Time Flies!

Wow, I have been very busy. Too busy to write about all the nice things in the beauty world that I like. My house is a mess and right now, at 9:15 on a school night, I am planning lessons for my classroom, and I still need to pack a lunch and put away the mountains of clothes on my bed. Do you ever have those times when you have started several projects and haven't finished any of them, and you continue to take things out of closets and drawers but you don't put anything away, and it all just gets away from you and there is no stopping? Welcome to my crazy, mixed up world. For example, right here on my desk is a lovely little vase with pretty pink flowers from a wedding I went to on Saturday, and sitting right next to them is a can of WD-40. Does that make sense? I think not, yet I am in no hurry to find a better place for the WD-40...it has sort-of become a part of my landscape here.

So, what I like right now:

1. Pink flowers--I bought some pink peonies at Trader Joe's today and they look great. The pink English roses and calla lilies at the wedding were awesome. And the pink pillows I made, that the cats like to shed on.

2. Softlips lip balm. It is in a tube. Kareen inspired me to try it. It's nice, and on sale at Walgreen's. And it does NOT form an occlusive barrier.

3. The mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's. Yum.

4. The geranium soap from Pangea. They are an organic and evironmentally sound company that makes lotions and soap and stuff. The soap came in this little cardboard-ish box that has seeds right in the paper. You soak the box and then plant it and then herbs and stuff grow. Neat! The soap smells yummy. I got it at Cost Plus, but I think I have seen the line at natural food stores, too.

5. WD-40. It's handy to have around.

That's all for now. I need to lesson-plan and figure out how much more I cram into the brains of my third graders in three weeks. Summer is coming!!

High Maintenance

I love me some products, and I'm not afraid to use them. I will do my make-up for 45 minutes before going out, combing my eyelashes with a metal comb and lining my eyes with a pencil and then a brush dipped in shadow...I will exfoliate in the shower and then use one moisturizer for the really dry parts (knees and elbows), then use the self-tanner on the rest of me, carefully washing my hands and scrubbing my cuticles (and then moisturizing them, for goodness sake) to get the tanner off, and then walk around nekkid for ten minutes so no tanner strays...I will tweeze something on my brows nearly every day, and I am slightly obsessed with my toes and how the polish looks on them, and I have WAY TOO MANY nail polishes...I am high-maintenance in those ways, and totally fine with it. I love using and trying all that stuff.


For a long time, however, I had low-maintenance hair. It was so short that I could blast it with a hair dryer for three minutes, throw some pomade on, and be done. I could wash it with whatever I wanted, and it never was damaged because I didn't (and don't) color it and I got haircuts so often there was no time for ends to split. I was into all the other stuff, but not into doing my hair.

And then I started the growing out process. Sigh. It's become such a time-consuming obsession. First, I would pounce on any photo I could find of Victoria Beckham, Rihanna, or Katie Holmes, because they all had or have a version of what I was going for, and I would really think I was looking a lot like them. Then I passed that stage, and had a funny little bob. During both these phases, I would carefully blow-dry with a round brush and then straighten with a straightening iron. I bought several round brushes. I bought new goopy stuff to protect my hair from all that heat. I used an awesome olive oil product that I got in the Black haircare section...made my hair look super sleek and shiny.

Now I'm just at a loss. I am letting the natural curly hair on my head do it's thing, and boy oh boy is it hard. No more cool shiny wave over my eye. No more slightly sassy look. Now I have curls springing here and there and strange dry ends and sometimes it is super curly, almost in a Jheri curl way, and sometimes it is flat and barely wavy...but it takes so much work!! I am now devoting about 20 minutes to my hair in the morning...for someone who hits the snooze alarm for 45 minutes (remember?) that is too much hair time.

Anyhoo, what I do like, and what has made me feel a bit better for a while now, is this shampoo and conditioner, Matrix Sleek Look. They are designed to make your hair straight and smooth, and there are two other products in the line...some sort of setting stuff and then a finisher, I think. But I do think the shampoo and conditioner do what they say. They make my hair easier to style and flatter if I want it straight, and hopefully a little smoother and less fly-away-y when I want it curly.

When I wore my curly natural hair to school the first time, I had kids from my class and other classes running at me across the playground (seriously!), yelling about my hair. It was pretty fun. But not quite pretty, if you know what I mean. We'll see.

Happy Mom's Day!

In honor of Mother's Day, today's post is about nipple cream...just kidding, the day I write a post about nipple cream is the day I myself need it--so don't hold your breath.

Today's post is, though, about cool things that moms and the rest of us might like, including a potion called Jing Jang Creme, which I suppose one could put on one's nipples if one was so inclined. It is a mysterious little jar of essential oil infused balm-like stuff, and it can be used for so many things. On the label it says that it will help "most skin irritations including abrasions, dry skin, razor burn, after-waxing skin agitation, bruises, diaper rash, sunburn, and vaginal soreness." Ummm, OK. Love the use of the word 'agitation', and I suppose you could take it along with you on a romantic weekend to get rid of that dang soreness.

I use it to soothe my nose after I have blown it a lot, and this weekend I was blowing my nose like crazy. NOT a romantic weekend by any stretch of the imagination. I use it on my lips, too, but the smart people over at Jing Jang central created a lip balm, which I bet is good stuff (appropriate for moms and others and boys, as well).

