Zumba Convention Day Three!

Day Three was complete craziness! I had three classes that day instead of two and was so scared that I was gonna die. On the agenda was Aqua Zumba, African Mix, and Caribbean Heat. I don't know what I was thinking when I made my schedule for this day, but I obviously didn't realize that these were all high impact classes.

Apparently I survived because I am talking to you now ha ha.

It was also crazy because I met Beto guys! I know. I was freaking out. My dad kept on seeing him around the hotel while me and my mom were in our classes. We yelled at my father told my father in a very lady-like fashion how unfair it was that he was seeing Beto and we weren't. Well, that morning my father went down to get coffee because he cannot live without it (typical Hispanic), and saw Beto taking pictures in the lobby. He called us right away and we ran for it! Ha ha. Aqua Zumba was our first class of the day, and I was only in a bikini top and shorts, but I did not care at that moment. I just threw a sweater on and we got there just in time. Poor Beto can't even walk four feet without getting hounded by us crazy Zumba people, so we took the picture as he was walking backward to the elevators. He took my phone (omg) and took the picture like we were all besties.

Then it was time to rush to Aqua Zumba, since the whole Beto fiasco set us back a little :). Aqua Zumba is pretty much Zumba in the water and it was pretty amaze-beans. The resistance of the water is something I have never experienced before and makes up for the not-sweatiness of regular Zumba. African Mix and Caribbean Heat were non-stop. I was a jumping, popping, kicking, gyrating machine that day. I don't think my sweat glands could have possibly produced anymore! TMI? Sorry.

Then it was time for the best part! The Soiree. Every year the convention holds a party for all the ZIN's (Zumba people) to hang out and dress up, and just have a great drunk time. I didn't drink or anything but I loved the party. The theme of the party changes every year and this year's was, Mid Summer Night's Dream. People could be anything from faries, to goddesses, to nymphs, to Minotaurs, and anything else that is mystical. My mom and I went as pixies and made our costumes ourselves. I just didn't make the tutu. I know someone who just happens to make them and she offered me one. It was really pretty. I did our makeup and we were out the door to see everyone else's crazy outfits.

I am telling you there are no crazier bunch than us Zumbonians. A lot of people came in really creative costumes that I didn't even know were possible. Some came in regular clothes, just really dolled up and fancy. And some just thought, "Hey my costume is no shirt and no pants." The less the merrier I say!

There was actually this guy there that I bumped into, who had only a pair of shorts on and I was not complaining. He was like, "Damn", when he saw me. And I was like, "What?" And then he tried to utter more words, but didn't seem to have the ability to speak and walked away. I saw him earlier with some friends, so I'm guessing he was looking for them. I guess I am a guy repellent. I usually don't like getting hit on, because sometimes they can be creepy (remember the Halal Food Truck guy when I went to NYC). So of course, the one guy who I don't mind hitting on me, runs away. What is life? Oh well haha. I still had an awesome night! :)

Beto! Isn't he the cutest?

My mom, and the African Mix instructors. I was talking to the guy, telling him how he looks just like my friends Stanley lol

The evidence of a hard days work. I told you my sweat glands had no more after that.

Bathed and pixie-ed out.

This girl came as a statue, because her friend was Medusa. Hands down, most awesome idea ever.

Three blind mice.

I have no idea what he was, but he was a guy with a bra and I wanted a picture.

Mom, pops, and me. You can really see our makeup here :)

Me and Momma Dukes.

Up close and personal with my fairy makeup.

My dad calls this one, "The Thinking Fairy" ha ha.

Stay tuned for more!

