August 2016 – shemakescents

{Monday Motivation From Simone Biles} Out Dream Yourself

Published on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 by Danielle YB Vason2 Comments

Today’s Monday Motivation comes from Simone Biles. Below is a picture Simone put on Twitter with that caption: “out dream yourself”. When you were a child, I’m confident that you believed that you could be anything you wanted to be. I dreamed of being the first ballerina firefighter. Even though people laughed when I said it, I never stopped believing I could actually do it. My parents supported that goal and I have a picture somewhere of me with a plastic firefighter hat on while wearing a pink tulle tutu. I didn’t become the first ballerina firefighter only because I outgrew that dream.
Somewhere along the journey to adulthood, many adults lose the ability or will to dream. We tend to make decisions out of fear. We stay tied down to people and situations that paralyze us into thinking that whatever dreams we have are just too far-fetched to come true. We settle for an ordinary life when we could have the life of our dreams.

For those who are lucky enough to skillfully dream. How many of your actions are supporting your dream? You dream to be debt free but you spend haphazardly. You want to work in a different field or for a different company, but you never apply for another job. You want to meet someone and hopefully fall in love, but all you do it go to work and go home. See my point? This is not me judging you. This is me sharing my observations myself and others of the millennial generation.

Simone Biles had a goal to win- To bring home the goal. She worked hard every day, she sacrificed, and she strengthen her skills to help her accomplish her Olympic dreams. In doing so, it seems as if she exceeded even her own expectations. Monday’s Motivation = OUT DREAM YOURSELF!

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

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{YTD Update} 52 Week BINGO Money Challenge

Published on August 21, 2016January 22, 2017 by Danielle YB VasonLeave a comment

As we approach the end of week 33, I must say, staying on top of the 52 Week BINGO Challenge is taking a little more discipline, for me, than in past weeks. I had a goal to pay off my credit card by August 1st and I beat that goal by a month. How, you ask? Well, the closer I got to a zero balance on that debt, the more aggressive I became with this financial goal. As always, I paid more than the minimum balance and started dumping any and all unassigned money toward that goal. In working toward the big credit card payoff, I developed a solid habit of saving. Now that this first goal is done and the high of the gratification is dwindling down, it does look slightly daunting when I look at my next goal on the snowball– my student loans with it’s $18,593.25 balance. Ugh!! I plan on making quarterly payments towards the principle with the money that was previously allocated to my credit card minimum + the 52 Week BINGO Challenge to shave off years of interest and thousands of dollars.

Heavy Chains of Habit- Good or Bad?

Chains of habit are too light until they are too heavy to be broken. Think about it like this, if you are in the habit of putting money aside every week, at the end of the year the weight of your weekly sacrifice would be greater than if you only saved for one week and then gave up. Every week, saving $10.00 here, $70.00 there, $100.00 every once in a while might not seem like a big deal at the time, but every penny adds up. Every time you save makes the habit of saving that much stronger. The same can be said for bad habits. Spending $10.00 here and $70.00 there may not seem like a big deal in the moment. But over time, that random spending becomes a bad habit and the weight of your debt becomes a heavy burden to carry.

YTD 52 Week BINGO Challenge

Doing the original 52 Week Challenge would result in $1378.00 for the entire year. Doing the #shemakescents BINGO version has me at $1395.00 YTD with another 19 weeks to go for the rest of the year.

{Monday Motivation} Do What Makes You Happy!

Published on August 15, 2016February 15, 2017 by Danielle YB VasonLeave a comment

Happiness

Happy Monday Lovelies. As you get started in your week….have your morning latte and go through your Snap feed, I want you to take a moment and really think about what makes you happy. If you are not happy with your financial situation…change it. Make time to up your financial literacy game (you can start here), create a plan to get you closer to your goal, and put the plan into action. If your career is not where you want it, step back and examine what it is about your job/profession that makes you happy and what doesn’t. If your relationship has many benefits, but you are not happy, it’s okay to start that conversation with your partner about what will make you happier. Life is too short to waste time doing something that has a negative impact on your happiness. My birthday last week marked my new beginning. I will prioritize happiness in my life the way I see fit and I encourage you to do the same. Remember, nothing is worth it if it doesn’t make you happy.

{Splurge or Save} Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Stick & Brush Review

Published on August 14, 2016August 14, 2016 by Danielle YB VasonLeave a comment

A few weeks ago, I received the Vanish Foundation Stick & Brush from Hourglass Cosmetics via Influenster for testing purposes. Its claim to fame is having the coverage of a concealer, fluidity of a liquid, and the weightlessness of a powder for undetectable full coverage. Well….I put that to the test. First, I selected the color from a computer screen so I worried if the foundation would even match my skin tone. If you are a frequent reader of shemakescents.com, you know that I never leave the house without mascara or a spritz of perfume. PERIOD. Those are my beauty standards and I take them very seriously. Lately though, with the surge of regular women rocking fully contoured faces on the daily, I have been compelled to add to my makeup repertoire. In the past few months, I have spent a good bit of money for drug store foundations/concealers in an attempt to discover a perfect color match and consistency. The sad part is, I spend money on those foundations that I use occasionally since foundation isn’t normally in my daily routine.

Yesterday, the Mr. and I went to Sephora to pick up my birthday freebie and I decided to play with more Hourglass cosmetic products in person. As the Mr. patiently waited for me to finish, he took notice of the $46.00 price tag for the makeup brush and another $46.00 for the foundation stick. Astonished and confused, he questioned me about who in their right mind would pay those prices. Well, let’s look at the two products separately.

Foundation Brush

I knew I was going to be reviewing foundation, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a complimentary Hourglass Vanish foundation brush. I used it with the Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick in Almond and the “seamless finish” advertised came to life on my face. The first week, I exclusively used the brush with the Vanish Foundation Stick and then I branched out to see if I would get similar results with brands under the $10.00 price point. The brush created a flawless finish regardless of the foundation used with it. Since #selfies and #usies are the millennial standard, having a secret weapon in your makeup arsenal that makes your skin look impeccable in photos and in person is worth the splurge.

Splurge or Save? : SPLURGE

Foundation Stick

As a woman of color, I often find it difficult to find makeup that doesn’t make me look chalky, too light, or too dark. Nude doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone, you know. Like I mentioned before, I had to pick my color from a computer screen and magically, I picked the perfect color. This is mind-blowing considering it takes me almost 20 minutes in Target to find something “close” to my skin tone. I love that it is a foundation stick because I can use it right as I am running out the door and I don’t have to worry about a mess like what you have when you use liquid foundation on the go. Instead of using it on my entire face, I have used it daily under my eyes to fake a “refreshed and youthful” look when I have been consistently running on 6 hours of sleep (not cool). Is it worth the $46.00 price point? I think this one could depend on what you look for in a foundation. I will be buying this foundation again, but it won’t be my exclusive foundation. At a $46.00 price point, it is too expensive for daily use so I will mix it in the rotation of my drug store foundations.

Splurge or Save? : SAVE

What’s Your Go To Foundation Brand? Please share below.