5 top Summer beauty tips

• Keep extra hair ties on your keychain

• Get anti-chlorine shampoo or use ketchup to counteract swimming pool green hair phenomenon 

• Forgo mascara in lieu of lash extensions as mascara will surely run in humidity and ruin your look

• Make sure you have foundation with SPF in it for a one-two punch. Also, buy a shade darker than your normal foundation to reflect any color you get from summer sun.

• Keep extra dry shampoo and deodorant in your glove compartment. 

• Use Kiss My Brass shampoo additive to eradicate brassy tones from the sun and saltwater. 

Hair Loss: What you need to know about DevaCurl & other co-washes

Social media has been on fire lately with yet another co-wash (this time, it’s DevaCurl but lines like Wen before it) is being blamed for causing hair loss. And unlike Monat, it’s not one offending ingredient that causing the issue, it really is how co-washes (short for “cleansing conditioner” works) that will eventually cause issues. It’s especially unfortunate because DevaCurl products are the holy grail of a lot of Curly-Girl method groups. 

Cleansing conditioners are more parts conditioner than sulfate, soapy cleansers. They don’t strip hair with surfactants and bubbles, they soften and condition the hair shaft over time. I remember the first time I used one and I thought, “Wow my hair feels amazing and well…it LOOKS clean. Maybe I’ve been doing my shower routine all wrong.” However, over time, when customers ONLY use co-washes, the hair follicle can’t breathe and get clogged…and in some people, they will experience hair loss. 

You wouldn’t sleep in your makeup every night, you wouldn’t wash your hands in just hand cream, etc. Your scalp needs to breathe just as the skin on your hair does. And so, my friends, I’m here to tell you: Don’t throw out your co-washes just yet. As with anything in life, it’s moderation. 

Our tip:

Wash your hair and scrub your hair with a generous amount of foaming shampoo every third co-wash  (especially if you use additional styling products.)

It’d be a shame to see truly good companies who don’t test on animals like DevaCurl and  UnWash go down because people aren’t using them correctly - however, it may be time to add some additional information on the label to help customers out. 

Remember, you may co-wash exclusively and still not have any problems. I feel like everyone knows someone whose mom has been “washing” her face with Pond’s cold cream every night and has the best skin, you know? Some people’s hair follicle is less resilient. I know my old hairdresser who’d bleach my hair white to go pastel told me that things she does to my head would have melted most people’s hair off!

DIY lash serum

I’ve taken to adding Hylauronic Acid serum from The Ordinary to my castor oil and shake. I do this because there is some anecdotal evidence that Hylauronic Acid users have reported a positive side effect to using HA for wrinkle plumping is a noticeably more lush lash line. Worth a try anyway!

I’ve also tried a drop or two of some essentials oils that are known to encourage follicle growth, however they (being organic matter) allowed mold to grow so I do not recommend.

Editors Note: You can use oil-based products towards the very end of your lash extension cycle, where barely any extension are hanging on. As noted in our lash extension bible blog, you can (and should!) use lash growth serum on top of your extensions.

How to Ship Almost Anything with PayPal (Life-Hack!)

Next to DMV, the post office is up there with some of my most hated places. This is not beauty-related but I find it to be a relevant life hack to almost anyone. This is a trick that allows to make labels via PayPal and eBay without actually conducting an eBay transaction. I’ve been using it since the inception of my business. Just follow this link and sign into your PayPal account to create a mailing label for anything that you’d like to ship. No post office visit required! Free tracking is included. You just need some paper, ink and a home printer.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

For some reason, ebay and Paypal like to bury this link but here you go! Hope this makes your life easier and saves you some time.

Five Reasons Why You Should Consider Getting Permanent Makeup

It's Who You Know

I belong to a women's networking group in LA which has been the biggest boon in so many ways. It's part castings, part feminist rant, part politico, part nightlife, part fashion and style, part comedic women all coming together to share their experience of working and living in LA. As a former casting associate of both scripted and reality TV, these types of groups are essential. Like they say, it's who you know in Hollywood and I got REALLY lucky in the friendship department. 

