Makeup/Beauty

Lipstick, For People Who Don’t Use It

June 11, 2012 · 10 comments

in Good Things, Hildie Likes, Makeup/Beauty

It’s Makeup Monday! Yay! A few weeks ago I was mentioning something about lipstick to one of my friends and her eight-year old daughter was standing right next to us. “Why do you wear lipstick?” the little girl asked, “you’re pretty enough without it.” I thought that was terribly sweet of her and I didn’t really know what to say. What I thought was, “honey, you have never seen me without lipstick so you really have no idea.” The truth is that once you get to be a grown-up you need a little something extra. Whether it’s a lot extra or a little extra is up to each woman. Listen, I don’t care if you’re Victoria’s Secret-ish gorgeous; you need a bit of help. I hate to burst your bubble but if you’re not wearing makeup you probably seem washed out and your eyes look beady and little. I’m telling you this as a friend.

Think of it like this: you live someplace;  a house, an apartment, whatever. If you had nothing in it but necessary furniture, would you look around and think, “now that we have a sofa and a bed, we don’t need anything else.”  Of course not! You would start decorating! Because an undecorated house is a boring house. Even college guys decorate! (Not that it looks good or anything, but still).

Your face is the same way. It’s perfectly fine the way it is. But do you want to be fine or do you want to be more than fine?

One summer in college I had a roommate named Annie. She was the funniest person I have ever met. Seriously, ever. She said something to me once that has stuck with me all these years. She said, “I’m not pretty enough to wear makeup. I feel like if I do it will just make everyone look at me and think, ‘why is she even trying?’”

Again, back to the house analogy. Imagine that you live in a dumpy little house from the 70′s. It has no redeeming architectural features. It’s not old enough to be retro; it’s just plain ugly.  And it has a chain link fence across the weed-filled front yard.  Do you give up the day you move in and think, “there is just no hope for this house so why even bother?”  Or do you subscribe to some of the fantastic DIY blogs out there and get to work making your house as cute as possible?

Do you not agree that a fresh coat of paint, a picket fence and some petunias wouldn’t do wonders to start with?

Your face, even if you think it is nothing special, is worth fixing up. Lipstick alone does wonders. It brightens up your entire face and makes your teeth look whiter.

So my assignment for you this week is to wear some lipstick. If you haven’t bought a new liptsick in the last two years (or ever. My sister-in-law has never actually bought lipstick. She wears Clinique skin care products and only uses the free lipstick that comes in her Bonus bag that she gets every year. No matter what color it is.), get yourself to a store! Try the color out on your hand (but remember that everything will look pinker on your lips. I try to find a color that looks the same as my tongue.)

Nearly every makeup company makes a sheer, lipglossy-type product that is kind of like training wheels for lipstick. Since these are regular lipsticks (not long wearing-type things) they’ll wear off in a couple of hours. Which makes wearing this type of lipstick a lot less scary. The one that I’ve really been digging lately has been Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter.  It is so creamy and luscious. The colors are all really lovely and somewhat sheer. You won’t feel like your lips are a neon sign with these. I have “Brown Sugar”, a soft pinkish brown, and “Cherry Pie”, which makes it look like I’ve been sucking on a red popsicle.

I’ve also heard really great things about Cover Girl’s NatureLuxe  Gloss Balm. My friend Stephanie raves about the Peony color which is nice, clear pink (she’s blonde with fair skin).
Don’t be scared of makeup. It can be overwhelming, I know. But I will hold your hand. I wish I could go to the store with every one of you and help you find something that will make you feel so beautiful that you will look forward to being seen every day.

Makeup Monday–My Favorite Moisturizer

May 14, 2012 · 6 comments

in Good Things, Makeup/Beauty, Skin

It’s time we sat down and had a chat. You know you’re not getting any younger, right? Even if you’re 22, you know your lovely, wrinkle-free skin won’t last forever.  The older you get, the more important nice skin becomes. So here’s what you need to do: Stay out of the sun. I know, I know; you look gross and pasty if you don’t have a tan. I get it. But this is the thing: a tan lasts for what– a few days? But the damage of being out in the sun lasts forever. Forever. You can’t undo the damage. It’s not like a pair of lungs that somehow regenerate themselves once a person stops smoking. Forget what the ads say, you can’t turn back the clock. If you could everyone would look 28.

