Tips For Waxing

Picture courtesy of: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chest_waxing_cropped.jpg

The first time I waxed my body hair I had high hopes.  Hopes for a completely hair free body.  But that has always been my hope, with whatever hair removal tactic I have tried.  And so far I have tried, shaving, depilatory lotions, waxing, and an epilator.

Nothing has done a perfect job, and nothing has been easy or quick to do.  But surprisingly, to me, I have stuck with waxing much longer than I originally thought I would have.  Over the years I have learned a thing or two about it.  I am by no means an expert, but I have a few things to share.

1 - Waxing will not remove every single hair leaving you super smooth and silky.  This is due to a couple of reasons.  One, not all of your hair will be long enough for the wax to grab, hair does grow at different times and thus is different lengths.  Two, many of the hairs will break and not be fully plucked from the follicle.  Three, some hairs are more resilient than others and will resist plucking.

2 - Do it yourself.  While I have never gone to a professional, I can not stomach the thought of paying the fees associated with going to someone.  Also I am concerned with the hygiene of such locations.  Jules went and had a certain area waxed and the results were less than to be desired.  I performed a much better job for her the next time she was willing to give it a go.

3 - Use a professional or semi professional waxing pot.  I use the Gigi waxing pot as well as Dark Honey Wax.  The Dark Honee Wax has worked best for me and does not irritate my skin as some other types have.  I have also tried microwave heated wax, which does not work well at all.  I have also tried prewaxed strips and they do not work well at all either.

4 - Do not give up.  The first time I did it, my chest hair follicles bled.  Oh and it hurt so bad, I should have taken some prescription pain meds first.  The second time, it bled less.  Now, about 20-30 times later, it does not bleed at all, and actually does not hurt that much either.  My results have gotten much better each time I do it.  Think about shaving.  The first time you did it, were you perfect at it?  Probably not.  Nor will it be with waxing.

5 - Do not wax right out of the shower.  Do it towards the end of the day, or the day after you shower.  Your skin should be lightly oily to help the wax not to stick to it.

6 - Do not wax if you need to dress that day, or the next, or even the next.  I tend to give my skin about 4-5 days to recover.  After you wax most likely your skin will have quite a few red spots covering every inch of it.  These spots will lesson within a few days.

So why do I do it?  Mainly because it helps me to be able to keep up with my shaving.  It greatly reduces the amount of hairs that are actively growing at any particular time.  This allows me to shave much more quickly and my skin is much less irritated by the shaving that I need to do.  Also, in spots, the hair appears to no longer be growing back much at all.

It is worth it.  It is painful, but it is worth it.

Good luck.  Oh and yeah, just like shaving, I did mess it up many a time and hurt myself pretty badly.  Sometimes unfortunately I bruised myself and left marks that took a couple of weeks to disappear.  But you can't get better if you don't try.  So give it a whirl, who knows, you just might like it!

Love Ya & Good Luck!

Outfit for Thursday 8/22/13

White Top - Guess

Blue Tank - Mossimo

Skirt - Guess

Shoes - Bare Traps

A while back I went shopping at a nearby outlet mall and I was determined to buy something, other than Guess.  I went into many, many stores, trying on all sorts of items.  Nothing piqued my interest though.  I find that the longer I go dressing as a girl, the more picky I am about the clothes I will buy.  Once upon a time, all it really took was for the clothes to be girls clothes to warrant a purchase.

Now, the clothes really need to do something for me.  If the clothes aren't helping me to look better in one way or another, then it is a pass.  I look for clothes, first and foremost, that fit well.  They need to be the right size; not too big and not too small.  They also need to have the right cut.  Even a simple t-shirt type of top can have a feminine cut to it, like the one I am wearing above.  It is just a simple cotton shirt, but with the addition of the ruching on the bottom, it really feminizes it.

Point being, I found nothing in other stores that had nicely feminine clothes.  I walked into the Guess store, trying to not find things to buy, as I have an overly Guess stocked wardrobe.  Of course, I found a few things to try on, and once I put them on, I had to have them.  I really just do not understand why other clothing manufacturers do not do what Guess does.  Almost all of their clothes have small little feminine touches as well as excellent feminizing cuts to them.  I ended up leaving the store with two shirts and a great pair of jeans that makes my butt look great!  Isn't that what a good pair of jeans is supposed to do?

