I've been a slacker

Sorry folks. I've been out of pocket lately. I got my new Allure though and I'm SICK in love with these new fall nail polish colors and makeup colors...more to come on that later.

In other news...So big news on the shampoo front...I have bought the same brand twice in a row. Now, for some of you this is no big thing. But for me this is HUGE. I switch shampoos all.the.time. (Remember?) Loreal EverPure. Love it. LOVE it. Makes my hair so nice and smooth without being flat and greasy. AND it's sulfate free/vegan/etc so it's much better for my hair (sulfates dry hair out and fade hair color...and this girl needs to save some $$ and not color as often!). Now, I don't know if everyone has hair like me (wavy, kinky, untamed) but if you do I recommend this brand!

Another brand I'm enjoying these days: Neutrogena Triple Moisture. I have their Pure Strength conditioning treatment and the Silk Touch leave in cream. The conditioner I use about once a week, and it really helps my hair with the constant drying, flat ironing, etc that I do. Smells great too! The smoothing cream both my sister and I have tried, with good results. You put a small amount on dry hair to help tame flyaways. It has UV protection as well, and works well on the ends too that get the worst of the abuse. The best part is the price! Only $6.99 for the conditioner and $6.99 for the cream at Walgreens. A great buy in my opinion!

I heart my hairdresser

I just have to give a shout out to hairdressers out there. I had mine done today, and as usual he made me look fab. So to all the good hairdressers out there and the girls that are wholly devoted fans (like me)...thanks! It's the one thing I haven't been able to bear cutting from my budget. I just gotta pay for the good hair. I tried to just let my hair alone and (gasp) dye it myself like I did back in college when I first started grad school. Annnnnd I felt like crap and self esteem went crashing down--so regular for real hair care was re-instated. Call me shallow, but that's just how it is!!

Speaking of, I've been seeing this Moroccan Oil in every and I mean EVERY mag and website these days. Thinking about buying some here soon--maybe September (I've spent my August beauty and clothing budget already with high school reunion coming up). Anyone tried it? I've tried it in the salon but never for an extended period of time. It's supposed to make hair really silky and shiny. It smells really nice too!

OPI--forest green?

This was in Allure mag, on Allure and Lucky online pages, and now in my Sephora email. I'm not sure what I think about it. I LURVE OPI for sure...but forest green and dark greens are their new thing for fall. What do you think? Too dark? Too much? I'd love to hear thoughts!

p.s. My friend LG and I were discussing how really the cost makes the difference with OPI. It's expensive, but it REALLY is good nail polish. Now that they are issuing fall colors, check out the local beauty supply places in the malls for sales on summer and spring colors. They may even have sets on sale soon. I'll post if I find any good ones!

Girl crush and other misc

So I have a confession. I have a serious girl crush on Reese Witherspoon. The August issue of Allure has a one page "fashion stakeout" of her, and she's fab. I pretty much want her hair (in fact, I'm taking her photo in to my hairdresser next week and saying "This this the goal") And I love her style...very simple but so stylish. Now you know about my girl crush. :)
(photo from justjared.buzznet.com...not trying to steal!)

And speaking of Allure...they are having a giveaway item every weekday in August starting Aug 3! There is some awesome stuff on the list...see here. Shoes, makeup, hair stuff, clothes, bags...you name it! I'll definitely be entering some. This economy combined with my grad school non-existent budget--I'll take all the free stuff I can go for!

Enjoy!

Who needs Allure? You have me.

Did I not post about this weeks ago?? I could totally work for Allure.
http://www.allure.com/beauty/edsfaves/edsfaves_20090720?selectedDate=20090721

On another, funny note--Apparently I have spent so much at Sephora over the past couple years that I'm now a V.I.B. (Important Beauty Insider). Kinda sad, but I'll take the 10% off (need some Clinique here soon anyway!) Just wanted to let y'all know that I randomly DO provide useful info now and then! :)

How to fight the airplane funk and survive 8 hour flights

So I recently returned from a 10 day class/conference in the U.K. Tried some new things on the plane to attempt to not feel and look like a trainwreck upon de-planing. Here are some things that helped!

Well, I have to first issue the disclaimer that on the way over I had the WHOLE ROW to myself. Being able to stretch out and actually lie down does wonders for dealing with this kind of flight. But I also took some tips from different flights/blogs/beauty articles.
1. Back off on the make up to start I didn't wear a lot to begin with. Just some tinted moisturizer, a little bit of light eyeliner and shadow, waterproof mascara, and chapstick. Didn't want to have a major breakout.
2. Eye drops. Tons of eye drops every time I even thought my eyes might feel dry. Pick whatever brand you prefer. I like Refresh (in the green bottle)
3. Chapstick. Ok, this is obvious. There may not be a better beauty product on the planet over chapstick, but that's a whole other story.I have a chapstick addiction to begin with, but I made sure I had a tube in my purse AND carry-on. Just in case.
4. Clinique All About Eyes I dabbed this under my eyes pretty frequently. It's light, so you can dab i on over makeup. It definitely combated the puffiness and dark circles.

5. Dry shampoo. See previous post on this wonderful stuff. Degreased my bangs in one shot.
6. "Getting ready for bed" As soon as I was done with dinner and ready to try and sleep for a good bit, I went to the restroom and "washed" my face with a Dove cleansing cloth. I also brushed my teeth. Then I dabbed on moisturizer, chapstick, and All About Eyes and crashed out.
7. Reapply About an hour before landing, I put tinted moisturizer and mascara back on. Used some tinted lip balm and was ready to go.

Now, I won't say I looked fabulous. But I didn't look like I had been run over. I tested this whole thing on the return trip. I was being lazy, and didn't fool with all of my little tips. And I looked a HOT MESS when I got to Philly. :) So. If you are traveling a long way some of these small tips may help you out some!

Post your tricks of the trade in the comments section! I'm sure I don't know all the cool things that can be done and would love to hear new ideas.

Hug your scientist friend. He or She can make you pretty!

My friend Naz told me about this. It's new at Sephora, and I plan to try it out. It's called Living Proof. It's for fighting dreaded frizz! And for anyone in the humid, humid South...well you know all about this never ending battle.

Now here's the cool part. It was developed by a team led by Dr. Bob Langer at MIT. Now, I am not in tissue engineering, but I have friends at Vanderbilt who are. And he is apparently a super big shot in this area (among others). They are using new molecules to help fight frizz over the old standard silicone, which just weighs your hair down and eventually makes it limp and/or greasy. Sounds like a interesting idea to me!

I think Sephora may be doing some specials or sending out samples right now if you'd like to try it. I will probably try this in the near future, so if I do, I will post results. (Naz's hair looked really good, so at first glance it seems to work!)

So as I said--love your scientist friends and be glad we are so very nerdy. Saving lives and making hair pretty. Gotta love it!!