wishlist for fall: shiny brown hair color

i haven't been dyeing my hair for a couple of months now. it's been liberating, easy, and just plain lazy. perfect for summer. but i'm becoming more and more discontent with my natural look. you know why? because i've been reading (too many) september issue magazines, which are basically comprised of 500 pages of wishful thinking. they make you unsatisfied with everything in your closet. oh yeah, and the weather. it's still scorching hot outside, and i'm wishing for changing leaves and a brisk feeling in the air. and a beautiful autumnal (gah, i hate that word!) hair color to match. 


now here's the tough part- which one do i want??

photo: nicky hilton, glamour.com/beauty

light golden brown?

medium golden brown?

photo: jessica biel, glamour.com/beauty

rich auburn?

tell me which one is better! i'm thinking i wanna make the change before i leave for my trip to new york in 3 weeks! :D

a couple of weeks ago, there was a sale at walgreens- certain brands of sally hansen nail polish 2 for $4. i couldn't help it.

l: "pacific blue", r: "glazed sand"

with flash

"glazed sand" look like a beautiful rose gold color.... but on me, it looked really pale. champagne, really. disappointed....

but "pacific blue" is awesome! kind of like an electric version of royal blue. love love love. i first wore it on my hands, but now it's on my toes too, because i think it's perfect for the end of summer.

new nail polish: wet 'n wild megalast in "private viewing"

have you tried the new wet 'n wild polishes yet? and by new i mean a few months ago.... well you should, because they're amazing! they're $2, available everywhere, last forever, and are all super sophisticated colors. here's the first one i tried-

2 coats, no top coat

,i really like this shade. it's kind of so ugly that it's awesome. lucky magazine featured a shade like this a few months ago, and i much prefer it to the dark taupe shades that are soooo popular these days. kind of reminds me of chanel inattendu:

photo: makeup and beauty blog

or this awesome rimmel one (in milk chocolate) that is now defunct:

photo: mocha mishmash

wet 'n wild's "megalast" formula is amazing, by the way. i've bought another one, and still want more!

 

so what do you think about this color? kind of reminds me of chai tea... mmmmmm, chai tea. i should go make myself some. isn't rainy weather perfect for a hot cup of chai tea? and jazz.... and jelly shoes!

3 ways visine can make you prettier

 1. well let's get the obvious one out of the way- use it as eyedrops! i do this when i have to get up at an ungodly hour to work at an estate sale at 7 in the morning.... and also in the afternoon when i inevitably get sleepy and bleary-eyed....


2. dab it on pimples or red spots. eye drops don't just get the red out of your eyes, they take it out of your skin too. i do this a lot when i go swimming and can't wear lots of concealer. just put it on any red spots on clean skin and leave it, or put on makeup after that. it makes your skin tone more even.


3. use it to mix liquid liner. last week i was just piddling around at home, and tried to wash my hands, and the water wouldn't turn on! the maintenance guys were working on the plumbing. oh, the joys of living in an apartment.... but it was one of those days where i *really* needed some eyeliner. but somewhere in the deep recesses of my cognition, i remembered reading that you can use visine (instead of water) with dark eyeshadow to make eyeliner. perfect! that's so genius, because visine is formulated for eyes, so it won't irrate them as eyeliner! and it worked great!


so recently, i've just permanently kept a bottle of eyedrops in my makeup bag. it can really save the day. 

easy every day eye makeup look

this is an eye look that i do a lot, especially when i want to look classy and professional. like for meeting my boss, going to church, and oh yeah, my college graduation!

me and daniel being silly.... and look, he wore green on my big day, just for me! awwwww.....

me being silly all by myself....

it's really easy- all it takes is 2 shadows:

 covergirl eye enhancers 4 kit in "urban basics"

1. the taupe shade (2nd from L) on the lid

covergirl eye enhancers 4 kit in "country woods"

2. sable brown (on L) in the crease

that's it! this would be perfect for an every day wear-to-work look. just add brown liner, mascara, pretty, neutral lipstick, and you're ready to go!

favorite face wash: neutrogena acne stress control power-cream wash

you might have noticed that my posts have been less than sporadic lately. i have a super good reason for my flakiness too: my skin went haywire this summer! you don't exactly feel like taking pictures of yourself and putting them out there for the world to see when you have a sudden bout of acne all over your face.... you ladies with acne know what i mean, right?


i don't really know what happened to my face.... as a teenager i never really struggled very much with acne.... just a couple little blemishes every now and then. i think i remember having a huge monster zit only once in high school.... so why did my skin wait until i was almost graduated from college to freak out on me?? who knows. i had painful, monster zits everywhere. and i hadn't really changed my routine at all. i was so excited when my husband bought me my clarisonic mia for graduation, hoping that it would solve all of my problems. it definitely makes my face smooth, but didn't really clear up (or prevent) the random acne. that st. ives green tea scrub felt nice, but i guess the 1% salicylic acid wasn't cutting it.


then one day a little over a month ago, i saw an ad in a magazine for neutrogena's acne stress control face wash (with 2% salicylic acid), which claims to prevent most acne from even surfacing! i was too curious not to try it. so i did.

about $6 or $7, depending on where you buy it

last month around the time of my period my skin was awful. it took me like 30 min. every day to cover up all of the red spots with makeup.... but when i started using this cleanser, i noticed that slowly, my spots started disappearing. the redness started fading too. i was using less concealer. and you know, the big nasty zips have never come back! it's almost magical. it really keeps big zits from popping up! i still have the occasional little bump that's not really a zit, but that's what my skin in high school looked like anyway. glad to have you back, old skin.

i couldn't be happier with this face wash. the actual product is mint green, like the packaging, smells clean and awesome, and has a great tingle. i use it once in the morning and once at night with my clarisonic. i know skincare is very personal, in that what works for me may not work for you, but you may want to try it if you have frustrating acne like i did!

i actually just found a coupon for $1 off a neutrogena cleanser, so i'm gonna go buy another tube today!!

new most favoritest lip gloss. of. all. time.

apparently i will just brainlessly haul off and buy anything that gianna from nouveau cheap says is awesome. but hey, it's been working for me! she's always right.


my latest discovery? a very unlikely one.... a lip gloss from black radiance. haha. it's only funny because i bet the manufacturers didn't think that someone of my pallor would buy their products for women of color.... lol. it reminds me of that time my (male) cousin bought the pantene shampoo for women of color because it was the only formula in the drugstore he wasn't allergic to.... good times :).


well, gianna tested out a darker berry shade, but i had my eye on this amazing golden peach color. i actually ran out the very next day to buy it....

black radiance radiant lip gloss in "copper glow"

$2.84 at walmart!

isn't it beautiful?? it's 10 times more shimmery, metallic, and pigmented in real life. and it's not sticky at all! it has a sort of strong flowery fragrance to it that fades after not too long. buy hey, old lady smells have never really bothered me. and it lasts pretty long for a lip gloss!

i'm not really much of a gloss person, but this one is changing my mind!

sally hansen hard as nails in "sheer vanilla"

you know how in magazines editors are always talking about their favorite sheer pale pink color for their skin tone? well i think this is mine.... except it's not pink. huh?

i don't really like the look of pink polish on me, but this milky shade is perfect. it only takes one quick coat to make you look polished (ha) and professional. i usually don't need to look polished and professional, but sometimes i do! plus it's super long-lasting, only $2, and available almost everywhere. 

 

did you also know that it's a great base coat? oh, and sometimes i paint a coat of this over a different color to make it more pastel. more about that later :P. don't worry, i won't leave you hanging.

 

anyone else have a boring, sheer, neutral favorite?

inspired by: the chanel runway

i love silver eyeshadow. and i love gold eyeshadow even more. but it never really occurred to me to combine them in one makeup look. check out the chanel face on the right:

photo: who what wear 

 

my version's not quite so dramatic, but i like it anyway:

 

definitely good for those sleepy bleary-eyed days!

silver on top, gold on the bottom courtesy of my trusty old profusion palette. and you thought i'd forgotten about it. ha.

and on my lips:

 

covergirl's lipslicks in demure. just a sheer wash of a sort of mauvey color. i love these things because they're moisturizing. wish they had more colors!