Niacinamide Serum and Eyelash Enhancing Serum Review

I received these products in exchange for an honest review.

Hi all - Today's post is probably going to be my last for awhile. I'm working on removing stress from my life and this blog has definitely added to my stress. At the moment I don't have anything else immediately planned which I absolutely have to blog about. It just isn't as much fun anymore, either, with everything changing with Tomoson, Amazon's guidelines (I still don't know how I'm going to tackle those.) Additionally, I feel like I would really love to do nail art and blog about it and everything but in actuality my manicures usually last maybe a few minutes before getting ruined so it's just frustrating to try to do a picture perfect manicure when I know it's just going to be ruined shortly. Unnecessary stress. I'm still painting my nails of course, I just haven't felt like blogging about it. So at this point I don't know where I'll go with anything - I have a few books to blog about eventually but I'm not in a hurry to do so. I'm kind of just in a lump with everything in my life at the moment, honestly. 

Today I have two products from InstaNatural to share with you. I've worked with them before, so I and hopefully you, are at least a little familiar with them.

Niacinamide Serum Blurb:

InstaNatural’s Niacinamide Vitamin B3 Serum is a comprehensive skin care solution that works to soothe blemished skin, with additional benefits that include reducing the appearance of dark spots and hyperpigmentation. Our formula contains revitalizing nutrients such as 5% Vitamin B3, Aloe Vera, Avocado Oil and Hyaluronic Acid, which work to moisturize the skin for a soft and smooth feel. Perfect for all skin types and can be used on normal, dry, oily and sensitive skin.

+ Niacinamide works to reduce inflammation and redness caused by breakouts and blemishes
+ Reduces hyperpigmentation by lightening dark spots, age spots, and sun spots over time
+ Also diminishes post inflammatory hyperpigmentation left behind by acne
+ Daily application of this creamy moisturizing serum will enhance skin’s elasticity and minimize the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines
+ Promotes a bright and healthy complexion 

Eyelash Serum Blurb:

Our Eyelash Enhancing Serum is a clinically proven formula that can give ordinary looking brows and lashes a longer and more luxurious appearance in as little as 30 days. This advanced blend contains SymPeptide XLash that is clinically proven to lengthen and thicken hair follicles to give you a glamorous new look that lasts.

+ Our Eyelash Enhancing Serum is a blend of cutting-edge ingredients that visibly boost the natural length and thickness of eyelashes
+ Lengthens and plumps your lashes
+ With state-of-the-art SymPeptide XLash made with Pentapeptide-17, our serum offers professional-grade ingredients to help promote healthy eyelash growth
+ Our Eyelash Enhancing Serum doesn't just fill the spaces where your eyelashes are normally lacking; it fortifies the strands and the follicles themselves for a sleek and chic new look
+ Also adds volume to your eyebrows too, so you won't have to worry about using eyebrow fillers again.

Review:

I noticed within a few days of using the Niacinamide serum that my skin was looking more even, and I wasn't even aware of how uneven it looked until I used this. I think this serum definitely gave my skin a more youthful appearance. My skin is already pretty youthful and healthy looking, so I was surprised to notice a difference. I was hoping to just moisturize my skin more naturally.

I was expecting this serum to be more like an oil for some reason. However, from the picture you can tell it looks more like a moisturizer. I did use this in combination with a moisturizer, usually applying both in the morning and again at night. The only thing I didn't like about this product was that it left my skin feeling sticky. I had a burn on my arm which was drying out so I used this to rehydrate it, which worked well but it verified the stickiness of this product when used by itself.

My eyelashes are naturally pretty full so I wasn't sure if the serum would do much, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway just because I enjoy trying different products. I want to say I noticed a difference within about a week. My eyelashes seem fuller and look stronger. However, they also look rather uneven because some seem shorter than others. Hopefully with continued use, my eyelashes will even out or else maybe I just need to try to use this serum on the shorter lashes for awhile to get them caught up. This product is pretty simple to use, you just apply it as you would mascara so I think it would be a possibility to do this. You're also supposed to be able to use this serum to grow out your eyebrows but I already have very bushy eyebrows so I did not use it in that manner. I would recommend this product to anyone who has naturally thin or short eyelashes or just wants a fuller look.

Both of these products are available from InstaNatural on Amazon. The Niacinamide serum is available for $15.15 for a 2 fluid ounce bottle. The eyelash serum is $26.57.

They offer these bonus codes as well when you buy multiple items from them.

• Save 25% on InstaNatural's Eyelash Growth Serum when you purchase 1 or more of InstaNatural's Youth Express Eye Gel (1.7 oz). Enter code BLINK025 at checkout.
• PURCHASE ANY 2 (QTY.) INSTANATURAL PRODUCTS AND GET 5% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE! Enter code INSTA002 at checkout. 
• PURCHASE ANY 3 (QTY.) INSTANATURAL PRODUCTS AND GET 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE! Enter code INSTA003 at checkout. 
• PURCHASE ANY 5 (QTY.) INSTANATURAL PRODUCTS AND GET 15% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE! Enter code INSTA005 at checkout.
• PURCHASE ANY 6 (QTY.) INSTANATURAL PRODUCTS AND GET 20% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE! Enter code INSTA006 at checkout.

Makeup and nail polish organization

I mentioned recently how I went through and tossed all of my makeup which had expired. I normally keep it all in a shoebox size Sterilite container. I had it organized by keeping like items in a different cosmetic bag which thanks to Ipsy was pretty easy to do.

