New Collaboration! (say haaaay)

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote on here, and with good reason too! Life has been a bit of a whirl wind ever since Bub popped the question to me. Over the course of 3 weeks we have been sooooooo busy (but good busy!) Bub was the best man for this brother's wedding and I am a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding so the 2 of us have been tying up loose ends for that.

I am so happy my "blogging comeback" involves this little lady over here. Melis designs pretty things all day over at Mila Rose Designs. Melis owns some Yellow Heart Art prints and I own some Mila Rose hair swag. One day the 2 of us were all like "Hey, wanna collab on a new turband?"

lightbulb.

Introducing the limited edition Yellow Heart Art and Mila Rose Designs turband! Only available in our 2 shops. The band is made out of originally designed fabric that representatives the 2 of us. One side features dainty little gray, cream and purple hearts. The other side features soft water colored purple, gray and cream flowers. The 2 fabrics compliment each other in a way that adds the right amount of statement to any of your fall pieces!

I am so honored to be working with Melis. She has a ha-uge heart and amazing personality. Plus she told her family she eloped with her fiance by using cupcakes--does it get any more radder than that?

We can not wait to hear about what you guys think of our new collab! Melis hand sewed each one of these turbands using a soft gray elastic band so it can mold to your head.

Wanna nab one? There is only a limited run available and you can snatch one up here!

That Time I Accidentally Live Instagrammed My Marriage Proposal (I SAID YES!)

This weekend is one for the record books. It all started out when I asked Bub if we can have a "Steve and Leonora" weekend. We had just bought a house so pretty much every weekend this summer consisted of:

• Packing
• Unpacking
• Moving
• Painting
• Home Depot runs
• Lowes Visits
• Tearing down walls
• Celebrating Weddings
• Celebrating babies
• Playing host/hostess to family members
• Throwing surprise parties
• Going to BBQs

…we were beat and needed some serious "us" time.

Back track 3 years ago I had thrown Bub a scavenger hunt. He really loved it and I had told him I always wanted one as well. Since I am usually the one making plans for us to do stuff he said he would take the reins this weekend and plan something for us to do.

Saturday morning we wake up and he hands me a card. It was my first clue, but I had to wait 10 minutes before opening it because bub needed a head start to run around our home town and place the clues everywhere. I needed a time killer because staring at the oven clock waiting for it to be "11:50" was killing me, so naturally I turned to insta-gram. I thought it would be fun to document my scavenger hunt so it felt like I was doing it with everyone.

I instagramed my first clue, opened it up and it read "If it gets too hot we can cool off with some ices….MARCO?!"

I hoped in my car and drove to Ralphs Italian Ices. (and no "MARCO" isn't a weird endearing nick-name bub gave me. I am always screaming MARCO at Bub when I sneak away from him in public places, and that is how he has to find me) (he really hates this game)

When I got to ralphs I really had no idea what to expect. Did he leave a clue in the parking lot? Do I need to buy an ice? Am I even at the right place?

I walk up to the girl behind the counter and start off with "…ummm this is gonna sound weird but--" and before i could finish my sentence she was like "NO NO THIS ISN'T WEIRD AT ALL HERE YOU GO!" and hands me a yellow ballon, a toy car, and another card.

I Instagram the Ralphs location, and open my card. The clue brought me to the place where Bub had attempted to teach me how to drive a stick shift (It didn't end well, in case you are wondering I can only get it into 1st gear) (or is it already in 1st gear when you start the car? Whatever, the point is cars should NOT go backwards when you take your foot off the break) (its unnatural) (and makes couples argue)

I pull up into the parking lot and see a yellow balloon off in the distance. I drive up to it only to find it attached to a park bench that is currently occupied by 4 people on their lunch break. I run up, grab the balloon like a stealthy ninja, and jump back into my car. At this point people are commenting on my instagram photos saying that I am going to end up with a fiance by the end of this scavenger hunt. I didn't think anything of it and soon became mortified with the idea of telling 1,700 people that no, I'm not engaged, this is just Bub being Bub.

