Preaches n' Cream

So I’ve packed up and moved in with my parents in the suburbs, this is temporary, just while magical life changing renovations are being done on my Parkdale Palace.

Here’s what I’ve learned during my stay in Ajax:

There is a reason Ajax is called “Ajax”: the water is most definitely filled with abrasive bleach which is only fit for filling public swimming pools. You cannot drink out of the tap, that’s apparently a Toronto luxury that I didn’t even know I had. Even more importantly, this stuff is wrecking my precious cheveux!

There may be people out there having bad hair days and blaming it on genetics, products or their skill level when it could actually be the water supply.Please don’t be a victim, you can fight back.

First some pros and cons:

Hard water cons:

Strips hair of moisture

Screws with your colour 

Hard water pros:

Allows for better styling-I’ve upped the ante on my french rolls and buns and roller sets. There is no way I can just do a blow out, with hard water my hair looks too dry, but the dryness and weird chemical build up allows for so much volume and great braids and twists which are so hot right now. The glass is half full…of hard water.

Soft water cons:

Is almost too gentle, makes it difficult to wash product out of your hair.

It can leave your hair limp and difficult to style.

Soft water pros:

Gentler on your hair, therefore giving you healthier hair

Allows for soft pretty touchable hair

If you are having difficulty with your hair it may be worthwhile to find out what kind of water you have and buy the appropriate products to work with that type of water.

This morning I gave up on my Aveda and decided to try my Mom’s Biolage Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner: Voila! My hair is back to normal, I got to do a blow out and my hair looks soft, pretty and touchable. 

It also got me thinking about vacations-the next time I go away I’m going to call the hotel and find out about what kind of water they have so I never have another bad hair day again. 

Halloween is coming up fast, so today I’m going to give you some first hand ideas on how to be Medusa for Halloween. 

I was Medusa last year. It was a great costume; it was fun, easy to do, inexpensive and just all around cool.

First and formost with this costume is the hair, it’s the only thing that really matters. Once you’ve got your hair done the rest of the costume just falls together.

These were my tools:

• sponge rollers

• hairspray
• bobby pins
• jumbo hair braids (1 pack) (buy these at any ethnic beauty supply store…even Wal-Mart sometimes has it). 

• rubber snakes (about 15-20)
• hair elastics

This is what I did:

1. Halloween morning I washed my hair, let it air dry with mousse in it and then set it in sponge curlers/foam rollers.
2. Take the rollers out a few hours before you are going out (Your hair will most likely be a mess of tight curls).
3. Take chunks of the “jumbo hair” and braid it into 1 inch pieces of your natural hair. These braids will add length, volume, mass and texture to your hair. (I probably did about 8 braids in random spots on my head).
4. Add rubber snakes: Grab an inch or two of your natural hair and wrap it at the base of your head around the head of the snake- bobby pin in place. By wrapping the head of the snake you are allowing the body of the snake to cascade down (which looks good).
5. Continue adding snakes and “jumbo hair”/extension hair, until everything is used up or you have no head space left.
6. Try to style your hair “up” for height. I brushed out any of my remaining curls which made my hair look frizzy and then worked with the snakes and braids and created a bit of a Snooki “poof” this added height which balanced the length and volume of my hair.

After my hair was done I put on makeup, which is up for anyones own interpretation of how Medusa would wear makeup. A smoky eye with fake lashes would be appropriate…It’s Halloween, so go crazy, I did green shadow as you can see in the pics.


For clothing I wore a LBD from H&M, black tights, black heels and a wide belt; really, something I’d wear on any given club night. It was nice, sexy, comfortable and warm.


The real highlight (after the hair) for this costume was the fake tattoos, I bought as many fake snake tattoos as I could find (I found some at the dollar store and more at a Halloween pop-up shop) and tried to create a sort of alternative, hipster, modern Medusa with sleeves, a chest piece and even neck tattoos for good measure…with the tattoos: the more the better.


Here is the final product (I’m so sorry that I don’t have better pics-it was last year and I didn’t realize I’d be doing a preaches n’ cream tutorial).

 
Above: of course Linus had to get in the pic :p  Note that I looped the hair on top of my crown for height and allowed the snakes to cascade down. 




I hope this works out if you give it a try- Please feel free to ask me any questions if you need some help :) 

Temporary False Eyelashes: Let’s Discuss.

Long and Lush lashes are so sexy and they can make almost anyone look beautiful or at least attractive, well, definitely better.

I am from the school that believes in “Natural” fake lashes. What I mean is that I love using them, but I like them to look real. I want to enhance what I have without anyone knowing exactly what I’ve done to look so wonderful.

