Brows, Botox and Lashes... Part 1

Nothing ages you more than lack of brows. Seriously. If you are not doing something to your brows you should be. You don't have to go crazy but do something. I promise it will wake up your eyes, your face and make you look younger!! I have been a brow advocate for many years but mine have gotten considerably suckier over time and I just couldn't take it anymore so here is my brow story for the day. I thought it was about time I pen some type of review post on all of the stuff I have been doing to my face lately but I think it would be a really lengthy post to cover all three at once so I am splitting it up into 2 or 3 parts. The cool thing is that between the 3 posts you can actually see all of the individual parts and they way they are coming along. Like in this post for example I still have my pitiful natural lashes. The better ones are coming in another review... stay tuned.

So...I decided this year that I was going to do a few things for me to make me feel a little bit better about some aspects of the aging process that are not pleasing me... such as disappearing brows, lashes and increasing frown lines. I mean really, why walk around looking all jacked up if you can fix yourself up a little bit and fight that asshole Father Time?  In answer to that I decided on microblading, botox and lash extensions. If you have an opinion about any type of cosmetic procedure and why it's bad, good for you but I don't care. Like I tell my kids... it's my world, you just live in it. Kidding... but seriously, these are personal decisions for anyone to try to improve/change/modify their appearance. I don't think it's anyone else's place to say what's worth it to someone else. My plan is to start small with little things that are reasonably priced, have no down time, minimal upkeep and instant results because... immediate gratification is my jam. I'll give you my thoughts on all 3 eventually, along with before (be kind) and after pictures.

First up today...

Microblading - If you are not familiar it is semi-permanent tattooed eyebrows also commonly referred to as "hairstroke eyebrows". Semi permanent because of the application process, it's not as deep as a traditional tattoo as there is no gun involved. The hair strokes are applied with a needle that is in a pen type of instrument and the artist actually applies each stroke individually. If you want to know all of the exact details check out a YouTube video for specifics. I got most of my info from my artist and friends who have already had theirs done. The whole process took 2 appointments to complete and a total of maybe 3.5 to 4 hours in all.

In the first appointment (January) she drew on new and improved brows, applied a numbing cream for about 15 minutes and then spent about 20-25 tattooing. One more round of numbing and then a little more tattooing and I was all done in a total of about 2 hours or maybe a little less. I went back a couple of months later (April) for my follow up. After living with my new brows for a few months I knew that I wanted more definition up front and just over all darkening. I was still having to fill in with a brow product daily to get the look that I like. My goal is no makeup brows. After the second appointment that is exactly what I have. I love them. The total cost was $550 for the first appointment and $100 for the touch up. Well worth being able to wake up and go with no drawing them on and filling them in every day. The pain was pretty minimal to me but I'm no stranger to tattoos so someone else may feel differently. It is a little uncomfortable because of where it is on your face. The nerve endings near my sinuses did go a little crazy both times and I got totally congested and feeling like I had to sneeze, other than that it was pretty easy. Healing time was probably about a week total. I am a rule follower so I do exactly what they tell me to do.... no getting in water for 48 hours, use a good healing product, no working out or rubbing or wearing hats. This is one cosmetic procedure that I highly recommend and will keep up. I should need another touch up in a year or two.If you are on the fence I say 100%... DO IT!

I apologize that all my pics are different lighting, makeup, etc. Clearly I am not the blogger who thinks these things thru but I think you get the idea.

Here is the before. You can see how patchy my brows are from age and over plucking. They don't match at all and they are very, very light. My right brow is definitely the couch potato loser.

During and after my first session. This is how she drew them on and then applied the numbing cream. Soooo attractive I had to take a pic. And below that the end result of the first session.

And this is after round 2. We added more shape, extra hair strokes all around but especially in the front because I wanted a specific look (like my original brows circa 1992), and darkened the base color just a bit. 

And just for the sake of comparison...

Again, I cannot say enough about how thrilled I am with my results. I am sorry I waited so long to get them done. Between the brows and the lashes (review coming soon) I have seriously shaved some dramatic time off of my daily beauty routine too. I think my face looks more youthful and my eyes a little less tired. All good stuff right there. Any questions?

Aging • Beauty • Cosmetic Tattooing • Hairstroke Eyebrows • Microblading • Tattoo

Brows, Botox and Lashes... Part 1

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Nothing ages you more than lack of brows. Seriously. If you are not doing something to your brows you should be. You don't have to go crazy but do something. I promise it will wake up your eyes, your face and make you look younger!! I have been a brow advocate for many years but mine have gotten considerably suckier over time and I just couldn't take it anymore so here is my brow story for the day. I thought it was about time I pen some type of review post on all of the stuff I have been doing to my face lately but I think it would be a really lengthy post to cover all three at once so I am splitting it up into 2 or 3 parts. The cool thing is that between the 3 posts you can actually see all of the individual parts and they way they are coming along. Like in this post for example I still have my pitiful natural lashes. The better ones are coming in another review... stay tuned.

