Epic Runway Hair and the Teasing Comb Encounter!

Today was an early day for me: up at 6.30, leave a comfy human heater in bed, and be out by 7.30 clinging desperately to my coffee.  Today was training day in the salon, and they needed models for the Runway Your Way: Updo Edition!

Naturally, I was first to sign up.  My look was a pretty-not-prim hybrid of the Modern Rock and Urban Luxe

My job?  Sit there, shut up, try to look pretty under fluorescent lighting, and read a magazine while Shannon (of keratin fame) curled and teased and pinned.  Then us seasoned retail employees walked an imaginary runway to show off our new wigs.

Pardon the picture quality, and the shower-tile background.  At least I cropped out the chipped ceiling.

Et voila!  My hair actually touched the roof of my trusty Honda, necessitating a full lowering of the seat.  It's fabulous; I love it.  Nothin' like some haughtier-than-thou hair to get a gal through three senior-level classes in one day.  Bring it on: I'll strut right over it.

With Love to Dean+Davis.

Last night at work we had a sneak preview of the Smashbox Holiday 2009 collection, and I am so excited.  (Especially since it's not even up on their website yet -- unleash the privileged-moi complex!)  There's plenty to look forward to, including an expansion in their HALO technology, lots of pink, and a charitable cause.

Their new foundation guide is the coolest.  Just a few clicks gives you a customised foundation recommendation!

Some of my personal favourites are:

1. Photo Finish Foundation Primer
Fixes everything.  Oil = Gone.  Dryness/Flakes = Gone.  Comes in colour-correcting shades as well.  (Jaundice = GONE!)  If you're skeptical, only prime half your face, then apply foundation all over.  You will convert.

2. HALO Powder (in Fair)
A year's supply of grind-as-you-please powder with an anti-aging peptide and gorgeous finish.  And gold.  Um, hello?!

3. Lip Enhancing Gloss (in Fame)
My favourite.  I slather it on a constant basis.  It's the perfect pink for me: bright, but not Barbie.  Sophisticated, yet girly.  Those with warmer tones may wish to consider her fraternal twin sister shade Debut.

4. Jet Set Waterproof Eyeliner (in Midnight Black)
The essential liner.  Sooty pigments make their mark.  Perfect for lining above the lower lashes.  (Survives water fights, too.)  Apply Midnight Black for the ultimate seductive stare, or Midnight Purple to complement any eye colour.

Do you use Smashbox?  What are some of your favourites?  And do you agree with their selections for you in the fabulous foundation guide?!

'Hair! Like Jesus Wore It! Hallelujiah! I Adore It!' - Hair, 1979

I had a keratin treatment done on Thursday and I am so excited to report the results!  What a keratin treatment does is infuse your strands with the keratin protein, which is found naturally in hair.  This eliminates up to 95% of frizz and curl for an average of 3-5 months.  It's like a demi-permanent dye, but instead of colour you get gloriously soft strands.

I arrived an hour before the salon opened, at 9A on the dot.  Shannon, my stylist, already had the bowl prepped and ready.  We clarified three times so the keratin could really penetrate, and then got down to work.  My hair was basted in teeny-tiny sections with the conditioning cocktail, then wrapped up in a shower cap to marinate for twenty minutes.  Then we blew it dry (no rinsing allowed!) and flatironed the stuff deeeeep into my cuticle.  The whole process actually took four hours, and I missed two classes completely by accident!  My hair looked sleek, like somebody had attacked me with a comb and some military-issue shine serum.

Then came the waiting.  After a keratin treatment, you're not allowed to get your hair wet, make a ponytail, use bobby pins, sunglasses, or even tuck it behind your ears for three solid days!  Should you dare to defy the keratin gods you must blowdry 100% and flatiron the offended sections.  It was tough, I won't lie.  My hair was sleek on the first day, sleek-and-flat by the second.  Out of follicular paranoia I refused to wash my face, neck, and chest with anything but Neutrogena towelettes and took a lot of baths.  Rain on the second day resulted in walking around with an umbrella down to my shoulders and running into stationary objects.  (When it comes to hair, I am nothing if not determined and willing to go the distance.)  After the third day, you come in for a complimentary shampoo, style, and 'dusting.'  (Which means your damaged ends are horrendously obvious and must be severed from the rest of your soft 'n' sexy mane.)  It looked great, but the real test, of course, would come in my own shower, with my newly-necessary sulfate-free shampoo.