The other thing I like is my Dove soap. I use it at night to wash my face, and it takes off my eye make-up and doesn't dry my skin out. Now, I have washed my face with various skin care routines since I was about twelve, and believe me, I have done the multi-step routines and the simple routines. When I was a teenager it was the three step Clinique regime (wash, toner, moisturize) and when I worked in retail I tried the Erno Laszlo routine (wash, splash with hot water, then cool water, like 25 times, then tone, use special cotton, leave this face-colored powder stuff on your face...blah blah, but it does make your skin look nice). This is what product whores do--try out many, many possibilities, searching for THE ONE.

Now I wash my face with Dove and moisturize. Because I can't leave my whoring ways completely, I use Olay Regenerist Serum under the moisturizer, I use Boscia hydrator sometimes (I'll write more about that some other time), and various other eye creams and accessories (more about those later, too). But for the actual, basic routine...it's Dove soap and moisturizer. Dove is nice and gentle and you can use it on your body, too, and it cost less than $2 for a bar. That's good stuff!

Moms like simple routines, right? Use Dove soap and warm (not hot) water to wash your face at night, and then throw on some moisturizer you like. Happy day.

Look it up!

I have received many comments about the word "occlusive" in my last post...my goodness, don't you people care about what REALLY matters (lip stuff and sunscreen and things like that)??!! Ha ha!

I looked it up, and here it is: to "occlude" means to prevent the passage of; to shut in or out. An "occlusion" is an occluding or being occluded. And "occlusive" is the adjective form of the noun. So I'm sticking with occlusive and I feel very happy with my decision.

Right now I like Webster's New World Dictionary!

The great debate...in my mind only, perhaps...

When I worked retail and did people's make-up all day long, one thing that I always advised was to put on some lip balm right when you start your hair or make-up, and then when it is time to get any lipstick or liner or even lip gloss on your lips, it will all just work better.

And then I would enter the great "lip balm" debate. A customer would pull out their ratty, dusty tube of whatever from their purse...and I'd go into my spiel.

If you want your lips to be nice and smooth and soft for color application, don't use Chapstick. Don't use Carmex. Don't use Vaseline. They don't work in this case, though they are lovely for other things. For example, if you are skiing down a windy cold mountain and need to have a nice thick barrier between your lips and the air, use Chapstick. If you are feeling the happy little tingle of a cold sore beginning, use Carmex. And if you have dry cuticles or elbows and want to go old-school on them, use Vaseline. You can even put some of that Vaseline (petroleum jelly, people, ug) over the Chapstick when you're on the mountain, and really protect the hell out of your lips.*

Many lip treatments form an occlusive barrier that keeps moisture from escaping, but when you are about to apply color you need something that soaks into your lips so that color can actually grab onto the smooth, soft surface. If you put gloss or liner or lipstick onto a thick coating of a waxy balm, it won't stay...it will slowly start to slip off.

If you put on a bit at the beginning of your morning routine, blot your lips on something handy (I use the back of my hand, and then rub in whatever came off) and then apply your color.

And another thing...Carmex is not addictive. If your lips feel dry and peely after you use it, and you feel that you now need more lip balm, well, you're right. The menthol and camphor in Carmex are there to dry out and heal little cold sore boo-boos, and so if they are all over your lips they are going to do they're job.

Most of the lip balms I love the most are in little tubs, though that grosses some people out so then look for balms in tubes. You want them to feel a little slippery and moist, not waxy or stiff...sounds sexual, or is that just me?...I like Neutrogena, Bourjois, Burt's Bees, and an all-time fave, Kiehl's.

*That won't protect your lips from the sun, though, and that is another way your lips can feel really dry and awful. Sometimes people would tell me their lip balms weren't working, and then I would find out that they had been out in the sun for hours, and their lips were really burned and irritated! Use lip stuff with sunscreen, please oh please. Even if you tan or your skin is lovely and dark...you still need sunscreen.

Right now...

I went to school today with my tee-shirt on backwards AND inside-out. Hmmm...some of my sweet third graders pointed it out to me, got all nervous that I was going to have to change at school and someone might see me ("You guys, she has on a tank top underneath!" was said by one sensible girl, with that "DU-UH" tone of voice), and then we all settled down to some possessive pronouns again.

I think I may be a bit distracted.

Stuff I like right now:
--Toblerone chocolate bars. Yum.

--www.hungrygirl.com because it breaks down the numbers of calories in certain popular foods (haven't seen Toblerone bars on there yet), and gives you alternate recipes for yummy things that are really really bad for you (like Taco Hell stuff)...

--my Sonicare toothbrush...it gets your teeth so, so clean (so I can eat lots of Toblerone bars). It's really amazing, my cute sweet dentist loves them, and I have almost nothing for my cute, sweet dental hygenist to scrape off when I visit. That is the best part...

--Burt's Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme. Feels greasy at first, then soaks in and really moisturizes and the scent is nice and mild. I want to buy the Banana flavored one next, but Burt's Bees was purchased by the Clorox corporation a few months ago so I am not sure if I can keep supporting them in good conscience. We'll see.

--My FAVORITE thing right now? The comments from my friends. Thanks!! It is so fun to read them. Oh yeah, and some people answered the poll questions, so now I can add some posts addressing particular needs. Yippee!

Happy Friday.