I spend a lot of money on cosmetics. This clip from Good Morning America has some good tips. I would never spend $10 for nail polish. I do get a lot of good deals on products. I don’t hesitate to take something back if it doesn’t work. I don’t smoke, barely drink, and don’t gamble. A girl needs her make up fix!
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/not-waste-money-makeup-121805838–abc-news-fashion-and-beauty.html
Happy Memorial Day! I wanted to do something patriotic for the holiday, so I decided to try my hand at doing my own acrylic nails. I know this has nothing to do with the holiday, except the nail art and color I used. My own nails are brittle and take forever to grow. Plus I have man hands, and need longer nails to not look like said man. I looked at some stick on nails, but they were too short and too small. I thought about going to one of the many nail salons in town to get a full set done, and decided that I’m too cheap, and I bet I could do them myself.
So after reviewing Pinterest and YouTube, I decided what the heck, I can do this. So off to Sally Beauty I went. Salons in my area charge anywhere from $35 to $70 for a full set. I paid less than $45 for the complete nail kit, nail form kit and better brush.
First off I have to give the staff at Sally Beauty props. Whenever I have shopped there the staff is beyond helpful and very knowledgeable. I’ve never done acrylic nails before, so I had a lot of questions. Plus I have a short attention span and didn’t want anything to difficult or too expensive. I have a tendency to buy beauty products, then they end up under my bathroom sink, then given to my 20 year old niece six months later.
Let’s get started. I purchased this kit Beauty Secrets 4 in 1 Extension Kit. Buy here. for $17.59 with my Sally club card. It had everything I needed. I also purchased these Form a Nail Nail Forms Form a Nail Nail Forms. for $7.79. This is the product which really sold me on doing the nails myself. It is super easy to use. The nail forms are reusable and make for a smooth finish.
I prepped my nails, and off I went. I have to say the brush that came with kit was really crummy. Given how crummy it was, I was surprised at my end result. I bought another brush that worked way better for $9.29 at Sally. Beauty Science #8 Pro Sculpt Brush . Again the staff at Sally was so helpful. One of my nails had popped off, so I needed to do a repair. Using the Nail Forms makes it a breeze. I also purchased Terrific Tips Nail tip cutters for $6.49 at Sally Beauty. Nail tip cutters
After I put the tips on and filed them I used this Gelous Advanced Gel coat to smooth things out. Gelous Advanced Gel Coat at Sally Beauty. I use this all the time when doing a regular manicure, and it makes my nails look like I’ve had a gel manicure. Next I used Revlon Colorstay Longwear Nail enamel in Indigo Night. Nail color Here it is on Amazon. I bought mine at Dollar Tree for $1. I also used L.A. Colors Art Deco in Silver L.A. Colors Art Deco in Silver another Dollar Tree find at $1. To finish things off I used my go to favorite top coat, Sally Hansen Insta Dry Top coat Best top coat ever! I’ve been using this top coat for years. I have not found any top coat that works better. It’s $5.99 at Ulta. This stuff is so good that I can paint my nails before I go to bed, and they end up perfect the next day.
One last note, after the one nail popped off, I put nail glue in the crack between my natural nail and the tip on the back of my nail. They feel much more secure now.
I hope you enjoyed my first DIY nail post. Thanks for stopping by.
We’ve been seeing each other for seven years now. I think it’s time for you to go, I mean really, get the hell out of my life. I could have easily dealt with having a period for the rest of my life. It only would be for a few days a month anyway. All of the changes you have put me through, just drop freaking dead!
The changes you have made to my body are unforgiveable. I use to have the wonderful ten inch waist to hip ratio. That is where your hips are ten inches larger than your waist. I use to have an hour glass figure. Now it’s more like an apple.
I exercise five days a week, for almost an hour each time. Do you think it makes much of a difference? Um no. I use to have some muscle tone, now I have the dreaded old person wrinkly skin. Thank god, I live in a cold climate and I can be covered up most of the time.
Forget about doing hormone replacement, too dangerous given my family history. I don’t have hot flashes anymore, but sleeping without taking meds, ain’t happening. The meds I take to sleep will probably make me lose my mind. Great!
