Getting My Game Face On

I like to sleep. I am not fun to be around when I don't. And it's hard to get enough sleep during the school year while juggling the demands of teaching with being a wife, a doggie momma, and an aspiring blogger.

So any corners I can cut in the morning that allow me to sleep a little longer I will try. Those 5 precious extra minutes can be a game changer. And as it turns out, it takes me about 5 minutes total to do my hair and makeup everyday, so I thought today I would share the weekday products that allow me to get out the door in a hurry while still looking reasonably put together.

This is my favorite miracle product of all time: Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer.

It's a threefer (if that's not an actual term, it is now): it moisturizes, it has sunscreen, and it covers like a good foundation. Just a pearl sized amount of this liquid gold patted on my face makes me look more awake than I actually am. Brilliant.

I follow this up with Nars blush in Orgasm.

This always makes the beauty bestseller lists year after year, and there's a reason why - the combination of pink, peach and shimmer is just right on this fair skin regardless of the season. I have been using it for about 5 years now, and sometimes I want to try something new just to mix it up, but I always come back to this blush within a month's time.

I skip the concealer since I like to believe that my glasses hide the dark circles under my eyes, but I do try to brighten them up by curling my lashes with a Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler (they're the best) and a coat of Estee Lauder's Sumptuous Mascara on my top lashes only.

Finally, I set the moisturizer and blush with a pressed powder. I am not loyal to any specific product; right now I am using Benefit Boxed Powders in Georgia Peach (which they don't make any more), but I have used Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder in the past, as well as Bare Essentials Mineral Veil.

In terms of my hair, I am a wash and go kinda gal. But again, I am a wee bit lazy and only like to wash every other day. Dry shampoo is the best.product.ever! for those days that the hair's a bit too greasy to just run out the door. I love Rene Furterer's Naturia Dry Shampoo, but at $24 a pop plus shipping and handling, I have switched to Umberto Beverly Hills' version to save some dough. (It's less than half the cost and I can get it at my neighborhood Target, unlike the Furterer, which I have to order online.)

There you have it: my morning beauty routine. I am willing to shave off even more time, so if you have a time-saver that I am skipping, let me know! I am sure an extra 30 seconds of sleep can make a difference.

Have a great weekend!

There's No Substitute for the Real Thing...Unless There Is.

Sorry to have been MIA yet again. It's truly been a series of poorly timed and thought out events; namely, summer school started at the same time that I decided to (drastically) cut back on my caffeine intake. I had gone from two (in reality, I think it could be considered 4) cups of coffee a day to one. I even tried tricking my brain into being content with half-caf, but there truly is no substitute for the real thing. Turns out that coffee is my Prozac, so it has not been a fun week.

I could not motivate to do anything - cook, exercise, blog... you get the picture - besides drag my very tired self into work and back each day. And because my blogging philosophy is to write when I have something to say, not because I feel like I have to say something, I have been neglecting in my duties. My apologies. I have, however, been catching up on some really good and equally bad T.V. thanks to the internet, specifically Twin Peaks and Cougar Town. (What? I watch Cougar Town for the fashion and the interior design, but the quirky, campy factor has me embarrassed to admit that I am hooked.) Similarly, there have been some good and bad movies that I have enjoyed equally on Netflix: Heartbreakers - the French film, not the American version staring Jennifer Love Hewitt (C'mon, I'm not that bad!) - and Killers, which was a fun RomCom.

But enough excuses and T.V. talk. I am back up to four two cups a day of liquid happiness and the world makes sense again. And what really makes sense with this skirt that I posted about last week...

are these shoes - Stuart Weitzman's Alex Wedge.

Via

But at $365.00, there's no way I could afford them. (Although I did try to justify them as a dollar a day, which is crazy talk!)

Then I happened upon these babies:

Via

They are the spitting image of the wedges above, but at a fraction of the cost: $69.50. And so my heart moved on from the real thing, Alex, to the substitute, Steve Madden's Fantastik. I'll be honest, I love the thicker weave the Alex's water hyacinth wedge, but was it worth an extra $300.00 I don't have? No.

Fantastik with a "k" and I are madly in love these days. Check out our PDA's.

Oh, and if you are curious, the nail polish is Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Mint Sprint #440. I picked it up at Target, and this genius polish covers in one coat and lasts for about 3 glorious weeks. I really don't want to know what's in it.

Psst - I am standing in the grass that we planted a couple months ago. Isn't it fantastik with a "k"?

Oh happy (Fri)day!

If It's Too Good To Be True...

I was hoping against hope when I decided to use Howard's Restore-A-Finish and Feed-N-Wax to gussy up my coffee table instead of refinishing it.

Sara at Russet Street Reno recommended the products so heartily, that I had my self almost convinced that they could erase all nicks, scrapes, cloudy finish, and flood damage done to our coffee table, making it look at though it was newly refinished.

The good news is that the table looks better, but let's be honest, we still need to bust out the sander and refinish the poor thing.

Here's the before:

You can see how high the Carmel River flooded in 1994 (I think). It always amazes me to think about it when I look at the coffee table, but since it wasn't my house that flooded, I think it would be better just to have an even finish...

I followed the directions on the Restore-A-Finish, which I got in "Walnut;" I used rags to rub the polish into the furniture and then I wiped it off a few minutes later with a fresh rag. I let the Restore-A-Finish cure for about a half an hour, and then I applied the Feed-N-Wax using the same technique with clean rags. 

Again, I wish I had some incredible after pics to wow you with, but alas, here's the finished product: 

You can see that the top of the table looks a little better, darker and shinier (maybe even a bit cloudier), but there's not a huge difference. However, the finish on the legs looks much more even. Look, you can't even see the flood line anymore! 

Was I disappointed that Howard's products didn't give me a completely refinished looking table? Yes. But I knew from the start that it was a long shot. The revived look of the legs, though, do give me hope that I can use these products on our other mid-century furniture that's in much better shape, with much more dramatic results. 

This dresser in our master bedroom is next on the list for a Howard's treatment. 

I think a little refreshing will have it absolutely popping again our new soft aqua bedroom walls. I'll keep you posted.