Monday, December 30, 2013

Video: Black Friday Haul!!! How to Coupon!



Sorry I haven't uploaded in 2+ weeks! My temporary hiatus was part "omg it's finals week and I've had 5 hours of sleep in the past 3 days", "it's almost Christmas time and I'm stressed and have a crap ton to do," and a little bit of iMovie not cooperating. Enjoy this haul!

xox, Elle

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Video: Healthy Food Haul- Happy Haul-idays Ep. 5!



Today's haul video is up around lunch time since it's food related! My Fitness Diary post will be up soon- I have to finish writing after my last class of the semester, woooo! Enjoy!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Video: Collective Ulta, Outlet Mall, CCO, Drugstore Haul: Happy Haul-idays Ep. 4!



This video almost didn't upload today, but then a miracle happened and it did at the last minute. Watch to see what I got at the Outlet Mall, MAC, Ulta, etc.!

Care Package Unboxing: OCM.com Finals Week Survival Kit

Hey everyone!

This is the 3rd care package my parents signed up to send me from this brand, OCM.com, which I don't know that much about. I thought it would be fun to show pictures of the unboxing and show what was in the box, in case you're here wondering whether or not to get your kids these for college, you're a college student wanting to ask for them, or you're my parents wondering what the heck you just paid for. Let's get started!

What the box looked like. Very cute packaging! 

The box had cute motivational sayings all over it!

First look. The products seemed to be wrapped in a burlap bag! How creative.

Here's what the burlap bag was- an ENTIRE BAG filled with coffee-related items! I love anything caffeinated, and the pouch itself was very cute, so I was super duper excited for this part.

Everything that was in the coffee bag! 3 Maxwell House instant coffee packets, 3 packets of Domino's sugar (a nice touch!), 1 packet of spiced apple cider, 1 Kool Aid instant singles pouch, a travel mug, 3 Stash teabags, 2 Swiss Miss w/ marshmallows packets, and 3 Swiss Miss milk chocolate hot chocolate packet. These will not go to waste with me around!

Close up of what was in the coffee bag!


This was what was left in the box after I took out the burlap bag- lots of snacks and candy! But what is under that mysterious piece of cardboard?

All of the snacks that were in the middle layer of the box! Wheat Thins, Chex Mix, cereal to go, Rice Krispies, Dum dums, Tootsie Rolls, Twizzlers (my all time fave), the list goes on! Some are a little smaller than a single serve size, but I'm a terribly often snacker so maybe it's for the best. Hah.

A close-up of some of the things I'm most excited for! Spearmint Chiclet gum, Nutella to go...

Mysterious packaging...what could it be!? My first guess was a bunch of super fragile Christmas ornaments haha.

The big mystery was FRESH FRUIT! I was so surprised to see this...and also excited because I love oranges and green apples, and I'm sure I'll end up devouring the red apples too. 

Not exactly an info card, but here's the card that comes with it! Haha, very cute

Here's absolutely everything that was in the box! It was very jam-packed, with the travel mug (which came in perfect time, because all my mugs are dirty and I'm too lazy to wash them this week, hehe), fruit, coffee bag, travel Nutella, etc.!

This was definitely a huge box that was very diverse and exciting! I have pictures from the other 2 boxes before this that I can put up as well if you'd all like! I'd love to share, and it could be like a mini series (: It looks like I'll definitely be surviving finals week this time around! Someone could definitely have had no other snacks in their room prior to receiving this box and be able to survive with all of the stuff in here- there's so much!

Thanks so much for reading! Let me know how you like this kind of care package post (:
xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger

FTC: This is not a sponsored or paid post, but thanks mom and dad for sending this one along!


Saturday, December 7, 2013

Fitness Diary Day 1: Finals Week Fitness

HEY EVERYONE! I've been on a fitness kick and it has been a very healthy week, so I wanted to do a little diary entry-type blogpost explaining my goals, inspiration, and the workouts I've been doing so I can keep track of my progress, maybe offer some inspiration or advice, and have you guys to support me and I'll support you back! The more of you that comment on and read these posts, the more inspired I'll be, and if you have similar blogs I'm very willing to check them out! So here we go, Fitness Diary Day 1!

