L.A. Colors Nail Polish in Mint #506 Review

The hashtag #GreenWednesday on Instagram has given me the inspiration to paint my nails in green. I went through my organizer that was holding my nail polishes. I just noticed that I do not have a lot of green colors. How disappointing huh?! So I chose L.A. Colors Nail Polish in Mint #506! I had bought that color plus a few others from the Dollar Tree store here in Barstow – Yeah, a dollar each.. it’s a pretty good deal, to be honest, for poor folks like us. We get to be pretty at that price, regardless.. I love painting my nails.. it just makes me feel alive. Seeing the color like this Mint green pop and your eyes gets alert and it makes you smile.. just basically reminding you, “You’re still here”, “You’re beautiful” and you receive compliments from the people who had seen your nails. They’d ask where I had gotten the nail polish from and they’d be surprised when I mention where and the cost. Honestly, every time I go to the Dollar Tree.. the nail polish section is nearly emptied out. They hold L.A. Colors and Kiss NYC. Kiss NYC is the new addition so I picked up “Fantasia” which is like a creamsicle. I intend on getting every single color from L.A. Colors and Kiss NYC brands that Dollar Tree offers. It’s all I can afford.

This nail polish is worth it. Minty-green with some shine. Truthfully, you will have to put more than 1 coat. It’s very see-through and it really depends on your mood if you want it like that or add a couple more coats to make it darker. The first coat makes it look like you were wearing a french manicure. That’s neat! I had put on 4 coats and added Wet n Wild: Wild Shine’s Clear Nail Protector for some shine and so it wouldn’t chip off.  💅

After I was done – I was a happy camper! 😍

Happy Wednesday. Hope you guys stay cool indoors til the excessive heat wave passes. It’s ridic, huh? Mother nature went overboard. {shakes head}

Love & Light 💕💕

My Struggles with Snapchat©

My #Snapcode

I’ve always known the Government phones wouldn’t work with Snapchat because I’ve attempted to try before and it was unsuccessful. I was extremely disappointed. Was hoping to jump on the bandwagon of Snapchatters to see what the big deal was. I came across so many adorable images of people being cute with filters. So popular on Instagram when you browse through images and videos.. and you’re thinking to yourself, “damn.. it’s not fair” Haha.. I do know Instagram has Live stories in case you’re about to tell me they do. They just disappear, like Snaps on Snapchat did before til they added a new update/version that allows you to save your story to your memories or camera roll. That’s badass! 

I accidentally clicked on one of the stories somehow as I was browsing… and it showed that you can actually use it on the Government phone so I rushed to download it to check it out myself. It’s true! 

Downloaded, installed.. and there was my first problem. I was unable to take a selfie to put on the snapcode so I was getting frustrated then emailed them to see what’s up. They replied back saying that feature isn’t there anymore, but can create your own Bitmoji. So I did that – became a Wonder Woman in honor of the Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary! #girlpower ✊ My Bitmoji is of course, cute. Do I look like her? Eh, in some ways. I’m not skinny-faced nor have light brown hair or full lips, but.. it’s the best I can do lol.. 

Another struggle ensue as I fumble through Snapchat. Oh my god, it was honestly NOT user-friendly. It needs a simple navigation. I know this is a lot more easier on fancy, expensive, bling-y iPhones and all those brands out there that doesn’t fit in your hand (YES, I WANT ONE ANYWAY!) and you get to use those nifty phone cases. I’m totally jealous; rawr. Anyway, back to the point.. I clicked on +Add Friends – did add a few of my IRL friends.. which was 3 then checked the part where people add you on the list.. on the same menu. I posted my snapcode on Instagram and a few have added me. Woot? Honestly, I didn’t add them back because I’m afraid to. I would recognize some names from Instagram but they didn’t add me.. but I saw some names they were using and I couldn’t return back the favor because who would honestly want to add “Horny Couple” to your list? *shifty eyes* 

Then I accidentally clicked on the camera screen front and center and tiny images on the right loaded so I swiped through the filters. Took some pictures with them; fooling around with it/the boyfriend joined in too. I honestly had a good time then I shared it on the Story.. saved a couple as well. Attempted to take a video; luckily it worked. Did a couple of videos and shared on Story and Instagram. I felt awkward speaking and signing because I’m not one of those people who are confident with themselves and just speak in their fluent language on videos and vlogs like it’s no big deal. I’m pretty shy when it comes to that point. 

