Beauty Blab| Pay Day Yay Day? A Wishlist

Sorry for the long hiatus, I've been going through a rather rough patch lately. I have been doing a lot of makeup swapping and will feature a swap haul within the week.

Well, let's rant. I'm currently on a low-buy due to y'know, living real life and not having two nickels to rub together, much less call myself  a broke college graduate. Times are tough, man. The good news is, my second interview for a very anticipated job at a local private school is coming through. The bad news is, I won't have a car until Friday when I'll have to bus up to NorCal (boo!) and test drive a few Honda Fits (boo!!) and then drive home on Sunday (tomatoes are flying!)

But hey, the father is being a very generous proprietor of his daughter's worth and dowry. Just kidding. I am grateful that I'll have a reliable means of transportation to really get into the interview ordeals and finally land a job. Hashtag wifelife does not suit me well. Besides the ho hum of doing things like pay rent, buy food, and make blood sacrifices to the gas station gods, I have a few things on my wishlist that need immediate funds to acquire. Here are just some ideas for what my first paycheck will be going toward.

Needs

• A good professional business suit. By this I mean full on shoulder-padded blazers, pleated slacks, and starched white shirts. Not sure if I should go to Express or take the budget route and make a beeline for H&M. Which is funny, considering how much I shunned these two stores in the past for their "stuffy" attire suited to "unfashionable 30 year olds who work." Awkward. The good thing is, working at that private school probably means the dress code will be a lot more casual and will only require my boobs to go to boob jail in another ill fitted dress blouse rather than a full on blazer set. How I wish professional clothes were also comfortable, like velour track suits and sweatpants. Not to mention buying slacks are in another body shaming category of themselves. Le sigh.


• Sensible kitten heels in black leather and nude leather. This is sort of a given, but I'm not sure where to look for these without breaking the bank. I'm not sure my Zara strappies are kindergarten children appropriate. I may impale several and face life-wrecking lawsuits.

Wants

• Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation. Ladies and gents, I am proud to announce to you that I am going straight back to the au naturel look when it comes to my base. My skin has never misbehaved, I don't know why I punished it with medium coverage foundation on a regular basis. I am enjoying my new UD Naked foundation at the moment and will do a review in a month's time. For now, I'm just lemming for the Chanel foundation because people sing its praises from the rooftops everywhere I turn. I don't know how much I'll lighten now that the worst of the heat is over and we're heading to autumn (yet I'm still in SoCal), but if I get anywhere close to NC25, I'm immediately purchasing this.


• Tarte Amazonian clay blushes. I used to have two (Peaceful and Dollface) that I cherished very much. But apparently not really, because I swapped them away for something else and can't seem to remember what for. I've come to realize that these outperform almost every other blush in terms of lasting ability. I may be able to swap for this, so I may not have to spend extra on it in the first place.


• Alexander Wang Rocco bag. Okay, just kidding. I do not have a grand on stacks sitting on my nightstand to blow on handbags. I really covet the design and have found a knock-off (but real leather) version online and may purchase in the near future. I've also been eyeing Phillip Lim's collection at Target, but god knows those mini satchels are probably sold out by now. Oh well, too late.


• A couch. No, really. I want something so soft and comfortable and plain that I can lounge on for hours. My current couch was rummaged from the depths of hell and its faux leather loveseat qualities makes me let the dogs sit on it. Horrendous. I'm guessing Pottery Barn is a little out of price range (lol) so Ikea will have to do.

Bleh, that is all for now. I really have been diligent with budgeting, and the real prize of landing a job is how much I can contribute to maintaining this new household. I'm excited to be buying my first vehicle (one that isn't breaking down and is above 3 grand that is) and going off to job interviews again. I'll get back to you soon with a swap haul!

 

Be

Beauty Blab| Pixie Moment for Life

Growing up, I've always had my weak moments (or hot seasons) where I wanted to chop off all of the dead weight that is my hair. My self-worth has never been in growing the longest, silkiest mane or reenacting a Pantene Pro-V commercial every time I walk down the street. Still, a lot of guy friends groaned and moaned when I lopped off my hair. In eighth grade, the boy I had the hugest crush on (and who definitely had a crush on me!) completely ignored me when I got my tomboy hair cut. It was devastating to my poor teenage ego, and I vowed never to let my hair get above shoulder length. While I watched my best friends transform with short gamine haircuts, I stayed loyal to "long layers and just a trim." I shied away from boy cuts because I always thought that round faces couldn't pull it off.

Now that I'm out of college and past my years of appealing to the male audience, I've decided to get rid of almost a foot and half worth's of hair. My husband gave me his "blessing" and even said, and I quote, "I don't mind if you got like a Pink hair cut." and "Go crazy for once." Says the man whose very opinion kept my hair long and unkempt for the past three years! When we first started dating, he wanted me to grow out my shoulder length hair even longer because it looked "sexier." Sigh. Men.

Which is funny, since they all go apeshit crazy for Halle Berry even though her hair is never past a buzz or close crop. Of course, you also need her damn perfect everything else. 

I like short hair. I like the low maintenance. I like not getting a bicep workout and sauna session every time I blow dry my hair. I like pulling it up into a faux hawk. I like tousling it about when I wake up in the morning and leaving. I like the constant showers I get to take.  I like it on people with dainty bone structure. Ginnifer Goodwin makes the pixie adorable. I love it on people with beautiful faces. I love the boyish charm. And with my curves, I figured it couldn't take away my assets. If men didn't like staring at my hair, they can stare at what they already were in the first place.

But all I ever hear is, "It goes with a certain face. I think you look better with long hair."

"EWWW! You look like a man!!!"

"I don't think I could pull off short hair."

Lies. If someone insulted you on how you did your makeup or the clothes you wore, would you get butthurt? Most likely you would just laugh it off and chalked up their comments to bad taste. With hair, you will feel a whole lot happier if you don't let it decide how attractive you are. If anything, it will highlight a beautiful face and put you in the spotlight when every other girl has hair down their back. If men don't understand my makeup, why should I care if they understand my decision to cut my hair? Is that man-stranger going to run his fingers through my locks any time soon? No. If anything, I cut my hair short to better nail job interviews, because it screams professional adult woman, not whimpering girl.

I also have some tips for the jump:

• If you wear your long hair every single waking moment in a pony tail and try to touch it as little as possible, change it up.


• If you have outgrown braids, pigtails, hair accessories, bows, pins, blah blah blah, cut it off.


• If you can't stand spending thirty minutes a day styling your hair, give it up.


• If your hair blends seamlessly into a pile of hay and straw in terms of texture due to over processed color and bleach, please just lop it.


• If you don't mind going in for a trim every few weeks and is the type to stick with a style for a long time, you should go for it. The growing out phase is tedious/hideous.


• If you think you have the wrong face shape or even body shape for a pixie, stop! There is always going to be a variation on the cut which will flatter you or make you happy.


• If you constantly hide behind your hair and have played it safe, never going to the hair salon, never doing much for your hair besides washing it, and everything is getting nappy ratty ratchet tangles up in that weave gurllll you need a hair intervention, stat!

All of the above was me, and I've never been happier with a haircut before in my life. Even with short hair, I'll still have the liberty to dye and style any way I want. About 6 hours ago, my hair was down to the middle of my back. Now, it's barely fitting into my fingers. I can't run anything through the back, and the front resembles short bangs. I walked into the closest salon with the best reviews on Yelp (rightly so, I'll tell you why in a bit) and asked for a pixie. Now, I feel liberated. You can see the cut on the side panel in my Instagram account.

The salon I went to is a cute little boutique store with very reasonable pricing and excellent service. Martha at The Pink Door Salon in Garden Grove was a Michelangelo in sculpting out the shape and texture of my pixie without compromising the integrity of my hair or trying to morph its texture into something else.  She spent over two hours working with my layers and lengths to get me to the style I wanted. I have two very stubborn cowlicks that would frustrate the hell out of any one else, but Martha just worked her magic on me.

She's also sort of my hairdresser crush. 

• She knows her skills. If you want a certain haircut, you had better know what you want because she will get into details on what she will do to your hair and promptly start on it. Those shears going across your ponytail is very real. Very real.


• She keeps the conversation hilarious and lively without being too chatty or faux-friendly. I get to just sit back and watch the master at work when I want to just relax.


• She's more than happy to share with you how to recreate the style at home and wanted me to leave with something I could work with every day.

Basically, she's like the guardian of my hair from now on, and she's only ten minutes away. Check them out on Yelp if you have a chance, I seriously can't say enough good things about my experience or the people who work there.

And you know really validated my decision to go short, the fact that the salon has asked me to model my hair for them for an event that they're hosting, with cut and color on the house! Hair model? Really? I would've laughed if you took my over-processed hair and told me it was hair model worthy. With my short haircut, I feel chic, elegant, cute, classy, professional, grown up, and playfully young all at the same time. The only adjective to describe my old hair style was long. And how did it make me feel? Like I was hiding my confidence behind it the whole entire time.

Be

Beauty Blab | Making Room for New Makeup

This past weekend has been moving hell. I won't get into details, but now I am finally settled into my new home in LA. My new room is loads bigger, but I hate how much clutter has built up over the past two years, especially when it comes to makeup. I've tossed out a bunch of things:

• Lip glosses. They've oozed out of their containers, gotten sticky and dated, or just have gone past their expiration date. I have at least four that may have reached radioactive radiation status.


• Old foundations. I have a bunch that don't match, aren't the right formulation, or is just plain OLD. Toss!


• Powders and blushers that I've outgrown. I'm talking sparkly disco balls, powders that I've had for over three years, and a drugstore mattifier that just doesn't work!

A few things I'm looking forward to trying this fall:

• NARS Radiant Cream Compact Foundation. I recently picked up NARS Sheer Glow in Stromboli and fell in love, and I want to know how this new compact measures up! The shade range is phenomenal, but I may have to wait until the season gets colder/drier before I test it out.  I also have to use up a few compact foundations I already have lying around! ($48 retail)


• Jouer's Creme Eyeshadow Crayon in Rococo and Baroque. As reviewed by Essiebutton and Rae from Raeviewer, these eyeshadow crayons seem to be a hyper pigmented and longer wearing version of Maybelline's Color Tattoo. Must try. ($24 retail)


• Pixi Glow Tonic. This is more for my mom than me. She has hyperpigmentation, uneven skin texture, and acne scarring issues to address. I've heard nothing but massively positive reviews about this. Now....where to find it...($ mystery price)


• Tom Ford's eyeshadow trio in She Wolf. Absolutely beautiful and overpriced. I feel like the $60 price tag can only be justified by how much use I can get out of it. I still have so many palettes that have not even been scratched at the surface, let alone hit pan!

My main goal, however, is to go on a no-buy for the rest of the month until I can find new employment in this strange and crazy new city. You can't ball with no budget after all. After seeing how much makeup I currently own cram into three plastic bins, I think my makeup binge is done for now. However, I won't say no to anything ground breaking. Fall 2013 collections have already started rolling out on department store shelves and I still have yet to visit the many malls currently surrounding my new home!

That's it for now. Let me know how often you go on a no-buy, or whether you use most of your makeup up before buying new products!

Be

Quick Blab | Burgundy Lip Trend for Fall 2013

It seems like the trend for fall and winter of 2013 is once again dark red and wine stained lips. Aka oxblood. Aka Burgundy. Aka Goth red. I just wanted to hear from all of my subbies/stalkers/readers/flagrant strangers:

[polldaddy poll=7318183]

Please leave a comment with a suggestion if you could. I am currently in possession of a few dark reds and wines but don't know whether to try Revlon Wine Not, MAC's Diva, or YSL's Forbidden Burgundy next. I am also thinking of cheating and layering a dark plum over a magenta lip liner. But, if you know of any other colors or lipstick collections out there that would have the perfect burgundy for fall, let me know too!