It’s Friday and I’m heading off to Vegas, baby!

Being that this is the first time in a long time that I’m visiting Sin City in the spring (it’s supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow!) and there’s only one thing I want to do when I get there – hit the pool, baby!  Okay second thing since the first thing will be the Blackjack table when I arrive tonight at 9pm 

But before I soak in the sun and chlorine tomorrow at the Venetian Hotel pool, I need to prep to make sure my skin is as soft as can be.

First, exfoliate!  Slosh off dead skin cells to reveal brighter, softer you.  I’ve tried many body scrubs and exfoliators and one of my favorites is Thymes Essentials Body Scrub ($36 US).  It’s a sugar scrub that smells deliciously citrusy like tangerines, grapefruit, and orange.

(more…)

Over the past few weeks I’ve been contemplating whether or not to grow out my hair.  Longtime readers of this blog will know that I underwent a major hair change, chopping off my long locks for the first time in over 7 years last March.  And while I liked the sassy, short ‘do, there’s not very much I can do with it to change it up when my fancy strikes.

Now, my hair is in that ugly, middle stage where it doesn’t know what to do with itself and I need to decide if I’m going to ride it out and grow it long, or give my mane that trim it so desperately needs.

During my dilemma, I was excited to be given the opportunity to try Hairdo Clip-In Extensions from Jessica Simpson and her hair guru, Ken Paves.  I thought this would a fun way for me to see myself with long hair again so I could truly decide if I wanted my flowing locks again.

Here I am with my regular hair as it looks like today.  It’s about shoulder length with longer sections around the front of my face.

(more…)

{Image Source}

Is it just me or does Marisa Tomei seems to be frozen in time?  Tomei is as beautiful now, if not more beautiful, than she was back when she won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1992’s My Cousin Vinny!

Tomei’s look at Sunday’s Academy Awards did not disappoint. Although there were some naysayers who found her gown too fussy, I thought the look overall was gorgeous. My favorite part of the look was the haphazard-but-thoughtfully-styled coif.

For the special night, Tomei looked to Frederic Fekkai’s Adir Abergel to create a hairstyle that would complement the ivory gown. Abergel’s inspiration for the hair was the cascades of soft movement winding along the twists and turns of her dress.

Here are his tips on how to get the look:

(more…)

The word Persepolis conjures up images of Persian women with their exotic kohl-lined eyes and sultry stares.  The shimmery sea foam green and royal blue NARS eyeshadow duo of the same name brings up similar images.

Lilan gifted me with the NARS eyeshadow duo a while ago but unfortunately, the colors are too bold to be added it into my daily makeup routine (I work in a typical office environment).  The colors are also so vibrant and memorable that I can’t wear it too often as it often overpowers the rest of my makeup and outfit.  However, I’m happy to say that I have found a happy medium.

To make the most of NARS’s dynamic eyeshadows, I use them as powder eye liners.  I’m sure there are many readers out there who have either received an odd colored shadow color or bought one that ended up being too difficult to use.  This trick should work with all those colors and save them from makeup purgatory.

Tools Needed:  Slant-Angle liner brush, Smudge Blush and eyeshadow duo

I recommend the Sephora Professionnel Platinum makeup brushes.  They are a good value (compared with Shu Uemura and NARS brushes) and most of them are made of natural fibers so they are easier to work with.

Step 1:

Take the smudge brush and press it into the deeper blue shade.  Do not rub the brush back and forth in the eyeshadow.  Then, gently press the powdered brush (either wet or dry) along the lash line of the top eyelid.  Do not drag the brush across the lash line.  Instead, continue to dip the brush into the shadow and deposit the color onto eyes.

Repeat steps until the top lash line has been outlined with the darker color.  In the case of the Persepolis color kit, the royal blue shadow would line my top eyelid.

Step 2:

Now take the slant-angle liner brush and dip it into the lighter, seafoam green and line the bottom eyelid.  Again, do not rub or drag the brush along the lash line, instead press the color onto the brush then gently color on the lower lash line.

Pressing the colors along the lash line, instead of rubbing, saves your brushes from excess wear and tear as well as guarantee that more color will be deposited where you want it instead of dusting around your eye.

(more…)

I hadn’t had my hair professionally colored in nearly a year so I thought I’d go big or go home right before my 30th birthday (oy it’s coming soon!).

Last week I stopped by MNKYTHMP (pronounced sort of like ‘monkey thump’) in Union Square, the only Redken Elite salon in San Francisco.  MNKYTHMP‘s doors have been open for about a year now hosting a melting pot of stylists and colorists from all around San Francisco so I was excited to experience a new salon to sass up my color.

A little history: every so often when I break up with my current colorist to go with a new one, I usually tell him or her that I’m open to any color or style and let them go to town.  But my experience with Carissa from MNKYTHMP was very different.

Yes, I told her I was pretty laid back and was not picky with my hair but she surprised me by asking lots of questions about my regular styling routine and what colors in clothes and jewelry I like to wear.  This helped her determine what to do to my hair to make it gorgeous while keeping maintenance easy for me.

She definitely made me feel like my look was tailored specifically for me.

After a few minutes of discussing, we decided on deep violet red chunks using a block coloring technique and then warmed up my base color making it a couple of shades lighter.  Here’s my before photo!

While Carissa was mixing my color – MNKYTHMP uses Redken colors exclusively – I walked around the huge salon and snapped some photos.   Talk about spacious! What makes MNKYTHMP unique is that they’re a hair salon as well as a spa, so you can spend the entire afternoon pampering if you want to.

Once my color was applied and processed, we went back to the shampoo station to wash it out and apply my Redken Chemistry shots.

(more…)