People say, but you don’t have to worry about getting pregnant now. I didn’t worry before, because I was on birth control for years. I only went off of it because my doctor made me.
The good thing about puberty is you know when it’s over. So far I haven’t gotten an end date for this menopause crap. Nobody likes to talk about it. You men don’t know how easy you have it. You might have to deal with a little erectile dysfunction or baldness. Hell, you just take a little pill and shave your head. Oh, then get yourself a much younger woman.
As I sit here looking at a 62 year old Christie Brinkley on the cover of the magazine telling me about her “young-forever diet”, I pretty much want to puke. She looks amazing at 62, but she was also a former super model. She has amazing hair, which she admits to using hair extensions. Yeah, I tried hair extensions, unfortunately you could tell. Lucky for me I have a great collection of baseball caps.
The good thing about menopause?? I don’t have a flipping clue, but if you know please clue me in.
First off, way to go Mattel. You finally got with the times and created three new Barbie body styles. Now Barbie and I have a lot in common, okay we are the same age and have blonde hair. That’s about it. I was listening to National Public Radio on my way to work this morning, and the discussion was about the new Curvy Barbie. Turns out that curvy Barbie would be a size 8! WTF!!! Apparently a size 8 is considered a plus size in the fashion industry.
Here is an except from a Cosmopolitan article I found about this:
According to the CDC, the average American woman is a size 14, and yet the dominant sizes in the industry are 0, 2, and 4. At size 8, the plus-size models are considerably smaller than the average American women, and if that isn’t indicative of how delusional we are about what the majority of woman’s bodies look like, I don’t know what is. Teens and young adults between the ages of 12 and 26 make up 95 percent of those who have eating disorders.
Honestly, what kind of message are we sending our young women that a size 8 is plus size? The last time I was a size 8, I was in my 20’s. If I were a size 8 now, I would look ill. I like having some curves. We get bombarded with so many unrealistic expectations of what we should look like as women.
I find it amusing that fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld said Adele was too fat to wear his designs. She looks beautiful in whatever she has on. He’s a freaky old man with a ponytail and dark glasses.
Can I just say it’s freezing ass cold here in Wisconsin. This past Sunday, after my visit with Marv (the elderly gentleman I visit every Sunday), I stopped at my local Walgreens. Coupons in hand from the Sunday paper, and the Walgreens store ad, I headed for the Wet n Wild section. I’ve used Wet N Wild products many times over the years, but lately they have really upped their game.
I bought the new Megaglo Illuminating Palette in Catwalk Pink. It has four colors, two shades of gold, a rosy peach, and a pinky ivory color. All shimmery, all wonderful. I couldn’t wait until I got home to try it, so I slapped some on in the car. Wow! I love it! This was my third stop of the day, and the temperature was a whopping -4 below with a wicked wind chill. I needed something to make me think that it might be warm someday. I never put blush on with my fingers, but thought, what the hell???
This lovely palette was $4.99, but I had $2 in coupons. What a deal! Once I put it on with a brush for work yesterday, it looked even better.
You will have to excuse this photo, as I barely have any makeup on. But I like photos in natural light. Being in the car outside Walgreens is about as natural as you can get.
If you are feeling the bite of winter, this palette by Wet N Wild will warm you right up!
P.S. Sorry the photos are sideways, I don’t know what happened.
P.P.S. My lip color is my own tinted lip balm I made.
I volunteer for a local organization teaching financial literacy to high school students. This past Friday I was teaching a new group of kids about savings accounts versus investing. I do a slide presentation which had saving vs. investing on one slide. The class was all boys except one very disinterested girl.
I told the boys I had recently purchased stock myself for the first time. On the slide were the usual suspects for American investors-Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc. I told the boys I did a lot of research before buying the stock, having been a customer of the company for over ten years, etc. Also after only owning the stock for a short while, I had made money. While a few of the kids tried guessing what I purchased, I finally told them that I had purchased Ulta stock.
One boy piped up and said “My sister works at Ulta, and she’s not pretty at all.” I was trying so hard not to laugh, as I told this boy that you don’t have to be pretty to sell make up. Kids!
