Hair

5 Tips to Keep Your Blowout Fresh and Fly for Days

August 28th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

karen blowout — Now if only I could always wake up with hair like this, ha!

I splurged on a blowout.

They aren’t something I do often, but when I do get one, I always feel like a million bucks, because when my hair looks good, I feel good!

This one’s by Robyn, a hair stylist and colorist at Elise Armeen Salon, which is located here in Novato.

If you’re local, go see her (check out her work on Instagram)! She’s super fast, really easy to talk to, and based on my hairdo, her blowouts are bomb.

While I was there, we got to chatting about what you can do to keep your blowout fresh and fly for days, because you know what? If you’re gonna throw down a pretty penny to get your hair did, you might as well eke out every last bit of that style. Am I right?

Here’s what Robyn suggested to keep your blowout looking its best:

1. Hands off

First things first: Don’t mess with the final do. Keep your fingers out of your hair, refrain from aggressive brushing, and if you do have to brush, gently use a wide-tooth comb or a paddle brush.

You want to minimize any disturbance to your blowout, so your hair can retain as much of its shape and volume as possible.

2. Keep your distance

This one’s for my girls with flyaways (otherwise known as “my people”). If you have cowlicks or pieces of hair that jut upward at odd angles, instead of using a wax or a hair pomade (products which can rob you of precious volume) to smooth them down, opt for a flexible hairspray, a spray wax or a spray oil.

Use quick bursts of the product applied from a distance — seriously, as far as you can hold your arm out! The farther the better. That way, you can prevent over-applying the product and weighing down your hair.

karen before blowout — The obligatory before shot…

karen blowout after — And here’s the after!

Do a few quick spritzes, and if you need to, use your fingers to gently smooth wayward flyaways, and then let the product completely dry. At that point, asses whether you need more (Robyn prefers to use as little product as possible when she does blowouts because she like hair with lots of movement). Repeat the process until you’re happy. 😊

On my hair, Robyn used a mix of two products: First, she did a few quick mists of Vibrant Sexy Hair Rose Elixir, then followed that up with Moroccan Oil Luminous Hairspray.

3. Pump up the volume

If you’re going to keep your blowout for several days, Robyn suggests asking your stylist to maximize the volume, because as days go by, the volume will decrease, and if you start off on day one with a flatter style, by the next day, your hair will look even flatter.

Basically, you want some room for your hair to deflate.

karen blowout styling products — The products Robyn used for the look

To dial up the volume, Robyn started by shampooing and conditioning my hair. Then she scrunched a volume-enhancing mousse (Moroccan Oil Volumizing Mousse) into my roots, and sprayed a “memory” styling spray that retains the shape of blow-dried curls and straightened sections (Vibrant Sexy Hair Memory). She also applied a smoothing serum (Moroccan Oil Blow-Dry Concentrate) on my wet hair from the mid-shaft to the ends.

karen blowout shampoo — Fancy meeting you here!

For added volume around my bangs, Robyn blew out a few sections of hair, rolled the sections into big curls, and fastened them into place with metal hair duck bill clips.

She then allowed those sections to cool, which sets the shape of the strands and increases the volume even more.

karen blowout round bangs duck clips — Note to self: Use this technique again.

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Have You Ever Had a Mullet?

June 5th, 2019 by Karen 16 Comments

everyday soft glam makekup tutorial k and c — Make the mullet great again!

For the record, I’m not anti-mullet. In fact, I have a deep abiding love and appreciation for Connor Claire’s baby mullet!

I’ve also had a mullet before, but it was unintentional. A stylist at a froufrou San Francisco salon I used to go to “razored” my hair a little too enthusiastically once, so rather than leaving with “J. Lo’s latest hair” (which was how the stylist sold me on the idea), I left with steep, shaggy, disconnected layers — or, in plain-speak, one hell of a mullet.

I’ve seen mullets that work on people, but…this one did not work on me.

My hair’s wavy on the top layers and straight underneath, so the top parts puffed up and radiated outward like a bowl cut that took a very, very wrong turn, and the straight parts underneath kept flat. The only way I could wear my hair down and have it look halfway decent was to straighten it out, and even then I still looked like a Filipino Carol Brady impersonator. For months I wore my hair up in a ponytail.

Was it the worst haircut I’ve ever had? Naw, but that unintentional mullet is definitely up there. Easily top 5 of all the bad ones.

How about you? Have you ever had a mullet?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Your Discontinued Faves?

May 30th, 2019 by Karen 24 Comments

Contrary to popular belief, the most powerful magic words are not “abracadabra” or “alakazam.”

No, the most powerful magic words are “fifty percent off.”

