Fabulously Cheeky

Oh, the troubles we women have to face!!! Eternal quests for the perfect mascara, the perfect lip color, the perfect hair color, and last but not least, the perfect hair cut!

As we get older, we look in the mirror, only to find that the hair style that we have felt so happy with for the last 25 years, no longer flatters our features. Now what? How do we know what works and what doesn’t?

One of the things that happens with age is that our colors and features change. Everything gets softer. The skin gets paler, the hair color gets less vibrant and even the body (parts) get softer. The natural reaction is to buy brighter and brighter clothes to counteract what is happening, and to add a dash of bright red lipstick. This NEVER works. Only young girls can get away with that kind of madness. No, what we have to do is get a softer look, so that the clothes, hair and makeup is harmonious with our new and changed self.

The lip color has to be softened from a bright red to more of a soft nude color, the hair has to go from very dark or very blond, to a softer color that is not so extreme. The clothes must be more muted, and the hair needs to follow as well.

Take a look in the mirror – does your hair style make you look like you are wearing a helmet? Or does it make you look like you have puppy dog ears on each side of your head? Do you have a mid part, with hair cut straight across at shoulder length? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you seriously need a new look!

One of the easiest ways to make your hair style look softer is to add whispy layers throughout the hair. Layers are awesome. They frame the face and add life to your hair. They make you look loose and easy going instead of stern and severe. And, what about some light bangs? Bangs, whether they hang down, or you sweep them to the side, makes you look years younger, and the best thing is, they cover up any wrinkle you have on your forehead.

If you still aren’t sure what will look good on you, you can always upload a picture of your head with hair pulled back to something like ivillage.com and try on different hair styles and colors, before you actually see your hair dresser. When you find something that you like, just print off the picture and take it with you to the next hair cutting appointment.

Change is good! After you allow yourself to change, you feel so good. Remember, life is supposed to be an adventure. It is better to make a mistake, than to be stuck with something that isn’t working anyway. So, take a deep breath, and just go for it!

Tags: hair style

When you wear bangs and they touch your forehead, they often get oily before the day is over. What they need is a bit of a lift. I have tried to put hairspray on the roots and the dry them over a round brush, but they usually fall down again before long.
The other day, I came across a root lift spray by a company called Giovanni, and it works brilliantly. All you need is just a little spritz on the roots of your bangs, style over a round brush, and your bangs are lifted until the next time you wash your hair! I’m very happy with this product and can highly recommend it.
Giovanni also has a very good leave in conditioner that basically brought my hair back to life again, after I fried it recently with the wrong kind of hair dye. So, there you have it – two great products for your hair.

Tags: Hair products

If you are like me, you eat more in the winter. I like to think I do this to stay warm. But now, I have this cozy coushion on my belly that looks less than attractive in a swim suit. Hmm…
I don’t know about you, but I hate getting down on the floor to do sit ups. I was wondering if there was another way, and today I found this video that you might want to check out. Does it work? I have no idea. But I’m willing to try it – it sounds easy enough.
CLICK HERE to see the video.

Tags: bikini workout

It’s official – I have ruined my hair!!!
After reading numerous feedbacks about a company called Naturtint, I decided to try their products. The box claimed to contain organic and natural ingredients, and be ammonia free, resorcinol free, paraben free and gentle on the hair. I didn’t find anyone leaving bad feedback, so I decided to take the plunge.
After studying my own coloring and deciding that I had neutral coloring, I bought a neutral medium blonde color – wheat germ blonde. There was a beautiful picture on the box of a girl with a lovely hair color, and I could see myself looking great with that same color hair.

After reading the instructions and watching youtube videos about how to color your own hair, I jumped in, applied the dye and put a plastic bag on my head. (I actually did a strand test first, and it didn’t look like it did anything at all, so I figured it wouldn’t show up as too much color).

But, it did. Oh, boy, did it!
The first thing I saw after taking the bag off was an odd, strawberry blonde color. Oh, no…
I jumped in the shower and started rinsing. The hair felt horrible, even in the shower. It felt stiff and rough, and kept tangling around my fingers. After using henna so much in the past, I am used to the silky, shiny, bounciness that henna adds to your hair, but this was a different experience! My hair felt fried!!!

I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror, and the color looks so fake it looks like I’m wearing a wig! I dried my hair carefully and added a good amount of leave in conditioner, but it still felt like straw and had no luster left. I walked down stairs, and my husband took one look and said: “Aweful!!!”

I searched through the net, looking for answers, and yesterday, after I washed the hair, I used a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water for a rinse. This made the cuticles go back down, and even though the color is still horrible, at least the hair looks a bit shinier again.

Now, I’m waiting for more henna, so I can undo the damage.

My question now is, why in the world would anyone dye their hair with this kind of dye? Why is this company still in business? And why is there no bad feedback out there? I’m very upset, and I shall be wearing a hat until my new henna shows up.

Any ideas? Any advice? I could use some, right now…

Tags: hair color

I’m always on a quest for a good mascara. Is that really so much to ask? Obviously, it is. Because my eyes are a bit deep set, I think my eyelashes actually touch my cheeks when I blink, so everything smudges before the day is over. Even waterproof makeup ends up on my cheeks in little specs. At the moment, I don’t even care what chemicals they contain – as long as they just stay on my lashes!!! After scouring the web for the magic answer to my mascara quest, I found this list of reviews about the best mascaras on the market.
Looks like I’ll be trying Maybelline’s Great Lash next (rated at a 6 at the cosmeticsdatabase…)
I’d love to hear from anyone out there what your favorite waterproof mascara is. Is there anything you would recommend? I’d like something that doesn’t smudge, smear or flake, preferably natural, but I know, that might be asking too much…

Tags: best mascara

I have been golden blonde (my natural color), and now I am reddish brown, and I’m not sure if I like either. The golden blonde seems to wash me out, and the reddish brown, although it looks good with my blue eyes, seem to be a bit harsh with my pale skin. Maybe I’m just too picky, or maybe I’m becoming obsessed about finding a new hair color. Maybe I need therapy, rather than dying my hair, I don’t know, but I’m not quite ready to leave the issue behind yet…
The other day, I was thinking about how to figure out whether my skin has warm undertone or cool. I do know that my veins are definitely greenish, but, in the past, when I bought eye makeup for warm skin tone, it really doesn’t look good. I remember buying a browny goldish kit that made me look like I was ready for Mardi Gras. I also bought some rust/browny red/coppery type colors which made me look like I had been crying for a week straight!
When I was young and crazy, I tried both blue and purple/lavender shadow, too – NOT!!! Makes me look like someone has given me a fist on each eye…
There is really only one alternative – a totally neutral kit, like Cover Girl’s “Desert sand.” This is just chocolate brown, neutral tan and a light pinkish highlight. Gorgeous.
I also remember buying two sweaters from Victoria’s Secret once. They were both the same style, one was neutral chocolate brown, and one was warm rust. The chocolate brown looked great, the rust brown I never used. It sat in my closet until I threw it out one day.
And, the same applies to lip stick, too. Forget about anything too pink, too red or too coral. The only thing worth looking at is the brownish nudes, as neutral as possible!
So, maybe, just maybe, I’m neither cool nor warm? Maybe, because I’m so pale, I actually have a really neutral skin color? I know I look better in warmish colors, so it must be a little on the warm side, but anything too warm makes me look scary pale.
So, here is what I’m going to do next: I’m going to try a neutral medium blonde hair color and see what happens. Maybe the key to picking the right hair color is about getting the shade and the undertone just right, and if the skin is pale enough, neutral might be the best way to go? I’ll let you know what happens…

Tags: hair color

Hair color can make a huge difference when it comes to how old you look, as well as confidence level. Here is some advice I found from hairstyle.com:
How do I pick a color that will look natural on me?
When choosing a hair color, your skin tone and natural hair color are the two most important factors. Whether you’re going lighter or darker, stay within two or three shades of your natural hair color. Here is a guideline for selecting a compatible hair color for your skin tone:

Dark/olive skin: Stay with darker hair colors.
Yellow skin: Dark, rich colors like deep auburn.
Pale skin: Almost any color.
Pink skin: Neutral tones like sandy or beige blonde or chocolate brown are best. Avoid reds or golden tones.
If you know what clothing colors suit you, you can also use that to help in choosing hair color:

If you look good in warm shades like red, orange, golden yellow, cinnamon brown, olive green, and rust, then warm hair tones like golden blonde, golden brown, strawberry blonde, and auburn will suit you best.
Cool color favorites like bluish red, fuschia, black, royal blue, and pine green indicate that cool hair tones are best for you: platinum, ash blonde, ash brown, burgundy, and jet black.
If you look good in true red, purple, charcoal grey, periwinkle, and teal, then neutral tones like sandy or beige blonde, chocolate brown or mahogany will suit you.
To read the whole article, CLICK HERE!

