Archive for December, 2006:
I’ve long been an advocate of coloring my own hair, not only because of the ease and convenience of it, but also because I personally feel like I almost have more control over the outcome of the color, because I get to choose the box color that most suits my needs and my hair color and skin tone.
Not only that, it’s WAY cheaper than the traditional salon price for an overall color. Depending on where you live, you’re usually going to pay (on the lower end) about $60 for overall color, more if you want highlights, to $120 for higher end salon color, and more if you want highlights.
The $12-$16 you might spend on a box of hair color sounds much more attactive. And my convictions were once more confirmed. I went to a salon that has a girl I go to for haircuts. She does a very good job on cutting hair, and I love the way my hair turns out when she cuts it usually.
But…..well I decided to give salon color another whirl, and I’m disappointed in the results. Our goal was to cover up my former highlights, so she used a filler, which made me confident that I wouldn’t end up with dark ends and lighter roots and hair closer to the roots.
Well, I was wrong. Not only is the haircolor way too dark for my complexion, the ends are nearly black and the top of my hair is a horrid blackish purple color. Its horrendous.
And to add insult to injury, I paid $80 for this atrocity. I’ll still go to salons for my cuts, but the color, that’s all gonna be me (unless I want highlights, because I suck at doing my own highlights).
I recently got a flyer in the mail from a plastic surgeon’s office that I had once called for a possible enermologie consultation (which I didn’t end up going to), well actually I got three of the same flyers from them, so they must have their mailing list messed up.
One of their new things for this coming up for this new year is the offer of a new soft tissue filler from the manufacterers of Botox called Juvederm.
Only selected plastic surgeons have been selected to use this product so far apparently. Juvederm is an injected tissue filler that is made of hyaluronic acid and is formulated to be a smoother, less painful process than other soft tissue fillers, with an easier subdermal delivery.
The exceptional thing about the Juvederm filler is that it is formulated to last six months or even more, while many other wrinkle and fine line fillers are simply absorbed by the body and “go away” after just a few months.
The product is still supposedly in initial trials though, as the flier says, and only selected people are able to administer the product until the trials are over. Does this mean it’s been deemed 100% safe? Well it must be FDA approved I would think to be used in public offerings, but I’m still questioning why the flier said “trials”.. Hmm….
The 20 year old winner of the Miss USA title (that boring show that’s sponsored by Donald Trump and no one cares about it, until now), Tara Conner, who sports a perfect, tiny frame and beautiful hair as well as a very pretty face, looks like she’ll be losing her crown due to some hard partying and controversially unethical ways, including kissing other girls, public drunkenness and drug use, and overall “unladylike” behavior that is unbecoming of the Miss USA title.
Her runner up, Tamiko Nash, a dark haired, exotic beauty, looks like she may be sporting the title as the new Miss USA as early as next week if the Donald decides to fire her for this negative publicity (or maybe he likes the publicity, the Donald is known for loving a little exposure, to put it mildly).
The runner up is a woman who is actually 27 years old, and hopefully knows how to conduct herself a little more appropriately, and she also supposedly has a lot of experience working with charities and homeless shelters, something that America can look up to rather than a title holder’s Hollywood partying ways.
Hopefully we can get a beauty queen who has more than looks, but also integrity and class. Even though she’s only 20 years old, I know a lot of 20 year olds who have a good head on their shoulders and know how to conduct themselves, so that excuse can only go so far.
That’s right, the ever popular Botox (TM) cosmetic injections for fine lines, wrinkles and forehead and crows feet freezing, is now available in prominent malls around the US to women who are shopping and want to get a little “work” done at the same time.
Upscale spas that specialize in pampering body treatments, other things like microdermabrasion and haircuts or massages, and anti aging skincare are now offering the immensely popular injectable solution as a part of their standard program, and women seem to be eating it up in these upscaled malls around the US so far.
These types of spas which offer “medical” grade cosmetic services like Botox injections have been dubbed “medical spas” since they are allowed and acredited to perform these types of semi-invasive procedures in a spa environment.
Just a word of caution, if you go into a spa such as this, make sure you see that the person administering the Botox is a licensed practitioner of either dermatology or plastic surgery, since this will be a safe assurance that you are getting a procedure done by a licensed professional, not a person who has just been trained to perform it but never accredited, if that makes any sense.
I almost died when I read this one. I was surfing the net, looking for any new inventions in the lip plumper market, seeing if maybe they finally came out with some highly effective way to nonsurgically enlarge your lips.Of course, I ended up with the same old rehashed lip enhancement products that contain just about the same ingredients, and my personal favorite so far Lip Fusion, but nothing new and extraordinary.
I did come across something curious though. A website selling deep hypnosis therapy cd’s which promised to make you have fuller lips through hypnosis.
While I was of course intrigued, I read through the site, and the authors did not do a good job of explaining exactly how their deep hypnosis could actually plump the lips, nor did they even provide any convincing testimonials for people it had worked for. Heck, they barely even gave a product description!
Just a name fo the program, and a price, which wasn’t exorbitant, but also would have felt like a waste of money for such an intangible and unproven method of lip enlargement. While hypnosis does help people to quit smoking and lose weight, among other things, I doubt it could actually plump the lips. I’d have to see some evidence before I’d even venture to consider it could be effective at all….
I had tried this product initially about two years ago, when I really didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on beauty products, so for me, buying the high-tech self tanner called Xen-Tan for almost $40 for one bottle was quite a splurge.But back then, I was very dedicated to maintaining a self-tan almost all of the time. Now, I try to self tan when I can, but I’m not nearly as dedicated as I used to be. Being in a long term relationship will do that 
Now, two years later, I want to try it again since I have a little more cash flow and I need something that gives me fairly dramatic results in just one application since I am so white I think I glow in the dark at this point. That’s the best thing about Xen-Tan, by the way.
The results are pretty noticeable with the first application, thanks to a very deep instant tan color (which unfortunately does wash off when you take a shower), and a fairly high concentration of the active self tanning ingredient which actually turns the skin shades darker, called DHT (a sugar derivative, and currently the only approved ingredient for turning skin darker, I’m hoping this changes).
Here’s what I liked about Xen-Tan 2 years ago, and I’m hoping I still like the stuff, because I just ordered the Dark Self Tanning Cream, the Sunless Tan Extender, and the self tanner for the face (which is new) :
1.) It goes on dark the first time, a second application makes you very dark, if spaced within one day of the first one.
2.) It doesn’t stink as bad as other self tanners, in fact it smells very good at first. When the DHT kicks in and you start to develop a self tan though, you will notice that faint sunless tanning odor.
3.) A little goes a long way. It’s a very thick cream, and a little bit goes pretty far.
Cons :
1.) It is cost prohibitive. It’s a small investment really if you think about it!
2.) Due to it’s extremely dark color, you cannot wear white or light colors after applying it.
Like I said, I did buy two other products in conjunction with the Dark Self Tanning Creme, so I will also be reviewing those once I use them!
I’ve decided (for the fun of it), to compile my top five Chirstmas Beauty Wishlist. Keep in mind, for a beauty product junkie such as myself, this list probably doesn’t even scrape the tip of the iceberg!
I’ll admit it, when it comes to the latest in beauty, skin care, and my personal favorite, hair care and lip plumping, I can’t get enough! So, without further ado, here is my top five Christmas wishlist items for this holiday season. I haven’t actually asked for any of these yet, but I’m definitely going to buy them myself soon after the holiday season, perhaps with some gift money, who knows!
1.) Sedu Flat Iron and Hair Dryer – ‘Cause all this research I’ve done on the Sedu hair styling tools has made me feen for the celebrity favorite line, and I’ve read nothing but good reviews on their stuff.
2.) Lip Fusion XL and Cushy Lips - Because I’ve been reading about these newer Lip Fusion products and the newcomer Cushy Lips, which is a more concentrated, serious version of the original lip pumper, and even though it’s about ten bucks more than the already kind of expensive lip plumper, I’m curious to see what it can do as far as long term natural lip plumping.
3.) Revitol Newer Skin Care Anti Aging Line – This anti aging and anti wrinkle line of skincare has tempted me to toss aside my Strivectin and give it a try.
4.) Additional Lypossage Treatments – Since my first 6 week round seemed to have smoothed out a lot of dimples, but not quite really done the job I need it to, I’m thinking about treating myself (not anytime soon though, it’s expensive) to another six week round of the cellulite reduction treatments, to see if I can achieve an even smoother appearance in my cellulite on my target areas of hips and buttocks.
5.) Several more pigments in the L’Oreal HIP line of hyper pigmented eyeshadows and other makeups. I have one of the colors in the eyeshadow, a duo that is brownish/green and I really love it, so I want to try out the blues and purple, and greys since they’re as brightly colored as jewels, and don’t fade easily.
I’m very excited about this new page I created in honor of the excellent celeb favorite hair styling tool line called “Sedu”. Sedu flat irons and hair dryers are top of the line celeb stylist favorites when it comes to creating the sleep hair do’s and wavy, yet silky hair styles on your favorite, most hair-idolized celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Ms. Lopez.
Sedu is unique because they have a high tech way of getting shine to infuse into the hair, as well as minimalizing the damage done to the hair from heat exposure through Tourmaline technology and ionic therapy technology (read about them here on the new page : Sedu Tourmaline and Ionic Hair Styling Tools.
There are also some great Sedu Hair Style Tips to be had, so be sure to check it out. Hmm.. maybe you could ask for Sedu for Christmas! It’s still not too late…..or maybe you can give the gift of great hair to yourself for Christmas…just an idea!
I’ve put together a new page on the practice of getting plumper, fuller lips the natural way. It’s really only comprised of two suggested products that are natural lip plumpers, which essentially use the body’s own water to help plump and fill out the lips without the use of needles (collagen or other injectable solutions that plump lips), or lip implants like the horribly unnatural gortex and other plastic-like products that can be implanted in to the lips to make them puffier (just my humble opinion though!).
There are ways to plump your lips naturally, and this will tell you some little tips that you can use to your advantage when you’re using a lip plumping product.
Everyone it seems nowadays wants those full, sexy lips like Angelina Jolie’s, simply because they are usually seen of a sign of femininity, and believe it or not, full lips actually signal a sign of sexuality to both men and women, as a sign of fertility.
So you see, we are all inclined to think a full pair of lips on a person is attractive, because we are essentially biologically programmed to view them as desirable! So read on, here’s the new page : Natural Ways to Plump the Lips
Believe it or not, this was a fairly popular and cheap home remedy to bags under the eyes before companies started coming out with all the high tech skin care products dubbed “cosmeceuticals” starting from the year 2000 and on. Preparation H, the popular hemorrhoid cream that is used to soothe hemorrhoids are used primarily on hemorrhoids as an anti-inflammatory and swelling agent, so that hemorrhoids are not as painful and do not “get in the way” as much.
If you think about it, it does make sense that Preparation H can help with bags under the eyes, since it is an anti swelling agent for hemorrhoids. But, should you really be using something that is meant for your hind quarters on your precious facial skin?
Well, unfortunately Preparation H may not be all that great of an option for under eye bags and maybe even do a little good as an anti-wrinkle measure, as attention was drawn to this home remedy when other harsh ingredients were explored in the formula which could be potentially damaging to the delicate tissue under the eyes.
I would probably steer clear of this home remedy, since our under eye skin is one of the most important areas of our face. Looking young and fresh in this area can literally take years off of our face, and we don’t want to screw that up simply to get rid of some bags!
A better home remedy might be putting cucumber slices under the eyes, or ice cubes for a short time, just to naturally relieve the under eye swelling. At least these are all natural and soothing, and you do not risk the possibility of damaging this precious area of skin!
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