essie 3-way glaze top coat {review}

I paint my nails all the time, but unfortunately my life isn't conducive to keeping a manicure.  Working, typing, and cooking make my average manicure last about 4 days before it looks atrocious.  I'm always on the lookout for  a product that will help keep polish on my nails, and I think I finally found one.

Essie 3-Way Glaze - get it here.

I first used this at my friend Ashley's house because I am that friend who waltzes into your home and uses your nail polish.  That was Friday, and my nails still look really good - even after a pretty grueling retail shift.

3 days in:

There are a few chips right at the end of my nails, but no big chips at all. These are the kinds of chips that you can trim your nails and your manicure looks like new (does anyone else do this?)

I'm really impressed with the staying power of this stuff.  It was very easy to apply - no globs - and dried super fast even though there were at least three layers of polish underneath it.

If you have trouble keeping polish on your nails, I would definitely recommend giving this a try!

winter essentials

one: wella enriching hair treatment // two: the body shop hand and nail cream // three: rosebud salve // four: lush dark angels scrub // five: kiehl's ultra facial cream

I get super dry in the winter. My hair, my lips, my face, and my hands don't respond very well to the dry air and the wind.  These are a few products that help combat that.

1. Wella is great for your hair - and it helps keep your scalp from getting itchy as well! 

2. Hand cream is a must this time of year, and this one from the body shop is good for your nails AND your hands.

3. I've harped on rosebud salve over and over.  Just get some.

4. Lush is my happy place.  I have never used anything from them that I haven't loved.  Dark Angels is no exception - the coal in it brightens your skin and combats acne.  I usually just use baking soda, but in the winter I need something that brightens as well as cleans.

5. I don't moisturize every night, and this cream is thick enough that it's ok.  My skin tends to be on the oilier side, so being able to skip moisturizing every other night without my skin feeling tight saves the oil from getting overwhelming.

headband braid

My hair is super thick, so I get layers cut into it to lighten it up a bit.  While layers are great for keeping my hair from giving me a migraine, they're not so great for when I try to wear a braid.  I'm sure it's happened to you - pieces falling out, bobby pinning until you can't feel your fingers.  Not so pleasant.
Well, here's a solution for when you want a side braid and your hair won't cooperate.

Here's how:

1. Put your headband on so that it goes around the front of your forehead - like you're going to wear it boho style.

2. Take pieces from the sides of your hair and flip them through the headband.  I do about two pieces to a side.  How much you use depends on how thick you want the braid to be - for a thicker braid, use less hair on the sides so that there's more in the braid.

3. Take the remaining hair and braid it!  You can do a regular braid, a fishtail, one of those ladder braids I have yet to master... go crazy.

And you're done!  Takes 5 minutes and looks fancy :)

trim yo' bangs.

Let's start with some honesty - I only get my hair cut twice a year at most.  I trim my own split ends at home. When I got bangs, I thought I was going to have to change that habit, and my wallet was none too pleased.  So instead of succumbing to broke-ness, I dug in and researched.  Now, I trim my own bangs - pretty successfully, if I do say so myself.
Here's some pointers to keep your bangs tidy between haircuts, regardless of how few and far between they may be.

1. Cut vertically, not horizontally.  In other words, like this:

Not like this:

Its tempting to cut straight across, because it's one snip and done.  But your bangs will look like a shelf of hair if you do that - not a good look. Cutting vertically in small snips keeps that piece-y look that your hairstylist cut in when you first got them so you look like you got a professional trim, not like an overzealous 5 year old's Barbie.

2. Cut 'em dry.  This is probably the biggest mistake DIY trimmers make.  When your hair is wet, it's longer than when it's dry.  Cutting your bangs wet often leads to chopping off more than you meant to, only to realize it when you dry your hair and it's too late.  Dry cutting makes sure that you're only trimming off what you need to.

