kapachino

Tag: Beauty

  • my first chemical peel & microdermabrasion

    During my two weeks off I got pretty used to not wearing makeup. When you’re in the hospital for three days and then don’t leave the house for the next week there’s really no need for it. Through this I discovered something very important about myself: I hate putting on makeup. For that matter, I hate blow-drying my hair and styling it too, but that’s a topic for a different day.

    I’m at the point in my life where I want to minimize things that don’t make me happy, and I’m making a big push for a simpler lifestyle. Now, I’m not willing to go completely bare-faced in public, but I decided to take steps that might allow me to one day do just that.

    Enter Groupon. Y’all know about Groupon, right? For those of you that don’t, let me share the good news: just sign up and they’ll email you a deal a day for your city. But be careful, it’s addicting. Anyway, recently the deal for Houston was $40 for $85 worth of skin care services at Body Envy. Since I’d always wanted to try microdermabrasion I figured I might as well get it for cheap!

    Last week I went in for a free consultation, and I talked with the esthetician about what the best treatment for my skin would be. Usually microdermabrasion is done in a package of once a month for 6 months, but since I’m cheap I only wanted a single session. So the esthetician recommended that I get a mild chemical peel on top of the microdermabrasion, which would penetrate deeper and give me more bang for my buck. Great idea! I thought.

    Two days later I was back for my treatment. She cleaned my face twice, then came the microderm. She used a little machine to remove the very surface layer of skin. It stung a little in places, like near my ear and under my eyes, but it goes fast. When that was done she applied a prep for the chemical peel, and that burned like crazy. I had to fan myself and practice deep breathing techniques, but the worst soon passed. The peel itself (lactic acid) wasn’t as bad as the prep, but it wasn’t a walk in the park, either. She left it there for three minutes or so, then wiped it off with a warm towel and applied a neutralizer. After the whole thing, she put on some lotion and powdered sunscreen, gave me some samples, and taught me what to do at home for the next week.

    Right away my face looked mildly puffy, but it subsided after a couple hours.

    Not too bad, right? I was warned that because of the combination treatment that I might have a few little scratches on my face, but the next day I woke up to discover this:

    For several days I looked like I had an unfortunate run-in with an angry cat. This is pretty much what I looked like when I returned to work, and I got a lot of questions. Mostly, “What happened to your face?” but there were also some assumptions like, “Did you fall?” and “Did your husband beat you?” Just kidding, that’s just David’s paranoia. ;)

    It’s been almost a week, and although I can still feel a few rough spots the worst of it is gone.

    Supposedly I’ll see the most improvement in my skin after a month or so. I can already tell that it looks clearer and more even than before, and I’m hopeful that it will decrease my need for makeup. Even though it wasn’t the most pleasant process, I really recommend it. One day I’d love to do a deeper peel, but it’ll have to be at a time that I can stay at home for a couple of weeks, because I don’t want to go in public looking like I have a disease.

    As far as makeup I wear currently, I’ll put on a touch of concealer if I have a blemish, Colorescience Sunforgettable powdered sunscreen spf 30, Bare Minerals powdered foundation spf 15, a little Nars Madly blush if I’m going out, and mascara (currently Maybelline Lash Stilleto, but it changes). I’m on the hunt for an all-natural blush and mascara. I ditched eyeliner and eye shadow because that was the most annoying part for me, but right now I don’t ever see myself giving up mascara.

    Here I am today, ready to head to work:

    From this picture I see that I’ll have to work on those eye wrinkles (getting old!) and I could probably use some lip gloss!

    Now your turn. Have you had experience with microderm or chemical peels? What do you think about reducing the amount of beauty products and makeup you use? Any recommendations you’d like to share?

  • Friday Things

    Today was a hard day for me, emotionally. It started last night out of nowhere, and then when I received a package this morning that I had ordered for future baby, well, you can imagine how that made me feel.

    So in order to avoid being too depressing, here is some randomness from the week.

    My dogs can be really cute and sweet. Even Oliver.

    But then he goes and eats my books. Four so far, to be exact. Taken from the bookshelf.

    Oh, and I chopped off my hair. Why? I don’t know. Something to do.

