The Power of a Manicure…

I’ve been having some cruddy days lately.  Anyone else having them too?  I just can’t seem to get motivated to do anything and by anything, I mean ANYTHING!  I’ve worn make-up maybe twice in the last week (and none of the looks were anything to write home about).  My lavender hair is currently in a messy top knot.  I’m wearing leggings and a sweatshirt that says, “More Issues than Vogue” and right now I’m truly feeling this sweatshirt.

I have so many projects on my plate right now and it seems like I’m dealing with drama on all of them.  I’m actually looking forward to junk email in my inboxes because it means that someone doesn’t need something nor is asking for anything.  WOOHOO for the sales ad for Nuxe!

This morning was particularly bad.  I barely had enough motivation to go to Starbucks after dropping the kids off at school.  I’m serious!  I told myself that if I hit any red lights along the way to Starbucks, then it was a sign that I should just go home.  And was fully prepared to make that turn if I did hit a red light.

But I had SO MUCH STUFF TO DO!  My to-do list was getting longer and longer the more I procrastinated trying to find my motivation.

I finally did something about though, FINALLY!  My solution to my condundrum was to…paint my nails.  I know, sounds absolutely ridiculous, a complete waste of time, another procrastination plot.  But for me, it’s not.

I’ve never had nice nails.  It wasn’t until a couple years ago that they actually started growing decent and if I maintain them, they don’t look half bad (of course as time goes by and the nails get nicer, the hands themselves have started to age, so you win some and you lose some).

But for me, it’s a treat to have pretty nails.  I feel polished (like what I did there?)  😉  I feel put together.  I feel like I am bad ass bitch that can take on the world.  And so I did!  I completed almost half of my to-do list this afternoon (which doesn’t seem like much except my to-do list had almost 60 things on it).  I got motivated to clean my house.  I actually wrote this article!  All with the power of nail polish!

I guess what I’m saying is that doing something small that’s completely selfish on your part can actually be extremely beneficial.  We, as women, tend to everyone else before ourselves and sometimes we just need a little something for ourselves.  It could be taking that hour to watch your trash tv show.  You know, the one that the husband always looks at you and says, “Really?!?”  (I’m not mentioning names *cough*Real Housewives of OC and NY*cough*).  It could be taking a half an hour and reading a magazine or a book.  Or it could be simply painting your nails.  Whatever it is, it perks you up, cheers you up and just might change your day for the good.

What do you do when you are having a cruddy day?

15 Questions with FLESH-Happy Birthday Ashmir Edition…

 

A very happy birthday goes out to our AMAZING Instagram Femme Fatale, the FASHIONABULOUS Ashmir!  To celebrate her birthday, we are doing “15 Questions with FLESH” with her.  Enjoy!

1. What is your name?  Ashmir

2. What was the first thing you wanted to be when you grew up?  Singer

3. What was your major in college?  Vocal Performance – Musical Theater

4. What do you do now?  Manager at Sephora

5. What age were you when you went into your current industry?  18 – I was hired at Nordstrom seasonally and ended up working with many different brands before landing my first management position as Counter Manager for Tony & Tina (Yeah I know, you don’t remember them LOL).

6. What was your first job ever?  I worked at the college bookstore while I was in high school.

7. What is your sign?  Gemini

8.  Are you like your stereotypical sign?  Yes, there are definitely two of me, but we are both nice.

9. What would you be doing if you weren’t doing what you’re doing now?  If I hadn’t discovered my passion for beauty so early on, I may have actually gone on to Med School. I’d love to be a surgeon.

10. If money were no option, what would you be doing?  I’d be working for an animal shelter. And I’d own a giant ranch so that I could rescue all the animals that didn’t get adopted.

11. What has been your most favorite vacation so far?  Any time I go to Puerto Rico is a good vacation, although Napa has been really fun too.

12. What is your dream vacation?  Rent a house with a pool and beach access somewhere gorgeous and exotic. And of course having the money to make sure all of my favorite people are there to enjoy it with me.

13. What is your favorite hobby (not in the same industry as your work) ?   Singing and Dancing. If I could spend my days on a stage, I think that would make me the happiest ever.

14. What’s your biggest pet peeve?  Messiness in the workplace. And unfinished projects. What’s so hard about finishing what you start in a clean and tidy fashion?!?!

15. What’s your most favorite photo of yourself?

#purplehairdontcare

So, I did something “hair”raising.  I dyed my hair purple.  That’s right, PURPLE!  I am a 38 year old, married, mother of two, PTA President with purple hair.

 

My Before and After.

 

You might be wondering why.  And my answer is Why Not???  Hehehe.

It started with me wanting to grow out my grey hair.  I started going grey around the age of 24 and am currently about 75% grey.  And I was doing good!  I had a good 4 inches of virgin snow white with some silvery brown regrowth.  But the ends.  OMIGOSH THE ENDS!  Being a bottle brunette for so long, I had color after color on my ends.  Some pieces highlighted, some lowlighted, some used to be red, others dark brown.  I was a big, ole mess and the BRASSINESS!  YIKES!!!  Even when I took the time to do my hair, it still looked like crap.

To fix my brassiness issue, I figured I’d have my hair bleached. Sure it would damage my hair, but it was already damaged and it would help with the crazy color collection going on with my hair.  So, I called up my hair gal (Southwest Styling, you should look her up, AMAZING!) and we set a date to get together and play with bleach.

 

BLEACH!!!

But while thinking about it, the hair coming out of my head wasn’t all snow white.  There was a lot of silvery grey as well.  Which gave me an idea.  If I use the right shade of purple, it will fade to lavender which will fade to a silvery grey.  Hmmmm…light bulbs are going off!!!

I’ve always loved to play with hair color.  I’ve been all shades of brown, red, even black.  I’ve had blond highlights.  But I never did anything REALLY crazy.  And I’m fortunate to work in a very creative field (hello, make up artist!).  So, if there were ever a time to play, now is as good a time as any.  I decided to go purple!

I was really nervous once it was done.  What would my more conservative clients think?  Would they think I was screaming out for attention or trying to reclaim a long lost youth?  How would my elementary school PTA peeps respond?  A PTA President with purple hair?

Surprisingly, everyone has LOVED it!  (Or at least if they don’t, they’ve been talking about it behind my back instead of to my face, haha!).

 

Me as a blonde.  Something I had NEVER seen before on me.  And more pics of me purple.  🙂

There’s been a few side effects of going purple and I must say that I quite like them.

The first being that when you have purple hair and you don’t style it, you just try to bundle it all up into a frizzy, messy top knot (like I did for decades with my brunette hair), you end up not looking chic, you end up looking like $hit!  It’s forced my to do my hair every morning.  Yes, it takes longer in the morning, but you know what?  My good hair days have increased exponentially.  And good hair days are PRICELESS for how they impact the rest of your day.

And when you do your hair, you have to do your make-up.  And with purple hair, (and light eyes like me), you HAVE to play up your eyes a lot otherwise you get washed out quick.  I’ve stopped using bronzer and other brown tones as they quickly look brassy on my complexion.  Instead I’ve been doing soft pinks, lavenders and greys.  And a lot of dark purple or black eye liner with loads of mascara.

Another side effect is wardrobe.  Because my hair is so bright, I don’t feel comfortable wearing any bright colors or prints.  For decades, I only wore blacks and charcoals, but in recent years (after many, MANY comments from others about my color choices), I started to branch out with color and *GASP* prints.  But with purple hair, I’ve dug out all my black and charcoal clothes again and it feels like finding a long lost friend.  I feel “normal” again. I feel like “me” again.  (The only downside…I feel that my brown tone leopard prints don’t look very good with purple hair, so I’ve had to put those aside, but my few grey leopard prints look GREAT!).

The final side effect is not one that I was really expecting.  And that’s the change in me psychologically.  It’s been very freeing to do something outlandish and not care what other people think.  Also, it’s an extremely odd feeling being an introvert with extrovert hair.  My purple hair allows me to stand apart from the crowd, yet I don’t have to say a word.  I get to be seen in the world, yet still nurture my inner self who doesn’t like touching other people let alone speaking to them.  This freedom, this release, this lifting of crap off my shoulders has allowed me more time and energy to do the work that I am passionate about.  It’s amazing how much we let those little things affect us day-in, day-out for months, years and even decades.

Now, the nature of purple dye is that it fades very quickly.  It’s been a week and already I’m a soft lavender with silvery blonde highights (except for my virgin snow white hairs which are still a shocking purple making for a pretty cool ombre effect!).  How long will I be purple? I don’t know.  But one thing I do know, it’s fun and it makes me happy, and that’s all I care about.

 

For those of you interested in how it was done, we did two bleaching sessions with 20%, waited a week, did a 40% bleach session, then I’ve been going purple with the bright purple Manic Panic mixed with their pastelizer.  I’ll have to do it once a week to maintain my purple and I don’t put as much of it on my roots since the virgin hair there soaks it up like crazy.

 

We do not work for any of the companies listed nor did we receive any sort of compensation for this article.

What Your Esthetician REALLY Thinks of You…

We love our estheticians.  They keep our skin clear and glowing.  They help our skin fight aging.  They keep our brows in check even when we can’t.  They are always so sweet and understanding, never judgmental.  Or are they?  DUN, DUN, DUN!

Knowing the things I think about clients when I’m doing their make-up, I knew that our beloved estheticians just HAD to think similar thoughts.  So, I asked some to share with me those deep, dark secrets of what they REALLY want to tell us, but know that they’d lose you as a client if they actually did.  Hehehe.  Due to the nature of this article, my sources wished to remain nameless, but use this information to become the client that your esthetician RAVES about, rather than rolls her eyes at!

Enjoy!

1.  Please, please, please, for Pete’s sake, do NOT just say “my skin is sensitive”. It’s like asking your husband what he wants for dinner, and his response is ‘food’. To an esti, it’s an incomplete thought as ‘sensitive skin’ is an umbrella term. Are you sensitive to heat? Pressure? Certain ingredients? Being more specific with your skin greatly helps your esti. Rather than play 20 questions to pinpoint your skin’s woes, she’ll have more time to work on you with a better understanding of your needs!

2. When a clients says “ugh, I don’t want anything with chemicals…” the snarky part of my brain says “water is a chemical…your body is made of chemicals…” Now, I do understand wanting to be aware of what goes on your skin and looking for healthy alternatives. Please realize that natural/organic products may not be the answer, especially for reactive skin types. Products with raw ingredients cannot penetrate the skin the same, as the molecule is large and unrefined. Organic ingredients are also highly unstable and can grow nasty things. So what’s a girl to do? Research! Many companies are producing lines that cater to both worlds. They’re holistic, but still have a scientific background. Sweet! See lines like Sanitas.

3. It drives me nuts when people go on Pinterest for skin care. PINTEREST IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL AND DID NOT GO TO SCHOOL. Once I had a client tell me she saw on Pinterest to use a regimen of sliced oranges as an exfoliant and coconut oil as a moisturizer. She couldn’t figure out why her skin was so dry and breakouts were getting worse. It took time to convince her (off the record, it was one of the most painful conversations ever, it’s all natural blah blah blah). Raw oranges are an unstable form of enzymes and vitamin c, and coconut oil isn’t a great moisturizer by itself. Yes it gives oil, but it doesn’t give enough water. I digress, please don’t use Pinterest for your skincare. Unless you know the source is a licensed professional, it could be anybody! Remember the video of the girl trying to do a hair tutorial, and she burned her hair off? I rest my case.

4. If you have chin hairs, just wax them. Ladies, don’t shave your face. It just goes downhill from there.

5. I secretly forbid my clients from holding my hand mirror or any kind of mirror while I’m working on them, and especially after. They just stare at themselves or start nitpicking other things while I’m trying to wax an eyebrow. I used to have a client that would make a duck face everytime she looked in a mirror. I wish I made that up.

6. Love your esti. She’s a person, not your brow bitch. If she does a good job, please don’t go somewhere cheap for “in between” appointments. It ruins our hard work and your brows/skin. Rebook your appointments with her and respect her time, and she’ll do the same!

Wonder Woman Needs a Time Out…

Smallville.wikia.com

We are women.  We try to do it all.  We try to do it best.  We want to be the best moms, the best wives, the best at our jobs and we want to be polished and perfect, we solve everyone’s problems.  I don’t know about you though, but my Wonder Woman outfit got lost at the cleaners recently.

I’ve been completely and utterly stressed out lately.  And it is definitely taking its toll on me beauty-wise.  I’m sure I’m not alone and I’m hoping that this article helps others feel better in their FLESH just as much as it is helping me feel better in mine.

Here’s the condensed version of my last few weeks so you will understand the rest of the article…severe and untrue accusations made by people I thought were my friends, preparing the family for a plane flight cross-country, said trip also involved the following…seeing a family member with severe dementia (for the last time), learning things about your family that crushed you to your core, visiting for the first time the grave sites for much loved family members.  We had some good times too though…seeing amazing sites, spending quality time with my kids, getting reacquainted with some AMAZING family members.  So needless to say, I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster and I’m really feeling the wear and tear.

Stress can take its toll on you and your beauty, specifically your skin and your hair.  Webmd.com states that “your emotions have a powerful effect on your skin.”  Stress causes a chemical response in your body that can make your skin more sensitive and reactive.  It can also make it more difficult for your skin to heal quickly, as well as worsen skin diseases such as psoriasis, rosacea and eczema.  Hives, rashes and feverblisters can even spring up due to stress.

Popsugar.com

Webmd.com does list 8 ways to reduce the effects of stress on your skin though.  And I am sad to say that in the past few weeks, I have failed on all 8.  No wonder my skin is such a mess.  Here are those 8…

1.  Don’t neglect your skin.  Ummm, yeah…in the past 8 days I think I’ve washed my face 4 times and only wore makeup twice.

2.  Get regular exercise.  Does schlepping luggage through the airport count?  If not, then, yup, been failing at that one.

3.  Take time for yourself to do something you enjoy.  What time?  I had extra time?  I thought about doing things I enjoyed, but then was too tired to do them.

4.  Take a walk around the block.  I did take a 20 minute walk this morning which felt great.  And I did a little bit of walking when I was in Boston and again when I was in Montreal, but it wasn’t consistent and didn’t balance out all of the time spent sitting in an airplane or car.

5.  Practice stress management activities.  HA!  I’m not even going to go there.

6.  Get enough sleep.  Definitely has not been happening, especially with stress and the time change.

7.  Say no.  I have a gameplan to say no to some things, it’s just not been executed yet.

8.  Talk to someone.  Yeah, hasn’t happened yet and been neglecting my journal.

 

Stress also affects your hair.  Webmd.com states that regular ole’ stress isn’t likely to be the direct cause of hair turning grey or falling out.  News to me!

Drhagmeyer.com

They did state, however, that physiological stress can cause hair loss.  Here’s how it works…

Hair has a few different phases. The main ones being the growing phase and the resting phase.  The growing phase lasts for 2-3 years with an average growth rate of 1/2 inch per month.  Then the follicle goes into the resting stage which lasts for 3-4 months where the hair no longer grows.  Then the follicle goes back into the growing phase.  The new hair growing in pushes the resting hair out.

And now here’s where physiological stress kicks in…when you have a significantly stressful event which causes you to change your eating habits (generally eating less or eating poorly) (yup), or causes you to continuously lose sleep (that too), or consistently raises your levels of stress and other hormones (starting early menopause), then that type of stress can make your hair fall out.  What happens is that the stress triggers more of your hair follicles to go into their resting phase all at the same time.  Then 3-4 months later, when the follicles go back into their growing phase and push out the resting hairs, you end up with all of this hair falling out at the same time.  So if you are finding a lot of hair in the drain or in your brush, look back three months into your life and see what was going on.  Chances are you’ll find a stressful event that triggered physiological stress.

According to livestrong.com, there are some things you can do to counter this and not surprisingly they are similar to those to help stressed out skin.  Practice relaxation techniques, better nutrition, increase your exercise, get massages or take warm baths, breath deeply, etc.

So, always the optimist, and a planner, here’s my gameplan to getting back to being ME.

Starting tomorrow (as I am currently writing this post from the Manchester, New Hampshire airport), I am going to do the Magical Breakfast Cream detox week.  Sounds weird, I know, but it works and it has worked for me in the past as well as everyone I tell it to who has legitimately tried it.  I got it from the French Women Don’t Get Fat series of lifestyle books.  Here’s how it works…

Every morning have the Magical Breakfast Cream, (recipe at the end) a healthy balanced salad for lunch and a healthy balanced dinner.  Also, give up two things for the week.  I’ll be giving up chai tea lattes and soda.

The Magical Breakfast Cream (or MBC) is designed to give your body everything it needs to function without starving it or depriving it.  It has FULL FAT yogurt in it!  Yes!  FULL FAT!  There’s protein, fiber, vitamins, etc.  And it is extremely easy for your body to digest so instead of your body spending it’s energy digesting your breakfast, it can spend it detoxing your liver and burning excess fat.  It also tastes really good once you get used to the odd texture.

I also plan to implement a MANDATORY 90 minute time daily for MY health.  It can be broken up, but the idea is to do all of the items each day.  Here’s what I’ll be doing:

-20 minutes of yoga daily.  I like the Simply Yoga app (pink square icon with a little white stick figure). It’s free, available on Apple and Android platforms and has an AMAZING and EASY 20 minute yoga session that can be done anywhere.

-30 minutes of exercise daily.  I will be alternating the Tracy Anderson strength and dance cardio DVDs.  I don’t know if I’ll start with her Metamorphosis set that I have or the easier ones that she sells at Target.  Probably going to start easy and then work my way up.

-20 minutes of meditation daily.  I like Breath Meditation by Sharon Salzberg.  It was a CD that came with a meditation book I got eons ago and I ripped the track and put it on my phone to be able to do it anywhere.  She’s easy to follow, doesn’t make you feel weird and really helps.

-20 minute walk daily.  I’m going to put my favorite music on, throw my ear buds on, and go enjoy nature and its healing effects it can have on you.

I’m also going to do various daily masks, whether moisturizing, clarifying, exfoliating or all of the above.  I’m going to end each evening in bed with a good book.  I’m going to spend more time in my jacuzzi to relax.  And I’m going to write daily in my journal to get everything going on out of my head and onto paper (or in my case onto my personal blog).

I’m excited about the plan of attack and enthusiastic about starting it.  And I know I’ll see a huge difference in my appearance when I start taking better care of myself.

What is stressing you out lately?  What are you going to do to minimize it and take care of yourself?

 

We do not work for any of the companies that were listed above nor did we receive any sort of compensation for this article.

 

Magical Breakfast Cream Directions…

Take 2 tablespoons of a SUGAR-FREE cereal and 2 teaspoons of walnuts (or almonds).  Grind super fine.  The finer the grind, the finer the final texture will be.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix 4 tablespoons of PLAIN FULL FAT yogurt with 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (preferably freshly squeezed) and 1 teaspoon of honey (preferably raw and organic).  Mix well.

Then add the cereal/nut mixture.  Stir well and enjoy immediately.

I’m Getting Naked!!!!

Well, I am another year older today.  38.  Yup, I said the number.  The number has never bothered me.  In fact, I’ve spent most of my life wanting to be older.  Most of my friends have always been much older than me and I will admit that it drove me absolutely bonkers to continuously hear, “But you’re so young…” as an excuse for anything that I tried to relate to them with.

Specifically so with beauty.     So I’m going to get naked for you…on my face that is.  Lines, wrinkles, saggy skin, grey hair, etc.  Yes I have them despite what my friends a decade older than me say.  And I still remember those major “a-ha” beauty moments that did indeed confirm that I was getting older.

The first was when I was in my early 30s.  Always a lover of cosmetics, I consistently played up my eyes…smoky, colorful, heavily contoured.  I did it all and loved it.  But it seemed like overnight I couldn’t quite pull it off like I used to, primarily because my eye crease wasn’t where it used to be.  Just as the geese fly south for the winter, my eye lids sagged south, but unlike the geese, they were south to stay.  Like a little old retired lady in a sequined track suit and orange fake tan in Florida, once she goes south, she don’t come back.  I used to put on my eye shadow by raising my eyebrows to showcase my crease, would brush on some color and be on my merry way.  Now, I have to put my eye shadow contour on the skin above my crease in order to make my eyes have that nice contoured balance.  Otherwise the color and definition get lost in the little fold of skin above my lashes.  It’s like I’ve got bat wings for eyelids.

Look! I’m Batman!

The second was about 4 years ago.  Growing up and into my 20s, I NEVER wore lipstick or even a dark lipgloss.  I had horrible teeth (which braces could not fix) and did not want to accentuate them in even the slightest bit (perhaps that’s why I embraced eye shadow so much!).  In my late 20s, I had them fixed, but my only option was dentures (runs in my family, my dad got his when he was only 19).  While I absolutely love my new smile as well as the HUGE boost in self-confidence it’s given me, the change in my jaw shape because of the procedure in addition to the loss of bone structure in my jaw has made my lips not as full as they used to be as well as give them pre-mature lining, loss of definition and loss of color.  So while I did get a few good years of wearing red lipstick, it’s harder and harder for me now to wear it.  I have to be really careful about the texture and I definitely have to wear a liner.  I also have to make sure that my agenda is such that I can consistently check to make sure my lip color has not melted and spread like an ice cream cone in August.  It’s no wonder I usually only wear a bright color for about an hour or two before I wipe it off and slick on some lip balm.

I’ve recently (in the past 6 months) decided to let my hair color go au naturel.  I started going grey in my early 20s and coloring as well as heat styling was killing my locks.  I had tried tape-in extensions, but even those seemed to make my own hair worse.  So, I gave up color cold turkey.  It is SOOOOOO hard to not go to Target and pick up a box of dye on those days when I just can’t take it anymore.  But as my roots grow longer and longer, I’m more and more excited about the mix of colors that’s appearing.  While I still have about a year to go to get all my silver  (as my dad calls his) hair grown in, I’m really looking forward to it.  Right now though, when I pull my hair up into a messy pony or top knot, I have these really cool silver streaks leading up to my pony.

More recently, in fact as recent at 2 days ago, I had another aging beauty moment.  I have started contouring my turkey neck.  Ok, so it’s not a full grown turkey, it’s more like a poult (a baby turkey, I had to google it).  🙂  But…I KNOW!!!!  It’s so sad to admit!  I don’t have a huge one.  But I’m super slender to begin with and I was starting to see the little flappy-flappy skin, so as I was contouring my cheeks and nose, I thought…hmmm…I wonder…a swipy, swipy of my contour stick followed by a bit of blending and VOILA!  Turkey neck gone!  Or rather my baby poult neck (you’re welcome all you Words with Friends players for the new word!).

Gobble, gobble and lined lips!

But even with beauty aging milestones, I am more happy with my face now than I was in my 20s.  Perhaps it’s because I’ve learned how to apply make-up properly to emphasize my features.  I know how to select the proper colors and shades.  And I actually like the little lines around my eyes.  I only have them because of all of the smiles I’ve had in my life.  (My lip lines we won’t discuss though.)  🙂

What have your beauty aging milestones been?  Were they good for you?  Were they bad?  Were they “a-ha” moments?  Or did they gradually come to your consciousness?  What part of your aging do you despise and which ones to you wear as medals of honor and accomplishment?

The Real Housewives Saved My Appearance

Hello, my name is Jeanette and I love The Real Housewives.  The OC, Beverly Hills and NYC are my housewives of choice.  I don’t watch them on a regular basis, but occasionally, when warranted, I will sit in front of the tv and watch a season On Demand.  Yes, I will.  Tis a sad, sad thing to admit, but I do.

But the housewives actually help me beauty wise.  I know, you’re thinking, “WHAT?!?”  The ladies that wear fake lashes to the gym, throw wine glasses at people if they get their hair wet.  Yes, they help my beauty routine.

But before you “unfollow” our website, let me explain myself first.  Watching these ladies actually motivates me to glamourize myself.  Usually I start a marathon because I’ve been busy and stressed, I’m exhausted, lazy.  I’m wearing stained and holy sweats, matted hair in a not-even-cute messy top knot.  I’m usually sporting whatever makeup I had on from the day before because that’s how I roll when I get into one of these moods.  That’s how it starts.  But after a couple episodes of seeing these ladies with their crazy lives, all of their drama, yet they still find time to do their hair, have a full face on.  If they can do it, why the hell can’t I?  So, I typically watch a few episodes and then put on a cute outfit, watch a few more, do my hair, watch another, do my makeup.  For some weird reason, watching them makes me want to look better in my appearance.

Today was no different.  I gave myself the cutest pedicure with Essie Eternal Optimist recommended by Jessie’s Budget Beauty (thanks Jessie!).  And as soon as I finish this post, I’m going to give myself a matching mani.

What television shows or movies get you motivated to take care of yourself?

 

We do not work for any company listed nor did we receive any sort of compensation for this article.

Beauty Junkie Will Travel…

Photo from eatrunandeverythinginbetween.com

I love to travel.  If I could afford it (and didn’t have a husband and two kids at home), I would travel non-stop.  I’d be a complete gypsy going from place to place.  The only difficult thing I would have to deal with is unfortunately one of extreme importance to any beauty junkie…how to pack your beauty products for travel.

You know you are a true beauty junkie when you have more product packed in your suitcase than clothes and that is definitely me.  I always need to have all of my skincare products, all of my cosmetics (you never know what type of event you might encounter while out and about and you must be prepared).  I of course need my arsenal of hair products and I’m sorry, but hotel hair dryers just don’t cut it.  I don’t like travel size products because I usually need 2 or 3 of each which doesn’t save space, nor can I find the specific products that I like in travel size.  And I’m too lazy to put my products into those plastic travel containers.  Besides, then they no longer look pretty.  I like pretty things.  🙂  I can honestly say that 2/3 to 3/4 of my luggage is always my beauty care.

I am going to try to get by with less though on this next trip.  Exactly one week from now, Heidi and I will be meeting up in Vegas baby!!!  We are going to have a little FLESH Beauty pow-wow in addition to some much needed down time.  We can not wait!!!  We are flying, and flying Southwest Airlines (which gives you TWO checked bags for FREE!), but I don’t want to be that person you see at the airport with fifty million pieces of luggage for a 4 day trip.  I’m not saying that I could do that, because I could, but I’m going to see if I can do it for this trip with one small suitcase (the size that they would allow you to carry on the plane) and one small tote bag (which incidentally will have the laptop, tablet, chargers, etc. for work).

Here’s my gameplan…

I’m going to use the hotel shampoo, but bring my own deep conditioner.  That cuts out one bottle.

I’m going to bring my L’Oreal Blow Dry It Quick Spray to attempt to use the hotel hair dryer.  Not gonna lie, a little scared about this one.  I’m still bringing my flat iron, there’s no way I’ll go anywhere without that.

Going to bring my Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil  (which by the way is now available at Target!!!!!!!) to use as my facial moisturizer, body moisturizer as well as my hair serum.  Just remember that if you do use it on your hair, use only ONE DROP AT A TIME.

I’m going to get a Dove white bar to use to cleanse my body and my face.

Cosmetics is where I’m going to try to really cut it down.  I’m going to bring my Narcissist foundation stick from W3LL PEOPLE as well as one of their Universalist color sticks.  Neither one requires tools to apply, they are hydrating and look great.  Not to mention take 30 seconds to put on.  I can use the color stick on my lips, eyes and cheeks.  I’ll of course bring an eyeliner.  I can use it to not only define my eyes, but also underneath the color stick on my eyes to enhance/contour my eyes for the evenings.  And duh, mascara will of course come with me as well.  I will also need a brow pencil.  And probably a chap stick or hydrating clear lip gloss/oil.  None of which require brushes.

So, here’s my list for toiletries for my Vegas get-a-way:

Deep conditioner
L’Oreal Blow Dry It Quick Spray
Flat iron
Brush, comb, ponytail holders, bobby pins

Dove white bar
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Oil (which I will also use to help remove mascara at night)
La Roche Posay Sunscreen Milk (SPF 60, water resistant, feels like a body lotion)

Narcissist Foundation Stick
Universalist Color Stick
Eye pencil
Mascara
Brow Pencil
Hydrating Lip Gloss/Pencil

We shall see how this goes.  Fortunately, right next to our hotel is a CVS, so if you see a post next week about all the beauty steals and deals at CVS, then you know I didn’t make it.  Hahaha!

And watch out Vegas!  FLESH Beauty is coming next week!!!

 

While we do work for W3LL PEOPLE, we did not get compensated in any way for this article.  We do not work with any other brands listed, nor did we get compensated in any way for their inclusion in this article.

Ewww, Weird, Gross…Awesome.

The other night while washing my face, I scared the crap out of the Husband. No, it wasn’t because my makeup was off, it was the makeup pieces that were still on my face. Pieces of mascara tubes were still all over my face as he caught me in the middle of my nightly routine. He had the funniest expression, perplexed yet grossed out at the same time. Which made me think of other weird beauty rituals we ladies (and a few men) will do in the name of beauty.

Currently, the only mascara that won’t transfer to my lids or leave a flaky mess around my eyes mid day is the L’Oreal Double Extend Tubes Mascara.

