As I am getting older I’m really starting to understand why there are so many products out there for anti-aging skincare, weight loss diets surgeries all geared towards fighting looking older. From aches and pains I feel to the fine lines around my eyes and mouth. I try not to look too close in the mirror.

Points about how not to get older from a Wicked Queen.. and boy did she take trying to stay younger to heart!
Image Copyright 2012 from EW.com http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20587871,00.html
We just saw Snow White and the Huntsman last night and seeing it I saw how much a woman would go through to just stay young forever. I don’t think anyone would willing do everything the Wicked Queen to stay young and it was interesting to see how at times in the movie she almost looked sorry for what she has done. Very interesting movie about just how far someone is willing to go so as not to age. Would you kill someone to keep your own beauty?

Here I am turning 50 today and I started looking back over my own life. Is turning 50 really such a big deal?
What I did in my 30’s and 40’s really made a difference I think in how I am looking at turning 50. I started my own business in my 40’s after a car accident. So looking at that, I can see how things changed in my life for the better. Funny way to look at a car accident huh?

I found that the better care I am doing for my skin is making a difference. Looking back over the years I noticed a change in how I look at things, from skincare to makeup to hair care. I don’t care what they say, I have long hair now for the first time in my life, I don’t want to have short age because someone somewhere said that if you are over 40 that you should not.

I got asked once on which brand do I use in skincare? I have a few that I like the most.  I try to use products that are as natural as possible. If I am not testing a product for review I use Reviva Labs skincare products. Why? Because I know way too much about ingredients and so I know what I am willing to put on my face. Their brand works best for my needs. Another favorite is Made from Earth. And the Frownies are awesome too. That is just a few brands that I use.
Taking care of my skin makes a difference like making sure I cleanse my face every night. Making sure I to use a exfoliated and drink lots of water. I think your true natural glow starts with the amount of water I drink. Trying to keep my stress level under control and finding ways to just let go with what I have no control over. With age comes knowledge and what would drive me nuts when I was in my 30s I just smile and understand it’s not always my fault. Not taking things personally, thick skin helps too. Learning to care for others, making things not always all about me, caring for my husband differently.

But I do understand why someone would want to fight getting older. Age as a number we can’t change but how we look it we can change and how we look to a point we can change.

There are millions of dollars spend each year old skincare health care products to try and stop the aging process.
Aging gracefully is really the best way to go about it. Do I want to be that person I was in my 20s? Look like her? Nope not really, I have a few really bad habits that I’m so glad I do not have now. Yes I was a smoker, 2 1/2 pack a day smoker. Am I glad I’m not now?? Oh yeah!! What smoking does to your skin is so bad and shows up earlier! Would I really want to turn back time and be who I was in my 20’s? Would you? If you could go back and talk to yourself at the time in your life that you may of done some of the dumbest stuff, would stop yourself? I know I wouldn’t.

Who I am today is because of the choices I made in my past good and bad. The mistakes I made just made me stronger.. The choices we make today shape who we are going to be in the future.

50 is just a number like any other number, it’s really how you look at it that makes a difference. That is my thoughts about turning 50 today.

Cause its my birthday I am going to offer this today only! Its buy 4 get 1 free for the Ozotic’s and or  BB Couture’s.. Limit one free!! Add to comments your free choice!! Buy from either brand and you get one free from that brand. So which means If you buy 4 Ozotic’s AND 4 BB Couture’s?? You get one free from each. So the total you can get is 2 free. One Ozotic and or one BB Couture. Ends at Midnight tonight June 2, 2012.

This is the second of 6 months worth of amazing giveaways thanks to the folks over at Reviva Labs!

When you think of tanning I always think about this, which happens to be very bad for you and your skin overall, right? Do they not realize what this will do to their skin now and in a few years?   The easiest way to get skin cancer. This is why there are so many self-tanners now. With knowledge comes power! lol

Being this is second month of our six months of amazing giveaways from Reviva Labs and to be really honest  I wasn’t too sure about this one. The products that is for this month are Tan with Sun a Face & Body Milk. And you also get a Vitamin E Lip Balm.

I will be honest about this one I wasn’t even sure it works or how it would look. What am I talking about? Reviva labs has a inexpensive tanning milk they call it. It would be something you could use on your face or any part of your body that needs a tan.

So to test it out I put a nice thick layer on my arm. And I meant it was thick too. I wanted to see just how dark it might go. It doesn’t go that dark~! Hey!! I was worried that it would. Some go on like this where you can’t see it, and then its so dark in spots an don’t in others. I made it on my arm like you see in the photo so you could see for real what it looks like.

It says it takes about three to four hours to show but I can tell you that within one hour you could start tell.
Four hours later I took a photo so you could see how it looks. Now I have to say it was so much better than others I have tried. Why you might asked?

The reason being it didn’t over-developed so I got this really nice tan. It also has a nice scent to it, which is nice. Because it’s a milk like cream you can see it better when you apply it. It also has a little tiny tint to it so its not just white.

I think it would be awesome to use if you got tan lines you want to even out the look or if you are going sleeveless and do not want white arms.

If you are going to use it on your legs just be sure to exfoliate them first to get rid of any dry cell skins. Now if you are going to use it on your face just remember that just because you have a tan doesn’t mean you do not need not to apply your sun screen.

Visit our Contest page to sign up to win one of each for yourself! Click this link > Reviva Labs Contest Page

Now Reviva Labs is giving us one bottle of tanning milk and vitamin e stick to give away. This is US only.
The Vitamin E Stick an amazing simple lip balm/ under eye cream/ any area that you have that is super dry, I have like three of them! They have no favor so you don’t have worry about that. You can even use it on your cuticles if you like. Just be careful about having it in the car. It does melt..

