Appearances

Okay, I'm not really writing about other people's appearance. I'm going to talk about my own. That's alright, right? I guess what choice do you have other than read about it or not.
Today I decided to go all out and do the whole song and dance. This includes washing and conditioning with drug store shampoo and conditioner. I know, my hairdresser friends, buildup.... Then I moused, texture sprayed and blow dried with a round brush. The round brush is about the fanciest thing in my hair styling regimen. I don't own a curling iron. I have a flat iron, but I am disaster on wheels with that thing. I ditched the curling iron years ago. If I'm disaster on wheels with the flat iron, I'm disaster with a side of atomic bomb with a curling iron. Somehow, I end up with it backwards... Or upside down... I'm not sure what I do wrong, but I end up with crimps instead of curls... My second styling tool is my beloved backcombing brush. If I were writing this post twenty years ago, I'd be calling it a ratting brush. Some days I give my hair a little bump behind my side part and other days I go full on-just-short-of-helmet hair. Lots of volume, lots of aerosol hairspray (aerosol is key to big hair.)
Today I went with a little bump because my outfit wasn't all that fancy. When my best laid efforts were finished, my expression was one of consternation. Not from the finished shape and style, but because the color. I hate my hair color. I hate the phrase dirty blonde, but I must face it. After not seeing a stylist since the end of last April, that's what color my hair is... Yuck. I just have a hard time paying the money and blocking out two hours of my time to achieve the glorious shiny blonde I lean towards when I do get my hair done. Basically, I'm cheap and lazy when it comes to my hair.
So, with the hair done, it's contact time and makeup. I am often too lazy to put my contacts in everyday. Although I prefer my look sans glasses, contacts can be an ordeal all in itself when you don't use them everyday. I figured if I did full-on hair, may as well go for broke and pop the peepers onto my eyeballs. I only had to take the right one out once today to spray some extra debris off to give me a comfortable fit.
On to makeup. I'm pretty much a minimalist when it comes to makeup. When I look closely in the mirror at my thirty-two year old face, I could probably do well with some pore reducers, creams and foundation or powder. But I'm terrible at blending, choosing color and quite frankly, all that makes my face feel funny. If I were famous or my blog had a huge following, I bet I could say how much I love Bare Minerals and magically, I would have boxes and boxes of the product at my doorstep simply by mentioning it :) Since this hasn't or won't happen, I forgo the foundation. I don't do lipstick either. That makes my lips feel funnier than any kind of powder/cream/ liquid on my skin. Plus, I'd never remember to reapply, so the point would be moot by the time my lips saw natural daylight. So, by "putting of my makeup" I basically mean a good amount of eyeliner, eyeshadow (two shades most of the time, three if I'm feeling fancy) and many swipes of mascara.
Any skills I've mastered by applying these three products and really any hair coiffuring skills, I've learned from my younger sister, Melissa, during our yearly vacations to our Grandparent's house in Arkansas. And since we haven't been there in 4 years, that is the last time I've updated any kind of technique concerning hair or makeup. Sad? Maybe. I don't think I'm too far out of any kind of style, though. Blah hair color and neutral tone makeup is pretty, well, neutral.
Overall the finished, full effort still looks pretty darn okay and really after the 15 minutes it takes me to do all of this that it just took me 45 minutes to describe, my day goes on and I really never give my appearance another thought.
Now that I'm feeling completely vain and bored with my own topic, I'll bid you adieu.