Beauty Faves of 2017
By Ivy Van Dusen - 12/20/2017
2017 was a big year for me! I graduated from college, started a business, turned 22, moved to a new place and had my first baby. It was full of all kinds of (good) changes and things, but also a lot of stress and busyness! I no longer have time to put on full-makeup everyday or the patience to wait in line at the spray-tan place. I've been forced to figure out the things I really need/want and I have officially nailed it down to my true and tried, favorite, mom-approved beauty items! These are things that I ACTUALLY buy/use for myself and I just thought I'd share the top 5 things from my list!
1. Neutrogena Norwegian Hand Cream
I have THE driest hands/skin ever. Not even exaggerating! In the wintertime, my hands literally crack and bleed regularly. It is horrible, and for years I have been trying to find something to help. Regular lotions did nothing, in fact a lot of times they would make my hands sting and make it all worse. Finally this year I started using this amazing hand cream and it has worked wonders! I reccomend it to everyone who has dry hands (or lips, or elbows or anything, because you can use it anywhere). I put it on my hands every night before bed. It is suuuuper concentrated so a teeny little bit goes a long way. It's also pretty cheap...I found it here for just $5.29/bottle. One bottle should last you at least 6-7 months.
2. Smile Brilliant Teeth Whitening System
I have never been super proud of my teeth. It’s not like there is anything really wrong with them, I just haven’t felt super confident about them! I have tried Crest Whitening strips and toothpaste but I didn’t really get that “wow” experience that I wanted (and the whitening strips would ALWAYS slip off my teeth and ended up in the trash after like 2 minutes anyways). I found out about Smile Brilliant and was really curious to see how the whole process would go! As a new mom who owns a business and has a husband in school full-time, I feel like I am CONSTANTLY running around and don’t really have much “me” time. With Smile Brilliant you get the same quality of custom whitening trays and teeth bleaching gel that you’d get from the dentist but you get to stay home! This TOTALLY appealed to me and I had to try it. They send you everything you need to create your own custom mold at home. Then you send the mold to them and they send you back your custom trays! It was 100x easier than I thought. I sent out my mold and received my custom trays in just a couple of days. They fit my teeth PERFECTLY so I can talk on the phone, sing to my baby and do pretty much everything I normally do WHILE whitening my teeth at the same time. Unless you look super, duper close, you can’t even tell I have them on. AWESOME. I have been doing whitening sessions either every day or every other day and I started noticing a difference after about two weeks. I feel so much confident about my smile and it has been an awesome and much needed confidence boost for me.
I also made a whole YouTube video explaining more about my experience with Smile Brilliant, you can watch it HERE.
Right now Smile Brilliant is giving away a custom whitening kit to one of my readers! Just follow this link to enter: https://www.smilebrilliant.com/g/ivylaurenblog or click HERE!
Even if you don't win the giveaway, you WILL get an amazing discount code e-mailed to you just for entering! AND, even if you don't enter, you can still use code: "ivylaurenblog20" for $20 off any tray set.
3. Sexy Hair Leave-In Conditioner
I forgot leave-in conditioner when we went down to Arizona for Thanksgiving (which is bad b/c I have the world's most tangly hair when I get out of the shower), so I borrowed some of this from my mom. She had been raving about it for a while but it was the first time I actually used it. IT WAS SO GOOD. I had to get some for myself, and I will continue to by it from here on out! It doesn't leave any build up, so you can use a lot of it without getting that 'greasy' hair look. Definitely recommend!
4. Jergens Natural Glow Firming Moisturizer
I have been using self-tanner since I was about 13 years-old. Not sure if I should be proud of that or not buuuut since then I think I have tried LITERALLY every single self-tanner on the market, not even kidding. But, this year I tried this stuff for the first time and I love it so, so much. It is a lot more gradual than what I'm used to, which actually makes it perfect for wintertime when I don't need to be suuuuuper duper tan. It doesn't stain my clothes at all, and it smells so yummy! One of my biggest pet peeves about every other self-tanner is that it smells so....self-tanner-ish....if that makes sense. It just smells weird! But not this one. It is moisturizing and so nice. Plus I have been using this edition which claims to firm up your skin and reduce cellulite. No guarantee that the firming part does anything but the lotion itself is wonderful!
5. Wet Brush
I'm sure by now you have heard of these amazing babies, but I just have to remind you of how great they are. Like I said earlier, when my hair is wet it is SO tangly and difficult. My Wet Brush has literally changed my hair! I honestly don't use any other brush...even when my hair is dry, haha. I have this one and this little mini-one and love them both! One of the best investments ever. EVERY girl needs one
xo
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