BellaSugar

Beauty Blooper: Oil and Water Don't Mix

BellaSugar — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:00:20 -0700

A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed a relaxing essential-oil head massage. "You should really keep the oils on your hair for at least an hour," my esthetician said. Fortunately, I had worn a vintage scarf that day, and so I MacGyvered a do-rag out of it for the bus ride home. Yeah, I looked like Baba Yaga, but that's the price you pay for beauty.

Back home, when it was time to shower, I had a bout of craziness. "Wouldn't it be great," I thought, "if rinsing the oils out and not shampooing turns out to be really beautiful and healthy for your hair?" I won't lie; I had goals of making some huge hair discovery and sharing it with all of you. So I rinsed my hair thoroughly, then hit the blow-dryer. Success! My hair was shiny, smooth, and lovely.

I left for Sugar HQ the next day happily, showing the world my Breck-girl hair. All was well until mid-afternoon, when I finally looked in the mirror. Horrifyingly, the bouncy hair of the morning had mutated into a greasy, slick mess. You know the creepy girl in The Ring? Yeah, like that. And as the day went on, I worried that OPEC was going to lay claim to my scalp. I think it's safe to say that things didn't go as planned.

Lesson learned: As it turns out, shampoo exists for a reason.

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Beauty Blooper: What a Bugger

BellaSugar — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:00:34 -0700

This is one for the books. The other day I was walking home from a Starbucks run when I felt something cold and wet fly into my eye - correction, onto my eye. I was multitasking (talking on the phone and drinking) when a tiny little bug landed on my blue Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner that I just opened that very morning.

I hung up the phone, put down the coffee and peeled the fly from my eye, killing the fragile insect at the same time - gross.

Lesson Learned: Gel eye liners, cream shadows, and sticky lip glosses are traps for bugs. For anyone going camping this Summer, I suggest leaving these beauty products at home where they belong.

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Beauty Blooper: Faux Dandruff Disaster

BellaSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:00:18 -0700

Last night, some of the Sugar girls and I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was a low-key affair, so I threw on a simple black sweater but decided to be a little more creative with my hair. I was experimenting with an updo with one of my new favorite products, Shu Uemura's Shape Paste, a fantastic sculpting paste that creates a workable hold. But as I found out that day, a little goes a long way. After several applications my hair looked wet, as if I had just stepped out of the shower.

I didn't have time to wash the product out, but luckily I remembered that I had some hair powder from Bumble and Bumble that would reverse the damage I had done. Since the powder I have is tinted white, I decided to spray a minimal amount and wear my hair down. When I left the house I thought my hair looked great. Unfortunately, I was at dinner when I noticed the white powder had crystallized and fallen on my shoulders, creating the illusion of bad dandruff. Not very appetizing.

Lesson learned: Next time I try out a new hairstyle, I'm going to make sure that I have enough prep time to accommodate for any disasters. Ideally it would be best to work out the kinks the night before.

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Beauty Blooper: Caught Going Commando at the Spa

BellaSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:00:03 -0700

A girlfriend of mine just got back from a Southern destination wedding where she booked an afternoon massage before the event. She arrived early to the spa to take full advantage of the steam room and sauna. She was also pleased to see that the girls-only quiet room had a nice, big jacuzzi.

Seeing as she still had some time to kill before her treatment, she jumped right into the warm water without thinking twice. She sat there, enjoying this bliss, until panic set in. Just a few minutes ago she was alone, and suddenly the room was filling with the bridal party and mother of the bride who were there for pre-wedding beauty appointments. No big deal - except for the fact that my friend was in the hot tub completely naked.

She began to worry how she was going to get out of the hot tub since her towel was far away on a chaise. It was one thing for a stranger to see her naked, but for the bridesmaids and mother of the bride? Even worse, the women that were getting ready to join her had come wearing bathing suits. It never occurred to my friend to wear a bathing suit to a spa before! She wound up asking someone for a towel and then slithering out, covering herself in the process - all the while feeling embarrassed that she had been caught commando.

Lesson learned: Only go naked to a spa or gym if you can handle being seen by others. Also, this story makes me wonder: Do you wear bathing suits to steam rooms, saunas and hot tubs at spas?

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Beauty Blooper: An Unpleasant Plumping Experience

BellaSugar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:00:55 -0700

It's been some time since we've had a Beauty Blooper, but reader missy k is getting us back into the swing of things with a mishap from this past weekend. I'll let her explain:

"On Friday I had a lunchtime meeting in this trendy bar called Cocoon. I was a bit early so I decided to have a browse around the shops. To my delight, I happened upon some of my favorite DuWop Lip Venom. I grabbed the sample and liberally smeared it on, feeling the familiar tingle. Blimey this stuff really does sting, but I just love how it makes my lips feel like they’ve been Angelina’d!

"So I arrived at my meeting, feeling all bee-stung. Everything was going swimmingly until I suffered a sudden sneezing fit. Hoping I wasn’t allergic to watermelon martini, I rather unglamorously blew my nose on a napkin. In the process, I managed to smear Venom all over my chin. I quickly wiped it off but a couple of minutes later began to feel a worrisome heat creep over the area. I excused myself to the little girl’s room and to my horror, I found that my chin was covered in raised red welts! Luckily the people I was meeting with saw the funny side but still, it was pretty embarrassing. I will be more careful with Venom next time! Maybe it should carry some kind of warning!"

Lesson Learned: I wouldn't usually think to test out a lip balm or gloss on the inside of my wrist, but it sounds like that might be a good idea if the product has any wacky ingredients in it.

To submit a beauty blooper of your own, become a TeamSugar member and then send me a private message. (If you want, your story can be anonymous.)

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Beauty Blooper: Yellow Nails Left Me Feeling Anything But Mellow

BellaSugar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:00:47 -0700

A few years ago I was en route to my new boyfriend's house for a dinner date when I noticed that my red nail polish was beginning to chip. I knew that it would soon become an unsightly disaster, so I decided to avoid any future embarrassment by purchasing some nail polish remover before my arrival. I'm not sure why I had to be so dramatic about the whole thing, but I stopped in to use the bathroom at a restaurant around the corner to clean things up.

Unfortunately, what I uncovered was far worse than chipped nails. A week earlier, I had been on a tropical vacation, and apparently the mixture of sun, SPF and polish had turned my nail beds an unnatural shade of yellow. My nails were the jaundiced shade of a longtime smoker's teeth, and all night long I did my best to keep them hidden. It took about a month for the color to return to normal, so I only wish that I had done something to prevent this whole mess when I was on vacation.

Lesson learned: Be sure to use a good base coat when wearing red nail polish, and always protect your nails when you are going to have excessive exposure in the sun. Try a product like Orly Sunscreen For Nails which is a topcoat that contains SPF, or if it's too late and you need to reverse the damage, Yello-Out Clear Acrylic Top Coat ($7) should do the trick.

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Beauty Blooper: Lions and Tigers and Hair, Oh My!

BellaSugar — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:00:29 -0800

I thought that gray and yellow were supposed to be the new fab colors for Spring, not the colors of my hair! I turned prematurely gray at the age of 20, so I've been dying my hair ever since. A few years back, I couldn't afford the maintenance, so I bought a bottle of brown hair dye and colored it myself. Overall it looked great ... until I noticed that I missed a few spots of gray right in the front.

Instead of simply adding more brown, what did I do? I took a blond highlighting kit that I've had for years and blended the blond with the gray. What was I thinking? I ended up creating ridiculous white stripes in my hair.

I completely panicked and ran over to a salon. I walked in crying, and when I found out what the cost would be to fix it, I cried even harder. The hairdresser felt bad for me, so she promised to come to my house later and fix my hair with more drugstore products for a lower fee. Accepting her offer was mistake number two. To find out why, read more.

She arrived, mixed a couple of colors and went to work. An hour later, when I faced the mirror, all I saw was orange where the blond had been - I looked like a tiger!

She was nice enough not to accept the money I offered her, but my hair was so fragile at this point that any additional chemicals would surely damage it further-or worse, cause it to fall out. After a few weeks, it finally faded a little bit, but I had lionesque hair for close to a year.

Lesson learned: I've said it once and I'll say it again. When in doubt, have a licensed professional chemically treat your hair. DIY jobs are deceptive because their low price may seem enticing, but if you don't know what you are doing, the repairs could wind up costing you a whole lot more than you bargained for!

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Beauty Blooper: A Brash Lash Decision

BellaSugar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:01:48 -0800

A reader shared this beauty blooper with me, and I just had to pass it along. So in case you're thinking of getting eyelash extensions, read this first!

My now-husband and I decided to elope. I still wanted to get all gussied up for the event, so I decided to treat myself to eyelash extensions. I was excited about them because I thought they would look really natural and fabulous in all of our wedding and honeymoon photographs. I took my time and did extensive research on spas and salons, and decided on a new salon in my area that offered the treatment.

What happened was a complete disaster! I ended up with lashes that were all the same length. I call them doll lashes since they happened to also be ridiculously long. In a feeble attempt to improve the look of my lashes, I cut them with manicure scissors. It helped a little bit (or so I thought), but when I took an objective look at them in the mirror the next day, I realized they were still too long, and now they were also uneven.

I did the unthinkable and began to pry them off with tweezers. When that didn't work, I tried using an oil to remove the glue, but the salon had used so much adhesive that I wound up pulling out many of my own lashes as well. The burning and the pain was intense but once I started I couldn't dare stop! For the next two months, I had to live with sparse eyelashes until they began to regrow. Why did I allow this to happen right before my wedding?

Lesson learned: Ask to see photos of a salon or spa's work before you have a semi-permanent treatment done. If it doesn't go well, have your eyelash extensions removed by a professional. Furthermore, if you are ever feeling pain from a beauty treatment, please seek out immediate care from a physician or an expert.

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Beauty Blooper: Eye've Really Done It This Time

BellaSugar — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:00:32 -0800

I can't believe what happened to me last week when I was innocently getting all gussied up for a big night out on the town. As a finishing touch to my fabulous mod makeup look, I decided to make my first attempt at applying false eyelashes. I read the instructions that came with my cute mini falsies kit, applied the glue and then began to attach the fake lashes with the help of a tweezer.

I was prepared to fumble my first time around, but boy, I completely dropped the ball. I put on way too much glue and the lashes wouldn't stick. As I was trying to press one end to my lid, the other end fell right into my eye. Not only did glue get inside, but the falsies were prickly and my eye began to water. I was blinking profusely yet still trying to keep my makeup intact, but when I looked up, my perfect black liner was badly smudged. So much for mod-I'd gone goth.

My eyes eventually stopped stinging and I did my best to re-apply the lashes, but I wish someone had told me to try them on a bare face first! I'll never make that mistake again. Do you have any beauty bloopers of your own to share with me? If so, become a TeamSugar member by registering here and then send me a private message.

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Beauty Blooper: What's Behind the Mask

BellaSugar — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:00:58 -0800

Usually, Beauty Bloopers involve anonymous tales from readers. This one, though, is all Bella. This weekend, I had a hot date with Mr. Bella, or at least a lukewarm one. (How scorching can Scrabble be, you know?) So I took a shower, dried off, and thought, "Oh, I have an hour left before we meet up. I think I will use this new Astara mask!"

So I put on the mask (a full review will follow, of course) and felt it stinging a little bit. No pain, no gain, I figured. Plus, some of the best masks are gonna do that... they'll eat away the dead skin. After 10 minutes, I washed off the mask. As I was rinsing, I could feel how smooth and soft my skin was. Hooray! I patted my skin dry, looked into the mirror, and shrieked.

Have you seen any horror films lately? I haven't, but after looking in the mirror, I won't need to for a few years. My face was as red as a tomato. Or a lobster. You get the idea. It was not exactly the luminous, foxy-lady look I was going for. Can you work "red-faced" into Scrabble?

Lesson learned: Use a facial mask when you're relaxing, not before an event. And if you're trying a product for the first time, go with a patch test first.

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