My 3rd clue brought me to the local park that we go to sometimes to picnic, play frisbee, or just go for a walk. Unfortunately you need to be a town resident to use the park. I hadn't change addresses yet so I was technically not a town resident (even though I am) I rolled up to the little park booth thing-a-ma-jig and start again with my "hi this is gonna sound weird…" speech only for the girl at the booth to just wave me on. She saw the yellow balloons taking over my car and knew I was here for the scavenger hunt that bub had left for me.

I collect another clue and another yellow balloon (All my clues were stuck to the balloons with duct tape, true Bub fashion). I opened the last card and it read "…swing on by for a kiss…MARCO!"

So I drive to the swing set where bub and I had our first kiss (I know, very Dawson's creek a la 1996). I pull up, get out of the car, walk over to the swing set only to not find any yellow balloons there.

Ahhhh crap.

I call up Bub, admit defeat and that I am at the wrong swing set. I have no clue how to get to "ours". He laughs, gives me directions, and I get going again. I get out of the car and see bub in the distance swinging on the swings while holding a yellow balloon. He starts yelling "MARCOOOOO" and I yell back "POLLOOOOOO" as I walk over to him, give him a kiss and park on the swing next to him. A few minutes go by so I assume the hunt is over and we can now go and get some lunch like we had planned.

Before we were about to leave bub gets up off his swing, stands in front of me and kisses me (reenacting how we shared our first kiss) he then goes on to say how I'm his best friend, and how much he loves me, and how he wants to keep loving me forever…at this point I blurt out "OMG is this really happening right now?!" and he goes "Yes, this is happening" and gets down on one knee. I pretty much black out and don't remember what happened, but I came to and found a ring on my finger and a bub wrapped around me.

We hear clapping in the background and I'm all like "OMG HE HIRED A PHOTOGRAPHER!" and out of no where this dude walks over to us, says he saw the whole thing, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Bub whispered in my ear "I have no clue who this guy is…at all"

We hop in the car and start the whole "LET'S TELL THE ENTIRE WORLD!" tour. I purposely never instagrammed that he proposed to me because we wanted to share that special moment with close friends and family first before announcing it there. After telling all our friends and family we hit up the local amusement park and celebrated by acting like a kid and riding some rides (it only seemed appropriate since we started off the day on a swing set)

And that, kids, is the story on how I inadvertently live insta-grammed my marriage proposal. How was your labor day weekend? ;)

I'm Wearing Puppies

You don't see too many photos of my mug show up on my blog, and theres a reason for that.

1. I work full time on top of having Yellow Heart Art so its hard to squeeze in some selfies after hustlin' the 9-5 gig. All I wanna do when I come home from work is open my fridge and eat the first slightly appetizing thing that makes eye contact with me. Sometimes its a sandwich, sometimes its a bottle of ketchup.

2. I am not exactly totally ok with myself, but I am working on that

3. I haven't bought a new outfit since, like, 2011.

But look at this uh-dor-able dress that Kintage hooked me up with!

As you can see it past my "twirly" test. The best part? From a distance the dress looks like its just another run-of-the-mill polka dotted dress... but then you get close to me and you're all like "whoa what? is this some kind of magic eye dress you got going on here girl?" (ok, did I just date myself by referencing those magic eye books. Raise your hand if you stayed crossed eyed longer than you wanted to at age 10)

Dress: c/o Kintage, Reign of Terrier Dog Print Dress
Necklace: c/o Flawed Perfect Jewelry (use "LEONORAROCKS" for 10% off weeee)
Cardi: Kohls
Shoes: Target 

YES THOSE ARE FREKKIN DOGS ON MY DRESS! (or, if you're from Long Island we like to call them "dawgs" sometimes we walk them while on our way to get some "cawfee" and "chawclet" at the shopping "mawl") (it's ok guys, I cringe when I talk too)

It's like I get to channel my inner Lady Gaga by wearing a bunch of puppies.

