I'm so much funnier on the internet

Love Sigma Contests

2011-04-15T15:05:00.003-04:00

There's a Sigma makeup giveaway going on over at Glamorama Makeup and Beauty that you should all check out. I only own one Sigma brush, the F80 flat head kabuki but I love it. It's crazy soft really puts in the work. Now Sigma has put together some adorable color themed kits. Make sure to enter this one, these kits aren't expensive (even though you will think they are) but if you can win one...why buy one?

Organix Ever Straight Brazilian Kerating Therapy the aftermath

2011-04-14T03:24:00.004-04:00

Holy Moly, I am in love with this stuff. I do have a couple of quick edits I need to make to my previous post first though.When you use the pre-treatment shampoo, you are supposed to leave it in for 2 minutes before you rinse it out. I forgot about that until I was rinsing it out but luckily I squeezed enough out to get some lathered up and left that in there for two minutes.My next reading FAIL was when the treatment goes on. I originally said you put it on and let it sit for 30 minutes and by that time it should be 80% dry. WRONG-O. After you shampoo your hair, you let it air dry until it is about 80% dry and THEN you apply the treatment. I really need two brains sometimes. I left half of mine somewhere along the way.

Okay, now that I've got that out of the way. These are the before pictures. They were taken 3.18.2011. My hair was air dried and if I remember correctly it had no product in it.

The pictures below are after the 48 hour waiting period. I did everything by the box and it really was simple but if you're going to do it I suggest you find someone to help you. It's not easy to get the back part of your hair and you want it to be as smooth as the front. You're dealing with high heat so it gets kinda humid in there and your arms get tired. You're supposed to sweep each section 6-7 times. That makes for some sore arms. After you get the treatment in, let it dry for 30 minutes and blow dry it straight with a brush you're going to flat iron it with a temp of at least 400 degrees.

Make sure you follow the directions that say do not over saturate because your hair is going to feel kind of thick and weird for a couple of days if you don't. The treatment itself has a fairly strong smell and the box recommends you use a well ventilated room. I do too. It's not a gross smell, it's just strong. Very coconut tanning oil-ish. After you are finished with the flat ironing, do nothing. No ponytails, clippies, buns...none of it. If your hair gets some kinks from sleeping you can run your flat iron back over it but nothing else.

48 hours later, shampoo your hair (sulfate and sodium free products are highly recommended. I have to use dandruff shampoo though so I just used s&s free conditioner) and condition like normal. When you get out of the shower, just as a test on your own. Let your hair air dry. See how it looks now. The pictures below are my hair after the treatment; air dried. I used my blow dryer a little bit at the end because I was going to bed and I didn't want it to get all kinked up while I slept but I was absolutely amazed. My hair is straight and I don't even have to flat iron it. After my second shampoo it feels a little rough so I think I'm going to grab a s&s free shampoo to alternate between my dandruff shampoos and see how that goes.

Either way. I love it. Those first 48 hours stink, literally. Your hair kind of smells like your body does when you get out of a tanning bed. Or if you have tanning lotion you leave in your glove box and it melts. Kind of burnt coconut, I guess. In my opinion, it is so very worth it.

Before, my hair was just this wild un-tameable beast and now I can roll out of bed and not have to worry about it sticking up everywhere. I can guarantee I will be buying this product again and again. I'll probably even splurge on the shampoo and conditioner they make to specifically go with this treatment.

If your hair is anything like mine, or even if you just want more shine and less work in the morning PICK THIS UP. It was $14.99 at Meijer. I know Meijer is only in a few states but it is made by the Organix brand so I am sure there are other stores that carry this line. $14.99 for 30 days of worry free hair? Hell yeah, I'm in.

I'm going to do a pic post a week in, 2 weeks in, 3 weeks in and then on my 30th day. :) Stay posted!

Here's one more pic of the actual product if you want to look it up.

Just so you know. I bought this with my own money and will continue to. I have no sponsors. Anything you see me blog about I bought with my own money unless I specifically say otherwise.

