makeup app for a flawless look

If anyone reads my blog enough, they know that I love new makeup products and sharing my favorite finds with my readers. Although I have to be honest, I don’t wear makeup everyday, not even to the office. There are several reasons for this, the most important being that I know how delicate skin is and how quickly it can get icky. I let my pores breath at least 3 days out of the week! Not being particularly prone to acne, this seems to just help any oily spots on my face, so I can’t speak for those who have chronic acne problems. Because we want to look beautiful in photos though (i.e. full face of makeup) some brilliant developers have come up with an app that applies makeup flawlessly to your face in a photo!

Make Up Plus App

These are my before and after photos. In the before picture, I have no make up on. After, I appear to have a full face of makeup. How amazing is that? Technology never ceases to surprise me. No matter what an app can do though, I’ll still believe that I’m pretty without a bunch of makeup. But an app I can use to look more put-together in photos? Sign me up! Did I mention it’s a free app?

My sister and her friends take so many selfies and photos together that I know this will be a hit! They’re all such pretty girls and it always just cracks me up when they complain they aren’t beautiful. They have no idea how lovely they are! When I was 16, I felt the same way though. Every year since I was a teenager I’ve gained a little more confidence and a lot more happiness!

Consider downloading this awesome app. If you take selfies a little too often, then this is a must-have on your phone!

-LIZ

Sharing a Blogging Secret

Today, I’m sharing with you a little secret I’ve had for a few months now. I didn’t want to share it at first because it felt kind of awesome having this knowledge and know-how for my blog, but I think you all should be aware of it too! It’s a fabulous little tool you’ve been unknowingly looking at for awhile if you’ve been following my blog. It’s called Pixlr and I use it in nearly every post of mine.

Pixlr is a website that allows you to upload images you’ve saved from your computer onto a blank canvas and edit them to create the effects you want. Black and white, sepia, whatever you fancy! Even better, it allows you to upload pictures of say your favorite Kate Spade bag and Chanel lipsticks and make them into a collage. Essentially, it works just like Polyvore, but you decide what things you want to include and you aren’t limited to what’s already uploaded on the site. I use it to create visuals that correspond with what I’m talking about on my blog.

Step by Step Tutorial

For starters, I use the Pixlr Editor web app and select “Create a new image” to have the blank canvas I need to make my collage.

After you’ve created your “new image”, the app will ask you how big the canvas should be. I usually go with 500×500 pixels. After this, you’ll go to ‘File’ and select ‘Open image’ and from this point forward you’ll select the image you want to put in your collage first. When you select it, the image will pop up over your blank canvas in a separate window and you will be able to edit the size.

For the sizing step, go to ‘Image’ and then select ‘Image size’ to decide the number of pixels you want it to be. When you have the size you want, go to ‘Edit’ and then click ‘Select all’. This will highlight the image with black and white dashes around the border. Copy and then paste the image to your canvas.

At this point, you’ve probably realized that you aren’t able to move the image on the canvas yet. You need to use the ‘Move tool’ on your tool bar to the left. Click and drag the image wherever you want it to be. Repeat these steps for each image you want on your canvas.

To save your collage, simply go to ‘File’ and then ‘Save’. The computer will prompt you for the rest of the saving process.

This amazing tool makes a blog so much more professional than simply using Polyvore. It also gives you unlimited images to work with since you can get whatever you need from Google images. I advise you to have a small photo credits section at the bottom of your post linking items in the image to the places you originally found them. Artists want credit for their work!

If you have any questions, leave them below and I’ll try to help!

App for Your Event Planning Needs

It’s hump day and I for one am quite glad. I’m tired, sore from the gym, tired of homework, and just ready for the weekend again. Many of us already have weekend plans and are looking forward to them. I’m hoping to hang out with my gal pal Lindsey or my like-a-sister, McKenna. Weekend plans have a way of becoming really complicated when there’s a million people to text and details to hammer out. Facebook events suck and are more annoying than anything and chain texts are just obnoxious. If any of you “suffer” with these current technologies, then allow me to introduce you to a handy little app called Flashplan.

FlashPlan is brand new and if I’m not mistaken, still in beta testing. I got to talk to the app’s creator, Shravan Rao, a University of Connecticut graduate, about what the app does and here’s what he said:

“We focused on a few issues that we found with the current process of making plans:

> There isn’t a great mobile solution, which doesn’t make sense, because everyone is always mobile.

> Current tools use social accounts, so you can’t invite people that don’t have the app or don’t have facebook, twitter etc.

> Current tools are inefficient (no one checks facebook events, etc.)

We’ve solved these problems by:

> Making Flashplan truly mobile.  You use a phone number to log in and send invites to people in your contact list, which is your truest social network.

