33 weird things about me

i just posted this video on my youtube channel. but... it seemed more fitting to put it up here on the ol bloggity.

you know, since it's all up close and personal, with all my secrets exposed....

enjoy. :)

Lipsense Dupes

here's a link to my youtube video if you'd rather watch that instead of read this.

don't know what lipsense is? here's the link to that video.

but basically all of you should know what lipsense is by now (incase you don't here's the quick rundown: it's a molecularly bonded liquid lipstick that doesn't smear, transfer, bleed, feather, smudge, no matter what you do for the entire day, you can eat, swim, kiss, even wash your face and it ain't goin' nowhere till you purposefully take it off.-if applied correctly-) but what you probably didn't know is that there are dupes for them at the drugstore!

yes, i said DRUGSTORE DUPES.

here they are:



i made an entire video where you see me apply one of these colors to my lips, and i give my review, plus swatch each of the colors i own on my arm. (and it's under 10 minutes long!) you can view that here.

but, i wanted to include some more information here on the blog that i didn't share on the video.

mostly, the pro's and con's:

also, here's a picture of the swatches up close.

from top to bottom:
-covergirl 512 "coral sunset"
-covergirl 555 "blossom berry"
-maybelline 070 "on and on orchid"
-maybelline 005 "everlasting wine"
-loreal 101 "rose tattoo"
-loreal 117 "permanent blush"
-loreal 119 "neverending nutmeg"
-loreal 213 "continual crimson"
-rimmel 200 "i'll call you"

and here are those same swatches 2 days later. 2 DAYS. you read that right. and i obviously showered, and washed my hands frequently in those two days. plus, i'm a hairdresser, so my hands are wet constantly from hair washing. and granted, that's an arm swatch, so they wear differently on the lips, but still. two days??

My Favorite, Holy-Grail, Eyeshadows

about 2 months ago, I purchased 21 individual eyeshadows from Makeup Geek. after hearing everyone rave about them on youtube, I figured I should give them a shot even though i'm usually pretty reluctant to buy something without swatching it (which is why ulta and sephora get soooo much of my monies) but, i'm so glad I did! for only 5.00 a shadow these babies are a STEAL!

when I got the package in the mail, I filmed an unboxing video for you cause I was sooo excited. I muted the audio during the unboxing because my little girlish screams were so annoying -I truly was that excited- then, after opening them, I decided I needed to include a little tutorial, and give my first impressions to see if they were worth the hype. and they did not disappoint! watch the video, here's a link.

it's taken me 2 months, like i mentioned earlier, to get this video up onto my youtube channel, BUT... that just means I can give even more of an in-depth review for you. these shadows are officially my favorite. they have replaced all of my other eyeshadow palettes, my top 3 favorite shadows thus far are...
Peach Smoothie
Cocoa Bear
Grandstand

and of course, you NEED a z-palette to put them in, they have 3 sizes, small, medium, and large. i'd suggest getting a large, cause it's not that expensive and you can put any brand of shadows in them, just google de-potting that kind of eyeshadow and i'm sure there will be a tutorial online showing you how to do it. i've de-potted all of my individual mac and nyx shadows into another z-palette that i was given for christmas last year. it's awesome!

The Difference between Hair Types

Learning your hair type and texture is the first step to achieving your dream hair. if you don't understand your hair at it's basic level, then it's extremely hard to get your hair to do this or that style. Here's a little diagram i've created to describe the different hair types and some simple characteristics that usually follow those specific hair types. feel free to pin it as a reference for later!

Today I also posted a video all about hair types; why it is, what it is. I suggest you check it out (here) and learn more about your hair. then, with that knowledge you can better figure out how to style and color your hair in the way you want.

 as always, if you have any questions, just ask either in the comments at the bottom of this blog post, or in the comments section of my video on youtube! Thanks!

In more important news: my ALL TIME FAVORITE DRY SHAMPOO just came out in the BEST scent. seriously so amazing! it's jasmine and pomegranate and smells like the sexiest perfume ever. my husband and i cannot stop smelling my hair! check it out here: http://goo.gl/MpxSKL

4th of July

My brother's birthday is on the 4th. So, he always throws a pretty awesome party. It's been known have the best food ever, and to last basically the entire day. No one is complaining! thanks for getting old so we can keep celebrating you brotha!

I made a short video about his fireworks show from the end of the night, here. (watch closely and you will see the one firework that went off prematurely and almost caused some real damage. luckily only their hair was singed and ears were ringing for the rest of the night.)

