Manolo for the Beauty

Forget Jane Fonda, last week I wanted to know how you felt about plastic surgery for yourself.   23% of you are all for it, 14% are totally against it, 41% say it isn’t for them but they aren’t the plastic surgery police, and a crafty 19% refused to paint yourself into a corner.  Personally, I don’t feel like plastic surgery would be something I would do.  But who knows? Maybe thirty years from now it will be like getting dental work done, everybody does it.

Today I want to know what types of beauty products you buy.  I will readily admit to being a complete and utter beauty snob.  I like high-end brands and I’m willing to forgo something until I can afford exactly what I want (see: this).  Now, I’m not proud of this, it is actually probably pretty silly of me to count out many of the drugstore brands.  Maybe I could use an intervention.  What about you?

Yeah, I was just looking for something different in the title.  I know it doesn’t really fit, but do you know how hard it is to come up with scintillating titles every day?

So we’ve got some braiding going on in the celebrity circles, and a low side-braid at that.  No Pippi Longstockings around here.

I love braiding, and I wish it was done more often.  But unfortunately, to do it right, it usually has to be done by someone else.  I can French braid, but when I do it on myself it gets turned inside out and is mostly lopsided.   And most of us don’t have a stylist able to come to our house and make a perfect fishtail, with possibly fake hair. 

I’m a pretty big Disney fan, so it goes without saying that I find this eyelid artistry by Katie Alves  to be all kinds of awesome.  Also, can I have the model’s eyelashes for myself, please?

Alice in Wonderland

Aladdin

Lion King

Snow White

The Nightmare Before Christmas

via

I remember when the Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips first came out. It had the commercial with the model ripping one of the strips off of her nose and then wrinkling it in disgust and saying “Ewwwwww!”  as she saw the gunk that was formerly in her nose appear on the strip.

A neat idea, actually.

I admit to being someone who really hates blackheads.  I seem to be very prone to them, even though I do my darndest to keep them at bay.

I have in the past used the Biore strips and indeed copied almost the exact expression of the actress in the commercial. 

But for some reason, I stopped using them.  Not because they didn’t work, they worked quite well.

However, I think it just got really depressing that no matter how often I used the strips, probably once or twice a week, nothing was getting better.  It became a Sisyphean task that was quite draining on my wallet, as those suckers are not all that cheap. 

I am also prone to broken capillaries on my nose (Glinda was not first in line when they were handing out the good skin) and it seemed this product caused more problems than it solved.  Because really, they don’t solve anything.

Instead, I use a cleansing product with glycolic acid and lotions that help to minimize the look of my pores.

Am I the only one who is obsessed with this?

My large pores and I will just slink away now.

Last week I asked how you felt about one Ms. Jane Fonda and her plastic surgeries.  32% of you felt that due to her bulging bank account and profession, her aging process should be considered anything but normal.   30% of you felt that due to her multiple plastic surgeries, she’s had quite the bit of assistance, and so no one should be looking to her as an aging role model.  24% think that yeah, she’s been under the knife, but she’s done a great job of it so far.  And finally a generous 12% of you think she looks fabulous, and that is all that matters.

So of course, today I want to know about you.

In my daily life, I’m not really much of a hairspray person.

I only use hairspray on special occasions, and lately, whenever I put my hair up in a ponytail or bun because I wind up looking a lot like this:

Minus the vat.

Most days.

So I’d heard a bunch about Elnett hairspray from L’Oreal, and recently saw it at my local Tar-jay.  It had been unvailable here in the US for forever, and finally it was decided that we could purchase it here in the US without need of bribing any European relatives. They had a  travel size, as compared to the big huge one, so I decided to see what the hype was all about.

It is true that this hairspray delivers firm hold but doesn’t make your hair tacky.  Love that.  You can also brush your hair and the hold will still be there, which I like a lot. 

This stuff comes out of the botttle at a million miles an hour, so beware of using too much.  It’s easy to do.  But the mist is fine and easy to direct.

My one point of dissatisfaction?  Lordy, does this stuff smell.  It smellls like a hundred elderly ladies getting their hair done at old-fashioned beauty parlor.  It is entirely possible to choke while applying the product, the smell is that overpowering.  And it doesn’t go away, much to my chagrin.  I could smell it hours later, and to me that is a huge minus.  I have a very sensitive nose, and the smell kept wafting around me the entire day and it made me want to go take a shower and wash it out.

So.

Fantastic product, does a fabulous job at holding hair where you want it.

But beware the fumes!

There is a no-fragrance version, but good luck finding it here in the US for a reasonable price.

There is someone who is dreading their roots growing out.

Since it’s supposed to be a bummer of a weekend, I thought I’d cheer myself up a bit with some rainbow hair!

via Buzzfeed

I will not tire you by trying to work a “hollaback” reference during this post.  You’re welcome.

In Cannes, Gwen Stefani takes a big departure from her usual ruby red lips and veers over into the land of piping hot pink.

I LOVE it.

Usually, Gwen’s beauty routine bores me.  Bleached hair, pale skin, heavy eyeliner, red lips, yadda yadda.  Paging Jean Harlow!

 You could always count on her to pretty much look the same makeup-wise whether she was attending charity benefit or walking her kids in the park.

But, it’s amazing what a tiny bit of different can do. All of her normal elements are there, except those lips.

Sure, the pink is a bit much, but she is a rockstar, dammit.  If Gwen Stefani isn’t allowed to wear a retina-searing pink, then nobody is.

YOU MUST WATCH THIS

Now, it seems this device was originally made for people who needed to regain muscle strength in their faces after a stroke, so don’t think I’m knocking it.

But this particular ad is both mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.

Products are always looking for ways to stand out, and crazy/tacky/suggestive naming is one way to do that.  48% of you said that a crazy product name might make you pause for a moment, but wouldn’t deter you from purchasing if you liked it enough.  28% could care less about what the name is, and a whopping 24% of you took a hard-line stance, saying that you wouldn’t pay for something with a wacky name.  It would seem then, that almost a quarter of you have never bought OPI nail polish.

Today I want to talk about aging.  73 year old Jane Fonda was photographed at Cannes, above, looking like a zillion bucks.  The Pucci dress worked wonders for her figure, and her face does not really look like that of your typical 73 year old woman.   Jane has been honest about having plastic surgery, so I’m not sure she should be held up as a shining beacon of how to age gracefully.  Or should she?