I'm still alive!

I have not abandoned everyone! I have just had ZERO time to post this last week. Christmas is kicking my butt and I am sad to say I will be excited when it is over. I have so many cool posts in the works for when I come back! In the meantime, I would hate for my The Nearsighted Owl sponsorship to go to waste... so, I would like to put a call out for anyone out there wanting a little extra exposure! I would be more than happy if anyone would like to guest post within the next week. It can be anything... beauty product reviews, tutorials, DIY... Just email me at emilyannhc@gmail.com.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

PS- totally painted a portrait of my friend's ferret for her present this year. Now to get my butt in bed since I have the pleasure of being at work at 8 a.m. on CHRISTMAS EVE.

DIY Hair Mask.

Wow, you guys... this week has been hectic! Sorry for neglecting my little blog. The holidays are rough this year with Pappy being in the hospital. I just hope he can come home soon. I miss sitting pulling up in his driveway and seeing him tinkering with some antique in his shop. So, again I apologize if my posts are sporadic.

My hair takes a lot of abuse. I mean a lot. My ends are pretty chewed up and I experience quite a bit of breakage. I am constantly using deep conditioners to try to keep my split ends from going into my good hair. As I stated in a recent post, I have been using coconut oil as a treatment and I have seen amazing results. Earlier tonight I was digging around in the refrigerator and came across an avocado that looked like it had seen better days. I decided that, since it probably would never be eaten, I would do the logical thing... which would be to smash it up and slap it on my head.

I then decided that my avocado needed a bit more oomph. I ran to my bathroom and grabbed my little bottle of jojoba oil (also.... I just started using this for acne. Great results! More on that later!) and my coconut oil. Bam! DIY hair mask!

The first thing I did was mix a bit of the jojoba oil and the coconut oil up in a bowl and I nuked it for 15 seconds to get it nice and warm. I slathered that on, focusing mainly on my ends, and then combed it through. The hot oil opens up your hair shaft, meaning that the mask will penetrate better. Next, I mashed up my avocado into the bowl... folks, you are going to really want to smash this. Just when you think it is good and mushy smash it some more. Take out all your aggression on the poor avocado. I did not listen to my own advice and it was way messier than it had to be. I will know better next time!

Next I poured a bit more oil on top of the avocado. I would say 2-3 tablespoons of each. I mixed it all together and applied it onto my dry hair and worked it through. Like I said, it is messy, so I did it over the bathroom sink. I threw my oily mess of hair into a bun on top of my head and wrapped my hair in a plastic bag. The plastic bag not only kept my hair mask from getting on the furniture, it helped trap the heat from my scalp in and made the mask work better.

I left the mask on for about an hour before shampooing out in cool water. I had to shampoo twice because, while I have a ton of hair, it is fine and tends to get oily quickly. If you have dry, coarse hair you may only have to shampoo once. I conditioned it like I normally would. Then something amazing happened...

I combed my hair out after. Usually my freshly washed hair is a rats nest, but the comb glided through with ease. I was happy, but I figured this meant my hair would be a grease ball after. Nope! I let it air dry most of the way and finished it with the hair dryer. My hair was amazingly soft and shiny. My split ends were smoothed down and barely noticeable. No expensive hair treatment I had used had ever given me such amazing results. This is now my go-to hair treatment!

Do you have any DIY hair treatments you do?

Beauty for a Bargain: Coconut Oil

Today's Beauty for a Bargain is not something that I would have originally called a "bargain"... I remember hearing people singing the praises of coconut oil. I went to Wal-Mart and excitedly hunted some down. When I saw how small the tub was for the price, I decided to not get it. I think it was around $6 for 4 oz. Call me cheap, but at the time that seemed like a tiny bit of product for the price.
A few weeks ago Zach got me an Amazon giftcard and I bit the bullet and purchased some. I instantly fell in love. It has SO many uses. For example, I heated some up (it comes in a solid form until you melt it down) and coated my hair with it. I threw my hair up in a bun and Zach and I watched a movie on Netflix before I shampood it out. My hair has never felt better! This is in comparison to some of my more expensive hair treatments. None of them have ever made my hair so manageable and soft. I could actually run my fingers through it, which I can NEVER do. It also seemed to help my split ends. Now, don't get me wrong, it isn't possible to fuse together hair that is split. All those products claiming to "seal" them are lying. However, coconut oil did smooth them down and I can see it preventing them from getting worse, meaning I can go longer between trims.

Next I used this on my body after getting out of the shower. Holy moses! My skin was ridiculously soft! I couldn't stop touching it. Usually I am ashy and itchy even after using baby oil and lotion. With this, I can even skip a day or two and my skin stays soft. I haven't had any reactions to it, either. I even mixed a vanilla fragrance with it, which is usually a no-no for my super sensitive skin. No issues at all. Just skin as smooth as silk.

Coconut oil is also great for chapped lips! I just rub a bit on and then once it sinks in I put my normal gloss on. It is an amazing makeup remover, too. Especially on my eyes. No burning or stinging at all. I rubbed it on my hyper-pigmentation on my cheeks and it calmed down the redness almost instantly. My acne scars seemed to fade, too! However, I tried to use this all over as a moisturizer and it was too much. I had a few cystic zits, but they healed up almost immediately. So, maybe it's not the best if you are acne prone like me. I hear that if you get the unbleached kind it is great for acne, though. Maybe one day!

Hope y'all are having a great week. Sorry for being a bit MIA. Thanks for all the kind words about Pappy. We have had a very scary week, which is part of the reason I have not been posting as much. His kidneys are functioning again, but he is very weak and has lost a lot of weight. Up until yesterday he was talking a bit out of his head. They moved him temporarily to a nursing home, which is very hard for me to see, but I know it is necessary for him to recover. He seemed more like himself when I went to visit today, though. He even drank some of a milkshake I snuck in for him. :) Let me tell ya, I adore that man.

Dinair Airbrush Makeup System Review

So, today I received my Dinair Personal - Pro Kit and rushed in the house to tear open the package. Now, this sort of thing is not normally up my alley since I am a huge bargain hunter, but since I am planning to use it on clients later hopefully it will pay for itself.

My kit includes-
4 Foundation Shades, 1/4 oz.
Pro Beauty Airbrush
Pro Compressor
(All Speed, 16 Colors)
Moist & Dewy Moisturizer
Easy to Learn DVD
$5 Dinair Dollars
BONUS
4 Shades, 1/4 oz.
Designer Stencil Set
Sample Concealer
Facial Tanner, 1/2 oz.

This is the concealer sample it came with... this is some seriously great concealer. Wow. Not drying at all which is great for me since I have dry skin. Although I am 20, I have wrinkles under my eyes which have been there for as long as I can remember and look worse depending on how bad my allergies are. Usually they are pretty bad and concealer ends up settling into the lines or makes them look worse if it is too dry. This concealer glided on smoothly and only settled a little. However, the sample was way too light and that is saying something since I am pretty dern pale. I would totally purchase some of this in my shade, though!

These are the foundation shades it comes with. I chose the shades in the light range when I purchased my kit. I thought I was somewhere between "vanilla" and "alabaster", but both were a bit too light on me. "Alabaster" is also way too pink (though all the foundations look yellow in the pic) on my skintone. The bottles are pretty small, but they last a while considering it only takes 6-8 drops to do your whole face.

These are the bonus shades I received. I have only used the "peach beige" one so far as a blush. Not too sure what I will do with the other shades.

It also comes with instructional DVDs... which I didn't watch... and practice papers... that I didn't use. Oops!  I will eventually.

The airbrush system itself. I got mine in black since I plan to use it on clients and black tends to look more "professional"... but you can get it in a ton of different colors and prints!

ALSO! It came with a face tanner which I will probably never use. It also comes with this awesome stuff called "moist and dewy" that you can either mix with your foundation or spray on the apples of your cheeks for a dewy finish. It is rad if you have dry skin like me! There were also three eyebrow stencils that I have yet to use since I don't have anything my shade to do my brows with.

