Archive | March 2014

Perm and Dye…Your Lashes!

Here’s a great way to look fabulous from the moment you wake up… perming and dying your lashes. I know it sounds crazy, but it is amazing. Just because I did this does not mean I don’t still wear mascara! It makes it look even better because my lashes now stay curled all the time!

You know those people at the gym, pool, and beach with the mascara streaking down there face? You so don’t want to be that girl, do you? Well, dying your lashes eliminates this problem, sometimes you just want to run out of your house and not worry about putting anything on. I love having my lashes permed and dyed for this reason, I wake up looking refreshed and put together.

My lashes tend to be a little unruly and clumpy (see picture from previous post) and perming them keeps them separated and untangled. It also gives them a nice natural curl without an eyelash curler. I personally quit using my eyelash curler after the second time it cut my lashes in half (fool me once…). So now I can have them curled all the time and dark without having to do any work. It looks like I have mascara on, but I don’t and no streaking when I get out of the pool. It’s fantastic.

It takes about an hour and a half to have the full service done, but for a busy mom you definitely get that time back and then some when you can rush out the door to 9:30am music class without doing anything and you don’t look like a total disaster. I of course always put my 3D mascara (learn more about this in my next post ) on if I have other eye makeup on to make my lashes really pop, or if I know I’ll be out in the land of the living all day long. The dye last about 4-6 weeks and that portion of the service only takes about 15 minutes. The perm last until your lashes fall out or about 2 months or so. If you have both services done is will probably cost about $105 depending on where you go, and dying your lashes costs about $20-35. It is much easier to find someone to tint your lashes than to perm them. I only know one person locally who provides this service.

I definitely recommend this service after growing your natural lashes out with the Grande Lash MD. It is the greatest time saver for the busy mom on the go! It also makes a huge difference in the way you feel especially when you are tired or feeling like you don’t have the time to primp like you used to.

If you live in Sunny South Florida, call and make an appointment with Joyce at Dr. Koger’s office in Jupiter 561- 748-1565. She will get you all set up and looking amazing in just an hour and a half! She is awesome at what she does!

It’s a LASH-travaganza!

Mar25

I am obsessed with eyelashes! I think having fabulous eyelashes can make the difference between drab and fab! Needless to say I am constantly searching for ways to make mine longer, dark, more dramatic, curlier, and all together absolutely fabulous!

After my son was born I had to attend a wedding three weeks later. I had what I thought was a great idea to get group eyelash extension to help me look less tired and better all around. BIG MISTAKE!!! The first problem was that they were wayyyy over board and I looked crazy at 9:00am. The second problem was that the woman used surgical glue, so some of the extensions fell out, and some of them stayed on and I couldn’t get them off. I looked even crazier as they began to fall out. The third problem was that my natural eyelashes broke off and I had little nubs for eyelashes left.

I had individual eyelash extensions when I got married. Also several problems, 1) I don’t know about you, but it was incredible unnerving for me to sit for over two hours perfectly still with my eyes shut while someone worked on my eyelids. 2) They fell out within a few days. 3) Every time I got my face wet, such as when I was in the shower, my eyes burned!

I decided after my group eyelash extension I needed to do something to help my now broken off eyelashes to grow back ASAP. I found Grande Lash MD, not only did my lashes grow back, they grew back longer and stronger, and they looked amazing, like people stopping me everywhere I went amazing! I bought some for my mom too, she loved it and her lashes grew long and strong too! I have recommended Grande Lash MD to so many friends and strangers I have lost count. I can’t rave enough about it.

So, step 1 to fabulous beautiful long and full eyelashes is get yourself some Grande Lash MD. You can use it twice a day or only at night until you get your desired results and then you can apply once every other day for maintenance. If your eyes get red or you have any irritation, take a day or two off and try again.

As an add bonus, you can apply to eyebrows as well. It helps to grow your over tweezed brows in also! The pictures in this post are of my eyelashes with nothing on them at all.

