Blue nails? And 4.51%.

To say that I like the Essie 2011 spring collection would be an understatement. I love it. Especially all the pinks and the “French Affair” theme.

Last night, I got this cute little box with four colors from the collection. I’m obsessed with Ulta. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my wallet), Mr. A was with me, so I couldn’t spend tons of time looking around.

I LOVE three of the colors in the box. And the fourth is gorgeous (blue), but I’m not sure about putting it on my nails. Painting my nails is a new thing for me. For the longest time, I didn’t do anything to my nails. Then, for about a year I had a French manicure. I got tired of that. All winter, my nails were some shade of gray. Seriously. Since August, they’ve been gray.

Last time, I went pink.

My Private Cabana.

I can’t decide which of the four to use today.

Here are the options:

French Affair:

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Nice is Nice:

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Coat Azure:



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 Topless & Barefoot:

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My first thought was Topless & Barefoot. Then I changed my mind and thought French Affair. But after seeing Nice is Nice on nails, it’s gorgeous. But the blue is different and I actually like it. I’m going to the horse races this weekend, and the outfit I have picked out to wear Saturday has blue in it.

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What do you think???

P.S. Today’s weigh in was great! I’m at a 4.51% loss! The competition has six more weeks to go, and my goal is 10%. That’s what it takes to win any money!

Death of the iron.

It's official. My CHI is dead. I thought it died a few weeks ago, but the boy was able to revive it. But this morning proved it officially decided to retire itself.

I'll miss you Miss Blue Sparkly CHI.

This means I have crazy hair today. Somewhere in all my junk, I think I have an old FHI iron that I can use until I get a new flat iron (the FHI barely works, but it gets slightly warm enough to take the frizz out of my hair).

Now, the only thing I'm sure of is that I won't be buying another CHI. The current CHI is my third. Aren't those things supposed to last forever? I will say the second CHI death was my fault (actually it was the crazy electric outlet in Paris that made the plates fall off), but the other two deaths are a mystery. And I sort of feel like you never know what you're getting with a CHI. The ones at Target are completely different than the ones at JCPenney, which are completely different from the ones at the salon, which are completely different from the ones at chi.com.

My sister and mother have both experienced numerous CHI deaths. I'm ready to try something new, but I have no idea what. A flat iron is a pretty expensive thing to just try out and see if you like it. I'm leaning toward trying the T3 Single Pass (but it's $160, so I will buy it in 12 years when I decide I have that much money to waste put to something as a ridiculous as a tool to make my hair not look like I'm from 1997).

Do you trust the Allure Editors' Choice picks?

 Do you have any flat iron suggestions? I want something that reaches at least 410 degrees and that I preferably don't have to slide down my hair 42 times to make one section straight.

Recycled dresses. Help!

OK. I'm not talking about that kind of recycling.

I have a slight problem. It comes in the form of not wanting to wear an outfit twice for "big" events. But this dress I borrowed from my sister for a bachelorette party this summer is so cute. I think it would be perfect for NYE. I actually think my sister wore it last NYE.

 

Sequins seem to be popular right now, and I love the dress. I would probably add tights since it will be FREEZING in Chicago. It's the right style for my body type. But I've already worn it (meaning I'm afraid I won't get that feeling you get when you're wearing something new that you love). Oh, the decisions to make! Should I wear it with tights or try to find something new?

Makeup love.

Warning: girly post ahead
Remember when I said I haven’t really shopped in months? I was even talking about makeup. But Friday I realized there were a few things I just couldn’t go without anymore. One of those things was powder and one of those things was moisturizer.

I also couldn’t go another day with my face being a different color than my neck because my makeup didn’t match my skin color. Bye bye summer tan, see you next year.

I headed over to Ulta, which is pretty new to Fayetteville. It’s similar to Sephora, but it also has drugstore brands (like Revlon, etc.).

I normally don’t love cosmetics. I’ve tried a million different items, and the only things I’ve ever really LOVED have been Chanel makeup. But at more than $50 for powder, I just can’t rationalize that anymore.

 I decided to go to Ulta for two reasons:

1.  I had a coupon for $3.50 off a $10 purchase.
2. It was buy one get one free on all Ulta products. Yes, please!

I was in a hurry, so I immediately headed to the powder section. Powder and foundation are two items I think you have to spend money on. The cheap stuff just isn’t the same, and believe me, I’ve tried it all. I wish it worked for me, but it doesn’t.

I tried a couple of things and settled on Pur 4-in-1 pressed mineral makeup.

It’s amazing.

Sometimes trying something new pays off.

I’ve never even heard of the brand, but I love it. A big reason for this is the sponge/brush thing that comes with it. I think that makes a huge difference in how makeup looks on your face.

The second thing I bought was moisturizer (Ulta brand so I could get something free). The moisturizer is fine. It’s the kind with self tanner in it. I don’t love it, but it works.

But what I do love is the Ulta lip gloss that I got for free. Lip gloss is difficult. It can be sticky, and I don’t like it so sparkly that I look like a three year old.

I also hate that with most lip gloss, I still have to carry around chap stick because it does nothing for my winter lips.

I introduce you to Ulta Minerals Nourishing Lip Color.

Just enough nourishment to leave the Carmex at home.

I chose blush crystal, and it’s the perfect color for me. In winter, I wear a lot of red, but I don’t really like red lips. But obviously hot pink lips would look ridiculous with a bright red jacket, so this is a great compromise. And I’ve tried the red. No matter what, I think it makes me look like a hooker.

And in case you’re wondering, Because I want to tell you, here a few makeup items I can’t live without:

My favorite. Ever.

• Smashbox photo finish bronzing primer
• Eyelash curler (For nights out, I use my blow dryer to heat it up. This works WAY better than those stupid heated lash curlers. Random fact: I had the same eyelash curler for over 10 years! Don't get me wrong...I tried others in between, but nothing ever compared. It finally broke this year. How I never lost it...who knows?)



Just try heating it up with your blow dryer once.
Test with your hand to make sure it's cool
enough so you don't burn your face off.

• Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation
• Lancome Hypnose Drama Instant Full Body Volume Mascara

It's magical.

 

Did you know? Magazine finds.

I read a TON of magazines. I mean it’s ridiculous.

You might even call it an obsession. But I believe in the Power of Print.

Here are a few things I learned in Fitness magazine this month that might interest you:

• You burn 672 calories in a traditional hour-long spin class.

This is the one class I've never tried. It's a little intimidating.

• At some gyms, you have to sign up for cardio machines. Man, I hope that’s never my gym. I would HATE that.

Time slots? No thanks.

• There is a faux fryer that can prepare two pounds of fries with one tablespoon of oil. It got an OK rating by Fitness. They said the fries basically taste the same as baked fries, so save your dough and don’t buy the machine.

If you want real fries, you should eat real fries. Just not every day. Or even every other day.

• Use champagne for radiant skin. Combine one cup sugar and one cup plain yogurt with one-quarter cup of champagne. Gently rub the mixture all over your body and rinse. Hmm…what if you drink the champagne while using the sugar/yogurt scrub? Same effect?

A little bubbly...for your face.

• A study revealed 13 percent of women leave their makeup on when working out. Um…I’m definitely one of those 13 percent. In fact, I think all the women at my gym are. I’ve never seen someone come in and change from work clothes and then take her makeup off before heading into the gym.

Happy Tuesday! I have Junior League tonight, a hair appointment tomorrow, and a Junior League social and Kitchen Queens Thursday. It will be Friday before I know it.

All asses were not created equal. And other things I like.

On Monday, I read a bunch of oldish magazines and found a bunch of newish things I like.

• For example, I love this tote from L.L Bean, which I found in the November issue of Lucky. OK, that was the only magazine that wasn’t older. And by old I mean last month. Isn’t it lovely? It was on a page titled American Classic, and I completely agree. My grandmother instilled in me my love of L.L. Bean, and I thank her for that.

• I love hairspray. Seriously. And I love the Big Sexy Hair line, but I usually stick with the $3 a pop Tresemme. But I think I need to try this: Healthy Sexy Hair firm hold hairspray. If it’s not firm hold, what’s the point? I also saw this in Lucky.

• Essie’s Hot Coco fall color. Love it. I found this in People.

The new Levi’s ad campaign. Lucky again.

The ad I saw even tells you this girl is wearing a size 25. I’m pretty sure that’s the size of my calf. I guess that’s the point: All asses were not created equal.

Back to the (hair) basics.

Well, folks, as the summer fades away, so have my highlights.

Thanks to Clairol Perfect 10, I'm back to my faux natural self. Yep, I did it myself. I would never, ever do highlights myself, but going darker is fairly easy. And I've had years of practice.

Sure, I made my mom mad a few times growing up because I got hair dye all over EVERYTHING in the bathroom. Mom, you'd be happy to know I've grown up. ☺

The highlights were fun for the summer, but I'm happy to be back on the dark side.

Ignore the bad phone quality. I'm trying
to be quick here.

Yes, I realize there's a random piece of
hair sticking out. I fixed it!

What do you think?

Sign you need to workout more.

When you're at work and your belt pops off while you’re talking to someone. This might have happened to me today. I’m wearing a stretchy belt around my waist, and bam! Off it goes. At least the person laughed.

You know what Mr. A (aka the boy) would say? You shouldn’t wear a belt around your waist anyways. He doesn’t understand this concept. Belts, to him, are for keeping your pants up.

It’s a good thing I’m doing the Biggest Loser at work. And training for a half marathon.

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New goal: To wear stretchy belts without fear.

For now, I’m going to blame it on a belt malfunction.

Hair verdict.

It took two rounds of foil. Apparently Walmart hair dye is hard to lift. Who knew? The first was barely noticeable. The second…it’s a lot lighter. I’m not sure about it. I told her. She said to wait a day. She gave me some toner to mix up in case I want to “tone” it down a bit.

Right now, it’s one of those colors that is going to look different depending on what light I’m in. She did an amazing job, but I don’t know…What do you think? (Please ignore that piece of bang that is messed up. Thanks.)

Edited to add indoor picture:

Hair day.

Today is hair day. My appointment is this afternoon. Am I nervous? Yes. It's been about 8 years since I've had my hair professionally colored. There have been a few at-home dye jobs, but only dark colors. And those were really just to make my hair shiny and take out any red from the sun. This is serious. As serious as dying your can be.

And be warned. If my hair turns out orange, red or anywhere in between, I'm going to be very, very upset.

Here's what I'm taking in to show my lovely hairstylist at Studio 8 (I'm also getting plastic surgery today so I will look like Adriana Lima...pre-baby, post-baby...I will take either):

And here's to hoping I come out looking nothing like this (not that this is bad...just not for me...):

OK, I lied. Please don't EVER do this to your hair. The bottom part isn't bad. I think it's the bangs that look crazy.

Summer hair. (help!)

If you’re like me, you probably get bored with your hair. I am right now. I’ve been growing it out forever, and I know I don’t want to cut it. But I’m thinking about changing up the color. As in highlights. I’ve had dark hair my whole life (except for a brief stint in high school where repeated highlights finally turned my hair blonde). I know I won’t maintain them for long, so it would only be a fun, summer thing. And I hate anything with a reddish, orangish tint on me. So that’s out. I know orange hair looks terrible on me from experience.

My hair now:

Some ideas I have for my hair (and note that I like the hair on the Revlon box. I would NOT do this myself):

Here is the only picture I have with me right now that shows how blonde my hair was in high school (I obviously needed a touch up at this point). This specifically was my 17th Britney Spears birthday party. We were seniors. They surprised me. I loved Britney and really, really wanted to be one of her backup dancers. I thought about it all the time! I had the best friends in high school. Seriously. And I’m lucky to still be in touch with most of these girls.

Thoughts? P.S. I know the boy doesn’t like my blonde hair based on his response after showing him my senior photos.