A Wonderful Video by Savannah Brown

I love this video, and i'm sharing it everywhere. Not because there's something wrong with being skinny or having nice skin and nice hair, but because that stuff is good. just good. not great. Because there's something way better than all that. There's finding the YOU God made you to be. And being that.

3 steps to letting yourself love your body

I'm trying to love myself how I am, lately. Part of this is loving how I look- seeing my body as something crafted by God, something holy. I don't hate my body- except on crazy hormonal days- but I don't think "God made this; I'm made in his image. Wow!" So clearly there's a little room for improvement.

I've been playing around lately and I have 3 sure fire ways to feel more beautiful, please give them a try- all 3 together:

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you. Pray for things that are better than beauty: a pure soul, grace, compassion, strength, faith. Pray for confidence and for the veil over your eyes to lift so you may see your own beauty and value.

2. Play! Using your body makes you appreciate your body, be astounded by it, and eventually love it. Dance around your room, pose in the mirror; leap, twirl, bounce, rock!  Learn to belly dance (a personal endeavor, haha), perfect your back bend, master yoga, increase your muscle mass. Repeat. Watch your strength, gracefulness, and flexibility grow. Appreciate the things your body can do, however small they seem. Some people can't even move. Praise god for the things you see and learn. Praise him for the fun of making a fool of yourself.

3. Stop one seeing over your body. It was made exactly how God intended it. Obsessing, worrying, picking let in the evil lies that you are defined by your body and that it isn't good enough. Worse still, hurting yourself for it makes it so you can never love your body. You will never be able to look at your body with love while simultaneously under nourishing it, bruising it, and cutting it. Stop hurting and obsessing over your body, thereby making room for love to eventually enter. Trust me on this guys. I speak from experience. 

Love always!

Check Out My Friend, Elaina!

This is my wonderful friend, Elaina. She is a phenomenal human being. She is loving, incredibly joyful, and a great listener! I love her soooooo much. This gorgeous girl also happens to have some pretty intense artistic talent. One thing she's especially good at is nail art. I thought i'd take a second to show off some of her work. All the photos in this post were taken, with permission, from her Facebook. Here are three examples of the stuff she does.

She's amazing, right!? and just in case you didn't think she was perfect already, check out some great Disney shoes she painted!

Seriously guys she did these by hand! By the way, can you tell she's a Disney fanatic? I think we can all agree that it's a good thing mostly girls read this blog. If boys did, she'd have suiters lining up at the door. She's just got it going on. Love her to death. and back. <3 font="">

Contouring Without Caking it On

Contouring is a makeup technique used to define one's facial features by accentuating highlights and shadows. If Pinterest posts are any indication, this technique has become extremely popular. The problem? Most tutorials encourage you to cake on makeup to the point that you look like you're wearing a mask. We want to highlight the beautiful features God gave us - not cover them up!

The following is a simple, step-by-step tutorial of contouring that only requires a little makeup. I focus on accentuating my cheekbones - 'cuz I think they're cute! - but if you have other features you want to draw attention to, just darken the shadows and lighten the highlights. Use this tutorial as a starting point; experiment to find the look you want.

You'll Need:
A bronzer (or if you're not a fan, a darker blush - matte if possible)
a highlighter, preferably cream (alternatively you can use a light, shimmery blush)
brushes
powder, to set the final look

How To:

#1
Apply foundation as you normally would.

If your foundation is lighter than your skin tone, you may want to apply a little extra on top of your cheekbones. Blend it in.

 #2
Apply highlighter in a line along your cheekbones - just follow the direction of the bone. Blend this in by smudging it in a semi-circular motion, outward and downward along your cheekbone.

#3
Repeat along brow, nose, above lips, on chin, and any where else you'd like to draw the eye to.

#4
Make a fishy face! Apply bronzer along the indent created by your fishy face all the way out to your ear. Be generous with the bronzer if you want a more pronounced look. Then blend.



I use a big fluffy blush brush, but you can also use a angled brush or smaller flat blush brush - whatever you're comfortable with.

# 6
Apply bronzer in the crease of your eyelid. You may also want to experiment with adding some around the edges of your face, along the sides of your nose (makes your nose look skinnier and more pronounced), and along your temples.

<This is what it looked like when I was finished, you cant see of a difference until I went in to the bathroom where there's much better lighting............>






How does it look?
A. "It's not very noticeable...." Solution: repeat steps, adding more makeup.
B. "I have stripes on my face" Solution: blend! a lot. Use a makeup sponge, stippling brush, or fingers.
C. "Perfect! Just the look I wanted!" Good! Apply powder to set the makeup in place. To make this last a long time, you want to press or tap the powder into your skin, not just lightly dust it on top. Keep in mind that using a matte powder could dull the look of your highlighter.

Finish your makeup and go rock your new look!







Oh, and please like, comment, and subscribe/follow:)

A little Makeup Inspiration

Here's a collection of some of my favorite makeup looks I've seen on pinterest recently. Get inspired:)

http://labellefabuleuse.tumblr.com/post/39724298726/beedonaldson-lindsey-wixson-backstage-at


http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/b0/04/54/b00454a89dd2b2fcbadee3d1bfa8876b.jpg


http://beautylish.tumblr.com/post/4268170847/such-gorgeous-and-vibrant-shade-of-pink-red


http://thebeautydepartment.com/2013/10/beauty-basics/