Oh, the top above, made my bust look pretty small when I first tried it on.  But with the addition of the blue tank underneath it, which allowed the white top to be worn a little lower around the bust, it really helped to emphasize things.

Hope you all are doing well!  :)  Oh and yes, I do have the ring on.  I have taken it off to go to work, but most of the rest of the time my new little sparkly friend is where it should be.

Love ya!

I Can't Take It Off / My Wife Rocks!

Diamond & Sapphire Wedding Ring by Blue Nile

Which is currently residing on my finger!

2 days ago was Jules and mine 8th anniversary of being married as wife and wife.  I wrote about it in detail last year, if you happened to miss it go here.

This year, this past weekend Jules asked me to go with her out for a day of food, movies, shopping, and general fun.  I gladly accepted and we went out for the day.  We started off with an awesome pedicure, which was super relaxing.

Afterwards we went out to a Korean BBQ place for lunch.  While waiting for lunch to arrive Jules handed me the following card.

I started to tear up, as I don't think she could have said anything else that could have touched more.  For many years actually I have had the ring picked out and I waited.  I didn't want it as much as I wanted for her to want to get me a real woman's wedding ring.  Does that make any sense?

Hmm... maybe.

What I know is that today we went and picked up the ring.  It had been sent to us, but we missed the FedEx truck yesterday and had to wait til today.  My wife is so awesome that she suggested that after work on the way to the FedEx location that I take the time to get dressed.  Wow.  What a wife.  What a spouse.  What a friend.

We got the ring, I opened the package and was stunned.  I nervously slipped it on my finger as Jules drove us to dinner.  OMG.  It is stunning. Absolutely STUNNING.  Sorry for yelling, but it is awesome.  I have spent much time just staring at it, watching the stunning sparkles of the beautiful diamonds and deep rich sapphires.  I mean, diamonds!  Diamonds!

Okay, really diamonds are a girls best friend.

But really, no matter how gorgeous the ring is, the fact that Jules wanted to get it for me means so much more.

Wow.

Do I really have to ever take it off?

At least I can't ever take off what Jules has given to me.

Love you! :)

Outfit for 8-12-13

Sweater - Ann Taylor

Tank - Mossimo

Skirt - Guess

Flip Flops - What's What by Aerosoles

I really like this sweater.  Obviously, I love the color.  But more than that, in the pictures, to me at least, the color helps my arms look smaller.  Which is kind of funny, as it is so bright!  But, paired with the black tank, in this case, my eyes are drawn to the black color instead of the pink.  Not sure why that is, or if it appears that way to you, but to me it does.

Yesterday I wore this outfit out for shopping, food, and the movies.  I finally found myself in a Payless Shoe store as we were trying to waste some time before dinner.  And yes, if you do not already know, I can verify for you that they have women's shoes up to size 13!  How cool is that!  Well, at least for those of you with larger feet that is.  I do try and keep my eyes open for those of you that are in need!  I found a cute pair of heels.  It was really funny, as Jules picked out a cute pair of blue with white polka dots platform wedges and I thought they were super cute and I looked and they had the same shoe but in a pale pink.  Of course for only $10 I had to have them.  Have I ever shared with you all that Jules and I have the same size shoe?  We always say we are going to borrow the others shoes but I don't know if we ever have.  Funny!

Anyways, it was cool to find the same shoe in two different colors.  I can totally pull of the pale pink color because my skin has a darker tone to it, whereas with Jules, her skin is more pinkish than mine and while she loves the pale pinky color, it just sort of blends too much with her skin tone.  So for her the blue shoes looked great and really made for a nice pop of color.

If you can't tell, or don't already know this about me, I espouse contrasting colors.  I think with your clothes, colors that contrast more with your skin tone look great.  And I also think the same thing about eye shadows.  I am so jealous of Jules' pretty brown eyes as she can totally pull off all sorts of cool colored shadows, whereas with me they just do not look as good.  Colors make her pretty eyes pop so much more, but with me, earth tones really make my blue/green eyes look great.

Interesting stuff here people!  What do you think?  Do you like contrasting colors or do you prefer similar colors more so?  Am I alone in my beliefs?  Am I totally off base?  Should I go for a super bright blue eyeshadow?  Thoughts?

Okay, Love Ya!

