Garnier Finishing Paste

When I went to Vancouver last year, I was going to try to carry on my bag, so I didn't bring any of my hair goop with me because I was worried about the liquids rule and I was unsure how my hair wax would go over. I figured I would just buy stuff in Vancouver and just leave it there. Turned out that my rolling bag was too big, so I ended up checking it anyway.

I needed something for my super short hair, so I took a trip with my mum to my old friend London Drugs to get supplies. (I needed more than just hair goop)

Funny thing, in Canada, all labeling is in English and French. Since I studied French in high school and grew up with it on all the packaging all my life, I was used to it, but I've been away from it for so long that I got out of the habit of automatically translating in my head. I couldn't figure out what everything was because all I could see was the French side! (one side is English, the other side is French) I found this funny and sad at the same time.

Anyway, this is a lovely product. It smells awesome, it doesn't dry stiff, doesn't make your hair crusty and leaves it soft. It worked really well with my short hair in that I could put it in to my wet hair and comb it into shape, and it would stay that way all day - even after it dried. I just recently used it when I did my Marilyn hair because I needed something to give me texture to help the curl happen, and it worked really, really well. This is great for short hair and keeping it smooth and in place, and it's excellent for adding texture to longer hair.

It smells great and works awesome. Two thumbs up.

Sexy Hair Soy Renewal

Sexy Hair Soy Renewal with Argan Oil

I've been a big fan of Argan Oil for a long time. Tristann uses it on my hair and it makes it so soft and lovely. She uses Moroccan Oil, not this product.

I received a free sample of this on one of my trips to Ulta and since I liked using Moroccan Oil, I was interested in trying it.

I love this product. It. Smells. FANTASTIC! It makes my hair so soft and considering the torture I put it through to get my wonderful baby blonde, it should be the consistency of straw, but it's not. Not only is the colour baby blonde, but it's soft like a baby's too. Did I mention how great it smells? Because it smells incredible. I fear that the smell alone would win me over even if the product was crap - it smells that good, but the product is good. It's not as good as Moroccan Oil, but it works. It's also half the price of Moroccan Oil and doesn't have as much Argan Oil as Moroccan Oil, and I don't have to buy it at the salon. Not that I'm against buying things at the salon, I'm just cheap. Ulta had a buy two get one half off on Sexy Hair products and I needed shampoo and conditioner, so I was able to get this bottle for eleven dollars. That was the main reason I bought this over Moroccan Oil, but I really do love it. It works as a cheaper version of Moroccan oil.

You only need a little - about the size of a quarter. I use about the size of a nickel because I have less hair. I totally recommend this product.

Look of the Day - Marilyn Hair

I feel like I looked like Lady Gaga in most of the photos
This is the only one that turned out okay.
I hate taking photos of myself

So I've been wanting a red lipstick for a while, Ulta had a 20% off coupon, so I went for it.

I had been thinking that I could bust out the old hot rollers and see if I could Marilyn it up.

It turned out better than expected.

I am loving my blonde hair even MORE now.

Here's a Photo Booth shot.

What's up?

I have been updating things over at Tumblr, but I don't quite have the hang of things there, so I'm not ready to make the grand announcement that things have moved. I'm still trying to decide if I even want to move.

I'm still blonde, still growing my hair out, and still going through all my nail polish. I have 4 more colors to go and then I'll be through all my O.P.I. and moved on to my Essie polish.

I just bought two NYX eyeshadows and some new eye shadow brushes. I am in LOVE! I bought a perfect matte pink, ballet slipper pink, and a gorgeous gold glitter. The brushes are perfect.

I'm really looking forward to new fall clothes as I am super bored of my summer wardrobe.

That's all.

How are you?

78 Bottles on the Wall

O.P.I, Essie and Julep, O.P.I.

I had mentioned how DH thought I had too much nail polish and I scoffed, so I counted and I have 78 bottles. Some of those are mini bottles, but I didn't count my old stash of archives, so I'm sticking with 78.

That is definitely more than one colour for hands and one colour for toes for one month. I have decided I'm not going to necessarily change my polish daily, but I will go through every colour and not repeat until I've used every bottle. This is my challenge for the summer.

As you can see, the bulk of my collection is O.P.I. The rest of my collection is either Essie or Julep. I have a few random bottles, but I'm pretty brand loyal, and O.P.I. has never steered me wrong.

I saw an organizational video on Pinterest for using bins under your bathroom cabinet that I found very helpful. I have a whole cabinet dedicated to nails (mostly - ignore the hot rollers) in my guest bathroom. This is where I store all my toys.

Storage in the cabinet

What’s been going on

Weight: 168

I gained a bit due to a caffeine binge, went off caffeine, went through withdrawals, lost a little, and feel better now. I’m trying to stay off the Dr. Pepper until Labour Day, and am hoping to stop drinking soda all together by the end of the summer.

I went on a nail polish buying fast for May and bought no new nail polish. As a reward, I bought 4 new colours – one Essie and three O.P.I. I bought the O.P.I. at my favourite place, ULTA, where I am a ‘member’. Turns out there was a buy two get one free deal going on, so I got 3 colours for $20.00! That made me very, very happy. I'm back on the fast and hope to continue through the summer.

I got a free sample of Sexy Hair’s Argan Oil with my purchase at ULTA. It smells incredible and I love it. It works great. I’ve been a Moroccan oil follower for years, so I’m wondering what the difference is. I’m getting my hair done tonight, so I’m going to ask Tristann. (She used to be a Big Sexy rep, and she is the one that turned me on to Moroccan oil, so she will know)

The centre where ULTA is located just had an H&M open up and are building a Gap and Old Navy. I am saving up my pennies over the summer and will reward myself with a shopping day if I’m a good girl.

I jumped on the BB Cream bandwagon, and after a few internet searches and magazine articles I have gained more of an understanding of how to use the product. I must say, I am very pleased.

I haven’t been to Yoga since the middle of April. Life keeps getting in the way and this is making me sad.

I got my craft room cleaned up and organized so I have room to create. I am so excited and hope to be able to work on some awesome projects over the summer.

DH was upset at me for spending $28.00 on nail polish exclaiming that I had more nail polish than I could use in a month. I haven’t counted, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have more than 60 bottles of nail polish. (60 equals one colour for toes, one for hands for 30 days in the month.) My response, however, was “challenge accepted. I will change my nail polish every day for a month and go through every colour I have.”  After we had this argument, life happened, and I went without colour for 3 days, so I haven’t started the challenge yet. We’ll see if I can put my money where my mouth is. I should be able to considering what a big mouth (literally and figuratively) I have.

I have been blonde for more than six months and I still love it. Six months is usually my limit when it comes to hair. I think the fact that I’m growing it out is helping with my tolerance level since even though I am keeping the colour, the style keeps changing.

That’s all for me. What’s going on with you?

What did you do to your eyes?

Black cashmere vneck,
Black pencil skirt,
Awesome tights, penguin shoes

I work in an office within a building where I’m stuffed into a cubicle facing the corner with my back to everyone and everything. I like it because I can shut the world out and do my work and no one bothers me. The people I normally talk to are all over the country, so no one sees me except for the other two cubicle dwellers I share an office with and a few others in the building.

Dooce taught me that I should never blog about work, so that’s enough about that.

The reason I mention this at all is because I rarely wear makeup to work. No one ever sees me and it’s a hassle in the morning, and I hardly see my husband during the week, so I have taken to not wearing makeup during the week.

I love beauty products, I love wearing makeup, and playing with different looks. I just don’t like to do it for the day to day crap where no one ever looks at me or cares what I look like.

I always dress nicely for work: skirts, heels, pantyhose, blouses… blah blah. I find it interesting that no one asks me why I’m so dressed up unless I’m wearing makeup.

