Your Skin Is In!

Skin cancer is something I have become increasingly passionate about.

When I was going into 10th grade, I was diagnosed with atypical nevi. What does that mean? It means that I had moles that were genetically predisposed to melanoma. I had to have surgery to remove the area of skin. They numbed my back and I was awake during the entire procedure. I was so nervous for the procedure that my mom sat in the surgery with me (I don’t know how she was able to stomach watching them cut into my back). I left that surgery that day with somewhere around 250 stitches.

Here is a picture of my scars on my back from when I had surgery. This was taken today.

FullSizeRender

You can only imagine the pain of that surgery.

Melanoma is the second most common form of cancer for teens and young adults ages 15-29 (SO scary, right?!), however it is one of the most preventable and curable!

But just because it is one of the most curable, that does not mean that you should go and start tanning because your risk goes up by 59% for melanoma after the first time using a tanning bed before the age of 35.

Instead, what you should do is go and sign the #Yourskinisin pledge campaign launched by the Melanoma Foundation of New England.  This pledge is to promise to protect your skin because later in your life you don’t want to have to go through surgeries that leave you with 250 stitches.

Do you know if you’re at risk for melanoma?

  • Being a white male over the age of 50
  • Having other family members who have had melanoma
  • Having atypical nevi (what I had when I was in 10th grade)
  • Being born with mole(s)
  • Ultravioliet (UV) light exposure (tanning in a bed and outdoors) 

UV lights are: UVA, UVB and UVC. UCV rays are the most harmful to us. But not to worry! They are blocked by our ozone layer, so they can’t reach us.

This does not mean that UVA and UVB are not harmful though. UVB rays are what causes sunburn and UVA rays are what causes tanning. Both of these cause skin cancer though.

So basically… the more you tan and burn, the greater your chances for skin cancer are!!!

The Your Skin Is In Campaign will begin in January 2016 but you can take the pledge NOW. I did, so you should too!

If you are worried about your exposure to the sun or a tanning bed, you should look for the ABCDE signs for skin cancer.  The signs are the characteristics how a mole can change!

A-  Asymmetrical Shape

B- Borders

C- Color

D- Diameter

*E- Evolution (How the mole has changed over time)

Evolution is the most important for catching skin cancer before it can lead to melanoma!

Another reason to want to protect your skin aside from skin cancer is we don’t want wrinkles sooner than we have to! 😉  

Go take the pledge now! For more information on Melanoma and the Your Skin Is campaign visit:

www.Yourskinisin.org

www.Facebook.com/melanomafdnne

XODanieSparkle

 

*This post is brought to you by the Melanoma Foundation and Her Campus Media. All opinions are my own. 

Halloween Makeup Look + Giveaway!

Can you all believe it is already Halloween? I can’t! At Kent State, Halloween is HUGE. Kent, Ohio goes crazy for Halloween…but this year I am not feeling great so I have decided that tonight I will definitely be staying in and watching Halloween movies (Disney Channel ones, of course!).

I decided that this year I wanted to attempt a fun Halloween makeup look!

IMG_9450      IMG_9439

I have always loved when I see people do their makeup as a baby deer, or also known as a fawn!

What do you all think? I had so much fun doing this makeup look. I have some other things to do today, or I honestly would have left this look on all day!

Now time for the GIVEAWAY!

As a part of this look, I used one of my favorite bronzers, Hoola by Benefit!

I am giving away this ‘Do the Hoola’ kit! Now that it is slowly becoming colder, we are all loosing that bronzed-glow that we all love to have so much!

IMG_9462

Want to know what’s inside of the box? I know you do…

IMG_9471

So as you can see there is a lipgloss, mascara, lip tint, the Hoola Bronzer in a liquid and a Hoola Bronzer in powder!

I cannot even express how much I love these items. When I purchased this kit, I also purchased myself one and I have been obsessed with it since then. The mascara is crazy! Any time I wear it, people ask me if I am wearing false eye lashes.

Want to win this giveaway? 

You have to follow me social media and share this post with all of your friends and make sure to tag me in your post so I know that you shared it! 🙂

Instagram: @Danieminor13

Twitter: @Danieminor13 

You have until November November 5th to follow me and share this post because on November 6th, I am sharing who the winner is!

Happy Halloween!

IMG_9484

Who doesn’t love a Nordstrom Giveaway?

