LOVE

I didn’t watch the Oscars because it was my birthday, but…

I love this dress, and I love it on Marisa Tomei, even though I can’t shake the image of her shaking her boobies in The Wrestler.  God, that was a depressing film.  But she looks absolutely radiant here.  I love geometrical stuff like this, and I love the way it fits her.  If only we could all wear Versace.

Beauty for Broke Folks

As I mentioned earlier, my job has gone from a 50% pay cut in October to waiting on three paychecks, as of tomorrow. None of this is that tragic for me personally, as my husband and I can scrape by on what he makes and what we’ve saved. Mostly it just means getting really smart about money, and not spending very much beyond the basics.

Back when I was making a pretty good living and was spending money left and right on anything I could justify as wedding-related, I got hooked on a few high-end beauty products. Needless to say, Aveda and Kiehls are now too rich for my broke ass, so I’ve come up with some cheap beauty alternatives that I like almost as much as their fancy-schmancy counterparts.

       1. Instead of Aveda shampoo, Organix Shampoo & Conditioner.  

I use the tea tree variety and it smells amazing and doesn’t strip your hair like a lot of other cheap shampoos.  Though it’s not SUPER cheap (about $7/bottle normally), I did happen to buy it at a Walgreens for a 2-for-1 deal, working out to be about $3.50 a bottle.  It volumizes/moisturizes just about as well as the Aveda volumizing shampoo, and let me repeat again that the smell is pure heaven.  There’s something kind of sugary about it in a totally natural, non-digusting way.  Looking forward to trying the other delectable-sounding ‘flavors.’ Cost comparison: $28 for Aveda shampoo and conditioner; $14 for Organix shampoo and conditioner (or $7 for both in my case).

 

2. Instead of Kiehls antiperspirant, Dove.  

I’d originally purchased this for travel because it was less likely to explode and make a mess than the Kiehls, but quickly realized this was a fairly decent, non-gross-smelling deodorant (I think mine in unscented).  It works pretty well and seems easy on the skin.  Cost comparison: $8/$11 for Kiehls (large/small bottle antiperspirant); ~$2/$4 for Dove.

  3. Instead of Aveda tinted moisturizer, Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer. 

I’ve actually used this moisturizer for a long time, but took a hiatus during wedding stuff because I was convinced I needed a higher end product.  It’s great because it’s makeup quality but still has an SPF 20 rating, and other good-skin stuff such as Retinol.  I also like the Healthy Skin Enhancer powder. Cost comparison: $20 for a ~1oz Aveda bottle; ~$12 (cheapest I’ve found is $10 at Target) for a 1oz bottle of Neutrogena.

If you’ve got beauty product money-saving tips (or any kind of money-saving tips for that matter), I wanna hear them!

Hot Locks for the Hair-Challenged

Up until junior high, I had thick-to-the-point-of-being-a-problem hair.  My ponytail was wider than my wrist, and it would usually end up hurting my head by the end of the day.  Even a few photos early on in high school show down-to-my-elbows, wild, thick locks.  My Katharine Ross look-a-like* days were numbered, however, after puberty hit.  This delightfully awkward time in one’s life has strange effects on one’s (head) hair. I have a friend who had stick-straight hair the first fourteen years of her life, and was a bit confused when her adult body decided that her (head) hair was going to be curly from here on out.  For me, one of the less-than-joyous surprises of the start of womanhood was that my once Denise-Richards-rivaling hair became a mere shadow of its former self.

Looking at my mom and aunts, I’ve accepted that thin-ish hair is my destiny, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to strive for the look of late-1960s hair.  Thankfully a *good* company with *natural* (albeit *expensive*) products makes a FANTASTIC volumizing shampoo and conditioner:

(Aveda Pure Abundance Volumizing shampoo and conditioner).

Each bottle (8oz for shampoo; 6.7 oz for conditioner, but they last a long time) costs around $14, but as cheap as I am, it is 100% WORTH it. Not only does my hair feel softer and less dried out, but I can even look in the mirror and see a little bit of Katharine Ross (circa The Graduate) staring back at me, if I’m squinting and happen to be wearing thick eyeliner that day. I will use drugstore brand mascara, I will forgo my beloved Kiehl’s anti-perspirant, but please, PLEASE don’t take away my Aveda Pure Abundance.

*Disclaimer: I look nothing like Katharine Ross, but on another note, can you believe that she’s 68 and Dustin Hoffman is 71?!?

Akshuly a Pretty Good Mascara

I mentioned earlier that I would keep the product posts to a minimum, but I honestly doubt anyone cares about the sanctity of this very small blog. So onward… At Target the other day, a friend and I spent a ridiculous amount of time in the beauty aisles, debating the merits of various eye creams, moisturizers, and face soaps. After a good ten minutes trying to decipher the differences between Neutrogena and Maybelline brand mascaras, I decided that for my anemic-looking lashes, I need to roll out the big (and totally unnatural) guns. Maybelline’s packaging was just so much more… EXTREME, and the product was on sale for only $5-ish as opposed to $7ish. INTENSE XXL it was.

What’s great about this mascara is the white primer goop that you’re supposed to apply first. If you’ve ever tried to apply a second layer of mascara after the first has dried, you’ll find that your lashes have become brittle and stiff and not receptive to a new coat. The goopy primer stuff feels like conditioner for your little baby eye hairs. You apply the regular mascara (from the other side of the tube) after the primer, and if you have non-existent lashes like me, you can reapply extra coats to your heart’s content. Your lashes stay soft and flexible, not dried and spider leggy.  The big bonus for me is that you can actually tell that I’m wearing mascara.  This is the sign of a great product.

This mascara can be a teeny bit gloppy, so if you have a dry mascara brush to do a once-over on your lashes at the very end, you’ll remove any excess gunk.

In short: Maybelline Intense XXL™ Volume & Length Washable Microfiber Mascara, $7.79 from Walgreens, 4.5/5 stars!