I wore makeup today: foundation, blush, eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss. Nothing fancy at all. My nails are even naked today!

I had the following conversation with a co-worker:

Him: “What did you do to your eyes?”

Me: “What?”

“Your eyes look different.”

“Different?”

“Yeah, something is different with your eyes.”

“Like how? (pauses) Oh. I’m wearing makeup. I don’t normally wear makeup.”

“Oh, I guess that’s what it is. Well, you always look beautiful”

End scene.

Someone else asked me why I was so dressed up. I’m not wearing anything different than I would wear on a normal day.

Huey has been showering at night because he has this long, shaggy hair and he gets cold when his hair is wet and he has to walk to the bus stop in the morning. This causes me to have extra time in the morning because I don’t have to hound him to get in the shower. I was really happy because I had new tights and put together a fun outfit today, so I took the time to put on minimal makeup.

I find it interesting that it made such a difference that people noticed enough to comment.

Also, wearing makeup equals “dressed up” to some people.

White Manicure

Remember when we were in Grade seven and would paint our fingernails with Liquid Paper? Remember how goopy and gross it would look? Remember how we would do it on purpose so that our fingers would glow in the black light at the school dance?

Enter the White Manicure.

O.P.I. Alpine Snow

I had purchased Essie Limoscene thinking it was the perfect Ivory colour that I was looking for, but naive me, didn't look closely enough to the consisitency of the colour. It's sheer, not opaque. I was looking for opaque.

I'm wearing Limoscene in this pic

I just happened to be cruising the nail polish aisle at Smith's the other day and saw this one and paid attention to the consistency of the liquid to ensure it's opaqueness. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just looking to see if something would jump out at me, the most successful way for me to shop, and this one jumped out at me. It must have been a return, because it was the only one there.

This is opaque, but the consistency of the polish is too thick. It goes on goopy and stripy and I. Am. Not. Happy. I look at my hands all day long as they are right in front of me, so when I have an imperfect manicure it bugs me. I tried shaking the heck out of the bottle thinking that maybe it had just been sitting too long or something, and trying again, but no luck. I'm afraid to try using nail polish remover to thin it out because I don't want to wreck it. I have faith though - I'm thinking that if I try another time that it will work out.

I really like the colour, and it's exactly what I was looking for and I'm usually not this disappointed in O.P.I. products, so I will keep trying to make it work. Worst case scenario I will have to use it only for daisys and polka dots, which is what I bought it for any way.

Sally Hansen Acrylic top coat, Alpine Snow, Pro FX base coat

New Toys!!

Awhile ago, I read an article about environmentally friendly nail polish and came across Julep.

Emma, Taylor, Sandra, January, Maggie

Julep is a company based out of Seattle, so it stuck out to me as Seattle is very close to my heart. Julep Nail Color is “4-free” and does not contain formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene, or DBP. Their website is chock full of fun fashiony things and have lots of tutorials on fun things to do with nail polish. I absolutely love their website.

I also follow them on Pinterest.

The only issue I have is that it’s $14.00 for a 0.27oz bottle of nail polish. I usually spend $8 -8.50 on a bottle of O.P.I. (0.5oz) or Essie (0.46oz) at the grocery store or beauty supply, so $14.00 seems a little steep to me.

If you join their mailing list, you can be a Julep Maven. I got an email last week that I could order a mystery box and get between $60.00 and $120.00 worth of product for $20.00. That seemed like a pretty awesome deal (like, DUH), and I hadn’t used any of their products and I wanted to support a North American company so I took advantage of the deal and ordered a mystery box.

I.Could. Not. Wait. I was so excited to see what I would get. It’s so fun getting presents in the mail!

I got my box this week and eagerly opened it.

Looks like I got my money’s worth, eh?

The five bottles of nail colour alone are worth $98.00. Not bad for 20 bucks.