Holy.  Shining.  Tresses.  Batman.  My hair looks good great!  I blew it dry with just a teeeeeeny bit of volumizer at the crown, and WOW!  It's like all my hair crimes made it through the appeals court!  Just a stubborn flippy patch on my bangs will require a flatiron due to my shoddy blowout technique.

Would I do it again?  Absolutely.  The second treatment will last even longer: 5-7 months, depending on how much you wash your hair.  It is cost-prohibitive ($250 to start), but depending on your hair and personal lifestyle (hate flatirons, coarse hair, et cetera), could be a very worthwhile investment.

Currently Lusting...

Ooh la-la!

If there's one brand known for over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek Beverly-Hills-hyphenated-excess, it's Too Faced.  We just got their Holiday 2009 collection in where I work, and it's 'hawt.'

Will you start a Glamour Revolution?

Would you just be happy to be Queen for a Day?

Or are you merely French and Fabulous, politics be damned?!

How would you wear these colours?  Would you pair a smoky eye with a pale pink lip, or would you scour every last grain of glitter and decoupage your eyelids?!

A bientot!

Aimer, C'est Vivre.

It's six in the morning.  I've been up since four, though classes for me do not begin until approximately 11h30.  Why the willing early-bird behaviour?  Sitting here, toilet paper wedged between my toes as polish dries, I have been considering what exactly rousted me out of bed at hours untold.

You see, there's this boy . . .  This boy who had a film job in the City at 5h30.  He is quite possibly the only person for whom I have ever woken so early, so willingly.  (Here my family keels over, feeling vaguely betrayed upon revival.  It's okay -- they have to love me.  *Smug!*)  But this morning got me thinking about the little things, and how much more they mean, and what love means -- at least to me.  Everyone's different.  My mum read a book about the five languages of love, and how we all 'speak' love differently.  One person's love might not be another's, and you have to really understand your partner in order to see and appreciate the difference.  One boy might need Love in words -- he wants to hear your lips shape the 'I Love you' explicitly.  His girl may not be the verbal type, and she tells him that he's Loved by folding his socks into quirky origami when he forgets to do laundry.  (I don't know, you come up with something!)  If they don't see their partner's unique expressions of the heart, they won't feel Loved.

For me, Love is so many little things.  Love is when he keeps a hand on me at practically all times, to the point that grocery shopping can become a Cirque du Soleil affair.  Love is when I'm moody and irritable and get mad over stupid merde, and he accepts my five-minutes-later apology and even makes me feel better about hormonal fluctuations (and gives me a deep-tissue massage when the bottle of Aleve runs out).  Love is getting lost on the London bus system after midnight, when I'm so frustrated I'm useless and crying, so he takes over and gets us safely back to the hostel with three hours of sleep to spare before our train.  Love is him waking me up in the middle of the night after a drinking binge to take off my shoes because they look uncomfortable.  Or carrying me back to the hotel while I sing with hobos.  Love is him accepting my 'you-wanna-be-a-couple' invite when we're both dressed up at a Tacky Christmas Sweater party.  Love is how he still kisses my hand/nose/chin/forehead/hair/cheek/ear after all this time.  Love is how he calls me 'ridiculous' and tolerates my girly insanity so well (whether of the handbag-obsessive or 'she was checking you out; I will kill her' variety).  Love is waking up next to each other just to get back into the other person's arms so you can fall asleep again.  Love is seeing flaws and Loving more as a result.

I should wake up early more often.

How to... Determine Your Skin Type!