Hi ladies and gents!

I have teamed up with some fellow bloggers/shops for one lucky person to win a $700 GIFT CARD TO NORDSTROM (aka my favorite place in this entire world)!

loopgiveaway8-13

To enter to win the gift card check out my Instagram at 8 p.m. EST. for the rules! The giveaway will run for 4 days (August 13th-August 16th at 8 p.m. EST.) The winner will be announced within 48 hours of the giveaway closing time.

instagiveaway

I am so excited to be one of the bloggers hosting this giveaway! I decided to be apart of this giveaway because I truly love every single one of my followers! I cannot wait to see who the winner will be. GOOD LUCK!

IMG_7536

The Summer of a Lifetime

The end of this school year was the most stressful time of my life! This semester I had six group projects. Yes, you read that correctly!

But….

This summer is going to be one for the books! I have so many plans for this summer.

DSC_0020

As a part of of one of my classes, Global Advertising and Public Relations, I get to study abroad! This Thursday, I leave to go to Dublin and London. All semester, my amazing group and I worked on our website to compare the humor between America and Dublin/London. It was really fun!

For two weeks, I will have the opportunity to travel these two amazing cities, and visit some pretty well-known PR and Ad agencies. I am so excited!  Continue reading

New season, new Me!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have posted a blog post. I missed you all!

I am nearing the end of my spring break. I had a fun start to my spring break! I went to Canada with my sister and best friend for the weekend, and then we drove back to Maryland for the remainder of the break. We went to Windsor, Ontario. It was absolutely adorable for a weekend.

Yesterday, I went to a new salon and had the best hair cut/color I have ever had! If you are in the Annapolis, Md. area, you must go to see Virginia at Possibilities Salon in Crofton, Md.

Before Hair:

chiokaraoke2

After Hair:

image

I went BLONDE! I love it so much. I have always wanted to go this light with my hair, but I was too nervous. I can’t imagine having any other hair color now.

I bought this adorable cup at Target! Tell me it’s not adorable!

I missed you all!

IMG_4518

Pantone Color of the Year: Marsala!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t been posting…I’ve been crazy busy with finals! But no worries, I’m back! 🙂

So… Pantone released their “Color of the Year,” and I couldn’t be more excited! Their color of the year is Marsala! Pantone has described the color as an “earthy wine red” color. This color is perfect for clothing, makeup and interior design.

pantone color of the year

Pantone always does a great job of choosing a color that looks amazing on anyone, no matter their skin tone, hair color, etc. The lipstick that is featured in the picture above is Mac’s Viva Glam I. The sweater is simple, and around this time of the year could be found almost anywhere, but you know the thrifter in me looked for a good sale for a similar sweater.

Continue reading

Lifestyle: Not Washing Your Hair Daily

IMG_3350
So, people always question me, because I only wash my hair 1-2 times a week. You do not have to worry, I still shower everyday, I just don’t wash my hair!

Why, you ask? Well, I “trained” my hair. I started training my hair because I had red in my hair and every time I would wash my hair, the red would come out in the shower. I got tired of having to re-dye my hair every 3 weeks, so I decided to basically stop washing my hair. The greatest part about training my hair was that even on the days that I don’t wash my hair, it doesn’t look oily.

Also, there are a lot of health benefits to not washing your hair everyday. Washing your hair everyday dries it out. It is healthy to keep the oils in your hair.

I know I sound crazy, but, I even add oils into my hair. I use Argon Oil every other day in my hair. But, I only put the oil on the ends, because they get so dry!

I dye my hair a lot, so it is really important for me to try and keep it as healthy as can be. Some days, I do like to use dry shampoo, but most of the time I don’t even need it, because the way that I “trained” my hair, it doesn’t even get oily. Another reason I decided to start this training process, was because I have psoriasis, and the more washing I did, the worse the psoriasis became on my scalp.

People do not even know that my hair is unwashed, it is when I tell them that it isn’t, when they start asking me a ton of questions about the training process.

What is the training process?

1. Start only washing your hair every other day, if you’re the type of person who washes it everyday.

2. If you wash your hair every other day, add an extra day in between there, so you go two days without washing it. Use dry shampoo on that second day, but only if it is needed.

3. And continue on from there, just keep adding days in there to stop washing it.

***I will say though, that I have very thick hair, so most people can’t go the whole week without washing it, the average person that does this can only go about 4 days.

