Let's talk Happy Birthday and a giveaway!!

Hidey ho! 

How is everyone today? 

Life in these parts has been so busy & hectic I couldn't possibly sum it up during this bloggo. As you can see there's been some/are some changes in the works, both for the blog as well as in my life!

All will be revealed in due time but as of today all I wanted to say is.. 

Happy Birthday Hollys Housewife Life!!  

It's been 4 months yesterday since I started this little endeavour, & it's felt like I've blogged my whole life/also like I just started yesterday. 

In honour of this joyous occasion I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. 

I have almost 5500 page views, it baffles me that that many views have made their way to this lil old blog. To me it feels like I'm writing in my journal and making jot notes of my life. 

I thank you for stopping by and wanting to share in my life experiences, for ignoring my terrible writing skills and seeing through to the heart of the blog. 

As a small token of my love I have teamed up with a couple of my favorite beauty providers to bring you a little giveaway! 

(When I say "teamed up", what I actually mean is I love these products and had them leftover as unused Christmas gifts...

This blog has barely 5500 views, do you think anyone would want to sponsor me?? Bahahahaha) 

^ 2 mini Juleps and a pack of EOS

So the rules of the giveaway are as follows: 

Leave a comment stating what your favorite type of post is/or what you would like to see more of: 

Beauty 

Baby

My day to day life stories 

Make sure you state your name & are either a fb friend, Instagram follower or leave an email where I will be able to contact you when you win! 

A winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on March 1st 2015!!

I don't feel as though blogs need to host giveaways, I think 2 readers who love reading my blog are more important than 2000 who only show up for the swag but since I kind of love sending mail (the postal worker in me) and giving is almost more fun than receiving (almost) I thought this would be a fun way to connect!! 

Contest open internationally! 

Please someone other than my mom comment! (She can't win, that's just shady)

XOX 

Lets talk about unwaxing your candle...

I have soooo turned into my grandmother.. Soon I'm going to be washing out milk bags and using them in place of Ziplocks. Just kidding Newfoundland doesn't have bags of milk so

the Ziplocks live to see another day!

I can't stand throwing anything in the garbage anymore, I think about how many garbage bags my family (of 3) produces in the run of a week and it breaks my heart.

Our poor planet.

 I usually save everything in hopes of someday finding a craft or project that it will be good for.

Normally it works! Its just a matter of how long/where do you store all this junk in the process of awaiting the perfect craft. Luckily we have a garage and not many garage like hobbies so

its kind of turned into my craft room out there.

I'd been saving my Bath and Body works burned candles for quite some time in the hopes I would someday take the initiative and clean them out. The day is finally upon us!!

First things first.. place baby happily occupied in background: CHECK!

Remove covers and score up remaining wax. You're going to need a sharp knife for this. Make sure its a knife you never plan on using again.



Boil kettle and pour boiling water into candles..

Let sit for quite some time.. If you're impatient like me, every once and a while go swirl the water with the knife, but try to let the wax rise to the surface in its own time.

Once wax forms on the surface and cools slightly cut around edges with sharp knife and remove whole piece of wax (in addition plastic utensils are a handy assistant).



The main wax should be gone but there will be some bits and pieces remaining

boil kettle again and repeat process.

Here comes the elbow grease.. There will always be little bits of wax that the boiling water just wont cut through. So I took some baking soda on a roughed up rag and buffed the remaining wax off the glass. I then peeled off the labels and soaked the glass jars in the sink to remove any left over glue.

I'm not going to say it was easy the process took me all evening (and some) but I had 15 candles, in the future I wouldn't let them pile up that long. Just boiling enough water to fill 15 of those suckers..

So what did I do with all those jars you ask? I took them into Girl Guides and we filled them with homemade bath salts! (the kind for a bath!! not the you know drug assortment)

It started off as bath salts anyway but then the girls started brain storming what else we could use them for aka mainly a holder for things makeup brush holder (stick your brushes in the salt), pencil holder, candle holder (poor jars came full circle!), or just a pretty jar of sand to display!

