40 Ways To Be Productive During A Quarantine

At the beginning of the quarantine, I remember being one of those people re-posting memes and joking about stocking up on bathroom tissue. Little did we all know that in a matter of days our world would quickly be turned upside down. Major sports events for the Spring and Summer would have been canceled or re-scheduled, supermarket shelves wiped clean (pun intended), schools closed, and many of us forced to making sure our office phones were forwarded to our cells so we could work from home for the foreseeable future.

As an introvert, I enjoy the solitude of working from home and not having a specific event to attend. I do, however, enjoy going out to the malls and doing some shop-till-you-drop or even eating at a nice establishment with my hubby. I recently discovered dozens and dozens of productivity hacks and ways to stay entertained at home, as well as resources for making extra money and growing my current business. Can you say #bossbabe? LOL

 Below you’ll find 40+ ways to be creative while spending time at home. Let me know your favorites and feel free to add your ideas in the comment section!

Look details: Hat here and here | Necklace here | Pants here | Shoes here |

PRODUCTIVE, CREATIVE AND RELAXING IDEAS

• Write a letter to your future self about what you are experiencing
• Create a vision board
• Start a prayer journal and go all out. I mean glitter gel pens, stickers, everything
• Learn a new kind of hairstyle on YouTube
• Go through your drawers, closet and purge! We both know you are never going to wear that shirt all the way in the back
• Learn a dance + start a TikTok account
• Have a Zoom movie night with friends (I hate watching scary movies alone)
• Take a free online course
• Create a free online course or some kind of DIY
  
• Search for a challenge video on Instagram or YouTube, then record yourself doing it to post on social media just for fun! Challenge your friends to do the same!
• Try a squat challenge! It's never too late to get that perfect peach
• Finally read that book you have been wanting to read
• For all my non-chefs out there, its time to crack open a cookbook
• Look up nail art tutorials on YouTube and master a manicure
• Try yoga and meditation
• Shop online
• Perfect your skin routine
• Have groceries delivered to an elderly friend, new parents or someone else in need
• Write thank-you notes to those in your life you are thankful for
• Have groceries delivered to an elderly friend
• Delete those spammy emails on your phone, unsubscribe from those emails you never read and delete those old photos
• Text your friends or look on FB to see when their birthdays are. Then make sure you have a card to give them!
• Switch up the furniture arrangement in your living room. Heck all the rooms, go crazy! 
• Buy some furniture from a close friend
  

TIME TO CLEAN AND ORGANIZE

• Tackle that pile of clothes you have been meaning to wash
• Get your tax documents in order if you haven't already
• Wipe down baseboards
• Clean windows
• Organize your pantry
• Vacuum the floors
• Clean those makeup brushes!
• Clean out your messy socks and underwear drawer and throw away anything that’s stretched out or has holes or stains
• Clean the bathtub so you can have a luxurious bubble bath
• Wipe down fan blades
• Dust bookshelves and knick-knacks
• Re-arrange all your books by colors or subject
• Takedown your curtains and wash and iron them
• Dust lamp shades
• Re-organize your Holiday decorations in storage
• Try some new DIY cleaning items you have been looking into
• Create a new chore-chart for yourself
  

Do you have any ideas that you have done? Let me know in the comments.

Early Holiday Shopping with Monat

Hello, there old friend!

Whew, it has been a hot minute since I have been here. I will have to do an updating post sometime, but I wanted to share these with you all ASAP. A lot of stores have been having their versions of "Holiday" or "Black Friday but not really" sales. Well, my favorite luxury hair and skincare company has released some of its holiday items that are not only cute but affordable! Check these bundles out:

Eye Wish Bundle
 

Contains:2 Brow and Lash serums, eye lash curler, brush, scissors, LED mirror and canvas tote! Grab it here
 Holiday Heat 

Contains:Travel size detangler, travel size frizz fix, travel size hair spray and
 brand new ceramic flat iron! Grab it here

Bring The Style 

 Contains:2 Pearl headbands and hair clips, travel size renew shampoo, travel size detangler, travel size curl cream, travel size masque, travel size hairspray! Grab it here  I love that there is honestly something for every hair type!Do you have a favorite out of the three? Let me know in the comments below.As always, thanks for stopping by! 

