Rustic Beauty

Gettin Curly- Remington curler review

Have you ever been getting ready in a house without AC and little children running around craving attention and all of you need to be ready to head out the door within the hour? Is the diaper bag packed? Are the children dressed! Wait....have you had a bath recently? Is lunch in the crockpot? It will be 3pm before we return home. Breakfast has been made, check. Have I showered....yes yes that at least is done. Where is my Sunday school material? Read my bible, check. Now I better spruce up this mug before we greet the world:) Do we have electricity? Yes! Party dance! Ok, ironing done if necessary. Now...hair. It's 75-85 degrees in my house, do I want to stand under a blow dryer and hot iron for 15 minutes? Then I'll be so sweaty I pull it all up in a clip anyway! But,I'm would like to look nice. My quickly solution- hot rollers. 

I know they aren't the most popular hair beautifying device but I admit I'm a big fan. I always grew up with them in my house. My mom probably still has the big white case of hot rollers. I used them all the time in high school. Well, for some reason after I left for college and got married I just never bought my own. You know how it is sometimes, we tend to put off spending loads of money on frivolities when we are on a tight budget and then I just forgot about them.
I got it into my head a couple years back that they were just what I needed to speed up my primping time overseas. I didn't want anything big and clunky because shipping is outlandish! So on Amazon I found these:
Remington ceramic compact curlers,12.95. You can see how compact they are in comparison to this 1oz tube of neosporin. Super easy and light to ship. They were a great Christmas gift I received. It is only a 10 piece model but I don't have thick hair so that works just great for me. If you have a full mane this may not do the job...But for me they have been great. I add my overseas adapter and plug it in. Go do one of the hundred chores that need to be done before leaving and come back 5-10 minutes later and they are ready for me. I take 3-4 minutes putting them in and again I'm able to multi-task. 5 minutes later and the job is done. 
I love how it looks and it lasts all day! Another pro compared to traditional ironing. Now a note for those who are ready to rush out and buy curlers. You may need a little practice to break in the style you want. I have farely kinky hair so I only need about 5 minutes or its serious Shirley Temple. So beware curly heads! If you are more of the straight haired type you may need longer. I suggest using larger curlers on top for more voluminous curls and smaller ones on the bottom for the thicker longer parter of your hair. Give it a spray and you have an all day look. If you've never given it a try and you are short on time as I am numerous times give it a go! I think you'll be happy with the results.






Clinique Brush On Cream Eyeliner review
Have you ever taken the time to put on all your make-up? Get everything looking just right. Only to realize 2-3 hours later you could barely tell you had applied any eyeliner at all! Grrrr... Us busy ladies don't have time to be reapplying make-up all day long! Why would we take the precious time we do have to apply something that wears off so quickly?!
Before I found this fantastic product the time expectancy of my applied eyeliner was a few hours at best! It often wore off in less time if I spent any time out in traffic on the back of my husbands motorcycle or driving my little blue scooter. We who live in hardy environments need hardy products to keep up with us! 
Not only do I have to deal with environmental influences but from the day I started wearing make-up I have had the tendency to rub my eyes:( I remember my junior high days when I tried to sneak wearing make-up before my parents allowed me to. Well.....I'll tell you I was a pretty sad sneak! I came home from school looking like a raccoon from rubbing my eyes. It didn't take a detective to figure out my discretion. That put an end to that! I was back to clear mascara for a few more years. Also, for many months during the year I am plagued with allergies. Due to all of these contributing factors I was VERY excited to find this product a few years back!
I did an all day progression of pictures for you to see the greatness of this product!




While not the greatest view of me, I think you can see how well this product works!
I give it an A+ for third world living. It is a small container but last at least 6 mo. You can learn to apply it as thin or as thick as you like. 
You can find it on their website here.

Spray Gel Product Review
Before moving overseas I only scrunched my hair every blue moon. After moving here where 6 mo of the year we have electricity only 2-4 hours a day of waking hours and the rest it is still off a few hours everyday I realized we need some "rustic beauty" hair options. I was most likely not going to use those precious moments of electricity blow drying and ironing my hair. It is more likely you'll find me baking, turning on the washing machine and running like crazy to get it all done before it is switched off for another 8 hours of pioneer living. 

But I digress....back to hair. Before my daughter was born I could generally just brush my hair dry and it looked half way descent but post baby it was much more unruly!The beauty products here are pretty limited and I couldn't seem to find a gel that worked as well as what I had once used in the states. Garnier Fructis spray gel.
So when we visited the states a few months back I decided to stock up on my "go to" spray. I find it to be a great choice for my third world lifestyle. It holds curl well and is evenly distributed due to the spray nozzle. No stinky hands from gel or mouse! I can spritz and scrunch and I'm ready to go. That's a beauty routine that's fitting for our somewhat non-electricity life!

Here is me and my curly headed beauty. Her's are much more natural! So if your interested in a spray gel to use overseas for those "rustic" days with not many conveniences this is my recommendation. Feel free fellow ex-pat ladies to share what products you've found helpful to spruce up in lands of limited resources.


Make-Up recommendations for third world living.
After living overseas in a rugged environment for a short time I came to the conclusion that liquid foundation was not for me. In an environment where you either walked or ride a motorcycle the liquid foundation ranked quiet a few cons on my list.

1. It was cakey and heavy.

2. It seemed more prone to stick to pollution in the air. As many ex-pats may testify the living conditions in 3rd world countries are generally not the cleanest. It is a daily challenge to keep our flip-flopped feet somewhat clean and the dust out of our hair and teeth during the dusty season. I decided I didn't need to add to that challenge grit stuck to my face due to sticky foundation.

3. It limits your ability to do touch-ups. If you decide on those few occasions to touch-up
your make-up for a night time viewing of yourself I find Liquid foundation requires
more time and effort. I don't know about you but extra time and effort is not
things I can afford to waste!

What is my solution? I came acrossed Mary Kay Mineral Foundation a few years back. It has been the answer to all these problems. You hardly feel like you are wearing make-up at all! There is no heavy sticky feeling and touch ups are a breeze! There are many companies out there selling this product but Mary Kay is the only one I've had personal experience with and it wins my vote!


http://www.marykay.com/en-US/Mary-Kay-Mineral-Powder-Foundation/Ivory-0.5/111210.partId

2 comments:

  1. I hear ya girlfriend, and I understand your pain!! I came across the same exact thing and it has been the only thing I have used the past 3 years!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for enjoying the third world journey with me. I always enjoy kind and uplifting comments!