After trying a few places I settled on a cool local girl named Kaylan at Aveda for a pretty fair price. Just last week, though, she moved up to ridiculously outlandish and fun salon in swank Bay Harbor. The interior is very Betsy Johnson meets Design Within Reach. Or, Design NOT Within Reach as my Friend Daniel calls it. Referred by Kaylan, I went by today to meet with them about doing makeup for their large wedding parties. While there, Kaylan asked if I’d be her hair model next week for both cut and color….for $10! I remember hearing about stylists at Bumble and Bumble or Arrojo’s in New York giving free or low-cost cuts for new stylists to prove themselves…. but kind of forgot about that whole deal. 

Fancy salons are, by nature, constantly turning over staff and thus always looking for guinea pigs. This isn’t beauty school, these stylists just have to show what they can do, quite a few times over. Often times the stylist has to find their own models, and as I remember from New York, will even solicit people on the street to fill the need. So, for a high end salon experience at a below Super Cuts price, give your local posh-o-rama a call and offer yourself as a hair model. Just don’t forget to tip!

Pics of the new 1160 Salon: Above is the hair washing station…. dude, fireplace! To the right is the pedicure station. Personally I like the massaging chairs, but this certainly looks gorgeous. Below is Kaylan (hiding her face like she’s someone famous)getting a manicure done by a technician who is also going through a process of showing what she can do.

Some of us glam divas take vast amounts of pride in our make-up collections.  Colors, formulas, and products for every occasion just floating around with us; we are saddened beyond belief on days when we reach in for just the lip-gloss. Old mascara (which is just BAD BAD BAD for the health of your eyes) and the 87 “Gift With Purchase” lipsticks (different names=same color…hmmmm….) are only slowing our beautification rituals.

Here’s my advice, Vixens…

1.) Throw some of that old crappity crap-crap away, already!!!!!!!  Y’know, make-up is like fish & company; it doesn’t get better the longer it hangs around.

2.) Update your cosmetic carry-all!  I *adore* the clear ones…they make it so much easier to find that MAC Rage after knocking back a few.  On the GREEN tip, wash your old bag with a little warm, soapy water and hang to dry…VIOLA! Refreshed and ready to go.

3.) End your make-up tool denial, dolls.  If it’s ratty, broken, or just generally trippin’, pitch it.  After a certain age, it’s time to invest in some proper tools.  Gal up & just do it.

4.) Have an “heir” & a “spare”.   The heir is your main, everyday, all-purpose, old faithfuls.  The spare is your Friday night, court date, random self-portrait, or cousin’s shotgun wedding stash.

Feng Shui is all about clearing the bad energy out so that the good vibes can flow. Making room for the new is good for the soul…which will show on your face!

About the Contributor: Whitney Ashley Streets, Domestic Diva, is a veteran cosmetics junkie and Earth mother with strong southern style and humor. She has recently undertaken the task of Feng-Shui-ing her house. 

First, your eyebrows need to start where your eyes do. If you have a hard time determining where that exactly is, hold a brush up vertically creating a straight line from your inner eye to the beginning of your brow. The start should be the same. Trim or grow in accordingly.

Second, make sure your arch is in the right place. If the arch is at the inner part of the eye, for example, you look stupid. Take that same brush and, looking straight ahead, hold it to the outer edge of the iris. That’s the part of the eye that has the color. If you’re not in front of a mirror by now, it would be really helpful to find one. Then angle the bottom of your brush to side of your nose. Wherever the top of the brush lines up to on the eyebrow, this is where your arch should be. Trim and fill in as needed.

Here is a great chart I stole from e-Beauty Blog

Use a pencil for precise shaping (I like Laura Mercier)  or a powder with brush (Benefit has a good kit) for filling in. If you can pull it off, try making tiny little hair-like strokes for a more natural look with the pencil. And if you’re getting really fancy use that tiny eyeliner brush with the powder to shape.

Once the brows are shaped properly, take a clear mascara or brow groomer and, taking off the excess goo, brush the hairs upward to keep them in place.

Try to avoid making your eyebrows too thin. They really do frame the face and add definition to your existence. Plus, thick eyebrows are totally in right now.

Never tattoo your eyebrows and if you already did you should be wondering what the hell you were thinking??

For a great site all about brows check out Billion Dollar Brows

*Sperm-y or apostrophe shaped eyebrows are super gross and kind of ghetto. If you think that’s your look, well you go on with your bad-ass self. For the rest of you, it’s not too late to reform. Grow it in, fill it in, do what you have to do to fight the urge to purge those hairs!. 

-It’s ok to use foundation or spot cover, but try to go easy on it. Bags under the eyes, for example, should retain some of their integrity. Pimples and the like can be covered, unless you’d like to attribute them to stress.

-Go easy on the blush too. If you have a more neutral, tawny color that will give your face definition without a healthy glow, use that instead. A little shading under the cheekbone to look extra gaunt it excellent if you can pull it off subtly. 

-Just a touch of lip balm as needed. If the family is Greek, Italian, or celebrity, everyone will be wearing lipstick so it’s ok to choose a medium-toned matte color. 

-Mascara is completely appropriate, but just make sure it’s waterproof (unless of course you posses that extra flair for drama). Even if you don’t think you’re going to cry, you never know what can spark you off at these kinds of things. Maybe something will remind you of that paper-mache farm you stayed up all night making in the fifth grade only to drop it to a million pieces on the way to school. See, I’m tearing up a little here already. 

R.I.P. Michael

I mean, when, in our heat exhaustion, we could mumble out full coherent sentences that is. The set Alfonso chose was great….. industrial but clean at the same time. It was, however, exposed to the elements of Miami in July. I stink like a Venetian whore, that about sums it up. 

For the makeup, it was requested of me that I do a coal-rimmed eye that’s fairly specific, meaning not super defused-out smoky-like. Honestly, I’m kind of tired of the black eye and asked if it was cool I throw a little blue in there. Overall, I think it came out smashingly. Here’s Tara, a lovely Canadian who made me smoke one of her cigarettes. 

For the look, I started with a Makeup Forever  Aqua Eyes pencil in black. I lined the inner rim, under-eye, and top lid. Then I used a square, flat shadow brush with Lorac black shadow and, placing the brush at the lash line and brushing upward with each stroke created a black base. Then I took an ancient (the line no longer exists) but awesome  blue loose pigment and blended it over the top, placing a firm blender brush on the center of the lid first,  and into the black. The blue effect was subtle, but effective. 

Sheenon, an amazing hair stylist who also works at the Oribe salon in Miami created sculptural masterpieces out of all natural hair. He informed that ‘Elnett‘ is now available at Target. Weeeeeee. I’m going tomorrow.  He also used Redkin texturizing mouse and a lotta style. His wealth of knowledge did not end there, however, he also referred me to his friend’s hilarious blog Pretending To Be Pretty. Here he is with the sweet 15-year-old Reed 

Romina’s mom brought us sandwiches made with love and, despite the heat, I think we had a really good shoot today. Couldn’t ask for a better team. Here’s Romina, Reed, and Alfonso having a pre-shoot huddle.