Floral Headband DIY and Mini-Makeup Haul

 Hey guys :)
I am soo excited for next week because I am going to Orlando!!!! No I will not be going to see Mickey or Goofy (sad face) but I will be seeing Beto. For those of you who are not Zumba lunatics (like me), Beto is the creator of Zumba. Every year there is a Zumba convention in Orlando, and other countries around the world. Well since I live in this country (U.S) I will be going to Florida ha ha. At the convention I will pretty much be booty-shaking 24/7 in classes. But there is also a concert, and a party. The theme of the party changes annually, and this year the theme is Midsummer's Night Dream. So people are encouraged to dress up as elves, nymphs, goddesses, and pretty much any other mystical creature.

My mom and I decided we are going to be fairies. I am going to wear a floral dress that I have that is very pixie-like. And my mom is going to wear a corset and tutu that she got at Hot Topic. She's gonna be a bad ass fairy lol. So, now that we are going to be fairies, first things first, the makeup. Yesterday I went to Sephora (on my day off ha ha) to get some makeup for the festivities and for myself. I got a new foundation and primer from Makeup Forever. The foundation is crazzzzzyyyyy good. I also got a purple eyeliner from them. You know how I love purple :) And last, but not least, the Makeup Forever Flash Palette.

I am so excited about this! I have wanted this since I was a freshmen in high school watching Kandee Johnson on Youtube. The Flash Palette is pretty much Jesus in makeup form. It is cream based colors that are invincible. They can be used anywhere too. The body, the face, the eyes, the lips. The creator of Makeup Forever was actually a painter, and even specialized in elaborate body painting, so she really transfers that into her brand. And for that, I love her! Thanks Dany :) So, I'm broke from all of my expenses, but I don't care because I am happy.

DIY Alert

Since this party will only be for one day, and we might be too damn tired to even stay there, my mom and I decided not to spend a million dollars on a fairy costume. Hence, the floral dress I am wearing. In a previous post I talked about the trend of floral print in fashion, and this dress is another example of that. So yesterday we went to A.C Moore to find things to make our own flower headbands. Now ours are totally ridiculous and extreme because it is for a costume, but regular flower head bands are super in right now.

Cute huh? So just use smaller flowers for yours, or not as many. Let's get started.

What you need:

• Scissors
• Ribbon (we chose brown)
• Felt
• Fake flowers
• Hot glue gun
• A lot of spare time!

First, measure the ribbon around your head. Leave some slack just in case. Cut the ribbon and lay it on a flat surface. 

Cut felt into little squares, the same size of the ribbon so it won't show.

For the flowers you will have to take out the stems from the base or else it will not stick. This is really easy, and awesome if you are angry! Ha ha. First you have to pull the flower of the stem. Take out the backing of the flower. And pull the stem that is remaining out of the middle of the flower. This is really easy to pull out. 

Each layer of the flower is going to come apart, but this is okay because then you can layer the petals however you want and make your own damn flower lol. So if a flower was all pink, but you wanted it to have some purple, you can now stack each layer on top of the other. 

Now to get the layout of how the flowers will fall, I just arranged them without glue first. Stack as much as you want until you are satisfied. Like so:

Then turn the flowers up side down, so that you can glue them together from the bottom up. This will ensure that you will get the same flower you planned out.

Turn your hot glue gun on. Once is is heated (takes about 3-5 minutes), glue a small amount on a piece of felt. 

Them glue on your first piece of flower. Keep gluing each layer, until your flower is done. 

Squeeze a small amount of glue on the spot on the ribbon that you want the flower to be. And place the felt on top. The reason I didn't glue the flower directly onto the ribbon is because the felt will hold onto the flower more securely. Hold for a couple seconds. Keep on doing this for all of the flowers, until the headband is completed to your heart's desire. 

And boom!

Yes I may look crazy, but with the whole outfit, I think it will all come together :) Now remember this is for my costume, so I will be adding little tendrils down the back to look more fairy-like. I decided not to show that part, because I wanted to show you something that people actually wear with normal outfits ha ha. I think I will be making more of these in the future. They are really fun to make actually, and the more you do it, the easier it gets. By the time I got to creating my second flower I was demolishing and rebuilding flowers like a pro. It really gets the creative juices flowing also. I was doing it with my mom too, so its something you can bond over. So, do it with friends or family as a cool activity that everyone can enjoy. If you are a mom with a little girl who thinks she is a fairy princess, or a teen who likes this new trend, try this out with them :) 

Hope you all enjoyed! If you try this feel free to send me pictures on my Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. All are with the names NGMthatface :) I would love to see your creations!

Love you guys!

Nicole xo.

Oh and P.S if you follow me on Instagram then you know about my new look. If you don't though, here it is :) 

I am in love with my Mohawk! What do you guys think?! Okay now it is really bye ha ha. Have a wonderful night! 

Going Native!

Yesterday was so much fun!

One of my mom's childhood friends came to visit us, and we thought it would be fun to take him to a pow wow that was happening near our town. For those of you who don't know what a pow wow is, its a gathering of Native American tribes. There they dance, sing, and play music. Food, jewelry, clothing, and other Native American goods are sold there as well. The purpose of these events is to keep Native American culture alive, since it is so often forgotten. Contrary to common belief, they did not all die when Columbus came. I really recommend going if you haven't already been to one. The dancing and outfits are so beautiful, and I find their culture so interesting.

There were also these guys that are called, Hoop Dancers. They dance with these hoops, starting off with one or two, and eventually add more. The hoops eventually start to make shapes, such as birds, butterflies, etc. Look at this guy. I think he is a bird here:

At one point he had the hoops all over his leg and one in his other hand, swinging it like it was a lasso, portraying someone riding a horse.

At the pow wow there was also a woman who had a tent of birds of prey. And I saw something that I wanted to take home.

Ever since Harry Potter came into my life, I have wanted an owl. I will have one some day ha ha.

One other really exciting thing that happened in my pow wow was that there was a dance competition. All the spectators were encouraged to show their stuff, after watching the Natives dancing. You know your home-girl joined in on all the action! Yup, me and my mom participated, and got 1st and 2nd place. It was soooooo much fun, and their dancing is way harder than it looks. The way is works is that you just dance the best you can. After that song ends, Natives come out and select you to be their dancer. They mentor you and show you how to do the dances better. Then you are shipped off into the arena and the audiences applause and reaction, decides who is the winner. My mom got first and I was second. I will never forget that. A lot of the Native Americans that would walk by us, would stop and say, "Good job out there!", which meant a lot to me for some reason. Ha ha, I'm sentimental that way. This was my mom's mentor. He was Taino Indian, which are the natives or Puerto Rico :) :

Now on to the fashion-y part. I have this tribal shirt that I love, and ruined when I was doing eyeliner one day. The eyeliner jumped out of my hand and stained my shirt. Well I saved it anyway and decided to fringe it out to hide the stain. It would really be a wastebto throw it out because it has a little black smudge on it, right?! And the end result was this:

I simply cut little strips right after the other. Then I tied off the ends and cut the excess off to make it look cleaner. Then I pulled on the fringes lightly to make them lose that freshly-cut look. It is super simple and awesome to do on some old t-shirts or tank-tops. I wasn't really worried about it being too even because I thought it would look cool if the strings were kinda random. Pretty good for my first time, no? Lol.

Ever been to a pow-wow?

What do you find interesting about Native American culture?

xoxo

Nicole :)

If Only for a Short While

Hello lovely people!
I think you can all agree with me when I say that there is no better feeling than being clean. I remember when I was a little kid I would take a shower and would say to my mom, "Ma, I feel healthy!" To this very day I say the same thing. Well, for the past couple days my showers have been very much mechanical. Pick up soap. Wet it. Put on designated part of body. Rinse. Shampoo into hair. Scrub. Rinse. This has mainly been because I am in and out of the house, whether it is me going to the gym, work, or me coming home late from work and wanting to take the fastest shower possible because homegirl is tired. Weeeelllllllllll, today I had the day off. Usually on my days off I clean like madman and by the time I know it the whole day is gone. This leaves me very little time to have the spa shower I deserve. But today I took the best damn shower I have had in a long time. Now you are all probably thinking I'm dirty and don't bathe correctly. I do, but today I was really able to take my time and let the steam relax me. And you all still think I am strange. Okay moving on..... I was going to post this yesterday, but was feeling under the weather, so I bring it to you now!

City Time!!!

Isn't it beautiful? I prefer this over a picture of a landscape any day.  On Wednesday I attended a training at the 34th Street Sephora in NYC.

Like my photography skills?! This guys is modeling for me  ha ha.

For the training we still had to dress in "concept colors". So I went with wearing

all black errithing!

Earrings: Stand in the mall
Blouse: Joyce Lesley
Leggings: Express
Oxfords: Aldo
Cross Ring: Charlotte Russe

I had never been to one of these things before and was pretty excited!

I also didn't know what makeup to do. But my mom was like, "You better trick it out!" Okay she didn't really say that, but that's what I heard. So I went with my lightning bolts (click me!), with gold shadow, and my favorite purple on the lower lash line. Thank god for my mom's advice because the makeup artist who started the line I was being trained on complimented me on it!!!

This is James Vincent. He has had 18 years of experience. He has worked with everyone from TLC, to Blondie, Lady Gaga to Diddy, to Jillian Michaels. So that fact that he noticed my makeup made me super excited :) (Thanks, Mommy!).

Me, James Vincent, and Nicole (my manager. Yeah we have the same name haha)

His new makeup line is called, Ardency Inn. It is a brand inspired by music, especially punk and rock music. The reason for this is because James has predominantly worked with musicians. I'm not sure if I am able to go into too much detail since it hasn't been released in stores yet, but when it does you bet you ass that I will be doing a more in depth post about the products. So, mark your calendars for August 8th. I think you guys are really gonna love it. It has everything that a makeup artist dreams of and really caters to every woman out there. Whether you are a makeup freak like me, or are a minimalist, this brand will work for you. During the training everyone was able to touch and play with everything. I had my eye on this hot pink lip product.

This picture really does not do the color justice. 

Think of hot pink that got bit by a radioactive spider, okay? You feel me. I know you do. 

I cannot wait until we get this in store so I can buy everything :D

After the training was over Nicole and I went to a diner to grab some din-din. We were raving about the training the whole time, but eventually she had to catch a train. I did not want to leave the city. Hanging out with your boss can be kind of fun, too. Who knew? (Hey, Nicole!) haha.

Anyways, after I walked her to the train station I passed by Madison Square Garden (pictured above) and several other interesting people trying to sell me their cd's. And oh my God, I have to tell you guys about the weirdest pickup line I have ever heard. Usually, I don't get hit on so I was not expecting this guy to come out and say what he said. This is how it went down:

I was extremely thirsty after leaving the station, so I went to a nearby Halal Food truck to get some water.
Me: How much for water?
Halal Guy: *mumbles incoherently*
Me: Huh?
Halal Guy: One of you eyes ;)
Me: -___- No really, how much is the water.
Halal Guy: Two dollars. Where are you from?
Me: New York.
Halal Guy: Are all the women in New York as beautiful as you?
Me: *confused* You should know. This is where you work. *takes water and walks away briskly*

So that was my experience before heading home. Oh and I went shopping at H&M, but I will save that for another post. I did get some goodies from the training to sample as well that I wore to work yesterday to show everyone. I posted this on Instagram:

Again the picture does not do it justice! The pigment of these products are unreal. I really did feel like a rockstar. Never in my life had I ever worn an all black smoky eye, but I loved it. I definitely noticed that I was walking around a little more confident. Something about a bold eye makes me feel like a badass. Plus my all black outfit for work. Like, whattttt?! It just proves what I am always telling you guys. Try something new and you will be surprised with how much you like it. And above all, always be true to yourself :)

How do you unleash your inner rockstar?

