How to Keep Your House Looking Immaculate

So obviously I am a list person. I have lists of future lists to make. But, one of my favorite lists is my cleaning list. I clean my house everyday because I love to have it looking like we have room service that comes and cleans. I also love for it to smell nice; I used to be a PartyLite consultant so I have a love of fragrances.

When I come home from work I have a list of things I do on a daily basis. I do one load of laundry, wipe down counter tops and do the dishes, pick up the house, take out the trash (if needed), and sweep and vacuum. I have a fur baby so I have to do the floors everyday. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to make her shed less. This takes thirty minutes tops,  but I get to go to bed and wake up with a clean home. I tend to feel really stressed when my house is a mess so this helps a lot.

Every Saturday, I clean a little bit deeper and this is my weekly cleaning. In addition to the daily cleaning tasks, once a week I clean the mirrors, mop the floors, scrub the toilet and shower, change our bedding, dust furniture, and wipe down the appliances. This kind of resets my week for me. I spend about an hour cleaning my home and then I have Sunday to relax with my husband.

My list isn't perfect and I'm constantly adding and taking things away. But taking these steps each day makes it easier on me to keep my house looking great. I don't believe in not cleaning something until it's dirty. We simply pick up after ourselves and spend the time to make sure it looks hotel worthy.

By saying "I" clean I mean we. I am so lucky and so blessed to have a husband that helps around the house. He also has a love for fragrances, so our warmers and candles are always keeping our house smelling wonderful.

When it comes to cleaning, my number one rule is but your feet up and relax when you're done. I always sit down with tea and a good book or catch up on Netflix.

Photo cred: The amazing Kate.

Kisses, Shavon

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How to take care of your skin

                                       

Taking care of our skin is so important! We are given one body and it is our job to take care of that body. Proper skincare can be a little high maintenance but it is important to take the time in making sure it is properly cared for. Healthy skins looks radiant and young. And I think its very important as women to be proud of our natural beauty. When we treat ourselves and love our skin it makes that easier.

Since, I am such an advocate for proper skincare I am breaking this up into two posts. So today I will talk about taking care of our faces. I wanted to talk about this first because the skin on our faces is a lot more delicate and requires extra care. 

I have one major rule that I try to never break and that is NEVER EVER sleep in your makeup. Now I'm not perfect but I have had a few nights that I got home to late and was too tired to wash my face, but it is so bad for your skin! Sleeping in your makeup breaks down collagen and produces more wrinkles. Foundation stretches your pores and sleeping in eye makeup can cause styes. Then, there's the obvious acne from bacteria.

Washing your face in the morning may seem daunting but it is extremely important. Unless you change your pillow cases every night you still collect bacteria and toxin on your face. With that being said, my morning routine is a little bit different than my evening routine. 

Morning Routine

First thing in the morning I cleanse my face with a gentle cleanser.This is a Neutrogena cream cleanser. 

Twice a week I exfoliate to scrub away the dead skin cells. I am loving this apricot scrub but I'm on the hunt for an all natural product that I really like. 

I take a toner and clean away the dirt that was left behind from cleansing and I finish up with a light-weight day moisturizer. This is Neutrogena toner and I have literally used it off and on since I was in middle school.

 The moisturizer is target brand. I like how light-weight it is.

Evening Routine

At night I use these Mary Kay makeup remover cloths before I begin to wash my face. I'm not sure if they're still available but I bought them in bulk a long time ago. 

I've noticed taking this step gets a lot more makeup off than when I skip it. Right now I am using the same cleanser day and night. Sometimes when I am trying out other products I will use a stronger one during the night. Again I follow up with the toner to remove access dirt. Even if I skip this step in the morning I make sure to use toner at the night because I want no trace of makeup on my face. 

Then, I use a thicker moisturizer to be sure my skin is hydrated and stays young looking. I started using the Burts Bee's night cream and I LOVE it! Its natural and very moisturizing, 

I finish off with a retinol gel from Ulta  around my eyes to reverse the process of wrinkles. Now, I know I am only in my twenties but I think it is never too early to start fighting against wrinkles. 

When I really want to spoil myself I use my eye mask from Ulta. It has gel beads on the front so I put it in the refrigerator an hour before bed, The cooling feeling feels amazing on my eyes and is so relaxing.

So, to wrap this up my two BIGGEST points are never sleep in makeup and moisturize, Moisturize, MOISTURIZE.

The cleansers, toner, and moisturizers I use can be found at your local drug store.

Get the retinol gel here.

Get the eye mask here.

Check out my other blogs about skincare and makeup!

Kisses, Shavon.

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Independence Day Weekend

Happy Tuesday lovies!!

If you're reading this it means you made it through the weekend without blowing yourself up so I think that means congratulations are in order. 

No, but on a serious note this weekend was a blast. It was our first holiday as a family so we decided to go to the ocean with our fur baby.

Matt and I love road trips so we of course had a blast! Music playing and nothing but the road :) My puppy hasn't had a lot of experience but she surprisingly did a really good job. (And no he can't take a serious picture).

Once we got the ocean we ate our lunch that wa packed and then fell asleep on the beach, go figure lol. But the fireworks were beautiful! And the Olson's have officially celebrated a holiday together.

What did you guys do for the holiday? Any Fourth of July traditions? I'd love to hear them!



Kisses, Shavon