What Do You Want?

Hey ya'll..I know I said I was going to work on my beauty blog more this summer...

and mer mer...I haven't.

I guess I'm just wondering what people would want to seeeee.

I buy enough stuff...lord have mercy.

So like hauls?

Reviews?

Tutorials?

Hot er Not Products?

also, would anyone be interested in videos? 

For ideas, message me or email me what you would want to see.

Ask.fm/alannahill

Facebook: Alanna Jean Hill

email: ahill1325@gmail.com

Come to the Light Side (Tanning and Skin)

Well this is my first blog post on this blog in QUITE a while.

Beauty blogging...hard in this neck of the woods.

I decided to do a post about the idea of being paler in this summer time and just all the time.

I was born naturally pale, pale, pale.

Pale.

And I've gone through everything to be darker, and unfortunately, even using that raunchy tanning bed.

(Giphy)

I started using fake tanner in middle school. Jergens...they might have changed their formula, but at the time, that stuff stank so bad.

Now, no fake tanner smells like roses, but it smelt like peepee tea. 

I got my first professional spray tan in 9th grade for state drill team. 

It was fairly okay, was applied by a human, not a machine.

Too bad the scotch tape on my arms left me with a pretty nice line. (;

It also wore off so patchy, I tried to keep it maintained with some fake tanner...

but that just made it like 2000x worse, in hindsight.

I started (I regret this so badly now) tanning in a bed in 10th grade.

I became basically addicted junior and senior year. 

I was SO self conscious about my skin color, because I had been teased about it for so long. 

A kid called me "Skeletor" because I was so white and skinny...that is never okay. 

A boy should NEVER be making fun of a girl for any part of her appearance. 

But tanning is SO incredibly bad for our skin...awful.

(Pinterest)

Was ruining my skin worth it for a couple years of darkness?

No. Absolutely not.

When we're young, we don't think about the damage to our skin.

We just think about looking "hot."

Well we ain't gonna be hot when we're 30 with premature aging, wrinkles, and maybe cancer.

I quit tanning cold turkey this past October.

I used fake tanners so religiously.

Here are my favorites below:

Salon Bronze Airbrush Tanning

You can get this at Sally's for like maybe $15 for the first thing (the gun and one cartridge) and about $9 for each individual cartridge.

I really, really love this stuff, but it does not come off nicely.

Target Up and Up Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer

Cheap...6 bucks.

For a gradual tanning lotion and at the price, it's good.

And I have a Victoria's Secret one I love, but I'm not 100% sure they still make it...yikes.

I'm also on a quest to try the St. Tropez Tanning Mousse. 

I just can't bring myself to spend $42 bucks on self tanner yet...

And lately, I've been really trying to use minimal tanning products and embracing my more natural color (probably won't ever do that completely cause I'm so white).

Some of my favorite beauty bloggers are way more pale, than they are tan.

Jaclyn Hill, Megan (?), and Alison Henry.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Jaclynhill1

https://www.youtube.com/user/ciaoobelllaxo/

https://www.youtube.com/user/AlisonLovesJB

So I encourage everyone to embrace who they are and absolutely STOP TANNING IN BEDS.

No excuse is more important than your health.

Take a walk to the light side. (;

------------------------------------------------

Thanks ya'll, let me know what you think!

I'm hoping to do more, it would help me if people told me what they're wanting to see?!

Twitter: @alannajean2013

Instagram: lanlanbaby

Ask: ask.fm/alannahill

Other blog: http://livelovelanna.blogspot.com

Makeup Expiration Dates

So, I think it's totally okay to collect makeup.

It's COMPLETELY okay.

But how are you supposed to expand your collection if you have to throw stuff out every three, six, or twelve months?

If you collect stamps, you don't have to throw out half your collection just because someone has put some crazy standards on it.
Those were mostly put in place just to sell more product, fyi.

Makeup isn't like food; you aren't consuming it, ingesting it.
Some things like mascara...yeah, you need to be more cautious with it. It's right next to your eyeball. But still, it's not as strict as you would think.
If you have an infection or something, throw that stuff out NOW!

If you aren't sharing your makeup, you're not infectious, you can streeeetttccchh that expiration date out. I hardly ever share my makeup; it really can be kind of dangerous. You know your personal hygiene, but you don't know other people's.
Never share eye makeup.. ever. Just don't. Your eyes are too precious of a commodity to risk.

Also, with brushes, make sure you keep those suckers clean. You can help stop the spread of bacteria, oil, etc etc, if you are cleaning those on a timely basis. Not everyday, but at least once a month, if not every two weeks. One week if you religiously use that brush.

So, let's just break all the rules and keep our products for a lot longer than what society says we should.
Am I right?

FIrst Naked Experience

So, for Christmas, my lovely big sister got me the Naked palette. At first, I was going to do a tutorial, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that when I'd never used it before. I'm really not a huge name brand makeup person...like high end. Drugstore will do just fine, thank you very much. But maybe that's just because I'm a broke college student, and that's all I can afford. 

So first off, I started with just a normal five minute foundation face. 

No contouring or anything fancy like that. 

Like so: 

With products below.

If you want me to break it down, leave a comment. I have no idea what I'm doing here.

This really did start out as a tutorial, but then I got frustrated with my face.

"No one will take me seriously if I look like this...ughhhhh."

So, then I got out the holy grail. The thing I've waited for for years. My Naked Palette. 

Now, I have to put in a pull for my drugstore palettes though.

I'm a huge brown/taupe/tan eyeshadow girl. 

If it's one of those colors, I have to have it. 

I've been using a Hard Candy palette for a long time, and it's actually really awesome. 

and it's about ten bucks.

I also got a Sephora palette on sale for about ten dollars, and I really love that one too.

Makeup doesn't have to be fifty dollars like the Naked palette.

But it doesn't hurt either. 

SO, here he is.

Look at those beautiful colors...oooo ahhh. 

On my eyes, I used Virgin, Sin, Smog, Toasted, and Gunmetal.

So in number order: 1, 2, 7, 9, and 12. 

They are uber pigmented and oh so beautiful. 

BUT:

Don't use the brush that comes with it.

It sucks. 

(This is the prime example of how your phone camera isn't exactly awesome, and how you need to have a good angle, ladies (;     )

So, this is how my eyes ended up. 

It's not my best work.

I was too frustrated with the rest of my face. 

Bear with me, y'all. While I figure this blogging thing out.