Dre Does Friday Favorites

It's been too long since I've shared some Friday Favorites so I thought I'd give you a taste of what I've been really enjoying lately.

First up we have a fall themed favorite that I discovered when looking for something else! I'm a huge fan of greek yogurt and it's the only dairy I consumer besides the occasional addition of cheese when I'm cooking. I heard that Chobani had Pumpkin Spice Yogurt and even though I didn't think I would like it I set out to find some. Luckily I came across the last one while grocery shopping last week and right next to it was an abundance of the Cinnamon Pear flavor. I grabbed a few and it turns out I ended up hating the pumpkin spice one and being OBSESSED with the Cinnamon Pear flavor. It's so delicious. While they are higher in sugar than I like (15g of sugar and 12g of protein), if you're looking for a healthier option to having dessert at night, I highly recommend trying the Cinnamon Pear flavor as an evening snack!

 Even though I'm already more than halfway through the 20's I really enjoyed reading this article from Emily, one of my favorite fashion and lifestyle blogger's from Cupcakes and Cashmere. It's filled with some great reminders so take a look when you have a second.

I have been obsessed with the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Spotlight in Opal (the liquid version of the Shimmering Skin Perfector family). It came in a kit of four mini's from Becca that I purchased about 6 months ago. While I fell in love with two of the four really quickly, this one kind of got thrown into a drawer and for some reason I decided to pull it out last week and start using it. Not sure what compelled me to do so but thanks to whatever intuition I should thank for my now glowing skin! It has a nice, flat applicator that makes it really easy to dab one side on one cheek, flip it over and dab the other side on the other cheek! Then I use my beauty blender to blend the product well into my skin so I have no harsh edges (I should note that I always apply it after my under eye concealer as my last liquid product. I then set my under eye concealer with powder and finish my face with my other powder products). I love how dewy and healthy it makes my skin look. The nice thing about the full size version of this product is that it comes with a pump so you can mix it in with foundation or moisturizer to give you an all over dewy illumination. It will definitely be added to my beauty wishlist.

While I haven't mentioned it for awhile here on Dre Does I reach for my Aveda Beautifying Composition often especially as the weather starts to get chillier. Recently I've been noticing some random dry patches around my nose and eye area so I pulled out my trusted friend and have been adding a drop here and there to combat these random flaky spots. I love the aroma and the versitility of this product and will never be without it. Click here to see a post I did on it more than a year and a half ago showing 11 uses for this magical product!

Cycling or spinning (depending on what you call it...haha) used to be a huge part of my life. When I was a senior in high school my mom dragged me into a class with her and I was hooked! I am super competitive by nature and loved being able to push myself every class. I started going multiple times a week and it became a huge part of my workout routine. I slowly got out of it as college and life got busier and it had been years since I have done it. A few months ago though, the gym at my apartment complex got a spin bike and I couldn't have been more excited. I dusted off my spin shoes and have been spinning at least 4 times a week since! I forgot how much I truly love the workouts. You can find great spinning workout ideas on Pinterest if you need some inspiration. If you're not the biggest fan of running and you've never tried it I highly recommend giving it a shot! I think it's really important to find a class in your area to get started so that you can learn proper form and technique from professionals before you try it on your own.

Dre Does Friday Favorites

I'm going to start integrating Friday Favorites posts a few Fridays a month to share what I love with you more frequently instead of monthly favorites posts. Whether it's a makeup product or lifestyle item, I think it would be nice to share them as I fall in love with them, instead of waiting for a list to compile and sharing it at the end of the month.

1. I can't get enough of this Skinny Cauliflower Man and Cheese recipe that a wonderful friend shared with me. I highly recommend trying it. I might have made a double recipe the first time so I could have plenty of leftovers...haha

2. Just like the rest of the beauty world, I love the Sephora Cream Lip Stains. I have about 5 of them, but this week I've been loving the shade Always Red 01. They stay on so well and don't move.

3. Masterchef. If you know me personally, it probably comes as no surprise that I love this show because I love any type of cooking competition. I love Masterchef specifically though because the main judge is Gordon Ramsey and because it is a competition just for home cooks that have no previous culinary training or schooling. It's on Hulu if you've missed it and want to catch up but it's currently about half way through the season.

