Do The Watermelon Crawl

Bella Sugar posted a little note about a watermelon pedicure being offered at a salon in NYC. I thought it was super cute, and since I like to have fun with my toesies, I decided to copy it and present it to you guys. I'm certainly not going to New York any time soon, so I'll have to make do with D.I.Y. watermelon for now.

You will need:

• Hot pink or watermelon red nail polish, lime green, pale pink (like one you would use to do a french manicure), clear polish, and black.



• A fine paintbrush, nail art brush, or a couple toothpicks.



• French manicure adhesive guide strips.



• Polish remover, fruit scented lotion (watermelon if you can get it), pedicure goodies.
  
  

Step 1- Get your feet into fighting condition. Buff up your heels, trim your nails so that they are nice and straight, and give them a quick filing to soften the edges. Lotion up, and then remove all old polish. Even if you have bare toes to start with, give them a quick swipe to remove oils from your nails. Let dry.

Step 2 - Place the manicure strip along the edge of your nails so that no edges peek out. Ensure that there are no bubbles or warps and press it down firmly.

Step 3 - Paint the entire toe with the pink or red polish. Don't worry if you get some on the manicure strip, it will come off later.

Step 4 - Peel off the manicure strip. See how it left a nice clean line of unpainted toe? This will be the rind. With the fine paint brush, toothpick etc., paint this strip green. Rinse your brush thoroughly with polish remover.

Step 5 - With a steady hand, use the pale pink to draw a super fine line along the edge of the green and pink. Rinse the brush with polish remover.

Step 6 - Using the black, add 3 teardrop shaped dots on a diagonal line. These are the seeds. Rinse the brush.

Step 7 - Give everything a good coat of clear polish, slip on some flip flops, and go enjoy the sun with your new summery toes.

Listening to: Rainbow Stylin' -Royksopp

Haggard

Some days you need a little something extra to combat facial haggardness. One such day would be one where you are woken up at 3 a.m. with the tent collapsed around you. When you open the fly, you are greeted by snow. A lot of it. In May. Then, you have to pack up your camp in the dead dark wearing flip flops and drive an hour and a half back to your home. On such a day, you need to slather your face in Weleda Skin Food. Then you need to go to sleep.

Camping Beauty

This weekend, we Canadians have a holiday called Victoria Day. Like most Albertans, I'm choosing to celebrate my sovereign's birthday by camping, since May Long weekend is marked as the beginning of spring, and no amount of threatening snow and -3c temperatures will break through my heavy wall of denial. You hear me, weather man?! I will shiver in defiance in my tent.

So, just because I'm going to smell like I'm homeless, be wearing more layers than a hibernating bear, and feed solely from the tube meat food group (chuh, they didn't teach you about that one in kindergarden, did they?), I will not sacrifice looking like a human being. Juuuuust in case the park wardens come around to our campsite because there are empty fireworks lying around and something has blown up.

Not that anything like that has ever happened before. Nooooooo. Never.

I present to you my list of products to take on a camping trip. I've cut out all of the extras, like shiny lip gloss and eyeliner, that you may consider essentials when doing your thing at home. No body needs those when they are roughing it. Seriously, you will smell like a sasquatch by the end of the trip. It seems a little silly to be absolutely flawless when considering that fact.

1.) Sunscreen!

You are outside. All day. Fishing, hiking, rafting, building sandcastles, drinking a 50/50 blend of Baileys and coffee by the fire. You will get burned if you don't do something about it. Take some sunscreen. I use Befine's daily moisturizer with SPF 15, but you really should go higher SPF. Apocalypstick Now is a sunblock Nazi, and is doing a week of sunscreen reviews right now, so pick up one of her recommendations.

2.)Sport Sunblock

For the same reason you need sunscreen for your face, you need some for your body. Do you know what skin cancer looks like?! Get some waterproof stuff so that you don't need to reapply every time you go in the water or get sweaty.

3.) Burt's Bees

Because a weekend of chapped lips is no fun.

4.) Revlon's ColorStay Mineral Powder Foundation

Self contained, comes with it's own brush, evens out your skin, cuts the shine. What more do you need? A full liquid foundation takes too long to apply, you look like a moron trying to get it even by the light of a kerosene lamp, and when you step outside your tent into the gloriousness of nature, everyone can see how un-natural you are in comparison.

5.)Hair powder or dry shampoo

4 days of no showers can leave you looking like a ragamuffin. When you are going to a place where washing your hair would be extremely difficult and labour intensive, take the easy way and banish greasies and the smoke smell with a hair powder. Section your hair, sprinkle some powder near the roots, focussing on the hairline and your part, rub it in really well, and you are set. Bumble and Bumble makes hair colour specific powders, and TIGI makes Rockaholic dry shampoo.

6.)Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap

You can wash with it! You can clean with it! You can brush your teeth, douche, and replace deoderant with it! Well...maybe not those last 3, but this a pretty handy soap for all your camp needs. Buy the peppermint.

7.) Tube Lash mascara

If you're careful, you might be able to go all weekend without reapplying. Water and sleep proof, this stuff keeps you gorgeous, and is a snap to take off if you want or need to. Remember to give your lashes a good curl before applying.

8.) Bronzer

Fake the outdoorsy glow by brushing on some bronzer. I like Physicians Formula's Mineral Wear Bronzer because it is shimmer free and looks like a real tan (* see - not orange) on my skin.

There you have it! Even if the weather isn't beautiful, you will be - without looking like a prissy diva. Have a whole bunch of (safe) fun on your camping trips! Viva la Spring! Now, where's my beer and down filled jacket?

Listening to: Red Football - Sinead O'Connor

Tooootally Tubular, Dude!

Sorry, sorry, SORRY. I started a new job in a garden centre for the summer, and it is surprising how much it is taking out of me. I'm hot all day, I have to wear a lime green shirt that is not flattering with my skin tone and matches nothing in my closet, and my boss is anal retentive (and possibly autistic) and basically screams at everyone if they so much as breathe wrong. Yesterday he got mad at me for carrying my water bottle. I was on my lunch break.

Thus, I haven't had much time or energy to devote to this site for the last couple of days. But, working there gave me the opportunity (or the excuse, which ever way you want to look at it) to try out some new makeup, which I can now offer up as a procrastination tool for you guys.

The problem: The humidity and heat in the greenhouse was doing funny things to my mascara. It was flaky and smudgy when it hadn't been either before I started working. Plus, it got wet, and then bled down into the corners of my eyes. And none of my co-workers told me. All day.

What does this tell me (besides the fact that everyone working with me are assholes)? I needed to find a new, more durable mascara if I wished to keep my dignity at work. That's what.

So I combed through Apocalypstick Now's archives, and as that woman can do no wrong makeup-wise in my eyes, I decided to try out some tubey mascara on her recommendation.

I've explained the trouble with finding 'good' brands of makeup, and it was 9:45 p.m., so I went to Wal-Mart and picked up L'Oreal's Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara. It is a double sided wand with primer on one side and mascara on the other. The mascara is not like any other that you have used before. It quite literally makes little tubes around each lash. You can see the little hollowed out tubes when you wash it off. Speaking of which, washing it off is a breeze. You wet a wash cloth, press it down gently on your lashes, then splash water on your face a couple times. This combination of pressure and water is the only thing that removes the tubes, so you can indeed cry in it and nap in it (as Apocalypstick pointed out), without worrying that you'll frighten pets and small children afterward. No racoon eyes, no mess. Simplicity is beautiful, my friends.

The primer isn't anything special on the top lashes. Actually, the first time I used it, I thought it looked like it was laced with rat hairs (BellaSugar said that it looks like 'lash lice'. Ew.). It was generally clumpy, and made my lashes look brittle when the mascara went over top. I also couldn't see any real difference between the 'primed' lashes and the 'unprimed' ones when I tested it sans-primer. But, when used on the lower lashes, the primer really delivered. My bottom lashes were about half as long as my top lashes. They were so long they brushed the bags under my eyes. The primer also makes removal much easier, if you have trouble getting the lower level mascara free.

What I've found works best is applying my regular old mascara as a primer, then giving them a second coat with the tubey formula. Yeah, my BadGal Lash is now just a very expensive primer, but combined with the Double Extend, it looks like I've got fake eyelashes on. I think this trick would only work with a wax based mascara (BadGal, Maybelline's Full 'N Soft), as other types would be too hard by the time you swiped on the tubes and would result in may-jah clumping. The tube mascara alone works pretty good, but not so awsome that you should chuck out your old stand-by. But, if you have been having trouble with the staying power of regular mascara, but don't like the damage and hassle of water proof formulas, you should walk in the way of the tube. I'll have to try out some other brands and report back. Even at this early stage, I think I might be hooked.