Almost every girl decided to dye her salts rainbow colours.

^ Our Jars

I got the bath salt recipe off google

it was:

• 3 parts Epsom salt to 1 part sea salt
• essential oil
• and add a tiny bit off food colouring if you want colour

^ I had some extra jars and I kind of love them!

 I always need storage and you could use them for anything from buttons to bows!

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Lets talk about Mary-Kate and Ashley..

Omg doesn't that just bring you back..

My girls MK & A

In fact I'm going to let you in on a tiny secret...

 I still have this MK & A hair texturizer I purchased in 2002..

(Insert Monkey emoji with his hands over mouth)

 

 

 

I just can't bring myself to throw it out!

They had THE BEST hair of the 2000's..

^ that perfect beachy undone hair!!

 

I know... I know...

 

Anyway bringing ourselves into current day

I am happy to announce the sisters are back in the beauty world

and I HAD to get my hands on some of their stuff!

 



 

On a whim I cashed in my Sephora points for the Elizabeth and James

Nirvana White perfume..

 

I like it.

I don't loooove it,

If you're not much of a perfume wearer I can see it being too much,

It leans toward old lady scent and has a deep musky side to it.

 

 I did some googling after that and it seems more people

like the Nirvana Black..

I got my sister to buy me it for Christmas and I have to say I agree

with the majority.

Its still a strong perfume but its is lighter and fruitier,

more of an everyday wear perfume hands down.

 

Overall I'm not a huge perfume wearer anyway..

where can you even wear perfume anymore??

(I feel like I'm saying a lot of WHERE and WEARS in this blog post)

 

but I am really glad I own both

I guess its just the hoarder inside of me who loves to own things,

especially things made by my childhood idols..

 

I'm even tempted to buy the full sizes just because I love

the packaging so dang much!

^ I just LOVE them!

 

Alas I won't

because that would be cray...

and because I'm still working on this Marc Jacobs

I purchased almost 2 years ago..

 

I was reading the small things blog years ago and I remembered Kate saying

on her wedding someone gave her the advice to wear a new perfume.

Then for every anniversary, special occasion afterwards you could wear your

wedding perfume and it would take you back to that day.

Well I thought that was lovely advice,

how romantic and sweet..

So on my wedding day I wore Daisy by Marc Jacobs.

 

Yeah, very quickly I realized I'd have to be married for 3055 years to ever get

through this tiny rollerball of perfume so I may as well wear it everyday.

Screw special occasions!

I don't find my memories are connected to scents anyway

but it is a nice thought.

 

 

 



 

 

In other news I just cant stop laughing at Elliott backward

crawling his way under everything... 

 

The boy is on the move but not in a traditional crawl,

he's more into army crawling/roll around/reverse movements!

Its so funny!

- XOXO

Gossip Blog

Let talk Julep, Julep, Julep..

When I first tried Julep I wasn't over the moon..

I mean it's such a tiny bottle and it costs $16 (!!!!!)

$16 and after my first attempt the polish seemed a little thin and streaky,

(brought me right back to my first impression of Essie Polish)

however being the mail loving freak/beauty blogger I am

I had already jumped the gun and signed up

for Juleps monthly parcel service:

 

Julep Maven

aka they send you a monthly parcel with $40 worth of product but

it only costs you $24.99

If you sign up for a minimum 3 months subscription then it only costs you $19.99

Read more about becoming a Maven here

 

Soon my Julep collection grew...

 

And a strange thing happened..

My love for Julep started to grow..

 



^ Example of the monthly box

I mean there's still things that annoy me about Julep,

Such as..

why do they have to send a box bigger than a case of pop

for two tiny little boxes of nail polish???

 

^ This box was HUGE and full of paper crinkles..

The size of the box does not impress me Julep,

it didn't change what was inside and I am

too much of a tree hugger to get behind

sending that much packaging for something so tiny.

