Trend Alert and Fashion Find

A big Fall 2008 makeup trend is red lips. It got me to thinking, I'm not a big fan of dark lipstick. Especially since it rubs off onto everything so easily. I realize that there are lip stains available on the market, but they are typically offered by high end makeup companies. I don't know about you, but I am not super rich... or even rich...haha...So I got to thinking. Remember when you were little, and you used to take your red cherry Popsicle and smooth it on your lips and pretend you were wearing lipstick? And remember how it would stay for hours? All that stuff is is food coloring right? So I figured, why not try plain food coloring as a lip stain. Now that's how to be trendy on a budget right? So I tried it, and what you see is what I got:

It lasted for several hours, which I found impressive. I did have to water down the coloring a bit to keep from looking like I was a vampire. In addition, red lips seem to simply accentuate the fact that my skin is so pale, so I felt toning it down worked much more to my advantage. Anyhow, I thought it was a neat trick that could help ladies out there who don't want to fork up the moola for high end lip stains.

Here's a video how-to:




Another thing I wanted to share: I found the cutest mary jane shoes. They are super comfy, made of soft leather (or faux leather more likely) and best of all, they were CHEAP!!!

I found them at Walmart for $9 exactly! I know some people are principally against Walmart, but if you're not, what a great deal! There were other colors besides black. I wanted the beautiful deep red ones, but alas, there were none in my size. There was also a yellow pair, a purple pair, a light turquoise, silver, and brown. If you are looking for comfy flats at an affordable price, I suggest you make your way to the nearest Walmart. I think I'm gonna search around other Walmarts to see if I can find a yellow, turquoise and red pair. I've always wanted a cute pair of yellow or turquoise flats, and I just want any pair of red shoes...I crave color in my rather boring wardrobe. But enough complaining. Till next time...

Hair care tips

So there was something that I just thought about while surfing youtube. I realized that sometimes people review shampoos and conditioners after using it exclusively for around a month. Then they say that after a while, their hair became weighed down and icky. Well, that's because each shampoo on the market leaves behind it's own characteristic residue. If you use it repeatedly for a long period of time, you are simply piling on that same residue and packing on layers of it. Eventually, your hair gets weighed down by it, and it starts to feel icky too. That's why it's best to alternate shampoo and conditioner each time you wash your hair. I never use the same shampoo and conditioner two washes in a row. I have about 5 different sets of shampoo and conditioner that I alternate through. That way, when I use shampoo A today, it will leave behind residue A. Then the next time I wash my hair, I use shampoo B, which will wash away residue A, but leave behind residue B. That way, the same residue never has a chance to build up on my hair.

Also, hair care experts and stylists recommend going as long as you can without washing your hair. This is obviously a different time frame for different people. It's also activity dependent. Someone sitting in an air conditioned room all day every day can go longer without washing their hair than someone who plays tennis for a living. This is also different for different hair lengths. Shorter hair can take more washings because being shorter allows it to have a better distribution of natural oils. For longer hair, even if the scalp is oily, your ends may be super dry.

If you do have an oily scalp with dry ends, I suggest you try shampooing only the scalp and conditioning only the ends, and maybe used watered down conditioner for your scalp. That should help even out your hair's condition.

Anyhow, I'm off for now. Till next time...

Reports, take-homes, and homework

Wow, so I've at least finished working on all my assignments. The first draft of my progress report is completed. I've also finished the first draft of my take home exam. I think I'm done with my population genetics homework. Now all I have to do is wait for feedback. My Molecular Evolution professor says that he'll look over our take home tests this weekend and hand them back for correction on Monday. We have several days to try and get things right. We can turn it in and get feedback as many times as we want until the official due date...That is so bad for a perfectionist like me...I'll keep wracking my brain about it until the very end. And now I'm waiting for feedback from my lab mates on my report. Hopefully, I won't have to change much. My brain is completely fried from all the school work I've been doing. Maybe I can actually get some lab work done tomorrow... Well, I'm gonna go recuperate from my brain frying week, and try not to think about the corrections to come... TTFN!