This time of year is all about enhancing your natural beauty with simple and healthy products. Heat and makeup just don't mix, so leave the heavy, full-coverage foundations and drying lippies on your vanity and try my new fave finds - the Burt's Bees makeup range!

After using these products for about a week, here are my thoughts on them and swatches of each shade...​

This past Saturday, I got to celebrate Isabella's Sweet 16 with my family and friends!
(You all first saw my cousin Bella in the Fairytale Hair post).
It is rare to have all members of my big, Cuban/Italian family in one room, but it is always a night to remember when we are together.

All the ladies spent hours getting glam for the special night - and here is what I kept in my clutch to make sure we all kept our looks on-point and photo-ready up until the very last dance.

When I was a little girl, I was always told how much I looked like Drew Barrymore. Ever since, I have had a soft spot for her, and in turn, supported her every venture -
​which is why I was so excited to finally try her cosmetic range, Flower Beauty.

This high-quality range, to my surprise, is currently sold exclusively at Walmart and online. When reading up on the company, I came to find that the reason their products are so affordable is because they don't spend money on advertising, leaving all of their resources for the perfection of their formulas. This, I thought, was an interesting angle, and one that I seldom (if ever) see used by cosmetic companies. Another plus? These products are made in the USA and are not tested on animals. Go Drew!

Here is my haul and in-depth review on my new makeup steals...

​I always dreamt of how my life might have been if I lived in the age of my grandmother, or even my great-grandmother. A bustling Harlem that lit up as soon as the sun went down, or the roaring world gilded by the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald (before he was a legend in his own right). Shoulders draped in exotic furs (I'd like to think they were faux, this is my dream after all), or dancing in a sea of red-lipped women trying to get a glimpse at the ever-handsome Elvis Presley.

The 20s all the way through the 50s seemed like quite a time to be alive.
And though each decade had its problems, I can't help but fantasize how each might have been.

Aside from dreaming, here are a few ways to add that touch of glamour and sparkle into your everyday life...

Although I'm quite the beauty product hoarder (as you might imagine), coconut oil is the one thing that could replace more than half of the products I use in my everyday routine. Seriously.
​It's a health conscious, minimalist's dream - and a single jar, selling for just under $10, lasts forever.
(I currently use Ziggy Marley Organics' Coco'Mon Original Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil).