My Summer Makeup Secret

I'm going to let you in on one of the little pleasures in my life, it's one of my little secrets too: I wear full makeup everyday. What I mean by that is I wear moisturizer, cream foundation, concealer, blush, bronzer, eye shadow, mascara, powder, and lipstick. I know, its not always necessary. But I honestly just love the process of putting it on. It relaxes me to feel the brushes on my face and I feel instantly put together when I'm finished. One of the problems of wearing full makeup is the summer time heat. To put it graphically, if you wear full makeup and its 90 degrees outside with 95% humidity, it looks like your face is melting off.

When I ask for advice for wearing makeup in the summer, most people have just recommended that I switch to a tinted moisturizer, but I think I may be addicted to my foundation! 

Recently I found the little secret to keeping it all together/in place: NARS Pro Prime. I started putting a tiny amount on before my foundation about 6 months ago and it has made such a difference. My makeup stays in place while I'm sweating all day long (another tip: always dab your sweat, don't wipe it). The NARS specialist at Sephora told me I could swim it in, too. I haven't tested that out yet, but I can say that this eye makeup primer stays put whilst one is crying... or also swimming. or playing tourist. yeah?

Do you have any summer beauty secrets?

How to wrap a head scarf 1940s style

I have very thick hair and can get away with washing it every three days or so. Because of this, when I'm traveling I'm super lazy about my hair. On day one I'll style it, but after that its ponytail and top knot city for me. If I don't have room to pack a hat, I like to bring a silk scarf. The scarf becomes a great multi-functional accessory. I use it to decorate my handbag, as a belt, and to cover my hair in the place of a hat.

I love the look of the women in the 1940s so I was very happy to figure out how they used to tie scarfs around their head. Rosie the Riveter comes to mind, yes? The women working in factories like Rosie had to tie their hair back so it didn't get damaged or cause an accident in the machinery. With only two bobby pins to secure the scarf on the head it stays in place surprisingly well. I never feel like it is going to fall off, even in a gust of wind. I can see how useful this style was for those hard working ladies (and its much more glamorous than a hair net!). I don't like copying the past exactly and style my by tucking the ends under and leaving my hair straight and parted to the side. I like to show my ears and front of my hair, I think it makes it look more contemporary.

Whenever I wear my hair like this I get two types of comments. From women, "You look like the lady from the 'We can do it!' poster. How did you tie the scarf?" Then they move in closer for a better look. Men will say, "You look like one of those 1940s pin-ups." If I'm with Gman they look at him while they are talking. Of course both comments goes straight to my head. Who doesn't want to feel like a woman, in either case, who conjures up beauty and strength?

After many requests on how to tie the scarf, here is a step by step guide. If you are thinking, "Jamie, come on, I can't pull that off." You can! Try wearing it with something you would anyways: a gray t-shirt, jeans, and ballet flats.

What you'll need:
hair tie
standard size silk scarf (36" x 36")
two bobby pins

1. Pull your hair back with the hair tie in a loose knot at the back of your head. The placement of your hair will determine where the bulge of the scarf is at completion. If the knot is too tight or high the scarf will look uncomfortable on.

2. Fold the scarf into a triangle. Put the long side of the triangle against the nape of your neck so that you can bring the long sides up together at the top of your head.

3. Tie the long sides together once at the top of your head.

4. Bring the third side of the triangle up over your hair to meet the other two at the top.

5. Pull the long sides tight so that it securely wraps around the bottom of your head and hair. If it isn't tight enough your hair will fall out of the back. Then tie them together a second time with the short side of the triangle pulled through the center of the knot.

6 and 7. Secure the sides of the scarf to your head with one bobby pin on each side.

8. Tuck the third side of the triangle (the one that came up from the back) underneath the knot.

9. Remove the bobby pin on one side, tuck the tied end of the fabric underneath the scarf and re-pin. Repeat on the other side.

10. Volia! You're done! Once you do this a few times you can do it blindly without a mirror, like I did for you here. :)

On Lipstick and Beauty

If you know me even a little bit, you know that I have a thing for lipstick. I wear it every day, usually applying it as soon as I finish my morning coffee, even if I have no intention of leaving the house. I always have at least 20 shades in my makeup drawer and carry 3 or 4 shades in my purse at all times.

