Friday, January 10, 2014

Bellami Hair Extensions - You want how much!?!


I have the finest, thinnest hair ever.  Seriously, you can see my scalp at certain angles.  Most people's hair gets thicker as they get older or at least they get a lot more of it to make up for its fine texture.  At 27 years old I still have baby fine hair.  It's super soft and super stubborn.  On the plus side, when I style it right, it is kind of pretty.  When it was long people were forever wanting to touch it since it felt like silk.  This is little comfort to me since I've always dreamed of having a head full of hair like Catherine Zeta Jones or Nicole Kidman in Far and Away.  Ah, to have crazy Disney Merida hair... 
The good Lord, however, did not see fit to bless me with such amazing locks so in my search for the fix I ran across real human hair extensions.  The only previous experience I've had with extensions is a faux ponytail that I purchased online.  I had a belly dance performance coming up for my college's Night of All Nations celebration and I didn't want to be the only belly dancer in my troupe with bob length short hair.  So, I purchased the fake ponytail.  And for the performance it worked out great.  Unfortunately, it will not be as useful for everyday use as it's a little over the top on thickness and length.  Also, I've noticed fake hair moves differently and tangles more than real hair.  There's also the problem of static cling.  If anyone knows how to cure this and is from a dry state like mine, please comment some advice.  We have absolutely no humidity here which makes for some very electric hair.

But back to my real human hair extensions story.  I spent quite a few hours on Youtube (of course) looking up as many tutorials and reviews as I could find on hair extensions.  My first impression was to choose from either FoxyLocks or Bellami.  Both companies seem to have a cult following and the majority of their reviews were very positive.  I originally tried to purchase from FoxyLocks, but this company is located in Great Britain and apparently my bank is not too keen on the idea of transferring money to foreign lands.  :-)  So, my next attempt was through Bellami.  I chose the Piccolina 120g 18" Ash Brown hair.
The color seems about right and should be close to my actual color (after all my dye fades out).  Even if it doesn't match perfectly, I should be able to get it to blend in by curling my hair.  That is the hope anyway.  In total the extensions and the shipping cost me about $105.  Not great, but not too bad after seeing what most companies charge.  I will be writing an initial impression review once I receive the extensions and then a follow up after I've had them for a few months.  Until then, I am anxiously awaiting my most expensive hair extensions' arrival.  Here's to having thicker longer hair!   

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

10 Year High School Reunion... Has it really been that long?

I hate New Years resolutions.  I never make any and even if I did, I know myself too well to believe that I'd ever keep any of them.  But with my 10 year high school reunion on the horizon I figure I'd better set myself some goals to reach before May.  Please notice that I said goals, goals I can and will reach.  Resolutions I just ignore.  Completely.

While I'm not fat by any means, I have gained a good 30 lbs since high school and my quack (I really need to get a new one) keeps reminding me that I'm a bit too heavy for my height.  Not that I need to be reminded.  My tummy sticks out and hides my hoo-ha.  I think that's a pretty obvious sign I need to loose a few.  So, with getting healthier in mind I plan on exercising more and eating more vegetables.  I seriously hate vegetables.  They taste gross which is exactly how you can tell when something is good for you.  "Wow, this tastes horrible.  It must be really good for me."

I say this, and of course, I'm eyeballing that package of sour straws across the room.  Mmmm.....  Strawberry sour straws...  Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought.

Okay, so maybe I'll focus on the exercising more often first and then cut down on the sweets.  #1 I'll walk my dog once a day and then we both will need a nap.  #2 I will belly dance at least once a week (for class) and practice at least once a week as well.  #3 I will attend at least 2 pole dance classes a week.  They offer yoga and toning classes there too so maybe I should try some of those.  So now I have a plan.  I'll start first thing.  Tomorrow morning.  No, wait tomorrow night is better.  Unless I feel like watching an episode of Archer, or How I Met Your Mother, or Justified...  This is going to be hard. 

Fantastic Fake Nails for Under $6.00!

I've always loved the look of fake nails, gels and acrylics.  I even tried the gels last year - french style with blue sparkly tips.  My nails had never looked so good!  But unfortunately the girl I went to was a bit of newb and damaged my real nails.  It took me a few months of growing them out before they were back to normal again.  After that experience I swore up and down never to wear fake nails again.  Well, it's 2014 and it's been about a year since all those self-promises so I figured it was time to try again.  Looking down at my unadorned finger nails, I realized that firstly I didn't want to damage my nails again and secondly that I really can't afford to have them done professionally.  So, like any good cheapskate I did some research on Youtube to find an alternative to a nail salon.  Enter my options of press on nails.  After watching a few videos and getting to see the results for most cheapo girls I was impressed.  The nails looked great and were exactly what I was looking for - they weren't pricey and they caused a minimal amount of damage to the real nails.  I grabbed my purse and headed to Walmart to purchase my first pair of glue-on nails.  The options were a bit picked over and unfortunately, no blue sparkly tips, so I settled on Kiss Everlasting French real short nails. 


 
They look amazing!  I'm so happy with them and really surprised at how realistic they look.  And the best part of all is that they only cost me $5.97!  What a bargain!  I will definitely be doing this from now on when I feel the need to give my nails some sprucing up.