Tag Archives: beauty

Ballin On A Budget

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Ballin On A Budget

Heyyy everyone and happy Tuesday! As a college kid, I’m always looking for ways to save a buck in everything from beauty and clothes to eating out and buying textbooks. In the past few weeks I’ve demonstrated some frugal efforts at its finest in my beauty routines and now I’m here to share them with you! Let’s discuss:

1) Dye your hair at home!!!! – Back in the day, I would get my hair dyed and cut monthly. I was obsessed with keeping my hair as fabulously red as possible (I still am) and would eagerly shell out about seventy bucks per month at the salon to satisfy my needs. Once I started school, I knew that my hair dying habit had to die. I began to search Target and drug stores for the box color that would match the color I would get done at the salon the closest. Lucky for me, I found a perfect if not better match in Vidal Sassoon’s London Luxe collection. Their Runway Red box color is literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me because now I pay a whopping eight dollars per month for salon quality color!

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I went from spending over eight hundred dollars yearly to about ninety dollars thanks to using box color on my luscious locks. Every month I now look forward to my pampering time when I throw on a robe, apply my hair color, and watch the water turn red as I wash it out. There’s nothing better! And the sweet smell of savings and freshly dyed and washed hair ain’t too bad either!

Have makeup free days: In the past month, I’ve spent at least twelve days makeup free. These are the days when I’m working on school work from home, when I’m having girl time with my best friend, or hangouts with my boyfriend (because if he can handle my bad breath in the morning he can handle seeing me makeup free, damnit!). I used to do my makeup every day no matter what but then I realized that it’s kind of silly to do that when no one but your family is going to see you in it. Now I only apply my makeup on days that I know for a cold hard fact I’ll be going out and about running errands, to school, or date nights with my beau.

By not using my makeup every single day, I’ve been stretching out how long the product lasts. My black eyeliner, for example, usually needs replacing after one month but as November comes to a close, I still have a little less than half of it left. This has dwindled down my spending at Target significantly because I no longer have to go to the store to do my monthly stock ups. Yes, I’ll be buying the products eventually but if I decrease the amount of eyeliner I buy per year by three, that’s saving close to twenty dollars! And that doesn’t even include mascara, eye shadows, blushes, and whatever other products you might use! My makeup free days have been stretching my dollar for this month which means more moolah to spend on holiday shopping!

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^^^ Thanks, Ryan. ❤

So there you have it, just a few of the ways that Lil Red is Ballin On A Budget! What are some of your money saving secrets? What box color do you swear by? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Monday Update: Christmas Wish List Edition

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Monday Update: Christmas Wish List Edition

Heyyy everyone and happy Monday! Christmas is quickly approaching and you best believe that my wish list has been written! One would think that I’m relatively easy to shop for – but I’m far from it. I have such a distinctive taste in clothing/shoes/jewelry/literature/movies/everything else that I just need to go shopping for that kind of stuff on my own. So lucky for my family, I composed a list of exactly what I want for Christmas to keep things nice and easy for them. Let’s discuss:

Things that beautiful Sarah wants for Christmas (I really did put that on the list):

    Miscellaneous:

  • Cash money
  • An oil change (I felt like such a grown up writing this one!)

The Body Shop:

  • Vitamin C Skin Boost
  • Nutriganics or Vitamin E eye cream
  • Blusher beads Ref. #63691 (because god forbid someone gets me the wrong shade!) 😉

Target:

  • Cheap moisturizer (emphasis on cheap)
  • Cheap facial scrub (double emphasis on cheap)
  • Box of hair dye (a years worth would be nice!)
  • Covergirl Flamed Out mascara (in the darkest shade of black)
  • Rimmel London Scandal Eyes eyeliner (also in the darkest shade of black)

  Hot Topic:

  • New bellybutton rings (I’ve been wearing the same few pieces of jewelry since I got my bellybutton pierced SIX YEARS AGO…I think it’s time for an upgrade!)

Aerie:

  • New panties!!! (Hey, a girl has needs.)

Victoria’s Secret:

  • New Dream Angels demi bra (Hey, a girl has needs.) 😉

Now you guys are probably thinking, “that’s the most boring Christmas wish list ever”. And guess what, you’re right – it really is. BUT, almost everything that I wrote down are things that I use in my every day beauty routine so it would be nice to be restocked in all of those items. I would love to find a bunch of new clothes for me under the tree, but the fact of the matter is: no one gets my taste in style right so everything is going to end up getting returned anyways. That’s what the cash money is for – some to save and some to shop the after Christmas deals with!