Why am I doing this?
Well....I don't think I gained the freshmen 15, although my butt was looking a little bigger than usual these past few months. It's really my injury (I sprained my foot and my ankle), and being on crutches and in a wheelchair for the past 2 months, that I think really made me gain the weight. (A lot of my blogposts recently have been about my daily struggles and my healing process, so please go check them out!) I went to the doctor over Thanksgiving break (yes, before the feast) and found out that I weighed 10-15 pounds more than I usually do. I've never gained that much weight in such a short amount of time in my entire life, so I've been a little humiliated about it. Instead of being upset and grumpy about it, I've decided to do something about it. My physical therapist cleared me to go to the gym and do things like ellipticals at my last appointment, and I've been itching to go to the gym for my entire injury, so off I was today!

It's also about to be the start of finals (mine start Thursday), so I have tons of nervous energy about that that I'd rather get out in the form of exercise than eating everything in my room. I've just had a lot of energy in general lately as well, because I've been unable to move for so long. I also was able to walk across campus without my crutches today - I've been taking just 1 crutch with me for long cross-campus journeys lately, but today I got myself up the hill to a cappella practice without it, and I was thrilled, so I just kept going!!!

What did I wear to the gym?
My friend Emily said my skin looked really clear today when I wasn't wearing makeup (thank you St. Ives Green Tea scrub!), so I didn't want to jinx it, plus exercising with foundation on probably isn't the best for your skin, so I went bare-faced, after I moisturized my skin and put on a Color Whisper lip balm. It made my lips look shiny and had a little bit of sparkle, so I didn't feel completely naked.

For my hair, I just French-braided it to keep my hair out of my face, and had a lace-and-elastic headband that looked a little fancy that I put on to keep away flyaways. Surprisingly, all of my hair stayed put the entire time I was there.

For clothes, I wore some athletic, smooth-fabric leggings that I got at JC Penney, ankle socks, the New Balance sneakers that I've been wearing everyday for support for my injury, 2 sports bras (none of mine have padding and my boobs are on the erm...jiggly-er side....so Miranda thought it would be a good idea for me to double up. I need a new one for Christmas that actually has support! Does anyone have suggestions about where to find such a thing?), and a boxy t-shirt that I sometimes wear to bed. I was getting suuuuper hot while working out, and probably had some horrendous pit stains, so next time I think I'll wear a wife-beater style tank top. God knows I have plenty.


The work-out: 
I originally planned to be there for 45 minutes, 15 minutes on 3 different machines. I ended up being there for about 1 hour and 10 minutes...I always surprise and out do myself once I actually get on the machines! Here are the workout summaries from the machines: 

The Bicycle

I started out on the seated bicycle, to ease into it for my foot's sake. I ended up spending 20 minutes on this machine, instead of 15, and I burned 99 calories and went 3.47 miles! Whew! The resistance was pretty high, so my legs definitely felt like they were building muscle.


Arc Trainer Elliptical

I actually did two rounds on this one because it's my favorite, and once wasn't enough. I put my goal as 175 calories, which I got to pretty fast. The above two pictures are from the first time on this machine. I burned 175 calories, went .95 miles, and my average spins per minute was 116! I can't remember and it's not in the picture, but I think this workout took me around 20 minutes. I put it on the "Glute Camp" workout because I have a thing for improving my butt. The inclination goes up and down the entire time, so you have some variety to keep you interested.




Arc Trainer round two

On my second round of this, I set the time for 15 minutes, went .77 miles, and burned 134 calories! I burned about 40 calories per 5 minutes, and then the last 2 minutes were a cool down. I was going pretty fast this time around, and my average spins per minute was higher, at 138.





Treadmill

I was pretty exhausted after 35 minutes on the elliptical, but I decided to do a slow cool down on the treadmill. I had it at a pretty steep inclination for the benefit of my butt, which was around 9.0 as you can see in the first blurry picture. The highest I went was a speed of 3.5, which was like extreme fast walking. I don't usually run or jog on treadmills anyways, just walk really fast, and especially with my foot I didn't want to push it. I was just going to do 5 minutes, but I was having fun so I ended up doing 8 minutes, had an average speed of 3.0, went .4 miles, and burned 62 calories. They were kind of like free calories because it wasn't very hard work at all

Total workout summaries:
Total distance gone: 5.59 miles (WOW)
Total time: 63 minutes or 1 hour and 3 minutes.
Total calories burned: 470 - that might be an all-time per gym trip record for me! WOOOO!

My goal is to go everyday this week while it's finals, since I probably won't have gym access at home, unless I re-activate my membership which I'm sure will be a pain in the ass. The exception will be tomorrow, since I'm packed with mandatory things all day long! (Unless I wake up at around 9 and go...hmm...), so maybe that's why I went extra hard today!

But the workout doesn't end there folks...
I power walked back to my dorm since it's freezing out tonight, and did my ab routine. I did a little extra than I usually do, and you can compare my usual routine to tonight's below:


Regular ab routine (I've done it about 3 nights this week): this usually only takes me the length of one song, so 3-4 minutes

15 regular crunches
15 crunches to right
15 crunches to left
*Stretch out*
7 criss crosses

Today's ab routine: it took me about the length of 2 songs, so 5-6 minutes

15 regular crunches
15 crunches to left (right elbow touches left knee)
*Stretch out*
15 crunches to right (left elbow touches right knee)
15 regular crunches
*Stretch out*
15 criss crosses (lying flat on your back, you point your toes and cross your legs over each other repeatedly until your body is at a 90 angle, and then you cross them again until they're just about to hit the floor- the lower you go, the stronger the stretch. Up and down once counts as 1)
*Stretch out*
Sitting up at a 90 degree angle, I did 15 crunches laying my body flat down on my legs. (I'm not sure how much exercise this really is, but my muscles definitely felt stretched doing it!)

The gym was practically empty when I got there, which I took a panorama of. A few more people joined me on the top floor as time went on, though.


I think that's it for today! I had a few more topics I wanted to talk about, but since this is long enough already, I'll just include them in the post next time I do a Fitness Diary post- hopefully tomorrow or Monday! I picked up a salad on the way home, even though I wasn't hungry after my workout at all. I've barely eaten all day, so that's weird. It's in my fridge though, for whenever I want a midnight snack. 

What is your workout like when you go to the gym/ if you do one at home? LET ME KNOW, we can be virtual gym buddies <3


I also uploaded a beauty video today on my channel!


Thank you SO much for reading!
xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger



Video: How To Curl Your Hair With A Straightener

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I thought I'd take a break from all of the Happy Haulidays video I've been posting this week since it's the weekend! I also don't usually upload on the weekends, so enjoy the treat (: Here's my first ever hair tutorial, I hope you guys enjoy! Request any others you'd like to see in the comments section.

xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger

Friday, December 6, 2013

Video: Mall & Target Haul! Clothes & Beauty- Happy Haul-idays Ep. 3!



Here's my third episode of Happy Haulidays! Come see what I bought at the mall and Target! Lots of makeup and clothing, so there's something for both my beauty girls and my fashionistas to enjoy alike!

Thanks for your support! <3
xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger

How to Get the Naked 3 For Under $40! Couponing Lesson #1

JUST A SUPER QUICK couponing lesson for a makeup product that's super hot on the market right now, and how you can get it for CHEAP! (even though it's brand new and you typically can't use coupons on new Naked palettes!)

Long story short: the Naked 3 palette by Urban Decay has been sold out for weeks on the UD website and I've been trying to get my hands on it like you wouldn't believe. I just got an email saying Sephora finally has it in stock online (will be in their stores Dec 12th!) so I hopped on it because I knew some great deals were going on right now!

The Naked 3 palette retails for $52 no matter where you get it. It's like Uggs- once the market price is set, it's prettttty hard to get it for any less.

Step One: I went to eBates.com because I knew that Sephora was having 8.0% cash back right now. That means, at the end of the quarter, 8% of whatever you spend on your Sephora purchase will be mailed back to you in a check! Sweet, right?

Step Two: I put the palette in my cart, and at checkout I entered the promo code SUSPENSE for the Cyber Monday mystery sample bag with 5 samples in it. I'm surprised they still had this in stock by Cyber Friday! There are lots of other promo codes for free deluxe samples I could've used, but this one sounded like the biggest bang for my buck.

