She Works Hard for the Pretty

Current mani & pedi from the Nantucket Collection
Julep Nan on hands, Bess on toes :) so glad I added on polish this month…

To get yours visit…
http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/96477/

Battle of the BBs and DDs….

BB, CC and DD cremes are touted as all-in-ones. Most of them are a combination primer, moisturizer and foundation at a minimum, while most have added benefits such as color correction, improvement in appearance of fine lines, or may enhance skin’s texture/tone over time. I like the convenience of having multiple products in one and the fact that these cremes are lighter than most standalone foundations, yet have added benefits. 

I have been using Smashbox BB creme in Dark for a few months now along with the Smashbox HD Primer (pictured in upper left with product on my face). The shade works well for me, but the product leaves a lot to be desired for oil control when used as a standalone primer.  I have not been using it along with a separate primer, but instead have resorted to blotting multiple times a day with BareMinerals READY Tinted Touch Up Veil.  I was excited to try Julep’s DD creme as it is less expensive than the Smashbox, and I regularly order polish from Julep so I want to continue supporting this brand.  I was nervous because I knew my skin tone was between the model’s they chose for Medium-Dark and Dark, but closer to the med-dark than the dark for sure so I opted to go for Med-Dark.  I felt reassured in this by some Julep Insiders who said it is better to go with the lighter shade and build-up but they got it wrong in this case (see original Julep blog post, comments by Zenovia and reply to comments here).

The medium concealer is just dumb wrong for me (top right). The swatches of the dark and I already know, I would need to conceal my concealer if I were to use this on blemishes so this is not a product for me to use outside of my eye area (which I did today).  I removed that and applied the Medium-Dark BB creme. There is nothing dark about this creme. I look like Casper (bottom left).  I decided to apply Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Golden Dark (a little too dark for me) over this DD creme as a primer today and ended up with the result on the bottom right.  If the DD creme is promising as a primer, I will use it up along with the remaining Golden Dark. It is not likely to be a repeat buy for this Maven. I gave Julep cosmetics a shot, but will be sticking to nail polish from Julep and facial make up to retailers that accept returns/exchanges when product try outs go horribly wrong. So far I have not had to blot and I can feel it controlling the oil. While this makes me happy, I have other primers with the same effect and a bit smaller price tag that I use that do this just fine so I’ll go back to them when I’m out of the DD.

Feel free to ask any questions you have and let me know if you’ve tried the product and how you felt about it.

Until next time,

Have a great day and Stay Pretty!!

Maybe they have your shade in DD creme—want to give it a try? More into polish (which I love!) and not into paying shipping or full price? Become a maven and see about the brand for yourself. http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/96477/

Prob shoulda just found some coin rollers and went to the bank….

Cashing in on a Saturday…

It’s getting difficult to be sure I’m not reporting swatches I’ve already done!! Going to have to organize my collection into colors I’ve used & colors I haven’t :)

Pleasantly surprised by Julianne—I really like this soft blue-grey mani. I’m finding cremes are my favorite finish. Looking forward to my June Maven box! I got modern beauty so look for my DD creme review next week along with swatches of Nan & Bess because what’s the point of being a Maven if its not about the nail mail??

Until next time,
Stay pretty ;)

If interested in becoming a maven for discounted luxury polish @ beauty items, I’d love it if you’d use my referral link! http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/96477/

medgiadore:

Cute protective Natural Hair!!!!!!!

Struggling with what to do with my hair as it grows out…going to try this…might also just try scissors and clippers lol. #naturalhairain’talwayseasy. any tumblrs out there wanna help me out with my hair life?

(via mila1411)

Hair drama…

In preparation for wearing a hat on Mother’s Day (in honor of a special request, not my choice), I went to a Dominican Salon for a blow out.  The pics give a timeline—hair texture pre-blowout in the upper left (notice some frizz and a moderately defined curl), the blowout (upper right), and wet noodle (bottom pic, my hair today)

Yesterday, I decided it was time to wash out my hair and to bring back my curls. I missed them so—straight hair is not for me at all.  Since my hair was already straight and easy to section, I decided to gone ahead and throw some henna in as well before washing it.