I haven’t tried everything yet, but I did my nails yesterday – colour only – no base coat or topcoat or anything and I am in love. The periwinkle colour is my favourite and it’s not something that I would have thought to buy on my own. The red is the perfect classic red, and I don’t have one of those. The consistency of the paint is thick enough that you could almost get away with one coat on all of the colours – even the grape purple colour. The polish is shiny enough that a topcoat is not necessary, but I suspect that it will look even better with the topcoat. The brush in the bottle is wide and the polish spreads evenly when you paint it on.

Maggie, January, Sandra, Taylor, Emma

As mentioned earlier, my only concern is the cost - $14.00 plus shipping = not my cup of tea – but I will definitely take advantage of all future deals and I totally recommend this product.

I give this a 9 out of 10 fingers score.

Maybelline long wear lipstick

I am not much of a lipstick wearer. The reasons why are plentiful:

1) My lips peel constantly, so I am forever chewing on my lips, thus wearing off the lipstick.

2) I don’t have much occasion to spend in front of the mirror, so when I’m out in public, I like to just wear lipgloss, then I don’t have to worry about my lipstick being half worn off.

3) I have big lips. To quote my friend Tristann, “We big lipped girls don’t like to attract too much attention to our mouths”. That’s not exactly completely the case, I’m mostly too lazy to be constantly maintaining my lip colour.

4) I do, sometimes, worry about drawing too much attention to my mouth for fear it's not properly made up. It’s constantly moving what with the talking and chewing and drinking water, so I can never be quite sure how the state of my lip colour is fairing.

Big Mouth

I tend to stick with neutral colours that don’t show that they have faded or worn off. I also tend to stick with lipgloss so that it’s easy to reapply without a mirror.

When I worked in retail in the early 90’s, I wore red lipstick every day. There were mirrors on the walls, in the dressing room area, and in our stock room. I was always able to monitor the state of my lips, and re-application was completely within my grasp, so wearing a non-neutral was totally do-able. Now that I sit at a desk all day, I don’t have that luxury.

In the mid 90’s, long wearing lipstick became very popular. I tried several brands, but all were very drying and my already dry and peeling lips became ESPECIALLY extra dry and peeling lips.

Earlier this winter, I was able to have some rare me time and went shopping. I wandered in to a store called Ulta. It’s like stepping inside a Sephora. The minute I opened the door, choirs of angels sang out, the light descended and I was floating on a cloud. I just had to stand there for a minute and take in the awe of it all. It was like being welcomed home.

I was looking for a mauve coloured lipstick and a chocolate colour. I happened to pick up this 24 hour lip colour. Since it was a deal, I didn’t feel guilty about wasting my money on something that didn’t work out. The mauve colour is more of a dark wine, and the chocolate is more mocha, but that’s okay, the colours both look good and I’m so pleased with this product.

Maybelline Super Stay 24-hour Color lip colour in Consant Cocoa

I wore the wine colour to Thanksgiving knowing that I would have access to a mirror and be able to ensure that I wasn’t committing any lipstick worn off crimes. The colour DID. NOT. BUDGE. Thanksgiving is the ultimate test for a long wearing lip colour, wouldn’t you think? I didn’t take it off that night (too tired, stop gasping, Mum, sometimes I go to bed without washing my face – it’s okay, I’m still a good person). The next morning, the lip colour was exactly where it was supposed to be. No smudging, nothing. It was like I had just put it on.

The way it works is that there are two ends. One with the colour, the other with a moisturizing lip balm. You paint on the colour, let it dry, then put the lip balm over top. I love it because I can re-apply the lip balm as much as I want without ruining the lip colour. My lips stay moisturized, and my colour stays put. I. LOVE. IT.

The one trick is to make sure that your lips are sufficiently exfoliated, dried off, and naked. I am in the habit of wearing lip balm under my lipstick and one cannot apply the colour with anything on one’s lips or the colour won’t take nor will it apply smoothely.

I have never been more pleased with a lip colour in my life. I am so happy that I ran across it.