I have to say Garnier is really stepping up their game in skin care. I’ve used various Garnier products over the years, and have always been satisfied.
I am totally loving this new cleansing water. I had tried Simple Micellar Water in the past, and was not impressed. I’m pretty lazy when it comes to washing (or worshing if you are from the Midwest) my face. My mom the local Avon lady did teach me at a young age to always wash my face before bed.
Now I wash my face as soon as I get home from work. I’m pretty frightening looking without make-up, and am sure I’ve scared a few of my neighbors when the dogs take off, and I have to go chasing after them. All no make-uppy, frizzy hair everywhere. Generally quite a sight to see, but I digress. I want the easiest way to take my make up off. I was using wet towelettes for awhile, but them seem to dry out too fast.
This cleansing water not only cleans all make up off, but takes off eye make-up as well. It left my skin feeling very clean, with no residue. Winner winner, chicken dinner!
I bought it at now wait for it- you guessed it Ulta! Here’s the link http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod13531031# I paid a whopping $6.46 for 13.5 ounces. The regular price is $8.99, but it was on sale, and I had a coupon.
It’s really gentle on your skin, containing no oil, alcohol or fragrance. One cotton square was all it took to remove both my eye make-up and foundation. They also have a formula for water proof eye make. I highly recommend this if you want to clean your face in no time.
Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been wearing make up for over 40 years. Man, that’s a long time. I’ve seen so many trends come and go. I sold make up and was a make-up artist for a number of years part time. I had a flash back this morning when I was applying some olive green eyeshadow. When I was a sophomore in high back in 1974, my then boyfriends’ older sister rocked a pale green eyeshadow with bright blue mascara that I loved. I adopted that look for the next few years. My senior photo had that same look. I have blue eyes and thought for some strange reason that this would enhance the color. Not really, at least according to my friend Susie Lin. I met Susie in my senior year; I really admired her fashion sense. She was kind of enough to tell me that my green/blue eyeshadow just wasn’t cutting it. She had a plethora of Clinique products she turned me on to. She said I really should be wearing brown eye shadow to enhance my eyes. I looked at her like she had two heads! But she did a makeover on me, and OMG! What a difference!
While I would like to think I’m up on the latest trends, I don’t necessarily follow them. Except for maybe in the 1980’s. Everyone wore a ton of make-up, me included. I see pictures of myself back then and cringe at the amount of eyeshadow I was wearing. Yikes! I was certainly in style. When I sold make up, I could always tell how old a woman was by the color of her eyeshadow. I’ve read studies where when a woman finds a make-up look she feels that she looks her best; she will stay with the look forever. I still laugh when I see someone wearing sky blue eyeshadow. Hello the 1970’s called and they want their look back!
I have several beauty magazine subscriptions, so I’m always up on the latest looks. As I’ve gotten older, I may not be wearing the latest style with my make-up, but I look pretty darn good for my age. One trend that I wish would go away is the need for young women to have to feel that they have to wear a ton a make up to look good. My eighteen year old niece was visiting and I couldn’t believe the make-up ritual she went through to go out. The contouring was out of control. If you need contouring, great. My niece didn’t need contouring; it did nothing for her other than make her look a lot older. I’m all about looking your best, please don’t get me wrong. If you have great skin, you don’t need to wear a crap load of make-up.
Good skin care is critical. Applying a SPF of at least 30 is crucial to long term skin care. I’ve been using a daily SPF for the last thirty years. I stopped tanning years ago. I know some ladies are getting Botox in their 20’s. To me, that is beyond messed up. Again, I’m all about looking your best, so please don’t take offense. The point I’m making is good skin care is the key to long term beauty. My mother always took really care of her skin, and she looked great up until her death at 84.
As we get older, and skin care becomes more advanced, we have an arsenal of tools to keep us looking our best. I would rather spend my money on traveling than having a cosmetic procedure done. Be kind to your skin, don’t smoke, eat right and don’t forget the sunblock! Every single day.
