One of my favorite places to shop for beauty! 

Also, enjoy free shipping with a $25 purchase – VERY easy to do with this sale.  It is a great time to try the Clairisonic (in Breast Cancer Pink!), or even to stock up on replacement brush heads.

A woman was leaving a 7-11 with her morning coffee when she noticed a most unusual funeral procession approaching the nearby cemetery.  A long black hearse was followed by a second hearse about 50 feet behind. Behind the second hearse was a solitary woman walking a Pit Bull dog on a leash.  Behind her were 200 women walking single file.  

The woman couldn’t stand the curiosity. 

She respectfully approached the woman walking the dog and said, "I am so sorry for your loss, and I know now is bad time to disturb you, but I’ve never seen a funeral like this.  Whose funeral is it?"

The woman replied, "Well, that first hearse is for my husband."

"What happened to him?" 

The woman replied, "My dog attacked and killed him." 

She inquired further, "Well who is in the second hearse?"

"His mistress. She tried to help my husband, then the dog turned on her." 

A poignant and thoughtful moment of silence passes between the two women. "Can I borrow the dog?"

She replied, "Get in line."

There are a million reasons to blog.  Yep, a million.  One great one is that it gives people who love you ideas for Christmas.  My precious husband this year looked through my old blog posts for ideas for me, and found this post on the Fafi limited edition scarf from MAC.  Bless his heart!   He searched and found it from an eBay seller and bought that sucker and put it in my stocking with a gift certificate to the Riviera Day Spa!  What a surprise!!!

FYI, this is also reason #387,478 that I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!

I am a HUGE Amazon shopper.  I have had an Amazon Prime subscription for the last several years, which has been worth its weight in gold as it makes it so easy to buy even some of the smallest items online and have them delivered within a day or two.  I have purchased such things as garden hoses, nail polish and even velcro online this year, avoiding much time and effort involved in “running errands.”  Last year at Christmas, I bought nearly every gift I gave online (and probably 90% of it came from Amazon). 

This year, I decided I wanted to support my local community businesses a little more, so I hit the mall (I HATE hitting the mall).  On this particular shopping trip, I was looking for 2 sets of headphones – one, a Turtle Beach headset for my son to use with his Xbox 360, and two, a Skullcandy headset for my daughter to use with her iPod.   She told me Journeys had this headset, so off I went.

The day I went, a week or so before Christmas (I am SO a last minute shopper), the mall wasn’t too busy.  I am in a fairly small town, so really, even at Christmas, the mall is never *that* crazy.  Journeys had a little going on in there, so I patiently waited until the salesperson got to me and I asked about the headset hanging behind the counter.  How much for that headset?  She replied, “I think it is $69.”  And she moved on to the next person.  Um – ok.  You *think?*  So I waited, and after she finished checking out the person she was working on and it got to be my turn AGAIN, I asked her to see the headset, and if she could tell me exactly how much it was.  She handed it over, and checked the price and it was $50.  I considered buying it briefly (it was $35 on Amazon), and then decided to think about it and move on to the Game Stop to find the Turtle Beach headset.  I would really love to support my local business here, but a $15 difference??  Oy.

So, off to Game Stop I go (hi-ho, hi-ho).  Here the Turtle Beach headsets were also behind the counter.  I was THE. ONLY. CUSTOMER. IN. THE. STORE.  No gamers playing the in store games or nothing.  There were two guys behind the counter, each busily working on different things (not standing and twiddling thumbs or anything), so I approached and asked about the headsets.  I was a little familiar with them, but would have loved some input.  The guy in front of me passed over the X11 headset with no comment when I asked what Turtle Beach headsets they carried.  Well, through Amazon reviews, I knew that the X11 had a constant hum to it and was not the greatest thing.  It was the cheapest headset though in the Turtle Beach line that they carried.  I told the guy that I had heard it had a hum, and he had no comment.  He was working on something and it was pretty obvious he didn’t want to be bothered by little ol me.  But surely they wanted to do some business, right??  So I proceeded to ask if they had any other TB headsets and he passed over the X31, which was the one I had pretty much decided to get via online reviews.  Still no comment from the “salesperson.”  For some stupid reason I told him I would take it and spent $10 more than I would have online.  But, I supported my local business.  Ugh.

I did go straight home after that (did NOT go spring $15 extra bucks at Journeys, btw) and logged on to GameStop.com and reported my less than savory experience in their store.  I didn’t give them all the details I am troubling you with now, but basically told them that the service I received was rude, and I was the only customer in the store and if they were going to charge more money for their products than I could buy them online for, that they should make up for that with really great customer service – and I told them that they had received their last bit of money from me.  And believe me, we spend a LOT of money on gaming supplies in our house.  Partially because our dog LOVES to eat Xbox headsets.

So – I suppose the long and short of this is that – dang – I tried to support my local business.  I spent my time and my gas money going to the mall, risking a car accident in the parking lot of the mall at Christmas time.  I traveled from store to store, taking more time, and waited patiently for my turn.  I wish I could say I fought the crowds and came out battered and bruised, but that would be a gross exaggeration.  Ha!  This was at least an hour of my life that I am not getting back.  But, by George, I supported Game Stop.  I wonder how much of my purchase really supported my community.  And I wonder what I could have done with that extra 59 minutes and $10 if I had just made my purchase on Amazon.  Next year I am going back to supporting my local FedEx, UPS and USPS.  Dammit.

Note:  I did buy my most expensive gift this year from a local man who I found (barely) online.  I looked and looked at Amazon’s flagpoles, but I decided to get it locally.  I am sure that I spent a lot more money than I would have online, but the man I bought my flagpole from talked me through the purchase on the phone (I had lots of questions!), took my credit card, and delivered my purchase (he was from a small town a few miles away.  Now THAT is customer service.  If you need a flagpole in Bryan/College Station, let me know – I will hook you up with the dude!

Part of my Christmas gift to my 16 year old daughter, Zoe, is Semi Permanent keratin hair straightening (a la Brazilian Blowout).  As is my DIY loving nature, we are doing it at home.  (Note to hubby:  While we have spent $100 on product for this, we are saving you about $500 for two hair treatments, as we are doing me too!).  The first important step of the straightening process is a clarifying shampoo, and as is in my frugal DIY nature, we are making this at home.  It is super easy to make a clarifying shampoo at home, and it is really something you should do on a fairly regular basis, especially if you are a product girl, and use gels, mousses, hairsprays and God-knows-what-else in your hair every day. 

All you do is take the regular amount of shampoo you would use for 2 washings, and add half as much baking soda to it (1/4 cup shampoo + 1/8 cup baking soda).  Stir it up and wash your hair with it.  First washing, leave it in for 2 minutes before you rinse, and wash twice.  You will really be surprised how much gunk is in your hair after you think it is clean, and not only will your hair straightening go better, your hair styling in general will be better and your hair will be shinier and have a lot more body in it.  Do this once a month.   

To help get the *gunk* out of your hair on a daily basis, be sure and let warm water really run through your hair for a few minutes before you start the washing process.  This will melt a lot of the product in your hair and rinse it down the drain before you even get out the shampoo, and will prevent a lot of the buildup that we are going to get out with the clarifying shampoo.

I think we are going to do the straightening this afternoon (if Zoe makes it out of bed someday soon), so much more to follow!  I hope you’re all having a fun pre Christmas week!  Joy to the world! 

xoxox

Why is this making me think of porn?

Thanks Manolo!

I am still battling the same ol beauty issues as I have been whining about for the last 6 or so years online, plus some new ones.  Maybe someone can identify with me.

• I still have ADULT ACNE.  This is a curse for something horrible I have done in the past, I am sure.
• I am 42.  Nuff said.
• The Grand Canyon has moved onto my forehead.  I am seriously considering Botox (this is a big change from the past). 
• I have some funky dry eczema-ish funk that shows up under my eyes – I think when I am stressed out.
• I still have a wretched dry patch under my nose, over my upper lip, from that *&%%$&*^ at Trish McEvoy who used beta hydroxy pads to remove my makeup and burnt the crap out of my skin ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO.  I could beat that little &%^^%$# to a pulp.  Thank God it didn’t affect more of my skin.
• I have quit smoking cigarettes and have traded them in for e-cigarettes.  Some of you fine folks will not call that quitting smoking, but I am on super low nicotine, and I am completely rid of tar, those other 59,999 chemicals in cigarettes, and my husband encourages me to “vape” because it’s like smoking air freshener and smells so great (I am addicted to cinnamon flavoring now).  I’m not really sure why I need to go down to zero nicotine.  As of today, I have been cigarette free for 79 days – with the exception of a few cigs I have smoked while drinking at bars. Go me.
• I’m still fat as a rat.  I have lost about 30 pounds over the last year, but would sure like to lose about 30 more.  I have been gaining and losing the same 10 pounds for the last 6 months or so.  NEED MOTIVATION.

The good stuff:

• I REALLY try to take care of my skin.  I try REALLY hard to wash my face every night before bed and do one (or more) of a zillion treatments I keep around the house to battle all my skin yuckiness.
• I am way into coconut oil at the moment.  I think it has made a big difference in my skin.  I would like to swim around in a vat of it about once a day.
• I am also way into my Baby Quasar.  Between the red and blue light, it is helping my giant pores and I think its tackling that damned McEvoy skin problem.

Sad how there is lots more bad stuff than good stuff, but oh well, I am a girl, and this is how it is.

