Manicure Mardi and Q&As

I cut my hair recently (well, my stylist did) in the same short 'do I had last summer. My hair is not really naturally curly and must be coaxed into a reasonable facsimile thereof with lots of mousse and a diffuser. In the mornings I need to mist it with water to get it in the proper frame of mind and go from there and you would be surprised how hard it is to find a decent spray bottle! After the one I bought last year not only malfunctioned repeatedly but also rusted, spraying ick everywhere, I decided a trip to the beauty supply store was in order to get a stylist quality spray bottle.

I headed to the nearest Sally where I was lured in by the wall of nail polish and cosmetics. While I wear only lipstick (but unfailingly lipstick, as my lips are a rather unattractive shade of blue naturally) 99% of the time, I just looooove makeup. It's the little girl in me, I think. I remember how badly I wanted to wear makeup when I was younger. I was allowed to start in 7th grade. I might have managed to make it all the way that school year keeping up the routine, but it didn't last much longer.



Anyway, I picked out a few bottles but then got to the register and saw these tiny Sally Girl nail polishes for 99 cents each, Big Three Free (the talk of Big Three was very confusing to me at first, because I was like, "What do McCall's, Butterick, and Simplicity have to do with nail polish?"). I love tiny things and I really like tiny nail polishes because I never manage to use up a whole bottle. So I put everything back except "For Audrey" and picked out a bunch of the Sally Girls.

The matte colors--hot pink and turquoise--are great. The color goes on true to the bottle and gives almost full coverage in two coats. I have the hot pink on my toes and the turqouise on my fingernails, as demonstrated at right. I took a picture after I finished the manicure last Friday, but then it turned out it was blurry. So I did a crappy touch up and took another picture this morning. You can see the chips and pits of time. I didn't use a bottomcoat but I did put a topcoat on and it was two full days before it started showing tip wear and a small amount of chipping. My toes are farther away so I can't give an assessment except to say they look good from here. Both of these needed a shiny topcoat to make the colors pop. The turquoise pictured here, "Surfs Up" (the lack of apostrophe bothers me), is pretty much my favorite color in the world, so I'm pleased to find it in nail polish form.

Unfortunately, the glitter colors are pretty terrible. The darkest blue gave a nice color in three coats and dried fine, but the two lighter glitter colors just don't dry. After about 30 minutes, I was able to just wipe them off my nails (two coats) like that kiddie peel nail polish. Perhaps if I let them dry fully after one coat it would work, but who has time to wait around for that. I love the sheer hint of color and sparkle, but they appear to be useless for the purpose for which they are intended. I will report further if I have better luck in the future.

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An Anonymous commenter asks:
Could you please share information about the paper you use to trace out the BWOF patterns? Also, is it available nationwide? Thanking you in advance.

First of all, there is no One True Paper for tracing BWOF. Don't feel like if you get The Wrong Paper your project will be ruined. It's just what you can find that's acceptable to you in price and quality. Cidell and I ordered a box of exam table paper as used at the doctor's office (I can't remember who our supplier was, but here are google's results). It comes in conveniently large rolls and the width is good. However, it is a somewhat large initial investment (I recall our box of 12 rolls was around $60 plus shipping). Before we ordered the exam paper, I bought tissue paper from CVS--Hallmark has some special 99 cent packs that are all white and larger than normal tissue paper. The packs are in a yellow/orange wrapping with no plastic and were stacked on the shelf below the hanging baggies of tissue paper. Other people like to use plastic sheeting, or non-woven interfacing-like tracing textile. Go to an office supply store and see what you can find in rolls; some art supply stores also have large rolls of paper thin enough to trace through.

Of my Pretty Parisian Blouse, BWOF 02-2009-129, Jenny asks
Are your sleeve hems gathered? They look much flatter than in the design drawing. I've been wanting to make this in white cotton/linen but just haven't gotten around to it

I should have mentioned this. So my shoulders are narrow across, but my shoulders around the armscye and my biceps are apparently gigantor in relation to the normal population! BWOF's armscye fits me well, but Simplicity and McCall are so tight I can barely get them on, much less wear them in any comfort. When it comes to biceps, even BWOF is too tight sometimes. I didn't think to add any width to the sleeve (and probably couldn't have, given my limited fabric) and needed longer elastic than recommended so it wouldn't be too tight across the arm, so the sleeves appear less gathered at the bottom than the line drawing and on others who have made the blouse. It's not the pattern, it's just all that strength training.

Sherrill cuts to the chase
But I love those shoes. What do they look like in the front?

This photo shows the front of the shoes, and this one the side view. I think the brand is Madden Girl but as with all my shoes it is no help because I bought them a year ago from Ross, so they are long out of stores. If it's any consolation, the straps across the foot are held to the shoe by elastic, and the elastic popped on one of the shoes the first time I wore them. I did a funky fix, but I'm afraid to actually wear the shoes now beyond carrying them with me and changing at the destination. They are surprisingly comfortable, though.

Manicure Mardi and Stashoholism Confessional

I never paint my nails, much to Cidell's despair. But I found myself in the CVS looking for a lighter color for my toenails (I usually wear dark) and ran across this Wet'n'Wild. So I will imitate Shannon's Lacquer Lundi and share "Blazed." I love the pinky-coral color, but alas, you get what you pay for when you spend 99 cents on a bottle of nail polish. The first time I used it I painted my nails outside. The good thing about this polish is that it dries very quickly. The bad thing is that if you're using it outside on a sunny, breezy day it dries midstroke. So the outdoor manicure was a disaster.

I tried again at home, and it was much better. It definitely required two coats, and I still didn't get opacity. Not being a manicure person, I didn't bother with base coat or topcoat, so it started chipping on the second day. Oddly, my left hand--painted with my more dextrous right hand and used less--chipped badly, while my right stayed intact with only tip wear. I wonder if my clumsier left hand applies polish more heavily?

I will try to resist the cheap nail polish in the future, but this was the only color in the CVS that appealed to me and I really like it. If I could find the same color in a good quality polish I would consider buying it.

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G Street Fabric


I headed to the suburbs on Thursday to hit up Joann's Vogue and McCall and half-price notions sale, and of course had to visit G Street as well for 25% off zippers. I wanted to get a sheer-ish white woven for a quick top I wanted to make, and a white linen with black embroidery for a wearable muslin. I was hoping that I had some kind of willpower not to buy any fabric other than these planned purchases. Alas, I do not.

I found my white sheer, and got the navy rectangles (it looks black or gray in the photo, but the fabric on the left is actually navy) instead of the embroidered. But then I found the knit print that is perfect for a maxi dress (assuming there's enough of it) and the sheer black and white print as another wearable muslin. So much for willpower.

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When I posted instructions on how to add more holes to a belt, several people asked what to do about the excess. If it's a cheap belt (as most of mine are) without a real edge finish, I just chop it off with scissors. For a nicer belt where this would be obvious, I use a hair elastic as an additional belt-loop-holder-thingy to keep the excess in place. For a black belt, a black hair elastic is perfect. For the red/gold belt from the post, I use one of those clear hair elastics. These were popular several years ago and I still have a whole bunch of them. I'm not sure if they're still available in stores, but they are sold on the internet. It's completely unnoticeable on the belt, but keeps the long flap from waving around.

How to Dye Your Eyebrows

There was a thread on Pattern Review about redheads and what colors are flattering. I'm not a real redhead, but I play one in my life so I read it. It turns out, not surprisingly, that not all redheads can wear the same colors. There was also a fair amount of discussion of eyebrows and what to do about them for those of us who get a little help to justify our fiery tempers. I never would have thought of dyeing my eyebrows until I went to get my hair cut several years ago and my hairdresser told me to hang on a minute so she could get the dye off her eyebrows. I figured if a trained professional said it was OK I'd give it a shot. It's great! It makes a huge difference in my face when I remember to dye them, as otherwise my eyebrows are clear (I'm a natural blonde).

**REQUIRED LEGAL DISCLAIMER** I am not a doctor or a cosmetologist. There is a danger from dyeing your eyebrows. Be careful, and dye at your own risk. I am providing this information for free and have no liability for anything you may do. Also, this will only work for dyeing your eyebrows darker; I don't know how to lighten eyebrows.

So here's how you do it.

You can either go to Sally and buy professional products (my choice) or just buy a box from the grocery store. At any rate you need developer, dye, an eyedropper, something to mix on (I use a yogurt lid), some q tips, and some cotton pads or balls.



Developer comes in different numbers and I know they somehow correspond to whether you're dyeing lighter or darker. I just don't know how they correspond. I chose 20 Vol because it's in the middle. It works fine. Make a small puddle on your lid; you really don't need much. It's thick and it helps to use a q tip to get it out.



I have an eyedropper whose sole use is hair dye. I recommend you get one too because it's really hard to pour the right amount. Drop dye into the developer so that they are in equal amounts.

As you can see, I'm a fan of the L'Oreal Mega Reds line. For my eyebrows, I use either light intense copper (shown) or a mix of light intense copper and medium intense golden copper. If you have darker skin you might be able to use a darker color.



Mix up the dye and developer using a qtip until it thickens. It only takes a second. You actually don't need to make as much as I did, I don't know why I mixed up such a big batch. This would have done 3 or 4 pairs of eyebrows. Once the dye and developer have been mixed they lose their potency really quickly, within a couple of hours. So you have to mix up a new batch fresh each time you color.



Here's where technique comes in. Using a q tip, apply the dye to your eyebrows opposite the direction of hair growth, and apply only to hair. Do not get it on your skin. Clean up any that gets on your skin with a q tip. If you are nervous about getting it on your skin, you can put a thin layer of petroleum jelly such as Vaseline on the skin around your eyebrow to create a protective barrier. I don't bother with this, though.



You can see here that while I have loaded the hair generously with dye, it doesn't go all the way down to the roots and touch my skin. Hair dye will color your skin. It fades after a couple of days, but you'll look really funny in the meantime if you don't take precautions.



My fine blonde hairshaft takes 13 minutes to dye. This is about half the time it takes for my whole head to dye (well, took, I've switched to henna for my hair which is 2 1/2 excruciating hours in a plastic shower cap--but the color is so much better and so much less damaging that it's worth it). Don't leave on your eyebrows as long as on your hair--try half at first and see if it's enough. I made the mistake of dying for 25 minutes the first time I tried it. I had cheeto caterpillars on my face.



When your time is up, wipe off the dye first with a dry cotton pad. When you've wiped off as much as you can use a damp cotton pad to clean it up the rest of the way. No need to use soap, but unlike with dyeing your whole head it's ok to wash that day--you don't have to wait three days to wash your face!



Immediately after you remove the dye, they're pretty bright. It will tone down quickly (usually after several hours).



And voila! Matching hair and eyebrows. Nobody will ever know your secret.