So...I decided this year that I was going to do a few things for me to make me feel a little bit better about some aspects of the aging process that are not pleasing me... such as disappearing brows, lashes and increasing frown lines. I mean really, why walk around looking all jacked up if you can fix yourself up a little bit and fight that asshole Father Time?  In answer to that I decided on microblading, botox and lash extensions. If you have an opinion about any type of cosmetic procedure and why it's bad, good for you but I don't care. Like I tell my kids... it's my world, you just live in it. Kidding... but seriously, these are personal decisions for anyone to try to improve/change/modify their appearance. I don't think it's anyone else's place to say what's worth it to someone else. My plan is to start small with little things that are reasonably priced, have no down time, minimal upkeep and instant results because... immediate gratification is my jam. I'll give you my thoughts on all 3 eventually, along with before (be kind) and after pictures.

First up today...

Microblading - If you are not familiar it is semi-permanent tattooed eyebrows also commonly referred to as "hairstroke eyebrows". Semi permanent because of the application process, it's not as deep as a traditional tattoo as there is no gun involved. The hair strokes are applied with a needle that is in a pen type of instrument and the artist actually applies each stroke individually. If you want to know all of the exact details check out a YouTube video for specifics. I got most of my info from my artist and friends who have already had theirs done. The whole process took 2 appointments to complete and a total of maybe 3.5 to 4 hours in all.

In the first appointment (January) she drew on new and improved brows, applied a numbing cream for about 15 minutes and then spent about 20-25 tattooing. One more round of numbing and then a little more tattooing and I was all done in a total of about 2 hours or maybe a little less. I went back a couple of months later (April) for my follow up. After living with my new brows for a few months I knew that I wanted more definition up front and just over all darkening. I was still having to fill in with a brow product daily to get the look that I like. My goal is no makeup brows. After the second appointment that is exactly what I have. I love them. The total cost was $550 for the first appointment and $100 for the touch up. Well worth being able to wake up and go with no drawing them on and filling them in every day. The pain was pretty minimal to me but I'm no stranger to tattoos so someone else may feel differently. It is a little uncomfortable because of where it is on your face. The nerve endings near my sinuses did go a little crazy both times and I got totally congested and feeling like I had to sneeze, other than that it was pretty easy. Healing time was probably about a week total. I am a rule follower so I do exactly what they tell me to do.... no getting in water for 48 hours, use a good healing product, no working out or rubbing or wearing hats. This is one cosmetic procedure that I highly recommend and will keep up. I should need another touch up in a year or two.If you are on the fence I say 100%... DO IT!

I apologize that all my pics are different lighting, makeup, etc. Clearly I am not the blogger who thinks these things thru but I think you get the idea.

Here is the before. You can see how patchy my brows are from age and over plucking. They don't match at all and they are very, very light. My right brow is definitely the couch potato loser.

During and after my first session. This is how she drew them on and then applied the numbing cream. Soooo attractive I had to take a pic. And below that the end result of the first session.

And this is after round 2. We added more shape, extra hair strokes all around but especially in the front because I wanted a specific look (like my original brows circa 1992), and darkened the base color just a bit. 

And just for the sake of comparison...

Again, I cannot say enough about how thrilled I am with my results. I am sorry I waited so long to get them done. Between the brows and the lashes (review coming soon) I have seriously shaved some dramatic time off of my daily beauty routine too. I think my face looks more youthful and my eyes a little less tired. All good stuff right there. Any questions?

Read More

I Can Do Anything... Not Everything

Damn life is too busy!!! It's just after 10 p.m. and I am sitting in my office writing this blog post. I haven't eaten dinner and I have a million things to do before I go to bed, most of which I will not get to. I should not be writing a post and editing pics but... I feel like it. I miss this. But I can't figure out where it fits in right now. So bear with me.

Last weekend was epic! I got to see The Zac Brown Band for I think the 4th time and once again he/they were amazing. I will see him every time he comes to Atlanta. I didn't even post last week after I saw Chris Stapleton but he too was absolutely phenomenal. If you are into Southern Rock or Country and you have the chance you must add these to your "concerts to see" list. Music that you feel in your bones, both of them. And also... beards... they had me at beards.