    Other things I’m thinking about:

    • I think it’s time to start exercising again. There is a super sprint triathlon on May 9 that I think I could be ready for if I start now. It’s only a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike, and 2 mile run.
    • I would like to finish learning how to solve a Rubik’s cube at some point.
    • This is the month of doctor’s appointments. I am going to more this month than I usually do all year. Also, I am going to demand to have my wisdom teeth removed, so that should be fun.
    • There have been some moments of real joy in my work this week, and then in a matter of minutes it would turn into chaos and stress. Work has been great to distract me and keep me busy, but this week it has been tiring to the point of exhaustion. Still, my better days are the days that I’m at work.
    • I made a Formspring page, and then promptly forgot about it. Sorry if I haven’t answered your question yet, but I will soon!

    Have a great weekend, friends. :)

  • My Self-Conscious Friday

    I used to hate driving to work, but now that I’ve started making coffee at home and drinking it before the drive, I’m coming to enjoy the 40 minutes to myself (probably because I no longer fear that I will fall asleep and die). I was sleepy when I woke up this morning, but that made the coffee taste even better. I got in my car with my mug in hand and my favorite U2 song queued up, “Stuck In A Moment”. I was just coming back to work from two days off and looking forward to the weekend off too. I was ready for it to be a good day.

    But since I don’t have a travel mug, I immediately dribbled some coffee on my cute pink scrubs. It was only a little bit, and it’s not blatantly noticeable, but it still makes me self-conscious. No big deal, I thought. No one will notice.

    I got to work a tad late, and took my seat in the conference room where we listen to report. My mentor said hello and then looked at my hands with a confused expression. After report she approached me and said, “So what’s with the nail polish? Is it black?”

    “No, it’s purple,” I replied. I want to say that I rarely–and I mean almost NEVER–paint my nails. I don’t like dealing with the polish chipping off, which it seems to do after only a few days. When I do paint my nails, it’s either clear or a light, neutral color. But all day yesterday I had the urge to try a dark color. I had some deep purple lying around left over from friend’s wedding. Finally I gave in, and it’s been weirding me out ever since. I kind of like it, but it’s totally not ME. I thought about taking it off, but I wanted to try and be bold and branch out a little anyway.

    “I’ve gotta say, it looks really unprofessional,” said my mentor, and then she patted me on the shoulder and walked away. I flushed. I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree, but she’s probably right. Technically we’re allowed to wear polish if it’s intact, but it’s a harbor for germs if it starts chipping. Also, I really respect my mentor and want to please her. I tried to wipe it off with alcohol swabs, but that didn’t work. I’ll just remove it tonight.

    So after I obsessed about the nail polish a little bit, I moved on and was just going about my business. Out of nowhere one of my coworkers said to me, “Kathleen it looks like you’re gaining some weight! What’s going on there?”

    I flushed again. “I haven’t gained weight, it must be the pink scrubs I have on today.”

    “But I noticed it the other day in the teal color too. I mean it doesn’t look BAD, I’m just used to you being really skinny.”

    I mean, come ON. Don’t you think women should know to never say that to another woman, even if it’s true? And for the record, I HAVEN’T gained weight. I checked. I’ve actually been eating a bit healthier lately, and exercising more regularly. Maybe my fat is just rearranging itself, I don’t know.

    I think I have a fairly healthy view of myself, so I’m not distraught over these petty comments. But one after another, they don’t help improve my day. At this point, I’m just ready for 7 p.m. to get here so I can go home and be hugged by my husband.

  • Hair Makeover

    I haven’t done anything with my hair for awhile, and it’s definitely been getting on my nerves. My personal hair stylist also happens to be one of my best friends, Emily. She just had a baby on September 12 so I wasn’t sure if she’d be up to doing my hair yet, but I figured I’d ask. (I also wanted an excuse to come see her little boy.) I was so excited that she said yes!

    Before I left, I took some pictures of my hair. This is the best one (it’s hard to take good pictures of yourself; at least it is for me):

    DSCF2399

    My hair is straight, extremely fine, and doesn’t hold much of a curl. It’s always hard for me to pick a cut that I think will work with it and look good with my face shape. I also knew that I wanted to change the color. It’s fall now, time to darken it up!

    IMG_0065

    I asked Emily to make it noticeably darker but not shockingly so. She did a great job interpreting my vague wishes, and even left some of my dark blonde in there to blend the new color.

    Once my hair was colored and washed it was time for a cut. Emily mentioned to me that shoulder-length hair was in style, so I told her to go for that because I am nothing if not trendy. I also showed her an inspiration picture that I found by searching for celebrities that I think have my face shape and hair similar to mine, like Kate Bosworth and Cameron Diaz.

    This was the final result:

    DSCF2419
    Bad lighting, but you get the idea!

    I like it! And what’s more important, so does David. In fact, he likes it so much that he told me he’s worried about me getting hit on all the time now. I asked him if that meant I wasn’t pretty before. He told me I was being ridiculous, but I thought it was a reasonable question. :)

    Emily also gave me some tips on how to take care of my hair and style it. I’m horrible with this kind of stuff, so I soaked up her advice. She told me I really need to use a shampoo and conditioner for color-treated hair. Since I’m cheap, I asked her what brand to use that wasn’t “professional”. Her answer was anything by L’Oreal or TreSemme. Unfortunately, those brands don’t have color-treatment products (at least not at the store I was in) so I ended up buying a brand I know nothing about. Go me.

    infusium
    Infusium Colourologie

    As for styling, she told me to put a little bit of gel in my hair when it’s damp, apply some uplifting foam to the roots on the crown of my head, and then blow-dry it using a round brush. That is something that I am very awkward at doing, but I guess it just takes practice.

    Anyway! I’m very excited about my new hair. By the way, everyone should be so lucky to have a best friend who is also a licensed cosmetologist and an amazing one at that. If anyone out there has other tips for me about how to give my hair texture and body, including product recommendations, please send them my way. Currently my favorite style (other than ponytail) is to straighten my already-straight hair to make it look like I did it on purpose. I sort of fail at being a girl in this area, and I’m trying to remedy that!

  • #16. Find the Perfect Mascara

    In my makeup routine, I have found that the single product that changes the way I look the most is mascara. I like to look natural and fresh, even though we all know that it takes work to look “natural” and not “just-rolled-out-of-bed-greasy-and-rumpled.” So I’ve made it my quest to find the perfect mascara, and then I will buy it and keep buying it no matter the cost.

    Here are a few products that I’ve used in the past, that have made me look for greener grass:

    Too Faced Lash Injection
    Sephora Brand (can’t find a link)
    Mary Kay’s Ultimate mascara
    Maybelline Full ‘N’ Soft
    Bourjuois False Lash Illusion

    I tend to like big, round brushes, but I’m willing to try other things. So the search begins…

    April 23, 2009
    I bought Lorac’s Lotsa Lash brown mascara. First impression: it’s thick and kind of clumpy, and actually takes a lot of work to get my lashes looking decent. It seems almost like it’s old and dry. Pretty sure that this isn’t going to be the one, but I’ll keep using it for awhile since I bought it.

    June 6, 2009
    I couldn’t stand the Lorac, so on a recommendation from my good friend Julie, I bought Almay’s One Coat Lengthening. This mascara is amazingly clean! There is next to no clumping, and it goes on very smooth. The brush is smaller than what I typically like, requiring more brush strokes to apply, but it’s also easy to maneuver. It lasts this way for a few months. The only thing it’s missing is a “wow” factor, which I want to keep looking for. I would have been extremely content to keep using this as it is a great mascara for the money (only $8.19 at drugstore.com)…


    diorshowJuly 20, 2009
    …but then I went to Sephora and bought Dior’s DiorShow mascara. I have to be honest, I’ve used this before. I loved it at the time, but then I read in some article somewhere that mascaras aren’t really that different from each other and therefore it’s an area where we can save money. After that I found it hard to spend the $24, which is a little pricey for my taste. HOWEVER. I now realize that this whole “find the perfect mascara” goal was probably one giant effort by my subconscious to justify going back to the Dior. When I used it again this time, there was an IMMEDIATE and DRAMATIC difference between this and all of the other mascaras I’ve tried in between (see above). Diorshow is thick, lush, and my lashes are noticeably longer when I use it. Be careful though; it’s powerful. If I smudge on my eyelid it’s a bit of a mess to clean up. Totally worth it though.

    I’m considering this goal met. I had begun to think that my lashes could never look like this, and behold, they do! This quest wasn’t a “get the most for your money” type of thing, though, so if anyone out there has any recommendations for me that will allow me to achieve a similar look as the Dior for less money, by all means share!