Beach-y Waves Tutorial

OK, so it's not Friday.. but every day should be beautiful!

I've been growing my hair out for quite some time and it's FINALLY past that super-annoying, in-between stage of being mid-length and long. A few months ago, I stopped cutting my layers and bangs so that my hair is now, according to several of my colleagues and pals, the quintessential summer hair. It's also glaringly blonde.

In spite of having a boatload of blonde highlights put in my hair, my hair has stayed pretty soft and healthy. My not-so-secret weapon for maintaining healthy hair: coconut oil and a shampooing schedule.

Yes, you read that correctly. Shampooing schedule. But that's a post for another day.

When I had "day three" hair on Monday, I needed to do something about it. So I did this:

After getting a ton of compliments on it, I was feeling pretty pleased with my dirty, beach-y hair. So I'm sharing the how-to with you all, my lovely peeps!

You need slept-on hair (second day is best - natural grit is best) with a little bit of texture, a trusty hairspray like L'Oreal Elnett, a comb, a flat iron or hair dryer, and about five minutes.

I like this method because you can modify it for great volume or more wave depending on your mood! Share your photos with me on my Facebook Page!

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And be sleepy.

 
1. Start with tangle-free hair. This is usually the most time-consuming thing for me, personally. Once your hair is brushed through, it's time to separate it.

 
 You can see here that my hair has some natural wave. I washed it before bed and blow-dried on medium heat about 3/4 of the way to dry. There's no product in there! (Don't mind the leftover mascara under my eyes!)

Twists

Depending on the length, thickness and desired curl you're looking for, you may want to make more or fewer twists. I usually separate my hair into 4 or 6 pieces and twist away from my face.

Today, I made 4 twists - two on each side. I left my hair totally dry, and twisted the hair for the full length semi tightly. Secure with an elastic while you're doing the other side.

Yay, mornings!

 Once your hair is twisted, you have two choices: Blast it with the hair dryer on high heat, or run your flat iron down the length of the twist a few times. Sometimes, I dampen my hair a bit and use the hair dryer. Do this with EVERY TWIST.
 

The beautiful buns

Roll your twists together while the hair is still warm into two-four buns and secure with an elastic. Let cool - this is SO important.

 If you don't let your hair cool before unraveling the twists, you've totally shot yourself in the foot. Heat-styling works because your hair is more pliable when subject to the high temperatures. By allowing your hair to cool completely, you set your style whether it be straight or curly. You can also blast with cool air from your hair dryer, but I like waiting it out a few minutes!

It really is GOLDEN.

Remove elastic and spray twists with hairspray, then go about your routine and let the twists undo themselves - or, if you're in a hurry, flip your head upside down and shake it out.

I like Elnett because it brushes out, giving you fantastic hold with a natural look. The smell reminds me of my Nanny's hairspray - it doesn't have a fruity or sweet smell like some of the trendy new sprays - but I love it all the same. Go easy on it though - you want natural looking waves and great volume, not spikes.

Today, I wanted my hair to be just a *little* less curly, so I didn't twist tightly and only ran the flat iron down twice per twist.

The end result - beachy!

If you want to skip the heat altogether and start with waves post-shower, simply work some texturizing cream (I love Bumble & Bumble (un)dressing creme) through towel-dried hair and let air dry about half way. Separate hair into desired number of sections and twist. Let your hair continue to dry.

Easy peasy!

--- Necklace, Le Chateau
--- Blouse, Old Navy

Lippier than Usual - Clinique Chubby Stick Review

First of all, I want to high-five Clinique for putting "chubby" and "beauty" in the same sentence. Thanks for that. 

ANYWAY.

It's Friday (yay!) and it's also the day Red comes home after 26 days of being all heroic and sexy in his military uniform (double yay!). I've pretty much been planning my outfit for when I go to pick him up all week, right down to the nail polish on my toes, which brought me to a critical crossroads: lip colour. 

The Chubby stick.