We also had a two day Lacrosse tourni so that's pretty much what took up the rest of my time. Ava rocked on Sunday even though they suffered a couple of brutal losses on Saturday. That called for rooftop Margs (for me) and cheese dip for us afterward.

Snuck in a late night Mother's Day dinner on Sunday with #2 and #3 which wasn't really much of a celebration as my oldest one was missing... hated that. She officially started waiting tables at her restaurant this past weekend. She finally got her permit to serve liquor now that she's 18 so in addition to doing phones, to go orders, hostessing, training and whatever else she will also be serving. Get dat money!! So proud of her. She also got her cord for National Art Honor Society at Senior Honors Night this week. That was an amazing moment too. I have an entire Graduation party to plan in the span of just a few short weeks and I am officially freaking out. But I don't want to talk about it.

Because here's why...

This is my current calendar for May. It's a big problem and I don't know how to fix this. I don't have anything scheduled this Saturday but other than that I have some thing every single day for almost the rest of the month and beyond. I am really overwhelmed and I feel totally out of control but I don't really know how to remedy it... for the moment anyway. I have fallen back into that trap... the mindset that I don't feel like there is much I can say no to right now. Not good. Because you know what that means? I put the things that are good for me last and do for everyone else first. But, if I can just get thru the end of the school year and the first 2 weeks in June I think... I think I will be able to breathe a little bit.

I have a million posts sitting in draft right now, everything from confessions to bitch sessions to reviews of everything I have been doing to my face lately. I will get to it all soon but most nights when I get to the point when I actually have a minute I usually pass out on my bed in a pile of laundry. I was telling someone the other day that days will go by in my house when the TV never even gets turned on which was always a nightly ritual for me. I don't even miss it really! My kids are not big TV watchers thankfully, really thinking it's time to ditch cable! And now I am officially rambling. And it's 11:00 and I am starving. So here's a little pic collage thingy of some weekend snaps. Sorry this is disjointed and horribly written, I just wanted to write something, I think there is this blogging (at least for me) fear that if you go too long without saying something it's incredibly hard to know what to fill up that blank screen with when you do come back.

So... what do you do when you have too much on your plate and you know things are about to go off the rails? I need some practical advice on getting back the time for me to focus on me, my health, my house projects and rest... glorious, amazing sleep. Tell me how you do it because I know I am not the only one!!

Cheers!!

Busy • Weekending

I Can Do Anything... Not Everything

Monday, May 15, 2017

Damn life is too busy!!! It's just after 10 p.m. and I am sitting in my office writing this blog post. I haven't eaten dinner and I have a million things to do before I go to bed, most of which I will not get to. I should not be writing a post and editing pics but... I feel like it. I miss this. But I can't figure out where it fits in right now. So bear with me.

Last weekend was epic! I got to see The Zac Brown Band for I think the 4th time and once again he/they were amazing. I will see him every time he comes to Atlanta. I didn't even post last week after I saw Chris Stapleton but he too was absolutely phenomenal. If you are into Southern Rock or Country and you have the chance you must add these to your "concerts to see" list. Music that you feel in your bones, both of them. And also... beards... they had me at beards.

We also had a two day Lacrosse tourni so that's pretty much what took up the rest of my time. Ava rocked on Sunday even though they suffered a couple of brutal losses on Saturday. That called for rooftop Margs (for me) and cheese dip for us afterward.

Snuck in a late night Mother's Day dinner on Sunday with #2 and #3 which wasn't really much of a celebration as my oldest one was missing... hated that. She officially started waiting tables at her restaurant this past weekend. She finally got her permit to serve liquor now that she's 18 so in addition to doing phones, to go orders, hostessing, training and whatever else she will also be serving. Get dat money!! So proud of her. She also got her cord for National Art Honor Society at Senior Honors Night this week. That was an amazing moment too. I have an entire Graduation party to plan in the span of just a few short weeks and I am officially freaking out. But I don't want to talk about it.

Because here's why...

This is my current calendar for May. It's a big problem and I don't know how to fix this. I don't have anything scheduled this Saturday but other than that I have some thing every single day for almost the rest of the month and beyond. I am really overwhelmed and I feel totally out of control but I don't really know how to remedy it... for the moment anyway. I have fallen back into that trap... the mindset that I don't feel like there is much I can say no to right now. Not good. Because you know what that means? I put the things that are good for me last and do for everyone else first. But, if I can just get thru the end of the school year and the first 2 weeks in June I think... I think I will be able to breathe a little bit.