Grande Lash MD retails for $65 for a tube, about ½ as much as Latisse without all the crazy side effect!

Grow your own eyelashes so you look like you have extensions without the hassle, expense, and massive amount of time needed to maintain extensions!

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks to get the best eyelashes ever!

If you are interested in getting your own Grande Lash MD contact Connie at 702-588-3035 or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BrowsByConnie. This is who I get mine from and I know that it is fresh and directly from the company because she can’t keep it in stock. I’ve read reviews on Amazon where they were sent old product, so be careful!

Easy Up-Do

Mar21

Anyone else have the problem that your small child will find any free strand of hair to pull? If there is even one stray hair to be found, my little guy will find it! He will even pull some out of my pony tail if necessary! So I can either leave my hair down and have him pull it, or put it up to prevent it being pulled out!

I just wasn’t down with wearing my hair in a ponytail or knot every single day. I needed something more stylish, but easy to do and fast. The quick part was the most important! My hairstylist was wearing what she called the “Princess Bun.” I loved it, but I didn’t have nearly enough hair to make it happen. So, I bought this donut shaped foam thing at Urban Outfitters and could not for the life of me figure out how to use it. I watched a video on youtube on how to make the bun out of a sock…no such luck for me.

Then I found Hot Buns at my local drug store, it had a snap! It was brilliant, affordable ($10), and EASY to use! I was one happy girl! So now, I put my hair in a ponytail, up high, down low, or too slow, ha ha just kidding I also put it off to the side. Then I rap my hair from the ends down to the ponytail, snap it together, wrap the attached band around the bun, spread my hair, and wah-la! I’m the blonde Kim Kardashian, well not really, but I can pretend!

I look put together and without the constant battle to keep my baby from pulling my hair. Hot Buns comes with two size options and allows you to choose from light or dark. You t go wrong!

http://www.asseenontv.com/hot-buns/detail.php?p=430924

The Baby Friendly Necklace

Mar19

Let me preface this by saying, I truly thought I would be the last person on earth to wear a necklace my child would chew on. However, I decided to give it a try after fighting a constant battle to find something clean for him to chew on, and being frustrated by him pulling on my necklace or not being able to wear one.

Sometimes you need a necklace as an accessory, but if you have ever had a baby, or if you are planning to have one, you know that they pull on everything they can get their hands on…hair, sunglasses, and especially necklaces. But in another effort to not lose my identity, and become a frumpty dumpty, I wanted to be able to continue to accessorize and wear necklaces. That is when I heard about chew beads, and I thought how ugly are these necklaces going to be, but they totally aren’t! They are definitely fashionable, functional, and add a pop of color to your outfit!

I also was fighting a constant battle of my son throwing things out of his stroller and being unable to keep toys, pacifiers, and teethers clean for him to chew on. This gave me control over the cleanliness of what he chewed on.

I foresee what your concerns are going to be. 1) Will my child then start chewing on all my necklaces? I have not had that problem. My little guy is able to distinguish between the rubberiness of this necklace versus a traditional necklace, and hasn’t tried to chew on other necklaces, pull yes, but not put in his mouth. 2) Will people know that my necklace is actually a teether for my child? Absolutely not! I have gotten tons of compliments on my necklace from unsuspecting people.

I have had two problems with the necklace, the first will probably only happen to me, because I’m a total germaphobe. I had some one come over to me give me a compliment and touch the necklace. It’s almost comical because of the length I was going to give my son something clean to chew, that I was wearing necklace to be able to protect it and then someone touches it. Yes, I know I’m crazy! The other may only affect others with hair similar to mine. I have long, fine, tangly hair to begin with and I have had it get caught in the clasp of this necklace, which isn’t the most comfortable thing. I remedied this situation by wearing my hair up and trying to keep little wispy pieces up as well. But, in the interest of full disclosure and honesty I wanted to tell you the problems I have had.