Ok, it's nothing like that at all.

I paired this dress with my favorite flawed perfection jewelry necklace. The confetti colors gave it that extra "pop" I wanted. Also this necklace kinda plays a trick on you too, you can actual purchase different bead strands and change out your necklace to fit your mood or outfit! (For me I think I'll have them match my outfit, I tend to change my mood way too much)

Do you have any outfits that play tricks on you?

I Wanna Live Here

This past weekend the Bubs and I went biking to fire island (it's an island off of Long Island). You can take a ferry there but we were all like "oh hey, let's just bike it!" 

.never.
.again.

according to google maps it's a 3.5 mile bike ride, which in theory wouldn't be so bad if a good 1 of those 3.5 miles wasn't a long stretch of soft sand that you had to walk your bike through.

But it was worth it, we had a great day. The town was really cute and I managed to ONLY get sunburn on the tops of my hands.

There was also this little girl in town wheeling around a wagon full of hand painted sea shells yelling "BUY THREE GET ONE FREEEEEE!" So I handed her one of my Yellow Heart Art business cards and told her to call me in 15 years. I can really use her marketing skills on my team then. I like to start 'em young.

Its Hip To be Square - NEW PRODUCT

Geez its been a long time since I introduced new shiz into the shop. I haven't been publicizing this because at the time we didn't know if it was going to happen or not but since May Bub and I were in the process of packing our stuff, moving/buying a new house, unpacking our stuff and now remodeling it. Actually it was kind of nice keeping it under wraps because when we told people we bought a house the response wasn't "Oh right I read it on Facebook!" or "oh yeah I saw on Instagram!" (sometimes the internet can suck) (I also plan on doing this for my engagement too) (no I'm not engaged) (or am I?) (ha, no I'm not)

We have had no life for about 4 months. An even bigger tragedy is that we haven't sat down and watched TV in months. I miss the days where we would come home from work, eat dinner, and just collapse on the couch while watching mindless reality TV garbage. (Followed by a battle for the remote control that could be publicized on UFC or something) (we go hardcore when it comes to remote control custody)

In March of 2013 I started to design items for my summer 2013 collection. Well, since I had to pack up my studio in May I wasn't able to work on my new products until recently. I've had the designs all worked out and completed, had them all ready placed onto fabric but they were just waiting to be cut up and stitched together to make this:

 oh heeey pillow by yellow heart art

 Introducing New Yellow Heart Art Decorative Pillow Covers!

The inspiration behind this collection was sparked by our recent move. We had lived in an apartment for about 2 years. I knew that place would not be our permanent home so I was always hesitant to buy cutesy and awesome home decor items for our apartment. I wanted to wait till we had a "forever home" where I can invest in items that would be in our living space for a while.

The Cuddle Zone by Yellow Heart Art

Stripey Hello by Yellow Heart Art

Arrow Doodle by Yellow Heart Art

Triangle Love by Yellow Heart Art

As I was shopping around for pillows I noticed that a lot of them were, well, lame. I like my decor to have a bit of sass to them. My new pillow covers have funny sayings and modern patterns to help add "umph" to your couches, beds and shelves.

All the handwritten pillows are my own hand writing. The patterns are patterns that I would put in my own home.  I tried to stick with color palettes that would be versatile with most home decor.

For now there are available as a pre-order. Since I have a few designs and they are so time intensive to make and sew I wanted to see which would be popular and go from there. What I love most about these is that you can easily switch them out and change them up since they are pillow covers and not actual pillows.

What do you guys think? View the ENTIRE collection here!

Also we are now accepting applications for Yellow Heart Art Affiliates! Earn free Yellow Heart Art loot, email YHAAffiliate@gmail.com for more info <3 

Affordable Home Decor Makes Me Feel All Special and Junk

It's no surprise now that Bubs and I bought a new home. Do you know how easy it is to go all "WEEEEE BUY ALLLLL THE THIIIIIINGS!" while running rampant in home goods and tossing everything into my cart?


