personal | back to school

I start my senior year of college on Wednesday, and I am so happy! For one, sometimes I just get bored and have nothing to do once the chores are done and the baby is asleep. Now I will have homework to do during those situations. I am also just excited and proud of myself for sticking with school even though many thought I wouldn't. Not a lot of young moms continue school after having a baby. Luckily I had the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, which is the main reason why I am able to continue school. If it wasn't for the support of my family, my boyfriend's family, and of course, my boyfriend, I don't think I would have been able to even start my senior year of college. Now I am a bit behind, so I might have to take classes over the winter and possibly a class or two in the summer, but I am confident that I will be a college graduate by the end of 2014!

review | olay fresh effects shine minimizing cleanser

I recently received the Paradise VoxBox from Influenster with a couple of items to review, one of them being the Olay Fresh Effects Shine Minimizing Cleanser. I started using it the same night I received it, excited to try it since I have seen it at Target, just never picked it up. 

It claims to help control shine and act like a mask but work like a cleanser. I am somebody who absolutely love mask, just don't have the time to use them. When I think of a mask, I think of relaxation, and lets face it, there is very little relaxing going on being a stay at home mom of a 12 month old and full time student. Very rarely do I get to use a mask, so I was pretty excited to give this a try.

The cleanser is grey with a fruity scent and it reminds me a lot of a cleanser I used when I was younger.  It is sort of like a cream, but not exactly. When I tried this cleanser, I had a couple of blemishes. I tried the cleanser Monday night and it definitely felt like I had applied a mask for 30 minutes. My face felt very clean and refreshed, but not dried. When I woke up Tuesday morning, my face was clearer, but it is not a miracle cleanser, so I still had a few blemishes. On Tuesday, I decided to test it for shine control. I washed my face around noon with it and checked continuously throughout the day for shine. It definitely helped with the shine, something I suffer with on my T-zone, but I didn't wear any makeup. However, it was pretty hot, so I guess that something. 

This cleanser is something I will definitely repurchase in the future. It makes my face feel like I have pampered it, but only did a routine face wash. Something I would definitely recommend.

Have you tried this product or anything from this line? What are you thoughts?

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Not sure where this is going to head

I have tried blogging a couple of times before, but always stopped for one reason or another. I'm not sure exactly why, honestly, because I enjoyed writing and reading blogs. Let's see what happens this time around.

My name is Esty, as you can tell from the name of this blog. I am a young mom in her last year of college and currently a stay at home, but looking for a job related to my major. I live in NYC, but am hoping to move somewhere else after I have established a career, or hopefully sooner. I love makeup, beauty, and my family. My blog will consist of anything related to that, or maybe some random bits and peaces here and there.

I am hoping to make some friends I can relate to and just have some sort of outlet with this blog. Hope this can be the start of something great! :)