Back when I was in college, I lived with 12 girls. If I was having a bad day it was clear to all, as I would prance around the house with my tallest heels and bright red lipstick. Wearing heels and lipstick just made me feel put together and infinitely more beautiful, successful, and feminine. I would immediately feel better enough to push through the frustration, stress, or pain I was experiencing. If I got upset, my roommates would go into my bedroom and retrieve my lipstick. It was their way of saying, “you’re right, we support you.”

I would wear red lipstick to my classes, to work, to play. I found that changing lipstick shades was a fun and easy way to change my look, and follow trends of the seasons without investing a lot into clothes and shoes (having the reality of that college shoe-string budget).

A few years ago Gman and I had just moved in together when he had to go overseas for work for over two months. We barely spoke while he was away and I missed him terribly. The day he was returning from his trip, I made an appointment at my hair salon to get a blowout and to get my makeup done. I wanted to surprise him at the door, lookin’ pretty.

While I was getting my makeup done, the man doing it asked me which shade of lipstick I usually wear. I said, “something bright, usually an orange-red.” To which he replied, in a very concerned and condescending tone, “Oh honey, you should never wear red lipstick. Your lips aren’t symmetrical and are too thin. You don’t want to bring attention to it now do you?” He then proceeded to give me tips on how to make my lips look fuller and how to even them out with a nude pencil (I felt like a clown).

I was so blindsided that I didn’t know how to respond. I just sat there. I wanted to smack him and walk out. I never thought something was wrong with my lips. Out of all the things I might nit-pick about myself, I never thought about my face like that. I mean, you can’t really change your face (well, without surgery) and I was completely OK with the lips God gave me. I never considered them “too” anything; I never really thought about them. I was just like, “oh, there are my lips.” My sense of beauty came from how I felt. It wasn’t about the lipstick or my lips; it was about how the lipstick made me feel radiant and confident.

I said nothing else during my appointment and left without tipping that man. As soon as I got home I washed the makeup and shame off my face. When Gman got home I greeted him bare skinned and he was just happy to be home. He kissed my mouth without noticing or caring if my lips weren’t perfectly symmetrical.

It can be difficult to maintain a sense of self-love in a culture with a critical eye. It can be hard not to take the advise of or seek the approval of experts or strangers when faced with wanting to be included, liked, and feel beautiful.

If I’ve learned anything from travel, it’s that standards of beauty are fleeting. What is considered beautiful in one place is considered vulgar in another. At the end of the day, when we are alone faced with ourselves in the mirror, we are the only ones who have the power to choose to find beauty and love in our own reflection.

Tips to Travel By: My favorite travel blow dryer

When I'm traveling I like to bring my stand-by beauty products but experiment with local stuff. I like to see what beauty is like in that new place and try out a few things for myself. I'm a light packer, too, and until recently did not pack any hair products, flat irons, blow dryers or more than one brush. I would just use the blow dryer and products in the hotel room or at my friend's house. Then I saw this blow dryer, the BaByliss travel dryer, and I had to have it. It is freakin' adorable and basically fits in the palm of your hand. I couldn't resist as I love little things (like baby animals and miniature objects that Barbie might put in her house). Despite its small size, it has the power of a normal sized dryer and dries my hair in the same amount of time. I easily stow it in my make up bag. Seriously. 

Style Outtakes from The Magazine

I had a lot of fun shooting my first editorial for High Heeled Traveler, The Magazine. The inaugural issue explores the concept of "home" and I wanted to talk about home in the context of travel. Besides referring to my hotel room as "home" while I'm away, that last leg of the voyage - when you get off the plane but you still have to drive to your house or hop in a taxi - is the most exhausting and always seems to last forever. As soon as I walk in the door I throw down my bags and take off all my makeup. Then I strip down, shower (to get the stale plane feeling off), then put my pajamas on. Gman unpacks his bags immediately then starts the laundry. Another one of my friends does her laundry while on vacation and when she get's home she unpacks clean clothes that are already folded and ready to be put away.

Here are some outtakes from the story in the mag, a little peek inside just for you. What do you do when you get home after a long day of travel?