It’s sad to consider all the damage we girls of the 80′s did in the quest for bronze-goddess status. But nowadays pale skin is where it’s at. You can be pale and still be accepted socially!  Look at all the actresses! They are pale. So accept your future; it’s either tan and wrinkly or pale and less wrinkly. There is no possibility of being tan and having gorgeous skin until you’re fifty. It is simply impossible. Impossible.

Most of the skin products I use are homemade, but my daytime moisturizer is something I don’t mess around with. Why? I need serious SPF and so do you. Adding SPF to handmade products is a tricky business and I don’t want to end up making a product that hurts, rather than helps, my skin.

There are a jillion creams and lotions out there for you to chose from. I stick to the drugstore products because they are cheap and work perfectly well. If buying something that costs $50 makes you feel better about yourself, be my guest.  But there are lots of cheapo products that work really nicely.  This is my favorite. It’s by Garnier and moisturizes my dry skin without making it greasy, and it looks nice under my makeup. It has a nice fat SPF of 28.  You shouldn’t be putting anything on your face with an SPF less than 25.

favorite daytime moisturizer

Garnier Skin Renew costs about $12 and can be purchased at any drug store/Target, etc.

Again, my skin is dry and not at all sensitive. If your skin is oily or easy irritated, you might need to try some other options. Garnier Skin Renew might work for you or it might not. Either way make sure you get something with a nice high SPF. Promise?

 

I was not paid by anybody to hype this product. I just like it.

Promenade

April 30, 2012 · 9 comments

in Cute and/or Pretty, Family, Good Things, Makeup/Beauty, Stuff to Wear

Last weekend was India’s first prom. Strangely this has never been a moment I’ve thought much about as I’ve raised my daughters. Probably because I never had a boyfriend (or a date for that matter) in high school so the Prom was always a source of anxiety and frustration rather than excitement.

But India is a 16 year-old sophomore so she could potentially go to three proms during her high school career. Guess who is not excited about that? (hint: me.) Not that I don’t want her to go to the prom. Just that it’s expensive coming up with a dress and shoes and all that. Not to mention the three hours it took to do her hair, nails and makeup.

Mormons in the metropolitan Austin area have their own prom. The regular high school proms feature skanky half-naked girls, lusty teenagers gyrating all over each other and lots of alcohol. There are many parents who are of the “if you let them drink at home at least they’ll do it more responsibly” school of thought*. So while there isn’t much alcohol at the prom itself (just a few hidden flasks and “water bottles”), before and afterwards are quite a different story. Yet again, our teenagers get to feel like oddballs when tell their friends that they are going to the prom and yet not going to the prom.

Trying to find a modest prom dress is a fool’s errand. Most high school girls these days are aiming for a look somewhere between stripper and prostitute. If you live in Utah finding something at least knee-length and covering the shoulders can be a little easier, but we Mormons in the wilds of Texas have to buy something on the internet or get out the old sewing machine.

After a fruitless trip to the prom dress store (would you like something strapless, strapless or maybe strapless?), we sat down with my mom to create something similar, minus the hoochie factor.

My mom put her mad sewing skillz to use and came up with something similar to the dress India liked most at the Prom dress shop. She loved it and she and her date looked so adorable. He’s a really sweet boy.

I had to give India a quick tutorial on looking gorgeous:

1. Shoulders back, boobs out, hips to the side, front knee bent, toe pointed forward.

2. Your smile is your best asset. (She and I both have a similar curse: ugly serious faces. We should be smiling always. That is a hard pill to swallow for an introverted, shy teenage girl.)

I think she worked it pretty well for an amateur!

*If you think that letting your kids drink alcohol in your own house is somehow a better alternative, you are wrong. So, so, so wrong. And you are also a coward about telling your kids that their behavior is not acceptable. It is the job of a parent to tell kids what is right and what is wrong, It doesn’t matter what you did as a teenager; give them rules! (I’ll get off of my soapbox now.)