The problem with this is it was always put away out of sight. I'm the kind of person who needs stuff in sight and organized otherwise I just won't think to use it. Thus the reason I had huge piles of expired cosmetics. 

For my birthday I decided to get myself a makeup storage container. This is the one I went with. It's $15.99 on Amazon. I think I'm going to get another one at some point to keep some of my nail stuff in as well.

It has two large drawers which at the moment I'm using to store all of my beauty samples. It also has two smaller drawers. The one on the left I'm using to keep random cosmetics which don't fit in the top piece. The right drawer I'm keeping any products which I still have to review for Ipsy or just any other product review beauty items. This way I know to use those first. 

The top part comes off of the base so you could keep them in different places which I suppose is nice. It has little areas where you can store multiple lipsticks or eyeliners and so on. I have my stuff organized in order of application because I'm silly like that. So I have my primer and luminizer then blush then mascara then lip color then eyeliner. You can store lots of eyeliners in this which is nice because I like using different colors all the time. The back compartment is bigger so I keep a few eye shadows there. Of course there's room for my different brushes and cotton swabs and what not. 

I've definitely been doing my makeup more often since I bought this so its just kind of part of my routine now. I know I'm silly. 

I also got myself a little nail polish shelf which I plan to use to keep my newer polishes so I try those out first. It's a bit bent up looking but it serves it's purpose. It's just nice to have a few of my polishes out on display. This shelf is $18.99 on Amazon.

Hopefully with these out too I will do my nails more often. 

I got my new Ipsy bag today and while talking to my sister in law about it I got the idea to use my old bags to keep my nail art supplies in. It works pretty well and I always have too many bags so now I just have to wait to get more bags to keep the remaining oddball items in. 

Here's my bag. 

I'm pretty happy with the lip color so far. I do wish they would stop sending me eyeliners and brushes. At least they sent me a blush brush with the blush and contouring set. But I also don't need any more blush. I'm definitely going to have to practice contouring as it seem tricky. I'm excited to try the facial mask soon. Always love masks. 

Lastly in an effort to keep tabs on everything I'm now writing down anytime I open makeup along with the expiration date so I know what to use up first. I'm also making note of any Ipsy items I need to review. Got to earn those points. 

How do you keep your makeup or polish? Any suggestions for making certain you use all of your nail art supplies? Let me know in the comments. 

Control Your Clutter! e-book by Theresa Smith Review

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

 I will never be one of those people who live in what looks like a Martha Stewart dream home. I like neat and organized but lived in. At the same time, I'm the person who on Christmas day or my birthday, tries to find a home for all of my new things the very second I'm done opening them. I've always found holidays very stressful and it's no wonder I feel that way, when clutter bothers me so much. This past Christmas was both a blessing and a curse. I was still trying to find homes for all of the presents we received when we got married. Come Christmas we got an extra large number of presents most of which I had to try to find homes for in my tiny little kitchen which was already jam packed. It hasn't been easy. To make matters worse, I've spent the past few years with extra fatigue than normal. The past year or so I've been getting sick or sporting an injury or just something almost every single month. My home was no longer a home, but a big fat mess. Fortunately or unfortunately with my husband getting sick as well the past few months, while he was looking for a new job he was doing a lot of my normal chores which allowed me to both rest from the overtraining I now know I did, but also focus more on other areas of cleaning and decluttering the house which I normally don't tackle so much. It's taken awhile but I finally feel like I'm getting stronger and I'm at a good place with my physical activity where I do have more energy most days. I'm not sweating just by doing the cleaning around the house and feeling better because I'm not doing too much for my body. The house is finally coming back together, and getting decluttered and clean so of course I'm feeling better because of this as well. I still have a few hot spots, but I know with time I'll get to those as well. I told my husband several weeks ago, I thought this would be the year I finally get our clutter under control and it seems I was right.

The book I am going to review today has been one tool I've used to help declutter my home. The other is http://flylady.net/ which helps me stay on track with my cleaning.

Blurb:

This book is Control Your Clutter! You don't have to get rid of EVERYTHING! Even hoarders will succeed with this method! by Theresa Smith

It is a quick read at 52 pages.

This book focuses on helping people control their clutter without making them feel like you are taking everything away from them. This alone often helps remove the anxiety involved so they can get started. Just the idea that there is an alternative to selling or tossing their stuff helps many people succeed.

Review:
I feel like this book is a very good starting part for helping people get their clutter under control. It definitely seemed to help me get back on track in just a few weeks. There are a few small points I don't agree on with the author, but that's just me.

I'm not sure how much this would help hoarders since I'm not one and don't really have much experience with them, but it's a start. The problem I see with this helping hoarders is, the author's method allows you to keep some things. With the hoarder mentality, they can rationalize why they need every little thing so I'm not sure how much this would help. Being poor, I can definitely relate to that mentality of having to save things, though.

This book is easy to read and follow. I like that it's broken down by room, so that makes it easy to focus on one area at a time and get things under control. Once you get one area clutter free it becomes addictive and makes it easier to tackle the rest, or at least for me.

I never realized how few storage places I have in my home until I read this book, so it's no wonder I deal with clutter. That in itself I found interesting as I read along, keeping track of the lack of storage others have and probably take for granted. I have to be more creative because of this!

I would recommend this book mostly for people who aren't entirely organized because it should help get some things under control. I will also recommend it for people especially with mild levels of clutter because it seems to me it would help them more.

Control Your Clutter! is available on Amazon for free with Kindle Unlimited or $2.99 as an ebook. It is also available for $7.99 in paperback.