Got a Secret, Can You Keep It? Maskacara Makeup

 Happy New Year and week after Valentine's Day you guys! I am so excited to be able to hop on here and start fresh with you and Carnation Dreams. I know I previously said I would be posting more, but of course, life happens. BUT, my word for this year is growth, and that is what I will focus on with this blog. Sooooo yeah, I gotta be honest - I've been hiding something that is a beauty game-changer, you guys. And it recently dawned on me that although I have been sharing about it on my other social media accounts, I haven't here. So I'm coming clean today yall! 

Here it is:

1. I've been exclusively using a new kind of makeup called Maskcara Beauty. 

Have you heard of it? Girl, I am obsessed!

2. I love this makeup so much, that I've decided to become a Maskcara Makeup Artist. 
WOOT! WOOT!

There it is y'all. That's my secret! Now you may be wondering: What does it mean to be a 'Maskcara Makeup Artist'?

 Let me spill the tea sis:

• First of all, it means that you're going to be seeing a lot more beauty/makeup posts on my blog and Instagram/IG Stories. I figure that I already share about other brands on my IG, so why not share about Maskcara right? I'm super excited to dive more into this Maskcara makeup content because I know you all will love it too. While I don't consider myself a makeup expert by any means, I do like to feel pretty/slay, and I use makeup to help me achieve that. 

• Secondly, being a Maskcara Makeup Artist also means that if YOU are ever interested in trying out the makeup for yourself, I can hook you up! Yep-I sell this makeup now! So you get a flawless face, AND YOU! AND YOU! Can you tell how excited I am? Foundation can be tricky to match your skin tone, so I'd help you find the right shade and obvi answer any Maskcara Makeup questions you have.

The photo at the top of this post is my everyday makeup look (aaand how I look without any makeup on. Those dark circles are no joke yall). You guys this takes me 5-7ish minutes to put on, which is one of the things I love about Maskcara. It is so quick! I used to never bother with trying to contour/highlight because it took so much extra time. It was certainly not part of my everyday makeup routine! Not anymore!

I also love that the Maskcara Makeup look ends up being very natural. It doesn't look cakey or heavy. If I want it to be a bit more full coverage, I just use a tad more product and that takes care of that. Plus the fact that it evens out my skin tone and makes me look like I got an additional 5 hours of sleep is a plus!

Here's exactly what I have on my face in the 'After" pic:

Face: Maskcara HAC with the shades Mango, Amber, Indigo and Pearl. One of the coolest things is that you can create your custom palette to mix and match the exact color combo that you want. You can even buy these as singles if you want as opposed to an entire palette! Let me know if you need help finding your shade. 

Cheeks: Masckara Lip & Cheek in Grapefruit (obsessed with this stuff). Again, you can buy the blush or anything else as just singles. I also love the Nude blush and often use it on my lips as well!

Lips: Pink Grapefruit (again)

Eyeshadow: I don't have any eyeshadow on in these pics but I have been using a bit of Maskcara's illuminator in Pearl on top of my eyes for an extra awake look.

Brushes: I got this entire look using the 30 Second HAC Brush from Maskcara! If I want to add a bit more blush I use the Blush and Bronzer Brush. I then use the IIID Perfector Blender and blend it all in. I am obsessed with all of these brushes you guys, especially since they are all double ended. And for the price, you literally cannot beat them. 

Below are some more before/after pics to demonstrate how bomb Maskcara makeup is. This stuff is seriously like a filter!

 

 

  

One other exciting thing guys: we are looking to build our team of Maskcara makeup artists! If you love makeup and beauty products and don't hate the idea of working from home and earning a little (or a lot) of extra cash, shoot me an email at gracefilledglow@gmail.com and let's talk about it! As I've already mentioned, you do NOT have to be an existing makeup expert to slay at selling this stuff. I am case in point of that! No formal makeup education required- just a love for helping other women look and feel confident in their own skin..enhanced by gorgeous natural makeup.

Let me know what you think of what I've shared today in the comments below. Don't forget to let me know what kind of makeup posts you want to see! Thanks for stopping by!