 

 

 

The Day I Learned that Brunettes are Best

April 12, 2012 · 9 comments

in Feeling Sorry for Myself, Good Things, Hair, IMO, Makeup/Beauty

If you remember the 70s and 80s very well you’ll recall the popularity of The Blonde. Farrah Fawcett, Olivia Newton John, Christie Brinkley, Jessica/Elizabeth from Sweet Valley High, and pretty much every smiling face in Seventeen Magazine was a girl with shiny blonde hair. The brunettes in the media were represented by Joanie on Happy Days or Sabrina on Charlie’s Angels or Janet from Three’s Company; none of whom were particularly pretty or smart or spunky. (Chrissy had flaxen ponytails and short shorts but Janet had a disgusting mullet and boring dresses with pantyhose. So unfair!) All I can guess is that the brunette was supposed to be the “normal” person whose job was to make the blondes look more fantastic.   (Yes, eventually Jaclyn Smith showed up on Charlie’s Angels but by then I had a pre-teen girl crush on Cheryl Ladd.)

Then there was Barbie. I always hoped for a brunette version but Mattel decided that nobody would want to play with a brown-haired doll. I was forever trying to dye my Barbies’ hair (Brown crayola markers do not work well, FYI). Sometimes I would just get sick of those golden inches and I’d chop it all off.

One day I was at the mall waiting for my mom outside of my all-time favorite store, The Canary and The Elephant, which sold a broad assortment of gaudy 80′s plastic jewelry. (My favorite piece was a big silver bracelet with plastic ice cubes hanging from it. I was the belle of 8th grade, take my word for it.)  I had been watching all the blonde girls go by (although this was Michigan. There can’t have been that many. Heaven help me if I’d lived in California or the nation’s capital of blondness: Utah.)

When my mother showed up I wistfully told her how I wished I were blonde. She stopped dead and looked into my eyes. You’d have thought I’d just announced I wanted to pursue a life of prostitution. “You don’t ever want to be blonde.” She said slowly. “Do you have any idea how terrible they look without makeup? So washed out. There is nothing worse than a blonde first thing in the morning.”  She thought for a moment before continuing. “They look like they have no eyelashes and sometimes no eyebrows! A blonde without mascara looks horrible. They aren’t lucky enough to have well-defined eyes like us. No. Be thankful that you were born with brown hair. A striking complexion will win the day every time.”

And with that we walked out the door into the Detroit slush.

Her testimony of the superiority of brunettes stuck with me. It blossomed until I didn’t try to peroxide my hair anymore. I rolled my eyes at the yellow-haired girls on the TV screen. “I know what you really look like,” I said to them. (I was completely unaware that most blonde adults color their hair anyway.)

I love my brown hair. I mean, it’s not as great as red. That’s my dream hair. But it least I can skip the mascara sometimes.

And although I hate Bella from Twilight, I was thrilled to finally find a Barbie that has my coloring.

Makeup Monday: More about Gelish

April 2, 2012 · 31 comments

in Hildie Likes, Makeup/Beauty, Nails

I have had so many questions about Gelish since my post a couple of weeks ago (which you can read here) that I though I should write a little more. So here are a few more details:

This is what you must have for Gelish:

Foundation Gel

Color

Top it Off (all three products are by Nail Harmony. They also make Red Carpet Manicure which is sold by Ulta and has almost identical colors.)

LED light or UV light (LED lights in a nail lamp are stronger than those in an LED flashlight. Which is why you can’t find a decent LED nail lamp for less than $200. Don’t you think somebody would be selling a super cheap version on ebay if they could?)

Nail prep. Either use the Gelish Cleanser by Nail Harmony or 90% rubbing alcohol sold in most pharmacies. You have to remove all residue from the nails or the Gelish will just peel off. This is also used at the very end of your manicure to remove the sticky layer.

Paper towels. Good for applying nail prep/alcohol. Cotton balls leave tiny threads that get stuck in the polish.

These things are nice but not necessary:

Pro Bond (by Nail Harmony). This is used after the nail prep/alcohol but before the foundation gel. It keeps the polish on extra well. I just use it at the tips.

Cuticle Clippers. Keeps cuticles nice and tidy.

Orange Sticks. These multi purpose wooden sticks are great for a dozen different tasks. I use them constantly. I prefer the slightly fancier ones with a nice pointy end rather than the kind that are sold in a huge pack for super cheap.

