It's National Love Your Red Hair Day!!!

Hi Everybody!
It's national Love Your Red Hair Day!!!  Until last month, I didn't even know that was a thing.

Because it is National Love Your Red Hair day, I thought that I would break from usual posts about crafts, household hints and food and focus on some red head things for a moment.

I have naturally red hair, but I hate my color of red.  I refer to it as dishwater red because I think it is so boring, so I color my hair but I almost always try to stay with a shade of red.

Here is a shot of my hair almost under control.  This shade of red is just one shade darker than my natural red.

Here is my crazy Irish wave if I just let my hair dry naturally without straightening it.  This is also the color red I tend to love the most,

As I am part of a hair minority - I love that quote from Elle Woods in Legally Blonde - I thought that I would share with you some of my red head wisdom and some redhead facts that I have gathered for the day.

One of the most famous redheads there is.  This is Lucille Ball during her Hollywood years.  Talk about glamorous.

A Song for Redheads

Its always good to start with a song.

This song is hysterical  and whenever I meet a fellow redhead, I have them listen to it.  It is by Tim Minchin and is called Prejudice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw

Rita Hayworth as Gilda.  Proof that redheads can be femme fatals and that not just blondes have more fun.

Make-up for Redheads

Any redhead can tell you that makeup can be very hard to find if you are a blessed with fiery locks.  Foundations are too dark, as are many mascaras.  Bronzers can have a tendency  to look muddy on our pale skin and, yes, you can wear red lipstick but it can take a great search to find the right shade for you.

To help my fellow redheads, here are some of the products that I have found and use religiously.  You will notice that none of these are items that you can get in your local drug store.  Makeup is one area where the Frugal Femme spends a little more money.  I have very sensitive skin and eyes and I used to always have swollen glands near my eyelashes because I was having an allergic reaction to my makeup.  I didn't put two and two together until one day when I was complaining about my lower lash line being swollen again and my husband asked me what type of makeup I used.  I told him the cheapest I could find and he exploded.  "This goes on your face! Get the good stuff!"  And off to the mall we went.  He was right though, I have not had an allergic reaction since I have started to use the good stuff.  The trick is, that you only get what you need and you don't allow yourself to have impulse buys like you would with drugstore makeup.  So the products that I am going to tell you about are, pretty much exclusively, the only products that I use next to face powder.

Mascara

Clinique's Chubby Mascara in Black Honey

This item is exclusively at Sephora.  I have found it nowhere else.  Not even at Clinique at the mall.

This mascara could have been invented for redheads.  It has just a tint of maroon that looks lovely on redheads with our pale skin.  And it is the most natural color that I have yet been able to find to match my hair.

Bronzer

Tarte's Park Avenue Princess Pink Bronze

Alot of bronzers can look muddy, streaky or just plain weird on the skin of a redhead.  For it to look more natural, we need that tint of pink in our bronzer.  This product gives me color in my face so that I don't have to look pale as death and makes me look healthy rather than like I am misguidedly trying to contour my face.

Eye Shadow

Urban Decay's Naked 3

Honestly, all of Urban Decay's Naked eye shadow collections are good to have, but this one seems to have been made for those of us with titian manes.  I personally love all the browns with the slightly pink tinge.  You would think that you would look like you have an eye infection once you put it on but instead you just look beautiful.

Red Lipstick

MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Dare You

This is the color that I am wearing in the hair photos below.

YES YOU CAN WEAR RED LIPSTICK!!!!  I don't know how many times that I have heard redheads say that they look bad in red lipstick.  WRONG!  You just have to find the right color of red.  What works for some might not work on others.  This is the shade that works for me and, in truth, it is not a true red but is more of a burgundy.  It is the second red that I have found and cannot live without. I found it when I was on a mission to replace my first red lipstick love- Chanel's Fatale- after they discontinued it.  This is one area where you want to go to the makeup counter and try the color on your lips.  The hand test doesn't work, the pink of your lip changes the color of red.  Keep trying until you find the red that is right for you, that is why sample counters exist.


Some days, when I am feeling lazy, I just wear a little face powder, and the above face products, minus the eye shadow, and I am ready to face the day.

Fun Facts About Redheads

*  2%-4%, depending on the which study you look at, of people in the world are redheads.

*  The gene for red hair is a mutant gene and is a recessive gene.  Because of this, redheads are going to become an "endangered species" and, according to National Geographic, by 2060 natural redheads will no longer exist.

*  Redheads are not likely to go grey!  The red color just slowly fades out of the strands leaving the hair blonde or white.

*  Bees are more attracted to redheads.  I haven't found a study on it, but from personal experience I would also say that so are mosquitoes - those little jerks always seem to go for me before anyone else.

