80% of Women Wear the Wrong Bra Size! Are You One of Them??

 Did you know that 8/10 women are wearing what they "think" is the right bra size, but its actually not? I am a victim of this myself, so if this targets you, don't worry you're not alone! It is very easy to think a bra fits if it keeps your ladies in there securely, but there is way more to it than just keeping them in there. Not wearing the correct bra size can be very harmful and painful in the long run. Some of the negative things that can come from wearing a bra that is either too big or small on you are:

1. Back pain
2. Abrasions on your shoulder area from straps that are too tightly adjusted to compensate for heaviness
3. Headaches
4. Tingling in your arms and or neck
5. Breast pain and trouble catching your breath.

These things may seem a bit extreme, but if something doesn't fit, it just doesn't fit and these things an ALL happen if not treated properly. The same way women get "muffin top" with pants that have a waist that isn't adjusted to fit properly, women can get "muffin breast". This is when the cups of your bra are too tight around your breast and cause a bulge, sadly I see this VERY often and I think to myself, "doesn't that women feel any type of pain?!". 

The CBS Interactive Business Network published an article a few years back stating a few signs that you are not wearing your proper size bra. They listed :

1. Spillage -If your breasts spill over the top or sides of your bra, increase the band and/or cup size.
2. Puckering -If cups wrinkle or pucker, choose a smaller size.
3. Riding up- A bra should fit snugly. If it creeps up in the back, trade it in for one with a tighter band.
4. Jutting- The under-wire isn't flush against your rib cage; it should be.
5. Grooves- If straps dig into your flesh, try a style with wider straps or a different cup size -- either bigger or smaller.

Now that you are probably thinking, "wow one or all of those apply to me", let's show you how to FIX it!

You don't have to rush into your nearest bra store to get measured, although after measuring yourself, you may find yourself there buying a whole new size haha It is an easy few step process that you can do right in your own home. There are many different techniques to doing this, I however, have found that this is the easiest one that works for me. All you need is a tape measure that can easily wrap around your body (or even use a string!).

1. You can throw on a comfy bra, nothing with rhinestones or lace ladies lol something comfy and one that doesn't give you an absurd amount of fake cleavage. I often don't even use a bra, but one of those workout camis or a sports bra for this step as I feel it gives me the closest to truth measurement.

2. Next you want to measure around your entire back. For this I take the measuring tape and wrap it around my rib cage directly under my breasts and all the way around my back. Write down those measurements and add 5 in. You now have your chest size.

3. Now to measure your cup size, wrap the measuring tape around your back again, but this time meeting in the front at the fullest part of your breast, which is often the middle. Write down those measurements.

4. Here's the fun part, I'm sure at this point you have noticed the difference in the cup and chest measurements. The larger the difference, obviously the larger your bra size is going to be. Subtract the two measurements and with that number you are going to do a little matching with the chart I give you below.

If you have gone: 

up to 1/2 inch = AA
1/2 to 1 inch = A
1 inch to 2 inches = B
2 to 3 inches = C
3 to 4 inches = D
4 to 5 inches = DD/E

continue in this pattern if you exceed a DD/E.

I really hope this helped you all, wearing the wrong size bra is not only uncomfortable but totally UNNECESSARY! Be proactive in always maintaining your health as a woman, a strong minded, healthy woman is something we should all strive for :)

xox

My Duckies Are Backkk!

The children I work with went on vacation this past week as it was their school Spring break. They traveled to St. Thomas with their parents for 7 days, sounds like so much fun! I missed them so much when they were gone, sometimes they drive me up a wall, but its times when they're away that I realize how much I would rather have them drive me up a wall on occasion than not! haha I have grown so close to the kids, it all makes sense though, think about it, I'm with them 5 days a week almost all day. We do everything together, homework, play, dinner and I'm even there pushing them to take a shower lol Kids are so amazing, they really do teach me something new everyday, and I'm so lucky to work with them and have them back! Separation Anxiety was an understatement :)

S has joined a local soccer league and I am so proud of her for once again taking initiative and really diving into something new. She has played soccer before, but more at an intramural level, never competitively, and I'm so excited to see how she does this season!

J on the other hand refuses to partake in almost anything except kung fu in the living room. X-Box games and Harry Potter spell casting lol We are still working on getting him to open up to try some new activities, I think he's just at that age where he wants to only do things that his friends are doing, who knows. He is however still in swimming, as is S, and they are doing exceptionally well, which makes me very happy :)

During a day that the kids were bored, I made up a version of Twister that we played using the patterns on the squares on the rug instead of colored dots, although super innovative, they loved it! haha

S being the little fish that she is at the pool. Shes such a great swimmer!

Hugs, Smiles & a Nanny's warm love,

Alysea xox

Basic Morning Face Beauty Routine

 

On a normal morning before school and or work, I will simply moisturize my face and apply lip gloss before I leave the house. There are other mornings, however, where I need to look a bit more polished and put together, and I like this anyway :) For my basic, even if I'm wearing no eye makeup, routine, this is what I do:

First I will wash my face, or in my case since I shower in the morning, I will thoroughly pat dry my face.

Then I will take a pea size amount of my VitaZing moisturizer and apply it all over my face being sure to spread any extra product that is on my fingers down toward my decollete area.

Next I will conceal whatever my VitaZing didn't with my Zhen Foundation Stick in Bamboo. I use a tapping motion with my clean fingers to apply this and be sure that it blends out evenly.

After that, I take my Garnier Dark Under Eye Circle Rollerball and roll it once back and forth in a half moon motion under my eyes. Again spreading with my ring finger around to the corners of my eye and downward.

Finally, I take my Kabuki Brush and my MSF Natural in Medium-Plus and lightly buff some of this powder all over my face from forehead to lower jawline area.


A mini review of these products:

Vitazing: I love this product. I find that it not only moisturizes my skin, but adds a radiance that I have yet to find in any other products. It also has an SPF in it which is great if you find your face left exposed to the sun during a day out etc. The Vitazing has a tiny bit of color in it, nothing too extreme, but I often find that it is just enough to perfectly even out my skin tone and never leaves me ever needing any type of foundation really. (I have never even tried foundation!)

Zhen Foundation Stick: I haven't found anyone yet that has even heard of this company, and I don't know how it isn't more popular! Zhen was made for primarily Asian skin tones, (yellow, olive undertones), I came across this while working in a beauty boutique for a short period of time and fell in love with it! Being that I have yellow undertones, I decided I would give it a try and I find that the Bamboo color is the perfect color for me. I love how easily it matched my skin and how easy I found it was to blend out. I have to order this online from now on because I cannot find this anywhere but it is totally worth it!


Garnier Dark Under Eye Circle Roller: I came across this in my local Harmon's Discount Beauty store and thought for $13 I would just give it a try. I don't particularly have dark under eye circles, but I do like to brighten up that area when putting makeup on. This is tinted, however I love how it brightens up my under eye so I don't mind this. If you are however a darker skin tone, this probably wouldn't be the product for you since they only come in one shade. I use this in a triangular shape under my eye and I love the results!


MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural- I am the color Medium Plus, which is exact to my skin tone. This powder is light, and buffs out perfectly giving you a very natural matte look. I love the "not wearing powder" look, no one wants to look like they just sprinkled baby powder all over their face right? haha This sets my VitaZing and concealer perfect and leaves me looking radiant and very natural!

You can find these products here:

VitaZing - here
MAC Mineralized Skin Finish- here
Zhen Foundation Stick- here
Garnier Dark Circle Under Eye Roller- here

xox

Day Out With My Babygirl

Yesterday was a beautiful day! Temperatures reached the 80's, and it was sunny, yet held a slight breeze at times which was wonderful. I took advantage of having off from work this week to take my princess out to the park. She LOVES the park, what dog doesn't right? As soon as she saw me whip out my running shoes, she knew it was time for a trip right away. I love when she gets all perky and hyper when she knows its time to go outside haha Then show her her pink leash, forget about ittt, she goes nuts. The park closest to my house is one of the most beautiful I've ever been to. There is a huge walking trail around the perimeter of the entire park, and a bike trail, and a place for the kids and sporting events and things. We even have tennis courts and a rose garden! Below are just a few pics of the day I spent with Princess Ruby in the park, she really got her exercise worth, and I did too for that matter! Enjoy :) xox

Ruby enjoying the bright sun on the car ride to the park! I love how white she looks in this pic :)

After a LONG two mile walk, we rested on a park bench and drank some water. She was so out of breath it was so cute!

Mommy rewarded herself with a large cup of Ice Cream afterward, it was too hot not to! :) Yummyyy

I totally encourage staying active, although not all of us have the luxury of time to do so. With the nice weather approaching, definitely get out there and do something as simple as walking. Just walking those two miles in the park, I felt so good! My favorite RunTone sneakers definitely helped as well ;)

 Health and Happiness xox

2011 IMATS Comes to NYC!

So as some of you may already have gathered via my various tweets/facebook statuses, today I was so lucky to be able to attend IMATS NYC. This is the first time for two major things and I'm so happy that these two things happened in my area! One, IMATS sold out completely for the first time in IMATS history! Two, this is the very first time that IMATS has ever held its trade show in the big apple :) Thank goodness I purchased my tickets a while back or else I may have not been able to go. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, yet are still reading, THANK YOU! haha Let me explain. IMATS stands for International Makeup Artist Trade Show. It is a place where makeup artists, or makeup "hobbyists", as I like to call myself, gather to meet one another and view up and coming makeup collections, as well as regular permanent collections for some of the top makeup brands. There are seminars, meet & greets, samples, EVERYTHING! If you have ever been to a job fair it is set up very similar to this, with each company having a set of tables etc. A lot of the tables are offer special promotions via discount etc. I purchased a lot of my items today at almost 40% off retail value!

After IMATS, my good friend Desarae and I went for lunch and I also managed to get in a little" thrifting", which I have to come to love doing lately! You always find the most interesting pieces at thrift shops! I stopped into this one thrift store on the upper east side, the name is slipping my mind at the moment, and I found some really cute stuff, but unfortunately nothing in my size blahhh :( I did however, find this book hidden in the back that had the most striking title "How to Meet Cute Boys" --hahahaha I gifted this to Desarae as a joke and she thought it was cute :) 

I am going to stop boring you with the details and get to the pictures :) Enjoy, and be sure to check out the IMATS in your area, and if you're from the tri-state area be sure to attend next years event which will be bigger and better I'm sure! xox

A cool table displaying some special effects makeup pieces for films, this one--CONE HEADS! hahah

It never fails, Desarae and I always manage to find ourselves in the back parts of every building lol SOOO many stairs!

I LOVE this show, I cannot express how much of a fan I am of this kind of art, these people are so talented!

JulieG and Myself at the Jesse's Girl Cosmetics Table, such a sweet girl!

Some Special effects Makeup going on here, this model must have had extreme patience!

TATE! My favorite cast member on Face Off this season. I just had to stay and watch his seminar, I'm a HUGE fan of him and his work!

Tate and a Zombie that he created, her eyes were so super creepy!

Tate Steinsiek and Myself after his seminar, I'm such a groupie I know hahaha (look at the makeup blood on his hands! yukk lol)

My Delicious BBQ Chicken Nachos ! Yummyyy

The Book I bought Desarae hahah

One of MANY modes of public transportation used today. I'm all bused, and trained out!

Random Thoughts

Just some random thoughts at the moment:

1. I am loving that my Girl Scout Cookies are still in existence and that I have not devoured all 10 boxes haha I love the Do Si Do's what can I say?! Nothing I love more than peanut butter so a peanut butter cookie with peanut butter in between is heaven!

2. This whole possible government shut down issue is really putting a damper on my cheerful mood. Although I personally wouldn't be affected, I know many people that will be if come 12am tonight a resolution about the budget isn't reached. Meanwhile, of course those involved in coming to a consensus about this budget aren't going to be affected, which makes me even more upset because I guarantee if this was a matter of their income, they would be a little more quick in coming to a darn decision! hymph. If you would like to know a breakdown of what a possible government shutdown would mean to you click here !

3. I am really loving Harem Pants this Spring, I ran into a pair at Urban Outfitters a few weeks ago and they are still in my head! I am totally feeling the whole billowy, braided hair, harem pant, bell bottoms vibe lately. The 70's are definitely making a comeback this spring!

Worn in the correct size and paired with a cute shirt, these can look awesome. If not paired correctly however, you may just get a case of the "I'm wearing pants with a baggy crotch" hahaa 

4. As many of you probably already know who read my Facebook or Twitter, I am writing a family cookbook! This has been a dream of mine forever, I just never really had the motivation to get it started, and I thought it would be near impossible to complete, let me just say, it has been such a breeze so far! This is probably because I LOVE writing, so many people have told me I should be a writer, but I fear that if it turned into something that was my job, I may grow to dislike it, and I love it too much to risk that :) I'm so excited for my family, friends and my boyfriends family to partake in making this cookbook a success. I love cooking and would have loved to have had someone pass something like this down to me, so I'm hoping to do so with my children :) Here's a sneak peek of one of the pages of my book without giving away too much ;) ! xox

Easter Treats with a Twist!

 
Working with children and having a nephew are two very important reasons I thought it was necessary to look into changing the way I present Easter to them this year. Normally with my duckies from work, I will buy them an Easter related children's book (thank goodness they love to read), and for my nephew I just get him toys or Easter games, nothing extravagant, as I don't want them getting used to associating gifts and junk food with Easter (a very special religious holiday on its own). This year, although I know I am going to have to deal with the fact that my grandmother is going to have her annual Easter egg hunt in our house with eggs that are filled with money and chocolate lol, I am going to attempt to do something different for my nephew and the kids at work. I don't want to deprive them completely from their "treats", but I am going to do the best I can to knock out most of the toxins and "garbage" that comes with most candy.

I found this website through some online research that is called the Nature Candy Store. You can access it by clicking here. This website is pretty much a Candy Junkie's Heaven, they have everything from natural cotton candy to natural gummy snacks and caramel. My nephew will still get to rip open his Easter basket and have his candy, but will instead be eating something all natural, leaving my mind and his little growing body at ease haha 

Some of what they have on the website include :

This Large Easter Egg filled with Natural Treats is $19.95 and got a raving review on the website! They also offer one that has all Vegan Candy.  For more info Click here!

Another alternative to filling their Easter baskets with mounds of candy, organic or not, would be throwing in reading books pertaining to Easter, activity pads, an Easter related children's DVD etc. This is another way to put the emphasis off of the whole candy aspect, and still share Easter related things with your loved ones!

Also, its important to remember that your child, or those children you will be sharing Easter with this year won't remember if the candy was "good" for them or not, or even how much candy they got BUT their little bodies will, and you will be doing them a favor down the line by making a smart healthy decision today.

I thought it was so handy that this website, as well as others out there I'm sure, give parents, and caregivers in general, options that assist in maintaining a healthy balanced diet, but that also allow the child to still indulge a little. Nothing screams hyper more than a giant chocolate Easter Bunny. The less the additives the better!

*You can also buy these natural candies separately and create your own little Easter basket, use your imagination! xox