(Quarantine) Beauty Queen

I love getting dolled up, but it is not necessarily something that I do all that often. For example, when I go into the office I usually just do concealer, bronzer and mascara and call it a day. My hair is usually braided or up in a ponytail or bun, and I literally use heat on my hair only a handful of times during the year. So I basically only spend about 10-15 minutes getting ready on an average day (because it is frowned upon in corporate America to do nothing haha).

When I really try, I can actually do a pretty decent job on my hair and makeup. When I pictured getting engagement pictures done, I had pictured going all in. I was going to get my hair cut and colored, I was going to get a professional spray tan, get my nails done, get a facial, and likely go somewhere to get my hair and makeup done that day. LOLOLOL at yet another wedding plan of mine that Covid wasn’t on board with. So, when we were looking at taking our engagement pictures around the time the quarantine was starting, I decided that I needed to stock up on anything and everything that could help me not look like a train wreck.

HAIR

So my hair and I have a love-hate relationship. I have super straight hair, which makes it easy from a maintenance standpoint. HOWEVER, I have a slight cowlick in the back of my head and then the baby hairs at the front literally stand straight up (super cute, I know). And don’t get me started on trying to get some volume in my hair. On the days that I have an event, I usually tease it to the point where I have to say a Hail Mary to the hair gods that my hair doesn’t just completely fall out of my head at the end of the night. I can also get decently frizzy- not your standard frizzy where little bits of hair are standing out. Mine just kind of puffs up and looks stiff. All in all, you just never know what you are going to get. I can have a great hair day (usually when I am home with zero plans to see other human beings) or I can just be plain old tragic. So, for pictures, I wanted to ensure that I was locked and loaded!

For volume, I had three players in the lineup. This Nioxin product is one that my stylist used on me the last time that I went for a haircut. You just squirt it on your roots around the crown and rub in prior to blowdrying. Easy enough! Adding this alone will not help me in the long haul though, so I needed backup. A new product I decided to order was this one from Living Proof. I had heard good things and decided to give it a try. It certainly helped with volume, but I was not the biggest fan of the scent. Luckily, I also had my old reliable from Bumble and Bumble. I first learned of a volumizing powder from my old salon, Blaze, in Iowa City. They had their own that was pure friggin magic! When I moved back to Illinois, I needed to find a good dupe. I first tried this one from Big Sexy Hair and was not in love. It is great for updos or if you are okay with stiff hair, but I wanted one that was more moveable and that allowed me to run my hands through my hair. Bumble and Bumble’s is the perfect in-between.

For smoothness, I decided to try a new shampoo and conditioner line. I have been using Monet for months and love it, but I know that my hair has the most dramatic results when I switch things up. At the suggestion of my Maid of Honor, I decided to give Function of Beauty a try. It is completely customized for your hair needs based off of a quiz that you take. You can also pick your own colors and scents. I went with the peach scent and am OBSESSED. You can also pick the strength of your scent- I just did the medium version for my first try, but will likely get the strong scent next time now that I know I like it. Function of Beauty also offers serums and oils, but I just stuck with two I already had. I love this moisturizing hair cream for a pre-blowdry treatment. This is another product that my salon used on me and I went on to purchase based on the results. This line is highly scented, which I love! For serum, I have used the Moroccan Oil serum for years. I think I was in high school when I started using it. It smells amazing but is super moisturizing for your hair without weighing it down.

Finally, I invested in a new blow drier. I think my past two have been from TJ Maxx and Costco, so it’s not really something that I have shoveled money into. Seeing as how I don’t blow dry that often, it just doesn’t make sense for me. At first, I was super intrigued by the new Dyson blowdryer. Everyone was raving about it and it seemed to be featured in every magazine. Then I saw the price…I don’t know what kind of mystical, magical air that thing is blowing but it is not something I would buy for myself. So, I settled for this Revlon one. I got it at Target and I must have gotten it on sale because it was only $40 when I purchased mine. I figured, what the heck, why not give it a go. I ended up LOVING it! It is basically a two in one and makes for a much faster and easier blow dry. When I was done, I had tons of volume and my hair was at the level of smooth you get from the salon but never seem to be able to recreate at home. I finished it up with this Redken hairspray to tame the crazies (my term for the annoying baby hairs). This is a more moveable hairspray, but is still firm enough for what I need. And I love the smell ( if you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a huge selling point for me)! Another perk to blowdrying is that it lightens your hair (or at least for me). Seeing as how I had not been able to get my hair colored for months, I was concerned about my roots showing in pictures. I am naturally blonde, but more of a strawberry blonde with some platinum. When I throw the blow-dry in the mix, it really helps it all blend together!