Several people have asked if it’s possible to use regular nail polish sandwiched between the Gelish Foundation Gel and Top Coat. Yes, technically it works. Here’s the thing: It doesn’t last nearly as well as Gelish brand polish. It chips sooner. Plus you have to wait for the polish to completely dry before you can apply the Top It Off. That adds up to an hour to your manicure while you sit around waiting for your polish to dry.  The UV light will not make it dry faster. It’s an entirely different chemical reaction than takes place with Gelish polish. It sucks that the Gelish nail polish costs $10-$15 dollars per bottle, but it does, so too bad.

Since the Gelish color palatte is somewhat limited, here is what I do to make it seem like I have more colors than I do: I own five or six basic Gelish colors that I use often and I pour small amounts in a dish and mix up new colors. I have not had any issues with my new concoctions chipping or not wearing as well. I will just mix a few drops at a time (enough for ten nails which is really not that much at all).

I also layer colors. Some are more sheer than others and will completely change the look of your polish. Samuri is a lovely, purplish sheer that is OK on its own, but looks marvelous when applied over most any other color. Two coats of Gossip Girl with a coat of Samuri over the top is my favorite.

Here’s a quick run-down on the complete Gelish application process:

1. File nails and push back cuticles.

2. Apply nail prep/alcohol with a paper towel.

3. (Optional) Apply Pro Bond to nail tips, edges, underneath free edges.

4. Apply Foundation Gel very sparingly.

5. Cure for 1 minute.

6. Wipe off excess foundation gel with a paper towel.

7. Apply a thin coat of color, including free edges and tips.

8. Cure for 2-3 minutes (under UV lamp. Less for LED. 2 minutes for pale colors. 3 for darker colors.)

9. Repeat color and curing until you have three coats.

10. Apply Top it Off.

11. Cure for 2-3 minutes.

12. Wipe off sticky residue with rubbing alcohol and paper towel. DONE!

As far as removing the Gelish goes, it is a bit of a pain. The top layer must be filed with a coarse file so that the remover can penetrate the layers underneath. The nails must be soaked for about 10 minutes in 100% acetone (available anywhere). I usually fill up a little dish and soak one hand at a time while I read a book. After the nails have soaked, use an orange stick to scrape off the polish. It won’t hurt your nails but it will make them look kind of gross. Afterwards wash your hands with a big dollop of soap and your nails will look just fine.

This would not be worth it if you had to do it all the time, but every two or three weeks is certainly worth the trouble. All told it probably takes me about 45-60 minutes to remove my nail polish and apply a new color from start to finish. I adore Gelish and don’t think an hour every couple of weeks is too much to ask for great-looking nails.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Don’t Be Gelish of Me

March 12, 2012 · 56 comments

in Good Things, Hildie Likes, Makeup/Beauty, Nails

It’s Makeup Monday! Which means it’s time to talk about makeup! Or in this case, nail polish. Women seem to fall into two camps: fake nail afficianodos and people who don’t really care all that much about their nails. Before I had children I loved to get my nails done and, being a life-long nail biter, usually stuck to fake acrylics.  But once your money is being spent on things like diapers and babysitters, things like nails are the first casualty.  I tried keeping my nails polished but you know how it is: smudging, chipping and peeling polish are unavoidable. It’s not even worth bothering.

Last year I heard through the grapevine that there was some new kind of nail polish that stayed on natural nails for two or three weeks. I did my research and found that there are several brands such as Shellac, Gelish and Geleration. Unfortunately these were all “professional only” products that still meant going in for an expensive manicure every two weeks. This gel polish theoretically didn’t damage nails either, unlike acrylics. It sounded like some sort of nail miracle!

As a woman who’s motto is “I could do that myself for cheaper”, my interest was piqued. I belong to several online makeup forums (admit it, you probably had no idea there were such things) and got people’s opinions about whether it really is that great (verdict: it is!) and which product line was the best. I decided on Gelish. It provides a little more strength for the nail as well as staying on for 1-2 weeks.