What is your favorite part of the city? For me its every damn thing! :)

What is the weirdest pickup line you have received (or given ha ha)?

Cheers! (Oh yeah, I'm British now)

Nicole xoxo

Struck by Lightning

Hey guys! :)

If you are wondering why I am smiling it is because I have the day off and finally have been able to do things that I want. I have mostly just been working on my social media things and things with the blog. In case you don't know I also have a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. So if you want to be updated on posts you can follow me on those :) I put lots of the pictures that are on the blog on all those as well, so definitely check it out. I will link everything down at the bottom.

Today was not so bad, weather wise. The heat wave has finally passed! It is still nice and warm, though. Since the weather was nicer today, I was feeling the very light summer air and decided to go with a light makeup application. At work yesterday I made a sample of Josie Maran's Matchmaker Foundation:

And Josie Maran's Argan Infinity Cream:

I used the cream as my primer and put the foundation right on top. It literally feels like nothing is on my face! Plus all of Josie Maran's products are organic and infused with Argan Oil. I know you guys are thinking that putting oil on your skin is bad. Not true. Good oil takes out bad oil. Especially in these summer months, we are constantly letting moisture out of our bodies and have to replenish that moisture. When our skin does not quench its thirst, it will go into survive mode and make more oil. This causes, obviously, oily skin and outbreaks. The foundation is cool too because it actually goes on white and adjusts to your skin as you blend. I thought it was b.s. too, but it really works guys! My skin looks so radiant, not oily or shiny.

And on my lips I wanted something more natural too. I have had this Revlon Kissable Lip Balm for a couple months, and decided to pop it on since it had that light coral I was looking for. 

They look like this, in case you wanna grab one. You know you do :) Mine is the third from the left called, Rendezvous. On to add a little shine I put on my Revlon Lipgloss in the color, Bellini.

I'm also really excited to share with you guys how I do a very special eyeliner trick. Yesterday I put these photos on Instagram and got a lot of positive feed back:

That's right baby! Lighting eyeliner. I did it once before and this time around came out so much better. So don't be intimidated. When I did it over again today for you guys it came out even better-er. Practice makes perfect :) So grab your favorite liquid liner and get ready. Okay so here is how I did it. First start out with a regular line on the top lash line. Go as thick as you want.

Now starting from that line, make another line going to the crease. Like so...

Note: The inside does not need to be perfect because we are gonna fill in later. Now you want to draw a line from that one going into the crease, making a Z like formation.

From that line make a straight line going up and out. Use the end of your brow as your guide. Go out as  far as you want.

Start from the tip of that line and work your way down, mirroring what you just did. 

 Boom.

 Bam.

Until a the lightning bolt shape is formed. Now open your eyes, and just like in cat my cat liner post, place the liquid liner tip at the outer most corner of your lower lash line. From there make a straight line to connect and close the lightning outline.

I think it looks pretty cool like this too, but I was not super neat on the inside so I simply filled it in.

Cool, huh?

See how different the eyes look!? I love it. I got a lot of compliments on it yesterday. That was my proof that I didn't look completely ridiculous and thought I'd share something different with you guys. I think I might actually do this look, like, all the damn time ha ha!

So give it a try and don't be afraid. You are fabulous! Oh and if you wanna get the eye shadow look just click here to see my tutorial post on it. 

My Info!

Facebook- Like it: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NGMthatface/165305723647945?ref=stream

Twitter- Follow it: @NGMthatface

Instagram- Follow it: @NGMthatface

E-mail- Send it: ngmthatface@gmail.com

Yeah, so there you go guys! We covered skin care, foundation, lips, and liner all in one day. That's a lot. I'm actually quite tired ha ha. Not to mention you all now know how to stalk reach me :) You know how I love to hear from you. So please, comment or send me a message! 

Besos!

Nicole xo.