Donating to Locks of Love

My hair had gotten really long and was constantly tangled and messy, hanging limp and sad instead of being full of bounce and happiness.  I decided it was time for a drastic cut. Off to Salon U!

Long and ready to GO

Once there, Janice (the best stylist EVAH) realized that I had enough surplus hair to donate to Locks of Love, so guess what happened?

Snip!

Yep, 10 inches gone. Because I had at least 10 inches to give and all the bleached parts had grown out, my hair met the guidelines for donation.

I decided to pool my donation with Janice's other clients instead of sending it in seperately.  It was a WIN for me because my hair looks lovely now. It's a WIN for a kid who can get a nice natural hairpiece instead of sythetic. It's a WIN for Locks of Love for making it easy and it's a WIN for Janice for suggesting it.

The final result. Still plenty of hair!

I feel lighter, not just in my hair but all of me. Now I need to figure out what to do with my new chic style!

Win Emtage Hair’s SILKtage Rejunvenating Styling Serum on Jennstaz.com!

Jenn is giving away THREE full sized bottles of this lovely hair serum, just in time for summer!  Enter on her blog or fill out the rafflecopter widget below, all entries go in the same bucket for the drawing.  Read her review of the product here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best manicure EVAR

If you're a fan of Hyperbole and a Half, you should check out this manicure by The Nailasaurous.  And if you aren't I don't think I can ever understand you. :-(

Laura Mercier Stickgloss: Courtesane

Laura Mercier Stickgloss is an interesting hybrid product.  It applies and wears like a lipstick, but it's semi-sheer and shiny like a gloss.  The formula is very comfortable - lightweight and hydrating.

Courtesane is a very wearable color, almost a sheer berry but with neutral-to-warm copper reflects.  Sephora describes it as mauve rose, but there's not a bit of mauve in it and rose is a stretch too.

shade

full sun

I've only tried a few of these Stickgloss beauties, but I'm going to find an excuse to get more.  Really nice!  They retail for $20 at various locations.

Korres Buttered Up lip butter duo: Jasmine

Sephora is offering some really lovely sets right now, including this one from Korres.  I got this one as a Christmas gift from my mother (hi mom!).  It contains one lip butter and one lip butter glaze in the same color, a pale tan pink.  It retails for $15, which is a nice value, given that the lip butter sells for $12 and the glaze for $14 when you get them separately.

Their lip butter is my favorite tinted lip balm EVAH, despite being in a pot instead of a more portable form.  It's soft, smooth, luxurious, and it sinks in to make your lips feel hydrated and pampered.  If my lips are feeling dry or irritated, I put on some of this and they feel instant relief.  The balm has a sheer tint to it, more than a gloss but not much.  It lasts a few hours before needing to be reapplied.

The lip butter glaze feels more like a gloss to me.  It's not at all sticky, and it's sheer and shiny on the lips.  I find it needs reapplication a little more frequently than the lip butter and isn't nearly as moisturizing or soothing, but if you consider it as gloss and not a treatment it's not bad at all.  It has a hard plastic slant-tip applicator with works really well and is easy to clean if needed.  The glaze can be hard to get out in cold weather, so keep it in a warm place if you're going to be using it.

Shade

Sun

Jasmine lip butter 

Jasmine lip butter glaze

Chanel Aqua Crayon Eye Colour Stick: Taupe

I bought this in the mid-1990's while looking for an eyeliner that would last past lunch and didn't look too "made up".  It fit the bill nicely.

This is a twist-up pencil in a sturdy hard plastic case.  The eyeliner inside is a hard waxy texture that packs a decent amount of pigment.  It tugs a little when applying to the eyes but once it's there it stays put pretty well.  Honestly, the texture reminds me more of a waxy eyebrow pencil than an eyeliner.  Age one of Benefit's Instant Brow pencils 15 years and it would probably feel like this. I'll have to try it on my brows!

The tip isn't too thin or thick, and it doesn't come with a sharpener so if you want a thin line you'll have to rub down the sides to get a nice point, wasting product as you go.  Still, the color's a nice neutral taupe and it works as advertised.

tarte smolderEYES Amazonian clay waterproof liner collection Holiday 2011

tarte really hit it out of the ballpark with their holiday collections this year.  Instead of simply offering a couple of limited edition colors, they offered some seriously excellent value sets.

The smolderEYES collection features six chubby liner/shadow pencils in a long-lasting formula for $39, breaking down to $6.50 each.  That's drugstore territory for price.  The formula is smooth, creamy, and highly pigmented and while it doesn't quite make it through to 12 hours, it comes pretty close.  By the end of that time it's mostly there, just worn away in a couple of spots.  Not bad!

It even comes with a sharpener, a very nice touch.


Golden beige, moss, and smoke I apply directly either as a thick liner or as shadow.  The darker three (violet, espresso, and silver black) I apply with a liner brush for a thinner line.

silver black

silver black

smoke

smoke

espresso

espresso

violet

violet

moss

moss

golden beige

golden beige

late afternoon sun

full shade

shade with fill flash

Left to right: silver black, smoke, espresso, violet, moss, golden beige.