*  Red heads have less hair than other hairs colors.  It just tends to be thicker so that it looks like they have as much hair.

*  Marilyn Monroe was a natural red head!   As a Marilyn fan, this fact tickles me.  On the complete opposite of the color spectrum, so is Dita Von Teese.  So, if you are ever thinking about changing your fiery locks, these two color extremes will probably look good on you.

And finally, in honor of the day, I will show you how to do my favorite, easy "out" hair do.  Please excuse the pictures, its just me here today while my husband watches the game so I had to selfie them.

This is one of the rare photos of me without red hair.  I had blue black hair for about three months this year, but I thought it was a good picture of the hairdo, so I had to include it.

Carole's Favorite Up Do 

Instructions

1.  Start with hair hair that has not been freshly washed.  Fresh washed hair tends to be too limp to stay in the hairdo.  If you have freshly washed hair use liberal amounts of either dry shampoo or texturizing spray before your start.

I know, I looks so happy.  And my hair didn't want to look good down because I had been wearing it in a bun for most of the day.  

2.  Using a bristle brush, I like one made with boars hair, put you hair up into a high and tight pony tail.  I mean really high.  Think I Dream of Jeannie high.

You don't have to worry about the wispy hairs in the back, you can fix those with a couple bobby pins when you finalize your hair style.

3.  Spray the tail of the pony tail with dry shampoo or texturizing spray and allow to dry.  Once the dry shampoo/texturizing spray is dry, using the bristle brush, brush the tail forward so that it loops towards your face rather than away from your face.  Then gather the pony tail into your hand and bring it forward over the top of your head so that it makes a loop .

Not the most flattering of photos, I'll admit.

4.  Slide a bobby pin over the ends of the pony tail creating a loop in your hair.

5.  Grab the bottom side of one of the loops and pull around to the back of the pony tail holder and hold in place with a bobby pin.

6.  Go to the other side of the loop and repeat Step 5.  Using a hand held mirror and a wall mirror move the hair until it completes a circular bun.  The hair at this point will almost be shaping itself at this time.

7.  Grab one side of the loop and "fan" your hair to create a Holly Golightly type of look.  Insert bobby pin on the side of the fan holding down some of the hair.

8.  Repeat Step 7 on the other side of the "fan" making certain to secure with a bobby pin.

Almost done!

9.  If the bun has any spaces then just use your fingers to shift the hair over any thin spots.

10.  Spray with hairspray and you are done!  If you want to be fancy, you can put a rhinestone comb or barrette and the base of the center of the bun and then you will really look like Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly.

Use a mirror to smooth out your straggly hairs.

Top view and you can see a thin spot where I need to fan more.

One of the things that I love about this style is that it makes your hair look way longer than it actually is if you have shoulder length hair.

And that is it for this post.  I hope you enjoyed.  I'll be coming back soon with more crafts and recipes soon!

Even Elvis loved red hair!

How to Repair Crumbled Make-Up

Hello everyone!
I am sorry that I did not post for Valentine's Day savings tips like I had promised.  I was experiencing technical difficulties getting into my own blog and only today, after the help of a nice technician, was I able to get into my own blog.
It's a shame too, because I was planning on taking advantage of the fact that Valentine's Day falls on Sunday this year.  Which I thought was the perfect opportunity to have a Valentine's Day brunch.  Complete with gifts and romantic drinks, yum!!!  But, since that didn't happen, I am going to hold those ideas in my book of good, do a little modifying, and post them in time for Mother's Day. And I will wait and give the other Valentine's Day tips for next year because they won't do you any good now since the day is past.
I will be completely honest with you right now...... I do not like Valentine's Day.  As holidays go, it is one of my least favorite.  Do I celebrate it?  Yes. But more because I feel I have to participate than because I want to participate. Some years, I feel more into it than others.  This was not one of those years, so my husband and I decided that we would do a low key Valentine's this year.  The rules were as follows: 


1.  We couldn't spend more than $30 on a Valentine's day present for one another.  (I can do ALOT
     with $30 so I was okay with that sum.)
2.  We would not be going out to eat and contributing to the suffering of some poor wait staff and
     chefs/cooks at a restaurant.
3.  We would not be doing any grand romantic gestures for one another, such as surprising the other
     with reservations to a mini-holiday at a bed and breakfast, etc.
4.  We would spend time together and we would do something we both wanted/enjoyed doing.
5.  It being a Sunday, we would relax as much as possible.