Being all make-up obsessed and vain - and because I'm beginning to bore of light pink or nude lips all the time - I decided that this week would be lipstick shopping week. I also had to wait 40 minutes at the pharmacy which just so happens to have a cosmetics boutique and I was tired and it was so pretty that I kind of couldn't help myself. And that, my friends, is how I came to be the proud owner of my secondClinique Chubby Stick  Intense moisturizing lip colour balm. 

Even it's name is lippy (and you may find you need to stop for a break part way through!).


I've been using my original Clinique chubby stick in curviest caramel for about six months, and it's barely even worn down. It's a great nude because it's not too nude, and it's dark enough that I can wear it when I'm tanned while being light enough to wear it in all my pasty glory. I chose the shade because I like to wear lipstick daily, and I went with the Chubby Stick because it moisturizes the hell out of your lips and it's also massive. It's practically impossible for me to lose it (though I may have forgotten where I put it a few times).


My new Chubby Stick caught my eye the exact friggin' second I glanced at the Clinique wall, after staring at other brands such as Smashbox and Benefit (my faves! ye gods!) for about 15 minutes. My first thought? It's a punchy colour - bright pink, almost raspberry but a little bit watermelon-y. I wasn't surprised to see that it was called plushest punch and I decided it was love at first sight. So, I carried it around for another 10 or 15 minutes before sauntering over to the counter with another product I don't need and joyfully used my Shoppers Optimum points to cover the full cost of it all! Yay, free stuff!!!!

My two fave lip products - look how big the chubby stick is!

I've been rocking the fun, gorgeous colour all week and I love it as much as I loved my previous Chubby Stick. I even wore it leaving the hospital yesterday - colour that bright makes anyone look more alive! The colour is not too opaque, but opaque enough that it gives the look of rich colour, and its shine factor is fantastic - I hate glosses. One of my biggest woes (as if it could really be a woe...) is that lipstick always dries out my lips, but since Clinique's Chubby Stick is loaded with mango and shea butters, it hydrates my lips while giving them a pop of colour. Who doesn't love that?

While the price tag might make you cringe a little ($19 a pop), keep in mind that it's a lot of colour. My last one is still going strong, after six months of almost everyday use. Plus, it's scent-free and allergy tested. 

I'm not a regular Clinique shopper, but my new love for the Chubby Sticks may sway me otherwise...

Thumbs Up for Thursdays (July 25)

Today was a long day.

Like, a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day. In fact, I've only slept about 4 hours since  I got up for work at 5 am on Wednesday morning. Why? you ask? Well, being the medical anomaly that I am, I landed myself in the hospital just before midnight and stayed in the ER until after 8 am.

In spite of feeling awful, I decided to recap all of the things that deserve a thumbs up again this week. Being cranky certainly won't make me feel any better, so I figure it's high time I break out the positivity again.

So, without further ado, here are the things that deserve a Thumbs-Up this week!

1. I finally got the mailbox at my apartment fixed! As lovely as it is to pretend that I don't have bills, the reality is that I do and now that I can actually physically hold them, I feel a lot better about paying them. Extra bonus: I had a credit balance on one of them! Woohoo!

2. I had the opportunity to paint my nails in peace and quiet this week. Any Mom will tell you how hard it is to do that with a kid around. My kidcation hasn't been the glamorous, R&R adventure I was anticipating but I can totally get behind pretty nails!

3. I got a free lipstick at Sephora (as part of a reward for being a loyal customer). I was also the second customer in Atlantic Canada to receive the VIB Rouge status with Sephora. It's both exciting and embarrassing. Don't ask how much I spent to get to that in the last year.

4. Even though I spent more than eight hours in pain, sitting under a thin blanket in the emergency room, the ER staff deserve a real thumbs-up for how hard working they were. Plus, I recognize how fortunate I am to be able to go and spend eight hours in the Emergency Department of the hospital and receive treatment - even if I unfortunately left with more questions than answers and a head full of worry.

5. OK, I know this hasn't happened yet BUT... RED COMES HOME TOMORROW! And if that's not reason to celebrate, nothing is!

Mom-Shaming

If you've ever been a Mom, you've experienced that incomprehensible combination of joy and absolute terror as the fact that someone is now completely dependent on you sinks in. There's really no greater honour than becoming a parent - whether through birth or adoption. It's a wonderful journey filled with love, bumps in the road and lessons to be learned. 

