5 Ways to Get Fresh for Spring Without Any Makeup

Hear those birds chirping? Feel that sunshine on your face? That’s spring making its bright and cheery way into our lives, y’all, and I don’t know about you, but I’m welcoming this season with open arms. With warm weather upon us, our beauty routines tend to lighten up — in fact, spring is the perfect season to experiment with new ways to keep yourself looking fresh (and fly).
We teamed up with HEALTHY ESSENTIALS®, a destination for helpful advice, tips, tricks and money-saving coupons, to help you refresh without piling on makeup products. The site provides real-time insights and answers – personalized just for you – to help you care for yourself (and save some money, too!). Whether you’re in need of a mid-day pick-me-up at your desk or are heading out to carpe that diem with pals, here are five ways to revitalize yourself sans makeup.
USE A DIY FACE MIST
A refreshing, DIY face mist is a must-have for fresh-ups (touch-ups without makeup, duh!), especially if you’re a busy girl on-the-go. It doesn’t get easier than making your own DIY face mist: Grab a small spray bottle, fill it up with your favorite gentle skin toner and witch hazel (half toner, half witch hazel) and then add a small drop of tea tree oil to make it minty. Spritz, spritz, spritz this stuff on your face whenever you want to wake up and invigorate your senses. Pro tip: Stash one of these in your purse, on your desk and atop your vanity. You’ll use it all the time — promise.
BRIGHTEN YOUR EYES
You might not realize how much having tired eyes can affect your overall appearance. If you’ve been staring at a screen for a long time or have fallen victim to allergy season, it’ll show in your eyes: They can take on a dull and/or irritated appearance, not to mention that they can also feel super dry. A couple drops of moisturizing, gentle eye drops like Visine Tired Eyes will instantly bring your peepers back to that bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed state. I always have one of these in my purse and one on my desk, because I can’t stand the way my eyes look and feel after a long day.
GIVE YOUR LIPS A TREATMENT
Whether or not you’re a lipstick lover, it’s easy for our puckers to get chapped, dry and flaky. This is not cute. A DIY lip treatment — made with ingredients you prob already have in your cupboard — is an absolute must.
Mix together equal parts of brown sugar, olive oil and honey, and apply it to your lips (don’t forget to have a taste; it’s so yummy!). You’ll instantly have super smooth, hydrated lips that are ready for anything — including red lipstick.
DO THE BEND AND FLIP
You already know about the bend and snap from Legally Blonde, but have you heard of the bend and flip? It’s my go-to hair hack when my locks are lifeless and in need of a little love, but I don’t have time to re-style. Start by brushing your hair as you normally would. Then, flip your head over so your hair is pointing toward the ground. Give it an upside down brushing from root to tip, and then FLIP over! Your hair will look a little crazy at this point. Give it some oomph at the roots by zhushing it with your fingers, and then lightly smooth it out with the brush. Voilà!
WHITEN YOUR TEETH
Having a white and bright smile is key to looking fresh. Even if you’re not at home, you should give your mouth a little TEETH-L-C with Listerine Healthy Whitening mouthwash. I know what you’re thinking: Am I supposed to carry around a big container of mouthwash with me? No! Put a couple capfuls of this effective mouthwash into a travel-sized bottle, and toss it in your purse or in your desk drawer. Do a couple swishes whenever you want to freshen your breath, whiten your teeth and refresh your mouth. It’s as close to brushing your teeth on-the-go as you can get!
Easy as that! Don’t think that freshening up has to mean applying more makeup, y’all. Embrace spring, and don’t forget to check out HealthyEssentials.com for more ways to stay fresh and win prizes. From a digital fitness tracker to music downloads to a 12 month magazine subscription, Brit + Co readers can win an assortment of prizes that will help them stay on top of their 2016 resolutions. Starting December 27, 2015 through March, 27, 2016 when you register for HealthyEssentials.com, you’ll have the opportunity to “spin the wheel” for a chance to win wellness-related products. Note: There will be 100 winners DAILY!
This post is a collaboration with HEALTHY ESSENTIALS®.
Authored by Beth Wischnia
Beauty Production, Styling + Modeling: Beth Wischnia
Photography: Chris Andre
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures