Unwanted Facial Hair: How to Get Rid of It

By becksta on 6/30/10 3:57pm
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At Least Your Mustache is Not This Bad!At Least Your Mustache is Not This Bad!I was about 17 or 18 when my brother ever-so-helpfully pointed out that I had a mustache. It was exactly what I needed to hear during my rather tumultuous adolescence and my younger brother was just exactly the person to hear it from -please note the sarcasm as it was definitely intended.

At the time, I had no idea that facial hair was a common problem for women- I thought I was a freak and didn’t know what to do. My mother didn’t have a mousetache and I had never noticed whether any other members of my family had one. I was severely traumatized.

The hairs are noticeable. I was embarrassed to have a “friend” joke about my stache in a public place the other day, just the same way you would be embarrassed if a friend joked about a pimple- not a nice feeling.


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Salon Debacle #379

By becksta on 6/16/10 4:19pm
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Tiger-Please Note the HairTiger-Please Note the HairI don’t know a single woman who hasn’t had a hair debacle. I had my 379th hair trauma last week in preparation for a wedding that I’m not even going to go to.

I was at the mall shopping for a dress- beach casual, whatever that is, and feeling incredibly frustrated because where I live, there aren’t many weddings requiring beach casual attire and none of the sales clerks knew what I was talking about. I tried on dress after dress (none of which looked good except for a dress made for evening wear- decidedly not beach casual) and even phoned a friend from a dressing room to get a second opinion.


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The High Cost of Beauty

By becksta on 5/18/10 2:59pm
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The Cost of BeautyThe Cost of Beauty

I am not about to disclose my own personal choices for hair removal, beauty products, hair cuts, and the like, but I will say I am staggered by the costs of beauty and beauty-related expenses where I live.

How the women around here afford their typical beauty "maintenance" remains a mystery to me.

A full-leg wax plus a bikini wax is actually a deal at $60 at a nearby salon. Add in $15 for eyebrows for those who aren't too handy with the tweezers and you have a monthly cost of $75 alone just to remove your unwanted hair from your face and body.


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Hints for Avoiding Orange Skin

By becksta on 5/3/10 2:00pm
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Barbie with too Much Orange FoundationBarbie with too Much Orange FoundationOoompas are the orange-skinned dancing and singing employees from the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Unfortunately, everywhere I look, I see Ooompa doppelgangers. While the young women I see are not exactly singing and dancing everywhere they go, their skin is strangely orange-colored.

Usually, the Ooompa wanna-bes are teenagers or in their early 20's who have yet to realize that the color of the foundation or spray-on tanning lotion that they apply to their skin actually makes a difference. Often, their natural beauty is covered up with thick, glommy orange foundation, which is probably not their intent.


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I Love the Babyliss Pro

By becksta on 4/23/10 4:28pm
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Babyliss ProBabyliss ProIf flat-irons were Quidditich broom sticks, the Babyliss Pro would definitely be the flat-iron equivalent of the Nimbus 2000. In a tiny way, the Babyliss Pro has actually changed my life by giving me the confidence in my ability to style my hair on my own.

A few weeks ago, I went into a store specializing in beauty products in desperate need of a new flat iron. I hadn’t purchased one in over ten years and had blamed my inability to straighten my hair on my own ineptitude until a friend let me in on a little secret- my old flat iron sucked ass.


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ELLE Magazine Says Freckles are In

By becksta on 4/22/10 10:41am
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Will Freckles Replace Smoky Eyes?Will Freckles Replace Smoky Eyes?

If you are worried about the freckles on your face distracting from your natural beauty, don’t. According to ELLE magazine and their Make-Up and Skin-Care writer, fair faces and freckles are definitely IN. As a matter of fact, freckles are so in that one make-up artist is actually freckling models’ faces with eyebrow pencil.

Miyako Okamoto is a Shiseido make-up artist who believes that adding freckles adds “a fresh, youthful image.” She sprinkles the freckles around the cheeks and the bridge of the models’ noses for a “healthy look”.


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Cost-Saving Beauty Advice from Beautiful Women

By becksta on 4/13/10 12:44pm
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Beauty TipsBeauty TipsTimes are tough and maintaining beauty through beauty products, salon visits and the like has not gotten any cheaper, but as women we are still expected to look our best. I recently asked some advice from “beauty experts” I know about how to look good while saving money. Here are a few of their tips:



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Enhancing Your Hair Color the Natural Way

By becksta on 3/29/10 1:25pm
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Try Hair Coloring the Natural WayTry Hair Coloring the Natural WayAlthough heading to the salon for a pedicure, manicure, facial, and full-on clip and color can make you feel and look absolutely marvelous, it’s nice to be able to take care of your hair and beauty needs at home, without the use of chemicals or a Visa. I would say that 50% of the women I know color their hair at least a little bit, whether to hide the gray, add a hint of blonde, get some deeper undertones, or to get a little more Va-va-va-voom from their natural red-hair.

Between salon visits, there are a few ways to give your hair a little help in the color department without taking out a second mortgage on your home for the “processing” or using chemical treatments on your hair.

Brunettes:


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Exfoliating Coffee Face & Body Scrub

By becksta on 3/22/10 8:54pm
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Coffee BeansCoffee BeansFor today’s beauty project, I chose to make an exfoliating body scrub out of coffee grounds. Coffee is a secret ingredient used in many spas throughout the world, and after making my Coffee Body Scrub and using it to exfoliate with in the shower, I can definitely see the allure.

First, I brewed some organic coffee for myself, and two cups later, was awake enough to get started on “my creation”. I saved the coffee grounds and put them into a bowl. I added about a table spoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of vanilla, some brown sugar and a little bit of cinnamon to make the scent a little spicier. I then added sea salt, which is also used to exfoliate the skin.


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Save Money by Making Your Own Masque

By becksta on 3/21/10 5:45pm
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I can’t afford a facial, a chemical peel, or any other professional exfoliating skin care to give my skin up a leg up, so I’ve decided to try a few “home skin remedies”. For the sake of full disclosure, I will tell you that I found some recipes on the net, substituted many ingredients and make absolutely no claims whatsoever about how effective my “skin-care treatments” are.

Let me know if they work, and who knows- maybe I’ll have my own natural skin-care line in a few years, but don’t count on it. The Ingredients: Quinoa, Honey, and YoghurtThe Ingredients: Quinoa, Honey, and Yoghurt

For the first Masque, I tried a strange mixture of Yoghurt, Honey, and Quinoa. (Most recipes I saw called for Oatmeal and not Quinoa, but I went out on a limb and made a substitution without consulting a single skin care expert or the Internet.)

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