So my inner voice always kicks in at this point and she's usually a buzz kill. She tells me things like "Don't stick your finger in that cake and lick the icing" "Don't jump in that puddle you'll make funky noises with your socks every time you walk" and "Don't buy all that shit in your cart homegirl now has a mortgage" 

Screw you inner voice. Don't you ever take vacation days or something? Who works 24-7.

Get outta here.

So while stalking one of my favorite blogs, Apartment Therapy, I came across some information that is completely and totally life changing.

H&M now has a home decor line.

**angels sing**

And not only do they have a home decor collection--the collection can now BE BOUGHT ONLINE.

I give you permission to stand out of your computer chair and do the slow clap to H&M right now.

1. France Cushion Cover: $17.95

2. Storage Basket: $9.95

3. Bakery Metal Tin: $12.95

4. Rail Road Hand Towel: $6.95

5. Wooden Box: $12.95

6. Glass Vase: $12.95

Granted I don't know what direction I want to go with my house quite yet, but as of right now these items are really high contenders.  By the way I am no way affiliated with H&M, I just wanted to share with you guys some fun conversation pieces that you can add to your home that's affordable but not farty looking.

What style trends are you using in your home this year?

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in case you missed it: I am getting some surgery done that insurance will not cover (you can read more about that here) so right now all purchases from my shop on etsy are going towards any medical bills I have, here is one of my new prints that I designed that was inspired by my latest news

 your smile makes me all giddy and stuff

New Artwork That Will Hopefully Help Me Out: I'm Kinda Mad at 14 Year Old Me

Your Smile Makes Me Giddy and Stuff-New Art! Find me HERE!

I really didn't want to make my "blogging come back" with a post like this. I really wanted to make a cute collage of fun etsy picks or perhaps some awesome DIYS that I have found on other blogs that I wanted to share with you all.

I went to the dentist last week for an emergency visit. I had taken a bite out of a peach and noticed little pieces of my front tooth left behind on it. I panicked and called the dentist. When I got there I was given the news that I knew was coming but hope I could avoid.

I need another dental implant.

Back track: When I was 14 years old I had fainted face first down a flight of stairs. My poor mom witnessed the entire thing. She screamed my name and I wanted to say back to her  "I'M OK MA!" but I was completely knocked unconscious (side note: I am a firm believer that people in a coma can hear you since I was able to hear everything my mom was saying to me even thought I was knocked out) she thought I was no longer "with her" (if you catch my drift) because she had found me unresponsive and in a pool of blood. I came to, put my hand to my mouth and in my hand was my front tooth. Now, I don't mean that little nub that you see when you smile, I mean the ENTIRE tooth that is rooted into your jaw (its about and 1-1/2 long) there was a giant hole in my gums and my teeth were really loose. Till this day doctors have no clue how I didn't snap my neck right there and die, so I would like to think I am here for a reason.

She rushed me to the dentist where I had gotten 72 stitches placed into my mouth. They attempted to root canal my tooth back into my head but my jaw rejected it. I had to get 2 dental implants on my front tooth and the little one next to it (if you are not sure what a dental implant is basically they rip your teeth out of your jaw and literally screw a  long screw into your jaw that then gets a little fake tooth glued to it) the process is painful, scary and expensive. Insurance companies do not cover dental implants because their reasoning is that this process is "cosmetic". I do not know who in their right mind would willingly put themselves through this torture. I literally had no teeth in my head and they were claiming I was doing this to "improve my looks" (HA!)

Since then I have had so many issues with my jaw/mouth. My jaw is constantly popping since it was knocked out of place (if you look closely at my face my jaw is actually tilted towards one side). Last year my jaw locked up on me and I couldn't open my mouth more than an inch big, I had a hard difficult time eating. My gums are receding upwards and food is constantly getting stuck in there causing it to be a breeding ground for bacteria. Sometimes my face goes numb which doctors believe is caused from nerve damage when I took that spill down the stairs.

