Some of you may be wondering how my little shopping excursion went last week.
It went pretty well.
After five minutes in the store I had my usual closed-throat reaction to clothes shopping and almost burst into tears. But I fought through the terror and forced myself to stay. I grabed like, 50 things and headed to the changeroom — because there is nothing I hate more than getting naked and putting on a shirt, only to find out that it is too tight and I need to get all dressed again only to go back out into the garish store light and the booming music to search for another size, and repeat. One changeroom visit only, that’s my limit!
Most of the stuff did not work at all. But some of it did.
In the end I walked away with three very nice spring-like short-sleeved shirts, and one cute denim jacket which I like but I already wonder where the hell I’m going to wear it.
Here I am wearing one of my new shirts and my hot-ass pants, on my way for a duty day at Gal Smiley’s co-op nursery school:
Even though I was very pleased with this outfit, looking at this picture of myself leaves me cringing because my hair and face are such a mess (I admit I chickened out and used the smallest possible photo so you don’t get a lot of face detail). My hair is in that tragic state called “eight-weeks-post-cut,” when it can’t quite decide if it wants to be straight or curly and is really in need of reshaping to calm it down. This is when I usually start to wear it exclusively in a little pigtail all the time but this time I’ve decided that I’m a grown woman, dammit, and I should probably try for a more adult look, so this day in particular I decided to try wearing it down. Unfortunately my hair did not want to cooperate. Of course, it would probably point out that it was not helped by the fact that I completely refuse to blow dry. It makes me cranky. No more blow dryers ever!
As for the rest, I’m really past the age where I can be running around town with a makeup-free face but I hate makeup — I have a ton of pimples STILL, apparently my pores have not yet received the message that I am THIRTY-SEVEN, for God’s sake, and makeup makes it worse because I hardly ever remember to wash it off my face at night. Plus, I can never seem to remember that I have the stuff on, so I’m constantly rubbing my eyes or licking my lips or sitting with my chin in my hands, only to discover my hand is now a lovely shade of plum while my face is now naked.
I feel committed to making over my wardrobe in the upcoming year, but the nice pants and cute tops are only highlighting the fact that I also need to do something from the neck up.
Man, you get one pair of hot-ass pants and it all steamrolls from there, doesn’t it?
I think I need more products in my house. Something to smooth hair. Something to even out my facial skin without feeling heavy or requiring a lot of blending like foundation. Maybe some pretty shiny lip gloss. And eye cream. Do I need eye cream? And night cream? Who can say. I totally skipped that whole part of adolescence where you experiment with face wash and eyeshadow and learn how the hell it all works together to produce a glowing, beautiful you, so I need lots and lots of advice. Please leave me your product ideas!
TurtleHead 
Pants: totally hot ass
Top: super-cute. I have a few very similar shirts in my wardrobe and I lurve them!
Face: The first thing I noticed was your smile, which is lovely.
Constant battle against the pimples: You and me both, sister. You and me both. If your skin is anything like mine, I would advise against introducing more products into your grooming arsenal, at least not before you’ve done some research. Every cream, serum, spray, lotion, etc I introduce just makes my face angrier. Even hair stuff seems to affect my face. Eye cream was the worst! It didn’t diminish my lines and gave me monstrous white heads.
Totally cute!
And as I could pretty much have written this entry myself, I’m afraid I am of no use in suggesting anything beauty-regime related.
Smooth hair: lots of options here, and it depends on if you want styling power on top. For straightening only, try a serum or hair straightening cream. I use Joico, but it’s super pricey. got2B is a good line and cheaper; they probably have a straightening product. For smoothing + control, try a wax or putty. I use Stiff S@#!t’s putty for that. If you want samples of these 2 products I have, just let me know.
I’m getting rid of my old straightener. If you want it to play around with, it’s yours. It’s good for when you have a piece sticking out.
Even out skin: forget foundation. It’ll drive you crazy, and you know it. What you need is better skin treatments so you get to the point where you don’t need foundation. I’m sure you’re using a good face wash, but you need a vitamin cream on top of that. Neutrogena Healthy Skin Nighttime is awesome. I use the nighttime cream during the day when I’m not going outside; unfortunately the day time version, which has SPF 15, stings like a bitch. For a vitamin cream with SPF go with Oil of Olay Complete. (I also have Patricia Wexler’s skin brightening cream, which is better, but it’s really pricey.)
I have a partly full bottle of Neutrogena Health Skin Nighttime that you can have now that I’ve switched permanently to Oil of Olay. Be aware though that to see results you MUST use it EVERY DAY. It takes 4 to 6 weeks to see improvement, and that should come in the form of a more even skin tone.
I use a topical acne medication at night (Steivamycin), so I don’t use a night cream so I can’t really recommended one. Again, get one that’s more than a moisturizer; you need vitamins and stuff in it.
You don’t need eye cream. Recent studies show that moisturizers of any kind can’t prevent wrinkles.
Do you have any acne type products that you trust and find help? Face washes or spot treatments? What brands do you use?
My face seems to respond well to Neutrogena products, though I still get little breakouts on my chin and cheeks when I’m expecting my period. I stay far away from all facial products that contain oil. Even tea tree oil which is meant to combat acne, makes my face erupt like volcano.
Cute top!
I’m the same age, and it sounds like we have the same skin problems. It seems highly unfair to be concerned with pimples and wrinkles at the same time!
One product that I love is Laura Mercier oil-free tinted moisturizer. It’s not heavy, even things out, and is SPF 20. The only problem is that it’s pricey, so it’s usually a once-a-year splurge for me. It’s available at Holt Renfrew.
My hair can’t decide whether it’s straight or wavy. When I want to skip blowdrying and make it wavier, AG Recoil works well. I put it in my hair while it’s damp and then sort of twirl random sections of hair with my fingers (picture a fidgety girl twirling her hair while studying). It makes my hair look actually wavy instead of just sort of wavy.
If you find any miracle products, I hope you’ll post about them!
I use the Clean and Clear line — their face wash most days, their exfoliating face wash a couple of times a week, and their moisturizer a couple of times a week. I can’t say that they help the pimple situation but they don’t seem to freak my skin out, either, so that is good.
I’ve heard good things about Neutrogena so I think I’ll have a look at their line and see what would be fun to try.