In the Lab: DIY Hair Mascara – Eyeshadow and Gel!

So my hair color is…not consistent. 😉 My natural color is a mixture of dark brown, medium brown, auburn, and copper. I have sandy sections in the summer due to the sunlight. Did I mention the few blond hairs that eventually turn gray? Yeah, those are fun. Anyhoo, my hairline has been playing tricks on me for the last year or so. I really thought that I was losing hair until I looked at it really closely in the mirror earlier in the year. As I pinched that section repeatedly, I realized that I was not losing my hair. In fact, there are plenty of strands there (of the baby variety!) – they’re just extremely fine, and extremely light in color. The solution? Hair mascara!

I’ve used hair mascara that you can buy at beauty supply stores, and then realized that brown/black eye mascara works just as well. The only problem is that the hair does not stay soft, and it’s not always easy to wash out. So I decided to see if I could make some myself, because really, it just sounded like fun. And I was bored. And there we have it.

Ingredients:

Black/Brown eyeshadow (or whatever color combination works for your hair!)

Hair gel

A bowl for mixing

A utensil for scraping eyeshadow and for mixing

A clean mascara wand

Hair! 😀

1) Scrape out your eyeshadow into a bowl. I blended a “light” black shadow with a light brown shadow to get a brown/black shade. You can use whatever combination you want! 

Kinda yucky looking, huh? It’ll be alright, I promise. 🙂

2) Grab your gel, and mix enough of it together with your eyeshadow(s) so that it has a slightly muddy consistency. I know “muddy” isn’t the word that you would want to use to describe this, but for me, it was probably the most accurate description! Ha! I used  Isoplus Styling Gel. I needed to find a way to get rid of it anyway.

3) When it’s all mixed up and ready to go, dip your clean mascara wand into the mixture, and proceed to apply it to your hair. If you do have thinning spots, make sure that you fill them all in with the color. Gently, though. If you rake it through, then you just might end up bald. That would not be good! And that applies to all hair mascaras, DIY or store bought. Be careful with your tresses!

 

And there you have it! Mind you, it’s also super easy to wash out – takes much less effort than it does with regular mascara. If you want to store some for later, I would suggest buying some empty plastic mascara tubes from eBay or from stores that sell supplies/containers to people that make their own cosmetics for personal or commercial use. Please do not re-use old mascara tubes, even if it’s only to be used on your hair. You might be forgetful like me and think that it’s regular mascara. *looks around* Hey, it happens. 😉

Chicken In Milk Recipe – Jamie Oliver

I know, I know. I cook a lot of chicken. Well guess what? Here’s another one. 😉

Somewhat browned, and ready to go into the oven!

Finished! You see those sparse areas in the pan? That’s what happens when you are skimpy with the milk. Don’t be skimpy with the milk.

I came across this recipe for chicken in milk a few days ago, and thought that it might be…interesting. I would never have associated chicken…with milk. Baked. Together. But it is surprisingly good! I did tweak the recipe just a little bit – used less milk, omitted the cinnamon stick, used garlic powder instead of 12 cloves of garlic due to me not having it on hand, added a bit of fresh rosemary along with the sage, etc.

When you make this, please make sure that you use the full amount of milk listed, as this (and the lemon juice, sage, garlic, and whatever else you decide to throw in there!) is what makes up the bulk of the sauce. You want to have enough sauce to use on the chicken, because the taste is totally unexpected, and yet is a delightfully pleasant surprise for your tastebuds.

Read it here: Chicken In Milk

If you do try this, please let me know how you liked it, or feel free to share what you did if you tried a different variation of the recipe! 🙂

In the Lab: DIY Oatmeal Milk Cleanser

I love glass jars!

Super easy! All you need are a clean container and two ingredients:

1) Oatmeal (powdered in a grinder or processor) = Soothes skin, cleanses, acts as a mild exfoliant.

2) Powdered milk (or regular milk, in which case the cleanser will need to go into the fridge) = Lactic acid acts as a gentle exfoliant.

If you are using powdered milk, put equal halves of the oatmeal and the powdered milk into your container. Mix thoroughly. When you are ready to cleanse your face, spoon out a teaspoon or less of the mixture into your palm, and add water to form a paste. Apply to the skin, and rub in small circles. Rinse. 🙂

If you are using regular milk, put a small amount of the powdered oatmeal (two tablespoons should be enough) into a container. Pour enough milk into the container to wet the oatmeal. You can either use it immediately, or you can put it in the fridge overnight in order to let the mixture thicken. In the morning, you should be able to pinch small sections of the mixture to use in your routine. Make sure to put the container back into the fridge when you are finished. This will only last for about a week, so make sure to smell the mixture every few days to make sure that it hasn’t spoiled!

Let me know if you try it! 🙂

Dream Home?

Well, I decided to hurt my own feelings and go take a look at the St. Jude Dream Home on Saturday while they were still having an open house. The house is being given away in a drawing that will take place on June 24th. Tickets for the giveaway are $100 each and will benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I can only imagine how happy this year’s winner will be! Just remember that you have to pay property taxes on this place at the end of the year. I’m just saying.

The house is estimated at $600,000, but that’s the house plus all of the extras. The house by itself would cost a little over $319,000, which is a lot lower of a price than I thought it would be! 4,482 square feet, a bathroom for every bedroom, a 3 car garage, finished basement with a wet bar and home theater, located on a golf course…

I like.

Here are a few random photos. Please forgive how crummy these are. Camera phone + last minute thought = these photos. Ha! 🙂 If you’d like a better view (a MUCH better view – you know you want to!), check out the virtual tour! Please let me know if this link doesn’t work or stops working.

St. Jude Dream Home Virtual Tour

Dream Home Giveaway

Birchbox: July 2012

I’ve been a Birchbox subscriber for well over a year now, and I have loved almost every single box that has come in the mail. I know that a lot of people are on the fence about it, and some feel that they’re hit and miss. And then there are those who hate the “lifestyle” products (hey, I LOVED the laundry detergent packs! And there is no sarcasm involved in that statement. I like clean laundry!). But I can honestly say that there were only two boxes that hit my doorstep that I wasn’t completely thrilled with. Two. Out of 14 or 15. That really isn’t bad! 🙂

This month’s Birchbox included a full sized BAND-AID box from their designer collection. This one was the Cynthia Rowley box. Also included: Stainiac by theBalm Cosmetics in Beauty Queen (doesn’t really show up on my skin, but I’m sure that someone will love it!),  a pore minimizing mask by Masqueology (I really liked this one), a perfume sample of Not A Perfume by Juliette Has A Gun (one note, very simple fragrance), and Rose Floral Water by Melvita (yay!).