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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 641

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you really are a gem
You really are a ?

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?

    1. Would you rather be a panda or a lion?

    Pandas ? are so round and cute and have built in smoky eyes…but I’m going to have to go with lion, because I’m team cat lady through and through. ??

    2. What’s neater — your cursive or your print handwriting?

    Definitely my print handwriting these days. My cursive used to be pretty neat, but that’s no longer the case, probably because I rarely write in cursive.

    3. Last big appliance you bought?

    If a water heater counts, then that. If not, I purchased a new washer a couple years ago when ours just up and died on us!

    4. Do you own a ring light?

    Yup, I have two for photography. One used to be my backup, but it’s currently broken… Wow, I just realized that I remember the blogging days before everyone had some type of ring light, LOL!

    5. How do you usually sign off on your correspondence?

    “Kind regards” or “Thank you” for business emails. And if it’s someone I’ve worked with for years and feel comfortable enough being casual, I’ll use “Talk soon.” For personal emails with my loved ones, I’ll use “Love you” or “Love.”

    6. Have you ever had a near-death experience?

    No, I have not.

    7. Rate how much you care about bronzer on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “I don’t care about it” and 5 being “I’m full-blown obsessed.”

    I’ll go with a 3.25. I wear it every once in a while nowadays with blush (and sometimes in place of blush), so I care about it, but it’s not like I couldn’t function without it or anything.

    8. Did you ever have a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio?

    Nope. Totally missed that boat!

    9. Inner corner highlight or upper cheekbone highlight?

    I’ll take a tasteful upper cheekbone highlight with a cream product (MAC Hush please).

    Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

    Karen

    P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

    1. Would you rather be a panda or a lion?
    2. What’s neater — your cursive or your print handwriting?
    3. Last big appliance you bought?
    4. Do you own a ring light?
    5. How do you usually sign off on your correspondence?
    6. Have you ever had a near-death experience?
    7. Rate how much you care about bronzer on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “I don’t care about it” and 5 being “I’m full-blown obsessed.”
    8. Did you ever have a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio?
    9. Inner corner highlight or upper cheekbone highlight?

    P.P.S. I hope you have a wonderful day. Do a little something to take care of yourself today, OK? Even if it’s just a swipe of mascara. ?

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 622

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I don’t know how this happened, because I thought I retired from assistant life, but somehow I was roped into preparing several Zoom classes for Rosie today. Apparently, she’s been teaching astrophysics on the side, in addition to being Connor’s #1 gal pal. A lot of it was totally over my head, but Rosie seemed to know what she was talking about. She was actually pretty nice to me and didn’t throw anything or swat at me when I couldn’t get the equations right.

All this is to say that Rosie is very excited about going back to school next month. She asked me to make her a celebratory collar, and the specs were down to the millimeter. It was a very different experience compared to collaborating with Tabs, which makes sense; she’s a different cat. With Tabs, fashion design was more of an organic couture process, whereas Rosie’s plans were detailed and precise.

Apparently, numbers are her forte. Who knew? I learn something new about her every day. I somehow convinced her to take these pictures, even though she told me, repeatedly, “I’m not a model. I’m an astrophysicist!” I’m trying to convince her that she can do both.

Tabs (a.k.a. “The Master”)

Of course, it couldn’t be Sundays With Tabs without a few pictures of the legend himself.

This purple collar is one of my favorites. It showed his softer side.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, Aug. 29, 2020

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Technically, yes, this is a makeup blog. It’s right there in the name. But I wantonly and routinely ignore that to post whatever I feel like. This, I have done since 2007. ?

That said, there is a valid beauty-related reason why you’re looking at my newly acquired pair of 20-pound dumbbells, a.k.a. “my precious,” right now.

I’d been online shopping for dumbbells for a couple months, but for completely understandable reasons they’ve been hard to find in stock, so when I spotted them on the Target website about a week ago, I pounced! Now they’re my favorite thing in the whole wide world, and since exercise makes you sweat, a.k.a. “glisten,” and that glow can also be characterized as a dewy sheen, there’s your beauty angle. ?

In a nutshell, lifting weights is tantamount to wearing highlighter.

HAHAHA!

Gosh, I really miss that HIIT class I was going to before the pandemic started… It was always so much fun! I miss the energy, my friends, and I miss all the good equipment they had at the gym. I miss being able to just grab a 35-pound dumbbell without a second thought.

But you know how it is now. We live by the pandemic code: “You do what you gotta do to make it work.”