SKIN

It has been instilled in me from a young age that taking care of your skin is vital. When I first got engaged, I made an appointment at a MedSpa to learn more about facials and skincare that I should be using to prep for a wedding. I had been using Rodan and Fields (if anyone needs the hookup, I have a consultant who is AMAZING) for the months prior and it is amazing, however, I wanted to try the suggestion of the MedSpa to be able to compare. They got me started on a regimen from ZO Skin Health and I have been absolutely loving it! Both of these systems are a pretty big investment, so I am of the mind that you have to be ready to commit to religiously using it if you are going to splurge. Don’t get me wrong, I have bought many brands from Sephora that I have loved (Kate Somerville, Ole Henricksen, Algenist) and I pretty much always have a jar of Ponds from Target on hand. But, with the wedding coming up and having been a bridesmaid the past few years, I have been more likely to splurge. I really don’t buy makeup that often so I would rather invest in skincare so I don’t feel as though I even need the makeup in the first place.

Now let’s talk about that ever-coveted TAN. Not to brag, but I am basically an expert on fake tanners ("*cue hair flip). I have been using them since college and have looked anywhere from the girl who just got back from Mexico to the girl who I used to make fun of for being orange (karma is a B). For the past 6 years, I have pretty religiously stuck to Loving Tan. It has an olive base, so it really gives you that natural, bronzed look. I mainly use the 2-Hour Express, but also have this one on hand. The deluxe mousse requires more time, so I usually stick to the 2-Hour Express for convenience and so that I can better control the intensity. I have also recently purchased this lotion from Isle of Paradise. It is more convenient than Loving Tan in that you can put it on right after the shower and be good to go, as opposed to having to let Loving Tan sit for several hours and then shower it off. The downside is that this one is harder to control and I find that you are more likely to have patches or dark spots with the Isle of Paradise. That is the main reason I stuck to using Loving Tan for the engagement pictures. Finally, we have our drops. I had originally used these ones from Isle of Paradise, but had dropped and shattered the bottle right when they happened to be sold out. After some research, I opted to try these from St Moriz and I love them! They give the same tan as the Isle of Paradise ones without the weird “tan smell”. The beauty of the drops is that they are added to a moisturizer and you do not have to sacrifice using your skincare. They can be used on the body too but I really only use them for my face. I get pretty tan in the summer, so most of these products I just use to enhance during those months if needed. In the winter, I use them more often to work double-time on my pale skin!

NAILS

Excuse the picture quality, I learned when I got engaged that it is shockingly hard to take a picture of your hand

I am usually pretty good at doing my own nails, I just break them so easily. I have no idea what my deal is, I must be, like, super aggressive with my hands or something bc I break them just cleaning my counters. I do have my own dip kit but I am hit or miss when I use that. A lot of times the dip doesn’t come out even or I get it on my skin. Come time for pictures, I decided to give glue-on nails a try. I know, everyone and their mother tried glue-on nails by age 13. Welp, not me. I am apparently behind on the times because I am almost 28 and a first timer! I did some research and decided to order a few packs of nails from Static Nails. The ones in the picture are these ones, but I also ordered these and these. The beauty of theses bad boys is that if you snap one off, you can just glue it back on! It also gave me the chance to try a new shape. My natural nails get pretty long and I have ALWAYS had square nails. This gave me the chance to try out round, and I really liked them! My first try, I got glue everywhere and it was even on the nail itself. It took a little practice but, once you get the hang of it, these really are convenient and cheaper than going to the salon!

We ended up having perfect weather for engagement pictures and they were a surprisingly good time. We started them at our house in the kitchen and that really helped us to get comfortable and used to the camera. If I have learned anything so far in wedding planning, it is that nothing will ever go perfectly and you really just have to roll with the punches. You can buy every beauty product in the world but it does not mean that your day will go perfectly (you can’t use hairspray to kill Covid, but that would be the most convenient cure ever, just saying). I must say though, the products I bought certainly helped a girl out and still made me feel like I was getting the engagement picture experience everyone else had! We had a blast and now I have an excuse to hang more pictures in my house!