6 Must Have Beauty Products to Hide All the Things

This post could otherwise be known as "favorite miracle workers for tired mom eyes or anyone waking up and kicking ass all day."

A while back I mentioned that I treated myself to a few new beauty products in an effort to make myself feel human again. Chasing a toddler, working a full time job, and moonlighting as a Willow Crowns seamstress and blogger can really do wonders to your self esteem. Joking, kind of.

Somedays I feel like I'm kicking ass and others I'm lucky if I don't scare away Rowan's little friends at daycare dropoff.

So, I invested in a few new things to kick my makeup routine up a notch and I'm happy to report they have ALL been winners!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz Mechanical Brow Pencil :: It took me 29 years to finally have an arch in my brows. I always thought some people just couldn't have any arch. Wrong. Turns out you can have a slight arch without looking like you penciled your whole eyebrow on! To achieve a more natural look, I just apply it with a bunch of short, quick motions.

LORAC Color Source Buildable Blush in Aura :: I bought this to replace my favorite LORAC Cheek Stain in Rosy Glow which is nowhere to be found but this is just as good! It stays on through five thousand percent humidity during Charleston summer which is quite an impressive feat if you ask me. The color is more of a rose than it looks online, fyi!

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer :: I don't know where this has been my whole life but I can't go out of the house without it! It has awesome coverage and does not cake at all. I use a beauty blender with it to hide the dark circles, rogue zits, and the scar above my eye (I'll save that story for another time). I'm also thinking of buying it a shade lighter to use as a highlighter, I'm that hooked.

Lorac Love Lust and Lace Eye Collection :: I got this set for a steal during Amazon Prime Day and I have to say it lives up to my high expectations of LORAC products! The shadows are so perfect and neutral with just a little bit of shine in the Mocha shade. The mascara is also giving my drugstore mascara a run for its money!

Burberry by Burberry Perfume (the 1.7 oz is cheapest at Target) :: I purchased this immediately after stalking Laura's bottle during our Napa trip and its pushed my D&G Light Blue to the curb!

So there you have it! Six of my busy, working-mom approved beauty products! Anyone have others I should add to my collection?!

Linking up with Natalie and Annie!

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DIY Upholstered Headboard with Nailhead Trim [Update!]

Last week I was looking through old posts (something I should never do because, yikes the photography was atrocious!) and I thought it was high time I updated one of my most popular posts, our DIY upholstered headboard!

I'm happy to say that after almost three years, this headboard is still one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our house! And given our DIY inexperience at the time, it's both a shocking and proud moment that it still looks just as good.

I still remember my perfectionist self fighting with this fabric, especially getting it over the curved edges without lumps and bumps, so consider yourself warned if you go with this shape and/or a velvet-like fabric! 

 

What you need for Queen-sized headboard:

1 (23/32 x 4 x 8) piece of Plywood, uncut
1 (1 x 6 x 12) piece of lumber, cut in half
Staple Gun
1 pack of 3/8" (10mm) Staples
Hi-Loft Batting in Twin Size (Found at craft stores)
Twin Foam Mattress Pad (Found mine at Walmart)
1 (50-pack) of 1 1/4" Wood Screws
Spray Adhesive
Nailhead Trim (Also found at craft stores)
Rubber Mallet (I randomly found this in my car's emergency kit, also found at craft stores)
Jigsaw (This doesn't have to be fancy, we use this one)
Fabric (I used one Ikea curtain panel)

Total Cost: $110

For step-by-step (but ugly) photos, see original post!

First cut the plywood down to size. The most common questions I get about this tutorial are about the dimensions, so I hope this poorly done diagram helps!

Next, sketch out the shape. I used a paper bag to make a stencil then traced the left side, flipped the stencil over, and stenciled the right.

Line up your 1x6 boards on each side of the plywood, starting at the top (you'll need that jigsaw to cut the same shape as the plywood), and cut the bottom to your desired height. The legs of our headboard are 21" from the bottom of the headboard.

With your leftover plywood from the bulk of your headboard, cut the same shape to reinforce the top and the legs. That part was tricky for us because the leftover plywood wasn't the length of the headboard. We ended up having to piece it together and even though there are a few tiny gaps, those won't matter in the long run.

Attach the legs and the frame pieces to the plywood with the wood screws, about every 6-8 inches.

Now the fun part, upholstering!