Purchase a copy of High Heeled Traveler, The Magazine here to see the full story.

and last but not least...

Winter in Ohio

Afternoon sunshine in January in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mother's Day

Lotion, scarf, chocolate covered nuts, earrings, flats, perfume

So... Mother's Day is on Sunday. Did it sneak up on you like it did for me? I don't know about you, but my mom spends all her time and money taking care of everyone else but feels guilty buying decent hand lotion for herself. I always like to give my mom something indulgent, something she wouldn't buy herself (and usually I give it to her about two months late, just to keep her on her toes...).

Besides flowers, wine, and fancy coffee, here are my last minute gift ideas to help celebrate the one you brought you into this world. I'm sure she wouldn't mind a nice framed picture of you two either. My dad and sister are taking my mom for a beach picnic. I wish I could be there to join them!

Also, my all-time favorite Mother's Day video ever and some snarky cards.

Discovering Art and Art History: Lulie Wallace

Lulie Wallace, Flowers For Amandah, 18 x 18 inches, acrylic on wood

Lulie Wallace, Flowers For Anna Gray, 16 x 20 inches, acrylic on wood

Lulie Wallace, Flowers For Bailey, 24 x 24 inches, acrylic on wood

I first saw Lulie Wallace's work through my frequent trolling over on Pinterest. Then it caught my eye again on over Oh Joy! here. I am drawn in by the colors and I love the graphic, flattened shapes of the still lifes. At first you don't realize what you are looking at, it seems abstract, only shapes on a canvas. Then you see the outlines of each shape, snaking around the picture. The objects are deconstructed to their basic forms, then loosely stitched back together. Wallace takes something familiar, makes it foreign, then makes it familiar again.

It reminds me of when I go somewhere new and I don't know my way around. There are familiar things like grocery stores, restaurants, cars, buildings, people, but I don't know the cadence of the streets or the strategy for talking to the butcher or the shop keeper. But as I spend time in that place, as I walk down the same paths, I learn the lingo, I remember the habits of the locals. I start to notice how the neighbor's cat sits on the window sill every morning and the mailman comes at 12:35pm. I know how to ask for coffee at the cafe or buy shoes at the store. As I learn my way around each curve of the street my steps are familiar and fresh at the same time.

Besides my clear obsession with her aesthetic, Wallace's work is also appealing to this young collector - a lot of her pieces are currently priced below $500! I better scoop one up before you do...

Tips to Travel By

In addition to introducing you to art and art history every other Tuesday, I will alternate Wardrobe Wednesday with tips, advice, and products that will enhance your travel experience. I've done this ad hoc in the past - here, here, here, and here for example - but want to make it more formal and regular. As with my other series, your feedback is always valuable and I hope you find this useful!

So let's jump right in, shall we?

I am really into beauty products. I love trying new lotions, makeup, and hair serums. I also like to treat myself to manicures and pedicures. However, Gman and I have always lived in tiny spaces, so I don't have room to keep variety of products in the bathroom. I buy one thing at a time and it usually has to serve duel purposes. Traveling can present similar space issues. As I'm packing for a trip I usually realize when I'm almost done that I will have to sacrifice shoe space for jacket space or makeup space for book space.

At home and on the road one of my favorite beauty products is baby oil. That's right, good ol' fashioned baby oil. I even buy generic drug store brands. Baby oil is the multi-tasker's dream come true. I use it to shave {no ingrown hairs!}, as a moisturizer {at the end of your shower, before turning the water off, rub onto skin, afterwords lightly pat dry with towel}*, for a makeup remover {even takes off waterproof mascara!}, as a cuticle softener, and for an emergency conditioner {it can be heavy so mix with water}. The best part is a 20-oz bottle costs less than $4 and lasts for months!

You can purchase baby oil in a 3 oz size travel container too, so one little bottle takes the place of multiple products and go in your carry on. Now when I'm packing, I don't have to choose between shoes or makeup!


*Don't use the baby oil at the end of the shower if your partner is coming in after you. They really don't like when they jump in unsuspecting, then slip on the residual oil, fly through the air and land on their backs in the middle of the bathroom. I've had reports of this from many an angry man after I've advised his lady on this method...