3. Keep to the middle.  If you had a good stylist, your bangs aren't a straight shot across your forehead; they're shortest in the middle by a tiny amount, frame your face on the ends, and are blended into the sides of your hair.  We can't recreate that, because we did not attend the same school of hair magic that our stylists did.  When you're trimming, keep most of your snips towards the middle of your forehead, where you bangs are shortest.  That's where the annoying hairs getting in your eyeballs are located anyway, right?  Stay away from the blended sides, because you can't do it.  Believe me, I have tried.  It wasn't pretty.

Follow these three tips and you can cut your amount of trims in half!

Pun intended.

winter problems: chapped lips

My gorgeous friend Amber text me the other day to talk about her lips.
Namely, the fact that the winter is not kind to them.  It's a problem we all have when the weather gets cold - between the dry air and the wind, the delicate skin on our kissers gets chapped and peel-y.
I try my best every winter to keep the chapping at bay, with varying degrees of success.  This winter I've done pretty well coming up with a routine that keeps 'em nice and moisturized.

1. Exfoliate.  This is one of the most important steps in getting rid of chapped lips.  Exfoliating gets the dead skin off so that it can't block the healthy skin underneath.  Plus, it makes your lips all rosy :) You can buy pre-made lip exfoliates, but a cheaper homemade alternative is sugar and vaseline.  I get a dollop of vaseline on my finger, dip it in sugar, and go to town with the scrubbing.  You can also add some coconut oil to the mix for even more moisture.

2. Night balm.  My lips are always dry when I wake up.  I recently started using a night balm from bath and body works and I'm loving it - starting out with more moisturized lips keeps them from getting as dry during the day.  I use it during the day sometimes, but its a little thick for daily wear.  Any really thick lip balm will do the trick.

3. Protection.  The easiest way to keep your lips moisturized is to keep balm on them during the day.  Unfortunately, its also the easiest to forget - once I put on balm in the morning, I often forget to reapply it throughout the day.  A good rule of thumb is to try and reapply at least every 2 or 2 and a half hours, and right after you eat or drink something.

Yummy lip balms are all well and good, but in this kind of weather your primary concern should be the protection power of your balm, not its flavor.  My favorite heavy hitters are rosebud salve and carmex - neither one are particularly high on the yum scale, but both will get the job done!

The first step to keeping your lips healthy is realizing that it actually does take some effort - it doesn't happen on it's own.  Exfoliating and using the right products can go a long way towards healing and preventing chapped lips!

my favorite multitaskers

Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding?  If not, go do it, and thank me later.  For those of you that have, remember the dad who uses Windex to fix everything?  Well, my friends recently brought it to my attention that that's me and baking soda.
When I thought about it, they're completely right.  I use baking soda for everything.  Upon further contemplation, I realized I used petroleum jelly for everything too.
Since its likely that you already have both of these things in your house, here's a few ways you can use them that you might not have thought of:

Baking Soda

wash your face. I've posted about this before, but I'll recap: make a paste in your hand with baking soda and use it to scrub your face.  I've been doing this (plus some other all natural stuff, click the link above) for about a year, and my skin has never been better.

wash your hair. I'm planning a more informative post about this soon, but I'm sure you've heard about using baking soda to wash your hair.  I use a little of it in a small bottle (formerly a travel-sized lotion), and dissolve it in warm water, and use it in lieu of shampoo.  My hair is loving it.

unclog your drain.  Depending on how far gone your drain clog is, baking soda + ACV + warm water can unclog it.  Put baking soda around the drain, pour a little vinegar over it and let it sit for a few minutes, then pour hot water over all that and let it drain.  It may take a few times, but it works.

Petroleum Jelly

grow your lashes. Yep, I'm serious.  I've been using PJ as an eye cream for a few months, and I can definitely tell a difference in the length of my eyelashes.  In a pinch, you can also use it as eye makeup remover.

keep your hair color on your hair.  When I'm dying my hair (yes, I use a box and do it at home, and yes, I'm completely pleased with it), I'll put a layer of PJ around my hairline to keep the color from bleeding and dying my ears or forehead.

scrub your lips.  Around this time of year, my lips get dry and peel-y.  So I'll take a dab of PJ and some sugar and use it to scrub my lips.  It makes them baby soft and gets rid of all that gross dead skin that makes your lipgloss look weird.

you can get petroleum jelly in a tube here

Do you have any basic products that you use for a ton of different things?

how to: messy bun

Yes, I know, there are approximately 82 billion tutorials for messy buns online.  Which is funny, to me: isn't the whole point that it looks "undone?" Much like no-makeup makeup, it takes a whole lot of effort to look like you didn't make effort.
Anyway, back to what I was saying - yeah, there are tons of these tutorials out there, but I was never able to make one work for me.  My hair was either too short, too long, too layered, too brown... you get the idea.
This is how I've been making a messy bun, ever since I discovered it last week.  It was a feeling akin to finding the holy grail.  It works great on my hair, and it's pretty secure, so I would assume it works well for layered hair.  Its also pretty easy to tweak if your hair is super long.

Start by parting your hair straight down the middle:

Take the two sides of your hair and tie them in a knot, like you're starting to tie a shoe.

This is where you tweak it if your hair is super long: tie two knots.  

Take the loose ends of your hair left after you tie the knot(s) and put a hair tie around them, like a ponytail.

After you add the hair tie, mess your hair around the knot and pin.  You can pin it however you want and make it as messy or sleek as you like!

This looks nice and messy, but its actually very secure and stays in all day.  You can make it fancy by adding in some braids on the sides if you like.  As always, this stays in better if you have a little texture in your hair - hello, third day hair excuses!

follow along! bloglovin // instagram // pinterest

around the world braid

I have shared about my issues with growing my bangs out and how I'm dealing with it.  At work especially, having my long bangs in my face is really irritating, and I get bored just bobby pinning them back.
The other day I was messing with my hair before work, trying to find a way to put it up that I liked and kept my hair out of my way.  As usual when I start messing with my hair, braiding was one of the first things I tried. This is what I ended up with, and I've worn my hair like this about a dozen times since. It's like a half milkmaid braid - I like it better because it's not all up; there's still a bit around your shoulders.

Start by deep side parting your hair, almost all the way to your ear.  If you care about whether the part is straight, you'll probably want to use a comb, because it's hard to do with just your fingers.  Once you have it parted, start french braiding across your forehead.

Instead of stopping at your ear, keep the french braid going around your head.  Do it pretty tightly to keep it from falling apart - after the braiding is done, you can always go back and rough it up.  I prefer my hairstyles messy, so I always go back and loosen the braids up.  Grab small-ish pieces of hair to add to your braid so that it doesn't get too lumpy around the top.

Eventually you'll want to switch the side of your head you're braiding from to bring the braid around the nape of your neck. Once you get back around, there's always an annoying strand just left hanging there.  I grab it, twist it under the braid  and finish it off by regular braiding the rest of my hair.

(forgive my derpy face here)

This style is great for second or third day hair, or any time you just want it all out of your way.  Plus, it only takes about 5 minutes!

product roundup

I would really love to be one of those people who has a certain product that they buy and rebuy.  Something about product loyalty seems sophisticated and grown up to me... and yes, I realize that's weird.
But I haven't found those products yet, and so I keep trying new ones out. But some of the stuff in this bunch might make me loyal, because I'm loving all of it right now.

Physician's Formula pH blush

Remember when that lip gloss that changed with your pH to become your perfect shade of pink was just coming out?  This is like that, but it's blush instead of gloss.  It's a lifesaver for me because I have a hard time finding a blush that gives a nice flush but isn't too pink.  The pH balance takes the guesswork out of buying blush so I can spend less time in the CVS aisle holding blush packages up to my face in the warped sunglasses stand mirror. Win-win.

BeneFit Some Kind-a Gorgeous Concealer

Does anyone else get that veiny, reddish look around your eyes when you wake up?  I do even when I got a solid 8 hours the night before.  This stuff erases it completely, and the formula is really silky feeling.  I've also used it to cover up redness when I break out, and it covers it up and provides a good base for powder foundation to go over it.

C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve

Remember what I said about product loyalty?  This stuff has a following, and after getting some I can see why.  It goes on clear and really moisturizes your lips, and looks pretty while it's doing it.  I've also used it on my jank cuticles and it really softens them up.  Go get you some. I definitely plan on rebuying this.

