, but maybe at the end of the Whole30 I will.

Anyways.  I am feeling so behind coming into this week.  Does anyone else feel like that??  I seriously feel like I was cooking all day yesterday.  Man I’m telling you… when you’re not eating processed foods, meal prep is serious business.  I mean it’s time consuming regardless, but for whatever reason it’s killing me this time around.  I always prep breakfast, lunch and snacks for both me and Mr. Pretty for the week.  And I had to make last night’s dinner, too.  Which was BOMB DOT COM, BTW.

This was the second time making this Whole30 recipe from 40 Aprons for Copy Cat In & Out Burgers.  Now, I’ve never had In & Out Burger in real life, but if you have, then “double double animal style” should mean something to you.  And what it now means to me, is HEAVEN.  Go check out the recipe here, and then go make these.  Even if you’re not Whole30/Paleo, you can easily use non-compliant ingredients (or not!).  Sweet potato fries on the side (also drenched in animal sauce) are the best.  You’re going to want something fresh on the side also because they’re pretty diesel.  The lettuce wraps help, but I’d go for something light on the side too.  Oh and PS- there is a secret art to making lettuce wraps!!  I learned how to do it, and it’s seriously life changing.  And don’t – I repeat DON’T – skip wrapping these in parchment paper.  They are MESSAYYYYY.

LMK if you try out the recipe!

In case anyone is interested in what’s on the menu for this week, here’s what we got:

Breakfast: Potato crusted quiche with homemade breakfast sausage; Grapefruit
Lunch: Turkey Chili
Dinner: Chicken Cacciatore (I never got around to making it last week), BBQ Pulled Pork with baked potatoes and green beans, Fish Fajitas, and maybe Lemony Greek Chicken Thighs with fingerling potatoes and Brussels Sprouts.
Snacks: (as needed) Mini Meatloaves, Tuna Cakes, HB Eggs (made in the instant pot!), Cashews, Banana/Apple with Almond Butter, Clementines

Okay.  I don’t want to focus 100% on my diet obviously, so let’s get to the fun stuff.  So last night, I went LIVE in my VIP Beauty Group to show some an amazing new shadow set that launched not too long ago.  The Collection comes with four different shades that complement each other perfectly:

❤️ Neutral Tan
❤️ Pewter Shimmer
❤️ Slate
❤️ Smoke Shimmer

I absolutely love the look I created using these shadows together! Definitely out of my comfort zone, but it’s so fun to play around!!

If you want to watch the video, you need to head over to my VIP Group on Facebook, BUT I will give you the breakdown of what I did here, because I love ya.

I started with my tinted moisturizer on my face.  TBH I threw it on right before I went live, because it was Sunday and I don’t know about you, but I don’t wear makeup on Sundays unless I have something to do.

I decided I was going to showcase the versatility of this product (ShadowSense) by applying it four different ways in my look.  I had never used these new shadows and opened them on camera.  I was so excited, but didn’t have much of a plan other than this… EEK!  Can you guess all four ??  Let’s see if you’re right.

#1- On my eyes, obviously.  I chose Neutral Tan as my base color because it’s perfect to start off and the lightest color.  I then used Pewter Shimmer, a medium tone, on the outside of my eyelid (think the the outer 1/3 of the eye) and then added Smoke Shimmer, the darkest color into just the crease.  I also used the two darker colors under my eye a little bit.  That’s a great tip for nighttime look, since I don’t love using eyeliner on my lower waterline.

These shadows are cream to powder – meaning they are a cream formula but dry like a powder.  So when you are applying them, especially on the eyes, you want to use a nice fluffy brush and blend them well.  I started pretty light handed with these, since I wasn’t sure how pigmented they would apply, so added more as I went.  I always recommend doing that!  You can always add more, but it’s really hard to go backwards.

Okay, so #2- On my brows!  Yup, this shadow (in the correct color) can easily be used in your brows.  I used Slate, which is a purplish gray.  It was different, I probably would use a darker color next time, but applied really easily with a small angled brush!

#3- I use a shadow color called Candlelight (not in this collection) that is a light/skin color tone as… CONCEALER!  ::insert mind blown noise here:: It’s true.  Mom bags be gone!  It’s a life saver and total secret weapon.

#4- On my LIPS!  So this one, I think, was probably a pretty obvious one also, given the choice of color… but did you know you could do this?!  There are two different ways you can use your ShadowSense as a lip color.  First, you can apply it directly to your clean, dry lips, as I did last night.  One or two coats will work, but it does take a bit of time to dry, so take your time.  You’ll apply gloss over the top.

The second way to do it, which I actually tried today with Neutral Tan, is to layer ShadowSense in with your LipSense.  This will definitely give you the same longevity that you get with LipSense if it is sandwiched between!  I layered it with Bella and it is SO PRETTY!  I will be sharing my look later today on Insta- So definitely keep your eyes peeled for that!  Again, if you want to watch the replay of my LIVE from last night, here is the link to my Beauty Group on FB.  If you watch it, give it a Thumbs Up or comment to let me know!

That’s about all I got for today.  What do you think, would you try applying shadow in ways other than on your eyes??  Would you rock a gray lippie??  Not sure if I could actually pull it off in public, but maybe one of these days I’ll try!  Drop a comment below and let me know what you think, or the craziest makeup look you’ve tried!