Soooo, now I do at-home HIIT workouts on Youtube, and in the process I’ve been improvising with the small weights I already had at home, which were mismatched dumbbells and other weights cobbled together from different weight sets I inherited from El Hub and my neighbors.

The heaviest dumbbells were those large iron adjustable ones with sharp edges that kept scraping my wrists and ankles, but they’re what I had so I rolled with them while keeping my eyes peeled for something better.

Hence the aforementioned pouncing. ?

Target only had at-home shipping available, and the box they came in was a standard flimsy cardboard Target shipping box — totally inadequate to ship 40 pounds of iron. The UPS guy knocked on my door when he delivered them with a look like “um…something happened” and the weights were sitting on the ground next to him, outside of the box because it had totally ripped apart.

Just a heads up in case you buy heavy dumbbells online from Tar-ghay. They may or not make it to your house in the box!

I’m super excited about these weights, as you can tell, so I’m about to move my body girl, to quote Nina Sky. While I do that, here’s your reading for the weekend… ??


Love this look, especially the lip


In case you need some happy music today


This looks like so much fun.


Really enjoying these covers

What are you up to today? I hope you’re able to sneak in some time to rest and recharge. It’s important.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Checking In: Thank Yous and Thank You Cards From Trader Joe’s, Pizza Dough Life Hacks, and the *Best* Urban Decay Mascara

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thank you cards tjs
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Good morning! And may I also say, “Thank you?”

That’s seemingly out of nowhere, I know, but I’ve doing this thing lately where I say “thank you” all day, every day, all throughout my day, and you know, I’ve been considerably happier. ? It helps a lot if you’re living through a pandemic during fire season as you’re waiting for your power to go out for days without any notice (there’s been a lot going on here, like everywhere else in the world).

I don’t necessarily direct the “thank you” to a particular person, either. I say it out loud or in my head for anything and everything. When I wake up in the morning, I’ll think to myself, “Thanks, bed! Thanks for giving me a good night’s sleep.” And when I get out of bed and start walking toward the bathroom, I’m like “Thanks, feet, for workin’ hard and getting me where I need to go today.”

Then, once I’m in the bathroom and I remember how the bathroom in the old apartment where I lived before this place was always freezing because it was built in the 1920s and had poor insulation and no central heating, I think, “Oh, thank you, bathroom, for being so warm and for having hot water” (because last year at this time, our water heater broke, and that was a hoot).

Anyway, you get the picture. Thank you, all day, every day.

So, thank you. ?

Thank you for being you, and thank you for swinging by today, which leads me to, ellipses-dot-dot-dot…Trader Joe’s! All paths lead to Trader Joe’s, don’t they?

trader joes thank you cards

I found these really cute thank you cards there…

thank you cards tjs dog
So sweet!
thank you cards tjs dog
And the inside is cute, too!
thank you cards tjs noodles
I would get down with a bowl of rainbow noodles, for sure.
thank you cards tjs noodles
Love the colors

They’re so cheerful and colorful, and I like that they’re a little bit corny, but not too corny. And they’re only 99 cents each, so they’re super cute and super affordable!

I’ve been going shopping at Trader Joe’s for years, but I only recently started buying their cards (I KNOW). The cards in my store are sort of tucked away next to the doors on a wall by the customer service desk, which is partially blocked off by the plants, which makes it a challenge to fit a cart back there, so I forget they’re there sometimes. But a couple weeks ago someone moved the card display into the middle of the store, and bam! LOVE.

Anyway, next time you’re there, look for the cards. They might be in a weird spot, but they’re worth tracking down.

Oh, and so while I was at TJ’s the last time, I was craving pizza, so I picked up a bag of their pre-made pizza dough and a few accoutrements…

I posted a picture of the pizza dough after rolling it out (and before adding toppings) on Instagram and got a surprising number of questions about how to get the dough flat.

(Please ignore the shape. I know it looks like naan. LOL! I never quite go for perfection with my pizza shape. I take what I can get.)

When I worked at the bakery for a hot second, I was repeatedly victimized by dough on a daily basis. Seriously, dough of any kind does not want to be your friend. Dough’s main goal in life is to do the opposite of whatever you want it to do, hahaha!

But there are still ways to get it to listen to you. For this pizza dough, which is really sticky, it helps to use a lot of flour when you’re working with it, and to use more than you think you need. Like, an almost obnoxious amount.

Cover the surface where you’ll be rolling out the dough with flour. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, sprinkled some flour on top, wiped it all over the parchment paper with my hands, and then rolled the dough directly on top of the paper with a rolling pin.