Birthday shoes part deux

2011-04-12T00:44:00.001-04:00

Another pair of wedges but Slingbacks this time. It's so hard to find cute shoes that are wide enough so when I do, I covet.

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Birthday Shoes Part One

2011-04-12T00:40:00.001-04:00

Shoes my mom got me for my birthday. I love wedges, they make more sense to me as a mother of a toddler. Your balance is better and you don't look like your next stop will be work at the club.

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Organix Ever Straight Brazilian Kerating Therapy

2011-04-08T01:51:00.002-04:00

Today while I was wandering around Meijer I found Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy (OBKT for my sanity) in the hair product aisle. I've been reading about Brazilian treatments but I didn't know of any salons in this area that did them, I wasn't sure I would be able to afford them and then the formaldehyde scandal hit and I decided NO WAY.

According to the packaging OBKT 30 day smoothing treatment is "An exclusive, high potency, keratin complex which reduces up to 95% of curl and eliminates frizz by penetrating the cuticle with keratin proteins." The OBKT box also says that it is certified formaldehyde free, so I'm going to give it a go.

It looks like a simple but long process. First you shampoo with the included shampoo (I'm thinking it's a clarifying shampoo. It says if you have very curly hair to shampoo twice with it). Do NOT condition afterward as it can prevent the product from penetrating the cuticle. Now you apply the product to two inch sections, avoiding the scalp and not over saturating the strands. And then you wait. 30 minutes of waiting. The instructions say your hair should be about 80% dry by this time but my hair holds water like crazy. It's not unheard of for it to stay wet for hours. Don't rinse the product out, just go ahead and blow dry your hair (use a brush, not just your hands) until completely dry and as straight as you can get it. Turn your flat iron on so it can be heating up.

You want your flat iron at high heat (400+). OBKT says it has ingredients to protect your hair from being scorched by such a high heat.

Leave the product in your hair for 48 hours. No ponytails, no clips. Don't tuck it behind your ears or do anything that might put a kink in it. This is going to be the hard part for me because I hate my hair in my face! I guess it's good that it's supposed to be pretty stormy this weekend so I most likely won't be going anywhere.

I have some pictures that I will post from a couple of weeks ago when I took some pictures of my hair after I had let it air dry without putting anything in it so you can see how curly/frizzy my hair was.

I guess we'll see how it goes! I'm pretty sure I've done worse to my hair :)

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Getting Frenchy with Gweneth

2011-04-04T00:37:00.001-04:00

I'm still trying to perfect free handing a French manicure. This is nowhere near perfected! It's not as bad as some of my previous attempts though.
I used Gweneth from Zoya. It's a very pretty, deep red. It looks a little lighter on than in the bottle but I imagine another coat would darken it up some.
So far, it has lasted two days without me changing it. I'm loving having long nails but sometimes they really get in the way. Especially when trying to catch a 2.5 year old who is always going a hundred mile an hour!

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Zoya Penny

2011-03-25T05:44:00.001-04:00

I love this color. Two coats is all it takes. It's a very pretty bronze/copper color.
What do you think about Penny?

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Zoya Kylie

2011-03-20T03:03:00.001-04:00

I've decided to give Zoya Kylie a try. It's a corally orange color. I'm trying to find colors that cover well enough for me not to be able to tell where the free edge and nail bed meet.
I didn't clean them up much, it's late and my sleeping pill is working. I promised the girls a trip to the park tomorrow. Maybe after that I'll polish their nails and have a mommy/daughters & sister/sister beauty show. That will probably be my next post.

What do you think about Kylie? Love her or leave her?

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Sinful Colors Irish Green

2011-03-09T03:05:00.001-05:00

A pretty green but this is two coats and it's still streaky and I can see through it. It almost needs a base of some sort. (Not a clear coat, a nude or white).
I'm going to try putting Zoya South Beach Ice over it. I was wrong in my last post. There isn't blue in it. I was thinking of Charla.
I was hoping this would be good for St. Patrick's day but I can't stand being able to see through it.