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of éclos Skin Care. All opinions are 100% mine.

I usually do not buy drugstore brand products. I really don’t. I just know so much more about ingredients these days than ever before so I stopped wasting my money. (I know what most ingredients are, and it makes it tough for me, way too much junk out there!) With that said when there is a gem of a find I buy it and do a review for it. I had not found anything lately till I came across this brand.

Not too long ago I had bought two products by a brand called eclos plant-based beauty. They use the plant stem cells that they extracted from a rare Swiss Apple, which has shown over time to have tremendous ability to stimulate skin stem cells, which in turn encourages aging skin cells to behave like younger skin. This apple has been in the news a lot lately. And most products that are using it as an ingredient are way out of most people price range.

When I was asked if I would like to test out their Travel set I jumped on it. The reason why I couldn’t wait to test out more of the link is because just how impressed I was with the two products I have already tried. So just what is plant based beauty? They took the best plant stem cells and put them into very affordable skincare. The luxuries feel of high end products with drugstore prices!

The travel set comes with:
• Facial Cleanser Skin Prep
• Cellular Activator Face Serum
• Moisture Therapy Regenerative Cream
• Restorative Eye Cream
• Instant Radiance Facial Scrub
• Skin Renewal Clay Mask
• éclos Terry Cloth Head Band All in airline size jars.

Here is a before photo:

After one week using it:

The travel gives you nice size samples of each of their top products. Their facial scrub which I personal can’t rave enough about! Most scrubs made with salt (I tasted it by mistake once, got on my lips when I was rinsing it off) are too rough for my skin. This scrub does an amazing job without drying. I think it’s geared towards all skin types but I’m not sure.
The Walgreens in my area didn’t have the Cleanser on its own that I could to buy so it was really nice to get to test it out. You don’t need that much, and it doesn’t over dry your skin.
It also came with a mud mask which turns out to be too drying for my mature skin, so having a sample size saved me money. I had been thinking of getting it but now I know not too. It has French clay in it which is great for masks, but if you got dry skin, you may want to stay away from using it.

The face serum I already had so I just used that one. It soaks into your skin leaving it feeling so soft! In fact I was looking into buying another one!

The Restorative Eye Cream you only need a tiny bit so the sample will give you a good amount to work with. A lot longer than a couple of weeks.

Now a small jar of face cream wasn’t enough to do a really good test due to the fact my skin darn near drunk it up. It was like I applied it and it felt like I had not. Meaning the fact it’s more of a heavier cream so it took more than it would have had it been creamier. A thicker face cream at like this one, take a bit more for my face but  still left my skin feeling dry. Doesn’t help I already have dry skin. But still if you just wanted to test it out or you need a travel set these would be great. The face cream doesn’t have sunscreen in it so don’t forget yours!! In fact I wished the face cream felt like the eye cream did. Nice and rich and creamy!

The set can be found at Walgreens or online at your many drugstore type websites. They do have a website, but the last time I checked you couldn’t order from it.

Did you know?  Uttwiler Spätlauber the apple itself as a bitter taste but it had the unique property that when it was  stored as feed for animals  it was found that fruit never wrinkled.  Which in turn let cosmetic companies to become very interested in it as a main ingredient in anti-aging skincare. Pretty cool huh?

éclos Skin Care
Now we are lucky enough to be able to offer one eclos plant-based beauty travel set to giveaway! Now here is a great way for someone else to get to test out this amazing brand!
This for US Only please! Leave a comment on this blog post stating which product in the kit you are most excited to try.   The giveaway will be open starting May 26th  and closes June 1st, 2012  after June 1st  a  winner will be picked and I will email you for your mailing address. Pretty simple huh?

Its getting that time to start thinking about what you will be wearing for your New Year parties you been invited to. Have you found your little black dress? Now you got the dress but what are accessories? Starting with nail polish what colors do you think might work? Well it will depending on what type of party you might be going to.
First rule is for choosing a color is will it go with my skin tone? Am I going to a black-tie event or party down at the local hangout. Is it my first date or a guy I been dating for a while now? There is no rule that you have to wear the same color on your nails and toes at the same time. BUT you do want colors that are at least in the same color family. All nail polish choices for your black dress are by BB Couture! ( Overall Beauty offers many other brands of nail polish, but some of the best choices in basic colors are BB Couture)
Nail Polish colors for your black dress can be and usually are reds:
Fatal Attraction
Fairy Blood
Vampire Bite
Hot Candy Apple
Bullfighter
Hottest red ever would be Napa Valley Red which works for all color of dresses because its such a deep red that is almost black!

All I am doing is naming off a few choices you might be thinking wearing. What it is a party with your friends? This would be the best time to show off your latest collector nail polish’s!
Are you the type of girl who enjoys being in the limelight? Show your nails in Green! Then check out these greens. Wearing a dress not just black? Look at your dress and pick one color that you want to match. Then look for a nail polish color that matches it! Greens are fun because they stand out making them great for parties and for everyday wear:
Grenade
Bette
Pipe Bender
Green Goblin
Blind Love
Moon Over Manhattan
Poison Ivy
Now for the Vampy in us all there is always going super dark colors in nail polish
Check out:
Vampy Varnish
Dark Knight
Midnight Malibu
Cash Black
Saturday Night Fever
Purples will work as well. You want to show off your style with these colors:
Dragon’s Breath
Balboa Beach Bunny
Huckleberry Martini
What if you aren’t into  dark colors, but what to look amazing any way?  Check out all her really pale colors like Tink Pink or Pixie Dust or just wear a matte over any color you want!!

No matter what color you are going to wear partying just be sure that it works with your skin tone not against it. Being that summer is on its way, you will still be going to parties right?