Lash and Brow Tinting 101

If you are currently coloring your hair, or if you have eyelashes and eyebrows lighter than your natural hair color, you may want to consider having them tinted. Tinted brows and lashes look amazing because they bring out the color of your skin and eyes without having to wear brow pencil and mascara everyday.

Depending on your states Board regulations you may have a few options for having your facial features enhanced with tint. While some states do allow hairstylists to apply hair color to the eyes, it is not recommended. Here in Denver there are strict regulations on what product you can use. I use Intensives which is a gentle plant based stain that has few reactions. Using hair color on your eyes can result in permanent damage and it is really is not something that should be done. Do not ever attempt to color your eyebrows or eyelashes by yourself or at home. this procedure should only be done by a licensed professional.

I coerced our lovely new Salon Coordinator, Jessica to be my model today for a lash and brow tint. I also did a brow shaping on her. If you pair a brow wax with a brow tint you will get a better over all look.

Here are Jessica's before shots:

Jess has natural blond hair and she colors it dark, also she has an allergy to mascara that makes her eyelashes fall out.

I shaped her brows with Berins hard wax and applied a middle brown tint with a tiny dab of black to get the right color for the brows. It is important to ask your Esthetician to make your brows a natural color. If the tint is left on too long the brows will turn black, however you want them to be a bit darker than your desired color as they fade a bit when you take a shower.

On Her lashes I applied a mix of 3 parts blue black tint and one part deep black tint.

Here are Jessica's after shots, We did touch up her makeup and allow her skin roughly 2 hours to calm down after the brow wax.

Look how happy she is! The total service time should take roughly a hour and cost between $50.00-100.00, I charge $84.00. The overall effect will last about 4-5 weeks although it may have to be done more than once the first time. Ask your Esthetician to guarantee their work for 2 weeks so that if it fades you can have it done again.

If you're in the Denver Area Feel Free to visit me at Allure Hair Studio and I would be happy to give you a free consultation!

-MB

OOTD and "I am proud of my size weekly link up"

After a fun, stressful and busy week I  didn't meet my goal to write 3 outfit posts this week, However I definitely didn't want to miss doing a link up for the week to The Nearsighted Owl  for Rachele's "I am proud of my size" project. I think that this is a such a great way to work on my goal of being comfortable and healthy in my own skin, regardless of what the tag in my dress says. So here is my outfit of the week for the link up!

I really love this Kimono style dress, I bought it for my Uncle Jack-in-laws birthday party in L.A last year and I think it looks fabulous! The fit is comfortable and flattering and anything in teal catches my eye.

Head to toe
Dress: Nordstrom rack
Shoes: Payless
Necklace:gift/ETSY
Earrings:Gift
Glasses:Guess

The plunging back on this dress makes it a little diffrent than other Kimono dresses and it shows off my super old tattoo that is usually hidden.

These shoes are comfortable and easy to wear to work, as I stand on my feet all day. I actually don't really like them with this dress though, maybe its just the gravel that I am standing on but they look frumpy here. I bought these shoes by necessity on Tuesday when I went to the gym with 2 right shoes from 2 different pairs. Payless was the closest shoe store to work. The lady at Payless asked me if I worked at a nursing home? Random.

This necklace was a gift for mothers day from my husband and son. I absolutely love it and wear almost every day. The earrings are real silver and turquoise and they hurt my ears. I really love them but I have a fear that wearing too heavy of earrings will give me old lady ears before my time.

I wore my glasses outside to get a shot of my new cateyes. Its so sunny in Colorado that we usually don't go outside with out sunglasses.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We are going to try and catch The Dark Knight Rises and I hope to write another blog post and get some work done on my guest room as my MIL will be here in 3 weeks!

-MB

And it's hard to dance with the devil on your back...

So shake him off...




My lovely girlfriends and I were fortunate enough to attend The Florence and the Machine concert at Red Rocks last night!

Christen, Nicole, K.J, Sheena, Moi, and Lindsey.

We had a great time, starting with piling all 6 of us into my shagon wagon and heading up early. Christen, who was the ring leader of this event had a secret squirrel entrance that we camped out at drinking margarita otter pops and soaking up the beautiful venue that is Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Beings that I grew up in Denver, I sometimes take for granted the glorious beauty that is our state. As most people know Colorado was rocked by a devastating tragedy last week and it felt good to get out in the sun with our fellow statesman and relax and enjoy the view. If you live in Denver and have never seen a show at Red Rocks, or if you are traveling here it is an absolute must that you come see your favorite band here as soon as possible.

                                                                    View from the line

                                                       

                                                  

                                View from the top of the amphitheater

                                        


After waiting in line for about 2 hours we scored some amazing 8th row seats and thanks to little K"bulldog"J we were able to oust the nasty couple that tried to steal our hard won seats and have a great time. Why do people gotta be rude at public events? In this case all it got them was a tiny little lady up in their business who was not gonna give up! Nice work buddy!

Opening band was the Walkmen and I felt them to be mediocre at best. I did appreciate their jazzy suits. Its nice to see a man in a band in something other than his sister's jeans and a Dirty tee-shirt.