I have a million posts sitting in draft right now, everything from confessions to bitch sessions to reviews of everything I have been doing to my face lately. I will get to it all soon but most nights when I get to the point when I actually have a minute I usually pass out on my bed in a pile of laundry. I was telling someone the other day that days will go by in my house when the TV never even gets turned on which was always a nightly ritual for me. I don't even miss it really! My kids are not big TV watchers thankfully, really thinking it's time to ditch cable! And now I am officially rambling. And it's 11:00 and I am starving. So here's a little pic collage thingy of some weekend snaps. Sorry this is disjointed and horribly written, I just wanted to write something, I think there is this blogging (at least for me) fear that if you go too long without saying something it's incredibly hard to know what to fill up that blank screen with when you do come back.

So... what do you do when you have too much on your plate and you know things are about to go off the rails? I need some practical advice on getting back the time for me to focus on me, my health, my house projects and rest... glorious, amazing sleep. Tell me how you do it because I know I am not the only one!!

Cheers!!

Read More

Currently... May

How are we 5 months into the year already?? Spring is most definitely here in GA and our weather has been pretty good except for the typical rain and storms that are par for the course. No complaints here, the lower level of my home looks like it is bathed in a the cool green glow of an underwater forest coming to life and I love it.

Best laid plans as always go awry as I planned to get here before Wednesday but, it's all good because it's time for another Currently link up with Anne and Nancy. That means I don't have t think too much and I can tell you what's going on in my world.

BAKING... Gosh I haven't even thought about baking much of anything other than grain free paleo stuff lately. However, I am gearing up for my daughter's graduation party and I am a traditionalist so there has to be a cake of some kind or it is NOT a proper celebration. I am also slightly obsessed with white at the moment and white wedding cake is one of my favorite things on the planet. Insert this pin for White Wedding Cake and there you have my springboard for my graduation party theme. Can you design a whole party around a type of cake? I think so. Isn't it just so pretty?

LISTENING TO... Dirty Heads, I can't get enough of this band at the moment. If you like a Reggae vibe give them a listen. This is just summer, warm weather feels to me.

LOVING... My new desk. So I know this is kind of a shitty picture but the rest of my new home office is still empty so I can't really do any kind of reveal yet. I made a promise to myself that I would not bring in any additional stuff except for the desk until I purged a substantial amount. And I have not so this is as good as it gets for now but... I am loving it.

PLANTING... I need to plant all of my pots on my front porch and deck but I am currently in the market for some succulents for my desk at work because it's not very cheery. I love everything at Sugarboo Designs and they have the best selection of succulents and random funky containers.

REMEMBERING... How much I look forward to my annual summer concert series. First up is Chris Stapleton this Friday. Zac Brown is next weekend. I don't have anything purchased for June or July yet but Govt. Mule in August and Alt-J in November. Need to add a few more for sure but can't wait to see this guy live.

That's all for this month's currently round up. See ya next time!

Currently Link Up

Currently... May

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

How are we 5 months into the year already?? Spring is most definitely here in GA and our weather has been pretty good except for the typical rain and storms that are par for the course. No complaints here, the lower level of my home looks like it is bathed in a the cool green glow of an underwater forest coming to life and I love it.

Best laid plans as always go awry as I planned to get here before Wednesday but, it's all good because it's time for another Currently link up with Anne and Nancy. That means I don't have t think too much and I can tell you what's going on in my world.

BAKING... Gosh I haven't even thought about baking much of anything other than grain free paleo stuff lately. However, I am gearing up for my daughter's graduation party and I am a traditionalist so there has to be a cake of some kind or it is NOT a proper celebration. I am also slightly obsessed with white at the moment and white wedding cake is one of my favorite things on the planet. Insert this pin for White Wedding Cake and there you have my springboard for my graduation party theme. Can you design a whole party around a type of cake? I think so. Isn't it just so pretty?

LISTENING TO... Dirty Heads, I can't get enough of this band at the moment. If you like a Reggae vibe give them a listen. This is just summer, warm weather feels to me.

LOVING... My new desk. So I know this is kind of a shitty picture but the rest of my new home office is still empty so I can't really do any kind of reveal yet. I made a promise to myself that I would not bring in any additional stuff except for the desk until I purged a substantial amount. And I have not so this is as good as it gets for now but... I am loving it.

PLANTING... I need to plant all of my pots on my front porch and deck but I am currently in the market for some succulents for my desk at work because it's not very cheery. I love everything at Sugarboo Designs and they have the best selection of succulents and random funky containers.

REMEMBERING... How much I look forward to my annual summer concert series. First up is Chris Stapleton this Friday. Zac Brown is next weekend. I don't have anything purchased for June or July yet but Govt. Mule in August and Alt-J in November. Need to add a few more for sure but can't wait to see this guy live.

That's all for this month's currently round up. See ya next time!

Read More