Ways to Prevent Hair Loss

I uploaded another video to my youtube channel talking all about hair loss, why it happens, when it happens, and how to prevent it. BUT if you'd rather read than watch a 12 minute video, here ya go!

Tips:

1: don't brush or finger comb your hair when it's wet in the shower. that's when your follicle is the most vulnerable/loose and hair loss is easiest at this moment. 

2. rinse your hair/scalp at the end of the shower with cold water, this will close that follicle back up tight around the hair shaft, and also benefits the ends of your hair by sealing the cuticle (which helps with preventing breakage, and locking the color molecules in, and making it shiny!)

3. clean the hair out of your brushes! this helps prevent extra snarls, tangles or knots from forming while you brush.

4. take your biotin pill or make sure you have enough of it in your daily multi-vitamin!

5. drink lots of water and eat your protein!

6. let your hair air-dry as much as possible, and don't brush it until it's 50% dry

7. don't wash your hair everyday! use a dry shampoo to extend your styles as long as possible! the less your hair is wet, the better! the process of going from wet to dry is the most damaging on your hair. (but... product build up on the scalp can lead to hair loss as well, so don't go TOO long. but that takes ALOT of product. like: a week or more's daily use of dry shampoo.)

Education:

-hair has a growth/fall out cycle. it's phases are anagen, catagen, and telogen

here's an image that describes the cycle:

via

-high stress, a change in medication, going under general anesthesia, and surges of hormones typically cause hair loss about 3 months after the change/event occurs. some stronger cases, such as high doses of medication will happen immediately (example: chemotherapy) but be aware that these events may cause hair loss, and will cycle back to normal once you stop the reason behind it, and give it another 3 months. (the reason why i say a three month time frame is because typically the catagen phase lasts about 3 months on most women) This is the reason why most moms after child birth experience hair loss.

-if you feel like you are someone that just can't get your hair to grow past a certain length, it MAY be because you simply have a shorter anagen phase than most women. (but most of the time, it is due to damage/breakage.)

Hopefully you learned something new about how to take care of your hair in order to prevent any unnecessary hair loss from occurring! and for my recommendations about hair products and for my favorite biotin pill, check out the description box below my youtube video!

Scrunched Hair: the aftermath

By now you should all know that i try to go as long as possible in-between hair washings. not only because it saves me time, but also because my hair is so much healthier when i don't wash it as much! one of the biggest reasons why i had to wash my hair so often before i started using dry shampoo was because i would wear my wavy hair "scrunched" frequently. if any of you have worn your hair scrunched with gel, or mouse, or hairspray, or freaking egg whites, or whatever other binding agent pinterest has come up with lately, then you know that day 2 hair after scrunching is A MESS. it's so dry, and so full of products, and such a weird frizzy, dread lock kind of style. well, in my latest youtube video, i show three different days worth of styles i do to prolong that scrunched look, and refrain from washing!!

it might seem like basic principles to some, (basically the video is just: brush hair, apply conditioning creams and dry shampoo, re-wet to activate curl, and scrunch again) but this is one of the more frequent questions i get asked at the salon from my clients! and because i don't do their hair on "day 2" (or 3, 4, 5 etc) then i don't ever get to teach them how it's done. so... i hope you enjoy! (the products i use are linked in the description box beneath my video!)

and honestly, unless you are someone with wavy hair, that hasn't figured out how to style it on day 2, then this video isn't for you, but hopefully it will help at least one person!

thanks as always!

here's the video:

I Made A YouTube Video!!!

Hey Guys!

I started a new YouTube channel!!!! my first video is all about how to properly apply products at the scalp (like dry shampoo, powders, and root lifters)

here's the link if you want to watch it! (but i suggest watching it here on the official site, it's better quality there.)

I have been working on this project for about 2 months now. i'm so excited to be able to start sharing it with you and getting your feedback!! but first, a little history about how this came to be: I had been trying to figure out a way to get my enthusiasm back up about this blog, and the other social media projects i've worked on in the past. i had so much fun and was doing very well at blogging regularly when i was writing about how to re-fashion clothes, but, now with two kids, my sewing machine gets used less and less.

on the other hand... one thing i am always talking about, doing, and teaching about is hair and makeup! i do it at the salon while i'm at work. i talk about it with my friends while our kids play together, i teach my family about hair and makeup during our family events. it's just always on my mind. but... i didn't want to become another "beauty blogger" because i did not want to have that stigma following me around, i'm usually not wearing makeup, have day 5 hair loaded up with dry shampoo, and am not the skinniest girl in the world. plus, there are a million girls out there already doing hair tutorials and beauty tips. but... doing hair tutorials is honestly only one very small part about the information i feel like i could share. and that's where i feel like i can stand out, and be unique in this over-saturated world of beauty bloggers.

i want to TEACH.

not just show you how to do something. TEACH.

so, teach about what you ask?

well, i sat down and wrote out over 70 different tips and tricks i've learned as a hairstylist. some super nerdy one's like why red dye molecules are the first to fade out, but the one's that don't fade seem to hold on to the hair strand for dear life when trying to bleach them out! (hint: it's because it's the largest color molecule) and other simple ones like how to braid your hair to make it so that strands from your layers don't stick out during the day. i basically made a list of all the things i talk to my clients about in the chair at the salon. questions they have, reasons behind what i'm doing, and more.

now i am ready to spill those secrets to all of you!

i initially wanted a resource that my clients could refer to when they have questions about their hair but don't have an appointment to ask me about it for months. a refresher course of sorts for salon quality hair in-between appointments. but as i started talking with my friends, co-workers, and other bloggers. i realized that this could be a huge asset for more than just my clients, but anyone's clients! so... there you go. that's the reason i started this new side of my blog.

i hope you'll support me in this endeavor by subscribing to my channel and maybe even sharing the youtube video i made on your facebook page if you feel like the tips i shared were helpful!

i'm also going to be posting here on the blog, sharing tips on my instagram more frequently, obviously snapchatting about the behind the scenes process, and even periscoping about it (my username on all of these sites is @valerijones if you want to follow) i really am so excited for all that's in store.

if you got to the end of reading this entire post. you deserve a cookie. seriously.

much love!!!
Valeri Jones

"Escape"

you know every once in a while when your in your car, and everything is quiet besides the radio playing. then in a moment of clarity you hear the words to a song and they turn into a poem instead of just a beat... this happened to me a few months back when i listened to the piña colada song "Escape" by Rupert Holmes. it's a song i listened to often while growing up, my mom and dad love this song. but i had just sung along without really listening to it like i did with all the "oldies but goodies" i appreciated them for sounding different and for having a good beat, but i didn't listen to the words. i left that business for my Taylor Swift and Sara Bareilles songs. but... now that i'm turning into an "oldie but a goodie" i find myself gravitating to the songs from the 70's just like my dad.

with that said, the reason why i love this song is because it is, in a round about way, celebrating marriage! that doesn't happen in music very often, especially now a days. now granted, i know that they are both thinking they are about to commit adultery in the middle of the song, but, when it turns out that the person they are at the bar to meet is their husband/wife. then they realize that over the years there were still things they didn't know about each other, and things that they once had fallen in love with were still inside them but the monotony of life had made them subside, instead of flourishing like it was while dating a long time ago.

garrison and i have only been married for 3.5 years, and there is no way i'd consider cheating on my husband ever, but i can still relate to this song in some ways, i know that i have changed since garrison first met me, and the same goes for him. there are parts of my personality that don't get to re-surface very often because most of my day is spent being a mother and housekeeper instead of my main job being a girlfriend to my future husband like it was while we were dating and engaged. anyway, i would just really recommend listening to the words of this song, i'm sure you've heard it before, but every once in a while it's nice to have a good clean refresher course on why i love my husband, and why he fell in love with me, and why it is still fun getting to know him as he and his personality evolve, and this song does that for me.

here's the link to my favorite version of the song on youtube.

"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"

I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long
Like a worn out recording of a favorite song
So while she lay there sleepin' I read the paper in bed
And in the personal columns, there was this letter I read

If you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain
If you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain
If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape
Then I'm the love that you've looked for, write to me and escape

I didn't think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean
But me and my old lady had fallen into the same old dull routine
So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad
And though I'm nobody's poet, I thought it wasn't half bad

Yes, I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon and cut through all this red tape
At a bar called O'Malley's where we'll plan our escape

So I waited with high hopes and she walked in the place
I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face
It was my own lovely lady and she said, "Aw, it's you."
Then we laughed for a moment and I said, "I never knew."

That you like piña coladas and gettin' caught in the rain
And the feel of the ocean and the taste of champagne
If you like making love at midnight in the dunes on the cape
You're the lady I've looked for, come with me and escape

If you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain
If you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain
If you like making love at midnight in the dunes on the cape
Then I'm the love that you've looked for, write to me and escape

Yes I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon and cut through all this red tape

Bayli's First Christmas (video)

enjoy! if the video doesn't work, here's the link: https://vimeo.com/56470221