You can check out all the chew bead styles and colors on their website at http://www.chewbeads.com/ . I personally picked mine up at a Swoozie’s store, you can check out their website to find a local retailer near you.

Apparently My Problem is Not Limited to Beauty Products

Mar17

After having lunch with some of my mommy frien

ds last week and discussing my blog, one of them told me that I should disclose that I am addicted to shopping and amazon. As it turns out, as soon as someone tells me about a product for my baby, my response is something along the lines of,“I’ll go home and order it off Amazon tonight!”J

So, my friend told me that I should share with all of you that when it comes to baby products I will try and review almost anything! So, if you have something you love, or want to know if it’s worth buying, please suggest it to me. There’s a possibility that I have already tried it, if it makes my life, easier, doing something faster or more convenient, or if it makes my little man’s life better. “Buzzy” anyone (stay tuned for that review)?

Also, if you have a baby product you endorse, make, produce, etc. and would like it reviewed on Fancy Pants Mom, please by all means contact me on how you can send it for review.

Needless to say I will be reviewing baby products to make busy mom’s lives easier included but not always limited to beauty products. Infant hair gel anyone?

Prime Time!

Mar15

Who has heard about primers and thought it was a wasted step, time, or money? I’ll be honest, I did, that was until I started using them. Now I am obsessed because it’s the difference between having to touch up my make up later in the day and not having to, and in pictures, forget about! It makes you look so much better. Do you want your pores to look smaller? Primer can do that! Do you want your lashes to look longer? Primer can do that! Do you want your crème shadow to stay put? Primer can do that too!

My absolute favorite is eyelash primer! They take your lashes from looking ordinary to extraordinary! This one extra easy set makes a huge difference! The trick is to let the primer dry completely before you apply your mascara. Do this and you will see a major difference. My favorite is Lash Food’s primer and then I put the matching mascara over top.
Next, you need an eye shadow primer; this makes your lid all one color before you start applying your shadow. This also helps when you apply crème shadow, it keeps it from creasing. Not to mention that it holds your shadow in place all day long, making touch-ups unnecessary.

Lastly, is the face primer, which gives you an even, pore-less canvas on which to apply your foundation. This gives you a smooth surface and again helps to hold your make-up in place all day.

Also, in a pinch you can rub a little extra foundation on your lids and lips as primer.

Now, I have used expensive primers, but personally this is not where I want to spend my money. No one even knows you’re wearing it! I do splurge slightly on my lash primer at about $20 a tube, but I have found fantastic eye shadow primer that works as well as the more expensive brands by E.L.F. ($3-6) and face primer by NYX High HD Studio Primer ($12ish). These are fabulous primers for a great price. Try primer today and you’ll save time on touch ups. Cause ain’t nobody got time for that! 

http://www.lashfood.com/r/products.php

http://www.amazon.com/l-f-Mineral-Eyeshadow-Primer-NATURAL/dp/B00853EYZQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1391547452&sr=1-3&keywords=elf+eyeshadow+primer

Cream Eye Shadow… so under rated!

Mar12

My secret for looking fabulously put together in a small amount of time is cream eye shadow. You can use your fingers!!!!!! You can use a brush!!!!!! You can look amazing in 3 minutes!

14k gold, provoke, runway

I totally get the whole running out the door to activities with your kids, or work, or errands and not wanting to look like a total hot mess! This is my secret for looking put together without all the layers of eye shadow and brushes and clean up! You can use 2-3 crème eye shadows and look amazing, you could use a traditional powder eye shadow and add a crème and look great. It’s all so easy!

I know some of you may be thinking about the creasing. I can take care of that too! It’s called eye shadow primer and you don’t have to break the bank to get a great one! It eliminates creasing sometimes caused by cream eye and helps your eye makeup stay put all day long!

