Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Good question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past gazillion years (more than 10!). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a great start. ?

Rise and shine, morning glory! Happy Monday. ?? I’ll be in and out today because I have some cool things to do for the Connor Claire store. And I want to do ’em. So that’s what I’m doing today, but I’m also blogging in a way because I’ll be wearing makeup and testing a few things to share with you.

Now, the poll!

1. A little…never hurt anyone.

A little dry shampoo never hurt anyone (best one of all time: R+Co Death Valley). I mean, if you think about it, you get an extra day out of your hairdo, lift at your roots, and, in some cases, kick-@ss perfumes (hi, Oribe)… Actually, when I’m done with this, I’m gonna use some because my hair feels gross. It’s been like two days since I washed it.

2. Crazy baby hairs — how the heck do you tame them?

Well, you can stop fighting them and just let them be all crazy, which is what I do sometimes. Or, you can do certain things, like redirecting your part, to make the taming process a little easier.

I part slightly down the center left now, whereas I used to do a deep part on my right, and the only reason I do this now is because of a few weeks when I was too tired to bother with my hair, and I just let it do what it wanted to, and the baby hairs always went a certain way…so when I just go with it and don’t spend all my life fighting them, it makes my life easier.

So, go with the grain.

Also, use lots of products if you need to. I highly recommend R+Co – CONTROL Flexible Paste, and also use a strong hairspray that doesn’t flake (I like Bumble and Bumble Strong Finish Firm Hold Hairspray).

3. Who or what do you currently need a break from?

Honestly, I would love a break — or, perhaps, a permanent breakup — from my anxiety. That would be nice. Basically…it’s hard to adult in the Bay Area. There are so many times when I just wish we could pack up and move someplace 1) cheaper, 2) that isn’t out in the middle of nowhere, 3) that’s still close to my family, 4) that has nice weather 5) and lots of Asians and different cultures.

Where is this place?? You tell me, ’cause I’ll move there. I’ll be your neighbor! ??

Anyway, kids are expensive! And Connor’s starting preschool soon. If we conveniently won the lottery, that would be great.

4. What kind of pie would you like?

I don’t think peaches are in season yet, but they should be soon, right? I would love a peach pie with a crust made from scratch and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. (Not Breyers though. Breyers is bullsh*t.)

5. Reggae — love it or leave it?

I love it for about three hours if it’s sunny and I’m drinking a Corona and wearing shorts and a tank top, but after that I’m asking the DJ to please play something else. I’m done pretending I’m in a Shaggy video.

~ Advice on fancy ice cream and life ~

I went to a frou-frou ice cream place last weekend for birthday ice cream, and I appreciated their attention to detail with all organic everything, but you have to test every single flavor you’re considering when you go to a place like that. You don’t just jump in and get the mint and then be shocked when it actually tastes like real mint (like El Hub did, haha).

I tested all the flavors. I did my due diligence. ??

So test, test, test! Test all those flavors, girl — even if you’re holding up the line and people are behind you tapping their foot.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions for you to copy and paste with your answers in a comment:

1. A little…never hurt anyone.
2. Crazy baby hairs — how the heck do you tame them?
3. Who or what do you currently need a break from?
4. What kind of pie would you like?
5. Reggae — love it or leave it?

Hiya! Happy Saturday from Monterey, California! This is the face of a blissed-out birthday lady who just had an hour-long deep-tissue massage.

Ah…

I said “peace out” to my 42nd year on the earth last night with a visit to the Spa on the Plaza, and uh… So good. Afterwards, I hit up the steam room, and since nobody was there (I was one of the last appointments of the day), I spread out a bunch of towels, laid down, tucked a towel underneath my neck, and sweated it out.

The spa had these fancy showers with three shower heads — one directly overhead, one than hits you from the front, and one that hits from the side — and no joke, I was in there for 30 minutes! It. Was. Glorious.

The spa was stocked — shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors — but halfway through I remembered one time when Cindy, Jen and I went to a spa a few years back, and Jen brought her own body scrub, hair mask and face mask to turn the fancy spa shower into an “experience,” and I wish I’d thought of doing that this time.

Maybe (hopefully) next birthday.

Now, we’re off to the aquarium! I have it on good authority that Dori and Nemo were last spotted there… 😉

Here are some stories last week that caught my eye…

• The Fenty Effect is officially a thing now, as more and more brands are offering a wider range of foundation shades.
• There’s a small but growing pro-gray hair community on social media, and it’s starting to shake up the hair care industry.
• This month I started testing products from Frank Beauty, an Australian line available in the U.S. now, and this article talks about one of the co-founders, Bree Johnson, and how she and her partners built the company into a global brand.
• Makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver is new to me, but he’s been doing club-inspired makeup since his club days in the ’90s. Now he’s famous for his magazine and runway work. His style isn’t what I’d wear most days, but I love his artistry and how he uses color in unconventional ways.
• This is what it’s like to have a custom-made perfume created for you by the Queen of England’s personal perfumer.
• I can’t believe there are people out there who’d need or want this, buuuuut if you’ve been hoping for a ring that shoots out perfume every time someone calls your cell, HERE YA GO.
• Speaking of technology, this rotating kitty litter machine looks absolutely terrifying, but it allegedly makes it easier to scoop poop.
• I’ve gotta thank this guy — well, technically thank his nose! — for creating one of my fave scents of the ’90s: CK One. Master perfumer Alberto Morillas, also the nose behind Marc Jacobs Daisy, Estée Lauder Pleasures and Kenzo Flower, was shocked by the success of CK One. About it he says…
  

  “In all honesty, I never expected CK One to be that famous. Sure, I hope all of my creations are successful, but I never knew it would be so quick and leave such a lasting impact,” he says. “In as little as three months, everyone in the world wanted CK One, and it’s the first time something like that had happened in my career. Young women, men, everybody enjoyed wearing it and that was such a unique thing — it still is. In the world of perfumery, things like that don’t happen very often.”

• Have you seen any beauty products that contain “starfish fluid,” because, apparently, it’s a thing? Like a dairy farmer, fishermen in Canada milk fluid from starfish for use by the cosmetic industry.

  Seriously, who knew?!

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you’re up to. See you soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen