Your Hair Always Looks Better The Morning After...
5 October 2012, 14:13
My hair is a major state of flux right now. After having long extensions for years, my hair is finally long enough that I don’t need them! As Shangela would say, HALLELU! I can actually put my hair up in a ponytail! (Fellow short-haired girls will understand my excitement about this!)
But you know me, I like to fiddle around, so I ordered some clip-in extensions. I actually ordered two sets in two different lengths: one set for when I want to rock my lob (which will be 90% of the time), and a longer set for when I want to do glamour.
As I placed the order, I was trying to justify the purchase to myself, & recalling my favourite hair moments… & I had a realisation.
I don’t like my hair best when I go & get a blow-out, or when I’ve just walked out of a salon. I appreciate being primped & preened, of course, but you know what? I like my hair best the morning after.
Yeah, morning after hair is my favourite. You know, when it’s still holding its curl but it has become less perfect. It’s a bit messy from sleeping on it, & your beehive is mostly still in place. It looks effortlessly chic & sexy. It’s the way we think our hair would somehow magically look all the time if we moved to Paris! RIGHT?
Let’s take ALL these photos as an example. These were taken the day after our insane, dusty, fabulous photoshoot in Las Vegas. Kat, Nubby & I are all rocking morning after hair, & might I say, we look superb. A little undone in the best way possible.
I have to admit that I’m very spoiled in the hair arena (not because I have luscious locks, because after a million years of peroxide, I certainly don’t!), because Paul Mitchell sends me products to run through my tresses & experiment with whenever I please.
I was, of course, delighted to discover that you can TOTALLY FAKE your morning after hair. Yeah, you can have morning after hair the day of! All it takes is a smattering of Ultimate Wave™, which gives you lovely beachy texture without the hassle of getting sand in your swimsuit.
How exquizz is that? Very exquizz INDEED.
You can snap up your own tube of Ultimate Wave™ by finding a salon! (& tell them I sent you, will ya?)
So, what’s your curl confession? Do you, like me, prefer your hair the day after? Or do you have some other fabulous hair secret? You can share it on the Truth About Curls Facebook app using the hashtag #curlconfession. How modern!
This post was sponsored by the well-tressed people at Paul Mitchell. Merci beaucoup!
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A Very Beauty-Full Announcement!
30 July 2012, 08:25
Gasp! I’m now the Beauty & Style Editor at xoJane.com!
Yes, this is my big news! I am extremely excited to be joining the team at xoJane & having a brand-spankin’ new outlet for my enthusiasm & weirdness! I’ll be contributing a few times a week, writing about everything from how to get perfect sex hair to eyeliner that won’t run when you cry.
It all happened very quickly. Emily emailed me to ask if I’d be interested in the position on Sunday, & after walking around Central Park all day thinking about it, I asked if we could meet on Monday to discuss it. Our meeting was amazing, with Jane, Emily & I all getting way too excited & chatting up a storm! I had signed the contract by the end of the day. Bada-bing, bada-boom!
One of the best things about my new gig — other than the tremendous awesomeness of the xoJane staff & their hot pink offices — is that I feel like it will enable me to focus more on radical self love on galadarling.com.
Even though I’ve been writing about fashion & beauty here for almost six years (!!!), it’s time for galadarling.com to be more geared towards all things that help us fall in love with ourselves. That’s my focus & my passion! I get the biggest response from the articles that seek to help us become happier, stronger & more interesting, & I really want this site to be your one-stop-shop for all things radical self love! I’m very excited about narrowing my focus in this way.
As always, if there’s anything you’d love me to write about, or anything you’re having trouble with, please let me know!
Anyway, if you want to head over to xoJane & give me a big happy welcome, I’d love that! & don’t worry if you do love my beauty & fashion stuff, because I’ll be letting you know when my pieces go up over at xoJane!
Thanks so much to Jane & Emily for adopting me into their family of strange but brilliant girls. It’s a really lovely thing.
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My #1 Beauty Secret... At A Grocery Store Near You!
25 July 2012, 14:26
Photo by Luis Guillen.
No, it doesn’t come in a fancy bottle. It doesn’t smell like an expensive French spa or feel luxurious when you use it. In fact, it smells like salad dressing & it tastes downright disgusting.
My #1 beauty secret is apple cider vinegar… & based on the number of questions I got when I tweeted this Beauty Bender article about my beauty routine, it’s something not a lot of people know about!
