January 2020 – The Hustlin’ Homemaker

Reading Wrap Up | January

Hello! It’s the end of the month, which means I have three book reviews to share with you! Here’s what I read in the month of January.

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

This book was a fun beachy type read; it was a lighthearted love story about a divorced mother of a teenager who falls in love with a pop star. She and her daughter go to the bands’ concert and she meets the lead singer and feels an instant connection, but you know, he’s like twenty years old.

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I’m pretty sure that everyone and their mom read this last year. It was on so many lists and won a lot of awards, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. This is a coming of age story about a girl that lives alone in a swamp, and also kind of a murder mystery. This book did live up to the hype; it was a really good story, but no really big twist at the end or anything like that. I can see a movie being made after this. It was really good.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

I had been waiting to get my hands on this new book for awhile, so I was really excited to read it. This is about an adopted girl who finds out that she has inherited a house from her late biological parents. The story is about the weird things that happened in that house and why she was adopted. This book was just ok for me, there weren’t any really big twists and I kind of lost interest. I don’t know why it was called The Family Upstairs either, and I couldn’t figure that out. I prefer Lisa Jewell’s other novels to this one.

What have you been reading lately?

xx amy

JANUARY Beauty Faves

Hello! It is the end of January, which means it is time for a new batch of FAVES! Here is what I’ve been loving this month.

My first favorite is this pink nail color from Essie. This is called One Way For One, from the recent Flying Solo collection. This is a beautiful hot pink color with a golden pearl sheen. Sooooo pretty.

Next, a matte rosy blush color from Clinique called Rosy Pop. I love this line of blush colors. They are so pretty, long wearing, and I love the packaging. Here is a swatch.

Lastly for makeup, THE best liquid liner. This is the Stila Stay All Day liner. This liner is a super matte black color, and the pointy felt tip makes it so easy to use. I don’t use this every day, but when I want to do my makeup FANCY, I use this. It really does stay put.

Lots of haircare faves this month!

So, Pureology is some of the best haircare out there. This line is the Strength Cure line, and not only does it smell amazing, but I love how much the shampoo lathers up. It doesn’t have sulfates, but it produces so many bubbles and my hair feels so clean after using it. The conditioner is equally good, it leaves my hair so so soft. If you feel like splurging, try this!

Next is my favorite hairspray, Paul Mitchell’s Hot Off the Press. This hairspray provides a light, touchable hold. I use this in my hair when I curl or wave it, and it keeps the style, but it’s not crunchy. I can still run my fingers through my hair when I use this. It smells good, too.

Lastly, my trusty Wet Brush. We have six of these bad boys between my girls and I. Having two girls with long hair, and myself, we have a lot of tangles, and the Wet Brush really helps. It is better than a comb because it doesn’t pull the hair and it detangles easily. We also use these on our dry hair. They come in tons of colors. Love them.

So, that’s it for my faves! What have you been loving this month?

xx amy

Top 5 | Accessories From AMAZON

You guys must like shopping on Amazon. I get great feedback from my Amazon posts, so I decided to share more things from the popular retailer! This post is not sponsored (I wish!).

I don’t really like buying clothes from Amazon. I prefer to shop in person (shopping is my cardio) because I always have to try things on and I don’t like having to send things back. With that being said, I DO like to buy accessories on Amazon. Sometimes when you go to Nordstrom or a big store like that, you find a trendy piece that you love, but it’s way overpriced. Amazon has amazing things that can give you the same type of look!

So here are my faves!

1. Acrylic Earrings

These type of earrings are really trendy right now, so I have three pairs that I found on Amazon for super cheap. I love to wear statement earrings, but I don’t want to spend a ton of money on them. These all come in a bunch of different colors!

Pearl and gold pair here. Under $10!

Multicolor ones here. Under $10!

Tortoise hoops here.

2. Invisibobble Hair Ties

These are the only hair ties I use anymore. They come in lots of pretty colors, they really hold up my ponytail (and I have super thick hair), and they don’t leave a crease in my hair when I take it down. Love these!

Get them here.

3. No-Show Socks

Do socks count as an accessory? I just had to mention my favorite socks to wear. I wear these with almost all of my shoes, and they are so comfy and they don’t show. They also have grippers on the heel so they never slide off my foot. I get the pack with gray, black, and white.

Get them here.

4. Black Aviator Sunglasses

I have some designer sunglasses that I love, but I like to have a lot of options, so sometimes I buy some fun ones on Amazon. My favorite pair are these black aviators. They are oversized and I think they look really cool. They definitely cover my dark circle eyes at school drop off in the morning!

Couldn’t find exact ones, but similar here.

5. Hair Clips

These statement hair clips are really in style right now, and they were really hard to find in stores a few months back. I love how Amazon has huge packs of them with all different colors and sizes, and they are so much cheaper than in store! You don’t have to pay a lot to try out this trendy look.

Pearl ones here.

Multi/tortoise ones here.

Gold ones here.

Do you like buying accessories on Amazon?

NEW Essie Expressie Quick Dry Nail Color | Review

Essie released a new collection and formula of nail polish, so I had to try it out! Essie is my favorite nail polish to buy, they always have the best colors. I also love how well it stays on and the brush applicator.

The new formula is called ExprESSIE. Clever. It is supposed to be a quick-drying nail color that dries nails in one minute flat.

I chose this gorgeous pinky-purple color, called In The Time Zone, but there are 40 other colors to choose from!

The packaging is different, the bottle is longer lengthwise than the regular Essie bottles, and the wand is slightly bent with the same brush applicator. I love the brush applicator because it is thick, and only requires one or two swipes to coat the nail.

I swiped my nails with acetone (crucial to keeping polish on longer) and applied two coats of the polish. It went on nice and smoothly, and would have been completely opaque with three coats, but I stopped at two. It actually DID dry in one minute. By the time I started the second coat, the first coat was dry. It dries a lot faster than the regular Essie formula. Since I was trying this out for the first time, I didn’t apply a top coat, I just wanted to see how this would wear.

I really like this polish, and think that if you need a quick drying nail color, this is for you!

Have you tried this? Do you like Essie polishes?

Thanks for reading xx

The LIP Edit | Collection and FAVES

Hello!!! Today I have a super fun post all about lippies! I want to share my current and decluttered lip collection- which is basically just all of my faves. I don’t collect makeup anymore, so my collection is very small. It takes me FOREVER to use up a lip product, so I hardly ever buy them. I only have what I love.

Here’s everything!

So, as you can probably tell, I am a nude, my-lips-but-better type of girl. You won’t find any bold or bright colors here…I’m just not that adventurous.

Let’s start off with lip pencils.

From l to r: Bond Girl, Pillow Talk, 14C

Charlotte Tilbury makes the best lip pencils. They WILL NOT BUDGE.

Charlotte Tilbury in Bond Girl – a really natural pink berry color.

Charlotte Tilbury in Pillow Talk – the perfect pinky nude color.

Make Up For Ever’s 14C – a pink/rose nude color.

Next up, lipsticks/lip balms.

From l to r: Confetti, Syrup, Rose

Winky Lux Glimmer Balm in Confetti – a shimmery “mood balm” that adjusts to a pink color. It is so pretty.

MAC Syrup – my favorite lipstick of all time. This is a lustre formula, so it’s sheer but buildable, and it’s moisturizing and shiny. I love it. Total my-lips-but-better.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Rose – a sheer red tinted lip balm. I have used this for YEARS (it was my first blog post in 2013!)and it’s so moisturizing and smells so good.

Lastly, the GLOSSES. Glosses are my favorite!