Alcoholic Beverage Breakdown

alcoholic beverage breakdown

Ways to Instantly Feel Sexier

Whenever I find myself looking to drastically improve my appearance, I like to consider all things possible from head to toe. SO, let’s begin…

HAIR

Regardless of your personal hair ritual, you can always add some spice to it by introducing a hair fragrance. Anointing yourself with oils and perfumes can instantly improve your mood and self-lust. You may have found that you prefer using a certain conditioner because of the fragrance and how good it makes your hair smell. Well, for those moments that you just need a little boost, create your own hair potion for stirring up your senses. Of course, you will naturally radiate an intensely attractive scent—especially around your cycle—but why not increase its potency? Oh, and if you sleep next to someone at night, be mindful of how much you use, but I promise unless they have the most sensitive nose ever, they will love your ‘natural’ aroma.

I like to use anointing oils that I prepare myself, but here are some good hair fragrances:

Dior Miss Dior Parfum Hair Mist, $57

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Parfum Fresh Hair Mist, $65

Honey Infused Hair Perfume Pocket, $44

FACE

There’s just something about a face that illuminates. Whether or not you use makeup to achieve this look, you want to be sure that you have a great moisturizer and serum that will give you a natural radiant glow. Achieving this kind of glow will not only make you feel and look more attractive, but you will feel great about nourishing your skin. You want to invest in good skincare in general. I use a polypeptide cream on days that I don’t wan to apply makeup, and the difference is incredible. My skin not only looks healthier, but it feels so smooth and soft.

Here are a few of my favorite face moisturizers and serums:

Protini™ Polypeptide Cream, $68

Treatment Softener Enriched, $50

OLEHENRIKSEN Banana Bright™ Vitamin C Serum, $65

TRULY, GLASS SKIN FACIAL SERUM, $28

My favorite hydrating face mask (I honestly have like 10 of these stocked)

DIAMOND WHITE GLOWING MASK, $97

LIPS

This is pretty simple. We all know that putting on a red lip can make you feel like one of the most powerful women alive. But, if that’s not your thing, or if it doesn’t fit the environment, perhaps invest in a great lip tint and lip gloss. Visibly healthy and hydrated lips will enhance your overall look, and will make you feel more confident as you speak.

Here is my favorite red and brown lip tint and lip gloss:

Benetint Lip & Cheek Stain, $18

Brownie Batter Lip Gloss Tube, $4

TEETH

Now be honest, do you brush your teeth as often as you should? Are you flossing?? Okay, well I know that flossing doesn’t sound sexy, but it is a necessity. You will feel considerably more confident about yourself when your smile is as radiant as your personality. You’ll want to invest in a teeth cleaning kit and a teeth whitening tool. You want to feel like you just came from the dentist, but without the discomfort. Deep clean your mouth (brush your tongue, floss your teeth, remove plaque, etc). After deep cleaning, apply a whitening tool of your choice. Depending on how white your teeth look now will help you determine the most effective method for you. I like to use hydrogen peroxide, but I also invest in having my teeth whitened professionally, so I don’t need much strength. You may want to look into whitening strips, gels, etc. I’d also like to add that mouthwash is not optional. This way, if you are planning to be around people, you will have no reason to feel self-conscious about your smile, or your breathe (you may also want to keep gum with you). People will want to lean in more as you speak, and you will definitely feel more confident. Now, obviously healthy gums are important for your overall dental hygiene, but it can also influence the way that you are perceived by others. As a woman, the whiter your teeth, the more you are seen as healthy, successful, well-off, attractive and trustworthy.

Here are a few of my favorite teeth whitening and cleaning tools:

Philips Sonicare - DiamondClean Classic Rechargeable Toothbrush, $179.99

Crest 3D Original Whitening Kit, $69.99

Oral Care Dental Scaler,High-Frequency Vibration&Three Modes, Teeth Cleaning Tools Use to Tartar/Plaque/Tooth Stains/Dental Calculus Remover, $23.99

HAND, FEET & NAILS

Soft hands are just pleasant to experience. If you’ve ever shaken the hand of someone with dry and rough skin, you know what I mean. It’s just like with the rest of your body, you want your hands and feet to feel soft and delicate. Invest in a good hand and foot cream. While we’re at it, be sure that this is a part of your moisturizing routine. Care for your skin with intention, love and adoration. As for your nails, invest in a good nail care kit with cuticle oil to give yourself a proper pedicure.