:)

Five Of My Favorite Products

This is one of my all time favorites, it is Sparkle Skin Body Exfoliating Cream.  I do quite a bit of body hair waxing, as I suspect many of you do and I also do quite a bit a shaving.  These two things combined cause me to get quite a few ingrown hairs.  I have tried many different products over the years and many different methods of dealing with those wonderful annoying little red bumps.  Using this particular product really helps.  I can't tell you that it completely removes all of my ingrown hairs, but it helps a lot!  Besides that it gives me such soft smooth sexy feeling skin that I totally love it!

This is two of my favorite ways to remove makeup.  The first is to round bottle, called Take Off the Day.  With Take Off the Day, I shake it vigorously, and put a tiny, tiny, amount on a cotton round and use it specifically on my eyes.  It does a great job of removing the most stubborn eye makeup and yet is totally gentle on my eyes.  I can easily use it to remove liner from the inside edge of my bottom lashes and have never felt it irritate my eyes ever.

The second product is the Wash Away Gel Cleanser.  After I clean my eyes I go into the shower and take a small amount of this product, put it into the palms of my hands, and use it to wash my face.  This removes any remaining makeup that I have on.  It also removes any residual leftover from the Take Off the Day, as that can feel a bit oily, but after using the second product, my face feels squeaky clean!

This is two of my newest products, maybe a couple of weeks old, but I love them!  With the Naked 2 palette from Urban Decay I think it is a great bargain, at $50.  So many of my other palettes have at most four colors in them and they cost just about as much as this one palette.  It also comes with a wonderful Urban Decay brush, which just feels luxuriously soft and yummy.  One of the really cool things about this palette is that lots of people have put video tutorials up on You-Tube showing different ways to use all of the various colors.  I also really like it as my eyes are kind of a blue green color, (if you ask my wife, she will tell you that my eyes actually change colors from blue to green.)  This palette is composed of various earth tone colors which really help to bring out the colorful nature of my eyes.  Colors on blue/green eyes don't work as well as earth tones.  So for me, this palette is perfect!!

The second product in the picture is the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil, in black.  OMG I LOVE this liner!  I have tried so many liners, with ill fated effects, but this liner, this wonderful little pencil is a joy to use.  It glides on very smoothly and effortlessly.  I can put it on with a larger line or a skinny little line and once you apply it, you have a minute or so to be able to gently smudge the line as well.  This makes it easier to get the liner down directly onto the lash line.  I also have used this on the inner line of my lower lashes and this product stays put!  Not many products that I have tried have been able to do that. When I got my makeover from UD the lady used this, but I did not buy it.  By the end of the day, when I saw that it was still exactly where she placed it, I had to have it!

Okay.  That is all.

Love Ya!

Outfit for Friday 8/2/13

Top - Banana Republic

Skirt - Trina Turk

Shoes - Fitzwell

It's such a bummer that you can't really see the fabric of the skirt.  It is kind of lace like.  It is not my normal skirt length but I liked the fabric so much that I had to get it.  Well that and the fact that I got it for like $10 - $15.  What a steal!

This is what I decided to wear when I went out to dinner one night on my trip.  While out and about I pushed myself to go out to dinner, by myself, just as I would if I was travelling with Jules.  This particular night I went to Cattlemen's.  If you don't know, it is a steak house/bar.  I tend to stay out of bars as I think of them as pick up places, and that is not what I am out looking for.  But when I got to the restaurant, I just out of my car and walked into the front door.  The door closed behind me and I swear every head in the place turned and looked me up and down!

Wow, a bit stressful.  Everyone got their look in and returned to their conversations.  It turns out I walked into the bar entrance.  I walked up to the first waiter I saw and asked him where the restaurant was.  He was a bit taken aback by my voice, but explained the layout of the establishment.  I fund the restaurant portion and had a great meal.  Ya know, not that many people go out to restaurant by themselves.  It is kind of a different experience.  Not bad, just different.  A bit boring though.

Oh yeah, I wore some of the new earrings I got in SF and said I would show you:

I was so super happy when I found them as they stated they were nickle free!  Yay! :)  Which reminds me, I went to Target recently and all of the earrings I found also stated they were nickle free.  So cool.  The world is finally catching up to those of us that are nickle challenged.

Other tidbits-
- I have ended my dressing streak.  I think I ended up dressing for about 18 days in a row.  Wow.  It was interesting and fun.
- I finally graduated to receiving some hate speech submitted to my blog in the form of some really nasty comments.  Which is exactly why I have moderation on!  To that person and anyone else that cares:

Photo from:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/70704369@N06/6584859247/

Okay  That's all.

Love ya.  Love yourself!  Love others!