I’ve talked about Gelish before but things have changed quite a bit since I last wrote about the subject. Namely, these products are much more consumer-friendly. Meaning that the average person who does not have a nail license can now buy these products. Here’s how it works:

This nail polish has a gel base that does not air-dry. It will stay sticky unless it’s cured under a special lamp. Here is the extremely cool thing: Once you’ve cured your nails, they are completely and unbelievably dry and hard. There is zero possibility that your nails will get smudged or ruined. You take your nails out from under the lamp and you can immediately dig around in your purse for your keys, or go straight to bed without getting sheet prints, or do the dishes or whatever. This alone makes this nail system completely worth its weight in gold!

You need to have a special UV or LED light. These are made especially for nails. Please don’t ask if you can use a tanning bed or an LED flashlight or some wierd thing like that. I have no idea. Just spend the money on a real lamp and stop being such a cheapskate. I got mine on Amazon. I have been super happy with it and you can get the same one here. They run about $60 and can do two hands at once. Or you can get one at Sally Beauty Supply or Ulta. Do your homework before you go and make sure you get the kind that will cure gel polish.

Gelish is now sold at Sally Beauty. There is also a version made by the same company but sold exclusively at Ulta under the name Red Carpet Nails. The colors are almost identical but Red Carpet is about $10 for a bottle of polish vs. $15 for Gelish at Sally. The stores also sell a tiny little LED light that will do four fingers at a time. It’s quite a bit smaller but cures the nail faster than a UV light, so I doubt the small size of the light would be a huge problem. It’s about $50.

You also must have the foundation gel base as well as a special topcoat. Each of these is about $13-$18.  So you’ll probably end up spending about $125 to get the entire system including a couple of colors of polish. I do my nails, my mom’s and occassionally my daughter’s. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.

It really does work fantastically well. My polish will easily last for 10-14 days without chipping. And conequently I have entirely stopped biting my nails. I do my mom’s nails and her polish lasts for about a week. Her nails are incredibly bendy and peely, though. Even still, Gelish has gotten them so they’ll grow longer than they ever have before. Gelish also won’t damage your nails when it’s removed.

I’m so spoiled about having nice nails now. To me there is simply no excuse for having ugly fingernails. But that’s because I have Gelish and can have nails that look perfect for a week or two at a time. If I had to rely on regular polish again, I’d be one of those women who just couldn’t be bothered.

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

 

UPDATE: I have been receiving so many questions about gel nail polish. Read through the comments or check out my latest post with answers to FAQs here.

I get no money for raving about Gelish. But if you click through my link on Amazon to buy that lamp I do get a tiny smidgen of money.

Bumpy Red Skin on Your Upper Arms and How to Get Rid of It

November 21, 2011 · 7 comments

in Bad Things, Good Things, Health, How-To, Makeup/Beauty, Skin

Today is Makeup Monday and although I call it that, it’s really about more than just cosmetics. Anything having to do with the face or skin is fair game.  Today we’ll be discussing that gross, bumpy, red skin that shows up on the backs of your arms (or even on your legs, hips or bum). I always figured this skin condition was something that happened to everyone as they got older. It happened to me, although I’m not really sure when I first noticed it—maybe sometime in my early thirties.  But I’ve talked to several people who don’t have it (lucky!). I’ve also found out that it can actually be caused by a medical condition called Keratosis Pilaris. (That sounds like some sort of fancy new workout.)

I’m rather passionate about skin care and have tried all sorts of methods to get rid of my scaly, red chicken skin. I have used every exfoliation product sold at the store and still it’s persisted.

Until now.

My red bumps are gone. Completely gone. It took about two weeks.

This is how I got rid of them: (People are always asking me for lots of details when I do a skin “how-to” so this will be very descriptive.)

1. Exfoliate in the shower every day. You can use whatever method you prefer. I have a loofah that I use sometimes. But I also use an Apricot Scrub by St. Ives. This is a really unique body scrub because it isn’t oily. Most scrubs are full of oil so they will moisturize as well as exfoliate. But we don’t need to be coated with oil at this point. So stick with the St. Ives if you plan on using a body scrub (it’s also perfect for exfoliating before a spray tan). It’s cheap and can be found in just about any drug or grocery store. But any product that really gives your skin a good scrubbing will be fine.  Exfoliation alone is not enough, though.