I like to use natural shea butter, coconut butter, coconut oil, etc., but here’s a good hand and foot cream:

Kate Somerville Goat Milk Moisturizing Cream, $50

Also, I love this oil for my natural nails (people always mistake them for acrylic):

The Body Shop Almond Nail & Cuticle Oil, Paraben-Free Hand/Nail Treatment, $12

BODY

We all know that feeling that we have after we’ve just buffed our dead skin away, shaved our legs and moisturized the hell out of our body. That is the feeling that you are trying to create. Invest in a good, hydrating body exfoliant and dry brush. I love Trader Joe’s Lavender Scrub and have purchased almost all of them on the shelves. It leaves your skin extremely soft (softer than you could even imagine) and you have natural glow. Speaking of which, you’ll also want to invest in a lovely body shimmer oil or bronzer to achieve a captivating glow with each move that you make.

Here are a few of my favorite body buffing tools:

Dry Brush With Cellulite Massager, $12.99

Trader Joe's Lavender Salt Scrub, $5.99

SELF-ADORNMENT

Invest in timeless lingerie and start collecting articles that remind just how sexy you are. If you just have a basic color-coordinated bra and panty set, that’s a start. But I want you to invest in a set that accentuates your body in all ways possible. Do your research and figure out what styles will best present your beauty. While you’re at it, start looking into other ways to adorn your body. You can invest in jewels, temporary tattoos, glitter, etc.

Obviously savagex.com, agentprovocateur.com and Dita Von Teese are great places to start! One of my absolutely favorite brands is Honey Birdette

CONFIDENCE

Like Dita said, a women who knows what she likes has confidence in her skin. Confidence is the most beauty and sexy aspect of any woman. As we all know, people are naturally more attracted to confident people. Remind yourself of just how beautiful you are on the inside and let that energy exude from every pore.

Could you please give a list of the harshest things that you think we (general population of women trying to improve on themselves) need to hear

This post is part of my Tough Love Tuesdays series where followers send me their problems and receive a stern kick in the butt. They specifically asked for extremely harsh answers, so if you take offence to this or it makes you feel sensitive, then you need to keep scrolling because it is not directed at you, nor are you the target audience. They don’t want to be coddled, they don’t want sugar coating, they don’t want beating around the bush. They want painfully tough love.

The absolute overwhelming majority of men prefer women who are at a healthy weight.

Hypersexuality does not solve your problems, it's actually probably causing many of them.

A lot of you got useless degrees (from a financial standpoint) that put you several thousands of dollars into debt and got you a job that hardly lets you live a comfortable middle class life. Is that really something to flex?

A lot of you are extremely insecure and need constant validation, but you hide behind a facade of “I’m a bad bitch” as a protective mask.

If you want marriage and children, then spending years and years and years of your fertility window and most desired ages of attractiveness (in the eyes of men) not prioritizing marriage and children is an odd choice, wouldn’t you say?

Adding on to that, if you want marriage and children, there’s no need to pretend that you would be 100% perfectly fine and happy if it doesn’t happen for you. It’s okay to admit that you want it.

Your inability to take accountability for your bad choices in life is leading you down a path of destruction.

Far too many of you have placed yourself in an echo chamber that only promotes the idea that because you are a woman, you are 100% perfect exactly the way you are and you never need to change or grow or improve or better yourself in any way. They are lying to you <3

Not everyone suits the insta baddie look and there are other ways to level up physically besides going for that look.

A lot of the “men ain’t shit” crowd are women who ain’t shit and allow their terrible personalities and behavior to attract men who are mirrors of them.

Your mother caused you a lot of mental health problems. I can see that you are gearing up to keep that cycle going with your own daughters. Stop it. Get some help.

Your son is not your husband. Your daughter is not the second mom of the house.

Being a young single mother/baby mama actually is a big deal and you can’t be upset that it impacts you on the dating market.

Many people nowadays will not be financially secure enough to retire when the time comes. You NEED to start putting your money to the side now, before it’s too late.

Some of you need to finally admit that your weight is where it’s at solely because of you and your diet.

You claim that you don’t have time to do helpful self-improvement things for your life, but if I were to monitor you for a week, it’d be obvious that it’s a lie. You just don’t want to make the time for it.

At some point, you’re gonna have to ditch the vices you use to cope and finally start the healing process.

Many of the things on your list of requirements for what you want from a man point to the sum of a man who doesn’t exist. Your desires are fictitious.

Yes, your looks matter. A lot. Always have, always will.

Your inability to practice long term self-discipline is why your life is the way it is.

How to have a strong sense of self?

A sense of self always starts with the question, “Who Am I?”

Not just your name, job title and family relations, but all of the internal things that make you who you are. Your beliefs, your morals, your values, your opinions, your religious and spiritual beliefs or lack thereof, your goals, your aspirations, your abilities, your personality traits. Getting to know yourself, essentially. Finding out all of the things that make you uniquely you. 

