Let's Talk Eyebrows

Here is a post I wrote for another blog a while ago. This is one of my favorite beauty tips and so I thought that I would share it over here too.

 

 

 

Even as a baby I had eyebrows

I was born with dark and bushy eye brows. I used to think it was a curse until I realized how to wax them and now I love them.

Well even after all these years of waxing, tweezing, and plucking I never really thought about coloring them in. They are so dark and thick that I just didn't see the point. Even after countless make-up classes suggesting that that everyone should color in their brows I still didn't think the rule applied to me.

Last summer when I was playing with my make up, I randomly decided to lightly color in my eyebrows. That night my husband came home from work and couldn't figure out what was different about me... but he liked it.



I wondered if it could have been the eye brows because it was the only thing I had done differently that day, so I did it again the next day and got the same "you look great" results. I still didn't tell him what I thought it might be that was making me look like a goddess in his eyes (wink) so the next day I didn't color them in and my husband didn't say a word. Okay. Well the 4th day into my little eyebrow experiment I colored my eye brows in again, waiting to see if just maybe he'd notice, he did.

I couldn't believe it! By the simple task of adding a little color into my already dark eyebrows I was able to "wow" my husband of (then) 8 years who had seen me with every hair color, make up style and other beauty technique out there. It took less then 5 seconds to add dimension to my face and frame my eyes in a way that would make them stand out. It is the best and easiest beauty tip I have found.

Here is why: Quite often peoples eyebrows are a dull and ashy version of their hair color. In my case my eyebrows were dark and thick enough to frame my eyes but the color was wrong. Another problem is that peoples eyebrows do not match. There is always one that is thinner, higher, lighter, better arched or uneven.

By lightly shading in your eyebrows with a color that matches your natural color you will brighten the eyes natural hue and help make the eyebrows appear to be more symmetrical and even.



Look at the difference in these 2 pictures of me





I prefer to use a powder that is similar to an eye shadow over the commonly used eyebrow pencil, I think it looks more natural and gives you more control over the shade.

 I use Anastasia's eyebrow kit.   This kit offers:

•  2 Brow Powders- having 2 colors makes it easy to blend and customize a shade that looks natural
•  Angled Brush- makes applying the color easy and even
• Cream Highlighter- to use under the eyebrow on the brow bone, this lifts and accentuate the eyes
• Wax Cream- this is like gel for your eyebrows, it holds your eyebrow in the perfect shape all day and gives it a nice finished look. 

If you have never tried coloring in your eyebrows, try it! It is easy and will give you instant results.

DISCLAIMER: Always start out light and you can add more if you need. Remember you want it too look natural so that people can tell that there is something different but can't exactly tell what it is. It is more about adding a little color to your brow then it is adding darkness to your brow. Look for a color that matches you eyebrows already so it just brightens and fills in. 

I would love to see before and after pics if you try this!!

Father's Day Fun

On Saturday while I was finishing up my Father's Day shopping for my sweetie and my pops.

I got this text from the Mr. 

Earlier that morning he had been telling me that he needed a new pair of Sanuk's (for those of you that don't know, Sanuks are possibly the best summer shoe ever for beach-bum-wannabes like my husband and boys).

So at first glance I thought he was showing me the rip in his shoe to prove to me that he really does need a new pair (& he does). But then I noticed that righty looked a little off and that his naturally thin ankle kinda looked like my ankle when I'm 7 months, okay more like 6 months ;), pregnant.

By the time he got home from work his ankle was even bigger and just looking at it made my stomach churn and I felt that familiar dizziness that encompasses me when I see any sort of bodily injury. (Honestly, the only time I truly struggle with being a mom is when one of my boys gets hurt and I'm the only one there to put them back together. I get sick, dizzy, and can't catch my breath...and that is just when they scratch their knee. It is going to be an interesting 18 years.)

So he puts it up, ices it and hopes that it will feel better. It doesn't. This is man who has no fear of pain and has spent his whole life happily sacrificing his body for the thrill and fun of life. He has broken countless bones, has twisted and torn everything that can possibly be twisted or torn, has more little random scars on his one hand then my {cautious} sibling and I have on our whole bodies combined. It is insane how the possibility of pain never stops him from doing something fun. When I was a kid I wouldn't even walk on the curb because I wouldn't want to chance falling those steep 3 inches to the cement below.  I tell you this to emphasize the point that this man knows pain, knows how his body reacts to different injuries and doesn't become over dramatic and babyish when he gets hurt.

As his ankle got worse and worse over the next few hours he knew it wasn't a typical ankle twist. And by the next morning it was turning black and was at least 4 times bigger (I'm dry heaving as I think about it). At this point he has no idea if it is broken or sprained but he does know that it hurts like hell and it is worse than he would like to admit.

After a fun (for us) and painful (for him) Father's Day, I talked him into going to the ER (I may have promised milkshakes afterwards). I couldn't imagine moving on with the week without knowing exactly what was going on and having a game plan to help him heal as quickly as possible.

After we got checked in to the hospital we had a bit of a wait until he was able to get in for X-rays. All the nurses and doctors there instantly fell in love with Mr. Swollen Ankle. People always do. He is naturally quite charming without even realizing it. So the whole time we had people in our little "room" made of sheets just kind of hanging out with us. They were serving me drinks as if I were out to eat and telling jokes like I was at a comedy club, on amateur night. Who knew the ER could be so much fun?

The final verdict. MAJOR and deep sprain. He has to wear a boot when he walks and keep it elevated as much as possible while "icing the hell" out of it. Doctors orders. He was given a note saying he cannot go to work or school, but how do you miss school during finals week? You don't. So he took the next few days off work and is taking it as easy as possible.

And I am *lucky enough* to get the job of driving Miss Daisy, I mean driving him around.

 

Here he is wearing his little boot this morning when I dropped him off at school. (& I use the word little very loosely).

If this was a video you would hear him say... "Meg, hurry this is embarrassing". 

Hopefully he feels better soon! He has a 100 mile charity bike ride planned next month, we have a fun swimming party we are supposed to go to this coming up weekend and we were hoping to go backpacking in a few weeks.

Monday Randomness

Today is looking like a typical summer Monday. 

Lots of playing, reading, coloring, talking about all the amazing things that each specific transformer can do. 

Along with some...

Cleaning

Referee-ing

Meal making

More cleaning 

More referee-ing

& more meal making.

Repeat. Then repeat again. 

This morning we had SJ's summer tutoring. Poor kid isn't even in kindergarten yet and there is already so much pressure on him to be able to do a long and advanced checklist of things. 

I'm also thinking that since today is going to be sweltering hot. I think like high 90s. That we may have to break out the slip n slide and Popsicles. We would usually be headed to the pool on a day this hot but I like to be there right when it opens to get my spot by the kiddie pool. As you can imagine that area fills up fast. But with tutoring smack dab in the middle of the day we will probably have to skip the pool on Monday's.

Another exciting thing on my to do list is to go to the beauty supply store to buy some hair product that some of my stylist friends are raving about. I feel like a kid on Christmas! Nothing gets me more excited than trying new skin care, hair care, make up and other beauty products.  

Oh and I cant forget this exciting information. After a week and a half of the scale being at a complete standstill, it finally budged. And in the right direction! Yay. Insert ((Happy Dance)) here. That puts me down 34 lbs exactly.

Hmmmm. I don't think I have anything else to add. 

I was taking "before" pics of my hair and thought I'd share a pic of the shirt I'm wearing today. Cute right?