Also:

I wash my hair a certain way.

1. I use TRESemmé Shampoo and Conditioner for colored hair.

2. I only use shampoo from my scalp to the part of my hair that reaches the top of my ear. – The shampoo that runs down when rinsing out the shampoo, from your roots to your ends will be washed just from that.

3. I only condition from my ear down. I do not put ANY conditioner on my roots. This is what causes them to become oily, faster. JUST. DON’T. DO. IT.

4. Condition your ends twice! This will help a lot! Especially people with dry hair, like me!
Remember, you do NOT need to be washing your hair everyday! Let me know how the training process goes for you!

XO,

Danie

|If you’re interested in learning more about TRESemme Products (they also make an amazing dry shampoo) you can here:

http://www.tresemme.com

Also, this is another great Dry Shampoo that I love (you can buy the dry shampoo that is specifically for your hair color):

http://www.batistehair.com

The Argon Oil that’s my favorite:

http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod10941001|

Fall Makeup Look!

image-27

makeup fallmary-kay-true-dimensions-lipstick-mystic-plum-z1

I Instagrammed this photo the other day and it seemed really popular! A lot of people asked me what products I used to make this look successful. I decided that this was probably going to be my staple makeup look! It is so perfect for the Fall. It’s warm and simple!

Let’s get started!  I am one of those weird people who does their Face makeup before my eye-makeup! I put the products in the order that I use them! I start with Benefit’s “Big Easy”, which is their version of a BB cream! It is my absolute FAVORITE items ever. I have oily skin and this BB cream does wonders for my skin. It dries with a powder finish. I use the color Medium, but now that we are moving closer to winter, I will be going down a shade to Light/Medium.

I do still use a powder after it though! I use Benefit’s “Hello Flawless” in the color Honey! It literally matches my skin tone perfectly!

Next, I continue to MAC’s paint pot, which is an eyeshadow primer. I use it in the color Painterly! One of the reasons that I love this primer so much is because I use this product for two things. In addition to using it as an eyeshadow primer, I use it as a concealer!

I then move on to contour my face! I use Benefit’s “Hoola” bronzer and The Balm’s highlighter “MaryLou”!

Who doesn’t love a cat-eye? I sure do love them! I do one probably 4 days out of the week! I love Stila’s liquid eyeliner and then I use a few coats of Revlon’s “Lash Express” mascara! If you need length, then this is the mascara for you! I have the volume… but I always need as much help as I can get with mascara!

And finally, I complete this look with Mary Kay’s “Mystic Plum” lipstick! HOLY CANNOLI, this is my favorite lipstick in the world. It completes almost every fall outfit that I wear!

I hope you all enjoyed this Fall Makeup look!

XO,

Danie

Thrifty Thursday Fall Makeup Style!

20141003-174747-64067648.jpg

20141003-174747-64067180.jpg

20141003-174813-64093671.jpg

20141003-174813-64093316.jpg

20141003-174812-64092939.jpg

This week is a TOTALLY different type of Thrifty Thursday! This week I did a fall makeup look! I know you’re asking yourself, “Ew, is Danie using used makeup?” NO! I am not!
There is a place in Kent called Overstock Oasis that sells items that have are overstocked from retail stores such as Kohl’s and CVS.

Overstock Oasis sells clothing, makeup, medicine and home decor! (SO BASICALLY EVERYTHING!) I bought a foundation, a powder, mascara, a gold eyeliner, a lipstick and a a lip gloss! It created such a nice fall makeup look! I love the gold and the raspberry tones!

Let me know if you liked this style of Thrifty Thursday! I had a ton of fun with it!

XO,
Danie

Fall Makeup

Fall makeup
Today, while I was walking to class today I was thinking how I really need to update my makeup looks because it is no longer summer! It is the first official day of Fall (even though in Kent, Oh it feels like winter)! Some of the items above are some of my favorite things that I use on the daily during fall! This eye shadow palette is the perfect representation for Fall the colors remind me so much of the colors of Fall, and then you pair it with the brighter lip and BAM you look absolutely perfect!

Smashbox eyeshadow
sephora.com

H M cheek bronzer
$6.52 – hm.com

Lipstick
$38 – charlottetilbury.com

Nars cosmetic
narscosmetics.com

Benefit cosmetic
$45 – johnlewis.com

Benefit face powder
sephora.com