Thursday, October 22, 2020
Coffee Syrup for Rhode Island's Coffee Cabinet
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
What Beauty Buys Am I Using Right Now?
Over time I've tried to switch over to more natural or organic beauty products. I use the word "natural" skeptically. We must always read labels and research commodities carefully to make sure the word isn't just a marketing gimmack but truly reflects purer ingredients in the ointments we rub into our skin.
Another aim is to spend less money on the personal care items we use daily. If quality is nearly the same with similar results, cheaper is always better! Over time the savings really add up! And it goes without saying, we want to focus on products that really work because they have the science behind them! Let's also strive to not layer on too many elixirs, another way of washing cash down the drain. The goal of keeping beauty routines simple to save time and get out of the bathroom faster is smart also!
Here are personal care items I'm using right now that meet the criteria:
For the Face --
Day
1) The Ordinary Buffet - a mix of effective anti-aging peptides.2) The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2% - a high potency antioxidant and skin brightener.
3) Walgreens Baby Broad Spectrum SPF 50 Sunscreen - the #1 preventer of aging skin you can buy.
Night
4) Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Regenerating Cream With Retinol Fragrance-Free
5) Azure Hemp & Retinol Sleep Mask - This I alternate with #4 whenever my face feels dry.
For the Body --
1) BuyBuy Baby Powder with pure cornstarch - A generic bath powder from Bed, Bath & Beyond. The cornstarch replaces talc because in the USA, you can't buy talc anymore. Since the pandemic, I apply baby powder on my face under my mask because I'm not wearing makeup. (Tinted face powder tints my mask which looks ugly!)
2) Puritan's Pride Coconut Oil - I use it after a shower to lock in moisture! The company makes coconut oil for the body, but I buy the food-grade coconut oil -- one oil to use in both the kitchen and bathroom. Done!
3) Botanical + Herbal Help Body Lotion - Containing tea tree and verbena oils, I use it as a hand or body cream. It's from T.J. Maxx and I buy their ever-changing array of lotions from Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Korea, and exotic California.🙂
For the Hair --
SheaMoisture and Renpure💕💥 all the way! I switch up the formulas regularly. Right now I'm using ...
1) Repure Extra Strength Coconut Cream Shampoo
2) SheaMoisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Shampoo
3) SheaMoisture Kukui Nut & Grapeseed Oils Conditioner
4) SheaMoisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Conditioner
Both brands are from long-time manufacturers of good, clean, organic ingredients for the hair at drugstore prices.
So these are the beauty buys in my bathroom right now. Simple, clean, inexpensive and they work! ✔✔✔✔
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Chunky Is Autumn Trendy
Photo: Marissa Cox - Suzanne chunky sweater. |
This fall's fashion buzz word is chunky. Chunky sweaters, chunky jewelry and especially chunky chains on everything from wearing one around your neck to hanging it off your purse. The following are examples of the chunky chain trend:
Brinker & Eliza Spiral Staircase Necklace |
Pomellato 18k rose gold bracelet |
ASOS Fashion Union cardigan |
Monday, October 12, 2020
Rain Trousers are The Bomb
L.L.Bean TEK O2 3L Storm Pants |
I don't know why, but, every year on the day I have to walk across Central Park from the Upper Eastside to the Upper Westside of Manhattan for an eye exam, there's always a monsoon downpour. I mean I make the appointment months in advance and it's not always the same time of the year, but on the day I must go, the rain never relents!
Until I moved to New York City without a car, I never thought about just how wet a person can get walking in a storm! Certainly, I dislike wet trousers, legs, socks, and feet, so after years of going to work on a rainy day and sitting damp for hours afterwards, I bit the bullet to buy the final piece of my rain gear trio ... an expensive pair of rain trousers. They are not much of a fashion statement unless you're aiming for a bag lady look, but I don't mind ... I love them!
Today I had my eye doctor appointment and sure enough, it's been raining all day long. But guess what, readers? I returned home dry as if I'd stayed indoors, including my leggings, socks and shoes. Not a drop of moisture after removing my outerwear!
My pricey rain pants go over my leggings (or trousers). Three layers of specially constructed nylon, called TEK O2 L3, keep the rain out! Interior gaiters keep moisture out of my Merrell's Waterproof Comfort Mocs. Zippers and Velcro let me adjust the legs of the pants to fit over shoes or boots.
Since I'm very happy with my Uniqlo Blocktech moisture wick coat, I didn't buy the matching L.L.Bean's TEK O2 3L Storm Jacket. The Uniqlo Blocktech coat is only supposed to be rain-resistant, but I don't get wet wearing it. I love the L.L.Bean jacket too, but it looks more casual than my versatile Uniqlo Blocktech coat that I always wear as a raincoat. If I can save by using what I already have, great!
The rain pants, however, are the bomb and worth every penny!
Friday, October 9, 2020
Mini Italian Cream Cake
Mini Italian Cream Cake
For myself alone, a no butter icing. |
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Plaid and Checkerboard Plaid For Fall 2020
Flannel shirts are a fall wardrobe staple and this year is no exception. I'm reading that checkerboard plaid is trendy. Where have fashion editors been? Plaid, including checkerboard plaid, has never gone out of style. I have a couple of checkerboard plaid shirts and jackets decades old. Truth! Classics never date, and good quality clothing outlasts the latest trends!
