My recent beauty blessings
I have had three beauty blessings happen to this past week. Things that are completely vain, but made me so happy I almost danced a jig.
Nails
I have never, ever liked matte polish. Ever. Until today.
I was on a mission to find a color that I saw my SIL wearing this weekend, a nice dark green called “Enchanted Forrest.” I knew exactly where to get the brand she had on, but I stopped first to look at OPI because I needed to pick something up that I’ll talk about next. The lady helped me find kind of what I was looking for. It is just a little darker than what Charity was wearing. A few coats of this new green I found would probably render it black at a passing glance. As I was passing over all the other bazillion choices in polish just to see what was out for this fall, I ran smack into a display of OPI’s fall suede collection. They had nails painted with each color on display, and I’ve never, ever been so enchanted with a matte polish.
All the colors are from other collections, just in a suede finish. The ones I ended up getting are Lincoln Park After Dark and Suzi Skis In The Pyrenees. The warning on the label, which I admittedly didn’t read until I got home, says to not use with a base coat, top coat or hand lotion and that it doesn’t stay on nails as long as other polish. Of course, since I assumed nobody would sell a product that would either burn holes in my nails or have a gremlin effect if I broke those rules, I immediately broke those rules just to see what would happen. I rubbed hand lotion on one nail, and it didn’t end up smearing the already dry polish to make a mess. All I can tell is that there is already a little chip of missing polish on the end of my nail. I also only put on one coat of the suede. On another nail, I put on a top coat. The only thing I would think why you wouldn’t is because it would get rid of the suede look due to the shine. I put on a clear sparkly polish that I have, and after it dried, it isn’t as matte and of course, is now sparkly, but it hasn’t come off or caused me a great deal of pain. If you scroll down the page I linked to earlier, you can see the suedes with a top coat. As far as it not lasting as long, the fact that the polish dried almost instantly negates the fact that I may have to reapply it every night.
In summary: polish glee!
Hair
The reason I put myself in the position to be tempted by the OPI is because I knew they carried two brands that have an item I need to try for my hair. I complain a lot about my dry skin. Even the cooler, dryer weather and the furnace has made me turn to slathering the lotion on. What I don’t talk about much is the polar opposite, my face and scalp, which are like an oil slick. I cannot go one day without washing my hair due the nasty, greasy condition of my roots. I can sometimes hide it with a big headband, and sometimes I just put it in a pony tail and deal with it. Mostly, though, I wash my hair everyday. That means I have to dry and restyle my hair everyday, or just go with the bed head, but at least clean, look. That is, until my SIL said, “why don’t you use dry shampoo.” Dry what? Yeah. My entire life of oil hair, and mentioning said oily hair to all my hair stylists, and she is the first to say the words “dry shampoo.” I looked it up. It has been around as long as I have. Dry shampoo gets such wide good/bad reviews that I ended up deciding that I really just have to go with trial and error. I picked up two different brands today, opting to not wash my hair so I could test it immediately. OMG. I could not freakin’ believe it. I sprayed it on the oily spots, waited a few minutes and then brushed it. The oil was just…gone*. Please do not tell me that they kill baby monkeys to make it or that it has shown to to cause brain cancer or baldness because I’m sooooo giddy at not having to wash my hair every freakin’ day that I’d likely punch such a news bearer in the face.
Face
This is my other trouble spot, my t-zone. I can wash my face and within 15 minutes, you can see the little pools of oil sitting in my pores. It’s terrible. I scour the label of any moisturizer and make-up product I put on my face to make sure there is no oils in it because the results are disastrous. Even with that, it takes no time before my face is uber-shiny, and my foundation starts to streak and pool with it. I carry a sponge to re-apply the foundation and always, always take powder with me. By the end of the day, my make-up is still a disaster. I get a little more time out of my make-up by using Clinique pore minimizer, but it still doesn’t last for say, a 9 hour work day.
Recently, I received a tip to try Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets. This was another jaw dropping moment in beauty for me, one that I almost declared needed to be awarded the Nobel Prize for make-up. I just press it on the oily area, and it soaks up all the oil and leaves my make-up intact. Constantly adding powder helps with the shine, but is what ultimately leaves my face a big cakey mess. This? Wow. If you can’t think of what you can possibly get me for StuDay, a big supply of these sheets would do nicely.
*I giggled just typing that.
**Although, it did prompt a small grimace out of me the first time I used it. The sheet, which is blue out of the package, is completely transparent after I press it to my face. It reminded me of the Simpsons’ episode where they rub a Krusty burger on the wall of the restaurant. It turns the wall transparent. Of course, what doesn’t remind me of a Simpsons’ episode.