Problem. I had another problem when it comes to videos and photos.. I clicked on Memories/Camera Roll (A tiny circle button with your face on it underneath the camera button) Some of the videos wouldn’t save. Guess how long I’ve been trying to do this? Over 8 hours! On and off.. phone died, charged it, died, charged it.. Snapchat really takes up your battery so fast! No bueno there! Gerry, my boyfriend, decides to check the other phone we had that I use for Netflix in bed. It stays charged on my nightstand. It is the kind of phone that most apps and EVERYTHING do not work on it except Netflix. Nice huh? So he downloaded Snapchat on it and tries to do the same thing I was struggling to do. It crashes so many times, but we were pretty persistent. It finally uploaded to Messenger. Thank god! So I anxiously smiled and shared the videos on FB and Instagram. Did I get a couple of views? Yes, some. Comments? Barely. I’m no makeup guru or some model or some talented blogger that would have people salivate over. But, dude.. I wish. Why? That’s just silly, Courtney (That’s my name!)  Could you honestly care less if nobody views your snaps, your photos or your videos on any Social Media? Just shrug and say it’s no big deal? It’s p e e r p r e s s u r e. It’s natural. It’s okay to seek for approval. I honestly do need traffic on my blog for my affiliate partners. Who doesn’t? 

Anyway, Snapchat is pretty cool in some ways. Definitely not flexible towards Government phones and mostly Android. It’s mainly towards, you know, the people who can afford this and that. So I suggest you wait until you can afford one and really actually enjoy Snapchat for it truly is. I’m looking forward to that myself. One day. 🤞

If you want to check out the Snapchat and/or Bitmoji app – it’s on Google Play and itunes. 

Here’s a couple of snaps I’ve saved. Eeeeeeeeee.. those filters are fun. I noticed some filters aren’t on Android that iPhone etc has. My best friend shows me a couple and I was green with envy. It sucks but.. check out the photos below. 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

I love you, Makeup, but . . . .

I seriously have a love-hate relationship with makeup!  I think most women/men who wear makeup have similar feelings as mine.  Like most, I have long felt the expectation that women/men are supposed to be “presentable,” if not as beautiful as possible, when out in public.  This means having flawless skin at a minimum.  Many of us are not fortunate enough to have naturally perfect skin, particularly in middle school and high school when young women/men begin to feel the pressure to be pretty/handsome but of course, puberty arose and acne/pimples would get in the way of your life. So, most young women/men learn to cover their blemishes and dark circles with makeup. (Not a great idea to cover those up with makeup when it should have been left one. It gets worse while it’s caked with tons of makeup, haha!)

Anyway, for the reason I’m typing up this post is because it’s exactly what has been bothering me lately. Years ago, I barely wear some makeup for some social functions and just because. It’s mostly natural or the color of nudes. I was honestly pretty. Confident? No. I sorely lacked confidence due to my Deafness. I don’t blame it, no. I just basically wasn’t letting go of the fact I was socially awkward. I grew up signing ASL; knowing I’d never be fluent in it compared to people who are profoundly Deaf. They sign beautifully. I literally s..t..u..t..t..e…r with sign language. No joke. But that’s me. I have accepted the fact I couldn’t do it perfectly. Changed the path of confidence to something else.. My weight, my size.. my height. My weight has always fluctuated on and off since I was pregnant with my son. (He’s now 19) I have attempted various of diets. For some reason, the fat loves me. It just stays on my bones. I call myself thick. Lean. It’s actually lean in some places.. but, people see it differently. Doctors see it differently, of course.. You’re obese. I already knew that.. I tried my best to lose weight. I was literally bigger than I was now. I sworn off the sugar, caffeine and most of the fatty foods for past 3 years now. Did it help? Some. Do I exercise? Yes. I just didn’t want to overexert myself and die from that. I know some of you feel the same way. It’s one of my fears. I cannot afford a gym or a physical trainer.. so I’m doing the best I can do. Did my confidence grow? A bit more. It’s merely because my boyfriend of 11 years loves me for who I am. He accepts me for who I am and vice versa. I feel loved. Once again, I reverted the path of confidence to something else.. Guess what it is? Makeup!