Before you use the rolling pin, rub flour all over it, too. Then roll the dough until you hit your desired thickness.

Cutting pizza with scissors = life changing

By the way, I used Trader Joe’s refrigerated pizza sauce, sliced fresh mozzarella (not the shredded kind in a bag, but the kind that’s shaped like a big ball) and sliced garden tomatoes. When the pizza was done, I put a ton of fresh basil on top, because like the Beyoncé song says, “If you like it, you should’ve put some basil on it.”

OK, so maybe not the exact lyrics…
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5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

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New favorite way to enjoy a refreshing drink

1. Drinkin’ fruit-flavored water from my Fressko Water bottle

I have about 1,354 water bottles in my cupboard. ?‍♀️

This one from Australian brand Fressko is probably the coolest. It can be used for hot or cold drinks, comes with a tea infuser, and is made from double-insulated glass. I use it to make my favorite beverage at the moment: green tea infused with sliced lemon and lime!

The bottles come in 10-, 13- and 16-oz. sizes. I have the 16-oz. bottle, which is $39.95. I think it’s a well-designed, useful something special to have around, and the possibilities for beverages to make with it are endless.

2. Pared down makeup using a brow pen/pencil combo, mascara and liquid liner (and sometimes a liquid lipstick)

Lately I’ve been getting back in the habit of wearing a little makeup a little more regularly than I had been earlier in the pandemic because it boosts my mood, like a daily workout (but without the sweat!). And sometimes when I don’t feel like working out, I’ll just do my makeup, so that way I’m still doing a little something to help my mood.

urban decay brow blade honest beauty liquidliner laura mercier caviar
Three loves of my makeup life right now…

I like to start with this three-piece pared down combo using a brow pencil, mascara and liquid liner: Urban Decay Brow Blade (seriously, SO GOOD), Urban Decay Cannon Ball or Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara (or a combo of both), and Honest Beauty Liquid Liner (easy to use and dries quickly).

If, when I’m done with those three, I still want to wear more, I’ll wear more. If I don’t, I’ll just stop there!

3. Victoria’s Secret Amber Sunset

It’s a little funny to me that I now consider this my “late summer scent” because I originally bought it as a mosquito repellant. ? LOL!

But you know what? It I think it actually smells REALLY good. Please give it a try.

victorias secret amber romance pool
Smells like late summer (and not like mosquito repellant)

Amber Romance has notes of warm vanilla, sandalwood and amber, with a pinch of tart cherry, and it’s not strong. It’s juuuust right. Added bonus: it does keep mosquitos away!

4. This giant, overstuffed anatomically-shaped heart stuffed toy

I don’t know who needs this giant stuffed heart in their life right now, but apparently I think I do.

I love how BIG it is, and I especially love that it has valves, LOL! ❤️

giant stuffed heart
LUB-DUB!

5. How people are creatively adapting to life in the pandemic

I admire how people have adapted to “the new normal.” It’s been a lot to handle, but people will do what they have to do. Many small businesses are also coming up with some amazing ideas to keep their places going, like Connor’s dance studio. They couldn’t hold their annual spring dance recital in a big theater like they used to, so a few weeks ago the instructors taped the routines outside in a parking lot in the back of the studio. They added a hand washing station, tents for shade, and then built individual mini “stages” spaced six feet apart for the dancers to perform their routines on while the performances were recorded on iPhones.

We’re witnessing a very unique time in history, aren’t we? It was definitely a dance recital I’ll never forget. ?

Tiny dancer!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Have You Noticed Any Changes With Beauty Stores in Your Neck of the Woods?

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ulta
Gonna miss this spot!

SO MANY CHANGES. Big ones too. The nearest Ulta store in San Rafael is/was a few miles south of me, and we were just driving down Highway 101 last weekend when I saw that the store was shut down, looks like permanently. There were big “closed” signs in the windows. Cue glittery tears. ?

I’m so bummed because I used to spend hours wandering around that place pre-COVID. They had a great variety of hair conditioners and styling products from higher end to budget. One of my favorite things to do was read the labels on the hair products…

Oh, and the other day I got an email from SpaceNK saying that my nearby store in Larkspur is closing as well.

At a meet-and-greet at SpaceNK a few years ago

I did an event with them a few years back, and I have a soft spot for that store and the endlessly kind and knowledgeable makeup artists who work there. Really sad to see them go!

My favorite thing to do there was to play with their Byredo perfume display. I’d go in and spray every scent they had on each and every available square inch of skin on my body, hoping I’d discover a new perfume to love more than Gypsy Water (but, in the end, I’ve always loved Gypsy Water the most; go figure).