4. With all of the self tanning I've been doing recently I've been trying different foundations in my collection because I feel like some days I'm more than others so not all match me. For days when I want something light, I've been loving the Pur Minerals 4-in-1 Liquid Veil Spray Foundation. It gives light to medium coverage and a satin finish that doesn't look like I have makeup on. I love how light it feels. I prefer to spray it on the back of my hand and use a damp beauty blender to apply it to my face.

Happy Friday all you beauties! Have a great weekend,

Dre

Dre Does Pizza on the Grill

It's impossible to not think of grilling when you think about the summer. So many of my memories as a child in the summertime were at cookouts with friends, family, and neighbors. Saying that my dad loves to grill is an understatement and I like to think I've picked up some skills from him over the years. So today I bring you a post that's a little bit different than usual, but an absolute favorite of mine. 

As a vegetarian it can be really hard to find alternatives to grilling meat. Enter one of God's greatest gifts...PIZZA! My parents used to grill us pizzas all the time and now that I'm all grown up, I've adapted a family favorite to my own use. The thing I love most about this idea is that you can invite a bunch of friends over, get tons of different toppings, and everyone can create their own. I like to buy the thin personal crusts at the grocery store so that everyone can customize their own pizza, but larger ones work well too! Hello summer Pizza Bar! These pizzas are also great for sneaking veggies into kids' dinners or my personal favorite...cleaning out the fridge! I like to keep the crusts on hand so that if I have no idea what to make one night, I can throw a quick pizza together.

I mean just look at it!

All you need is the following:
-Pizza crust of your choice (thin, thick, gluten-free, wheat, homemade, store bought...who cares?!)
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-Marinara sauce, pesto, alfredo...get creative!
-Tongs for flipping easily
-Cheese (I love feta and mozzarella on mine!)
-Toppings (the world is your oyster with this one...) I made a simple one with just tomatoes below

1. I start by spreading olive oil on both sides of the pizza crust and placing it on the grill for a few minutes until golden brown.

 

2. If you want to pretend you're fancy like I do, turn the pizza 90 degrees halfway through to get pretty grill marks. Once it's nice and golden, flip it over!

 

3. Now is the fun part. Here I added sauce, mozzarella, slices of fresh tomatoes, and then more cheese!

 

4. Now shut the grill and let everything melt and heat up until the bottom is golden brown. Once again, if feeling fancy, turn it 90 degrees for pretty grill marks. 

 

That's it! You have made a grilled pizza. If you make your own grilled pizzas be sure to share pictures on your Instagram and twitter with the hashtag #DreDoes so I can see what combinations you make!

 Have a beautiful Friday,

Dre

Dre Does Door to Door Organics

Since I was a senior in high school I have gone through periods of vegetarianism (Pescetarian if we want to get technical). It started as a requirement for health issues, but I have loved it over the years because having a restriction on my diet forces me to think about what I'm consuming. Growing up with a Brazilian farm boy father and maternal Italian grandparents who's farm I visited every weekend, I was taught all about the importance of not only eating produce, but growing it and eating locally. When I was two years old my grandparents lost me on their farm and found me with cuts all over my face from biting raspberries straight from the bush. I am so thankful that I was raised to appreciate fresh fruits and vegetables and not just look at them as 'two more bites' on your dinner plate.

My dad currently has a huge produce garden in his backyard that I can't wait to dive into this summer. Since we do live in Michigan and spend a lot of months covered in snow, I got used to visiting the local organic market with him every Sunday when I lived at home. He even visits the same cashier who always makes sure to tell him her latest jokes. He taught me to always take advantage of a good fresh market. Luckily, I have a similar market near where I live today. The only downfall is that it is about 15-20 minutes away from where I live and it's not near anything that I visit on a regular basis.

Over the past year I have noticed organic produce company ads popping up in various places; social media, TV commercials, etc. I personally get very inspired by going to the market and picking out the best looking fruits and veggies in season so I love to grocery shop and plan my meals that way. Since the market was not that convenient to me however, I was always wanting to try a produce delivery system but never got around to it. Luckily, my older sister who is queen of the coupons and getting amazing deals on everything, told me about Door to Door Organics. She recently started working full time for the first time since having my nieces so her free time has dramatically decreased. She raises her kids very similarly to how we were raised including gardening and eating tons of fruits and veggies so I knew that if she was recommending something to me it must be worth trying.

Door to Door Organics is a service that delivers organic produce and groceries to your house on either a weekly or biweekly basis. They offer different sized deliveries from the Bitty Mixed Box at $24.99 (which is the one I got) all the way to the Large Box at $59.99. Mixed refers to getting both fruits and veggies or you can get one or the other. You can also add pantry items and extras onto your order.