If someone asks a question about yourself that goes deeper than, “whats your favorite color?” and you have to give a long “ummmmm” and struggle to produce an answer, you may need to start getting to know yourself more. You may be able to answer eventually, but it’s the ease and speed of producing said answer that would point to a strong sense of self.

Here is a list of 371 “get to know me” questions. Some people lack a sense of self bc you have never had enough people around you that cared enough to ask you questions about yourself. Some of you were asked ‘get to know me’ questions, but you were too closed off to answer. After so many years of having walls around you, you never actually let them down long enough for even yourself to gain access to you. Some of you may not have a strong sense of self bc you feel disconnected from your family, your cultural background or society around you and you ended up with black sheep syndrome. No matter what the reason is, this is a fun way to start getting to know yourself and being comfortable and confident with the answers.

Having a strong sense of self is very important when it comes to making decisions in life. Whether it’s big or small, being able to confidently make choices that are stemmed from our genuine wants, opinions and values as opposed to choices that are being dictated by what others deem as good or bad makes a big difference. One allows us to live authentically, the other is living in the passenger seat. Some of this includes dressing how you like vs following trends to gain the approval of others. Dating people who actually make you happy vs dumping them bc others don’t think they are attractive or cool enough. Having political and religious beliefs that you genuinely agree with vs parroting only the popular opinion that is easiest to go along with. 

When you have a strong sense of self, you can accept your choices and decisions with ease bc you know that you made them with your truest feelings and can take complete accountability and responsibility for the outcome. It also makes it easier to change things you no longer like bc you can clearly understand what you are no longer satisfied with, why you are no longer satisfied with it and be confident in your abilities and limitations to make those changes. And that makes all the difference. 

On the other hand, having a weak or no sense of self will make navigating life’s choices extremely difficult and you may struggle to make choices at all. You may end up drifting through life, going along with what others do, only doing what others tell you, never feeling confident or secure with your decisions, always questioning if things are right for you, flip flopping your opinions, feeling discontent but not being able to pinpoint exactly what is wrong, and feeling a lack of passion or real ambition with anything you do. *these examples are not related to depression or other mood/mental disorders, I’m only speaking from the perspective of not knowing yourself enough on a fundamental level*

 tips for high heel beginners 👠💋

-don’t start out with super high heels. it’s better to start out a little smaller. they don’t have to be full on kitten heels but try to keep the heel 3 inches or shorter.

-the chunkier/thicker the heel= the easier to walk in

-don’t be scared of platform heels. while they might look intimidating, they’re actually more stable and easier to wear as opposed to your standard heel because a) there’s less incline and your toes are closer to your heel and b) even if they’re high, the heels tend to be chunkier, so you have more support.

-heels aren’t the most comfortable shoes in the world but if your foot hurts as soon as your put them on, don’t buy them.

- when it comes to heels,it’s always better to size up then to size down. when in doubt, opt for a larger size.

- when walking on a flat surface, always remember to walk heel to toe, one foot in front of the other. 

-s l o w d o w n. you might think you can run in heels, but you probably can’t even power walk. take smaller steps and walk a little slower than usual.

-practice. walk around your house in heels for a while to get the hang of it.

-whenever you have the opportunity to sit down, do so.

-avoid walking on grass. if in some case you absolutely have to walk on it, try to focus your weight on your toes; almost like you’re trying to tip toe. your heel should still touch the ground, but lightly.

-avoid walking on cobblestone or any other sidewalk that is uneven or has cracks in it at all costs.

- when going up stairs, tilt sideways a bit. this way you’ll be able to put your entire foot on each stair and you have a less of a chance of tumbling down and busting your ass. also, hold the handrail at all times.

-if you have to stand for a while, switch putting your body weight from one foot to the other. this way you’ll be able to give each foot a break and it’s less painful.

-use cushion and gel insoles, they’ll make your heels a little more comfortable and you’ll be able to wear them for longer periods of time. doesn’t matter what brand, you could even get them at the dollar store; they don’t have to be fancy. 

- never take your heels off and walk barefoot. not only could you step on glass or something sharp but that’s just nasty and very tacky looking. always have a cute pair of sandals or flats on hand in case shit gets real.

-angel

4 Ways to make your money work for you

The path to true wealth isn’t some magical secret or something unobtainable. It’s really simple actually:

Make money, invest that money to make more, and make sure your expenses don’t exceed your income. What does this mean? It means the way to wealth isn’t by how hard you work but how many streams of income you have.

You’re probably thinking “well that’s much easier said than done”. Girl, trust me I know! But I’m going to give you a few ways you can start the process. These strategies work even if you’re starting with $100 or $1,000. Keep in mind, all of these take work to get started. If you’re not ready to put the work in then this post isn’t for you.