What really killed my charming young at heart persona this year was writing down that I wanted an oil change for Christmas. Haha, but the Little Red Love Machine is going to be needing one soon and the literal last thing that I want to do is sit in a stupid car repair shop where I’ll be:

  • A) Reading old magazines
  • B) Getting low-balled by the mechanic who will more than likely tell me that everything and the kitchen sink is wrong with my car because I’m a clueless girl who doesn’t know otherwise. Well, I am. And this happened during my last oil change and I did NOT appreciate it!

So yes, an oil change that I don’t have to be there for would be fantastic. Dad, I’m talking to you on this one!! ❤

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Christmas Wish List Edition! What is on everyone’s wish list for the holiday that they’ll be celebrating this season? What was the best or worst gift that you’ve ever received? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

The Body Shop Black Friday Disappointment

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The Body Shop Black Friday Disappointment

Helloooo everyone and happy Black Friday! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving doing whatever it is that you do. As I mentioned in a previous post, my mom and I love hitting up The Body Shop on Black Friday but unfortunately due to a raise in their prices, we’ll be staying home today. Let’s discuss:

For forever and always, The Body Shop has run their “3 for 30” deal but this year the price got jacked up to “3 for 36”. Not only did the promotion increase in price but so did the gift that you can purchase if you participate in the 3 for 36 deal. Instead of the usual $25 gift bag filled with product that you can buy, it is now $35. This increase in prices equals sixteen extra dollars that you will be spending at TBS if you decide to shop their sales.

Now, “sixteen extra dollars? That isn’t bad,” you might think and I guess maybe it isn’t. BUT STILL! For years and years I’ve looked forward to shopping the 3 for 30 deal so this raise in prices seems cruel and unusual. Have they not heard of the motto “if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it”? The 3 for 30 promo always seemed too good to be true and now it is just a figment of my imagination. Shameful.

In all reality, the deal is okay if you’re buying more expensive items BUT I’M STILL BITTER!! Their Black Friday promotion for 2015 is definitely not worth venturing out to the mall for. In my opinion, I’ll be better off shopping their deals online when they are running one of their beautiful “50% off site wide” promotions. I plan on waiting until the holiday season is over for a promo like that to happen so I can stock up on all of my necessities as opposed to doing so today.

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^^^ This basically sums up my feelings about the Black Friday promotion price increase. I’m boycotting!!

Please tell me that I’m not the only one who feels pissy about The Body Shop’s new Black Friday deal. PLEASE?! Who is going out shopping today? What store has the best deals? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Letgo App

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Letgo App

Heyy everyone and happy Saturday! Usually I’m not big on “apps” or technology in general (ha!) but I found a handy little download for smartphones or iPods that has proven to be very beneficial in my effort to clear up some closet clutter. I decided to give the app, Letgo, a try after my semi annual closet clean out. The app is basically like an online garage sale where you can post pictures of your items, a brief description, and price, then whomever is interested in buying it can message you to make an offer.

I’m not really keen to going to resale shops like Plato’s Closet because I feel like you never get enough money for your items and they often pass on some really nice pieces. I also felt like I wanted to give making some money off of my more used items a shot because despite their wear they were still in fairly good condition. I like that this app lets you control how much you would like for each product you list and gives your not so “next to new” pieces a chance at going to another owner.

Thanks to the Letgo app, I was able to get rid of five pairs of shoes yesterday that have been sitting in my closet for months waiting to go to a new home. I had a brief meeting with my customer in Starbucks where she looked at the shoes that she was interested in from my listings, picked the ones that she wanted, and paid me the price that I determined. I made some quick cash (much more than I would ever get if I brought them to Plato’s), eliminated some clutter, and met someone who wanted to meet up again to look at more of my items. Score!

I’ve always toyed around with the idea of selling items online but I never knew how to go about doing it. Letgo makes the selling process so simple because your listings are shown to people who are within a 15 or so mile radius from you so it’s easy to find a good public meeting spot that is within a short driving distance for the seller and customer. I drove about seven minutes to meet with the darling lady and her daughter that I sold to yesterday and made enough money that the trip was worthwhile twenty fold. You can’t beat that!