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Zoya South Beach Ice

2011-03-09T00:20:00.001-05:00

This color is probably better over another color. Even though it is a blue-ish color, it's giving my nails a green tint that I'm not very fond of.
It would make a nice glitter coat though. I think it would go great with a green or a blue.

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Simple for today

2011-03-01T10:05:00.002-05:00

I messed the left hand up so just a right hand pick today. I was trying to do a french tip with black instead of white but I got frustrated and just went all over. It didn't help that Sam kept waking up on me. Oh well, next time :)
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

LA colors

2011-02-25T22:25:00.001-05:00

While at the Dollar Tree today I picked up a bottle of nail polish by L.A. Colors. I've thrown the package away and the name isn't on the bottle but it's a sheer nude with a little shimmer. It's still pretty see through with 2 coats but more than that never dries on me.
It'll do for the night but I'm not sure I like it.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Zoya Ali

2011-02-22T13:05:00.002-05:00

Today I decided to polish my nails with a nice bright color. I don't have a lot of polish because a few months ago I got rid of all my old grimy bottles. Most of what I have is either Zoya or Sinful colors.
I chose Zoya Ali. I love pinks and this one is just electric enough for me :)
I only took a pic of one hand because the other one got messed up. What are the odds of a diaper emergency JUST when I got the polish on? Very high in this house!

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This is why I love...

2011-02-22T03:31:00.002-05:00

Nailtiques (Formula 2)
I know it doesn't look like a big deal but I usually have to keep my nails cut short so there's no free edge. They split and peel so bad, they just don't grow.

Nailtiques is a miracle worker for me. No peeling, they don't break, they're strong. I want to tap my nails all the time lol.

My aunt has gorgeous long nails. They looks like acrylics (not so thick though. Acrylics always have a thick, fake look) and it's because of Nailtiques. She's the one who turned me onto them. It's available in Walgreen's, Meijer, on Amazon and at www.nailtiques.com

The only drawbacks are the small bottle and brush size. When you get to the very bottom of the bottle, the brush doesn't reach. This is probably common in nail polishes (I've never finished a bottle!)

Try them out and let me know what you think. I definitely would choose Nailtiques over OPI Nail Envy (but I like the OPI Pro Wide Brush).

I think I have to say I'm not affiliated with Nailtiques, I just love them. I buy everything on my own.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

I need a random title generator.

2011-02-09T02:47:00.000-05:00

I gave up on the OPI Nail Envy. It just wasn't living up to the standard Nailtiques had set. So I hopped back on Ebay and ended up getting a .5oz bottle for $9.99 with free shipping (that's almost half price!). WOOT! I had to have it shipped to Hi-Tek because my post office hates me and it was smooth sailing.

Saturday I took a Basics of Pistols training class. LOVED IT. We did a few hours of basic handgun knowledge and then we loaded up and went to the range. Ya'll, it was 34° outside with a wind chill of 24° and it was SNOWING. I was frozen to the bone but it was awesome. I missed a few times but more often than not I made a decent shot. We did different exercises to get us used to moving around and handling our gun.

Patrick has gotten me a Taurus revolver (.357 magnum but it can shoot .38s). I adore it ♥. It's so easy to shoot and it's insanely easy to clean and care for. No taking apart. Open up the cylinder, clean the barrel and the cartridge areas and bam! you're done. I would like to try shooting a semi-automatic but I've always wanted a revolver. It was my favorite gun in Resident Evil! As soon as it warms up you can bet I'll be bugging Patrick to take me to the range all the time. He'll get so tired of me!

We're in the middle of a stand off with potty training. She won't be in the potty if she wears Pull-Ups but when she pees in her panties she won't tell us. I think I'm going to use my color timer and set it for 15 minutes. Then we'll go potty, come back and set it for 15 minutes again. Keep that up until she gets it down. That's what my aunt did with her and she had some success. She's getting too big for diapers (taking them off on her own! Little meanie.) Today she pooped in her diaper and then took it off. Of course she was supposed to be taking a nap so she got it all over her bed. We had to strip the beds down, wash all the sheets and pillow cases and Patrick vacuumed and Lysoled (is that a word?) the whole room down. She knows better than that, I know she does. All she has to do is tell us her diaper is dirty (and she can do it, she has before!) and we'll change her. I've GOT to get this potty training thing going.