2. Moisturize. I stumbled across a fantastic product a while ago called Olay Quench In-Shower Body Lotion. It is pretty strange stuff. After you’ve cleaned yourself off in the shower, you slather this Olay lotion on and then rinse it off. Yes, you rinse it off. So bizarre. But it is wonderful. It will leave your skin so moist and soft. And it has a little sparkle to it. Who doesn’t want to be sparkly? (Okay, maybe not men. But Mister uses it and you definitely cannot see the sparkle through his arm hair.) It has  a pleasant scent (not my fave but it’s OK. The scent doesn’t last long anyway).  Occasionally I can find this at Target (you know I don’t shop at the Walmarts on principle so I can’t tell you if they sell it there) but sometimes I have to get it here on Amazon where it’s about $8 for a pretty big bottle. It’s easy to spot because it has a large hole at the top of the bottle to hang in your shower (nifty little touch). You don’t have to use this moisturizer, but I love it and it’s super convenient to apply lotion head to toe and be done in 30 seconds. If you don’t want to use this, then go straight to step three.

3. After I get out of the shower and do my hair, my lotion has absorbed pretty well so I apply my third—and most important—product: Glytone Body Lotion which you can buy here. I found this on Amazon and it’s been a game-changer.  This lotion is over 17% Alpha Hydroxy Acid. So basically, it’s going to sizzle off those bumps and keep new ones from forming.  Glytone is pretty spendy (about $30 for an 8 ounce bottle) but I only apply it to the areas that need it so I imagine it’s going to last quite a while.  Glytone needs to be applied twice a day, so I use it in the morning after my shower like I said, then in the evening after I get undressed. That way it can sit on my body all night long.

I’ve been completely amazed at my arms; they are silky, clear and baby soft. It took me about two weeks to get them looking good, but other people that have used Glytone say it can take up to 3-4 weeks.  If you’re going to be wearing anything revealing for the holidays, now is the time to get your skin in tip-top shape.

 

I was not compensated for any of these products. I bought them, tried them and liked them all on my own.

Makeup Monday–Eyebrows

October 31, 2011 · 4 comments

in Good Things, Makeup/Beauty

Is it just me or has the whole world gone crazy for eyelash extensions and coloring? I’m hearing about this stuff all over the place and it’s not cheap. I don’t get it; eyelashes are just a thin line of hair. Yes, they might emphasize the eye but I can think of a dozen things people will notice on your face before they bother to see your eyelashes. Of course, if you are blonde I can see the heavy emphasis on mascara and maybe eyelash coloring (gotta love being a brunette for that reason alone).  But I know many people who are really obsessed with mascara but barely pay their eyebrows any attention at all.

Eyebrows are the picture frame around your eyes but they rarely get much attention.  Maybe a couple of minutes with the tweezers once in a while.  Nicely arched eyebrows can really open up your face and just perk things up. If your eyebrows are unruly and sloppy, it’s time to change that. And unlike most things on Makeup Monday, this will be free. Unless you don’t have any tweezers. (Everyone has tweezers, right?) I’m not going to get into the hows and whys of the proper way to pluck and shape your eyebrows. What I’m more interested in is day-to-day maintenence. I have my brows waxed because I tend to get a little carried away with the tweezing. My eyebrow hair is sparse and things can go bad quickly. Let’s just say that I’ve ended up more than once with eyebrows that were about an inch inch long. Imagine Hitler’s mustache but above my eye. Not terribly attractive. So I leave it to the professionals.

Once your eyebrows are nicely shaped you need to make sure to groom them. Say what? Listen; eyebrow hair is usually droopy. (If you look at an old man you can really see what I mean). Even if your brows are freshly tweezed, the hair will still hang downwards or straight across. What we want to do is to brush it upwards.  It opens up your entire face. This will do wonders for you, I swear. Especially if you are oldish like me.

Right now I want you to feel your eyebrows. Try to smooth the hair up and over. Having your eyebrows brushed upwards might look a little odd to you at first. Anytime you change something on your face it will take some getting used to. But if you look at any close-up photo in a magazine, the woman will always have her brows brushed upwards.  Some people (especially older male people) have really long eyebrow hair. It might need a trim. I have to constantly get on Mister’s case to trim his eyebrow hair. If your man needs his eyebrows trimmed but seems resistant, just tell him that’s all you can think about when you have sex. That should do the trick.