As for Sephora, the closest one to me at Vintage Oaks here in Novato has been shut down for months. Like, literally boarded up so you can’t even peek through the windows. I think the last time I was in that store was either January or February. I have ordered a few things from Sephora since then, but I haven’t stepped into a physical Sephora store in a long while… I wonder what they look like now without the testers. Would I be afraid to touch anything? It’s crazy to me to think of all the times I sat in a chair in Sephora while a makeup artist showed me a new product or taught me a new technique.

Like I said, lots of big beauty (and other) store changes out this way.

How about in your neck of the woods? How has beauty (and non-beauty) retail store shopping changed so far this year where you are?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Air Dry Hair Faves: Frizz Fighting and Moisturizing Products for Smoother Strands

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alterna bumble r and co
Frizz fighting and moisturizing!

Anybody else living with crazy quarantine hair?

Yeah, girl, I’m with ya. The last haircut I got was in May…of 2019, so what’s sitting on top of my shoulders at this point is basically like 90% hair and 10% head. HAHAHA! Since I haven’t really had any place fancy to go other than Target and Trader Joe’s, I haven’t styled my mop in ages; however, for the sake of my sanity, I still put effort into applying styling products and leave-ins before air drying because, if I don’t, this hair veers into mad scientist territory, and to quote Hall and Oates, “I can’t go for that (no can do).”

Cue all the quintessential styling potions and moisturizing leave-in lotions, most of which can be used on a wide variety of hair types, from fine to thick, coarse, curly and everything in between.

creamy dreamy purples open
Pandemic hair don’t care.

I have long wavy hair that naturally veers into dry, frizzy, unruly territory. The top half from my roots to the mid-shaft is my natural color, which is peppered with silvery strands. The bottom half is a melange of miscellaneous shades of hair dye.

The following products have been getting me and my mane through the last few months with my sanity (somewhat) intact…

Alterna My Hair My Canvas Easy Does It Air Dry Balm: Smooths frizz, adds lift

This vegan balm is the bomb (totally dated slang, but you know I had to go there) because it does a little bit of everything — smooths flyaways, adds shines, coaxes out curls and adds moisture to thirsty strands — all without weighing hair down. I use this mostly for my silver hairs, which when left to their own devices are hella frizzy like dry ramen noodles gone wild. I do two squeezes of this balm, each about the size of a MAC eyeshadow pan in its packaging, into the palm of my hand, working from my roots down to my ends, and my hair looks so much smoother and silkier and generally less crazy. If you deal with frizz or unruly grays, this will be your jam! $29 for a 3.4-oz tube.

INGREDIENTS

Water/Aqua/Eau, Glycerin, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Isododecane, Polyacrylate-13, Octyldodecanol, Octyldodecyl Xyloside, PEG-30 Dipolyhydroxystearate, Butylene Glycol, Polyisobutene, Polysorbate 20, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Phenethyl Alcohol, Caulerpa Lentillifera Extract, Lilium Candidum Flower Extract, Bambusa Vulgaris Extract, Opuntia Ficus-Indica Seed Oil, Charcoal Powder, Chondrus Crispus Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Polyurethane-35, Fragrance (Parfum), Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Citral, Citronellol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool.

Alterna My Hair My Canvas Glow For It Universal Gloss: Shine without weight

This non-greasy shine-enhancing, frizz-defying serum is made for all hair types, but particularly normal, oily, coarse and/or curly hair. Like the Easy Does It Air Balm, it’s made from vegan ingredients and doesn’t leave my hair feeling like it’s coated with a thick layer of product. My hair just feels like regular hair when I use it, which I love. Universal Gloss mixes well with other styling products, too, and I like to swirl two to three pumps into the Air Dry Balm before working it in. Use this if you want shiny strands that don’t feel like greasy coated noodles! $26 for a 2.5-oz. bottle with a pump.

INGREDIENTS

Cyclopentasiloxane, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Dimethiconol, Bambusa Vulgaris Extract, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Caulerpa Lentillifera Extract, Charcoal Powder, Euterpe Oleracea Fruit Oil, Glycerin, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Opuntia Ficus-Indica Seed Oil, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Water (Aqua, Eau), Fragrance (Parfum), Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, Citral, Geraniol, Limonene, Eugenol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Citronellol.

Bumble and bumble Save the Day Repair Fluid: A lightweight leave-in for intense moisture

Packed with antioxidant camellia flower oil, this leave-in conditioner repairs and moisturizes dry and damaged ends. The lotion-like formula feels thin and lightweight, but it’s also rich enough to handle the thirstiest strands. It packs a major hydrating punch! Made for all hair types and cruelty-free. $45 for a 3.2-oz. bottle with a pump.

INGREDIENTS

Water , Dimethicone , Glycerin , Cetearyl Alcohol , Hydrogenated Lecithin , Dimethicone/Peg-10/15 Crosspolymer , Dimethiconol , Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil , Caffeine , Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil , Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Seed Oil , Chenopodium Quinoa Seed Extract , Sisymbrium Irio Seed Oil , Arabidopsis Thaliana Extract , Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Pg-Propyl Silanetriol , Perilla Ocymoides Seed Extract , Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil , Coco-Glucoside , Hydrogenated Castor Oil/ Sebacic Acid Copolymer , Dihydroxypropyl Arginine Hcl , Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Pg-Propyl Silanetriol , Ethylhexylglycerin , Caprylyl Glycol , Linoleic Acid , Saccharide Isomerate , Tocopheryl Acetate , Silica , Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane , Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate , Panthenol , Lecithin , Xanthan Gum , Fragrance , Citronellol , Citral , Limonene , Phenoxyethanol , Mica , Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891)

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 640

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You are enough

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?

    1. How do you usually exfoliate?

    It’s nothing fancy. I’m pretty low-tech when it comes to exfoliating. Basically, it’s all about the washcloths. First, I use one in the morning to wash my face, usually with a gentle, moisturizing cleanser or plain water. Then I grab a different, clean washcloth in the evening to remove my makeup and cleanse my skin.

    I also use another one in the shower for my body, although sometimes I just re-use one of the ones I use for my face.

    Yes, we go through a lot of washcloths in our house…

    2. Do you have any stretch marks?

    Yes! — on my booty and my upper thighs. I’ve had them since I was in high school, and I call ’em my tiger stripes! ?

    3. How’d you sleep last night?

    It took me a long time to fall asleep because I was freaked out about a post I read on social media about a woman being targeted for a kidnapping while waiting in line to use a gas station restroom… I started thinking about grownup Connor going to public restrooms at gas stations or at clubs (!), and then I started thinking about all the sketchy places I went to in my teens and 20s without telling my parents. This, of course, led to me picturing Connor in those places and, needless to say, I was full-blown FREAKING OUT.

    So then I woke up El Hub and went into a long and rambling speech about how, even when she’s older and he goes anyplace with her and she goes to the bathroom, how they have to find a family restroom or a single stall restroom, and he has to wait outside for her and NOT be looking at his phone…and then I started thinking of all the ways I could subtly go to the bathroom with her when she’s a tween and hatin’ on me.

    Seriously, it turned into a thing. I fell asleep eventually though!

    Anyway, here’s the post. READ IT!

    4. Most used item in your makeup bag right now?

    My Surratt lash curler.

    5. If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would you get?

    If I had to? I would get the smallest, tiniest dot possible, and I’d stick it somewhere I couldn’t see easily — perhaps the back of my neck, tucked away in my hair line.

    This is because I know myself waaaaay too well, and I know that if I did get a legit tattoo (it would probably be a quote that I like, in a font that I like), I would think it was cool for about a day, and then I’d want it removed like RIGHT NOW.

    6. If you could get your hair done right now, what would you do?

    I would ask the stylist to please cut off about six inches and clean up my layers!

    7. How do you usually look during Zoom/Facetime calls?

    Hella tired, but cheerful, because I’ve found that the best way to look nice on video is to smile. ?

    8. Is the weather currently crazy out your way?

    Yeah, totally cray. We’ve had multiple lightning storms (which rarely happen here) and very thick smoke from the fires all over the Bay Area.

    9. Can you remember the last time you used a beauty tester?

    Nope, not exactly, but I think it was probably while I was Christmas shopping sometime last December… I repeatedly popped into Sephora for stocking stuffers.

    Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

    Karen

    P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

    1. How do you usually exfoliate?
    2. Do you have any stretch marks?
    3. How’d you sleep last night?
    4. Most used item in your makeup bag right now?
    5. If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would you get?
    6. If you could get your hair done right now, what would you do?
    7. How do you usually look during Zoom/Facetime calls?
    8. Is the weather currently crazy out your way?
    9. Can you remember the last time you used a beauty tester?

    P.P.S. Have a wonderful day, OK? Focus on the good things you have, and try to keep a smile on your face. I ABSOLUTELY recognize that it isn’t always possible, but it makes a world of difference, I promise. ?

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