Does anyone use AIM anymore? I recently got back into an old account and no one is ever on.

It's 2:30am and I should be asleep (insomnia FTL) because I have an appointment tomorrow and Sam will have me up early but I'm just not tired :(

Oh and today is day one of trying jojoba oil as a hair product. Giving it another chance as a moisturizer too because my skin is miserable. It's peeling and rough and just so blah. First I broke out everywhere and now I'm all flakes.

As soon as my nails get a little length on them I'll post pics so you can see why I love Nailtiques so much.

Happy Birthday Covergirl!

2011-01-26T11:35:00.000-05:00

Covergirl is turning 50 ya'll. I think everyone has their own opinion of the product, what's yours?

They're having a contest and giving away freebies. Check them out.

Winter is bad for me.

2011-01-22T04:30:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty sure that I hate winter. It makes me shut down, withdraw from life. I haven't done any nails to show, no crocheting, nothing. School went south. Panic attacks have pretty much ruined that.
I keep telling myself I'm going to get up and do something but then I can't talk myself into it. It gets hard to breathe, my chest feels tight, I get dizzy and my heart starts beating hard. I'm going to attempt to venture out tomorrow. I need to go to the library (There's a Kim Harrison book waiting for me) and hopefully I can handle WalMart.
I'll take some valium just in case.

The school situation highly depresses me. I only needed 300 more hours and I could graduate. Now I really have no options. Stinks.

Now to not be a big whiner. Despicable Me is great :) Sam goes to sleep watching it every night. It has made me realize I really need some minions!

I tried to buy some Nailtiques Formula 2 on Ebay and because my mailman is an idiot the seller had to send me a replacement. I ended up with OPI Nail Envy. It's only been a couple of weeks since I got it so I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I know I like the Nailtiques. I hope I'm not disappointed with the OPI. I suppose I'll let you know.

It's 4:29am in my world, I'd better try some sleep soon. As soon as this episode of Bones is over. I love Netflix!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Yikes!

2010-12-13T13:16:00.006-05:00

I've been MIA for so long. Winter is bad on me. I get so reclusive and blegh. I love Thanksgiving and I love Christmas, I hate snow and cold! I can't stand DST. It's dark before the news comes on! What kind of crap is that?

Anyway, this is my first attempt at a Patchwork Mani from Chloe's Nails. The pictures suck and I haven't cleaned anything up. The matte purple isn't as thick as the other two colors so it looks weird. No top coat (obviously it takes away the matte).

Haha so messy! Anyway. It's horrible, I know. I'll try again another time when the kiddo is in bed and my nails aren't a peely, gross mess.

Beauty Ambition has the best giveaways!

2010-11-08T12:06:00.000-05:00

I've never owned an Urban Decay product (they don't sell that at Walgreen's lol) but MAN I've wanted some. Evelyn at Beauty Ambition has reached 600 followers and is giving away a Book of Shadows III (!!)

Click the pic to be taken to the giveaway post. Good luck! (but I hope I get it :P)

Nails I did.

2010-11-05T04:01:00.003-04:00

They're not perfect but it was my first try with scotch tape :)

Had to link up this one.

2010-10-31T05:10:00.000-04:00

This is going to be really short because all I'm going to say is read and pass this on! I used box color for years and luckily never had any reaction to it but that doesn't mean that it could never happen. Now that I've spent some time in a salon atmosphere I realize, you never can tell what is going to happen when you mix those chemicals up. If you can't go to a salon, at the very least find someone who works in one to get advice from.

Haircolor Almost Kills British Teen

Pink and Winning? I'm there.

2010-10-25T02:44:00.000-04:00

I love giveaways. Bet you never would have guessed huh? This giveaway, is AWESOME. So much pink and way too much pretty.

