Bold brows are having a moment.  And all of us who spent our high school years torturing ourselves with cheap tweezers rejoiced.

Unfortunately, my "eyebrow game" is naturally more of a unibrow than Cara Delvigne-esque bold brows (what a flattering thing to admit on social media.) However, an eyebrow pencil kinda changed my life.

If you're like me, you don't wear a whole lot of makeup, and eyebrow pencils are something you associate with old makeup ladies.  I am confident that despite the less-than-verbose description, you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say "old makeup lady."

Well, eyebrow pencils can work for anyone.  And there is a way to do it and make it look natural.  It's all in the kind of pencil you get.

Go for one that's self-sharpening (rolls up rather than looking like a school pencil), with a fine tip.  The finer the tip, the more "hair-like" your strokes are going to look.  I like the Merle Norman automatic brow pencil and this one from Milani.

Before - looking a little straggly:

I'm in love with this perfume.

It's an essential oils based scent, so it smells different on every person and becomes a signature scent.  My friend Liz bought it at the same time I did and it smells completely different on both of us.  I basically have my wrist in my face all day because I seriously cannot believe how delicious I smell.


I bought this in Montana and was scared that I wouldn't be able to find it again, so I bought 2 (I'm that obsessed.) So I was excited when I found out that they have a website you can order off of, and that the love scent comes in a large perfume oil as well.

Go click around on Auric Blend's site and pick out a new signature scent for yourself! Egyptian Goddess is another really yummy one that comes in larger sizes.  The rollerballs are only about 9 bucks, so you can pick out a couple to experiment with.

Happy wrist sniffing!

I've been searching for something that will make my waves actually look like something pretty rather than a rat's nest for some time now.  Everything I tried either made it too greasy, too sticky, or did nothing at all.  Not so with this pomade from The Hippy Homemaker.

I change up routines with the seasons.  Depending on the weather, my hair and skin need different things.  Here's what I've scrounged up for spring, and right now I'm loving all of them:

My good friend Courtney hooked me up with a bag of pureology shampoo samples (hooray!) and as she was handing me the bag, she said "And there's a french bobby pin in there!"  Having no idea what it was, I just said "Awesome!"  When I got home, I dug that french bobby pin out, more curious than anything.

You guys. You need one of these. Or, you know, a whole box.

I paint my nails all the time, but unfortunately my life isn't conducive to keeping a manicure.  Working, typing, and cooking make my average manicure last about 4 days before it looks atrocious.  I'm always on the lookout for  a product that will help keep polish on my nails, and I think I finally found one.

I first used this at my friend Ashley's house because I am that friend who waltzes into your home and uses your nail polish.  That was Friday, and my nails still look really good - even after a pretty grueling retail shift.

3 days in:

My hair is super thick, so I get layers cut into it to lighten it up a bit.  While layers are great for keeping my hair from giving me a migraine, they're not so great for when I try to wear a braid.  I'm sure it's happened to you - pieces falling out, bobby pinning until you can't feel your fingers.  Not so pleasant.
Well, here's a solution for when you want a side braid and your hair won't cooperate.

1. Put your headband on so that it goes around the front of your forehead - like you're going to wear it boho style.

Let's start with some honesty - I only get my hair cut twice a year at most.  I trim my own split ends at home. When I got bangs, I thought I was going to have to change that habit, and my wallet was none too pleased.  So instead of succumbing to broke-ness, I dug in and researched.  Now, I trim my own bangs - pretty successfully, if I do say so myself.
Here's some pointers to keep your bangs tidy between haircuts, regardless of how few and far between they may be.

1. Cut vertically, not horizontally.  In other words, like this:

My gorgeous friend Amber text me the other day to talk about her lips.
Namely, the fact that the winter is not kind to them.  It's a problem we all have when the weather gets cold - between the dry air and the wind, the delicate skin on our kissers gets chapped and peel-y.
I try my best every winter to keep the chapping at bay, with varying degrees of success.  This winter I've done pretty well coming up with a routine that keeps 'em nice and moisturized.

1. Exfoliate.  This is one of the most important steps in getting rid of chapped lips.  Exfoliating gets the dead skin off so that it can't block the healthy skin underneath.  Plus, it makes your lips all rosy :) You can buy pre-made lip exfoliates, but a cheaper homemade alternative is sugar and vaseline.  I get a dollop of vaseline on my finger, dip it in sugar, and go to town with the scrubbing.  You can also add some coconut oil to the mix for even more moisture.

2. Night balm.  My lips are always dry when I wake up.  I recently started using a night balm from bath and body works and I'm loving it - starting out with more moisturized lips keeps them from getting as dry during the day.  I use it during the day sometimes, but its a little thick for daily wear.  Any really thick lip balm will do the trick.

3. Protection.  The easiest way to keep your lips moisturized is to keep balm on them during the day.  Unfortunately, its also the easiest to forget - once I put on balm in the morning, I often forget to reapply it throughout the day.  A good rule of thumb is to try and reapply at least every 2 or 2 and a half hours, and right after you eat or drink something.

Yummy lip balms are all well and good, but in this kind of weather your primary concern should be the protection power of your balm, not its flavor.  My favorite heavy hitters are rosebud salve and carmex - neither one are particularly high on the yum scale, but both will get the job done!

Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding?  If not, go do it, and thank me later.  For those of you that have, remember the dad who uses Windex to fix everything?  Well, my friends recently brought it to my attention that that's me and baking soda.
When I thought about it, they're completely right.  I use baking soda for everything.  Upon further contemplation, I realized I used petroleum jelly for everything too.
Since its likely that you already have both of these things in your house, here's a few ways you can use them that you might not have thought of:

Yes, I know, there are approximately 82 billion tutorials for messy buns online.  Which is funny, to me: isn't the whole point that it looks "undone?" Much like no-makeup makeup, it takes a whole lot of effort to look like you didn't make effort.
Anyway, back to what I was saying - yeah, there are tons of these tutorials out there, but I was never able to make one work for me.  My hair was either too short, too long, too layered, too brown... you get the idea.
This is how I've been making a messy bun, ever since I discovered it last week.  It was a feeling akin to finding the holy grail.  It works great on my hair, and it's pretty secure, so I would assume it works well for layered hair.  Its also pretty easy to tweak if your hair is super long.

Start by parting your hair straight down the middle:

I have shared about my issues with growing my bangs out and how I'm dealing with it.  At work especially, having my long bangs in my face is really irritating, and I get bored just bobby pinning them back.
The other day I was messing with my hair before work, trying to find a way to put it up that I liked and kept my hair out of my way.  As usual when I start messing with my hair, braiding was one of the first things I tried. This is what I ended up with, and I've worn my hair like this about a dozen times since. It's like a half milkmaid braid - I like it better because it's not all up; there's still a bit around your shoulders.