Tags: hair color

Perfume is one of the most toxic substances you can put on your body. A perfume can contain up to 400 different ingredients, and they don’t even have to list it because it is considered a “trade secret.” But, the fact remains, perfume, no matter how good it smells, is a very toxic thing to put on your skin. But, never fear. I have just found a company of artists who make their very own, completely natural perfume called “Nothing Perfume.” It is available in a lovely body spritz, and also in a more concentrated handmade perfume bottle. Yes, even the bottles are handmade and look like pieces of art!

The website looks very exotic, mostly black, but don’t let that scare you! The perfumes are so awesome that it is difficult to choose (so you might have to buy more than one!), and each scent has a story to go with it! They even have a list of personality types to help you choose your very own special perfume!

My local healthfood store carries some of these perfumes, and after sniffing a bunch, and then reading about each scent and who it was made for, I must say, their descriptions are very accurate.

So, if you love perfume, but don’t want anything toxic to put on your skin, definitely check this site out! CLICK HERE to visit!

There is a delusion out there that blonde hair will make you look younger. Not so! From my own experience, blonde doesn’t always make you look younger; some times, it will simply make you look washed out!
So, who can go blonde and get away with it?
If you have cool skin tone and blue eyes, like Cameron Diaz, you can get away with any kind of light, sandy, beachy, ashy blonde and look faulous. Me, however, with my pale, warm skin, would look like I was wearing a wig if I dyed my hair in any of those colors! The other type of skin that looks good in blonde hair is tan skin. Think California beach girls. The golder and lighter, the better. Blonde hair looks really great on tan skin, especially if you have kind of darkish eye brows and lashes. But, the rest of us pale faces have to look to different colors.

Another skin type that can get away with some kind of blondish hair is the pale, cool, reddish skin tones. This skin is often a bit sensitive or irritable with naturally rosy cheeks. This kind of rosiness can be toned down with the right kind of blonde – not too ashy, not too light, better to use a honey/caramel kind of rich blonde. Honey blonde is yellow enough to tone down the pink, as long as it isn’t too light.

A friend of mine has gray hair. She used to have very dark brown hair and dark eye brows, and cool skin. Because she has so much contrast between her eyebrows and her skin tone, she doesn’t look washed out even with white and gray hair. She can use bright purples and jewel tones in her clothing and look fantastic because the contrast makes it unnessesary to warm up her skin tone. So, she can actually just allow her hair to go white, and as long as she darkens her eyebrows, she’ll look fantastic!

Another friend of mine, who also has gray hair, looks very pale and washed out with it. Her skin is so cool, almost pinky/blue, and her eyebrows not as dark as my other friend’s eyebrows. She could benefit from either darkening her eyebrows, or warming up her skin tone by dying her hair. Naturally, I think she was a medium brown, and I bet she would look gorgeous with medium golden brown hair that would contrast with, and warm up, her skin tone. It would probably take years off her face! So, when it comes to whether to keep your hair gray, or not, it really comes down to how much contrast there is between your skin and your eyebrows. The less contrast, the more you need to adjust your hair color.

Then, there is the people with warm skin tone, like me. I’m pale, warm and freckled with blue eyes. (If you wonder what your undertone is, just look in your wardrobe. Do you have more blue/green stuff, or more red/orange stuff? There you go, your closet always tells the truth…)
I finally figured out why my naturally blonde hair stopped working for me when I got to menopause – it became darker, and ashier, with basically sucked the warmth out of my face and made it look sickly and yellow drab. I just couldn’t figure it out, until I understood that my hair had lost all its warmth, and that is why it no longer complemented my skin color. I needed warmth, and I needed contrast, so I went for a warm chestnut brown. And, oh, what a difference!!!

Yesterday, I went shopping and found that I could wear muted colors, pastels and darks. The only thing I still have to stay away from is bright colors and yellow/gold, which instantly sucks the color out of my face again. I could even wear peach, without looking washed out!!! I haven’t been able to wear that color since I was a teenager!!!

So, basically, if you look good in very few clothing colors, your hair color is wrong. With the right hair color, you can wear a much wider range of colors, because you no longer get washed out so easily.

Spring time is all about getting rid of the old and bringing in the new, so make it a new beginning for yourself this spring. Get a new haircut, a more complementary hair color, or some nice, new makeup, and have fun with change…

Tags: hair color