The Friday before your box is scheduled to be delivered, you get an email from Door to Door Organics stating that your box is ready to view. This means they have decided what to put in your box. You can then go view it on their easy-to-use website and either accept that box as it is or they give you the option of swapping up to 5 items in your box. I chose to swap a few but kept the majority of what they gave me. Below is a picture of what I got for my Bitty Mixed Box; 12 bananas, 1 bunch of kale, 2 zucchini, 1 cucumber, 2 grapefruit, 3 gala apples, 1 mango, and 3 small sweet potatoes. (All of it was obviously organic).

 

Below is what it looked like when I first opened the box.

As far as delivery goes, I like how they give you a space to leave some notes about how you wanted it delivered. I personally live in an apartment complex, so I asked that they leave it to the side of my porch which was nice. While over all I was pretty impressed with my box, I did decide to hold my subscription for the next few months for a few important reasons.

First, as a vegetarian I eat a lot of greens. Spinach and kale are huge for me and I wasn't very happy with how they came packaged in the box. They were just thrown into the mix and not wrapped separately so they came pretty bruised and sad looking. Secondly, with my dad owning a pretty good sized garden, I plan on getting a lot of my veggies from him in the coming months. Lastly, I absolutely hate to waste produce. You have to shop frequently as a vegetarian and this means I either have to get a larger box every week, or still go to the grocery store. As busy as I am, I feel like that will lead to waste and spending too much money. For all of these reasons, I've decided to wait on continuing my subscription until the winter months.

Overall, I think Door To Door Organics is a wonderful idea. If you're someone who is really busy, and doesn't have time to go to the grocery store as often as you need to, this would be a great addition to your diet. It makes eating organic much easier. As for me, I will be returning to my local market because I can't beat the freshness and the prices for the summer time.

If you are interested in trying Door to Door Organics, please email me at andreafontanabeauty@gmail.com and I would be happy to pass along a coupon code for $15 off your first box!

Have a beautiful night,

Dre

Dre Does an Influenster Go VoxBox Review

So you might be wondering what that little Influenster Button is on the side of my blog. Let me tell you a little bit about Influenster before I get into the amaaaaazing products they sent me to try out. Influenster is an online community of reviews basically. As a member I can review products I already own that I love, take surveys on products I've tried, and share all of my lovely opinions on various types of social media. Depending on how involved with the site you are (they have a point scale to determine this), what your interests are and what your expertise is in, you can qualify for various VoxBoxes that they send out from different brands. Beauty, health related, food, etc...the diversity of products they have on the site is awesome! As a blogger I naturally like sharing my opinion on products I like and dislike, so I obviously I quickly got addicted to the site. One day, I got an email saying I might qualify to receive a free VoxBox so they asked me to take a quick survey, and said I would be notified if I was chosen to receive some free products. I ended up qualifying and here we are with a review of the Go VoxBox.

Below is a picture of all of the products I received (Disclaimer: while yes I did receive all of these items for free, all of these opinions are my own and Influenster does not require you to blog about it or say how awesome everything is. 100% honesty on my blog ONLY)

From left to right, starting on top we have: the Vitamin Shoppe Next Step Shaker with the little Jaxx mixer, 3 sample packets of The Vitamin Shoppe Next Step Fit N' Full Shake, Aqua Spa relax Body Creme in Lavender + Camomile, the ProFoot Pedi-Rock, Playtex Sport Tampons, a coupon for a free Müller yogurt, Blue Diamond Blueberry Flavored roasted almonds, the ProFoot Triad Othotic shoe inserts, and lastly a coupon for $5 off my purchase at the Vitamin Shoppe until the end of May.

The Vitamin Shoppe Next Step Shaker and 3 Sample Packets of Fit N' Full Shake: I was really excited to see these come in the Go VoxBox because I'm always looking at different types of protein supplements. I've never tried anything from The Vitamin Shoppe so I was excited to be introduced to the brand. I love the shaker first off with the little Jaxx Mixer because it really doesn't make it so easy to shake up and dissolve the protein shake so you don't have any gross clumps of powder in your drink. I received the flavors Swiss Chocolate, French Vanilla, and Fresh Berries and while they were all great, chocolate will usually always win for me.  With 14g of protein per serving and only 1g of sugar, these shakes are meant to be used as a meal replacement to curb hunger and cravings. They do however contain milk, soy, and wheat so warning to those who avoid those ingredients. All you do is add them to shaker with 8 fl oz. of cold water and shake it up! I tried them out as meals every time and I have to say they really did leave me feeling satisfied. I really think I'll look into buying some of these next time I'm looking for protein. You can get a 16 serving tub of the powder mix online at www.vitaminshoppe.com for $24.99 or buy a 14-pack of individual packets for the same price. Overall opinion: HUGE thumbs up on this yummy product.

Aqua Spa relax Body Creme in Lavender Camomile: Aqua Spa is another brand I had never heard of so I was interested to receive this parabens free body creme. First off, it smells wonderful and it's texture is nice and smooth. On their website, Aqua Spa claims that this body creme is "formulated to help stimulate cell renewal, enhance skin elasticity, strengthen skin, boost collagen, and keep skin hydrated" with the addition of the Marina Youth Complex. It also calms and relaxes with the wonderful aroma. While it's too soon to tell if it's actually boosting my cell renewal rate and collagen, it is nice and hydrating and calming so I like using it. This full size of 12 oz. retails for $9.99 on their website at www.aquaspabath.com (I received a generous 9 oz. size).

ProFoot Pedi-Rock: I am a very active person and with that comes calluses on the bottoms of my feet. I am obsessed with this product. My two favorite aspects of the Pedi-Rock are the shape and that you can use it dry. I love the shape of the rock because you can easily grip it to use it on your calluses. It can sometimes be tricky to hold pummus stones and use them on your feet, however the shape of the Pedi-Rock makes it really easy to control. I also love that you can use it wet or dry. While obviously it's better to soak you feet to soften the calluses, sometimes it's awkward to reach your feet and not fall over in the shower. Plus if I forget to do it in the shower and remember I'm going to be wearing sandals or heels where my feet will be seen, it's nice not having to jump back in the shower to get rid of those calluses. While you can't buy directly from the ProFoot website there are links to places you can the Pedi-Rock. I found it on Amazon for $14.99.

Playtex Sport Tampons: While most women probably have a good idea of what tampons they prefer, it's always nice trying out something new that I know I have to use. I've never generally tried any kind of Playtex tampons surprisingly. I always stick to either Tampax Pearl or U by Kotex and generally base it on which one is on sale at the moment I need them. I have to say I will probably add these tampons to the mix of comparison next time I'm at the grocery store because as far as tampons go I only require two things; they get the job done as hygienically and freshly as possible and they have plastic applicators. So these tampons did that and are good. The pack of 18 retails for about $7 depending on where you buy them. Also sorry if you're a guy reading this. Ew. Periods. Gross. Deal with it.

The Müller Coupon: I love Müller yogurt already so I was really excited to see this coupon for a free yogurt! They have really great flavors and mixes of greek yogurt so I highly suggest going to your grocery store and checking them out! I especially like the one with the mix in almonds!

Blue Diamond Blueberry Almond Sample Pack: I've always loved almonds and when cocoa roasted almonds came out I was all over those. When I opened up the VoxBox to find Blueberry flavored almonds I was really excited because I didn't know such a thing existed! They were so delicious and I will definitely be looking for them the next time I go grocery shopping. I got this convenient little sample pack that is perfect for snacking but I like that you can purchase them in a larger bag as well if you don't want snack packs! They also have strawberry and raspberry flavors so I'm interested in trying them all. These almonds make a great snack between meals because they have protein and fiber while only having 6g of sugar and being very low sodium as well. I highly recommend checking these out. I could only find these on amazon.com and they were $8.99 for the larger 4 oz. bag or about $16 for a pack of 12 of the snack packs.

ProFoot Triad Orthotic Shoe Inserts: As soon as I came across these in the VoxBox I ripped the packaging open and placed them into my work shoes. They are awesome and really comfortable. I like that they are squishy and can fit multiple sizes of shoes. They claim to improve not only the pain in your feet, but also in your legs, knees, and back. While I don't have leg or knee pain, I do think that these helped sooth some of my back pain when I was at work. I'm going to continue to wear them and let you know how it goes! Once again you can't purchase directly from the ProFoot website but I found them on Walgreen's website for $10.99.

Let me know if you enjoyed this type of a review and if you've tried any of these products before! Also be sure to check out Influenster yourself and get involved!

Have a beautiful day,

Dre