I recently returned from a trip to Paris with skin that was all over the map, both literally and metaphorically.  When we first arrived in the City of Light, its arid temperatures dried my skin out, causing a few minor 'episodes' to disappear.  Unfortunately, I chose to compensate for the moisture loss with my rich 'airplane moisturiser.'  Oops... This lead to my skin breaking out just in time for an interesting return journey.  So many factors can affect skin: diet, lifestyle habits such as smoking or drinking excessively, climate and weather, hormones, stress, the list is endless!  Skin is the largest organ of our body (fun fact, no?) so it behooves us to take good care of it.  Therefor, as my inaugural post, I will use this article to open up a whole can of worms on skincare and how to do it right.

Today, we are going to determine our skin type and look at a few different regimens for each.  What's the point of slathering your face in a fancy lait if it is secretly all wrong for you?  Nuttin', that's what.  I'm not a dermatologist or an aesthetician/skin therapist, but I've been reading up on the subject for literally a decade.  If in doubt, consult a professional.  These are meant as guidelines only.  Now: to the bathroom!

Determine Your Skin Type
Go into the bathroom and run lukewarm water.  Cleanse your skin with something gentle such as Cetaphil.  Pat dry with a towel, and hang out for an hour.  Do whatever it is you normally do – Stumble, talk on the telephone, watch a re-run of Gossip Girl, you know, whatever.  Chill.  But don't touch your face!

Once the hour is up, return to the bathroom.  Take a long, hard look at yourself.  What do you see?  How do you feel?  Then consult this handy crack sheet:

Dry skin will feel tight, sometimes itchy.  It has smaller pores and a greater tendency toward fine lines.  It can look or feel somewhat rough, and make have areas of flaking. Oily skin will have a fine layer of 'gleam' all over.  Typically included are larger pores and possibly a few 'episodes' (my politically-correct term for pimples; I just hate that word so much!) Normal skin will feel fine and look fine.  You're the laid-back kid on the playground. Combination skin will be a mix of any of the above cases.  Generally these types are oily in the T-zone and normal or dry on the cheeks. Sensitive skin could be any of the above as well.  However, this type of skin will have an intolerance for certain ingredients, and may be prone to redness as well. Ageing skin can also be oily, dry, or combination (or sensitive) with the added concern of fine lines and loss of elasticity or sagging.

Choosing the Right Skin Care
Now that we're armed with this information, how are we supposed to use it?  It is important to understand the needs of each skin type.  For example, somebody who's dry will not exactly love Sea Breeze, but a teenager in the throes of hormonal uproar may find it does the trick on their skin.

Now I present: Crack Sheet No 2!

Dry Skin Needs: Exfoliation, hydration. Key Ingredients: Hyluronic acid, petrolatum. Recommended Arsenal: Cleanser, moisturiser, eye crème, night treatment, scrub. Oily Skin Needs: Astringents, exfoliation. Key Ingredients: Salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, sulfur. Recommended Arsenal: Cleanser (2% salicylic or 5% benzoyl peroxide), toner if extremely greasy, moisturizer, spot treatment, eye crème. Normal Skin Needs: Hydration, sun protection1. Key Ingredients: Parsol 1789. Recommended Arsenal: Cleanser, moisturiser, eye crème. Combination Skin Needs: Hydration, astringents. Key Ingredients: Hyluronic acid, salicylic acid. Recommended Arsenal: Gentle foaming cleanser, oil-free moisturiser, heaver lotion for dry patches, spot treatment, eye crème. Sensitive Skin Needs: Hydration, soothing, fragrance-free. Key Ingredients: Oat kernel extract, vitamin E. Recommended Arsenal: Soap-free cleanser, moisturizer to repair skin's barrier. Aging Skin Needs: Hydration, firming. Key Ingredients: Retinol, kinetin, antioxidants. Recommended Arsenal: Cleanser, AM moisturiser, PM night treatment, eye crème.

¹ Everyone needs sun protection.  Zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and Parsol 1789 all provide this crucial element.  Most dermatologists recommend an SPF 30 as a minimum.  Afraid of looking 'pasty?'  Buy bronzer or get airbrushed.  Take a vitamin D supplement or eat salmon/tofu.  But for god's sake, play vampire.

Next up we'll discuss how to go about using our new-found regimens, and further steps we can take to impersonate that lovely PhotoShop 'Diffuse Glow' effect.