My favorite cream eye shadows are from Fonda Lee’s exclusive makeup line that you can find at the Fonda Lee Beauty Bar in Mid-Town in Palm Beach Gardens FL, and if you aren’t local, check out her website at http://fondaleebeauty.com/ . The picture features two of my favorite looks: the right side uses all cream eye shadows that I applied with my fingers- 14k gold on the brow bone, provoke in the crease, and runway on the lower lid. The left eye shows Fonda Lee’s powder shadow crème de la crème with cream shadow provoke in the crease, one of my absolute favorite easy, but together, classic looks!

Stay tuned for my next post to see how to make a big difference in your make up staying power with one easy step.

Happy finger painting! 

I admit I have a problem…

Mar10

Hi my name is Jenna and I’m a junkie. I’m a beauty product, procedure, make-up, anything beauty related junkie. I have a seriously problem… I instantly want to try anything new and exciting! If you tell me about a new product to make me look better, a facial procedure that entails scraping, exfoliating, perming, dying, lightening, brightening, peeling, etc. I will try it.

Needless to say the loss of money on my husband’s credit card bill will be your gain because I will tell the truth. If something rocks, I’ll tell you, if something sucks, I will tell you. If you have something you want reviewed tell me, or if you promote a product and want it reviewed, send it to me and I’ll try it out and write all about it.

I have a line, it’s a procedure where you have blood taken spun and re- injected back into your face, short of that you will probably read about something I tried or am going to try. My main goal with all of this is to find ways to look and feel great in the least amount of time possible.

Stay tuned, subscribe, and enjoy!

As always your questions and comments are welcomed!

Your Hospital Must Have

Mar10

I will finish out my pregnancy blogs with what you must have for the hospital and this will be my last blog about what you need for pregnancy and delivery, at least until I remember something else I wanted to write about. 😉 Next I’ll be dispensing my favorite beauty tips and secrets for looking great, especially when you are low on time.

So what must you have for your hospital delivery? Your own hospital gown! I know I may sound like a lunatic, but trust me… you want your own gown. You may, like my husband, think that they give you a new gown when you check in, let me assure you that this is not the case, at least not at the hospital where I delivered. There a few things happening here, 1) someone else has given birth in this gown before, 2) someone had surgery in the gown previously 3) someone was sick in this gown. There are varying levels of grossness here depending on how squeamish you are, but the common denominator… blood and dottily fluids, yuck!

The nurses will try to talk you out of wearing your own when you get to the hospital. They will tell you that you are going to ruin your gown; this is a great opportunity to practice non-attachment and go in knowing that you will be throwing it away when you’re done. Or maybe you won’t, I only had one small dot of blood on mine and was able to wash it and not have to throw it away, but either way I was ok knowing it was a one-time thing.

I purchased mine from a local baby store that carried maternity items. I got the gown and a matching robe. It was a great investment because I knew no one had worn it before and I looked much cuter in my pink and green Lilly Pulitzer-esk gown than the ugly blue one provided by the hospital. I suggest ordering online, getting it at a local medical supply store, or looking at boutique children’s/maternity stores. You’ll be happy you did!

P.S. – If you want to make your husband happy, a foam mattress cover or egg crate on his cot or fold out bed will make his hospital stay after baby 100xbetter!

Please feel free to comment below with your must have hospital stay items.

Tips and Tricks For Your Pregnancy Wardrobe

Mar8

There are a few things maternity that you will inevitable have to buy; mainly jeans, if you want to wear them, you have to buy maternity jeans. If you are going to spend money on one item my suggestion would be this one. Pick out a pair or two of really stylish well-fitting jeans you love and buy them because you will wear them a lot. You can pair different tops with them and get a lot of use out of a pair or two.

I personally live in sunny South Florida so the weather was hot for most of my pregnancy. I wore a ton of dresses; I found them to be the most comfortable. I would buy maxi dresses and empire waist dresses. I found Old Navy and Gap to carry a ton of non-maternity style dresses that were inexpensive, comfortable, and functional. I will tell you that if you wear them as much as I did, they will have to be thrown away after your pregnancy, because they won’t look so good anymore. However, they serve their purpose and won’t break the bank. I personally found small boutiques that carried these types of dresses that were not only super cute, but affordable and easy to wear.