Hello! And welcome to my highlights for 2015. I’m an admitted make up junkie. I love trying new products and sharing my results with the world. A little about me, I’m a middle aged accountant who loves all things make up. I’ve been wearing make up for over 40 years. My mom was the neighborhood Avon lady, so I learned about skin care at a young age. I believe in aging well. I’m not trying to look like I’m twenty, but I do want to look good for my age. So without further ado, here are my top make up and skin care finds for 2015. They are not in any particular order, and I have reviewed some on previous blog posts.
Women’s Rogaine 5% foam-If you are losing your hair, this is the product for you. I’ve been using Rogaine for fifteen years and it really works. It does make your hair dry, so extra moisturizing is a must. $30 for a two month supply. http://www.rogaine.com/product/women%E2%80%99s+rogaine-+foam+2-month+supply+auto+delivery+.do?sortby=ourPicks#.VoGuQPkrLrc
Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E Skin Therapy oil $10 at https://www.palmers.com/en/cocoa-butter-formula/55-skin-therapy-oil-face.html Has all the great ingredients you look for, but not the price. I use four drops on my face every night. I’ve been using it for months and have seen a great improvement in my skin. Lines softened, smoother texture, more money in my pocket, what’s not to love?
Estee Lauder Advanced Time Zone Age Reversing Line/Wrinkle eye cream-$9 for a deluxe sample on EBay. I am so digging this eye cream. I’ve been using it for two months, and have seen a definite decrease in the lines under my eyes. I’ll be buying a full size soon.
OMG! Where have Frownies been all my life??? https://www.frownies.com/ These babies have been around for over a hundred years! They are about as low tech for wrinkle reduction as one could ever imagine. They are basically brown kraft tape with a special adhesive that you get wet and put on your wrinkles. I found them at Bed Bath and Beyond for $16. A package will last you 6-8 weeks. They totally work, and I love them. No Botox for me!
Wet N Wild Fergie Center Stage Collection Rose Champagne Glow highlighter- $10 http://www.amazon.com/Wet-Wild-Centerstage-Collection-A045/dp/B00AXYFKZI/ref=sr_1_3?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1451340660&sr=1-3&keywords=wet+n+wild+centerstage+collection You can’t find this in stores anymore, but it’s flipping awesome! I bought mine at Walgreens earlier this year. It’s baked and has a pale rose glow, great for my 56 year old face! Not too shimmery, just right and very natural looking.
YBBB Brow Power Skinny Pencil in Universal Transforming Taupe by IT Cosmetics. $24 at Ulta. I discovered IT cosmetics late in the year, and I really like all of the products I’ve tried. This ultra-thin eye pencil is no exception. My brows are blonde and this pencil really makes them pop. It also has a spooly brush to finish off your look. The color stays on until you take it off. No crazy brows for me, I’m over 50, and just want a natural look. http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod5770243
IT Your Skin but Better CC + Airbrush Perfecting Powder SPF 50- $35 at Ulta. This is a game changer for me. I just throw on some 30 SPF moisturizer and buff this stuff on, and I’m out the door. It has buildable coverage, but does look airbrushed. I love the fact that it has an SPF of 50. Always a plus. http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod12251077
Maybelline Master Prime By Face Studio Primer SPF 30 in Blur & Illuminate $8 at Bed, Bath and Beyond. My local BBB recently started carrying cosmetics. I have to say, they have quite the selection, and awesome prices. BBB always has 20% off coupons. This is a great rose colored primer. I mix it with any liquid foundation I might be using and it really blurs imperfections out, and adds a nice glow.
elf High Definition Under eye Setting Powder- $3 at Target. This is by far the best discovery for me for 2015. http://www.target.com/p/e-l-f-high-definition-undereye-setting-powder/-/A-14795896#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=ELF+high+definition+undereye Where can you find any kick ass product for $3??? The brush that comes with it is junk, but the powder is flipping wonderful. It’s a white powder that you brush on after you put your concealer on. Lines are decreased, and it lasts all day.
Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector-$29 at Ulta http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod11881009 Another under eye cover up game changer. I got a BECCA gift set at Ulta to try out. This was by far my favorite item. It covers well, and a little goes a long way.
I hope you enjoyed my year in review. Thanks for stopping by, and Happy New Year!
cornfedcontessa 