Step Three: If you are a Sephora Beauty Insider (their free rewards card- these coupons aren't even for the higher up level of members, the VIBs, so literally if you gave them your email and signed up you should've gotten one), they sent out their annual rewards gift card coupon in the mail last weekend. It's basically a coupon for $15 off a $50 purchase, and since Sephora stuff rarely goes on sale and they rarely have coupons, this is an offer I wanted to take advantage of! You can use these from Dec. 4- Dec. 15!

*I also had an actual Sephora gift card, but I couldn't use that AND the promotional gift card, so I decided to go for the discount and save my gift card for something I'd have to fork over full price for in the future, since the coupons are for a limited time only and the gift card doesn't expire.

Step Four: That's it! Here's the total:

Merchandise subtotal (includes 3 free samples w/ every order and the mystery bag): $52.00
Shipping (free w/ $50 order): FREE
Gift card (coupon): -$15.00
Total paid: $40.64

But don't forget...
Cash back from eBates (I calculated it off of the merchandise subtotal- discount): -$2.96
What I REALLY will end up paying (after cash back check): $37.68

Noooot bad for a palette that will never go on sale!

Want more couponing lessons? What tricks do you have? Will you go get anything with your Sephora gift card coupons?

Thanks SO much for reading!
xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Video: Mini Sephora Haul: Happy Haul-idays Ep. 1



Hey all! I'm starting a mini series of haul videos! It's Haul Week, All Week. Happy Haul-idays! I have so many hauls to put up by the end up the year, so I thought I'd do them all together! I'm still going to have other types of videos thrown in there in between hauls, so don't worry- you're not stuck with them for the rest of the year! (but there WILL be plenty of them for those of you that like them! Wooo!)

I'll be uploading a lot from now until the end of the year since I have lots of slightly older videos I want to get out of the way so I can start fresh with making new ones next year! All of this is as long as finals don't get in the way, of course :-)

I hope you enjoy ! Leave me comments telling me what you think about this idea!

xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Get Ready With Me: Homecoming Hair & Makeup

Hey everyone!

I recently uploaded a video showing you guys how I got ready for homecoming, with my hair, makeup, dress, and perfume choice! If you want to know a little secret, it's actually from my senior year homecoming dance last fall, but it took me a whole year to find the footage (oops) and finally get it all together for this year's homecoming season! A lot of high schools have probably had theirs already, but the one at my college is actually next weekend, so hopefully I'm in time for at least some of you!



Here are some pictures of my final look before I list out all of the hair and makeup products I used:




Not to toot my own horn, but I really liked the look I ended up with- almost vintage Hollywood glam, with the soft, almost retro-style waves, and the navy with lace, Kate Middleton-style dress I chose.

For makeup, which you can see more up close in the video, I used:

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel (holy grail!)
Clinique Moisture Surge Tinted Moisturizer- Shade 01
Sonia Kashuk Flat-topped Duo Fiber Brush
Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Airbrushed Pressed Powder (too sparkly for my taste)
Physician's Formula Healthy Wear Powder Foundation- Translucent Light
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion- Original
Avon Ultra Luxury Brow Pencil- Light Golden Brown (holy grail!)
Maybelline Great Lash Clear Brow Gel
L'oreal Mineral Concealer Powder (not the right name)
Maybelline Dream Lumi Concealer (awesome stuff! Why didn't I bring it to college with me???)
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette
Maybelline Master Precise Pen Liquid Eyeliner- Black (crying over the fact that I lost this- another holy grail!)
Lancome Definicils Mascara- Black (love)
Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara- Soft Black (holy grail of holy grails)
EOS Lip Balm- Summer Fruit
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain- Darling

For my hair, I used:
(P.S. YES I forgot to use a heat protectant....I usually always use one so that was weird!)

Remington Curling Wand
Suave Extreme Hold Hairspray (pink can- love this stuff, it's practically scentless)
Hair clips from Claire's 

My perfume was: 

Violet Eyes by Elizabeth Taylor

I hope you loved the video as much as I loved making it for you! I had a really great time that night and loved my look, so I'm super happy I filmed this! 

Here are some other videos I've done that you might need for this Homecoming season!