 

BUT..



The most annoying thing about Julep is the bottle shape!

Why why why that shape??!

It's sooo unsteady

 I can't turn my back for one second on a uncapped bottle of Julep in a house FULL of cats, dogs, babies and husbands!

Are you nuts Julep???!

That bottle is like a leaning tower of Jenga! 

 

The pros about Julep..

Colours, colours, colours!

They are really in the know about what's hip in the nail world,

you can get very pigmented colours, or totally sheer and

every once and a while they throw you a extra surprise like a lip gloss or eye liner.

 

So do I think being a Julep Maven is a major splurge??

Yes.

But considering there's 2 million monthly subscriptions for makeup products out there

its nice to have the option for something different.

Not everyone needs that many sample size mascaras

but what gal doesn't love getting a couple of full size nail polish on the monthly!

 

For Christmas I bought my sisters each a 2 month subscription,

I bought and wrapped them a bottle of polish (to have something to actually give) &

then they received an email on Christmas eve saying that I had gifted them 

a subscription and to go to the website to set up what type of Maven box you want.

 

 

I'd like to get it as a gift,

they'd better have liked it.

 

Sooo it also makes a unique gift for that picky person in your life :)

Happy Polishing!

x0x

 



Lets talk about expiration dates..

Does décor have an expiration??
For me - 100%!

I feel like there is only a certain amount of time something looks good for.
Then you wake up one day and go..
"WOAH, when did that situation get so, um, homely...."

Not to be confused with Homey: cozy, sweet, feels like home.
Homely: not attractive or good looking
(urban dictionary.com)

I think style expiration dates can be different for everyone
 for example:
My mom has an obsessive painting and redecorating gene.
(she is probably going to call me now and say "That's not true, womp womp womp..)
(go on mom you know, I know, people know..
 you love to redo, redesign, repaint, there is no shame in it)

She is constantly updating and painting things so she never hits that
"omg, I didn't know that looked so bad" phase.

My expiration is more around the 4 year mark
That's when it happened in our last home and this houses is steadily approaching.
I don't have the time, energy, gumption to redecorate on a frequent basis
so I leave it fairly similar for long periods of time
until it reaches the point of NEEDING to be updated ASAP.

See scenario #1

 

^ The wall in our porch area/leading downstairs.

 

Its been nearly 4 years since I've done anything with this wall..

And I think its safe to say its showing its age.

The middle art piece (?) is severely sun faded on one side..

the others are odds and ends that I mainly hung on pre-existing nails,

its kind of looking a hot mess.

 

^ Nick modelling mirror placement for me

 

 So I'm currently in the process of thinking up a redesign,

I'm also trying to 'shop my house' so I don't have to spend any money.

I would love, love to get the hallway repainted.

We are at the point where your house starts feeling

wayyyy too small, everything nook seems cluttered and you're faced with the decision

either do a major paint/purge overhaul

OR

you'll just have to move.

 

Fortunately we will probably will be moving,

so sorry to say but I don't want to dish out the cash for fresh paint

if I'm not going to be the one to enjoy it.

 

So that's that.

 

Do you ever just wake up and say to yourself

"when did my house become so shabby???"

and you want to move asap so you can get inspired again..

Please tell me I'm not alone!

 

 

On a completely different note

do you guys believe in ghosts??

Because I'm telling you ever since we moved into this house

there is an Orb that appears in

SO MANY PHOTOS.

 

I don't think its a mean or nasty ghost in any way!

I believe in spirits and I don't get a weird scary vibe

at all in our house but it is interesting how it shows up in so many pictures.

Check out the photos below and tell me your conclusion!

 

^ Just a few of the Orb pictures from over the years,

spirit energy? or just light tricks? hahahh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Lets talk Kate, Mac and the disappearing man..

I just so happened to get an email the other day

from MAC for free shipping -

excellent! because I had been eyeing up

some lipsticks..

I decided to go with some classically popular shades,

Rebel, Plumful and Ruby Woo.