Social Media has opened a big world for everyone. New opportunities for businesses and the people. It wasn’t like that before.. It was quiet, sheltered and innocent, huh? Anyway, once the Social Media has came out.. so many new things, trends, ideas, creativity, and stuff like that has came out and brought everyone basically out of their shells. It has given them a new purpose, a new life, a new meaning..  Makeup is one of them. I honestly didn’t care when it came to makeup at the beginning. Like when my mother was getting dressed and putting makeup on. I didn’t fathom to be interested. I wish I did. I might have more makeup now than I could imagine. I got more interested when people are showing their beautiful selves on Social Media. With So Much Confidence!!! I thought THAT was beautiful! I saw art. My eyes were in the clouds! I was thinking to myself, I want to be like them. I want to feel even more beautiful. To be more confident. I realized that this is my new passion. My new definition of self. My new meaning. My new identity. I started researching, exploring, and bought a few products. Got lucky a few times winning a couple of makeup giveaways. Looking at my collection and asking myself; is this enough? Is this supposed to be it? Looking at Social Media some more.. my jaw dropped. Everyone seems to have so MUCH makeup. Especially with professional makeup artists. Understandably so. I realized people have different skin tones & different preferences. I was honestly naive then; thinking it wasn’t a big deal. Just some mascara, eye shadow, and some lipstick then you’re set. No big deal. Boy, was I wrong there?! Looking at the beautiful photos of women and men, coming up with so many different looks with so many different brands that comes up with a variety of textures, colors, styles, etc. I was – mind-blown -! And of course, I wanted that too.

See what’s happening here? Peer pressure by the conformity of Social Media! Of course, it happens to you all.. without you even realizing it. I realized it after analyzing. Excuse me, OVER-analyzing everything about this! It’s like being a kid in a candy store. You want this. You want that. But duh, you want to be beautiful. Everyone does. It’s natural. You would often be told by your peers, your parents, your friends, etc.. that you’re already beautiful. You do not need makeup. It’s unnecessary. It’s a waste of time. It’s too expensive. It’s not worth it.

          “What they don’t understand is… WE want to FEEL beautiful. WE want to put effort with makeup on our faces to be beautiful; in an artistically way and do it different ways too.”

That’s merely the reason why I got into makeup. I began collecting … and no, it’s not enough, haha. I’m short on brushes, colorful pencils, eye shadows, lashes, etc. The list goes on. Another plus about makeup is the packaging. It makes the presence of your room so gorgeous! I’m easily pulled in when it comes to packaging.. the colors.. the designs.. Hell  yeah!

As you can see, I.. excuse me, we all have a love-hate relationship with makeup. But damn, I seriously love makeup (now)! I feel amazing when it’s plastered all over my face. Not as amazing when you try to remove it and look like a raccoon! I’m still learning on that one. The right makeup wipes, cleaners etc..  You get to learn something new everyday, truly. I do one day want to become a makeup artist. The one that already knows ASL. I basically would have 2 languages.. that’d look so cool on my resume.. eventually. I learn that it’ll be a struggle. It is! It’s a blessing too.

 

 

 

 

Celebrating the 1st day of 2017!