Flash forward to today, my other front tooth that was perfectly fine has started to fail on me 15 years later. It is super brittle with a giant hole in the back. Soon it will snap in half completely and I will be left with no front tooth there.

I had a hard time accepting this news, I know it might sound silly or vain to you but I had a hard time dealing with having fake teeth at age 14. I was happy that at least ONE of the front teeth were still real, was still "a part of me". Now I have to have a piece of me ripped out and replaced with a fake. My smile will change and I will always know deep down inside that i was not given these teeth.

Maybe you think I'm being overly dramatic, maybe you understand where I am coming from, but I am having a really hard time with coming to terms that I will soon look different. I never understood people that willingly get plastic surgery to dramatically change their features, why would you ever mess with that?

Long story short this is coming at a really bad time. Bub and I just purchased a home and we had to fork over a lot of money at closing up front (I won't tell you how much because that is tacky and neither here nor there but let's just say we could've bought ourselves a reaaaally nice car with the money we handed over in one lump sum)

As I said before insurance will not cover this process for me and will end up costing me around 6,000-7,000 dollars. I would never ever ask anyone to "donate" money to help me pay for this because I am no more deserving that anyone else out there. I am no better that anyone and am not entitled to anything like that.

Instead I am releasing a new print into my shop where 100% of the profits will go to my "Leonora Needs A Decent Smile And Not A Hole In Her Mouth" Fund. Please, do not feel obligated to purchase this artwork. Even if you just share it on your facebook, twitter or blog that would help me tremendously. I am going to be selling 2 versions: 1 as an 8x10 for $20 and 1 as a more affordable 5x7 for $9. Also I personally love the colors I picked for this print, but I am also selling one in black and white to go with any home decor. Any little bit will help me and I thank you in advance for any and all support you can give me.

find me ovah here!

How to Not Get Discouraged Playing the "Numbers" Game

worth it, via yellow heart art

When I first started out on Etsy I remember seeing at the time that one of my favorite illustrators, Nan Lawson, had over 8,000 admirers on Etsy. (Now, 2 1-2 years later she's up to over 17,000)

I was all like "Ok, I am never ever going to see that number. Ever". 2 years later and I am over 6,000 admirers (you guys know how to make a girl's heart go lub dub)

Sometimes when other sellers out there browse Etsy they see a few numbers that stand out to them: The number of sales the person has made, the number of their admirers (people who like their shop) and the number of their followers (people who follow what they do on Etsy). You need to realize a few things before you get wrapped up in the "holy cow this shop has 4,000 sales and I only have 29" game.

• When did their shop "open up"? If your shop is only 1 month old and you're checking out a shop that is 5 years old then they will most likely have more sales than you just due to the fact that they have had a longer time frame selling their items.

• What is the price point of their items? If you are making handmade furniture and sell your items at $2,000 each then you only need to sell 1 item to make about $2,000, whereas a shop who sells book marks at $1 each needs to make 2,000 sales to do what you just did in one sale. Its all subjective.

• I know I've said it here before but the saying "don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle" totally rings true here. We've all had zero followers. We've all had zero sales. We've all had to invest personal money into our business before our business was making a profit and we can start to use "business money" for business related items (advertising, supplies, craft booth fees etc)

• Don't get wrapped up in the numbers, and if you do take a step back and reevaluate why the shop is as successful as it is. If you are comparing your hand bag shop to another hand bag shop who has comparable items to yours (price point, materials, style) and you can't understand why they are getting more sales than you it might be something as simple as how you are photographing your items. We are used to "instant gratification". If an app takes longer than 5 seconds to load on my phone I am over it. If you are taking bad quality photos of your products I am not going to sit there and examine the photo and realize "oh, ok, they took these at night, with their cell phone, on top of a pile of dirty laundry. But hey I SEE the potential here!" no. not gonna happen. You need clean, nice looking photos from the start or else you're going to lose a sale.