The Plumful was back ordered but I received the other two this week and

gave them a quick test run.

 

I don't know why I am so enthralled with bold lipsticks,

 I barely leave the house let alone go places that require a

bold lip colour - but c'est la vie!

 

Right away I noticed

Ruby woo was almost a dead ringer for Kate Moss for Rimmel shade 10!

 

 

The main difference, Ruby Woo is matte and Kate Moss isn't

however the Kate Moss has such a subtle sheen that after applying a lip liner

 and wearing for a few minutes it becomes a hybrid matte.

 

After a couple of hours wearing MACs Ruby Woo

I noticed flaking, there was fall out both above my top lip and below

my bottom & it didn't hold up well VS.

the food and drink test.

 

When I wore my Kate Moss lipstick

I ate supper, drank water and hours later the lip colour was still in place

and highly pigmented.

 

 

 Rimmel lipsticks cost $6.98

MAC $19.00

 

Kate Moss lipstick at Walmart

 

MAC lipstick Ruby Woo

 

So if I was only picking up one..

Rimmel for the win!

 

^ MAC Ruby Woo left - Rimmel Kate Moss shade 10 right

 

Ok so do you guys have a good side for photos??

I am learning I tilt my head in this direction ^^

 When I face the camera head on my eye brows are wayyyy

 differently shaped and it drives me!

I never notice them being so different in real life but in photos..

BAM.

 

In other news Elliott has started this new trend of causing me a heart attack at

3 o'clock in the morning.

The first time I looked at our monitor in the middle of the night and didn't see

him I hopped out of bed like a bullet, ran into his bedroom..

and found him happily wedged into the one teeny tiny corner of the

crib that's not visible by the camera.

 

After that it quickly became his new thing and he sleeps there every night.

I suppose I could move the video camera but I have the feeling

wherever the blind spot is will forever be his favorite spot,

the little bugger.

 

Lets talk the battle of the balms..

Are you always searching for the perfect balm??

I am.

Its a thankless job (come on lips would it kill ya to thank me)

and I've yet to come across the holy grail.

Alas see below for some favorites and some disappointments.

(do I say alas too much?? I should probably pick up a thesaurus..)

 



^ Soft lips/chapstick/lip smacker

All classics, we love them, they work great in a pinch but are they really deep moisturizing?

Meh.

^ I received this lip conditioner in my last months Julep box

I got excited but my excitement quickly faded as soon as it touched my lips,

its a great gloss, really smooth and watery texture.

I love the metal applicator tip, it feels so cold and I love that

but the product is not particularly 'conditioning'.

 



^ Lip Service from Lush of course the lady was really selling it

but Lush employees seem to be the most eager employees to ever be employed

amma right?

They're just always really excited about their product..

If you've ever used a homemade lip product you will know the texture,

solid but warms on your finger and becomes really watery.

I like watery lip balms

however the lady said it magically healed her cracked lips overnight.

I wouldn't go that far..

but I did like it and it was nourishing.

^ Bite Agave lip mask

I had high high hopes for this,

bloggers/vloggers alike seemed to say this was the holy grail.

I was soo excited to try it out and whomp whomp

I didn't wake up with magically refreshed lips.

Its thick, its a pretty colour, its veryyy sticky

which is kind of annoying for a sleep lip mask.

For the price jump - $26 yikes!

I don't think I would repurchase.

 

See Bite lip mask at Sephora

 

^ I just can't help it, I keep going back to the tried and true!

All the other lip balms in the house but I would always reach for either

the Vaseline lip therapy or EOS lip balm.

When I use either of these over night I feel the difference in the morning

my lips feel hydrated and nourished.

 

Its a tie for now

but I loooooove balms so the hunt will continue!

 

*I know there's been some controversy with a photo

of a alleged mouldy EOS floating around FB.

I've been a EOS lover for quite some time and have never

had a problem so maybe its a isolated incident.

 I'm not sure but I'm not jumping ship yet!