Out with the old and in with the new!

Let's talk for a minute about exfoliation. What is exfoliation and why is it so good for your skin?

Exfoliation is when you remove the dead skin cells on the surface of your skin.
Who wants to have dead skin cells on the surface of their skin? 👎 No one does! Yuck!

Your body is constantly shedding dead cells from above and generating new cells from below. Your skin generally has 4 layers at a time. The bottom is forming while the top is shedding. Sometimes your skin may need a little extra help getting that dead skin off. Sometimes the products that you use can hinder your body's ability to properly shed that top layer.

Most commonly when we talk about exfoliation we are talking about our faces. There's also lots of exfoliating body scrubs to help keep your whole body nice and soft. Rarely do we hear about ways to exfoliate our lips! I hadn't ever heard of exfoliating my lips until LipSense! I'm a Cosmetology grad and all and I had no idea the difference it makes to have exfoliated lips!

What's crazy is that for most people, lips are one of the places that needs it the most! Products like wax will hinder your lips natural ability to shed that top layer of dead skin cells. It creates a barrier on the surface of your lips which can certainly have its benefits, but it has its drawbacks as well. It can give you a temporary feeling of relief from dryness because that barrier doesn't let out any moisture... but it doesn't let it in either. The biggest drawback though is that the barrier it creates stops your lips from naturally exfoliating so those dead cells are trapped.

I did a blog post a few weeks ago about a Lip Scrub you can use to help your lips when they're chapped or peeling. Using that scrub will help exfoliate your lips and create a more smooth healthy surface.

If you're a LipSense user then you need a smooth clean surface for your color to bond to. Your lips will go through a natural exfoliation process when you stop putting waxes and other products that cause buildup on your lips. Those layers of buildup trap the dead skin cells that need to be sloughed off. Once you stop putting those products on your lips then your body will naturally start to slough those layers. That's one of the amazing parts about LipSense, it's formulated with products that allow your lips to naturally exfoliate. For the first few weeks you will exfoliate more because there's so much buildup to eliminate. The Lip Scrub will help as well as only using products that don't add to the build up.
Check out the difference between these before and after pics! Exfoliation is amazing! ❤

Treat your skin well and it'll treat you well 💋

Clash of the Colors!

SeneGence International recently made a big announcement...

For the time being, they are going to be cutting down their LipSense colors they will be producing down to 36. The company has been booming SO much that they haven't been able to keep up with the demand. They have been putting into place many ways to remedy this, but we just love LipSense way too much! :) So, SeneGence has decided to cut down the number of colors they produce to ensure that they can keep up with the demand for those most popular colors, and then eventually reintroduce some of the others. 

The announcement of these 36 colors will be made in a couple days. In the mean time, I thought it would be fun for us to make some predictions on it! They have assured us that they are making sure that all the color families and looks will be represented,so there will obviously still be lots of great options for everyone. I have here some collages with different color families. Look at each picture and write down your favorite of the three choices. In the comments tell us what all your choices were. I will add them all up and announce the winners of the Clash of the Colors on Friday. Then we will compare it to the colors they actually keep and then we'll see how we did! :) The official announcement of the colors they will be keeping should be made this weekend. Let's get the votes moving shall we?

Don't forget to put your votes in the comments! I am so anxious to see what all of you pick, and even more so to see what colors SeneGence will keep around!! On Friday I'll add up all votes cast here and on my Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/lastinglipsbyliz) and announce the winners!

Happy Voting! 

Go Bold!!

Okay ladies! It is time to step out of your comfort zone and look at putting some fun, bold colors on your lips! I have told you before, I started out in the light natural zone too. Then I branched out to the medium pinks. Now, I'll be honest, I think the colors I used to love feel kinda boring! I still love them and think they're gorgeous colors, but when I wear them I feel bored! Haha! I need some excitement on my lips!! The sky is the limit! I'll try anything and most likely love it! I'll show you some of my favorite bold colors on me! ❤❤

My last blog post was on warm vs. cool skin tone.  If you aren't sure what skin tone you have, go check out that post here! Before you decide on a bold color for yourself you'll want to know whether you have warm or cool skin. A lot of colors can be worn on both warm or cool skin, but not all of them.

Obviously being "bold" is different for every person, but here's a few of the ones I've tried that most people would consider bold.

