I snapped some swatches when I was in Sephora earlier this month, and thought I would share them in the Recap as well! 

Armani Lip Maestro Intense Velvet Matte Stain - (swatch colors are L to R) The description on these says 'luminous matte'. The finish actually reminds me of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks - not quite sure I would describe the Armani as luminous, but they definitely are velvety and not a flat matte. They felt really nice on my hand and seemed very pigmented...well except for 507 on the far right. When I'm feeling itchy-trigger-finger I've got these on my list! 

My main swatch target was on these Smashbox Always On Matte Liquid Lipsticks. They have pretty good reviews on Sephora, many of which pointed out how they were the most moisturizing of any liquid lipsticks they had tried. Honestly, none of the colors I swatched screamed out at me, but they did feel really nice on my hand and didn't immediately dry down to Sahara Desert dry like the KVD liquid lipsticks did. There was one color I thought I'd like the most, but of course it wasn't in stock to swatch. I might just order it anyway - haven't decided yet. 

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Most of June was spent trying to focus on eating better! I completely cut out soda, have been trying to drink more water, limiting fried foods and in general have been trying to not consume as much sugar.

A big turning point was finally finding a chia pudding recipe I really love - it's the Superfood Triple Berry Chia Pudding from Skinneytaste.  The main AH-HA with this recipe is that it uses almond/coconut milk, which I had never heard of before! I've tried straight up almond milk, soy, coconut and regular milk but none of them tasted that great. But the almond coconut milk is perfect...just the right hint of coconut without being too much!

I tweak the amount of chia seeds a little bit because I don't like it too thick - I use 1 1/2 tbsp per cup of almond/coconut milk instead of 2 tbsp. Also, some of the reviews said their chia seeds didn't soak up much liquid and the consistency of the pudding was really runny. I've found it helps to follow the directions - shake (or stir) the chia + almond/coconut milk mixture and set aside for 15 minutes...shake again. Here the directions say to refrigerate and let set at least 5-6 hours, but I find it's better to leave out for another 15 minutes and shake again before finally storing it in the fridge.

When it's ready to eat, I add honey and whatever berries I have on hand - sometimes I'll just eat the pudding and honey. Seriously I love this stuff so much that I actually crave it, and have had it nearly everyday in June!! 

Anyway, I feel much better physically and have been having fun trying some new recipes (hello Cloud Bread!!). If you have any healthy recipes you love, please let me know!

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YAY I'm almost finished with my BBL Laser Treatments! I actually was supposed to be done by now, but some spots are being really stubborn so I'm going in later this week for spot treatments and a final microdermabrasion a couple weeks later. Even without the spot treatment I'm super impressed!! At first Hubs said he didn't think it made much difference, but then I showed him the before pictures and he was pretty amazed! 

Can't wait until I'm finally done. Very much looking forward to the final results, but I'm also REALLY REALLY ready to go back to using my acids and other products I've been sidelining. 

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That's about it for June's Recap. Feel like I said a lot in my last Beauty Thoughts post, so I don't have a ton to talk about for the time being! 

Hope everyone in the US has a HAPPY 4th of July, and I hope everyone else has a wonderful start to their week tomorrow!!!!       xoxoxo Gummy