Now how to get your brows to stay nicely groomed? You don’t want to be constantly stroking your eyebrow hair into place. That’s a little creepy. And gross.  The cheapest solution is to get an old toothbrush and spray it with hairspray. Quickly brush it onto your brows, smoothing them in place as you go. They’ll stay nice-looking all day.

There are also brow gels available. These look a little bit like mascaras and are usually found right next to mascara in the stores. Yet again, cosmetic companies treat eyelashes like they are a much bigger deal and there are a million products for them. Poor eyebrow products are just a little footnote on the bottom row.

One product I like is by Sonia Kashuk (that means my favorite store–Target!). It’s a clear gel that goes on nicely with a wand. It keeps the hair in place without making it crusty like hairspray does. If you have thick dark brows this should be all you need. It only costs about $6.00.As I mentioned before, my eyebrow hair isn’t very thick so I use Revlon’s Brow Fantasy most of the time. I also suggest this for very fair-haired people who need a little color in their brows. It has an eyebrow pencil on one end and matching colored gel on the other and costs about $7.00.  I have dark brown hair and use the color “dark brown”. It’s not as dark as my hair which is good. You want brow pencil to be a shade lighter than your hair, otherwise it will look really fake; like you’ve got two black caterpillars crawling across your forehead.


Use a light hand with the brow pencil. There was a lady I knew growing up who used to paint on her eyebrows. I remember being completely perplexed by them. We don’t want your eyebrows to look painted on. Just smudge the brow liner on in any sparse spots.

Once you’ve used the brow pencil, then swipe the gel in an upwards motion. Once it dries it will last all day.

This is a pretty long blog post to tell you about something that takes less than a minute to do. Taking care of your eyebrows really does make a big difference.

 

Makeup Monday–Olive Squalane and Shea Butter

October 17, 2011 · 10 comments

in Good Things, Hildie Likes, Makeup/Beauty, Skin

Hey lookie! Makeup Monday is back! It’s not just about makeup, despite its name. It’s about beauty, and products I like, and maybe even a tutorial or two. After all, I want you readers to be even better looking than you already are! Well, actually, you can be hideous if you want. It’s not really my business. But I’m here to help you look ravishing if you’d like to. And before we even think about makeup we need to think about skin. It’s your blank canvas. Your makeup can be absolutely perfect, but if your skin is no good then it hardly matters.

I am 40 and my skin still looks pretty darn good. I get compliments on it almost every day. Part of it is genetics, part of it is staying out of the sun, but a large part of it is due to two products: olive squalane and shea butter. I make my own soap (soap being nothing more than a combination of water, lye and oils). While I think soap is sort of important, it’s washed off every time it’s used. But moisturizers stick around. To me moisturizing is where it’s at. I love the idea of using completely natural products on my skin. Because of my soapmaking, I have many, many oils and butters on hand. I have tried everything to see what works.

I have dry skin that has only gotten dryer as I’ve aged. Dry skin looks tired and lackluster. So I was thrilled to find my first product: Olive squalane. Squalanes are produced by the skin and are basically fats pumped with antioxidents. They are what gives a child that radiant, glowing complexion. But our bodies slow down squalane production in our early 20′s. After than we’re left with skin that gets wrinklier every year. Excuse me while I sob about that for a minute.  But lo, here is squalane in a bottle! It is wonderful! Seriously, it is light and quickly-absorbed by the skin. I apply a few drops to my face, neck and hands every night after I wash my face. When it’s dry weather I’ll also put some on before I apply my moisturizer with SPF.

The thought of putting oil on my face freaked me out a little the first time I tried it. I mean, I spent my entire adolescence getting rid of oil! But this isn’t heavy and won’t clog pores. It’s nickname is “A facelift in a bottle”. While I think that might be pushing it, olive squalane is fantastic stuff; my skin glows. It is soft and moist and healthy-looking. It will forever be my favorite facial product.