I can’t recommend Letgo enough and you can download the app on their website at: http://us.letgo.com/en !

^^^ It seemed appropriate!

I hope all of you are having a great start to your weekend so far! Has anyone used the Letgo app or anything similar? What was your best purchase or sale story from a resale shop or app? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Trades Of Hope

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Trades Of Hope

Hellooo everyone and welcome to a very special article here on lifewithlilred about a wonderful company that one of my good friends works for, Trades Of Hope. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sarah White to discuss her work with the company and some of her favorite accessories that are offered through her Trades Of Hope party to kick start the holiday shopping season. For those of you who don’t know, Trades Of Hope employs women artisans in third world countries so they can earn a fair living wage to help provide for themselves and their families. Take a look at part of our interview conducted by yours truly and then stick around to see some of Sarah’s gorgeous fall favorites:

  • Lil Red: Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been passionate about volunteering your time for programs that help women world wide. What would you say is the most rewarding part of being involved with Trades Of Hope?
  • Sarah: I’ve always wanted to have a tangible way to help women coming out of poverty but I specifically have a passion for women coming out of trafficking, like many of the Trades Of Hope artisans. I’ve been involved with various programs that help raise money for women, but Trades Of Hope isn’t a charity – these women are hired, paid a fair wage, and are then able to take care of their families in a long term way. Trades Of Hope is an organization that helps women stop their cycle of poverty and betters their lives, I think that’s the best part.
  • LR: If you could say something to the Trades Of Hope artisans, what would it be?
  • S: I think it would just be…Thank you for what you’re doing. Thank you for making these products to support your families. We care about you and we love you…I would keep it pretty simple.
  • LR: You actually introduced Trades Of Hope to me one afternoon over coffee. If someone wanted to get involved with working for the company, what should they do?
  • S: To become a Compassion Entrepreneur, which is what we call ourselves, anyone can reach out to me for additional information! (Sarah’s contact info will be posted below.)
  • LR: Trades Of Hope offers an abundance of beautiful handcrafted accessories through catalog and on their site. It must be hard to pick a favorite!
  • S: It is! Of course I love the Mosaic Clutch and the Mustard Infinity Scarf but out of the jewelry the Julia from Guatemala is one of my favorites. The necklace was made from a young artist aging out of her orphanage and it’s simple but so pretty. If you look closely on the silver pendant the fingerprint of the artist is engraved in it.
  • LR: Are there any items on the site that are considered a fan favorite by the shoppers?
  • S: Definitely. The Eternal Seed necklace is very popular (it’s a Lil Red favorite too) as well as the Haiti Signature Bracelet which is made out of cereal boxes. (The pictures of the accessories mentioned can be seen below, as well as the Kala necklace, which I’m the proud owner of!) Not only does the bracelet help support our artisans but it’s great for the environment as well.

juliahaitieskala

Mosaic Clutch: I got to see this cute clutch in person and it’s even better in real life, if that’s even possible. Sarah is a self proclaimed “bag girl” and the Mosaic Clutch, made by Trades Of Hope artisans in Guatemala is one of her must have staples for fall.

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Mustard Infinity Scarf: This beautiful scarf was made by TOH artisans in Cambodia who have survived acid attacks. Despite such horrific events, the amazing women making these scarves have found joy again in their craft and they truly do it so well. Sarah has also deemed this scarf as one of her must have autumn pieces because of how much she likes the color! My friend has great style and would pair this infinity scarf with a hat of the same color, a sharp dark green jacket, dark wash denim, and a tall pair of boots for a fall OOTD. I’m a fan!

toh5

Sarah will be hosting a party to ring in the holiday shopping season and it promises to be a lot of fun! Anyone who places an order through Sarah’s party has the opportunity to win free or half off items as the “hostess rewards”. The shopping extravaganza will be up and running for at least two weeks, so you’ll have lots of time to make your purchases and maybe get lucky by winning some rewards! Unfortunately, Trades Of Hope only ships in the US, but if you live abroad and are interested in any of the products seen on the site, you can email Sarah who will do the best she can to get you your accessories.