I know a lot of "Etsy Tips" out there are to "see what other sellers are doing out there and take note of what their doing to be successful". Tread lightly here, its great to follow people on twitter and on Instagram who you admire and who you think are successful. If these successful shops are posting a lot of their products on instagram then maybe you should do the same. Or maybe they are polling a lot of their facebook following and they are getting a lot of interaction that way, then of course you can take a tip from then and poll your facebook following too. But DO NOT actually "copy" their products thinking "oh hey their items are selling really well, I'm just going to do that too". When people say "follow shops to see what they are doing" take it from a marketing stand point and NOT from a "what they are selling" stand point. Copying is NOT flattering, its laziness.

Friday Freebie! Hello Cell Phone Wallpapers

It's been a while since I've done a friday freebie! Figured you guys were past due for some free snazzy shit for your cell phone.

I have been so busy lately designing, cutting, sewing and photographing the latest Yellow Heart Art collection that will hopefully be released middle of August. This new line has taken up a lot of my free time but it's so worth it. I am busy creating new square pillows that can help spruce up your couches, bedding and even shelves! I managed to squeeze in a few extra minutes to make these cute wallpapers!

hello? hand drawn wallpaper for iPhone 4 (or any other device)

hello? hand drawn wallpaper for iPhone 5 (or any other device)

Just open up this blog post on your phone, tap the image with your finger (so it opens at full size) then press and hold and save it to your phone's camera roll! Please remember these are for personal use only, let's all play nice and use them for just that :) artwork can not be copied, used or produced. If you do share these on your blog please link with love and have them come back to yellowheartart.blogspot.com

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Also in case you missed it we are still holding our "Yellow Heart Art Home" contest. Take a photo on instagram showing us how you style your Yellow Heart Art, be sure to tag @yellowheartart and use the hashtag #yellowheartarthome to be entered. We will pick our favorite photos and have our facebook fans vote on the winner! Opened to US residents only, winner will get to pick items from my shop as a prize! GOOD LUCK!

 

 

No Longer a Walking Halogen Bulb

I have a love/hate relationship with summer. I love the warmer weather, but I hate wearing clothes that show off more skin than I am comfortable with. I am pretty self conscious about my body to begin with so add that insecurity with my "I am so white I look like a walking glow stick" insecurity and you have a big pasty emotional mess on your hands.

A few weeks back I asked you all on facebook what self tanner you recommend. I have tried so many self tanners with little to no success. They would either:
• Make me orange
• Streak really bad
• Look awesome, but then "Sweat off" in a day
• Leave me feeling gooey
• Smell really terrible
• Be a huge messy disaster (any spray-tans had to be done in my shower so my walls didn't end up orange)
• Need to re-apply all day erry day
• Work great, but would be really expensive.

I asked you guys what you recommend because I know you'll be straight up with me. You'll give me your honest opinion and hopefully not steer me in the wrong direction and give me the deadly disease "oompah-lompha-itis". One person wrote on my status that the best self tanner they use is "sunlight". Now as much as I would love to be able to naturally tan I just can't. My skin just doesn't do the "tanning" thing, and even if I did tan I wouldn't want to expose my skin to that much sunlight due to other not-so-fun things that can happen to your skin when its exposed to too much sun.

A few of you guys recommend that I try Xen-tan. One of the people who recommended that I try Xen-tan was one of their representatives, Bethany. Bethany contacted me over email to see if I was interested in reviewing their tanning product. Before saying yes I did some research and read other's reviews of Xen-tan. Each review was positive and hopeful. I figured Bethany must be pretty confident in this product as well if she uses it herself AND is willing to let me review it using my own opinions.

 before and after

 before and after

The Results; Why I Would Totally Use it Again:

• Smells fruity when you first slap it on ya.

• The lotion is tinted so you know exactly where you are applying it on your body. (don't let the dark brown color scare you. It freaked the shiz atta me too but once you rub it in it becomes way more transparent and blends in with your existing skin color, girl scouts honor)

• Wasn't streaky since I was able to see where the lotion was going on my body.

• If you happen to apply the lotion unevenly use the balm to help blend in areas that are blotchy, uneven or too dark (I used the balm along my jaw line, knees and ankles. It's like the mr.clean magic eraser but for your body. Its actually did help blend in my goof-ups)

• I didn't feel sticky, slimy or "ooey" like when I use other lotions or tanners. The lotion absorbed nicely into my skin and didn't "lay on top of" my skin.

• I started to see results ASAP. This was big for me because I noticed in the past I had to keep building up a base coat for a few days before I was happy with the color. This is great if I get invited to a last minute event and want to look a little "glow-y" beforehand.

• The color is natural since it has olive undertones.

• You can adjust the color to your liking by either adding more or less lotion in between coats. I did 2 coats of lotion for my base layer and the color held up for 3 days with out fading. After that I just needed to do one layer of lotion for upkeep (That's not to say by day 3 I was white, I still had tanner on me but I noticed it wasn't as dark. I would personally apply ever 3 to 4 days to maintain a constant nice glow. You might have to do more or less depending how often you shower. I shower every day)

• I used the scent secure gold lotion to touch up my face. Its a lotion with flecks of gold in it to help maintain your self tanner in between applications. I see myself using the scent secure gold lotion in the winter time to give myself a healthy glow since I won't have to be applying tanner to my entire body. (let's be real, aint nobody seeing my legs in -20* weather. I dub NY winters as "no leg shaving" season) (sorry Bub)
• I got a few comments at work from people saying I looked good and wanted to know what I did differently. I was happy to hear that people noticed "something" was different about me but it wasn't super obvious that I had self tanner on. I just said I got a hair cut ;)


Helpful Tips:

• My only slight issue (which isn't even a HUGE deal) is that the mitt they supplied to prevent the tanner from staining your hands did leave some lint residue on my body while using it. To eliminate this I would recommend running a damp paper towel over the mitt to pick up any loose pieces of lint before hand. Again, the mitt is optional and doesn't affect the tanner at all. Once I did that I was good to go and have no had a problem since then.

• The fruity scent did wear away after a while and the familiar "self tanner smell" did creep in but with that said it wasn't a strong self tanner smell and the other lotion (scent secure gold) that they supplied helps mitigate that scent.

• Do not use the mitt to apply the tanner to your face. Since the mitt is so big its hard to rub it in evenly, I suggest using your hands and washing them ASAP right afterwards.

• Do not shower right away after applying the tanner. I showered first, applied the tanner, and waited a few hours before putting on "real" clothes (ya know, clothes that are acceptable for public viewing) (I'm talking  to you oversized yoga pants and that free t-shirt you scored at the company picnic that hasn't been washed in a week) but again this goes for pretty much any self tanner you use.

• Avoid loofas or exfoliators, but this is common sense with any self tanners. You're just going to scrub off the tanner and look blotchy. Also avoid chlorine. I took a dip in my hot tub and my self tanner came off, again not Xen-tans fault it was my own fault for exposing my tanner to chemicals.

• I used an old towel that I cut into a 5" width strip to do my back. I applied the tanner to the towel and then "shimmied" it back and forth across my back like as if I was drying myself off (but instead I was applying tanner) it worked really well.

• Make sure to do your neck and jaw line! I see so many people with tan faces and white necks.

Wanna Give it a Try?

Bethany has graciously given you all a 35% coupon code to use! Enter "YELLOWHEART35" at check out. You can buy Xen-Tan over here! The code is only good for US Residents only.

In case 35% off your Xen-Tan order wasn't awesome enough Xen-Tan is also giving away a Tanning Goodie Bag that includes their Dark Lotion, Scent Secure Gold, Blending Balm and their Deluxe Tanning Mitt. This goodie bag retails for over $101. 

Do the Rafflecopter Prompts below to be entered to win! Xen-Tan was awesome enough to give you guys a prize pack worth over $100, so we do make sure every entry is valid :) Opened to U.S. Residents only please!




a Rafflecopter giveaway