WHAT A MISTAKE!! My hair is limp. My characteristic curly fro is no more. Some people would love this—I know—but I have learned to really embrace my hair just the way it grows from my scalp (and encourage others to do the same).  While I prefer this look to the straight hair, I now have strands and ends that aren’t curling at all. I’m hoping a few washes and a bit more time to be back to my normal joyous frizzy bliss…until then meh. I’m not sure if this is just because of the blowout OR because I hennaed it while it was straight—any advice/ideas are welcomed as I would like to know how to avoid this hair texture shift shenanigan in the future.

I used Dark n Lovely Au Natural Curl Defining Glaze today because it was quite evident that my normal gel would be too heavy in my efforts to maintain the curl and not go all Ernie (i.e. Sesame Street) on folks.  Usually I use the curl glaze when I want my fro to be moisturized and free with a curl that is less defined (BIG FUN FRO!). Today I used it because gel would have me looking like a wet dog in these streets and that is not hot.

If my hair were long enough, I’d just pull it back or up in some sort of a bun and be done with it…for now I’m just stuck with this limp-looking-like-a-white-perm situation. If I’ve learned nothing else about hair, i”ve learned that it will grow and that scissors can solve any problem if all else fails :-)

Until next time…Stay Pretty

OH!! I also need to clarify that pic1 is old. my hair has grown a lot since then, so the straightening and henna DID NOT lengthen my hair to that extent nor did it give that much “hang time”.. Just made everything go limp :-(

Top left: julep alma
top right: Julep Brandt w/mystery glitter accent nail
bottom: julep Renee

Not my neatest work, but you get the gist of how these look on my skin tone (and yours if we’re similar!). Been busy painting obviously not as busy updating. Getting life together :). To get these lovely colors at a discount visit http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/96477/

Of the three I’m really loving Alma, which is surprising. I’m yellow enough for my tastes…I tend to stay away from yellow clothing/accessories, etc because of it…but Alma? She’s a keeper! What’s your fave??

While searching for Shea Butter, I saw this product at http://www.cleopatraschoice.com/?pdRewardsRef=RCYBLD.  The product information on the site begins “We highly recommend this cream for any one seeking relief from Psoriasis, Eczema, rashes or other skin conditions. If the name seems silly - believe us, try it and you’ll know why it’s called “magic cream”. This cream has received highly positive reviews in many magazines, on “The View” and by many blogs and online reviewers. It works great on hair as well as skin and is overall a very effective product.” Based on this and reading the comments in the various articles and recommendations by celebrities I had to give it a try!

At first glance I loved the simplicity of this product—just 6 natural ingredients!  I was a little taken back that a good portion of the ingredients in Egyptian Magic are some bodily excretion of bees (Royal Jelly and bee propolis namely…but once I got past this, and realized how amazing it is for soothing my skin, I actually started thanking those busy lil’ bees!  ;-)

I also read some of the customer reviews at www.egyptianmagic.com and was hoping that it would be as effective at clearing up my acne scars and acne as it had been for some of the other users, but that has not been my experience.  However, I have found that EM is GREAT…no,  PHENOMENAL even, for dry skin and eczema, which I have occasional patches of on various places. 

As soon as I used it on my eczema patches, it was IMMEDIATELY soothing, working to provide relief much sooner than even my prescription strength cortisone cream.  It also resolves the eczema much faster than my prescription. The only thing the cortisone does that the EM does not is help to heal/fade the resulting brown mark from the eczema flare up.  The relief is worth it though. I recommend this product for anyone who has skin irritations and/or is curious about the other uses discussed on the EM site. I like it as a very replenishing, hydrating, protective and restorative night creme for my face and also use it to hydrate other parts of  my body that may be dry. It is well worth the price at $36.95 (on sale now for $29.95!!) for 4 oz. A little of this product goes a VERY long way and it is less than other creams that are not nearly as versatile.  It is also available at Whole Foods stores for those of you who do not want to buy online!

I’m almost out of my 1st jar (it lasts a while—bought it in January) and am very excited to see it’s on sale at Cleopatra’s now! whoo!

Happy friday, loves!!! One thing that makes me happy on a Friday? Yes besides it being Friday lol…my Tuesday mani still going strong (big deal for me)!! I just need this to last til tomorrow evening b/c I’m going softer for Mother’s Day :). Pictured…julep myrtle from the May classic with a twist collection (yay for me using all my may colors in may!!).

Ps used the now discontinued julep fast dry top coat here. I don’t think it would have lasted as long with the freedom so I’m only using that when I want to/can do 2-3 manis in a week!)

Check out julep at http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/96477/