Thanks for reading, and Happy Homecoming! It's one of my most favorite times of year (:

What does your homecoming dress this year look like? How about your makeup?

xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com


Video: ♡Get Ready With Me: Homecoming Hair & Makeup♡



Brand new video live on my makeup channel! This has been uploaded for probably over a month now and it took me forever to edit, but I accidentally kept it private all this time (I was waiting to make sure there were no copyright issues because I've been having a lot of those lately! Even though I have written permission....gah!) So long story short, I accidentally forgot to make this live until TODAY! It's really, honestly, one of my favorite videos ever because my look was gorgeous and one of my favorites, and I found beautiful music that goes with it perfectly.

Please watch it and let me know what you think!

Here's the post where I list out all of the products used, plus some bonus pictures!

xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger

Monday, December 2, 2013

Cyber Monday Deals!

Hey all!

I've been going through my emails since midnight looking for the best Cyber Monday deals, and I can't really find a good compilation of all of them ( ya know, to compare like the competitive shoppers we are!) except for the one I retweeted. You can see it on my Twitter feed if you look me up- @photoholicgurli

Anyways, as I go through my emails I thought I'd make a brief list of the deals / shipping offers that I can find! This is not complete by far, and I doubt it will be completely accurate, but I hope it helps you all in your quest for amazing deals!

Whenever you shop online, make sure you go to eBates to earn cash back on all of your purchases! It's the easiest money you'll ever make! A lot of sites have increased cash back rates for today, and eBates also has a lot of other coupon codes you can use!!!

American Eagle Outfitters- also applies to aerie and AEO Factory websites- I ordered things from all 3 sites this morning, but it'll all ship together. They have 50% off the entire site & free shipping on everything. It's the best deal I've found so far, so of course I took advantage of it!

Bath and Body Works- 25% off entire site, not sure about shipping

Alex and Ani- 15% off site, free shipping code MANIA

Delia's - 40% off everything, free shipping, no minimum. Code INDULGE

Ulta- Free shipping on all orders over $25, code JINGLE13. There's also a 20% off one hair or grooming tool coupon if you get their emails, although you can probably find it elsewhere. Code 101362

Clinique- 5 free minis with $35 purchase, free shipping

Walmart- lots of Cyber Monday specials and deals, especially on electronics

Spencer's Online- 20% off entire order code CYBER13, free shipping over $25

Urban Outfitters- free shipping no minimum, $50 off $150, $25 off $100, $15 off $75

Starbucks Store- $25 off $60, free standard shipping. Verismo system is now at a sale price of $99

MAC Cosmetics- free overnight shipping! Code CYBER

Barnes & Noble- 50% off select books, up to $50 off certain NOOK models, 25% off any item excluding NOOK devices or books. Code CMONDAY25

Sally Beauty- 30% off online purchase of $50 or more, excludes sale/clearance items

Too Faced Cosmetics- 50% off all sale items, code BF2013

Victoria's Secret- 2 Secret Rewards cards with any $10 purchase, free shipping on $50, full-priced bras buy one get one 50% off, $30 off $150

Amazon- lots of specials and deals, especially on electronics and memory cards/ flash drives that I've noticed. I just got a 32 GB micro SD card for my phone for $16!

Beauty.com- 25% and 20% off certain brands, lots of specials, free samples, gift sets

Urban Decay Cosmetics- free shipping with any UD lifestyle purchase, Book of Shadows IV Redux and a deluxe lipstick sample now only $25, Smoked Eyeshadow Palette plus deluxe samples only $39 (wasn't it that originally? hmm...), FREE SHIPPING over $35. The Naked 3 palette is back in stock!!!

Dunkin Donuts Online Shop- free shipping code FSCYBER

L'occitane En Provence- free shipping on all orders, $10 holiday card with purchase over $50, other free gifts

MakeMeChic.com- 40% off everything, code CYBER40

Hautelook- FREE SHIPPING! (this never happens) Also, the beloved clothing brand Wildfox Couture is back on today. Shop here: http://www.hautelook.com/short/3zSfx

Note: None of these companies have told me to share this information with you, I'm not getting paid/ sponsored, etc. This list is mostly for my own sanity and organization with all of the saving going on, but I hope it can help you guys out in the process! Enjoy!

Where will you be shopping today? I can't wait to film a haul once I figure out what to get!

xox, Elle
MissGlamBam.com
Youtube Beauty Guru & Blogger