Listening to: Back To The Start - Lily Allen

I DO Give A Fig

I have never tasted a fresh fig. By all accounts, they don't travel well, and it's not like Canada is known for growing exotic fruit, so all we get here are the dried ones. I imagine they are as different in taste as a grape is from a raisin. What has given me this sudden, odd, and unquenchable need to actually taste a fig?

Yes, my shower gel smells so good that I now need to track down the nearest Greek person and beg them to tell me where to get a friggin' fig. Damn you, Korres for putting dreams into my head that were never meant to be!

Guess I'll just go eat my fig newtons now...

Listening to: Don't Trust Me - 3OH!

Feel Gross? Curl Your Eyelashes!

Soooo...I'm sick with the ickiest tonsillitis in the world. The last thing I want to do is look like I'm feeling sick. Y'know what I mean? If I leave myself to be greasy, uncombed, unwashed, and uncared for, I feel way worse and all I want to do is curl up in a ball and die. But, if I force myself up, run a brush through my hair and swipe on some mascara, I feel at least 60% better. That is a statistical fact, you can check it yourself.

But lately, my lashes haven't been holding any curl. I'm using BadGal Lash by Benefit right now, and when I first put it on, everything curls right up and my lashes skim my eyebrows. But 5 minutes later, I'll catch a glimpse of myself and see that they have fallen completely flat. I might as well have done nothing at all. So, I asked myself: is it the mascara that is failing, or my crap $3 lash curler that I got at the grocery store? I picked the one that was cheapest to replace (and the words "got it at the grocery store" tipped me off that something might be amiss here).

So off I went to everyone's favorite big box store, took a gander at all of the torture tools, and was immediately caught up by LaCross' Double Curl Lash Curler. Double the curling points with half the work? And it's pink? Six Dollars? Pink? Done!

So basically, what this little gem does is crimps your lashes in 2 places with only one squeeze. That means you don't need to walk the curler out to get a graceful sweep of lash. It also means less chance that you will curl your lashes properly at the base, but then move the curler out for a second curl, hit in the middle of your lashes, and give yourself square lashes. It also helps if you want the curl of a heated lash curler, but are afraid of sticking hot things near your eyes (and so you should be!).

So...long story short, turns out that it was my crappy curler and not my mascara that was the problem. I know, big surprise. I now have curly, flirty lashes that stayed all the way through an evening date last night. I may have looked better than I felt, but I certainly would have felt much worse if I hadn't looked that good. Or...does that make any sense?...er...you know what I mean... Now excuse me, but I need some hot tea and a Strepsil. Big, flirty tonsils are not nearly as hot as big, flirty lashes.

On The Spot

My skin has been steadily getting better with my new skin care routine, but I still have a few red spots and undereye circles (as well as the occasional zit when I get lazy and fall asleep with my makeup on...). This means that a good concealer is still needed. I've tried quite a few, including CG's stick concealer and L'Oreal's mineral concealer, and while they work, they always have some little flaw that makes me cringe. The stick concealers always look a little chalky, and the mineral stuff was a little too dark and made my skin look oddly dry. I've been on the hunt for a good concealer since Burt's Bees stopped making their wonderful wax concealer. That stuff covered everything, stayed on through days at the beach, and didn't look weirdly fake. It was the ideal concealer: didn't look like anything was there, but also made blemishes look like they had disappeared too. And isn't that the point of a concealer? To make you look seamlessly flawless?

I think I have found a replacement! Revlon's Age Defying Spa concealer is my new favorite makeup item. It is quite obviously a rip off of YSL's Touche Eclat, but at under half price compared to the luxury brand, I'll take this fake any day. It is smooth and light, and you only need a touch of product to cover the nasties. Yay! Now lets just hope they don't discontinue this stuff like they do to all of my favorite makeup...RIP, Wings of Love...

Listening to: Loose Wires - Kenna

P.S. Sorry I haven't written for so long, it was exam week. I'm sure all two of you who read regularly were so worried...