A Latte Lipstick

Archives for March 2016

Personal Style and a Polka Dot Clutch

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I have always enjoyed dressing like a “Business Woman.” Every chance I got as a little girl I would put on my mother’s off the shoulder polka dot dress and strut around with too big for me heels, pearls and a lipstick application gone wrong. From a young age, I had discovered the power of clothes and how various looks could make you feel so different. Clothes allow you to express yourself and portray distinct attitudes and vibes. How amazing is that? Some days I might be super bright, while other days, I like to go with a good neutral understated look. Your personal style is truly yours and you can change it as often as you like!
personal style

 

So when I am in my “Business Woman” mood, I adore this matching top and skirt. It’s simple to throw on and not think about because I know that it pairs perfectly together (it is a set, if you couldn’t tell.) 😉 You just have to love those carefree outfits that look a lot more impressive then they really are. Notice the neckline too, I just love it! Very Mad Men-esque.

 

personal style
personal style

 

Still keeping on trend with my younger self’s fashion sense, I love this polka dot clutch. It gives off the perfect vibe of a serious woman with things to do with a mix of fun. No one likes a too serious person, nor do they like a too serious outfit. This clutch adds the perfect amount of playfulness.

The skirt is pretty form fitting and just a tad short so I paired with some nice grey tights, which works perfectly when it’s chilly. Or, when the office is blasting freezing cold air.

personal style

No matter what look you wear most, remember that your personal style can change as much as you want! You don’t have to be constrained by one “look.” Keep people guessing! 🙂

How would you explain your personal style?

Kicking Booty in Les Mills Body Combat

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About a year in from my first certification as a Les Mills fitness instructor and I can 100 percent say that I have absolutely loved teaching these fitness classes and it was a great decision! Les Mills was founded in New Zealand in 1968 by the Mills clan. They are the most inspiring, athletic, active and perfect family! I don’t know for sure, but I think they might be born with a six pack. The Les Mills community is amazing and it’s incredible to connect with fellow instructors from all over the globe. As a class participant, how fun is it to know that people from Africa to Australia are doing the same exact classes as you? Pretty powerful!

I started my group fitness instructing journey teaching Body Pump and love this body changing weights class, not to mention the gained strength and muscle definition! This class is truly incredible how quickly it tones and gets you in shape without hurting your body. With all the fitness fads, I fear some are a little too intense to be long-term, realistic plan. Nothing against those intense classes, I think they’re awesome, but not everyone can do them forever and they can be dangerous if you don’t properly listen to your body and push yourself too hard, too fast. Les Mills group fitness classes are great for people of all ages, in all stages of their fitness journey. They’re realistic and have many different modifications for all fitness levels. My classes typically range from 17 years to 70 years. How amazing is that?!

 

A couple weekends ago, I began the certification process for Body Combat and couldn’t be more excited. It’s such an intense class that will get you sweating within the first track, or should I say “round?” There are a total of 8 rounds and you can burn up to 740 calories in one class.
Body Combat is a martial arts workout that includes Karate, Taekwondo, Boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira and Kung Fu. You throw endless punches and kicks and basically feel like a Bad B after leaving the workout. Dare someone to look at you in the wrong way!
Our instructor, on the left, was inspiring and definitely not someone to be messed with! She fooled you by being so sweet, but we quickly learned that you didn’t want to block for her! Similarly, another classmate was a a professional boxer who wanted to officially be certified in Les Mills Body Combat. She was fierce! I was thankful to get to learn from a great teacher, and get some tips from a pro boxer. Needless to say, my form was not quite there, but hey, you have to start somewhere!

Never ever be embarrassed to start something that you feel uncomfortable with, otherwise you’ll never learn anything new! How boring would that be?If you’re in the OKC area, I don’t have a class yet but am hoping to soon and will keep you posted on Facebook! Please join me sometime! 🙂

Have you tried Les Mills fitness classes? Which is your favorite?

Easy Spring Makeup Tutorial and Announcement!

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Happy first day of spring! I am so happy to welcome the new warmer temperatures and the longer days. It’s so nice to get out of work, or out of the gym, and still have a few minutes left of beautiful sunlight!

One thing I love most about the change of seasons is the opportunity to change up your wardrobe and your makeup! During fall and winter months, I typically keep with darker colors, while in the spring and summer I get a little more daring and bright! Who doesn’t love a great coral lip?

For the above look, I used simple, quick products to get this fresh face makeup look. As usual, I used Double Wear by Estee Lauder and then used Nars highlighter and coral blush. The coral blush adds just the right amount of spring feeling! Then for the lips, you can never go wrong with Covergirl’s lip balms so I finished the look by applying a coat, or two, of this coral balm.

Watch my YouTube video for the full look tutorial in detail!

Also, I have some exciting news everyone, next time I post, A Latte Lipstick will have a new look! All of the content will remain the same but I just wanted something fresh and was ready for a redesign! I am so so excited and want to give a shoutout to With Great Heart. She has been incredible to work with in this process. If you’re a blogger looking to make a design change, I would definitely look into her!

Have a great Sunday and a great start to your week!

Positivity and Luck

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day ladies! Are you wearing green? I sure hope so. Are you feeling lucky? I sure hope so.

It’s not about luck. It’s about feeling lucky.

I don’t believe that there is such thing as luck. You make your own luck. For instance, someone isn’t lucky they got that nice car, they worked hard for that car. Someone isn’t lucky that they have a good body, they sweated for that body. Someone isn’t lucky that they are happy all of the time, they chose to be happy. Basically, you can be as “lucky” as you want to be, how amazing is that? I totally concur with my friend Thomas Jefferson  –

A positive outlook changes everything in the “luck” department. It’s how you perceive your situation and what you do to make it happen, and that’s the secret. You are lucky to be healthy (you eat well and work out), you are lucky to have such caring friends (you are a good friend yourself), you are lucky to have a sweet puppy (you give her lots of treats and kisses).

Also, surround yourself with positive people. Find the people that are “lucky” and be friends with them, they already know the secret and you can live in a lucky world. I adored this post by Seth Godin discussing having friends that expect the best from you and fully expect you to succeed.

I do know that some of my friends are reading this laughing because I’m oddly superstitious and do like to collect lucky pennies. So I guess, I believe in just a titch of luck 😉

So go out and feel lucky, because you are!

Favorite Multi-Vitamin for Women

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Who takes vitamins? If you are new to the vitamin world, it can be quite overwhelming! The options are endless and then you also have to decide what you specifically need and what’s missing in your diet that you need to make up for in your vitamin. Don’t fret, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think and it may be best to just start out slow with one trusty multi-vitamin.

I have taken vitamins since I was a little girl. My dad always had us taking at least one multi-vitamin when we were younger. By the time I left for college, I swear I was taking like 10000000000 vitamins each day. Ha. When he set them out for me each morning, I was able to take them but now without my sweet father setting them out for me, I have begun to lose the habit and haven’t been regularly taking them. Having a million different vitamins is unreasonable for me at this time therefore, I made a deal with myself to at least take one multivitamin.

I am loving this Living Green Liquid Gel Multi for Women by Irwin Naturals. My video explains why I love it and about the other Texas Superfood pills I take sometimes too.

Hope you enjoyed the video! It was a little rough, bear with me here until I can make these nicer but I just wanted to get the first scary one out and done!

Do you take vitamins? What vitamins do you take?