Thick Eyebrows Are In

To you girls who pluck and wax your eyebrows so they are only one-hair thin, thick eyebrows are the trend again! Thank goodness for that! My natural eyebrows are thick, so the less I have to wax and pluck, the better. Who likes doing that anyway? IT HURTS!

Celebrities and models that rock their thick eyebrows:

Lily Collins is one of the first people that come to mind when it comes to fabulous thick eyebrows.

Other Models and Celebrities Who Rock It:

Now if you are like me and have been waxing your eyebrows thinner, here are some tips and tricks for growing out your eyebrows:
Just a forewarning, eyebrows take a long time to grow back in fully; we are talking months here. The trick is, with a little strategy and a lot of patience, full brows can be yours again once more.
Tweezing is the most precise way of removing facial hair. What I would recommend is first going to get your eyebrows professionally done and shaped. After they are well groomed by a professional, you should be able to tidy them up yourself every two weeks. Before plucking, however, it is recommended that you first pencil in your brows to prevent yourself  from making any mistakes. When plucking, allow your eyebrow hairs to come back in rows. So those hairs closest to the brows can stay, and those that are not can be plucked. Simply grow them out one row at a time, and slowly they will become thicker.
TO GROW THEM OUT FASTER: It is simple... DO NOT PLUCK! If you are wanting them to look not as gross, then plucking is recommended. However, if you are wanting to get them grown out as fast as possible do not pluck!
Tip: Exfoliating the area with a soft or baby toothbrush will help stimulate the hair growth.
Tip: Do not use a magnifying mirror - you will end up losing your perspective and over-tweezing, which can be fatal to the life of your beautiful eyebrows.
Tip: Avoid bright lights - they will make you tweeze more than is basically visible. Those little thin hairs, no one should be close enough to your face to even see. You cannot even see it yourself when you are in the mirror so why bother?
Tip: Prevent yourself from applying lotions and creams to the brow bone. They tend to clog the hair follicle which not only weakens the hair, but causes shedding and prevents growth. Not really what you want when growing in your eyebrows is it?
On average, it takes approximately three months for your eyebrows to grow in. Until that time, create a mantra for yourself. A mantra is a commonly repeated word or phrase that people often use to calm them down, or allow them to keep focus on the goal. In this case Refinery 29 suggests that your mantra when growing out your eyebrows should be, "fake it until you make it." Meaning, fill in your brows. I suggest that for the best result, to not use brow pencils that are waxy.
When filling out your eyebrows it is best to lightly trace around the outline before blending through. Not only will this enhance and shape your brows, it will make them appear fuller. Best of all, you can hide that nasty growing out process. YUCK! Afterwards run a spoolie brush through them until you've reached the desired shade, then finish by coating them with a clear gloss to help keep them in shape.
Tip: Do not want to spend all that money on a clear eyebrow gel? You do not have to! Simply purchase a clear mascara for a third of the cost, and it works just as well.
Want to see a video for how to fill in eyebrows? Well I found just the one for you by beauty guru SMLx0: Steph uses gel liner rather than pencil, but it looks amazing and it is waterproof!
To go directly to the eyebrow tutorial and skip the introduction go to 1:50 -

If you follow these simple steps and tricks, even though your eyebrows will not grow overnight, you will still have them, and can kind of avoid the gross ungroomed look.

-Samantha

Support Your Team

Although my team may not be the top ranked, I am still a loyal fan to the Dallas Cowboys. Football actually is not my favorite sport to watch out of them all but that is another blog for another time. In these pictures I was wearing a Dallas Cowboys flex-back hat, and a Nike "Cowboys Just Do It" t-shirt. I got a little bored, what can I say! 

I have to say my personal favorite out of the four is this one: 

Haha, I need something more productive to do in my spare time I guess.

- Samantha 

Social Media

Hey everyone,
So this is just a post to give you my usernames for different social media sites, that way you can keep up with me and interact with me on and off the website, and even tweet me what posts you would like to see.

Twitter - @SamanthaMandel
Instagram - SamanthaMandel
Pinterest - SamanthaMandel

Be sure to follow me on Bloglovin' as well.

I promise I do not post stupid stuff, I only post inspiring, need-to-know, and pictures that I just want to share, like the one above of my first zip-lining experience (hence why I am sideways). Except, I will not lie, sometimes my tweets get a little out of hand. I tend to babble on about nothing.

