Category: Beauty

Product Review: Cristalbox Keratin Hair Mask

I’ve been watching videos of women with Keratin treatments on social media for years. They are fascinating. The hair looks fake and like it’s made of plastic but the hair has a liquid quality to it. It looks beautiful.

The models in these videos usually have naturally straight and long hair. I don’t have naturally straight or long hair but I decided to try a keratin treatment to see what affect it would have on my hair. My hair is naturally kinky and chemically straightened. I describe it as spongy.

The keratin mask is easy to use and not time consuming. The mask left my hair very soft and bouncy and it smells nice. I’m glad I decided to try the product. I wasn’t sure what to expect so I didn’t want to invest a great deal. I ordered a Keratin Hair Mask by Cristalbox for $11.99. I was pleased with the product and recommend it for anyone.

Product Review: Pro Dip Super Nail

I tried the Pro Dip Super Nail kit last night. I bought it from Sally Beauty Supply from $34.49. Overall I don’t care for this product. Pro Dip Super Nail is an at home nail dip kit that doesn’t require a UV light.

The kit comes with pink nail dip, activator/base coat, brush cleaner, a file, orange sticks and dip remover pads. The activator is super glue. You polish your nails with super glue and then dip them in the powder dip. Then you polish over them again with the activator. It’s that simple.

I was disappointed in this product because I didn’t realize I was using super glue until I recognized the smell as I was applying it. I wanted trying to give myself an ombre manicure. I wasn’t successful but that’s not really the kit’s fault. The white dip that I bought separately turned out to be clear. It actually said clear but it looked white in the container. When I polished over the dip became invisible. This failure was my fault.

The kit is messy and it’s difficult to fix the mistake. The powder dip has to be soaked off like a salon dip manicure. Since the base is super glue you need to be very careful when painting your nails with it. If your base coat/super glue gets on your cuticles and beyond the dip will stick to it.

This kit could be useful if you are very careful. The color will stay in place and not chip. It can be great for ladies who work with their hands but want their nails to look nice. Or if you’re traveling and want manicured nails but don’t want to concern with upkeep the kit can be handy. I’ll use kit again until I run out of it’s materials but I wouldn’t buy it again. I have some practice now and I know the limitations of my supplies so I can produce a better manicure next time.

Overall, I would recommend skipping this product. You are better off with a bottle of nail polish.

Demi Moore is a Victim Too

I’m not going to go into The Slap Heard Around the World at this year’s Oscars Ceremony. We’ve heard about it enough. The real victim here is Demi Moore. I’m sure her feelings are hurt because the comparison Chris Rock made to Jada Pinkett Smith caused such a storm. I bet she thought she looked fabulous all these years since the 1997 release of the film GI Jane. She’s right. She did look fabulous and Demi did not deserve to become collateral damage in this fiasco.

The word iconic gets thrown around a lot these days but Demi Moore’s look in GI Jane is iconic. I never saw the movie and I’m not sure it was critically acclaimed or popular. Demi Moore as a Marine is what made the film memorable. She was sexy, beautiful and bald and that’s all anyone remembers about the film.

She looked gorgeous and I’m not sure why Jada Pinkett Smith was upset by the comparison. It was a compliment. It should have got her wheels turning. The light bulb should have gone off. She should have gotten her movie star husband to produce a remake of the film and put her in it. But instead the Smiths decided to be their messy, dramatic selves.

Jada Pinkett Smith is a part of a very small club of women that go bald and look beautiful. Mrs. Smith says that she is sensitive about her baldness due to alopecia which I can understand but I don’t think her insecurities should have been made the center of an international media event like the Oscars. Besides that a woman with her resources can afford the best wigs available if she doesn’t like going bald. If Will and Jada had a problem with what Chris said they should have settled it in the parking lot. I didn’t care for the dramatic outburst.

Anyway, it’s not fair to Demi Moore that her look in GI Jane is seen as so bad that someone deserved to be slapped over it. A bald head certainly isn’t traditional femininity but she made it look good as does Jada. Here are a few others that made having no hair a fashionable and sexy look. I don’t know what all the fuss is about.