Of all of the incredible opportunities I've had because of this group, the beauty ones are a stand-out for me. There have been many times where someone in the group was looking for a "model"...although not your typical kind of model you'd normally think of when you conjure up the Los Angeles casting couch in your mind. For THIS kind of modeling, you lend your face/hair/body to be practiced or demo'ed on. I've gotten micro-pigmented brows and liner, lip filler on camera for a plastic surgeons ad ("look how painless it can be!" *don't flinch*) face filler by practicing MD's and RN's and free facials to name a few. 

IG Brows

Now I had long coveted getting permanent makeup, specifically eyeliner. I had read about international microblader Daria Chuprys YEARS AGO in a major women's magazine - but I never dreamed she'd get to teach her students on my face for free! Now, as you probably know, brow microblading is wayyy more popular than permanent eyeliner - at least it is today. Who knows why brows are the more requested service? For me, I already have full, dark, bushy wiry brows. They didn't really need it but it couldn't hurt to look as put together as possible every day. Just FYI, no matter who you go to, your microbladed lines don't stay as sharp and fine as you see in their artist's adverts. It all blurs and blended together and in my experience, the artistry doesn't matter as much as other places. Plus, boldness fades 80% in its final form. 

Cleopatra liner

For me, permanent makeup is about ease. Sloth makeup, as I like to say. Eyeliner was my first foray into permanent makeup. When I lived in Hawaii, I once commented to my roommate how great her eyeliner looked everyday even in the muggy tropical weather. "That's because it's tattooed on, girl!" Eye stuff is my legit phobia, but it was at this time I decided to forge ahead with LASIK, so I decided to bite the bullet and get the lazy pants perma-makeup I had always wanted.

First, Daria did my liner on top , me acting as the model. However, I wanted it thicker. So, I found another lady in LA in the Koreatown neighborhood, "Sherri Permanent Makeup". In the airy loftspace, I told her I wanted a thicker line than originally done and I was sure of it. After all, I had been doing my makeup the same way since I was 12 and I wanted my lash line to look lush - every day! The only thing she said she would not do was a "wing", for that would look "sad" as one ages. 

For my lower liner, my sister and I went to Spade Makeup in Redondo Beach to see the owner, Marjan . She is the is the sweetest! She uses organic ink only and does free touchups to get you to the boldness you want. Everyone's skin takes to tattoo ink differently. Mine likes to shove out the pigment, so I need a couple goings-over. Marjan took the time to gently swab and numb and chat while she did my lower line where she dotted the lines (mostly in the center of the lash line, below where your pupil is centered) This is a better look than a  instead of making a sweeping,, connected bold line going all the way across, which can actually make eyes look smaller. Again, I still want a thicker, more prominent dots on the lower line, so I will be going back for my touchup shortly. 

Lip Blush micropigmentation

(Sure to be the next big thing!)

Work by Nora Grace Stahl, a former special effect makeup artist in Hollywood, who works at Crispy Brows in the Silverlake area of LA.

Back to my secret women's group. I just saw a post for an artist named Nora in my group who has been doing permanent brows for awhile now, needed a permanent  "lip blush" model. Not too many people volunteered but there I was, waving my hands all over the internet. I mean, I always thought getting your lips tattooed was taking it a little far, but maybe she could just give me a flush a color? I *was* a bit hesitant. Growing up near Philly/Jersey Shore, I had seen some bad brown liner work and some overdone brows/liner.

However, like I mentioned before, my makeup looks haven't changed much over the years. 

1. Consider permanent makeup if you are lazy.

2. Consider permanent makeup if you live in a humid climate

3. Consider permanent makeup your makeup tastes have stayed the same for 15 years or more.

4. Consider permanent makeup if you are seek out the artists whose work you really love on instagram and travel to them.

5. Consider permanent makeup if you understand you may need multiple touchups soon after and every couple of years and you make sure to understand the touchups fees BEFORE getting started. 

6. Consider permanent makeup if you find an artist than can match your real life everyday makeup with a pigment/ink that have they can use in the studio you. (Bring your fave makeup shades WITH you so there is no miscommunication!)