Not Your Mother's Texturizing Spray

Even though texture sprays are hyped by beauty blogs all the time, I've never been a huge fan until I found this.  It actually makes you hair wavy rather than just tangled and it smells like coconuts.  And, it's pretty cheap, which in my book is always a plus.  I spray this on before I curl my hair sometimes to give it some extra grip and occasionally as hair spray.  It's a great multitasker.

clear skin, for cheap

When I was in high school, my skin was whack.  I was always broken out and the products that I used to combat the acne left my skin dried out and flakey.  Not a good look.
This continued into college, a time when I thought I would magically acquire amazing skin and become the beautiful butterfly just waiting to emerge (still waiting on that one.)  Obviously, that didn't happen.  I felt like I had outgrown acne and to have it still causing problems was embarrassing.
I tried everything. Proactiv (which I'm convinced is Dawn and water mixed up in a bottle and marketed at exorbitant prices), some really harsh stuff I got from the derm that killed the zits but left my skin dry, red, and sensitive, even antibiotics.  They would all work for a month or so, and then the cystic acne would come back, sometimes worse.
I started to do some research.  The chemicals they put in all that anti-acne stuff may take care of your zits, but it wreaks havoc on the rest of your skin as well.  And sometimes, like in my case, the acne becomes immune to the active ingredients and comes back worse than before.  The best way to combat problem skin is with natural products and a healthy lifestyle.
For about a year now, I've been largely acne free, and I haven't had to drop huge amounts on designer skin products.
Instead, I use natural honey, baking soda, and coconut oil.

Since I switched to this regimen, I've hardly had any skin problems beyond small hormonal breakouts around that time of the month.  Not only is it effective, its also MUCH cheaper than the expensive "cures" with hour-long infomercials.  Plus, the natural ingredients are much easier on the rest of your skin, so that it doesn't look sallow or dry.

Here's what I do:

- start with warm water, and scrub off all your makeup with a washcloth.  Soak the washcloth in the water and place it over your face for about 30 seconds, so that the warmth opens up your pores.

- Spread the honey over your face like a mask.  Leave it on for a few minutes - while you brush your teeth or go to the bathroom.

- Make a paste of baking soda with warm water in your palm and use it to scrub off the honey.  I try to scrub for about 30 seconds.  Wash the baking soda and honey off with warm water - make sure you rinse well, because the baking soda will feel gross if you don't get it all off your face.

- Moisturize with a small amount of coconut oil (I only do this every other night)

This routine has absolutely saved my skin.  And my wallet.  I'm trying to make the transition to using mostly natural products on my skin and hair, and so far the natural alternatives are working much better than the synthetic varieties.

braidy lady

My bangs are in that awkward too-long-to-leave-alone, too-short-to-go-in-a-ponytail stage.  Braids have been my friend for a while now because they hold my bangs back with minimal effort.  Leaving my hair down with the bang braids is pretty casual, so for my friend Chelsea's rehearsal dinner, I messed around with it until I had a pretty, messy, twisty fishtail going on that looked really good with my bangs braided back.
Here's how:

1. Gather your hair into a side ponytail and secure with an elastic.  Make a hole by dividing your hair into two parts between where it is secured with the elastic and your head, take the rest of your ponytail, and stuff it all the way through so that there's a twist at the top of the ponytail.

2. Fishtail the remaining hair in your ponytail.  I've tried to explain fishtailing as well as I can here.  The only difference is we aren't doing a fishtail french, so just divide your hair in two sections, take a piece from the back of one section and add it to the other, and then do the same on the other side all the way down.

Once you get the hang of it, it's super simple!

3. Add some volume by taking your hands and pushing your hair up at the roots.  Add some dry shampoo for extra grit, depending on how messy you want the end result to be.

4. Take one side of your bangs, braid, tuck the ends into your hair and pin. Do the same on the other side, and you're done!

I've worn this style tons of times because its easy and can be dressy or casual.  It's also great when your hair is dirty!