- Samantha

Memory Monday: Graduation Hair

I have got my hair done for many special occasions in the past. None have I loved as much as the hair for my high school graduation. Seeing this picture is making me regret cutting my hair to the collarbone.
This half-up look was inspired by none other than the beautiful Julianne Hough:

My only instruction from that was "more curl" and to "cover the bobby pins", and that is what I got. I absolutely love the stylists at my hair salon. I basically go to three different ones. The one who cuts my hair I followed there from her old salon. I am not faithful to a company, I am faithful to a stylist. If someone can cut over six inches off my hair and I can still love my hair and them, they are worth keeping around, but I do have someone else who also cuts my hair. She is also one of the only people I will have color my hair. She managed to bleach it and dye it three times in one month to get it to a specific color without making my hair even look slightly damaged. She actually works at the company my other stylist switched from. The final stylist is the one who did the look in the picture above. Granted, she is not exactly gentle on the head, but she knows what to do to make your hair look amazing.
This has got to be one of my most favorite Julianne Hough hairstyles with her long hair before she cut it. I guess if she was an inspiration for my long hair, she might have been the muse for cutting my hair short. Hopefully when I go back to the salon in about a month to get my hair lightened, I do not use her as my muse otherwise I will end up looking like fried carrot.
Click here to read my next post on my ACTUAL muse, Miranda Kerr.

Until Next Time,

Samantha.

Nina Dobrev's Fitness Tips

If you are a die-hard Vampire Diaries fan like I am, you would love to know what keeps the lead actress, Nina Dobrev (Elena Gilbert), in such good shape. Well good to know that she tells Self magazine that she would never starve herself to be skinny. She even eats dessert.
Nina Dobrev works out four days a week. She loves to attend spin classes with her fellow co-star, Candice Accola, and the stunning British that we all love, The Originals star, Claire Holt. Running however, is something that Nina likes to do all by herself because it is her "me" time. She does not run for the fitness. She runs for the endorphins and energy that it gives her. Exercising outdoors is better for the soul, according to Nina Dobrev. That honestly does not surprise me coming from her. She is the one whose motto is "Breathe deep, and let things go", and ends nearly every tweet with "namaste". Is it any shock to you that she is a yoga-nut? Watching YouTube videos of Nina doing yoga are amazing. She does very intense and hard positions, which we of course need to work our way up to.

Her personal trainer, Steve Moyer, did a video with Popsugar TV's Fitness channel on YouTube to show us three moves that Nina loves to do. Apparently she loves to work her core: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYUIQrQGHgc

Nina is a big inspiration in my life. She is a kind hearted person, and works hard to keep her body in shape. She is truly beautiful on the inside and out. This is a reason I created this blog, is to help make people have as pure of hearts as hers and maintain a healthy lifestyle like her. 

- Samantha

Until Tomorrow, 

Namaste

Retro Bombshell: Brigitte Bardot

For those of you who do not know, Brigitte Bardot is a former French actress, singer and fashion model in the 1950's and 1960's. Her sexy bed head hair, and smudged eye liner had guys lined up at her doorstep. Do you blame them? She is a stunner. 

So today, I am going to let you in on the secrets achieved from Self Magazine as to how to achieve the "Brigitte Bardot look".
For Her Tousled Hair: 

Use a two inch barrel curling iron to create waves all around your head; holding each piece for fifteen to twenty seconds. Once the entire head is completed gently comb through your hair with your fingers to break apart the curls to give it more of a tousled, bed head look.

The "Smudged Makeup" Look with Sultry Lips:

For this look it is recommended that you use a jet-black gel eyeliner to achieve the best results. Now dab a liner brush into the gel eyeliner and apply a thick border all the way around the lash line, on both the top and bottom. It is probably best if you use a dark, smokey, eyeshadow for this look as well. Now that you have completed the eyeliner, it is time you apply the mascara very generously. Apply one coat to both the top and bottom lashes, and then apply another, and another, and another. You may even use false eyelashes if you want to complete the eye makeup. 

For Brigitte's look, her eyes are most definitely where all the attention goes, so that is the main part of the look. You do, however, still want those kissable and seductive lips. So as far as most of Brigitte's looks goes, I recommend using either a nude or baby pink color that is to your liking.