If Jada asked me for my advice I would tell her to embrace her look. She has a beautiful face and a great figure. She’s still feminine and sexy. The bald head gives her kind of an edgy look which I thought she liked. But if she wants a more traditional feminine look invest in a good wig. She can afford the best. If I was advising Will I would tell him to keep his professional game face on when at high profile events and settle differences in the parking lot.

Stop Taking Make Up Advice From Men

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/style/story/jojo-siwa-full-makeover-beauty-influencer-james-charles-72567998

Teenaged millionaire business woman Jo Jo Siwa got a makeover from make up guru James Charles. It was absolutely dreadful. He made seventeen year old Jo Jo look like she was a thirty six year old, divorced single mom getting a makeover because she’s ready to start dating again. I don’t know how you mess Jo Jo Siwa up but James Charles managed.

Jo Jo is a bubbly, sweet, blonde, girl that most of us met while she was a young girl on dance moms. She’s tall and would be a stunning modeling at her height of 5’9″. It would be great to see her with a new, mature style. But James Charles made her up to look harsh and artificial like him.

Women need to stop taking dating advice from the likes of James Charles and Jeffree Starr. These guys have a lot of women looking manufactured these days. You’re already beautiful, fresh, fun, feminine. Have fun with your make up and simply enhance what you’ve been given. There’s no need for the exaggerated femininity. You’ve got this ladies.

Quarantine QT – SNL – YouTube

I’ve gotten great fashion advice from men before. An eye for fashion isn’t gender specific and there’s nothing wrong with listening to style wisdom. But this current crop of make up gurus ain’t it. Woof! No make up is better than make up by James Charles unless it’s Halloween.

My Ombre Manicure

I learned about Ombre Manicures also known as Baby Boomer Manicures on Pinterest.  I have been intrigued by them for a while now.  I just love how they look.  At first I didn’t even know what they were or how the look was accomplished.  I wasn’t sure if I could get a Baby Boomer manicure on natural nails.  I thought they might be press on nails that came out of a package like that.

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I’m fairly frugal and wanted to see if I could do the manicure myself.  I am pretty good at home manicures and I have some experience with using acrylic paints so I thought I could do it.  I failed.  Nail polish doesn’t blend the way acrylic and oil paint does.

I found a You Tube video on how to give yourself an Ombre Manicure but it looked messy and I think it would take several attempts before it came out right.  When I factored in the time and cost of materials to give myself the manicure I decided it would be easier to go to a salon.

 

When I walked into the salon I asked if they knew how to do a Baby Boomer manicure and if it can be done on natural nails.  They didn’t know what that was at first so I described it and they said “Oh Ombre Nails”.  The nail technician filed my nails with that  small, round, drill like filing tool that they have.  She put some sort of a base on my nails.  She dipped my fingers in pink powder.  Then she dusted the tips of my nails with white powder and put a top coat over that.

I don’t think that the powder that was put on my nails will come off as simply as it is to remove nail polish.  That will be a pain.  I went through that with the gel nail polish trend from around 2011.  What a racket!  You have to go the the salon to get the polish removed so you end up just getting your nails done again and probably a pedicure and your eyebrows waxed too.  It’s hard to jump off that train.  But it looks like I’m going to board it again and ride a while.

During the gel nails wave I eventually had to scrape the polish off with a pair of scissors.  I scraped the top layers of my nails off along with the polish and I just had to wait for them to grow back.  But my nail polish rarely chipped off so there was a benefit to it.  It just got to be expensive.

The nail tech filed my nails into the coffin shape which I’m not comfortable with.  It’s hard to pick things up off of tables now and my nails just feel funny now.  But overall I’m happy with my manicure.  The next time I get my nails done I will ask for a darker pink powder.  I wanted a subtle and natural look so I asked for a light pink but I think I would like a little more contrast.  The manicure cost $45.  I also got my eyebrows waxed for $10 and I left a tip of $6 or $8 I don’t quite remember.  It was money well spent.