Flat Irons & Boyfriends

You know how in books and movies, there's a character who's been with the first guy who asked her out for years. And he's nice enough, but has obvious flaws that all her friends keep pointing out to her. Then she meets someone else, and thinks he might be someone that she could get on with but is unsure. She takes a chance on him anyway and dumps the old guy. The reality smacks her in the face that the new guy is 10 times better, and wonders why she stuck with that old guy for so long.

That's kinda how it was with the hair straightener I had been using forever. It was good enough, it did the trick, but wasn't always perfect. I still had to blow dry with a boars hair brush to get it a certain way, and the revlon perfect heat flat iron was a finisher. But I noticed hair getting pulled out, and yes, all the reviews on this iron said so, but still, it was enough for me at the time, and a bargain, under $25. The ceramic coating would often come off after a number of months, which meant I should throw it out so it wouldn't start burning my hair.

Well... tried the T3 (see the last post) and loved it. Could see I didn't need to blow dry my hair first, but the downside was the $200 price tag. So I tried the Remington Protect and Shine flat iron ($27) and tried the T3 pro wet/dry ($119) lent to me by the wonderful Linna...

Both were much better then the Revlon one. The Remington flat iron was not a wet/dry type, so some blow drying was necessary, but no hair coming out, and my hair was shiny and felt great. The T3 pro wet/dry was used after towel drying. It wasn't as fast as I hoped it would be - but I was able to skip the hair drying step. Still took about 20 minutes to get it straight enough at 315 or so degrees (my hair is only wavy). That said, I'll won't be going back to the Revlon flat iron and keep on using my cheap $27 flat iron for now and maybe... when it dies, I'll think about buying the high end flat iron.

Hype!?!? Super Expensive Flat Irons

I'm a little bit cheap when it comes to things that aren't shoes, but anything that'll save me time and keep my hair from frizzing will ...maybe... cause me to change my mind. I have come to terms with my very non-asian hair (waves and little curls) but every once and a while do like to straighten and look like a sucker oh, I mean soccer mom.
So... a boars hair brush and a good hair dryer does the trick but man oh man, on hot days this method just blows.
My cheap little Revlon perfect heat 1" hair straightener does the trick for the pieces I miss but humidity usually causes the super straight to turn a little less so - not back to the original state, but not as straight as when I left the house.
The post is really for those super expensive hair straighteners - a good friend recently bought the T3 Bespoke Labs wet-to-dry narrow iron and was gracious enough to let all of us use this. Rave reviews from everyone who used it and for a second I thought maybe... $200 seemed like a reasonable price to pay for beauty. Read reviews online and for the most part, they were all positive and the negative reviews were written by people who turn "spell and grammar checks " OFF. I guess this post is really a cry for any feedback - is this really worth the money???

Foundation Powder

Bare Essentials is a great foundation because I love the easy and even application it provides. Though I was receiving pimples that I normally don’t usually get. I’m not sure if I had mentioned but I was doing a “test” of whether my sunscreen or the foundation was the cause of me getting random pimples. After a couple days test, it looks like Bare Essentials was the culprit. (I actually even went further to test whether my application brush was dirty but I cleaned it with the brush solution specifically for the brush but alas still pimples) SO, the product may not be for everyone but it does look great. But, it wasn’t something that I wanted to wear on a regular basis to get that nice coverage and so I looked for other means of coverage. I did fall for powder foundation because it’s so fast and non fussy to put on. The great Laura Mercier brand that so many friends use makes powder foundation. I have tried their tinted moisturizer but the skin color they matched was yellow-y which was not flattering. But their powder foundation had one in my skin tint and so far (couple days now) no signs of pimples. Initially when you wear it, it does look makeup-y (<--don’t you just love my vocabulary) but once it settles into the skin it provides great coverage, looks natural, and has spf which is always good. In case you still aren’t sure, you can go to the nordstrom makeup dept for Laura Mercier and ask for a sample with your skin color to test it out. That’s what I did. J

Brush Cleaners

You wouldn't touch your face with filthy hands or fingertips - the same principal should be applied to the makeup brushes that you use on your face. It's recommended to clean the brushes every three to five months (or when you feel like those brushes are getting a little disgusting). I've tried a couple of different brush cleaners - one by smashbox and the other by MAC.

The Smashbox brand cleaner ($15) is a spray on type. Instructions say to spray on a tissue and wipe away. This is intended as a sort of minor cleaner - to use between major shampoo cleaning of the brushes. So the directions are meant to give you a sort of clean. I bought this as a major brush cleaning tool because of the misleading name "Brush Cleaner". Initially followed directions, but this didn't get it as clean as I would expect (it gave a "so-so" clean, like when you wash your hands without soap) so I sprayed on a wet brush, rubbed gently with my fingertips, and washed away with water until the brushes rinsed clean.

The MAC brand cleaner ($10) is more like the shampoo application. This is the major cleaner - it cleans, disinfects, and conditions. You put a little on a wet brush and sort of wipe away the "dirt" gently with your fingers and water until it rinses clean. I've used this more often than the smashbox and prefer the MAC cleaner over the smashbox one. Cleaning with both cleansers can be done the same way as described in the next section.

A more affordable option is using baby shampoo to clean your brushes. The important thing to look for when not using a make-up brand brush cleaner, is that the cleanser is a gentle liquid soap or shampoo. Anything containing alcohol may dry out your brushes. Don't soak the brushes in soap and water, this may cause the brushes to fall apart. Put a drop of the shampoo/soap in the palm of your hand, wet the brush, and stroke the brush in your palm. Repeat this until the brushes rinse clean. Squeeze out the excess water and lay out on a paper towel or clean towel to air-dry.

Brushes for War Paint

If you've ever tried a bunch of different make-up brushes, you've probably noticed differences in the way these brushes feel on your skin. Just like better paint brushes (and talent) will give you better art, better brushes will give you a better application and will probably feel less like sandpaper on your skin. This post is assuming of course, that the user has been performing proper brush maintenance (this is another post)... a few comments on my favorites:

1. MAC brushes have held up remarkably well over the years and feel pretty good on the skin. Used to use it for eye shadows, blush, powder, concealer, and lips. Have pretty much toned down my make up routine and now just use the powder, eye liner, and blush brush regularly. Only downside are the travel sized powder and blush brush bristles tend to fall out a bit after cleaning. 2. Tried the Sephora brand brushes (the eye liner and shadow brushes) and was pretty happy with that brand too. 3. Got a blush brush from The Body Shop - not sure what I was expecting there but it just kind of SUCKED. 4. Anyway, the Sonia Kashuk brushes from Target are decent for the price. Her travel powder brush is affordable and feels good on the skin - the bristles don't fall off.