Mom knows best, right?  I think that’s true most of the time and when it comes to beauty I definitely think that’s true – in my case it is!  My mother was, and still is, a beauty.  Here are a few of the beauty tips that I learned from her, that she probably learned from her mom.

• – Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.  A good moisturizer is a woman’s best friend.
• – My mom taught me that my neck and clavicle have the same skin as my face so I should moisturize it just as often and with the same product.
• – My mom taught me to wash my face with Dove every night before bed.  I was eager to try fancy scrubs and masks but she said a simple gentle cleanser is all I needed.
• – Use baby oil as an eye-makeup remover.  It’s cheap, gentle, and works great.
• – “Never leave the house without lipstick” is something my grandmother ingrained in me from a young age.  At times I might opt for lipgloss instead but there’s always something colorful on my lips.  Like mother, like daughter.  From a young age, I remember admiring my mother’s skill for applying lipstick without a mirror.
• – Drink water all day long.  It’s good for your body and your complexion.
• – “Don’t touch your face.” My mom used to give me a hard time about how much I touched my face and how it would give me breakouts.  I’m still working on this one!
• – Use conditioner on the ends of your hair every time you wash it.
• – “If you’ve got a good complexion make up will just be icing on the cake.” My mom had me using good skin care products since before I was 18.
• – Age gracefully. My mom still doesn’t have grey hair but when she does I know she’ll embrace it with gusto.
• – She always encouraged me to learn what colors and styles looked good on me and ignore the fads.
• – Last but not least, my mom taught me to smile.  She told me that a smile always makes you appear prettier.  I try to remember this every day but especially on days when I’m not as put together as I’d like to be you can bet that I’ll be smiling.

A Dove survey finds that most women (84% in fact) trust the women in their lives more than celebrities for beauty tips and advice.  From all the advice I learned and still incorporate from my mom and grandmother, I’d believe that to be true!

What tried-and-true beauty advice was passed onto you from the women in your life? Share your own #BeautyStory to celebrate the real women who have shaped it and take a look at this video from Dove for even more inspiration.

Back to school is a great time to reevaluate your schedules, priorities, habits,….and skin care routine.  Back to skin care!  A good skin care regimen determines how your face glows or doesn’t glow, how your make up lays, and more importantly how you feel in your skin.

Welcome to Skin Care 101!  I’ll help you get your skin back in shape just in time for fall.

• – Let’s start with the basics, moisturizing your hands.  Anyone can get botox but your hands will always show your age if you don’t moisturize well.  Keep a pump bottle of lotion near all of your sinks as a visual reminder to moisturize every time you wash your hands.
• – Wash your pillowcases at least once a week.  All of that oil, dirt, make up, and drool that is on your pillow ends up back on your face.
• – Wash your make up brushes at least weekly.  Daily is even better.

• – Use a killer night cream.  I’ve recently given RoC Deep Wrinkle Cream a try and I’m in love.  It’s very light weight but leaves my skin feeling very moisturized.

•  – Beauty rest may sound like something out of a fairy-tale but it’s far from it.  Getting 6-8 hours of sleep a night will help keep your skin looking clear and refreshed.
• – Even if you don’t shower immediately after a workout it’s important to wash the dirt, sweat, and oil from your pores.  Try Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash with Pink Grapefruit.  It’s refreshing, especially in the morning or after a workout!
• – Gently exfoliate.  Aveeno’s Positively Radiant Skin Brightening Scrub is effective but gentle enough to use every day.
• – When you get a spot or two of acne, keep calm and use Clean & Clear to well, clean and clear your skin.

If you want to check out some of the items I mentioned above click here for $40 in coupons to save on them!  Give them a try and I bet you’ll like them as well as I do.

Class dismissed!

Women love to feel beautiful, don’t they?  I know I do.  When I feel put together I have a bounce in my step.  The sun seems to shine brighter and the birds sing louder.