> Flashplan currently only uses phone number to log in, and we’ll eventually maybe add facebook log-in to make the process easier, but that would be only to pull name and other info from facebook.  No events or anything would ever go on facebook and you would never invite through facebook.

> There aren’t any additional ads, no random notifications, etc.

Flashplan is all about helping users spend less time making plans and more time making memories.”

Shravan’s idea is brilliant. I get so many Facebook invites to Tupperware parties, online trunk shows, and Mary Kay sales that I completely ignore invites now. Apps like these get my attention because their only purpose is to make planning an event easier. His idea was sparked by his own experience trying to plan an event.

“In November 2013, I was trying to organize a birthday dinner for a good friend, but it was super inefficient; facebook events, for example- no one sees the invites because they’re getting a ton of other notifications and there are ads everywhere, messages, comments, picture tags, etc.  Flashplan is meant for the person that’s social and on the go and is a mobile solution to the problem of quickly and privately getting a few friends together face to face, instead of interacting behind a screen.”

As a society, I think we have lost quite a bit to social media. It certainly is convenient and even fun to use. However, being together in real time is much better than over the internet. Flashplan is designed to simply plan an event and then execute it. 

My own experience using the app was pretty grand. A few things I really liked were that when you begin to plan an event the app syncs with the contacts in your phone and you can simply invite them by selecting their number regardless of if they have the app or not. Another thing is that if you have multiple events in the works, they are organized into each of their own tabs so you can keep details straight and not get anything confused. It has all of the standard planning necessities such as date, time, location (including a map), and notes.

This app is really impressive and I don’t see anything else on the market like it. Here’s the link to the app on iTunes!

 

My New and Free Personal Stylist

Happy weekend y’all! I hope your days off are full of relaxation and… shopping! I have a fabulous website for you to check out that will certainly inspire the fashionista in you! It’s called Stylit.com and it will take the world by storm once beta testing is over. I have had it for a few months and there’s only a few glitches but otherwise its really neat to have.

If you’re like me, you walk into a store or go to your closet and wonder what the heck you’re going to wear. Stylit pretty much does it for you by sending you a few outfit ideas a week based on your personal style test results. Most pieces of the outfits we all typically have in various colors and styles but it jogs your memory on how you can wear these pieces.

Today was one of those days when I could have and should have checked for outfit ideas because I had no idea what to wear so I settled on white shorts and mint colored hoodie. Boring. It just felt too “High School Musical” for someone about to graduate college.

Anyway, below are a few pictures that illustrate the greatness of this website/app. Let me know what your favorite look is and if you sign up!

How to Get Motivated for the Gym

Fitness by oceangirl15

Summer is coming and it has crept up on us yet again. As I look in the mirror I can see a few improvement areas, particularly around my thighs (a trouble spot). However, I know better than anyone else that getting your bum off the couch and getting to the gym is one of the hardest things you will do in an average day. Some people live for the gym and I’m forever jealous of them! 

What can we do to motivate ourselves to hit the gym? I think I’ve come up with a few ideas. Read on. 

1. Get a gym bag

Seriously, who doesn’t love getting a new bag of some sort? I’ve been browsing Dick’s Sporting Goods and they seem to have quite the assortment of awesome gym bags to choose from.

2. Put together a great gym outfit

Girls (and guys) should try and look presentable at the gym. I enjoy looking cute though. Go find some athletic shorts in your favorite color and a new tank. While you’re at it, indulge yourself in a new pair of running shoes. They don’t have to cost hundreds but fresh kicks can do a world of good!

3. Make a routine

You won’t want to go to the gym if you have no idea what you’ll do when you get there. Find a routine that you are comfortable with but will also challenge you. The Tone It Up girls run a Youtube channel with hundreds of workouts to choose from. Go take a peak!

4. Make a playlist

For a really good workout you need a really good playlist of songs that motivate you. A few songs on my playlist are “Angel” by Akon, “Cool Kids” by Echosmith, “I Love It” by Icona Pop, “I Made It” by Kevin Rudolf, “Runaway” by Mat Kearney, and “I’m Alive” by Shinedown. 

5. Hydrate

Water is an important part of any workout routine. If you’re like me, you find water rather boring. Rethink this with adding fruit to your water! I love strawberries and limes in mine. At a spa I went to in Disney World, they added lemon and cucumber to their water. It was a refreshing drink that truly made water exciting! 

6. Find a workout partner

Having someone that will meet you at the gym will motivate you for two reasons: 1. You won’t want to be rude and cancel on them and 2. You will challenge yourself to keep up with your partner and meet your own goals.

7. Find a fitness app 

I like to record my progress, calorie intake, weight, and water consumption on my phone so I can remember and have it handy. Find an app that you like to record the same things. I use My Net Diary to keep track of these things but there are many others! 

What do you do to motivate yourself to go to the gym? Any tips? Comment, like, and share!

-Liz