I was disgusted last night to stumble across tweets, blog posts and articles pointing out things like Kate Middleton's figure post baby (heaven forbid she have a bump LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER HAVING A BABY), and attacks on the new family for not securing the baby into the car seat properly.

Really, you guys? You other moms knew how to do everything perfectly? You all left the hospital with flat stomachs, looking better than the Duchess? Gimmeabreak. But this isn't about Kate Middleton. It's about a world-wide community of mothers who fail eachother and themselves. It makes me sad that as a community of moms we're not being that: a community. We're leaving one another to drown, throwing eachother to the wolves.

Where's the support, gals? I'd wager there's not a single mama reading this post right now who hasn't been made to feel inadequate as a parent at one time or another. And if you haven't, maybe it's a sign that you are the problem. 

I'd like to meet the mother who, on her first try, managed to do everything perfect 24 hours after giving birth. And then, after shaking her hand, I'd like to punch her in the throat and call her a liar. Because nobody is perfect. Nobody.

I've been called a bad mom, and I've called myself a bad mom. I'm not. I'm normal. I make mistakes, lose my temper, forget my manners and let F have popsicles for breakfast sometimes. SUE ME. When he was a few months old, I turned my back for a split-second and he fell off the bed. I felt terrible, but guess what? It never happened again. I learned that lesson.

And do you know what? I've done it. I've judged another Mom, as she lost her temper with her kid in the grocery store aisle. When I was pregnant, I swore I'd never do some of the things I saw other parents do. I did. We all did. But after being on the receiving end of it, I'm a little more forgiving and a lot more understanding. 

I understand that all the seasoned parents of the world feel that the Duke and Duchess could stand to learn a thing or two from their awesomeness, but how about getting down off your high horse and trying this whacky new concept: just be happy for them.

I could write about Mom-on-Mom shaming until I'm blue in the face, but I'll leave you with this:

Don't judge that mom. You have no idea what's going on in her day. Instead of judging her for looking tired and thrown together and maybe completely out of her mind a little bit stressed, congratulate her on her beautiful kid(s). Tell her how cute they are. Point out how well mannered or smart and articulate they are. She's doing her best, just as you are. We all have things to learn, mistakes we need to make and obstacles to face. It's a hell of a lot easier when we have a community of supportive people behind us. 
 

Spitting Images

"He looks just like his father," the man said, smiling at F.

I guess it's a part of our vanity as parents that we long to hear how much our child looks like us, and depending on who you ask, F either looks just like me or just like the sperm donor (which, for the record, is what I choose to call my ex since he doesn't deserve the D or the F word, unless the  D word is douchebag or deadbeat and the F word we're talking about is fucktard - but I digress). I always flutter a bit of pride and happiness when I hear how much he looks like me - lucky kid, right? - but for once I didn't feel a pang of anger when this strange, kind man exclaimed how much F looks like his Dad.

Because this man thought Red was F's Dad. I don't think you could have smacked the smile off of Red's face.

It's funny how people see similarities in the appearances of others. I'm told all the time how much I look like the Carmichaels, and my brother is "the spitting image of his grandfather, Allister" but the truth is that I'm no more related to the Royal Baby than I am to the Carmichaels or the MacInnis clan. Which brings me to thinking, how lucky would the Royal Baby be to look like me? I'm kidding, you guys.

Kind of.

But, I can see how people would say I look like my Mom (the Petersons), or my Carmichael cousins and I can even see how one might liken my brother's thin frame and small face to my late-Papa. I can also see how it might lie in our mannerisms, the way we laugh, the way I tell stories the exact same way every other MacInnis does... with a lot of wind and hopefully a beer or two.

I spent a lot of time believing that family meant something very different than what it does - a surprising thing, given my own family. I believed firmly that F needed his biological dad. Maybe because I didn't have mine. Maybe not. What I've learned is that family is what you make of it. Pets become your children and friends become your sisters and brothers. You love people, and that is what family is.