On not so great days, when I’ve feel as rough as I look, I don’t have that bounce and I’m doing all it takes to drag myself around.  What do you do to renew that energized, “I’m a woman and I look great!” feeling?  Sometimes a work out will do it for me.  Other times I need a hair cut or a new out fit.

Life is all about balance and rolling with the punches that come our way but what if we get hit by a blow so hard that it knocks us down?  Out cold.  A blow that is so devastating that we need the help of our family and friends to make it back to our feet.  What I’m talking about is the blow of cancer.

Women fighting cancer need all the love and support that they can get just so they can function.  Think back to the last time you didn’t feel great about yourself and needed a change.  Maybe it was after a stressful week at work, after a time of making unhealthy choices, or maybe it was shortly after having a baby.  We’ve all been there.  We’ve all had to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and do something to make us feel good about ourselves.  Getting back up and feeling good about yourself while battling cancer is a much harder task.  That’s where Look Good Feel Better is there to help.

Look Good Feel Better is a 25 year strong public service dedicated to helping women battling cancer to manage the appearance side effects of cancer treatment and help improve their self-esteem.  The program is developed by the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) Foundation, and delivered through a collaboration among the PCPC Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the Professional Beauty Association.  They offer free workshops and resources to teach beauty and styling techniques to cancer patients.

During its 25th anniversary, Look Good Feel Better is encouraging women to Reimagine Beauty and the importance of beauty in a woman’s life who is undergoing cancer treatment.  They’re encouraging women to take a fresh look at the impact of beauty and a positive self-image can have on a woman.  They don’t have to tell me twice, I think beauty is a powerful thing!

While how you look might not seem like a big of a deal in the grand scheme of things it is.  Not merely for appearances sake but for how you feel when you look good.  How you look effects how you feel, which effects your self-esteem, your courage, and your confidence.  Every woman who gets a new outfit for a job interview understands this.  There are countless studies that can relate how you look (because of how it makes you feel!) to your success.

Look Good Feel Better is partnering with women’s fashion retailer C. Wonder and Fashion Project {the leading online clothing donation and resale destination!} to raise awareness and funds for Look Good Feel Better.

The promotion runs through Thursday, September 18, 2014 at eleven C. Wonder stores nationwide and online at FashionProject.com/CWonder.

How YOU can get involved:
• During the month-long clothing drive, consumers are encouraged to donate their gently used clothing, shoes, and accessories in a donation bin at participating C. Wonder locations or online at www.fashionproject.com/cwonder.
o Customers who participate by donating items in-store or online will receive 20% off a C. Wonder purchase of $100 or more.
• The donated items will then be sold online by Fashion Project and 55% of the proceeds from each online sale will be donated to Look Good Feel Better.

In the United States alone, more than 900,000 women have participated in the program, which now offers 15,800 group workshops nationwide in 2,400 locations!  Go search your closet for clothes, shoes, and accessories you don’t wear anymore and donate them online to help encourage other women.  It will give you a good feeling!

Visit lookgoodfeelbetter.org, follow @LGFB on Twitter, and like Look Good Feel Better on Facebook to learn more and help spread the word.

I love Father’s day!  That’s probably because I had wonderful men in my life as I was growing up.  I loved spending time with my grandpas and my dad.  I would do anything to spend time with them.  “Dig” a ditch? I gave it my all!  Chopping wood?  I would carry the chopped wood to the pile.  Anything and everything to spend time with them.

Now that I’m married to a dad I think I love it even more!  Watching my husband cuddle with my kids when they are sick, spend his evenings playing puzzles and blocks, and every evening reading them books before bed is heartwarming.  My daughter has the best daddy, I’m confident!  She would agree too!

I took this snapshot this evening while they were watching YouTube videos of their latest musical obsession, Justin Roberts.  Aren’t they sweet together?

I appreciate my husband being involved in their lives.  I know appreciate really isn’t the word I’m looking for but I am …immensely grateful for him.  He knows what they like, dislike, and how their day went.  It’s such a blast sharing parenthood with him.  For instance, today I got a laugh when my daughter told me the lunch that I prepared, pizza sauce and cheese on bread, was “pretend pizza.”  To you that probably isn’t funny but to us it is because we’ve been watching her learn what it means to pretend this week.  It’s fun knowing someone else cares about the little details of their lives like I do.

Dove Men+Care is committed to portraying how real men and dads care for their children New Dove Men+Care research reveals a disconnect between the media’s representation of father’s roles and how fathers actually see themselves:

• – Three quarters of dads say they are responsible for their child’s emotional well-being, while only 20% of dads see this role reflected in the media
• – Only 13% of dads believe the media portrays fathers as responsible for childcare
• – 3 out of 5 dads say the media portrays them negatively (61%!)

Those are some pretty sad statistics, right?

The Dove Men+Care has created a ‘Calls For Dad’ film that spotlights the expanding and often unrecognized ways fathers care for their children:

• – Nearly all dads (97%) say they are involved in their child(ren)’s life and 7 in 10 see themselves as highly involved
• – An overwhelming majority of dads (94%) prioritize their families over their careers
• – Dove Men+Care understands that dads’ role as caregiver is often unrecognized and is sharing real, authentic moments of care just in time for Father’s Day
• – Features real dads and their kids

I think Dove Men+Care did a phenomenal job in creating this video.  You can view it below.

Dove Men+Care celebrates men who know that more care is better.  They have a whole line created JUST for men!  Surely, ya’ll knew that though, right?  It’s pretty great…or so I’m told!

Body Wash (Skin Care Built In)

• – Dove Men+Care Body Wash is clinically proven to fight dry skin better than regular men’s body wash
• – Formulated with ultra-light MICROMOISTURE technology, a unique gel technology, that activates on skin during lather to guard against discomfort

Body Bar (Skin Care Built In)

• – Dove Men+Care Body Bar is clinically proven to fight dry skin better than ordinary bar soap
• – Uses Dove signature ¼ moisturizing cream to boost the skin’s natural moisture barrier, which works to replenish moisture in the skin’s outer surface layer

Share your family’s #RealDadMoments with Dove Men+Care:

Follow Dove Men+Care on Twitter

Follow Dove Men+Care on Instagram

Like Dove Men+Care on Facebook

Subscribe to Dove Men+Care on YouTube

Visit DoveMenCare.com

Enter below to win a Dove Men+Care prize pack! Good luck!

Donate A Photo is a service that helps give to the people who need it most.  Do you like to take pictures and share them with friends and family?  I know I sure do!  We all do, right?  I share pictures on a daily basis…if not on Facebook or Instagram I at least mail pictures to show my husband or family.  Did you know that you can take pictures and help people who really need help?  I just found out about it and I’m pretty excited!

Share a photo and Johnson & Johnson will make a $1 donation to a charity of your choice.  This money will help go toward fixing up a public park, getting medicine for an infant, or helping kids play sports safely.  There are a lot of options.  You simply choose the cause you want to help and Johnson & Johnson makes it happen.  There’s absolutely zero cost to you and it’s easy enough that you can do it directly from your phone.  Give it a try and check out the pictures I’ve shared!  You can donate one photo per day!

How Does Your Photo Make a Difference?

If you’re cleaning out your bathroom cabinets for spring cleaning don’t forget to check out all the great coupons, tips, tools and more that Healthy Essentials has to offer.  You can save over $55 in printable coupons by visiting the Healthy Essentials site this month!

Check out a few of these deals:

• Save $1.00 on any JOHNSON’S® Baby Intense Moisture Cream

• Save $1.00 on any LUBRIDERM® product (6oz or larger)

• Save $1.00 on any (1) CLEAN & CLEAR® product (excludes trial and travel sizes)

• Save $1.00 on any (1) NEUTROGENA® Sun product (exclude trial size)

• Save $1.00 on any (1) LISTERINE® SMART RINSE Anti-cavity Mouthwash, 500 ml

• Save $1.00 on any (1) REACH® Total Care Floss, or REACH® Gentle Gum Care Floss, or REACH® Dentotape® or REACH® Access® Flosser

• Save $2.00 on any (3) NEOSPORIN®, BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive bandages or JOHNSON and JOHNSON RED CROSS® Brand products (excludes all trial and travel sizes, First Aid Kits, 10 ct Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages, and On-the-Go First Aid Kits. Must buy (2) different brand products to qualify for this offer along with a third product)

Go here to get these great money saving coupons!

Save Money

Giveaway

Do you want to go to 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil?   I don’t know about you but I would like too!  Visit HealthyEssentials.com and just maybe your wish could come true.

All you have to do is share a picture or story of a moment of caring in your life and you could scream “GOAL!” from Brazil.

Visit www.healthyessentials.com for more information on this amazing opportunity and don’t forget about the fun Twitter party tomorrow.  I hope to see you there!

I’ve never been a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.  I don’t own tennis shoes. Or yoga pants.  I like to dress up but I still want to be comfortable.  As my shape has changed after having my sweet darling girl, my go-to comfort clothes isn’t a form fitting cashmere sweater anymore but a looser fitting sweater.  I want comfortable pieces that even thought they may not be form flattering are still cute and stylish.

Are you like me and have a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear?  J.Jill‘s mission is to help you uncomplicate your wardrobe.  Doesn’t the sound of that just sound soothing?  Picture a closet without crazy trends but a closet full of classic and versatile styles that will still be attractive for years to come.  That’s a closet that I desire!

J.Jill’s new Pure Jill collection is absolutely gorgeous.  It has muted, earthy shades in comforting fabrics.  Recently, I was able to be part of a conference call with J.Jill’s senior designer and a few other bloggers.  J.Jill’s senior designer, Barbara Pattin, said of her new line, “We were really trying to create something beautiful, universal, simple and luxurious.”   I think that sums it up perfectly.  Beautiful, universal, simple, and luxurious.

Here is a little set inspired by the J.Jill shirt I bought.  I call it Casual Christmas Collection.  It’s casual, classy, and comfy.  What more could you ask for?

I’ll be honest, as soon as most of you go to J.Jill’s site you’re going experience a little sticker shock so I’ll give you a heads up.  They ain’t cheap.  This is a store where I would like to own five or six quality, lasting, wardrobe building pieces that I would supplement with my regular clearance rack bargains.

However, I have to say that J.Jill does have some fabulous bargains of their own!  I did just buy a $99 shirt there but also a $9.99 shirt!  Plus, I have a J.Jill coupon code for you to save 30% off a single full-priced item.  Just use the coupon code JJSTYLE at checkout before 11/24/14 to receive your discount.  If you have your eye on a few goodies be sure and check back on Black Friday because a little birdie told me that everything will be 25% off that day.  No coupon codes, no one item on sale, no secret handshake.  Simply uncomplicated service.

I’m very pleased to have been introduced to J.Jill recently and I hope that you’ll enjoy their site {or brick and mortar store} too!

How would you describe your style?

What: Parents are often concerned about the food that goes in their young children’s bodies – but what about the products that are used on their sensitive skin? Seventh Generation and The Motherhood are hosting a Twitter party to discuss everything you need to know about ingredients, scents, packaging and labels on baby personal care products like shampoo and lotion.

When: Thursday, December 13, 1-2 p.m. ET

Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #7GenBabyFest hashtag to track the conversation.  You can see the details and RSVP via this Twtvite: http://twtvite.com/7genbabyfest2

Hashtag: #7GenBabyFest

Prizes: Seventh Generation will give away five total prizes. Four of the prizes will be gift baskets containing full lines of the Seventh Generation baby care and home care products. The final prize will be a baby massage class in the winner’s area. Winners will be chosen randomly from among participants who respond correctly to trivia questions.

Hosts: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann

Other info: Seventh Generation’s website: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/