I found my favorite foaming co-wash slashed to half price at Ulta last weekend. Unfortunately, as I celebrated with a well-placed booty pop, I realized — OH, NO! — that they were on the same shelf where they keep the soon-to-be discontinued products.

As you know, I’ve been trying to embrace the Marie Kondo life, so I haven’t been hoarding beauty backups as of late, but girl…I’ve gone through three of these bottles in the last six months, so I know they’ll get used.

So…I got the last three bottles on the shelf. 🤭

What are your discontinued faves?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

How Often Do You Use Heat to Style Your Hair?

May 29th, 2019 by Karen 33 Comments

Hmm… A few days a week? I use a wide-barrel curling iron or a flat iron for a few seconds on very few pieces of hair to create some waves on my outer layers.

And then once or twice a month I’ll bust out ye olde big guns (the T3) and use it on low heat with a diffuser to lock in some waves, or on my roots if it’s chilly outside and I can’t bear to have wet roots. But I generally try to use heat styling as infrequently as possible, because experience has taught me that it, or at least the way I do it if I have my druthers, damages my hair more than anything else.

How about you? How often do you use heat to style your hair?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Power Polish

May 24th, 2019 by Karen 20 Comments

orbeez spa — This is totally a thing. (Ooh! — the colorful little beads look like boba.)

Need some faux flowers for a crafts project? How about an oversized LED flamingo? If you need something craftsy or DIY, check out Michaels, the combination craft supply store/inter-dimensional portal to an alternate reality where times as we know it does not exist.

Be warned, though: 5 minutes in a Michaels is like 8 hours in the outside world. In fact, after 15 minutes in a Michaels store…you may never actually leave; however, this danger is offset by all the weird treasures, including this children’s foot spa…

What, exactly, is so taxing to the feet of little children that they need a Calgon moment? 😂

Heck, though, if I were 8, I’d probably want one too…

GO SCIENCE

After a little googling, it turns out that the “Orbeez” in the name, “Orbeez Foot Spa,” refers to the colorful beads, and they’re a thing kids play with these days (who knew?).

The actual chemistry behind them is pretty cool. The beads are made from a super absorbent polymer, and when you add water, they grow from 100-300 times their original size.

I bet they do help tired arches, but there’s absolutely no freakin’ way I’m allowing one of these things in my home, because any time tiny, round things get set free in this #toddlerlife, it’s like Pandora’s Box. There’s just no way to ever corral them back into one place again. My three-year-old will go on to finish high school, college, then astronaut training, and I will still be vacuuming Orbeez out of dusty corners. They will most certainly haunt me for my next five lifetimes, and when I come back as a silky, long-haired ragdoll kitty, I’ll be swatting the same damn beads off the couch!

Nail polish as a source of strength?

So, when Connor inevitably asks for a spa pedicure, I’m going to put her feet in a bucket of warm water, stick some flower petals and lemon wedges in it and call it day. And then I’m going to offer up my collection of nail polishes to choose from, which also now includes this gorgeous purple from Chanel.

chanel purple ray swatch day 1 — Two coats of Chanel Purple Ray just after I painted my nails. I’m also wearing Sally Hansen No More Stains Spray-On Base Coat and Essie Platinum Grade Finish Top Coat.

chanel purple ray swatch day 6 — And here it is after six days… Good wear time!

Purple Ray ($28) is equal parts tough, elegant and optimistic (which is basically what I strive for every day of my life, ha!). I mean, that’s not the official PR description, but I think it’s accurate.

For me, nail polish isn’t just nail polish. It’s the beauty equivalent of power posing (power polishing?). Listen, when my nails are done, I feel good, and everyone and everything in my path better watch out!

It’s all about the power pose…

Sure, nail polish is just frosting (what’s inside is the most important stuff), but if looking at pretty polish on your nails reminds you that you’re a bad-@ss, then do it! Say it all day, every day long.

Say it: “I am a bad-@ss.”

And yes, I really do get this worked up from two coats of Purple Ray nail polish!

Waxing philosophic

I’m going to do a fresh mani in just a few, but I gotta sort my hair situation out first. I’m down to the last few spritzes of my beloved Oribe spray wax, so please pause for a second while I shed a perfectly placed glittery tear.

*pause* 😪

oribe flash form finishing spray wax — Lurve this spray by Oribe

Have you jumped on the spray wax train yet? GIRL. Get yourself a ticket. Grab the next ride out! ’cause spray waxes are awesome. I’ve only used the Oribe one, but it’s sooooo good. It’s a flexible finishing product that you spray on your finished style to break up the uniformity of your hair and leave you with softly defined pieces. It also adds shine, smoothness, bounce and lift.
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