I highly recommend drawstring anything. I wore a lot of drawstring pants, my favorites were the Lilly Pulitzer Beach Pant and Beach Short, but there are a lot more affordable pants out there. I loved linen drawstring pants and shorts; they were comfortable and gave the ability to dress up or down.

I used to work for lululemon, so I happen to have 4 pairs of Still Pants. They were wonderful during my pregnancy. I’ll tell you a secret; I always wore these pants to work. If you wore a longer shirt that covered the pockets, they totally passed as dress pants! The only problem is the logo on the back of the leg. People will stop you all day long to tell you that you have something stuck to your pants. It’s actually their reflective logo in case you are jogging at night, so no one runs you over, great idea in theory, not so much in practice when you are trying to wear workout clothes as work clothes. 🙂 But, regardless these pants are awesome because you can fold them over; pull the drawstring through and feel and look great. Pair these pants with the Portofino shirt from my last post and you are ready to go. The down side of these pants is the price, at $98 they are crazy expensive for “workout” wear.

Also, while we are talking about pants, let’s talk about those bands that go over your pants. The purpose is to be able to continue to wear your normal pants by leaving them unbuttoned or unzipped with this band over top. It was a total waste of money for me. However, I have friends who swear by them. My understanding is that it depends on the person and pregnancy. It could work great for one pregnancy and not at all for the next one for the same person! I don’t know, I bought one, spent about $25 bucks and it didn’t work at all. I suggest trying a hair band first. Simply loop the band through the button hole and then attach both loops to the button. Wah-La you can now leave your pants unbutton/unzipped with more room. If that doesn’t work maybe try an old tube top you have laying around, and if all else fails, try the bands they sell for this purpose, but eventually you’ll have to break down and buy new pants or elastic/drawstring waist pants. But in the interim this should help.

I highly suggest long tank tops, maternity or non- maternity. They are awesome for layering or wearing alone. I personally like Liz Lange for Target cotton shirts and tanks. They were affordable, stylish, and comfortable. I like them for before and after pregnancy also because I love long tops.

Belts and necklaces are your friends. I wore tons of longer necklaces when I pregnant, I don’t know what it was about them, but I felt they pulled outfits together when you have a belly. Belts were my friends also, especially wide ones. I used them with empire waist maxi dresses to break up the color or pattern and look really pulled together.

The last tip I have is for bras. I had to buy new bras at least three times during my pregnancy. What a pain. I don’t care who you are, what size you are, or how much or how little weight you gain. Your rib cage will expand! I bought a bra extender, this helped to eliminate having to constantly buy larger bras. I highly suggest investing in one of these, you won’t regret it! I personally got mine at Nordstrom, but I’m sure amazon has a plethora of options to choose from.

I hope you find my tips and tricks helpful! Several of my suggestions can be wore before and after pregnancy as well. I am all about spending money on things you can continue to use after your pregnancy and sometimes that means spending a little bit more for quality products.

Please feel free to comment with your tips and tricks and any questions you may have. Happy Shopping! 🙂

www.gap.com

www.oldnavy.com

http://www.lillypulitzer.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=searchForm&keyword=beach+pants

http://search.lululemon.com/search?region=us&asug=&w=Still%20Pants

http://www.express.com/clothing/Apparel/Portofino+Shirts/cat/cat1040025

http://www.target.com/p/liz-lange-reg-for-target-reg-maternity-long-lean-basic-tank-top-assorted-colors/-/A-14592209#prodSlot=large_1_6&term=Liz+Lange

http://shop.nordstrom.com/sr?origin=keywordsearch&contextualcategoryid=2375500&keyword=bra+extender

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