My second favorite product is shea butter. I make a salve that has several ingredients but the backbone is pure shea butter. I’ve used it by itself for quite a while and it’s great stuff. When I was about 35 I started getting dry, scaly skin under my eyes. The skin in that area is very delicate and I had an impossible time trying to get rid of the dry cracks.  I even tried chemical peels which worked for a couple of weeks but never cured the problem.  One night as I was going through my soapmaking supplies I came across my container of shea butter. I though, “what the heck?” and rubbed a bit under my eyes. By the morning the dry skin was gone and has never come back.

Shea butter is very heavy and greasy. I only put it under my eyes and around the mouth on my smile lines. It’s incredibly gentle and has never irritated my eyes. It is also great to put on lips or on chapped baby cheeks. If you live in a dry or cold climate, you need this stuff!

Olive squalane and shea butter are specialty ingredients that can be hard to find locally. I get mine from Texas Natural Supply. They are here in Austin but are exclusively a mail order company. I have been thrilled with the quality of their products. Their prices are very good too (although shipping is not cheap. But in the end these products are not going to be any more expensive than nice drugstore moisturizers). You can find olive squalane here and shea butter here.

My mirror, my friend

March 16, 2011 · 6 comments

in Good Things, Hildie Likes, IMO, Makeup/Beauty, Nails, Photos of Hildie

I am vain. I admit it. You may have noticed due to all the pictures I post of myself. I figure my vanity is OK because I’m pretty diligent with my preparedness. That makes up for it. And I have two callings at church, which also counteracts the amount of time and money I spend on myself. (Actually I’m a brunette who likes being a brunette so monetarily I’m way ahead of all you brunettes who are convinced that you’re really blondes. No highlights and root touch-ups for me, suckers!)

Lately I have been spending an excessive amount of time on my eye makeup (one of these days I’m going to do a tuturial. Really. Because I never got around to it on Makeup Monday) and on my nails. I used to get my (fake) nails done all the time when we lived in Oregon. This was back in the Pre-Cambrian age when I had to drive twenty minutes to get to a nail salon. I can barely remember the time when there wasn’t a nail salon on each corner. Then we moved to Utah and I was still getting my fake nails done. But I noticed that everyone was getting their fake nails done by then. Everyone. Even our fifteen year-old babysitter. And I kind of hated being like all the fake Utah girls (although I don’t have fake boobs or a fake tan so I’m already way better than them*). So I decided to let my nails go natural and boring. Being a nail-biter who loves her bad habit, my nails haven’t looked good since then. My nails are peely and brittle and then there is the whole hangnail issue. Apparently my vanity only made it down to my elbows.

I tend to not bite my nails when they are painted but you know what a drag it is to have to keep up polish. Every day there is something chipping off. What a drag. But, my friends, a miracle has occurred! And its name is Gelish. It’s a brand new type of polish that lasts for two weeks and does not damage your nails at all. It’s true! I have tried it! There are similar types of products such as Shellac (which I’ve heard through the grapevine is not quite as durable). But I am loving my Gelish. It’s sold “to professionals only” and you have to go to a salon that does Gelish to get a manicure. But being a DIY girl through-and-through I bought all the stuff myself off of Amazon and ebay. It’s not cheap. No ma’am. It only cures with a 36-watt UV lamp (at least $75). And the polishes, base coat and top coat are between $15-25 each. But once I figured that I would be doing my nails, plus my girls’, plus my moms’ (who has the most awful nails in the history of the world so her polish only lasts a week), it seemed not too unreasonable.

Plus, as I mentioned, I’m vain. And the promise of having lovely nails for days–no, weeks!–on end is pretty intoxicating.

And I make my own soap and lotion, for crying out loud. So look at all the money I’m already saving! Money that I can now spend on my nails.

It takes a couple of tries to get the hang of applying Gelish. But I’ve been wearing this red polish for nine days already. And this is after spending an hour scrubbing bathtubs with that harsh, nasty cleanser AND painting the hallway in my house (requiring much scrubbing of the hands to remove latex paint) AND doing a whole bunch of crafts involving acrylic paint (again requiring much scrubbing of the hands). Impressive, no?

*I have zero problem with fake boobs. It’s just when it’s combined with fake everything else that it starts to irritate. And if you happen to be smaller than a size 6 I will be especially critical of you. Sorry. (Not really.)

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