Cut your foam padding to fit within the frame you just completed. Spray the plywood with adhesive and stick the foam to the board.

Next put the batting underneath (on the front side of your headboard) and get to stapling. You should know I went super crazy with the staple gun and you probably don't need to use as many as I did!

Before moving on, trim all of the excess batting.

Once you get to the actual fabric, it's basically the same process as the batting. If you can find an assistant, it helps to have one person pulling the fabric while the other does the stapling to keep everything taught.

Save the curves and most of the top of the headboard for last.

It helps to cut the fabric in 'V' shapes in the curved portions to minimize puckering. My fabric refused to cooperate and I almost cut it too far but luckily you never see the back of this thing!

Upholster the legs in the same way you did the top half.

Applying the nailhead trim was actually easier than I imagined. You only have to nail every 5th nail into the wood and its flexible enough that you can bend it however you need it for the curved portions. The trick is keeping it straight, so I used my leveler because it was the perfect width from the edge of the headboard. Once I got into a rhythm, this part only took about 20 minutes!

I love how you can still see the nailhead trim and headboard fabric all the way down the sides of the mattress (which you can see in the photo above). A lot of store-bought headboards stop at the top of the mattress and you can see the metal brackets, so a little extra effort here goes a long way in my opinion!

So there you have it, a prettier version of my DIY headboard! Let me know if you have questions, I hope this new diagram was helpful! 

Now I just need to get some artwork and pillows for this space. If you have a favorite shop for pillows please share!

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Nordstrom Sale Budget Friendly Picks

I know none of you have heard this yet, so I thought I'd be the first to break the news that the Nordstrom Anniversary sale starts today!

I secretly get a little jealous seeing #Nsale picks all over the place because I don't have early access, but its actually a good thing because I let other bloggers who are much more fashionable narrow it down to the best stuff for me!

I did do a little of my own sleuthing today though, dreaming of the day I can splurge for these AG jeans. My husband keeps me on a tight budget (well, he tries but all bets are off when I step into Target on a solo mission) and we're no where near a store so I usually limit myself to one or two purchases.

Here are some of my favorites that I've narrowed it down to... Definitely more budget friendly picks with a splurge or two!

I was pretty disappointed there were no original Hunter boots or Reva flats on sale, but I wouldn't hate it if those Tory Burch sunnies and Hinge Block heels accidentally fell into on my online cart and landed on my doorstep.

So what are some of your favorites from the sale? Anything else I need to lust over and hope are still available next week?!

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Life Lately

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those of "sweating profusely while constantly reapplying suntan lotion and fighting to keep a hat on my child" types of summers.

We've been doing all of the fun things the past month, which has been nothing short of chaos but I've loved every minute of it. Thankfully 11 hour road trips with a toddler who suddenly has a very strong opinion are behind us for a while, though.

Time to catch up, shall we?

ONE. Trips to the beach have gotten equally more tiring and entertaining as time goes on. 2 hours to pack, 1 hour to drive, unload and get set up, 4235 re-applications of lotion later...

R finally started to tolerate the beach provided we let him wear his shoes (which are the BEST by the way, I also love these for him) otherwise its meltdown of the century territory. Kid hates the sand!

TWO. Finally, no more tan walls! Large master bedrooms are all fun and games until you have to paint them. My body hurts.

This is a horrible photo, but we went with Benjamin Moore Marilyn's Dress and I'm in love. I'll share some better photos later this week! Yikes.  Lots of other house projects and plans in the works, stay tuned!

THREE. We've also been busy with first trips to the Zoo, Children's Museum, and Aquarium. First time using chalk and playing in the "pooooool" (not at the same time, though he tries). It's been so much fun seeing Rowan react to new things, have I mentioned how much I love this age? Remind me of this when the tantrums come back 5 minutes from now...

FOUR. Sales! Tell me I'm not the only one counting down the days until Fall clothes?! I don't think my denim will see the light of day until October at least, but I'm eyeing these distressed Rag & Bone jeans for Shopbop's surprise sale tomorrow (25% designer sale with code DESIGNER25).

Also a heads up, this Lorac Eye Collection is only $19 during the Amazon Prime Day sales! I love Lorac eye shadows and blush so I scooped this up already since the 30% off sale started today.

I feel like there are a million other things to share, but red wine and the last episodes of OITNB are calling my name! Anyone watch this season? It's been so much better than the last!

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