And here is a silly picture of me. I should have taken some actual pics, but I will another day. I plan to do a tutorial as soon as I get my laptop back from being fixed. As you can see, the foundation is a bit too light/pink on me which is emphasized by the flash. It covers up my acne pretty well, which I like. Overall I am really, really satisfied with my purchase. My only issue with the foundation is that it did look a bit cakey on me, but I have read that this is a common complaint with dry skin. The first layer I did was just the foundation, but then I tried it with the "moist and dewy" mixed in. I think that if I had just mixed the two to begin with my foundation would have looked much better. I plan to try again tomorrow!

P.S.- I am participating in a blog hop! Head on over to Mayra's blog to check out all my awesome hosts and co-hosts. :) Also, check it out if you are an up-and-coming blogger and feel free to participate.

I am having issues right now putting up the button and linking to the hosts right now... not sure if it is my internet or if I am doing something wrong. I will try to have this fixed shortly. Sorry, y'all!

Winter Wonderland: Outfit Inspiration.

I have a confession to make... I am horrible at styling my own outfits. There, now you know. My whole life has been spent in t-shirts and jeans. I used to secretly lust after pretty vintage-inspired dresses, but I was too shy to actually wear anything out. To some people, wearing vintage pieces or quirky vintage-inspired outfits doesn't seem like a big deal.

In my town, people don't "get" it. When you are fifteen and sixteen and you are already struggling with your self-confidence, it isn't easy. (Although I did go through some very interesting "scenester" phases, but who didn't?)

Two years ago I began my love affair with dresses. It has steadily grown. I am still trying to get past the whole "dress, leggings, boots/flats" rut that I have been in for the last year or so. I don't even own any jewlery minus a few necklaces and a Pandora bracelet. That is why I am always flocking to sites like Polyvore to get inspiration. A few months ago I shared my fall inspirations.

So, here are my inspirations for winter! 

woman of one's dreams by maxi888 featuring wool coats

Vintage by siriniti featuring a knit cardigan

Vintage Santa Baby by alynncameron featuring a hooded cape

Cream winter by wantedfanxxx featuring lip makeup

Winter Weekend by allib4sho featuring mcq alexander mcqueen

Winter Walk by jangold featuring mini satchel handbags

Winter Wonderland by coolitdown featuring a lace dress

I also just wanted to say a big thank you to those who sent us happy thoughts. Pappy is looking better and was wearing his glasses and talking more today.:)

Heartbroken.

I took these photos last year as a surprise to my mom for Christmas. This would be my amazing grandparents and, as far as I know, they have never had pictures made of them that weren't just shot at family gatherings.

I love my grandparents. My Mammie is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. My Pappy is the best grandfather and father around (sorry, I am kind of biased.) and despite the fact that he is not a man of large stature he has always seemed strong.

Sometimes I think our hearts were all made of stick glue and elbow macaroni. We all have some form of issue. My little brother had open heart surgery at three months old, I had surgery at 17, my mom and my aunt have rhythm problems, and Pappy has heart disease. It has gotten so bad that his belly is constantly full of fluid.
Friday he went in to have surgery to fix three hernias. Come to find out, they weren't nearly as big as we had feared. The fluid in him was pushing them out and making them appear worse. Everything went well and they were going to remove some of the fluid later. We all breathed a sigh of relief. He even joked with me a little when I went to see him after his surgery. He smiled and said, "Magoo!"... that is what he has called me since I was born. "Where are you going?" I told him we were leaving because he needed to get some rest. He said, "Oh, but I just got here!" I was happy to hear him joking. His color looked better.
Sunday morning I wake up to a text from my cousin. Pappy had started bleeding and they were taking him back to surgery. His blood count was really low and his kidneys weren't functioning. I ended up going in the hospital in the same clothes I wore the night before and I stayed until last night. He was stable when I left.
This morning they moved him to intensive care. His kidneys are not functioning. He is really uncomfortable. He can't lie down because he feels like he can't breathe from all the pressure since nothing is leaving his body.

Y'all, I am heartbroken.

I am heading to St. Thomas in Nashville as soon as Zach gets off work.

I really, really need him to get through this.

So, please keep my grandpa and my family in your thoughts/prayers/meditations. We could use some good vibes!