L'Oreal Influenster VoxBox

Recently I got this stacked VoxBox from Influenster to try out a bunch of makeup products from L'Oreal, which particularly focused on lashes. It came with two eye shadows, eye liner, a mini brow kit, Voluminous mascara primer and Voluminous mascara.

Makeup-snob in me wasn't expecting much. Besides my coveted e.l.f. $2 liquid eyeliner, drugstore brands don't often make it into my bag. I was out of state for a couple of days visiting my mom, so I figured it would be a good time to try these products for a couple of days when I figured I wouldn't have to be out in public much (Oregon, versus San Francisco on a daily basis).

First up was the eye shadow duo. I used the light on my brow bone & the darker on my lid & crease. The shimmer slate actually had amazing dimension - It looked shimmery where I wanted it to, but also appeared matte in my crease where that would be more ideal. It reminded me of some of my favorite Too Faced eye shadows - which is one of my favorite eye shadow brands. 

The brow kit seemed pretty light for my skin and hair - as my natural hair color is dark brown. I ended up bleaching the top part of my hair about a week after I received this VoxBox though, so it ended up working out perfect - and I've been using this on a daily basis since!

I have mixed feelings when it comes to mascara primers. Maybe it's because I'm not used to them, or I'm picky with my natural eyelashes, or the fact that Makeup Forever Smokey Extravagant is still my #1 mascara for over a year and a half now. The primer was slightly more thick then I would have liked it to be, but it DID do a great job of making my lashes appear fuller, which is always a plus, no matter how full your lashes already are naturally. 

I would definitely recommend trying the eye shadows and Voluminous primer & mascara. I'd probably like to try out some more eye shadow colors to see if they have similar effects, and this is now the #2 drugstore brand mascara I would buy - Rimmel London made me a fan of their Lash Accelerator Endless a couple of years ago.

All products I receive from the Influenster VoxBox program are free to me for testing purposes. I enjoy sharing my both good and sometimes brutally honest negative reviews with all of my readers. 

Feel free to message with any questions!

Yours in health and happiness,

Samantha Marie 

Pescatarian Meal Prep Week

Eating at 30%+ protein while doing my best to eat mostly vegetarian can be tricky at times. Here is my meal prep / meal plan for the week that I put together one Sunday evening.

Meal 1: Egg White Burrito & Fruit
1/3rd cup egg whites, 1/4 cup low fat shredded cheese, high fiber tortilla or slice high fiber bread, sprinkle of cayenne. 8 strawberries.

Meal 2: 5 oz Coconut or Greek yogurt, 3 homemade protein bites

Meal 3: Salad: 2 cups mixed greens, 1 oz feta, 1/3rd cup edamame, 1/4 cup pecans, sprinkle of dried cranberries, 3 tbs balsamic vinaigrette. Side of 1/2 can chunk tuna in water with 1 tsp each mustard & relish.

Meal 4: 1/4 block tofu baked with teriyaki, sauteed spinach with garlic.

Meal 5: Grilled meatless sausage, 1 oz cheese, 2 tbs bruschetta, 8 flax seed crackers.

Room for dessert? 1 oz 80% cacao with 4 oz red wine.

  

Priorities

A couple of years ago an employee from another department was talking with me about his dilemma having enough time for work, school, and personal life. Fortunately he was still very young, recently started college, and didn't have as many bills or responsibilities as he would have in his thirties. I gave him some advice then, which turned out to be advice for myself that's I've tried to remember over the past couple of years: I told him to find out what his priority was, focus on that, and then whatever came behind that in order accordingly. I told him to feel good and confident in his decision, to not feel bad about having a priority, and to not apologize for it - not even to himself.

Last week I took a me-cation alone for a few days to clear my head and think of my priorities. With all the things I do and love to do, two things were at the forefront of my mind: health and education. My top two priorities are my health and my education, and I need to feel good in that assumption, and to not apologize to anyone, including myself, for making those my priorities.

For my health, this involves exercising consistently, minding my nutrition, getting sleep, and keeping myself in a positive mental state. For my education, this involves my college courses, independent research, teaching others, reading and observing topics of health and marketing. I am rediscovering my soul and passion this year for the arts, dancing, and entertainment events, which I can incorporate in my heath (dancing) and education (both at work and school).

Other things I love doing that I don't plan on giving up in my life, such as travelling and being a personal wellness consultant, need to come after these initial priorities. At first thought I don't even want to type those words, or think about what they mean, or feel I have to step back even a little bit of those things. Then I remember my advice and know I've made the right decision, and not apologize to even myself.

Running around trying to do everything all at once isn't going to get you anywhere. If you want to get ANYTHING done, and done well, you need to prioritize. In the end, I know I will be more productive and happier.

I already am this week. :)

Yours in health and happiness,

Samantha Marie

Reboot

It's been quite an amazing roller coaster year. Launched the SamTalia website, became a doTERRA Wellness Advocate, continued my education in marketing and nutrition, finally got a stamp on my passport, and began a new full time job at an arts & culture center in San Francisco.

I was in need of a vacation that would have ideally liked to have been a week long, but I settled for a few days and got out of it what I wanted - even though it took me about a day and a half just to be able to relax and begin to try to clear my mind for the fall semester that was coming around the corner. I have always had a bad habit of trying to do much all at once, and wanting to do it all 100%. Learning from my past life though, I did not want to repeat the same mistakes I had - which was doing several things just mediocre - not acceptable to me in this life.

Several things were being held back within myself, and in regards to this blog I was holding back too. There were things I thought I'd write about, but I wasn't sure if I'd have a full article, or maybe it wasn't the type of article I was sure I wanted on the blog, or whatever my excuses were for not writing so much (besides the obvious too busy to think about having the time for all these things). Thoughts and personal development are part of being healthy and happy, which is what this blog is mainly about. Fitness, nutrition, and beauty just support that. The main goal was always health and happiness, including mental health which I haven't really talked about but definitely should.

Today I start a new semester, and this blog is coming with me.

Yours in health and happiness,

Samantha Marie

Non-Meat Protein

Yes I could say "Vegetarian Protein", but for some unknown reason the V-word seems to turn some people off. Not sure why - it's not like they're in jeopardy of turning into hippy-mountain-men that wear flower headbands or something... No offense to hippy-mountain-men that wear flower headbands.

Whether we want to face reality or not, non-meat protein is not only good for our bodies, the fact is it is EXTREMELY good for our environment. Still can't get out of my head one of the six documentaries I watched last month on my weekend mini-binge, "Cowspiracy." I already don't eat that much meat, but since watching that film it really made me want to go back to more plant foods again. Even if you don't care much about your health, or animals, or regular things like those that normally people can regularly brush off, you can't consider yourself friendly to the earth if you eat meat on a regular basis. I like to conserve water, energy, and I've always wanted to save trees. If things like that are important to me, I have to face the facts.

Anyway, it's time to eat healthy delicious food with protein that can both help you feel full and conserve (or help grow) muscles during weight loss and strength training.

 

All this talk about complete proteins that vegetables don't have, when there's actually a lot. Here's a little article with easy recipes too from Greatist: http://greatist.com/health/complete-vegetarian-proteins

21 Meals With Lots of Protein & No Meat