Apple cider vinegar — as the name suggests — is a type of vinegar made from apples. As the apples begin to ferment, enzymes & nutrients are produced which act like super-chargers! That’s not very exciting, but what is exciting are the amazing things contained in apple cider vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar contains malic acid which makes ACV anti-viral, anti-bacterial & anti-fungal; potassium which prevents hair loss, brittle teeth & runny noses; calcium which is good for strong bones & teeth; pectin which helps to regulate blood pressure & reduce bad cholesterol; & acetic acid which slows the digestion of starch, that in turn lowers the rise of glucose after eating.
What else can ACV do for you? You can dab it on blemishes & watch them disappear overnight, drink a spoonful every morning & see your skin become brighter & clearer, or even add it to your pet’s dinner to promote a healthy coat! (Your pet probably won’t be happy you did this — Hank makes faces every time we add some to his meal — but it’s very good for him.) Apple cider vinegar is also known to prevent joint pain & stiffness, break down fats & speed up your metabolism, & works as a remedy for heartburn. It will even dissolve warts. See? It’s practically a miracle!
Blah blah blah facts. What you really want to know is whether it works. I say YES. I can attest to ACV’s power as a tremendous skin phenomenon. I swear that it clears up your skin & will give it a lovely glow. Go out & buy some, & drink it religiously every day. See if it makes a difference after a month! (Be sure to give it some time to work: two days isn’t enough research!) Plus, it’s so cheap to buy a bottle that if you don’t see any change after a month, you can always just stop. Not like those super-expensive cosmetic lines that make you feel like you need to sell organs to fund your habit!
How should you use it? I keep it simple, & knock back a tablespoon of the stuff every morning. It’s part of my morning routine, just like taking my vitamins & doing a gratitude list!
If you don’t think you can hack the taste of undiluted ACV — & I wouldn’t blame you, it’s definitely an acquired taste! — simply add a tablespoon to a glass of water, & drink it that way. You can even add honey or agave to sweeten it up a little. I recommend having some food in your stomach before you do this, because the “vinegar” part of the name is no joke: as sweet Liza pointed out to me (hello!), it can damage your teeth, throat & stomach when you drink it undiluted. So be careful, you sweet thing!
Alternatively, you can use it as a salad dressing… but don’t use too much!
Do you have a CRAZY amazing beauty secret too? Share them with us on Facebook... Or we’ll come after you & your lovely face, demanding the mysteries of your ungodly beauty!
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Like A Kawaii Kelly Bundy: My Adventures In The World Of Japanese Manicures!
21 May 2011, 21:01
My first experience in a nail salon was when I came to New York City in September of 2006. I was staying in the Chelsea Hotel at the time. Every day we would would go out & discover the city, & return to the room in the evening bearing flowers or Chinese food. One night, my boyfriend was sleeping, & I ventured out into the street to get my nails done.
I walked into this crazy, frantic place full of women who didn’t speak very good English, & a bunch of bored-looking American ladies. I had never had my nails done before, so had no idea what the procedure was. I was laughing & smiling at the ridiculousness of the whole affair, but the woman who was working on me was not amused. She performed her rote tasks & sent me on my way. It was an uninspiring beginning, to say the least!
Despite my dour debut, I was committed to the search for a better manicure experience. I have encountered many, many other nail salons since. Thankfully, none were as disappointing as my first! In fact, you could say that they keep getting better & better.
I discovered Galleria when I moved to the East Village two years ago, & I adore them. They take their time, which I appreciate. I go to Galleria to relax. I don’t want to rush my mani/pedi experience! Yeah, take your time, girl! Scrub my calluses! Massage my legs! Make it count! Ooh, yeah! I adore Galleria & recommend them to everyone. They are fantastic. HEAPS of my readers go there now too, which makes me feel really good!
But… well… you know, I have this obsession with bigger & bolder. I always want more. It has gotten me into trouble more than once, but now I manage to restrict my bigger-better complex to certain facets of my life. Nails, for example. It is okay to trade up when it comes to nails!
I had had enough of OPI nailpolishes with a bit of sparkle thrown in. I wanted BLING on my nails. I wanted something truly ridiculous & over-the-top. It’s pretty safe to say that Japanese women have the lockdown on c-r-a-z-y nails, & I wanted to experience it for myself!
That’s how, on Friday evening, I experienced my first ever Calgel manicure. Calgel is a nail treatment which is painted on & then essentially baked to harden. It doesn’t damage your natural nails & allows them to grow long & strong — always an issue for me, my nails break if I look at them funny! Calgel also creates a fantastic base for all kinds of nail art. It is pretty much the manicure holy grail.
I had known about Calgel for AGES, & as such, I had done my research. By all accounts, Sakura in the East Village was the place to go — & even better, on the same street as my favourite juice bar!
I had such a great time, but it didn’t come off entirely without a hitch. Firstly, the appointment I had made a week in advance had mysteriously disappeared from their calendar. They had no record of me! At all! After searching for my name & phone number in their system, & apologising profusely, I said I’d go home, check my calendar & book for another time. Administrative issues be damned; I wanted those Calgels!
Luckily for me, as I was halfway up the stairs, they called out & asked if I could come back in twenty minutes. Of course I could! I ordered a juice & when I came back to Sakura, I sat in their waiting area & flicked through back issues of Nail Up! magazine. Have you ever seen that magazine? My god. It is unbelievable.
Overwhelmed by choice & slightly boggled by the fact that I really could get ANYTHING on my nails, I wasn’t totally sure what to do. I took a few snaps of some designs I liked, including this one, which was my front-runner. But when I was called up to the nail technician’s chair, my mind went blank.
“Um… I’ve never done this before,” I started. She smiled at me, surely thinking it was about to be a looooong appointment! Suddenly, I had a flash of inspiration. I turned & grabbed my hoodie off the back of the chair. It’s a simple black hooded sweatshirt from Victoria’s Secret, but on the back of it is embroidered LOVE PINK. The “LOVE” is in light pink sequins, while the “PINK” is magenta sequins, with an amazing leopard-print all over it.
I held it up.
“Do you think you could replicate THIS?”, I asked.
She looked it over, then nodded, seriously. “Yes.”
Hoodie from Victoria’s Secret — it’s my go-to sweater!
What followed was three hours — no foolin’ — of nail mania. After a very basic manicure (filing my nails & pushing back the cuticles), we began. My nail technician would put on a coat of Calgel, mix it with some hot pink glitter, then painstakingly apply it so it didn’t look blotchy or uneven. When she was done with two fingers, she would instruct me to stick them into the little UV light machine.
After we had done two coats of hot pink glitter, it was time to add the leopard print. She grabbed some tubes of acrylic paint & a bundle of insanely skinny brushes, then got to work mixing up a light pink colour. She would paint dots of it on my nail, then trace half the shape in black to create the leopard print. We finished up with a layer of fine, pale pink irridescent glitter over the top, & a clear top coat.
Of course, I was delighted. Who wouldn’t be?!
Calgel manicures last 3 weeks, & all that UV light means that when you walk out of the salon, your nails are completely dry! There’s no fear of messing them up, which is fantastic for those of us who are hard on our hands. This stuff is solid.
It doesn’t come cheap, though. When I got my total — $100 — my eyes almost bugged out of my head. The breakdown? $70 for glitter, $30 for the design. Oh, & of course there is gratuity!
But when you consider that a good quality manicure in New York City is about $40 — & it only lasts about a week — Calgel starts to sound like a better & better option. ...If you have three hours to spare, that is!
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Shout Out To San Francisco!
29 September 2010, 11:57
Just a quick note to my girls in San Francisco! Remember the amazing make-up Lauren Warner did on me for Wicked Schoolgirls On The Streets Of San Francisco & Eccentric Heiress In Dolores Park?
Well, Lauren is teaching two make-up master classes at Macy’s in Union Square in San Francisco tomorrow! The details are below! (I would normally include this in Friday’s Carousel but I just found out, & don’t want you to miss it!)
A Personal Appearance of Professional Make Up Artist Lauren Warner
Tutorial Master Class
Sept. 30. 2010
12:00 & 6:00
Macy’s Union Square, San Francisco
Reserve your space now!
415-296-4187
Tutorial will cover:
Skin: Prepping, foundations, concealers, bronzers, blushes and highlights.
Eyes: Clean look, day to day business casual, and smoky, sultry, night time eyes.
Lips: Full natural and nude lips, colorful and luscious for day, defined and sensuous for drama.
Special effects: Tricks and tips for special events and dynamic party looks.
I would be there in a heartbeat if it wasn’t on the other side of the country! Lauren has been in the business for a long time & she knows what she’s doing! Go meet her & learn some AMAZING tricks from one of the best make-up artists I’ve ever met!
Oh, & by the way… it’s free! Just make sure to reserve your space!
Have fun, & take your friends!
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