Image from http://www.lorealparisusa.com

I really do like it, however, every other purchase I’ll try another brand/formula and see if it might be any better. Time and time again, I return to this mascara as it never lets me down (then why do I bother trying another?…I don’t know, I assume there will be something better I suppose) I do enjoy the long and full lash look I get when I wear this mascara (that’s the awesome part). It doesn’t transfer to my deep set eye lids (which can be hard not to do when you have deeper set eyes) and it doesn’t flake throughout the day or cause me to have raccoon eyes mid day either. It does it’s job and it does it well. However, I do have a couple cons when it comes to this mascara. The first is that there is a lash primer on one end which I do like, I just don’t like that it minimizes the blackness of the finished look. The second and other part that is not my favorite is the tubing…I know its part of the gimmick of the mascara, but I scare people, I scare myself as I look in the sink and it looks like my lashes are being washed down the drain. If I were to go swimming, there’d be little lash tubes floating all over…gross. I could do the waterproof formula, but in general I’m not a fan of waterproof mascaras (I find they flake, difficult to remove and end up drying my lashes and ultimately cause breakage or lash fall out). Anyway, every night, I relive the same weird and gross experience (all in the name of lush full lashes), which you can see in the photos I’ve included.

Eww selfie

Gross! Mascara Tubes post face wash.

 

Image from http://www.biore.com

Another gross beauty ritual of mine is all about the pores. I hate that I have larger pores on my nose which makes the only place on my face that really gets ‘oily’. Every other area on my face is pretty normal, maybe even a little dry sometimes. Now, I know I’d rather have oily skin than dry skin, but I just wish I didn’t have those large pores that will always end up getting full of sebum and turning into black heads (yuck!). So, if I start seeing some black dots on the nose, I know its time for some action! Specifically I am a fan of Biore’s Deep Cleansing Charcoal Pore Strips. I understand that sometimes these things can do more harm, especially if you are not careful taking them off. There are warnings on not using this product if you have or prone to spider veins, sensitive skin, using acne products, etc. Also, you have to wait at least 3 days before you strip again. I’ve also heard through the beauty industry that these strips can actually make your pores bigger which then breeds more oil and more visible black heads leading to the viscous cycle of always needing to strip. Well, I take that risk, as the end

Selfie

result (which I’m not going to show you that picture, because, well, it’s just TMI, and yuck, ick gross to see someone else’s Biore Pore Strip) is awesome! No more black heads, my skin is smooth and ready to face the day ahead!

 

These are a couple of some gross beauty rituals I do. What are some of your ‘Ewww, Weird, Gross…Awesome’ beauty rituals you do?

 

We do not work for any of the companies listed nor did we receive any compensation for this post.

Throwback Thursday to the 80s!

So, let me prefice this article by stating that I am the PTA president for my kids’ elementary school and we are having an afterschool dance with a band playing 80s music and there’s a costume contest.  That will explain my get-up as this photo is not retro from the 80s.  This is me today in all my glory.  I went to the gas station like this.  I picked up lunch like this.  Yup, I rocked it!

It had me thinking about all the great beauty from the 80s (yes, there were some!).   How many of these did you have (or still have)?

Photo from commandress.com

The iconic Caboodles!  I always wanted one but was too young to have one.  However I do now own this particular model.  My mom owned one and gave it to me.  It currently houses all of my sewing notions.

Photo from boxmom.com

Kissing Koolers by Maybelline!  These were the bomb!  I loved the shape of the packaging, the marbled effect of the product itself.  Iconic.

Photo from pinterest.com

Who didn’t use Sun-In in the 80s!!!  I tried and tried, but with dark brown hair, all I ever accomplished was brassiness.  You do get bonus points though if you used to douse your hair in it and then go sit outside in the sun thinking it would help it work faster!

Photo from pinterest.com

Who remember Exclamation perfume!!!  I remember how cool their ads were and how I always wanted to be just like the woman in the ad.  So chic, so sophisticated.

Photo from pinterest.com

How about the Buf-Puf!!!  I still get people coming into the stores that I work at and ask for the Buf-Puf.  I used to use it all the time (like an 8-year old really needs to exfoliate on a regular basis).  It made me feel so grown up though!

Photo from popsugar.com

Home perms anyone???  I had my very first one in 1987.  I always had super stick straight hair until my first perm.  Then my hair was pretty much permed regularly until the mid 90s.  And ever since then, my hair naturally grows out of my head curly and frizzy.  I swear it’s because of all those years of perms.

Photo from flickr.com

And last but not least…Love’s Baby Soft.  This is the gateway perfume to Chanel No. 5.  The baby powder freshness of it summed up the aroma of the 80s.

What were your favorite beauty products from the 80s?

 

We do not work for any of the companies listed and we did not get compensated in any way for this article.