Interest Income - the concept is simple, loan your money to someone else and charge interest for it. No, I don’t mean loan it to your broke cousin who never pays back lol. There’s websites that offer “Peer to Peer Lending.” Peer Lending is when you loan money to a business, another person or even a charity. You’re basically a bank. You can pick the qualifications of the person that receives your money. For instance, you can chose to only loan to those with a good credit history and a $50k+/yr income. It’s completely up to you. But in return for loaning them the money, you can charge a interest rate and start earning money. Yes, there are risks involved which is why you want to qualify the person that receives the money so that you’re minimizing the risk. Want to know why banks are so rich? No, it’s not because your Uncle Joe leaves his retirement fund in there year after year. Most people think banks are in game of HOLDING money, but they’re actually in the game of LENDING money and earning interest. Here’s what I mean, 65% of Americans own their home. The avg home is $200-500k (depending on your state of course). The avg American doesn’t have that much money so how are they affording these homes? The bank gives them the money and in return the homeowner agrees to pay the bank interest plus principal for the next 30 yrs. The current interest rate is 3%. You may be thinking, well 3% for 30 years isn’t so bad when you consider how much money they’re giving you. But baby, do the math! After the 30 years are over you’ll be paying double for the home if not more. Listen, I’m not mad at the banks. I’ve learned to beat them at their own game (we will talk about this anothe post) but if you can’t beat them, join em! Do what they do! The best part of all? You can start with as little as $500 and there’s no work involved after you’ve given the money! You just set up payment dates and start earning interest. So, regardless of if you’re on vacation, sick or creating another stream of income you’re collecting your coins!

Rental Income - this one may sound familiar. Its when you earn money from a property or item that you rent out. If you have a small budget but want to get into real estate rentals, you can start by renting a room in your home. There’s even websites that allow you to rent your car. For example, you can buy a used car for $7k and rent it out for $90/day. You’d be making $32/year without doing much leg work. My husband rents out jet skis (it’s always warm where we live) and makes his other source of income that way. We bought the jet ski for about $8k and rent it out for $500-1k/day. The jet skis mostly gets booked on Thursday-Sundays but it’s still income we earn without doing much. There’s plenty of ways to get started in rental income, just get creative. Ask yourself what is it that people in your area NEED but aren’t willing to purchase themselves? If you want to jump into real estate, be prepared to invest a lot of money. I know a lot of YouTube “gurus” say you can get started with no money down🙄 but I’m going to be honest with you, it takes money to make money. I bought my first property last year when interest rates were at its lowest and it’s already gone up $75k in value! So yes you may have to invest a lot of money up front, but you’ll make it all back! Do your research, save money, be patient and invest when the time is right for YOU!

Stocks, bonds or ETFs - this a good way to start making money work for you if you don’t have much capital. Stock prices range can from $1.00/share to $1,500/share so you’re able to invest with little to a lot of money. Bonds and ETFs are a really good way to increase your money without a lot of risk. But keep in mind that the more risk involved, the more the reward. So yes, stocks may be riskier than bonds or ETFs but there’s a reason for that. I know you’ve heard that stocks are risky, you can lose money, and Wall Street is full of crooked white men. All that is true but so the fuck what! Corporate America is risky! They can fire you at any time, but society still tells us to get these jobs. You can lose money by investing your pay check into a 401k, but society still tells us that’s the right thing to do. Our country is ran by crooked white men so that’s nothing new. The best way to succeed in stocks is simply by doing research and being patient! If you read my previous post about how I saved $24k last year, most of it was because of investments I made. I made some risky choices, lost money and gained even more. But let me tell you, nothing will ever feel better than waking up and realizing I made money in my sleep.

Business Income - making money in a business is one that’s most common. The concept is simple - solve a problem and get people smarter than you to run the operations. The common mistake I see with entrepreneurs is that they become a slave to their business. What’s the point of having a business if you’re just going to work FOR it? If you’re doing everything in your business that’s a hustle, not a business. Now before you get mad at me, just listen. I understand that it takes time to transition from a one person show to a team but I just want to say that so you remember, in order to run a business that’s successful, generates a REAL profit, and has your money working for you, you need employees. For those that are new here, I run a virtual bookkeeping and accounting firm that helps women organize, save and grow their money. I’ve seen the backend of over 100 businesses ranging from $5k/year to $1.7m/year in revenue and what I’ve noticed is that the most profitable companies have a team running the business, while the CEO runs the team. The best part about making money with a business is that the income potential is limitless.

These are just 4 ways to start putting your money to work. Let me know if you want more or if you have any questions 🦋