Hair Style of the Night.

Recommended:
Hair
 
I'll be attending a wedding quite soon so the thing that was on my mind today was "oh my goodness, what am I going to do with my hair?!?". At the moment my hair is in a state of needing a trim (as it always is but I tend to ignore) so the style that I'll be going for will need to conceal that fact as much as possible, although I do want to keep my hair half down because I find that that sort of style suits me best. Tonight I had a little reunion of sorts so I decided to try this one out:

It's a waterfall braid that starts at one end and wraps around my head, ending in a small single braid. I left my hair in its natural curly (and unruly) state but for the wedding I would neaten up the curls with a curling iron. Here are a couple close-ups of the waterfall braid:

 

Here is what the braid that ended it off looked like:

By the end of the night I decided that this style might be a little too risky in the sense that my hair may return to its unruly state during the later hours of the wedding, even if I use heat on it, because this stye is a little free flowing rather than contained. Although I did have fun with this style, I still need to confront the "oh my goodness, what am I going to do with my hair?!?" question. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

What kind of style do you prefer when attending a wedding?

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Sincerely, Ella

Loving Your Ivory Skin.

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Skin acceptance

 

Never once has anyone (in seriousness) exclaimed when looking at my skin, "Wow, you're so tan!". Nope! Never once been considered 'tan'. I have on occasion been confronted with "Wow, that's a horrible sunburn!", but that just doesn't really have the same ring to it. I have (for the most part) come to terms with my nothing-but-ivory skin and I thought I would give my fellow ivories some tips on pale skin acceptance.

Step One: Chuck out your bronzers, too dark foundations, and fake tans. We will be focusing on the beauty of IVORY; not orange or muddy looking.

Step Two: Find your makeup matches and try to cover up blemishes, as they tend to be more noticeable with light skin. Instead of reaching for a bronzer, reach for a deep pink or deep coral to give your cheeks a little bit of color. The key is not to cake on the color though, only put on enough to look like you're alive and awake; a dusting, if you will. 

Step Three: Play up your other features. Ivory skin is the perfect canvas to play up your features. Subtly define your brows to give your face a frame, make sure to keep them moderately filled rather than dark and rigid (I recommend a tinted brow gel or shadow rather than a liner). Mascara and eyeliner are your friends! Eyes will really stand out when played up against your light skin. And lastly, paint your pout with something that doesn't wash you out (I recommend going to your nearest mac counter to find the right shade and to get some tips on finding your color at a drugstore) . Finding the right color for you may take some trial and error but I've had luck with bold colors; they look great against ivory skin.

Thanks for reading!

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Sincerely, Ella

Keeping Your Pout As Perfect and Pretty As Can Be.

Recommended:
Soft bristled toothbrush/rough washcloth
Lip balm
Your favorite lip product

Lip care is essential when you have them, which people usually do. Lips are quite sensitive so lip care needs to be a healthy mix of gentle and effective.

There are three steps to a perfectly pretty pout:

1. Exfoliate

2. Hydrate

3. Flaunt

Exfoliation keeps lips soft and fresh. The key to exfoliation on the lips is to keep it very minimal and gentle, to avoid cracking. I recommend either a soft bristled toothbrush (I prefer a cheap portable one) or a rough washcloth. Run your tool of choice under some room-temperature water and then, with a light sweeping motion, run it along your lips in a windshield-wiper motion, very gently.

After exfoliating and drying your lips, immediately hydrate them with your lip balm of choice. You can top it all off with some lipstick or you can keep the natural shine. Enjoy flaunting!

Do you have any favorite lip products?

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Sincerely, Ella

The Secret Life of Baking Soda.

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Baking Soda

Moisturizer

Hello Mr. Baking Soda… You are definitely good for more than puffing up my oatmeal raisin cookies. Surprisingly, baking soda is awesome on your face if you have pimples and whatnot (although don’t get any in your mouth, it’s grossly salty). I’ve taken to keeping a little container of the stuff by my bathroom sink. I’m not a dermatologist or anything of the sort but I’ve come to appreciate these uses for baking soda. I use it for two things, an exfoliator and (when I have time) a mask. All you need to do is add water. Create a gloopy (not runny) consistency using water and either rub it gently around your face and wash it off or let it dry into a mask (it’ll be clumpy and chalky when it’s ready) and then wash it off. You may want to moisturize afterward, as this routine is slightly drying. GENTLE is the key word here though, you don’t want to get rid of all the good skin stuff. A few times a week with this mask and my skin was feeling softer and fresher, at a price way below the usual scrubs and masks out there. The only downside is the smell. I wouldn’t call it completely unpleasant, just a little less than desirable. But for the price and the result, I thank you Mr. Baking Soda.

Do you have any sneaky secrets in your skincare routine?

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Sincerely, Ella

Maybe it’s (always) Maybelline.

Recommended:

 Maybelline Volum' Express® the Mega Plush™ Mascara

After a slight detour from the Maybelline mascara, I am definitely back on the “obsessed” track. Although their Great Lash Lots of Lashes™ and Volum' Express® One-by-One Washable Mascara have never really done wonders for me, I have marveled over, and repurchased multiple times, their Volum' Express® Falsies Flared™ and Volum' Express® The Colossal Mascara in the past. After fretting about spending too much on makeup, I took a break from the Maybelline mascara and headed toward the (cheaper) NYC brand. I was definitely not impressed with their Show Time Volumizing Waterproof Mascara, as the brush would barely let me get any of the stuff on. I did find a love for their Big Bold Mascara however. It brought my eyelashes to their full capacity in a matter of seconds... but after 12+ hours of wearing it, it decided to become difficult and jump off my eyelashes in clumps… My lashes were not thrilled. During my recent trip to the drugstore, I had another tube of the NYC in one hand and the new Volum' Express® the Mega Plush™ Mascara Maybelline mascara in the other. Maybelline IS one of my oldest and trusted friends (I use their foundation, concealer, powder, etc.)… But NYC mascara is a new, time saving, buddy. In the end, out of curiosity for what an old pal was recently up to, I decided to go with Maybelline… Definitely not disappointed! The new gel-mousse formula is SOFT without being too light. I do like a heavier mascaraed look. I went with the waterproof formula because my eyes tend to be on the watery side of eyeballs. Although I do still have a new-found love for NYC (I have one of their lipsticks now as well), I have decided that maybe the best choice for mascara is always Maybelline.

Do you have any trustee pals when it comes to mascara?

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Sincerela, Ella