In their new fall catalogs, both Lands' End and L.L. Bean are offering a wide section of colors in plaid flannel shirts, tunics and jackets. The quality and style of the two competitors are hair-splitting similar. Lands' End seems to host more money-saving promotions while L.L.Bean has expanded its inventory to include plaid hoodies, dresses and bathrobes.
Monday, October 5, 2020
First Time Ever I Cut My Own Hair
Only blurry selfies to share.😁. They do show you the end result. |
But my longtime hairdresser, Penny's job isn't in jeopardy. Truthfully I need her more than she needs me! After cutting my hair for a few years she suddenly left my neighborhood salon (due to an unfair occurrence) after she had worked there for years, and I was crushed!
My long hair on a good day. |
In time, I saw her again and then felt comfortable asking for her home phone number. When she gave it to me, I said, "Ah, ha, now you'll never escape from me again!" A decade+ later, she's become my friend and comes to my home to cut my hair, after her regular job or on her day off from her new salon. Often I have dinner ready so she has something to eat when she arrives. Sometimes she cuts my hair for free ... but I don't let her not charge me too often because she lives way uptown in the Bronx and it requires her time, skills and energy to come to my home to give me a precision haircut.
Moreover, Penny no longer has other private clients in my neighborhood, and I only need a cut ... not her full services of color or highlighting which would make her travel to my home more lucrative. She really doesn't make enough money coming to my home for just a cut although she's too classy to say so. She really only cuts my hair because of our history.
So that's the backstory of why I cut my own hair. Plus I thought if this pandemic goes on another year -- with spikes of COVID, could I master the skill to do it? The answer is, not as well as Penny!
Yet if you must cut your own hair, too, here are tips ...
I began by watching YouTube tutorials 1st. (Not all the techniques are spot on. In my non-expert opinion, flipping all your hair over your head is useless if you want to cut straight. Another YouTuber suggests binding your hair in a ponytail at the nape of the neck and cutting an inch or more off to get started. Don't do it! You'll end up with a tress of hair too short in the wrong place that must be fixed!!
Here's what works ... I parted the hair as if you are making pigtails, leaving it untied, bringing each side forward and cutting it section by section from front to back. I kept combing and comparing sections to the corresponding sections (stains of hair from side to side, as well as, the left side of the head to the right side of the head). I used a handheld mirror to look at the back hair and sometimes brought locks forward to snip. Also, micro-conservative snipping is best! Never cut too much hair at once. Go back and snip the same section over if needed -- little by little rather than cutting off too much length at one time. You don't want to do this -->😱
As my Facebook friend, Patti, says a DIY haircut "takes a bit of tweaking! One side then the other and then the handheld mirror to see the back! Then the fine-tuning!" She's absolutely right. It's a time-consuming process achieved by tiny snips at a time ... use a slow, steady hand. Nothing drastic.
Another tip is to only use real hair scissors. I had a pair because decades ago I wore bangs that I trimmed in-between salon visits.
I learned cutting your own hair is not easy! This could've gone very, very wrong!! I cannot wait to see dear Penny again! Add hairstylists to society's list of most important people.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Buying An Emerald Ring The 4 Cs
Photo: TK, trying o locate source |
Photo: emcogem |
When jewelers examine the color of emeralds they also
consider tone and saturation. The tone is the lightness and darkness of the emerald on a scale of 0 (white) to 10 (black). Fine emeralds fall between 2 and 8 on the scale. In this range, ultimately the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As it turns out, customers gravitate to #5, #6 and #7 in color↑. I think of saturation (another name for tone) as the opaqueness or transparency of an emerald. I value opaqueness in leggings, but I desire as much transparency for the $buck$ as I can get in a colored gemstone as it shines more!
The Maximilian emerald |
3) Clarity - We discussed how an expert cut enhances the clarity of a gem. More light bounces off of it. Unlike diamonds, impurities and inclusions -- Jardins -- in emeralds are common and considered part of its natural beauty. Jewelers say: Each emerald has its own fingerprint of how it was formed by nature billions of years ago. With diamonds (carbon), you want them as clean as possible, yet nature rarely makes an emerald (beryl) clean (without Jardins). In French Jardin means "garden." And if an emerald doesn't have them, have it tested. You're either set for life ... or own a fake!
Wallis Simpson's ring |
Just like emeralds, shoppers are all unique, so different strokes for different folks. Personally, I would forget about buying heirloom-quality emeralds. You'll have to pay $8,000+ for 1/4 carat stone surrounded by 1/2 carat of tiny diamonds. Paris Hilton, you can ignore my advice.
😍Macy's comes through again! What an Effy beauty on a budget!! |
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Tanzanite At Tiffany
Emerald A Timeless Stone
5 Tips For Buying A Tennis Bracelet On A Budget
Find Something Gorgeous At Macy's Like Fine Jewelry