Say Hello to Plum! For some people, bold=dark. Plum is a super dark GORGEOUS cool purple! Word of advice on Plum though... I wouldn't get this as your first LipSense color. It can be tricky to apply. It just takes a bit of practice, but obviously it's SO worth the effort! If you want a dark, deep, rich purple Plum is for you!

While we're on a purple kick, I'll introduce you to Purple Reign! This isn't the greatest picture of me, but it shows you this beautiful bold color. I would say that Purple Reign is one of the most bold colors. It is a matte, bright, purpley pink. Purple Reign is one that will look good on anyone who is brave enough to try it. I highly recommend it!! It's a favorite of mine!

If you're more a fan of dark pinks, Strawberry Shortcake is a great pick! It is a cool and bright bit of heaven with the slightest hint of shimmer! If you're not a fan of shimmer, Kiss For A Cause looks really similar but it's a matte. I love love LOVE this one!!

Let's talk about this AMAZINGNESS called Cocoa! I ordered this because it was one of the few colors that was in stock, and I was fully expecting to hate it! I couldn't have been more wrong! I fell in LOVE with it immediately after putting it on. This one is more of a warm toned brown and it has gold shimmer to it. GORGEOUS!! I have cool skin and Cocoa looks great on me still, but I bet it would look even better one someone with warm skin!

When most people think of bold lips they think of red. I honestly have SO many favorite reds that it's hard for me to just tell you about one or two of them!

If you have warm skin here's 4 reds that will rock your socks off! 😉

Brick and Fly Girl are gorgeous matte colors. Brick is warmer than Fly Girl. Fly Girl I would call a vintage red, and even though it's technically warm, I'd say its pretty close to neutral. Fly Girl will look good on anyone!

Mojave is one of the few reds that has shimmer to it. It is also a little less bold than most of the reds so it's a good transition red. I love it!!

Red Cherry is also matte but it's a sheer matte so it gives a little different look than Brick or Fly Girl that don't have that sheer quality to them.

Here's a few cool reds that are gorgeous! I feel like both Cranberry and Rhubarb have just the slightest hint of pink to them, but only if you look closely! Blu-Red is the most true red you could ever find! It is a bold and beautiful fire engine red!

Okay, I have probably gone on tons longer than you cared to read about so I'll stop now. Here's one more picture of some stock photos of colors that are bold and beautiful but I haven't gotten a picture of them on me yet. 💋

Step 1 in choosing makeup

 Choosing makeup that is just right for you can be flat out frustrating, and sometimes it takes some experimentation. But I will tell you the very first thing you need to determine before you start figuring out what makeup to buy.
**You need to figure out whether you have a warm, cool, or neutral skin tone**
If you have super warm skin then and choose to order yourself some cool foundation and a cool nude lip color... it might make you look like your half dead! If you have super cool skin and you order really warm foundation and put on some orangey-coralish lip color... you just might end up looking like a crazy oopma loompa! If you have neutral skin then you can get away with being a little bit on the cool or warm side.
Before I really got into makeup, I'd heard about skin tones but I still had NO idea what mine was or how to figure it out. So here's a few different things to look at if you're not sure what yours is!

1. The very first test I have people do is to look at the veins in their wrist. What color are yours?

If you're having a hard time determining if they're blue or olive green, it sounds like you're neutral.

2. Next, think about the jewelry that you own... do you have a tendency toward silver or gold? Which looks better on you?

I would never use this as the only way to tell what your skin tone is, because obviously it could be swayed by your personal preferences. It is a great secondary thing to look at though.

3. Lastly, think about when summer comes (for those of us in Idaho it seems like it will NEVER EVER come this year!!). If you go out on the beach, out for a long run, or just lay out in the back yard... what happens to your skin?

Us poor cool toned people get fried when we head out into the sun!

Okay, so now hopefully you have a better idea of what skin tone you have. This can help you immensely in narrowing down which color you should be ordering for your different make up products. If you have warm skin tone you should generally stick to warm makeup, and if you're skin tone is cool you should generally stick with cool makeup. I emphasize generally  because it isn't a hard fast rule. As I said before, it usually takes a little bit of experimenting to figure out exactly which color you prefer. It's totally worth the effort though! Once you find just the right colors you will feel like a million bucks! Makeup can do SO much to enhance your natural beauty if you use it correctly! 💋

Dry Peeling Lips? They're a thing of the past!

Let me tell you about my poor lips. I have dry skin, so my lips have always been so SO dry. Before LipSense entered my life I was totally a chapstick-a-holic. Chapstick never made them stop being dry, it just made them feel momentarily better... but I would take what I could get!! Then one day on my way to hair school, almost 10 years ago, I got in an accident. I was driving a scooter and T boned a suburban... yikes!! I lost a bunch of teeth and one of these said teeth made its exit through my bottom lip. I had over 20 stitches in my lip in order for it to heal! It's obviously all healed now, but I have always had a big old scar on my lip because of it. That scar is sensitive and it peels like crazy and drives me crazy!! So pretty much I've had do deal with chapped AND peeling lips for a very long time!

LipSense has TOTALLY changed my lips and they aren't as dry, but more importantly, my bottom lip NEVER peels anymore. SO EXCITING! Even with LipSense's amazingness though, my poor lips do get a little dry and peel every once in a while. I have found a solution that works like a CHARM! It's a super simple scrub you can make at home!

This scrub was a game changer! It's way fast and easy to throw together and put on, and it works instantly! If you've never worn LipSense you can totally still use this for your dry lips! If you do wear LipSense you can use this whenever your lips are feeling dry or to help the exfoliation phase pass faster.
Seriously, it's amazing! Try it out and tell me what you think! 💋

Make it light and natural!

For most of us, when we are just starting to experiment with lip colors we tend to want to stick with light natural colors right? That's totally how I was at first! Now... I always need me some bright, bold and colorful LipSense! 😉 But, for those of you who feel like natural is your zone... I gotchya covered! There are TONS of beautiful natural colors... but here's five of my favorites!

1. Bombshell! This is seriously a must have color for EVERYONE to have in their collection. No matter what kinds of colors you are attracted to, you gotta have this! It is great for days that you don't want to do much to get ready but you want to enhance your lip color a bit. It's also AMAZING for layering on top of dark or matte colors to lighten them or add some shimmer! ❤

 2. Beige Champagne! This is the most gorgeous, shiny, natural brown. I love it so much!! I am a sucker for shimmer and shine!

 3. Kiss Me Katie! Guys... this color was my first love! It was probably the fourth color I tried and I fell absolutely in love with it! I would still wear this every day and be happy. I love that it is a light pink, but the color of pink is a fun, bright, pastel pink. I love natural but noticeable. Not to mention the gorgeous shine to it! Love Love LOVE!!

 4. Praline Rose! As I've mentioned, I'm more of the shimmer and shine type. So the first time I tried Praline Rose, which is a matte, I was super hesitant and I admit... I didn't love it. But, once I adjusted to the idea of wearing matte colors... and then fell in LOVE with wearing matte colors, I also fell in love with Praline Rose. It is so gorgeous for every day wear. It has for sure been one of my top selling and most loved colors! It is such a pretty brown with a hint of a pinky mauve shade to it.

 5. The last color is Pink Champagne! It is similar to Beige Champagne. They both have that gorgeous frosty shine to them. Pink Champagne is a muted pink that is so so beautiful! This is perfect for everyday wear. This has been another big seller and no one has been disappointed!

So many gorgeous options!! I love them all... seriously!! If you hop over to my Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/lastinglipsbyliz you'll be able to check out my color collage album to see what these colors look like on all different skin tones instead of just seeing how they look on me! 😉

Best Product EVER!

Today I am going to change your LIFE!! I have a LOT of favorite products by SeneGence... I'll just warn you of that right here and now. I'm sure this won't be the last time you hear me say this is... but this really is up there on my list of favorite cosmetics. Drum roll please....

Color Correcting Tinted Moisturizer!! 

This is not a picture of me.. I wish it was. I really do need to get a picture of me in it too, but I still haven't gotten around to that yet. This is a girl on my team... how amazing is this stuff!?! This is a moisturizer for your face that feels A-MAZING when you put it on! It is colored like foundation so it gives you some coverage before you even get your foundation on! I always put this on before I put on my foundation and it moisturizes while giving me even better coverage. For me it works almost like a primer. On days (like today) where I needed to be out the door 10 minutes before I started putting on my makeup, I just put on the Color Correcting Tinted Moisturizer and call it good. It is more light and sheer than foundation but it just helps even my skin tone a bit when I'm in a rush. I know there are a lot of ladies who just wear this stuff every day without any foundation over it. I prefer more full coverage personally for every day wear. Anywho... this stuff is a game changer. I am in LOVE with it ❣💕