Done.
We actually started our Valentine's the evening before.  We went to go have burgers at a little local 50's diner.  (Not romantic, but wonderful none-the-less because we are both trying to live healthier lifestyles and burgers are no longer on our weekly menu.  In fact, we have cut down on beef in general and fried foods.  So, or us, it was heavenly.) And then we went to the bookstore. I love books!  I hardly ever buy them anymore though.  Oh, I still read as much as ever, but now I have a Kindle, and I read books on my Kindle. They are less expensive this way, and I can purchase them from my home and read them right away so it also provides me with instant gratification.  So now, when I purchase books, they tend to be the super-duper expensive books that have beautiful pictures in them.  (Although in this too I wait and see if I can get them in used but good condition on Amazon.  Sometimes I can save ten's of dollars if I wait long enough--sometimes not.  Some books never go down in price and then I have to decide if it is worth it to me to spend the money. For example, I have been eyeballing a book called 1940's Fashion:  The Definitive Sourcebook for a while now and the lowest that it has gotten is $25.  I will probably put it on my birthday or Christmas list this year and see if I can't get it from a friend or family member.)
I found a book like this in the bookstore called Coco Chanel:  The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon by Megan Hess. SQUEEEEEEE!!!!  An illustrated picture for adults about Coco Chanel.  I swoon.  But it was $25.00--nope, out of my budget.  Fortunately for me, my husband had yet to get my Valentine's day present.  So, voila, I received a Coco Chanel picture book!

 

Isn't it pretty?

Did you notice the black and white Basil?

What did my husband get you may ask?
I used my eBay and Etsy skills and got him a pair of slim fit jeans, (A reward for losing almost 20 pounds.) a French cuff, button down shirt (This was my biggest score as the shirt was new, with tags, from Banana Republic and originally sold for $56 and I got it for less than $8.00.), some solid cologne that smells of pipe tobacco and a leather cuff bracelet. All of this, and I stuck with the $30 budget.
Then for Valentine's Day I made the aforementioned brunch and tonight, when I am done posting this and my husband has finished mowing the lawn,  (My husband has a love affair with our lawn, so it was only fair that it would get some attention for Valentine's day as well.) we are going to spend the evening together eating pizza, yet another food we normally don't allow ourselves, and doing whatever we want as long as we're together.  See?  Romantic.
But, y'all don't come to this post to read about my life, you read to see how to live a luxury lifestyle on a teeny-weeny budget.
So here goes.....
This week, two of my favorite eye shadows fell off the counter top and crumbled into hundreds of pieces.   Grrrr. 

They were practically new and one was part of a set, so I didn't want to throw them away, nor did I want to spend the money to buy new ones when I had so recently purchased these.  What is a girl to do?  Fix it!
I will show you how.

 

Equipment needed:

1 broken powder make-up  (I am showing eye shadow, but this works on any pressed powder make-up.)
1 tiny spatula or spoon (I like the tiny spatulas that come with high end moisturizers.  You can get these at high end skin care counters with their samples. I got mine with a sample of La Mer when I went to Nieman Marcus one day.)
1 small custard bowl or dish
Rubbing Alcohol
Paper towels
A press- in the shape of the make up you are pressing (In my case, I used a quarter and a match book with the bottom wrapped in aluminum foil

The Process:

1.  Using the tiny spatula, scoop out all of the eye shadow in the compartment into the custard bowl.  (I know this seems counter-intuitive, to completely destroy the eye shadow, but you need to turn all of the shadow back into loose powder form in order to repair it.)

2.  Crush the powder with the spatula until it looks like loose powder.

3.  Very carefully add the rubbing alcohol and stir with the spatula. The amount of rubbing alcohol that you add will depend on the size and amount of the make-up that you are repairing, so go slowly, adding a little at a time until the powder has become the consistency of paste.

4.  Once the make-up is the right consistency, using the spatula, scoop the make-up back into its original container.  Pressing down and making certain that the paste goes into all of the corners.

5.  Take a piece of paper towel and place it over the paste.  Press slightly with your finger tip to soak up some of the rubbing alcohol.   Lift up and place a dry piece of paper towel on the paste and press down with the mold.  For round eye-shadow compacts, a quarter or nickel works well. If you are repairing blush or face powder, then you can often use another container in your make-up bag or the lid of the container itself if it is a screw top.  Carefully lift up the paper towel.  You will see the pattern of the paper towel is impressed on the powder.

 

Lovely and pretty again and almost done.

6. Using the paper towel and rubbing alcohol, clean the sides of the make-up container.  (Is this necessary for the process?  No.  But you spent the time to repair the make-up, you can spend the time to clean it and make it look nice again.

7.  Let the make-up sit until it completely dries.  The amount of time this takes will depend on how much rubbing alcohol you used, but I usually let it sit over-night before I use it.

There you go, a Frugal Femme tip for make-up repair.
I hope you find it helpful.  My next post will be a post about dressing on a budget and I am working on another two week menu which will be coming up soon, so I hope you keep checking in and staying interested.