We decided to take a couple of pictures to start off the New Year! As you can see, I rarely ever take any pictures of me for a couple of years because I’ve been struggling with my weight. Undisclosed reasons related to surgery and etc, I’ve lost ___ lbs past the 5 months. I’m not saying the exact numbers 😛 Still working on that plus toning down the flaps. Yay? My family has been really supportive of me. Thanks, fam! Love you tons!

(Images include my boyfriend, son Zack and I)

 

 

Hope you enjoyed them! Have a fabulous new year!

 

 

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft deserves my very first gaming review based on its ultimate, epic adventure!

Disclaimer: I was such a newbie when it came to technology and keyboard controls at the time/before 2006. Since 2006, my boyfriend had introduced me to the world of mmo’s (massively multiplayer online) It means the company who owns the game hosts a variety of servers to hold a large number of players simultaneously in the same instance (..or world!) He has taught me how to get adjusted to the keyboard controls (WASD) It was pretty awkward and I kept fumbling with mistakes every so often lol.

First of all, there is a trial membership you can sign up for to get a starter account that allows you to play up to Level 20. If you want to play some more and get more levels (Max level is 110 now) you’ll have to pay subscription for $14.99 on Blizzard‘s website. It’ll convert your starter account to the active one that’s connected to the expansion you may pay for. There are Six expansions have been released: The Burning Crusade, released in January 2007, Wrath of Lich King, released in November 2008, Cataclysm, released in December 2010, Mists of Pandaria, released in September 2012, Warlords of Draenor, released in November 2014, and Legion, released in August 2016. Blizzard, once in a while, have big sales of including all expansions for a small price. Keep an eye out on that to grab the good deal!

Since 2006, I have been playing World of Warcraft on and off. Despite what people say, it’s one of the few MMOs that always draws me back. I don’t know if it’s the content, the familiarity of the game, or the fact I love logging onto my level 110 Druid, flying into some parts of the world and explore and/or mount up to places to do quests. But regardless, there is something captivating about the game. There are some people out there do have resentment towards WoW for example they’d be like, “It’s overrated” or “the PVP system is rigged.” Despite whatever their reason being for hating it, I absolutely guarantee most of them were instantly drawn back. Everyone does. This game has magic. Pulling you right back in and the hatred/resentment has vanished.

For me, it’s the entire experience of creating your character:

• There are 2 factions: Horde and Alliance. You’ll have to pick one for each character you create. Each faction currently has 7 race options to them.
• The races for the Alliance are the dwarves, gnomes, humans, night elves, draenei, worgen and pandaren. The other races for the Horde are the orcs, tauren, trolls, undead, blood elves, goblins and pandaren ) and finally,
• Each race will need a class to go with. There’s a variety to choose from.

Then going through all the rigorous quests, which I may add, Blizzard has done a fantastic job making them more interactive. Currently, I am playing an Alliance Balance Druid (literally a walking, talking moonkin). My character just looks like a giant goof of feathers, but in a way that is an extension of myself. If you look up the lore behind them, you might actually bond with a certain race. My boyfriend always play the Undead race (Basically a bony-looking cannibals). I can say I had the most fun playing the game in a long time as I went through the Eastern Kingdom (part of the Azeroth map) Undead quest line. Through Silverpine Forest, there is quite an epic quest chain where you follow the Banshee Queen and help her try to obliterate the Worgen (Essentially a race of werewolves). The only complaint I have about this game that it’s getting graphic-extensive because back then, it was pretty flexible and playable on low-end machines. Blizzard needs to acknowledge that not everyone is able to afford a high-end machine to play the game. We mostly stick with low settings instead of high and now the low settings are unbearable. Almost.

Anyway, PvP is seriously active in the game and will always be. Not one of the reasons I play WoW, but it may be for other people. The satisfaction of beating the opposing faction into the ground or playing ranked battlegrounds and yearning for the new title so everyone can see you as “Sergeant Malfunction” for example, my boyfriend has earned; or whatever your name may be. Everything nowadays has mount or pet rewards for specific achievements throughout the world. If you love hunting for achievements on PS4 or Xbox Live, try knocking some of these out in WoW too! There are about 3,000 in WoW where a typical game on consoles has roughly 40. So far I’ve earned over 16k points /flex.