Sarah’s contact info and party links:

I had so much fun chatting about Trades Of Hope with my dear friend and before we parted ways, she gave some terrific ideas on stocking stuffers for the holiday season. Not only does Trades Of Hope offer chic accessories but you can also find items for kids, men, home decor, and beauty. Sarah recommends the soap and chapsticks from the site as a sweet and small gift but she’s partial to the jewelry! “All of the Trades Of Hope jewelry comes in a pretty bag and you can wear it and think of the person who got it for you” she says. I, for one, would love to find the Eternal Seed Necklace under my tree! Sarah can be seen below sporting some Trades Of Hope earrings and a mega watt smile! I see you!!

toh7

Writing about Trades Of Hope was such a blast and I encourage all of you to do some shopping at the links provided above! What is your favorite item on the website? Do you have any questions about the company for Sarah? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Bath & Body Works November Freebie

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Bath & Body Works November Freebie

Hellooo everyone and happy Tuesday! As you guys know, I love receiving my monthly Bath & Body Works freebie coupons in the mail. This month I got a coupon for a free full sized signature item (lotion, cream, or shower gel) so I stopped in this morning to pick up my pay free product. Today I went with a body cream of my favorite fragrance B&BW has to offer: Beautiful Day. My cream was a thirteen dollar value and it was definitely an awesome treat to ring in the holiday shopping season with!

beautifulday

Unfortunately, this month’s freebie excursion wasn’t as pleasant as it usually is thanks to the rudest employee ever but it was still nice to be able to go in and pick out a full rather than travel sized item. If you have a Bath & Body Works around you, I can’t recommend Beautiful Day enough! I’m a fan of anything apple scented and Beautiful Day is perfectly apple-y with the slightest hints of pear and poppies. It’s a flawless combination of tart green apples and sweet flowers and I just love it.

My hoard of free B&BW products continues to grow, which is great because as I mentioned before, they’re going to make terrific little additions for Christmas gifts. Even though I didn’t have the best experience with one of the employees, I still walked away with a thirteen dollar lotion that I didn’t pay one penny for and that’s good enough for me!

I know I mentioned in my Monday Update yesterday that my Trades Of Hope article would be publishing today but my client pushed it back until tomorrow so make sure you tune in on Hump Day for that! Until then, what is your favorite fragrance from Bath & Body Works? What was the worst customer service experience you’ve ever had? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

PS: Click the following link to shop the scents at B&BW: http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/home/index.jsp

Woman Crush Wednesday: Jennifer Aniston Edition

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Woman Crush Wednesday: Jennifer Aniston Edition

Helloooo everyone and welcome to another edition of Woman Crush Wednesday – Jennifer Aniston style! The newly Mrs. Aniston is an actress who I love and admire very much so check out some funny scenes from one of my favorite movies, Horrible Bosses, and then let’s discuss:

Dear Jennifer Aniston,

So I have to admit, it almost seems not right writing about you for #WCW because I never got too into Friends BUT that doesn’t take away from how much I love your movies! From your darling rom-coms to your iconic role as the sexual dynamo, Julia Harris, in Horrible Bosses – I’m a fan of it all! Not only do I appreciate your acting chops that have been on display for the duration of your lengthy career but I am enamored with your stunning natural beauty. Like seriously, you’re almost fifty years old and you don’t look a day over thirty. Women like you who take pride in their looks without going overboard with hair, makeup, and outlandish clothing sets an amazing example for ladies everywhere. You are the dictionary definition of a cougar and I want nothing more than for you to make me your cub. HUBBA HUBBA. I have enjoyed watching your red carpet and out and about style develop over the years and the pictures that I chose to honor you with feature two of my favorite looks by you. I think you’re an absolutely terrific role model and I LOVE YOU!!!!!

ja2ja5

^^^ Jesus Christ – she’s a masterpiece!!!

So there you have it, this week’s newest issue of Woman Crush Wednesday: Jennifer Aniston Edition! Who is everyone’s #WCW this week? (Seriously who is it because I’m running out of crushes!) What is your favorite movie role played by my woman crush? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Monday Update: Liebster Award Edition

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Monday Update: Liebster Award Edition

Hiii everyone and happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend! When I returned home from my boyfriend’s house yesterday afternoon I was so excited to see that I was nominated for the Liebster Award by my friend at A Maple Girl! It was such a pleasant surprise so I decided to make a Monday Update out of it! Here are my answers to all of the fun questions provided by A Maple Girl:

  1. Long nails or short? Long – although I’m currently wearing my nails natural and short at the moment. I had extremely long acrylics reminiscent of talons for over half a year but now I’m giving my real nails some recovery time before I get a new set on.
  2. Red lips or pink? Red!! Haha I would be nothing without my red lips and red hair!
  3. Favorite YouTube beauty Guru? I don’t really have one…I’m not a big YouTube watcher and I’m honestly so set in my every day makeup routine that I rarely switch it up.
  4. Favorite season of the year? AUTUMN!!!! I love the fall so much! Fall clothing is my favorite: cardigans, peacoats, fingerless gloves, hats, and cable knit sweaters – I love it all! I really want to get to a haunted house with my boyfriend soon! We actually might be going to Halloweekends at Cedar Point this upcoming weekend. 🙂
  5. First job? I worked as an actor at a haunted house, Carnival Of Horrors. I was fourteen or so and it was so much fun. I also got to do all of my own makeup which was a blast.
  6. If you could only use one makeup brand for the rest of your life, which would it be? The Body Shop, hands down. However, I would have to cheat and use NYX for my lipstick because their matte lippies are the best!!
  7. Dream vacation destination? This is an easy one – traveling through Europe!!
  8. Favorite book you’ve read recently? I just finished rereading one of my favorite books, Night Film, this past Friday. It’s so fantastic and is in production to be made into a film soon! I liked this book so much that I got one of the quotes, “Do I dare?”, tattooed on my inner left arm.
  9. Why did you start a blog? Lifewithlilred originally started strictly as a fashion blog because I had multiple people tell me daily that I should start one. I have a very unique personal style and I was flattered that people recognized that and liked it, so I figured “why not?” Now lifewithlilred is more of a lifestyle blog, covering everything from beauty and literature to silly ramblings and mental health.
  10. Celebrity crush? I have tons! Haha I love Johnny Depp, Jack White, Julian Casablancas, Britney Spears, and Gwen Stefani just to name a few! For more on my celebrity crushes you can tune in to lifewithlilred every Monday and Wednesday for my Man Crush Monday and Woman Crush Wednesday segments!

I nominate:

Here’s how the award works:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you.
  2. Provide a link back to their page.
  3. Copy and Paste the award to your blog
  4. Answer the questions set by the person who nominated you.
  5. Nominate 5 blogs with less than 500 followers
  6. Leave a comment on their blog to inform them of their nomination.

My questions for you are:

  1. What’s the one beauty item you couldn’t live without?
  2. Who are three of your favorite bands?
  3. The best gift you’ve ever received?
  4. The weirdest food you’ve ever ate?
  5. Favorite childhood movie?
  6. Your favorite pair of shoes?
  7. A story of the worst date you’ve ever been on?
  8. Favorite book?
  9. Do you have any pets?
  10. What is your favorite subject to blog about?

Once again, I’m so thrilled that I was nominated for the Liebster Award and had such a blast making this post. To those of you who want more of me, you can friend me on Facebook at Sarah Mushenheim, follow my page, or email me at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com! How was everyone’s weekend? What is the weather like in your neck of the woods? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Bath & Body Works Freebies

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Bath & Body Works Freebies

Heyyy everyone! I hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend so far! I’ve raved before about my freebie addiction to Bath & Body Works and in the start of this month alone I’ve received two freebie coupons in the mail which I was so excited to use! I got a free PocketBac hand sanitizer and a new travel sized lotion which brings my tally of no pay goodies to ten products in barely over half a year! Nice!

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For my free PocketBac ($1.75 value) I opted for their new Apple Harvest scent. I told the young lady working that apple is my favorite fragrance so I was very excited to try their interpretation on a tried and true fall flavor. I was definitely not disappointed, either! The sanitizer smells SO insanely apple-y with just the faintest hint of spices and it leaves my hands feeling so clean. The nice thing about the PocketBac sanitizers is that they don’t leave your skin feeling dried out like Purell, either. Apple Harvest is a lovely scent for fall and I plan on purchasing some of the lotion if it’s still available during their winter sale!

When I pick out my free travel sized lotion ($5 value) I’m never too picky with my choices. Half of the fun of going to get my freebies is selecting the fragrance and trying something that I might not normally pick out for myself. I went with their Love & Sunshine lotion which I was actually shocked by. It’s a somewhat floral fragrance as you can see by the daisy packaging and I’m not usually a big fan of florals. But the sweetness of the flower scent was balanced out by tart lemon and strawberries and it made for a very fresh and girly smell. Making a selection from the entire wall of travel sized goodies is always a tough choice but I’m really pleased with what I picked!

Wanna know how you can get a stock pile of free Bath & Body Works goodies? Sign up for their emails at http://www.bathandbodyworks.com, for starters. And if you go into the store to do some shopping make sure you enter your email or phone number with your purchase. Every time you buy something keep on adding your info so it updates every time and you continue to receive emails and coupons! I’m so glad I did – my hoard of lotions will make great add on gifts this holiday season and will be a nice little treat for me, too!

So there you have it, my newest Bath & Body Works Freebies to add to the collection! What is your favorite B&BW fragrance? What store do you get the best freebies from? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition

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Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition

Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! So something kind of crazy happened this weekend that is so out of character for me that I have a hard time believing it myself…I took my acrylic nails off. Those of you who are familiar with my blog will know that I am (was) simply obsessed with my longer than life talon-esque fake nails, but something happened this weekend that just made me snap. Check out the story behind my breaking point and then we can mourn in my loss together:

On Saturday everything was running smoothly. I had a great few days with my boyfriend that I returned home from in the morning and my mom and I had a lovely shopping outing in the evening. But then…then a tragedy happened. As I was sitting on my bedroom floor scrolling through Facebook on my iPod something inside of me made me get up from my laziness to go downstairs and work on homework. I reached my hand back onto my bed to hoist myself up and then CRACK, the acrylic on my left hand middle finger broke clean in two.

“Well shit,” I thought to myself, “what am I going to do now”? It was too late for my salon to be open and it’s closed all day on Sundays (the following day). Then all kinds of thoughts began swarming in my head. Should I hold out until Monday and get it fixed? Should I bite the bullet and go to a different salon tomorrow? And then I began to inspect my natural nail that was visible from my unfortunate uh-oh. My nail was brittle, cracking, and dry as a bone. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised…I haven’t worn my nails natural since November of 2014 but I had no idea that they were that bad.

Upon further inspection of my nails, I decided that they desperately needed some TLC. After I made this realization I took a deep breath and began to gather the supplies needed to take my claws off at home – because after I thought about it, I refused to pay ten to fifteen dollars for something I could do from the comfort of my own bathroom. I grabbed a glass bowl big enough to fit both of my hands in, acetone nail polish remover, and nail clippers then I headed into the loo to take care of business.

I sat my sweet ass on the floor of the throne room and got to work by clipping my acrylics down to the nub. This was painful physically and emotionally. My clippers are obvs not salon quality so I had to apply hella pressure to get my nails declawed. With every snap crackle pop of the acrylic being cut off my heart sank deeper into my butt….But finally, the deed was done. I filled my bowl with the nail polish remover, pulled myself together, and descended downstairs to watch Arrested Development as my nails soaked off.

After my TV time, my nails were loose enough that I could pry them off and just like that, my acrylics were gone. I stared down at my bare hands and looked at them as if I were seeing them for the first time. “Jesus Christ…What did I just do?” I continued to gaze down at my nails with a critical eye and all I could see were stubby fingers and the most unhealthy nails ever and I seriously could have cried. After a “you’re a strong independent woman who don’t need no nails” pep talk, I did what had to be done…Apply enough lotion to fill up a bathtub onto my hands, put some socks on over them, and walk around my house performing sock puppet theater. #Ihatemyself

The next few days without my nails were weird, to say the least. Texting on my phone and typing on the computer without hearing my claws clacking away felt foreign and strange. Running my hands through my hair without feeling my talons grazing my scalp felt uncomfortable. Even scratching an itch with my bare nails felt unfamiliar. I was so lost…and then I got used to it.

I took my acrylics off for a reason, which was to get my natural nails healthy and damnit, that’s what I’m gonna do. It will definitely take some time to grow accustomed to life without my long fake nails, but that’s okay. It’s going to save me money to not have to get my nails filled every month and most importantly it’s going to get my real nails back to normal, which is something I’m taking very seriously. #gosarahgo

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition! Have any of you lovelies had an experience similar to mine after taking off their acrylics or another beauty staple you use? What are some tips that you have for healthy natural nails? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah