You think I'm pretty without any makeup on.

press play. it's only 8 seconds.

"I did actually attract my guy with no make-up and sweats!"  You may have read this in a comment on my last post. Yes Jennie, you did. But in an informal interview with your husband he admitted it was on race day that he found you most attractive (probably... I'm going off my vague memory and trying to make a point here).


For those of you who feel like you just walked into the middle of sisters arguing, you did!! So here's the story. Once upon a time there was a girl who ran really fast and ran on a college team where she met a boy who also ran really fast. They fell in love and got married. This girl doesn't wear makeup, never has. Her husband was attracted to her anyway. But thing about this girl is even though in high school someone thought she was homeless (because of the clothes she wore) and even though she claims to never get ready... she did. Every race day. She didn't do her hair fancy or put on make up so, what did she do? She plucked her eyebrows, shaved her legs, did her hair in a perfect bun, and put on flattering clothes (she looks great in running clothes. Just ask her husband).


The first step to enhancing your look is to pluck/tweeze your eyebrows. I don't care what anybody says. Bushy eyebrows are not in style. Nor will they ever be. Plucking eyebrows scares me. This is why I don't do it very often but I should. The first time I did it I wore the same amount of make up and didn't wear any special clothes or anything but I had so many comments (from boys) about how pretty I looked. None of them could place why but they could tell there was something different.


If you have never plucked your own eyebrows I highly suggest going to a salon and getting them professionally waxed for the first time. Oprah says to do that too. That way you can be sure that they are shaped correctly. Even if you do pluck your own and you have some extra cash it might not be a bad idea to go. They are professionals and will shape them so they frame your face the best way possible.  After that you can stay on top of it and tweeze them as the grow back in. OR if you're like me (read- CHEAP) who keeps saying I'm going to go but I just can't bare to spend that much money (I actually have no idea how much it costs but I know it costs more than free so that's too much for me), you can do it yourself. I'm lucky because my eyebrows really aren't that bad. They have a nice shape naturally and I just have to clean up the hairs underneath the arch.

Here's how to shape them correctly: take a pencil (a regular #2 pencil) or anything else straight and line it up on the side of your nose. This is where the eyebrow should start.



Next move the pencil so that it passes over the center of your eye. That should be the peak of the brow.





Lastly, line up the pencil with the edge of your eye and where it touches should be where the brow ends.





I know, I'm hot. This is what happens when I'm bored at work and remember that my laptop can take pictures haha. 


Here's another visualization of that:

( I got this from http://www.howtoshapeeyebrows.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/How-to-shape-eyebrows-jolie.jpg) 


The peak of her arch follows the line on the outside of her eye which is different from what I told you above. but the 1 cm difference isn't a big deal. Keep it as close to your natural arch as possible.


If you want, start out by trimming your brows. "This will make a big difference in helping you look younger. Once eyebrows reach a certain length they start losing pigments at the ends. I love using a mustache trimmer set I purchased at a department store. It comes with a little comb and perfect point scissors. Comb your eyebrows up, trim any excess that goes beyond the natural hair line. Comb your eyebrows down, and do the same. It may seem like a lot at first but trust me, you will love the outcome." (from http://www.suite101.com/content/eyebrow-shape-a2804)

Do's and Don'ts

Do
-pluck your eyebrows right after you get out of the shower- the pores are more open and the skin is softer so it makes it less painful. You can also put a warm wet cloth over the brows to make it soft.
- pull your brow up (pull it "taut" as many websites have put it) so you're plucking off your fore head instead of pulling your eyelid out.
-pull out with the direction it grows
-use a quality pair of tweezers. I promise this makes a difference! It hurts less with a good pair. Slant-tipped tweezers are the best!


DO NOT 
-DON'T pluck our eyebrows in a magnified mirror or too close to the mirror. You will pull out to many
-DON'T freeze your tweezers or put ice on your brow to numb the pain while plucking. It will break the hairs and you won't pull it out at the root.
-DON'T shave your eyebrows. 


The more you do it, the less it hurts.


Well good luck! 


(So I just looked up how much it would be to get an eyebrow wax close to where I live. $15. That's not as much as I thought it would be. To me, that's worth the money. I'll go do that next week and report back here how it went.)

My No Make-up Experiment

(First off I want to explain my last post- I made a point about saying how frugal I was so that when I recommend a product I am guaranteeing that it was worth my money. Everyone's skin is different so something that I love might not work as well for you but it also might work better for you. That's my disclaimer.)

So girls, we've all heard the big lie that a lot of guys tell. That lie is: "I prefer a girl with no make up and who wears sweats!" OK so please tell me why in any social setting, especially when people are first meeting each other the guys gravitate to the cutesy girl who is definitely not in sweats and definitely has make up on.

My friend and I made a bet about my hypothesis of it being a lie. This is my before picture:

And this is an example of the guys THAT attracted:

So I started doing my hair and putting on some make up:

And then I attracted THIS guy:

So my fellow anti-makeup friends, do you see why make up is important? Unfortunately for you you will never attract this guy because he's mine but you can find someone just as great. (And there's way more reasons than just dating to wear makeup)

Here's my thing about make-up- I feel like it makes people look fake. That's another reason on top of the money thing why I didn't like wearing it. But I've discovered some product that makes me look and feel better without making me look or feel fake.

I don't want to completely change how you look. You know those girls who slept in for the first time and nobody recognizes them? I'm totally against that.

What I like about make up is that it helps me feel better about myself. If you don't believe me, do this experiment: Wear sweats every day for a week and don't do anything with your hair and don't put any make up on. Chances are that you will feel like you look- grungy, lazy, and blah. But try wearing cute clothes and wash/do your hair. You will feel better about yourself because you care about yourself. Here's a hint to raise your grades: Dress up the day of a test- when you feel better about yourself you will do better.

Makeup should be used to enhance what you have, not change it! I don't think you should spend more than 5 minutes doing makeup. If you are, you're doing too much! Keep stopping by for tips on how to reduce time in front of the mirror and increase self-confidence!

Why I'm Here

I'm a married college student trying to make ends meet. I am very financially minded and won't spend a dime unless it's necessary. If I don't have time to pack a lunch, I'll go hungry before I waste my money on over-priced-under-nutritive fast food. My whole life I have played sports and was raised to be a tom boy. I remember one time I was wearing a cute outfit and my sister, who usually made fun of me for being so "girly," told me that she wished she'd had cute clothes like that and urged me to go down that path instead of the t-shirt and soccer shorts route. I didn't really take her advice. I didn't have money to buy cute clothes and make-up seemed so expensive! So here I am finally trying to get out of my grungy look BUT staying on a budget. When I bought make-up it was always generic brand cheap-o stuff that I never loved and didn't look good or stay on very long.

I recently started selling Mary Kay. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this but I did it. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to say that I do. Mostly because I don't wear much make-up or know very much about product. I don't know why anyone would trust me with with make-up tips when I feel like everyone knows more than I do. But then I realized that there has got to be more people out there like me- trying to figure out this whole make-up thing.

Because I sell Mary-Kay I end up using their products so that I can actually say what it does and how well it works. I will be reviewing Mary Kay products honestly on this blog and giving out other make up / skin care tips as I go and hopefully help out fellow bare-faced girls!

By the way, if you order a product from me that you heard about on my blog, you'll get $1 off every $5 you spend! And remember that Mary Kay products are always 100% guaranteed. If you don't like it, get ALL your money back!!

So if you want to look professional and pretty but don't know where to start, you've come to the right place!!