Not Sot Much

Tip Of The Day:  I tried yet another wave spray (for my hair – not something that stirs up waves at the beach, and wouldn’t THAT be an awesome product to own) with as lackluster results as the last wave-inducing hair goop I bought.  Except this one didn’t even have the redeeming feature of being the perfect blow-out hair goop, ala Sally Hershberger.  However, I do have 3 cheap-n-fab makeup products to strongly endorse, as I am a big believer in turning that frown upside down.

Tip For The Weekend:  Do as I don’t and have yourself a good time.  I plan on a. sewing, b. prepping a class, and c. teaching said class.  Yippee.  Skippy.

Further Elucidation Of My Cheap Deal:  My never-ending quest for the perfect spray-on, let-air-dry, turn-my-hair-into-thick-waves hair care product continues.  I found a new product whilst wandering the aisles of Target with my BFF Larue this week:

The new Wonder Waves line from Garnier Fructis has this Wave Enhancing Spray that’s supposed, as it states, enhance the natural wave of your hair.  My hair has a natural wave that needs enhancing, so I snatched up the $3.34 (including tax) bottle of Wonder right quick.

The next day, I liberally sprayed the spray all over my head.  Warning: this product has “micro-blah-blah-fruit-blah-blah-wax” in it, so when it lands on your bathroom floor (as all sprays invariably do) it will make the floor sticky, and then slippery when it dries.

After dousing my head with Wonder, I followed my normal ‘scrunch, scrunch, blow-dry my bangs, scrunch some more’ routine to build up and emphasize (and enhance, as it were) my natural wave.  However, the Spray did not enhance, it both weighed down and crunched up my waves simultaneously.  Which is hard to do.  So much for it being a Flexible Hold product that provides Smooth Definition of my waves.  Crunchy hair does NOT equal smooth – it equals, well, crunch.

On the plus side, it didn’t make my hair look limp and oily the way Sally’s Style Primer for Wavy Hair does if let my hair air dry (as opposed to blow-dry straight, then Sally is Made of Win).

Ultimately, I returned the Garnier Fructis Spray to Target and got my $3.34 back.  Thus, my quest for an air-dryable hair care product continues…

However, I like to roll on the positive side of life.  So instead of ending this post on a note of fail, here are three inexpensive products I love.  All are available at Walgreens or Target or Walmart or the drugstore of your choice:

1.  Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer in Pat on the Black.  This is the perfect shade of purple-black that’s so popular with the celebutants of the world.  I like it on my toes, because it looks good with my skin tone whether I’m pale or gradually-tanned.  Plus it goes on smoothly, so it’s an easy color to apply, even though it’s incredibly dark.  Two coats gets you that Lindsay-Lohan-leaving-Pure-Nightclub-in-Vegas look we all secretly covet.  All for just $6.49.

2.  Rimmel London Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown.  I have lined the lower lids of my eyes every day since I was 12 (truly, that is not an exaggeration – remember, I’m a child of the ‘80s), so I’m an expert on which liners smudge and which hold the line.  A bit of smudgy-ness is good if you’re lining the top lid, but on the bottom, you want the stuff to stay put.  Rimmel, to date, is the only liner that doesn’t schmear all over the place.  Granted, it’s made to fill in your brows, but there’s no rule saying you can’t use it as eyeliner.  And at less than $4 a pop, it’s highly affordable.

Tip for lining your top lids – put on your eye shadow first, and then line lids.  The liner goes on smoother as the shadow acts like silicon (or some other lubricant) to make the pencil slide across your skin.  However, this probably won’t work as well if you’re using liquid liner.  But then, if you can use liquid liner, you don’t need application advice.

3.  Great Lash Mascara in Dark Brown.  For years I’ve poo-pooed this makeup artist classic.  I said it look fake, was hard to apply, and in general, Bit The Big One.  However, as it turns out, I was wrong (that’s right, I can admit when I screw up).  Great Lash works, well, great – if you pick the right color.  I always tried the black or blacker formulas, when I should have reached for the Dark Brown.  Once I did, I reached mascara Nirvana for less than $5.

Inexpensive makeup – what do you love?  What is worth its weight in gold, but costs less than a McDonald’s Happy Meal?