What I am using now:

• Skin care:  Clean and Clear wash and toner – trade off with Neutrogena products.  Trying to kill these zits with as much nasty powered stuff as I can.  PCA acne creams.  Coconut oil as moisturizer, traded off with Bioelements Sleepwear (and SW for eyes), and sometimes a variety of gunk for the Grand Canyon.  Not addicted to anything for the canyon just yet.
• Makeup:  Always has been and always will be MAC for my eyes.  They even have mascara I like pretty well now.  Still loving CoverGirl Outlast or Max Factor Lipfinity (if I can find it) on my lips.  And Dazzleglass.  LOVE Dazzleglass.  Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals for foundation and contouring, Touche Eclat for highlighting.  Usually just use a bronzer (assorted) on my cheeks.
• Body:  Coconut oil (where is that VAT?)
• Hair:  I am trying to go mostly shampooless for my hair.  I wash it with conditioner usually – Paul Mitchell Super Charged Conditioner or Mane and Tail.  Sometimes rinse with vinegar and sometimes kill it with coconut oil.  I use shampoo after color treatment (Wella professional), and probably about once every two weeks when I feel it really needs a scrubbing.  I just use whatever I have in shampoo.  As always.  Never have been into spending a bunch of money on shampoo.

Ok, enough talking about me for now.  You have anything amazing I need to try?  Let me know!!!

So yeah, I have been gone for a while.  I really was unhappy with the direction that things were going for me as a blogger in the beauty space.  I really didn’t like being a part of the beauty product reviewer scene (one in a million) and the pressure involved with making PR agents happy.  I made no bones about that ever.  Unless I really loved (or really hated – read:  was passionate about) a product, I am not going to write about it.  The end.  The long and short of it is that I missed the old days of talking about what I liked to talk about – interesting facts, history and news of what’s going on in the beauty industry.  And the occasional talking about a product that I use and love.  So all that, mixed with a tremendously awkward and uncomfortable working experience in the beauty product sector of the industry just completely burnt me out.  Not so much burnt me out as totally disgusted me and made me want to get away from all of it.

The good news is – I love to write.  I always have, and always will.  I am not the greatest writer out there, and I sure don’t want to pretend like I am, but what I do have is passion – and spell check.  I could use a grammar checker that works, but you’ll just have to deal with my faults. 

What have I been doing for the last year?  Well, we moved into our new house, and I have been a very happy homemaker.  I have a video on Facebook if you want to see – need to make a new one though now that we have furniture.    As of August, I am now back into the service end of the beauty business, working at a nail salon on Fridays and Saturdays – doing what I have loved and been doing since I was 18 – nails.  It is as much fun as it always was, and although I have yet to build a clientele, I really enjoy the work, and probably mostly the social aspect of it.  The beauty business is a great place to be – in almost all of its aspects. 

Up until 6 or so years ago, I had only worked in the salon aspect of the business.  I now have more experience than I care to have with the media aspect, both as a writer and as public relation.  I have experience working with manufacturing and distribution of products, and of course, social media and marketing.  Blah.  And customer service.  I’ll tell you, being on the service end of the beauty business teaches you a LOT about customer service, and what I learned about customer service in my last work situation (from the product manufacturer view) was incredibly eye opening.  And disheartening.  And disgusting.  But out with the old, and on with the new.

I don’t know where I’ll end up with this blog, but I hope Ill be getting back to what I loved about beauty blogging 6 years ago.  Just gabbing about cool stuff I know, see and hear about.  I hope your year has been fruitful and happy, and I hope you are gearing up for a wonderful Christmas and celebrating many, many blessings. I know I am.

xoxox

I am a huge fan of Vaseline – all the way from the petroleum jelly (as evidenced by my 50 uses for Vaseline post, which remains my most popular post of all time) down to their wonderful body lotions.  This video is an introduction to the science behind their Sheer Infusion product.  The long and short of it is that this lotion will not sit on your skin, but will penetrate down to your deepest layers to really moisturize. 

One of the best things about Vaseline is that it is available everywhere, and the price is right.  Sheer Infusion comes in 3 formulas – Mineral Renewal (with added minerals), Vitamin Burst (with moisturizing Vitamins E and B5), and Botanical Blend (with soothing Eucalyptus Oil) – and 2 sizes, a 6.8 oz bottle and a 13.5 oz pump.  If you are in need of a body lotion (and who isn’t – I go through lotion like water), head on down to your local drug store and check this one out – my bet is that you will love it.  Good stuff – Vaseline always is. 

Britney, girl, WHERE IS YOUR STYLIST?  Did you fire her?  Do you think you have taste enough to go it on your own?  I love you, but, no.

Your makeup looks like its been put on by a first grader, the fishnet hose with that “dress” is, well, bad.  I hate the brown hair.  HATE THE BROWN HAIR.

Come to think of it, has she ever had a stylist??