Five Services That Have Changed My Life
Tina, here.
You know when you go on a trip, even just a quick business trip or weekend get-away, and the women you notice on the street or in the restaurants are coiffed just so and look so stylish it makes you question your life choices? Yeah, me too. I consistently pick up new life goals and dreams when I travel like go to the hair salon for highlights more than twice a year, and consider teeth whitening and wear your good jewelry more often. Well, it's time for you, too, to start thinking about how to take some measures towards self-care. Here are my favorite services that have changed my life.
Five. Spray tans. I am sun-phobic and have been since my late 20's, thank the Lord in heaven above. I'm religious about wearing sunscreen everyday, even on rainy days. I coat not only my face, but my chest and hands, too. But I love a little color in the summer. So I get spray tans. I just go to Sun Tan City, nothing fancy. About $25, maybe less with a coupon. I go about every other week in the summer. (I've also heard that tan skin makes you look thinner. I am only sharing that because I thought you would want me to, but I think we are all fine just the beautiful way we are.)
This is white me in winter. Which is fine. But I look a lil dead in summer without some color. Plus I want to create the illusion that I go to the beach more often than I do.
Here I am with just a touch of color, just a little is all I need. But it’s totally fake and I’m fine with it. Safest way to tan is a spray tan or lotion.
Four. Pedicures. Ok, truth be told. I go primarily for the free back massage in the chair. It's multi-tasking at its finest. Especially when I am joined by a friend and get a proper catch-up. If I'm solo, I get some great Pinning done. It's really important to take care of your back, I mean feet. The massage, I mean filing and buffing is really important for healthy feet. And doing something nice for yourself, especially when you can get 3 nice things done in one sitting, feels so good, doesn't it? I add extra massage because, let's be honest, I have only had a real back massage 3 times in my life. It just takes so much time! And then you're ruined for the rest of the day. So for $5 more I can get a little back massage in at the pedicure place if they have those good chairs.
Bring a pair of flip-flops with you, or keep some in the car, so you don't ruin your new toes!
These are my summer toe colors: Tarte Deco and Guilty Pleasures, both by Essie.
Three. Brow waxes. Surely you know that the quickest way to get a facelift is to get your brows waxed, right? And it's SO MUCH CHEAPER. For around $15 you can get it done.
I don't know who that is, but she sure needed a brow wax and a good shaping. Make sure you don't go too thin on the tweezing or waxing. I asked for a slight arch, which is created by removing just the right amount of growth under the natural arch of your brow. Not too much, not too little. Then I needed some filling in around the inner corners, which is where a pencil comes in. If you use a brow pencil, don't go too dark. And definitely don't draw in your brows. You're just filling in, not drawing. Think sketching, not painting.
Two. Hair color and highlighting. This one is huge, and we're going to spend some time talking about it. Ladies, is your hair too dark? Too cool? As we age we lose pigment in our face and the contrast between our skin tone and our hair color can be too stark unless you get some highlights around your face, especially warm ones. So if you're a dark, cool brunette, think about going a tad lighter all over. Add some very subtle highlights in one shade lighter just around the face to brighten you up a bit. If you're a warm brunette, maybe ask for some caramel lowlights and a few warm caramel highlights around your face. If you've been a platinum blonde you may want to think about adding in some creamy lowlights. This picture helped me immensely when recently evaluating my color.
So this is me whenI had gotten real caramel-y and too dark last fall. My new fave beauty friend, Sam Glamm, took me back to the warm neutral blonde I've had in my mind but could never explain. Inside May's Style Vault, I share a video all about hair and Sam answers our questions about the most common pitfalls we make with color, what the deal is with extensions (they're not just for adding length), and what the best path forward is when correcting your color.
Here's a back view of my color, showing all the dimension of shades so it doesn't look like a stagnant curtain hanging there. It's what also creates a more natural look, to have that dimension of color. Only pros can really achieve this natural look for you.
Sam Glamm splits her time between clients in LA, Detroit and Nashville. She has generously offered to accept new clients in Nashville, only for Style Vault members as a special perk for you Insiders. Plus that's all she can handle! All the deets for how to get on her schedule are in the May Vault. You can watch my sitdown video with her, too.
One. Blowouts. When I figure how much time I save by having my hair washed and blown out every week, it's almost incredulous. It means I can pay someone $35 for one hour out of my week while I get back, count them, 4.5 hours. That's 4+ hours for a normal person who may take 30 minutes washing and styling their hair every morning, and then styling it again twice during the week at night. My problem was that I spent zero time on my hair. And it looked like it. Here's the deal. I wore my hair the EXACT same way for THIRTY years. In a barrette. Until last year when I had my first of 5 surgeries and couldn't wash my hair or even move my arms for weeks at a time. I was introduced to Deidre at the Blowout Co of Nashville. She washed my hair and styled it and I could stretch it for a whole week until I found a friend who could take me back. You may know the story, it's how the Pink Chapter began. Here's the difference this has made in my life.
We call it reverse aging. I could never wear my hair down before because it was such a hassle to style it. Now it gets styled once a week and I'm good to go for days on end.
That's Deidre, ya know, my cool hip sidekick bestie who is a really smart businesswoman and has a heart of gold. But her largest contribution to me is Better Hair. This was right after one of my surgeries. I can tell by what I'm wearing. And I'm going to confess. Yoga pants. But you know what a good excuse for getting caught wearing yoga pants is? Recovering from surgery.
Will you please take a moment to evaluate your life and if you're used to spending time on your toes, hair, tan and brows, please tell me that you have other people raising your kids, cooking for you and generally running your life. Because frankly I have a hard time even squeezing in flossing every night, much less these self-care services. But ladies, maintenance is important. We are allowed to have some fun and feel pretty. Just pick one and do it. You're still a low-maintenance girl in my book.
Don't forget to check out the May Style Vault for all your go-to looks this month. I've rounded up over $1,000 in savings this month for you, dolls! Want to learn more about the Vault? Click here. Want to join in on the fun and shopping?
Thanks for reading and have a good day being your gorgeous self even in you never tend to any of these self-care services. You're fine just the way you are.
xo,
Tina