There are dungeons and raids in the game  and it’s similar to any other MMO. There is not too much of a difference, but some of the achievements are what makes dungeons/raids hard. Just going in and nuking a boss is no big deal, if there’s teamwork. Gear that you wear to make yourself stronger drops randomly in each visit. Sometimes mounts and/or pets drop.

If you haven’t played WoW in a while, come back and try it. If you’re new, I recommend joining a random guild in order to get started after you have entered the game. Just pay the $15 and play for a month. No harm, no foul. All of the servers are still active and have plenty of die-hards. Tired of raiding? Try PVP. Bored of socializing with other people? Go collect Pets or do quests. Yep, WoW has a version of Pokemon and it’s flippin’ awesome! Or just become an achievement whore. There is at least one part of WoW you will find fun. Make a few friends and enjoy the game!

 

Weleda

For Christmas, I was given a Weleda’s Evening Primrose Age Revitalizing Body Lotion and I’m in absolute heaven with it! I wish I had know about this company  before today. Better late than never. I took a shower then shook this bottle up and spritzed this on me, and end up finding out it wasn’t a spritz, but a lotion, haha. I read the instructions: Turn upside-down and shake before first use. Hold at slight angle while dispensing. Oh.. my bad. I put it on my arms, neck, chest, behind my knees and in some other areas. The smell of evening primrose flowers were instantly blooming all over me (not literally but that’d be nice, huh?) It was AHHH-mazing! I literally smelled fresh, of roses all day. What this does is moisturizes, nourishes your skin and hydrates as well. It also delivers essential fatty acids to help restore your skin’s protective barriers and shea butter smoothes and replenishes, leaving your skin hydrated and soft. A plus – you get the firmness in your collagen production by the Gotu-kola extract that helps your skin appear youthful and supple. This is best for mature skin. Worth trying!

 

Christmas is Love

 

Merry Christmas to one and all! Welcome to my very first blog post! I would like to share my perspective on how love is huge around Christmas time. Although, it should be an everyday thing despite how our lives go. Daily, we keep going, right? To live our lives to the fullest and raise our family in the way we want. There are trials and tribulations in our lives once in a while and it does make us stronger and unite with one another. There would be resentment and yes, hate. It’s situational and I wouldn’t wish hate on anybody. Neither should you. You see . . . Christmas is also about forgiveness too.

A friend of mine once quoted Don Miguel Ruiz: “The opposite of Love isn’t Hate… it’s Love.” It made me realize that in order to understand conflicts, we have to sympathize in ways that we may not want to at times to find a sane and mutual solution. As far as I can remember, I’ve always been intrigued by human behavior, and the reasons that make us act in certain ways. As humans, we shouldn’t repress the emotions we feel, but it doesn’t mean we have to act violently because of them. I’ve always wished Peace would rule this beautiful world. Peace doesn’t mean happiness all the time. Peace means conversations, arguments, discussions, and compromises by all parties, which then results in a peaceful outcome. We can acknowledge others’ points of view, beliefs and preferences and still feel whole even if they’re different from ours. That to me is confidence. We are allowed to believe in something as long as it doesn’t hurt others. All humans are peers. All humans LOVE. It hurts to watch somebody you know, like, love and even hate go through something like this. Everyone deserves LOVE. Every day, we all have to consciously decide to love and consider the person next to us. We don’t know their history, and they don’t know ours. Asking questions, and being interested in the answer helps. I know I’m not the only one who feels the same way and I felt this would be perfect for this first post in order to celebrate LOVE.  I admit understanding only a fraction of what you’re going through, and is still happening or has happened.  I wish I could help, and I hope I bring some hope to you, which then leads to more Love towards each other.