DIY

DIY Eyebrow Tinting

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DIY Eyebrow Tinting with Refectocil
DIY Eyebrow Tinting with Refectocil, $22

We can’t all have luxurious brows. I don’t; in spite of my natural brunette hue my eyebrows are on the light side. Not blonde, but a mild enough shade that the sparseness at the tails doesn’t do me many favors; their slight hue makes it challenging to see when grooming. But I’m a problem solver by trade – so when I learned how easy DIY eyebrow tinting was I checked that off my list immediately.

Why DIY Eyebrow Tinting

Do you have your eyebrows tinted? I didn’t. I knew tinting is a service you can get in a salon; Benefit Brow Bars charge between $20-23 for it depending on the market. I hadn’t cared about it

It wasn’t until I was watching a tutorial on how to execute your own brow wax (thanks, pandemic) that it struck me to. As her first step, she used DIY eyebrow tinting to help guide her removal so she didn’t over- or under-remove. It’s quite clever, actually.

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Undertaking a DIY Haircut

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Undertaking a DIY Haircut

In 2015, when faced with the, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” question, my response would not have included, “pondering or executing a DIY haircut on myself.”

In a normal year* I get my hair cut maybe 4-6 times. Because my hair is long and otherwise well cared-for, it hides my negligence prioritization choices. That said, thanks to the scumbag pandemic making this not a normal year, I have gotten just one haircut this year before shit got real in the US. Normally, by this point in the year I’d have gotten at least two, perhaps three.

For me, this isn’t a catastrophe. As opposed to short styles, long hair can be lower maintenance than you think. Since I’ve been working from home, I’ve been heat styling less. As a result, my hair is in moderately better condition than it would usually be. This isn’t just an act of laziness, but of strategy: I’m on camera for a least half of a given workday. As long as what frames my face looks decent, its fine.

A DIY Haircut

But, regardless, next month will mark six months from my last (professional) haircut. I was getting ready to tone my hair two weeks ago and decided I needed a trim – and I did it myself.

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Clairol Jazzing – Hair Gloss / Hair Glaze Update

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Clairol Jazzing Hair Gloss Hair Glaze

Several years ago, I shared a tutorial on how I perform a DIY hair gloss or hair glaze treatment at home. This is one of the blog’s most-popular posts – which is great, but also sad because the damn Clairol Colorgloss Radiance line upon which it was based got discontinued.

I need to create an emoji for how this makes me feel.

Anyway, since the discontinuation, finding an alternative wound up on the back-burner for me. When I started to come up for air, I decided to give another Clariol product a try.

Enter Clairol Jazzing

This time, I went with a single-step (no mixing! no mess!) product that comes in a convenient dispenser bottle. No ratios, no mixer bottles, no matching developer. Clairol Jazzing is under $7 a bottle at Sally Beauty.

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Silkn Revit

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Silkn ReVitSilkn Revit, $99

This is a legacy post from earlier this year that I’ve added a little more meat to and cleaned up some sections for clarity.

Now that I’ve reviewed the microderm-like product that disappointed me, it’s time to talk about the one I dig! I got my Silkn Revit at Costco (who is seriously underrated for beauty finds, by the way) for $65, which is over a third off its retail price. Unfortunately, I can’t find this on Costco.com at the moment; I picked mine up in the warehouse. If I couldn’t find it on sale, I’d look at Nordstrom (what with their famous return policy as insurance against a major issue) or Amazon ($63 on 12/16/17!)

Every blog review I’ve read so far has been little more than a regurgitation of the marketing materials Silkn puts out. Cute…and not useful.

Ergonomics

This device is far simpler than the PMD device I tried recently. There’s a single button that turns on, increases suction, and turns off depending on how many times it is pressed. It is ergonomically-friendly, lightweight, and easy to hold.

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PMD Personal Microderm

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PMD Personal MicrodermPMD Personal Microderm, $159

I’ve been questing to achieve skin that doesn’t piss me off for a while now. Around the holidays, I ordered a PMD Personal Microderm system from Nordstrom to try. My concerns:

  • General exfoliation/cellular turnover
  • Sebaceous filaments
  • Skincare product absorption
  • General preventative aging stuff

PMD Personal Microderm describes their device as…

…a revolutionary at-home skincare tool that provides the same brilliant results as professional … treatments. PMD Personal Microderm combines Patented(1) Spinning Disc technology(2) with Perfectly Calibrated(3) Vacuum Suction to brighten, smooth, and even skin tone and texture. Personal Microderm reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, blemishes, and enlarged pores. This exfoliation process removes the dead, dull skin cell barrier, increases blood flow, and boosts the body’s natural production of collagen and elastin.

Having a Patent isn’t as Big of Deal as it Sounds

First things first: I hate when marketing departments throw the word, “patented,” in front of something. It’s a buzz-word. It isn’t more impressive simply because it was patented. Not to be crass here, but toilet tissue was patented, too.

Patented

Just add, “Technology!”

Second, more marketing criticism – “Spinning disc technology.” You know what else uses spinning disc technology?

frisbee

Perfection is Ambitious

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TPDTY: You Need a Cuticle Stone

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Cuticle StoneCuticle Stone, $1.79

There are a zillion-and-one guides and tutorials out there on how to give yourself a DIY manicure. Beyond the plethora of guides, there are probably thousands of different execution methods you could employ to achieve the same results. Damn few, however, mention taming crazy cuticles and eponychium with a cuticle stone.

It’s always, “gently push them back with an orangewood stick.” That isn’t wrong – it’s a good and gentle method that prevents you from removing living tissue. Those dang cuticle nippers that professional manicurists whip around like a magic wand are SHARP – and I don’t know about you, but they’re a challenge to use. It does not, however, help you remove any dead tissue that adheres to the nail plate like a cuticle stone can.

If you do your nails even semi-regularly, for under $2, can you really afford not to try one?

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