Evelyn at Beauty Ambition is having a giveaway to celebrate 100 followers. In the spirit of October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month it's full of PINK!

What are you still doing here?

How do you polish your dominant hand?

2010-10-25T02:36:00.000-04:00

I attempted the half moon/ruffian look on my nails today. I've seen it called both names and I'm not sure which one it actually is. My right hand is more wonky than my left but I guess it's not so bad for my first try.

Sinful Colors - Big Daddy

Zoya - Dovima

A couple of the pics are blurry-ish. I had a lot of Pepsi today :)

Insert Witty Blog Title Here.

2010-10-24T00:35:00.000-04:00

I've started back to school. I took a 2 week leave because a doctor said my daughter had scabies. When the bumps showed up on my fiancé and I also (just on our hands, on her chest/side/underarm area) I went to another doctor and he automatically agreed with the first doctor. Since I work with the public at school, I couldn't be there and have a potentially contagious condition.

Except I'm pretty sure the doctor was wrong. We had none of the symptoms (crazy itching, "burrows" under the skin, bumps that look like blisters) of scabies. The only thing that made it similar to scabies was that it was passed from her to him and from her to me. Thursday I went to a different doctor, she looked at my hand for about 30 seconds and said it was eczema. I'm pretty sure eczema isn't contagious and according to an instructor at school who has it, this isn't it. Whatever it is the doctor cleared me to go back to school. They gave me a cream to put on my hands twice a day (a corticosteroid) and told me to use a low dose cortisone on the baby. I don't know. Between us we saw 4 doctors. Pediatrician said scabies. Immediate Care Center doc #1 heard me say that Pediatrician said scabies, automatically agreed and sent me on my way. VA doctor said I don't know but it doesn't look like scabies. Immediate Care Center doc #2 said eczema. So, who knows.

Either way I'm back in school. Which is miserable but at the same time it gives me something to do and keep myself busy so I supposed it's good. We're allowed to accept tips so every now and then I get a little pocket money. I'm to the point where I'm just so fed up with the whole thing. I've been in school since June of '09. If I hadn't taken my leave earlier this year I would be graduating next month. Instead I'm graduating in February. Which means about 4 more months of working for no pay. That's basically what we do.

The school is so disorganized. One person at this location will tell you something but someone at another location will tell you something completely different. It's just...very ugh. I'll be happy when I get my 1500 hours and can say BYE BYE! I'm going to have to do a few 40 hour weeks to make up my hours though. BOO.

I guess that's enough whining, what do you think? How about some pics of a project I recently finished?

A hat I originally started as something for myself but as you can see, it ended up A LOT smaller than I had intended lol. It fits Sam perfectly though (all of her curly mop is tucked up in the hat).

And a few older projects I've done.

This isn't the finished project, there was edging added to it. I made it for my sister.

Samantha sleeps with this one and the brown one at night. Fun to make but hard on your hands.

This one ended up HUGE. I think it had one more strip of pink and two more strips of black. It took me pretty much my whole pregnancy to get it finished. The bobble stitch? MISERABLE.

Made for Samantha while I was pregnant with her.

Originally was going to be a spiderweb but I got lazy :-x

Just a little elephant :)

Now I've got the crocheting bug again so I've been printing out patterns and trying to get crafty. Mostly hats. So many of the patterns that I want end up being knitted :( I'm not good at knitting. I'm determined to get it though.

That's all for tonight, I suppose. Hopefully I'll have some more to post soon!

Ch-ch-changes.

2010-10-08T01:40:00.000-04:00

I want to color my hair. I was on a kick for a while where I decided I was going to go back to my natural color and just forget about coloring it. Now I'm bored and I want something new. I saw kits in Walgreen's to go green and some other colors and now I want to go black with some funky colors in it. Except I know it will tear my hair up.

So maybe just black? Maybe just some highlights? Not from school, they don't know what they're doing and I can't do them on myself. Blah. I just need a change, big time!