The thing with strip lashes is that they often look so false, like: “Um, Hiiiiyyyeee, I glued synthetic hair to my face on purpose” and really good ones are expensive and not readily available. 

These are “Strip Lashes”:

 Instead

Try individual lashes. (The ones that look like they’re for fly fishing). They still give a dramatic look but most people would be hard pressed to identify that they’re not yours.  They give a look that says “Well, hello there. Look into my eyes and become hypnotized”. 

These are “Individual lashes”:

I buy them in different lengths and will apply the longest ones on the outer corner of my eye, then move in a bit with a medium length and finish off with the short lashes.

The trick is that you don’t need too many, maybe 2 of each length. And don’t place them completely across your eyelid; I bring them just past my iris towards the inner corner. The idea is to blend with your natural lashes and put emphasis on the outer corner of your eye. When you’re done it’ll look so pretty, you’ll be hooked!

Here are some lovely diagrams that I created just for you to demonstrate my technique:

The other bonus is that if they fall off, chances are only one or two will go, it wont destroy your whole look (like it would if strip lashes come loose (worst feeling ever) or fall off ). 

I found this tutorial on youtube, check it out if you want to learn more.

One of the best things you can do for your appearance is whiten your teeth. It makes you look happier and healthier and other people will notice both consciously and subconsciously. I have reasonably white teeth and when I originally went to the dentist for a whitening procedure he looked at me funny and said I didn’t need it. Of course convincing him was easy because it was money for him plus a happy patient. After I had my teeth whitened I was constantly complimented on my beautiful smile and beautiful teeth; it was a new compliment that I’d never heard before and I don’t think people really realized that it was my pearly whites that they were actually complimenting. 

There are so many products on the market that there is no excuse not to do it, even dentists are offering group coupons for teeth whitening-check out One Spout every once in a while for this kind of deal, and really, for the brightest whitest and long lasting results you should go to the dentist.

If you’ve tried whitening before and found that your teeth get too sensitive just do it a bit less often or find a milder product. 

One of my favorite off the shelf products is Listerine Whitening rinse and it’s my pick because: 

1. it achieves natural white results (you don’t end up with Ross from Friends teeth)
2. it costs about $10
3. it’s fast and easy to use.

 For best results:

1. floss 
2. swish with Listerine for 30 seconds
3. without using toothpaste brush your teeth to really work in the whitening solution
4. brush as usual

Teeth whitening is not a big investment, it’s easy to do and quite frankly for the awesome aesthetic results achieved you should be able to take the extra step in your beauty routine. 

Cheese! My teeth, they look just a bit whiter, but not crazy fake white:

I recently had a hair cut that did not make me happy; in fact I’m mildly depressed about it.  I’m sure you can relate; everyone has had a bad haircut or one that wasn’t 100% perfect.

I love my stylist; I recommend her all the time and I will continue to see her even after this cut; the reason for this is because the “bad” cut isn’t her fault, it’s mine. 

My hair had been bugging me but I couldn’t figure out why, it was just blah. I called the salon up and made an appointment for that day, sat in her chair and proclaimed “I dunno, it’s just bugging me, I don’t know if I want to grow it out, meh, whatever” …

What was the poor girl supposed to do with those directions? She took what I said and gave me a blunt bob, cleaned up my scraggly ends and trimmed my fringe.

I’ve received lots of compliments in the last few days from complete strangers, in which I’ve responded: “I hate it, but thanks” (I’m so very gracious). I personally think I look like a fat 8 year old Chinese boy and the people who have complemented me are obviously style deranged and blind. But in reality, the hair cut is probably lovely: it’s just not for me and hair is just very subjective and personal to oneself. 

Which brings me to the point of this post: you have to be responsible for your own hair, take ownership and be prepared for your haircuts. 

Some people bring in pictures of styles they like and I think this is a good start, but I’m thinking of going further with this, I’m creating a hair file to document my hair likes and dislikes and I’m going to explain why. I will never be unprepared again. Not only am I going to document first impressions but I’m also going to document the cut as it grows out. 

This may sound like it’s too much work, but it’s for my hair, my crowning glory and I never want a bad haircut again. 

So this is how I’m going to start:

Haircut: August 19th 2011.

Likes: 

Length of fringe (past my eyebrows) 

Dislikes: 

I do not like the overall length-(a straight bob an inch below my ears).

• this length makes my face and head look too big and round. 
• hair also starts to significantly curl on the right side at this length.

If I keep this up, I will have created a complete file on my hair, I will be able to go back and reference exactly why a certain style doesn’t work for me, but be able to interact intelligently with my stylist and explain why it doesn’t work and even discuss alterations to work towards the perfect cut. 

I’m perhaps going to do this in excel format or something that requires tables and rows. I’m already looking forward to my next cut!