As soon as the sun  set, Florence and The Machine took the stage.

 I managed to get a few shots of Florence as their set started but Truth be told it was so amazing that I out my camera away and just let myself be carried away. It is sort of pet peeve of mine that people pay to see a live show and then watch the entire thing from their camera lens.  Florance Welch is an amazing performer, she had on a dress so stunning that my  friends and I found ourselves commenting on it the entire night. She also was barefoot and clearly having a wonderful time dancing and twirling in stage. Near the end of the set Florence asked for a moment of silence for the 12 souls lost in Aurora last week, and the power of thousands of people holding completely silent was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

It took us about an hour to get home due to nasty traffic, Sheena almost peed in  my car and of course we had to make a run for the border, but we had such a great night! Thanks to my friends for being so awesome and especially to Christen for planning the night and gifting me my ticket. I love you guys. 

-MB

All Grown Up

I always thought that I would be a different person when I grew up. In a literal sense I figured that I would know more, worry less and over all be much much confidant than I was. I fantasized I would lose the little bit of chubbiness my brothers teased me about, my mom did say it was "baby fat" after all. Mostly I figured that I would be a wife and mother. That I would love it and that I would be good at it

I think I kept waiting for the grown up Jami to show up. I always assumed that if I met a man and got married that I would feel more secure with myself. That I would no longer be concerned with things like maintaining my weight or keeping my bills paid. Then of course I met a man and was married. Strangely enough the confidence didn't just absorb into my brain. I felt happy and loved but still chubby. Also being married sets a whole new path of financial obligations starting with the wedding and ending with those sweet adjoining burial plots and 2 for 1 headstones. 

After our prerequisite house purchase I bought a station wagon. I always wanted one because I like their boxy fat look. I felt that the next thing to do was to fill my fat little station wagon with a fat little baby. After half a thought and a few conversations I was pregnant! Crap! Grown up Jami should be arriving any day no to help out with this right? I mean I still have a mental argument with my step dad each night about doing the dishes, and everyone always says babies are a lot of work and Grown up Jami is supposed to handle this stuff with ease!

I remember before I was pregnant truly think that some women were babies themselves always complaining. How bad could it be to be pregnant? I mean sweet little bellies and glowing skin? Turns out that not all women experience such cuteness. I wasn't cute, I was pukey. Not only did I puke but I had a tendency to dry heave when I got hit with a particularly nasty smell. Most notorious were the leather seats in my prized new shagon wagon. Gross. I was also the winner of a decent case of carpal tunnel, insomnia and preecclampsia, and a solid 50lbs. Not the Plan. Oh and by the way, future Jami? Still a no show.

My sweet little baby was born 3 weeks early due to the preecclampsia and after a rough week in the NICU he came home. He was small and cranky. I was still large and tired.  But we recovered, and connected and became a little family. Andrew growing and learning and just being amazing. I started making sure that the house was a little cleaner so that he wouldn't pick things up off the floor. I did the dishes regularly so that he would have clean bottles. When I went back to work i made sure I had time to take of my family and myself, going to the Costco and the gym and now baby soccer. I stopped worry about how my body looked and stared focusing on what it could do, like making a human, caring for said human. I began to eat food that was healthy for my family and that we enjoyed.

Tonight my little family went on a bike ride. I gave my little son a bath. At some point I looked in the mirror and saw what was my inspiration for this post.

 Grown up Jami was staring back at me.


-MB

I am proud of my size

Rachele over at The Nearsighted Owl has been doing a great project/movement called I am proud of my size. Her hope is to show women enjoying their bodies, looking and feeling beautiful all while being comfortable with who they are! One of the reasons I started The Motherbird was to participate.

   I picked up this dress while shopping with my mom yesterday. I felt fantastic and it was light weight and comfortable. All the ladies at the salon loved the print!

This bag is super cute! These were really popular a few years ago and I had put this in storage. Pulled it out and remembered how much I loved the little bride and groom pug.

OOTD
Glasses: Doctors Vision works
Dress: Ross
Necklace; Handmade by Mitzie
Bag: Gift from Maria
Shoes: SteinMart

-MB

5 Favorites

Food stuffs

1. Mexican, all types, any kind, any time.
2.Chocolate, especially Milka bars and fancy organics from Whole   Foods. Oh, and chocolate chips.
3. Soulvaki, with Tzatziki sauce. Either in a Greek salad or a pita wrap. 
4. Cheese
5. Birthday cake with a big ass scoop of ice cream on top.  Gotta let it melt a little.

                                                                                    Movies

1. Gone With the Wind
2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
3. Bridget Jones Diary
4. Party Monster 
5. Julie and Julia

I realize that my list is maybe not as rounded as it could be. I would not say that my favorite movies are the  (BEST) movies but they are the ones that I most enjoy and have watched multiple times through out the years. 




Television
 
1. Mad Men
2. The Walking Dead
3. Sons of Anarchy
 4. Parks and Recreation
5. Greys Anatomy , mostly because I have been watching it for like, 6 years.


 


This was was a hard category for me. We don't watch  tons of T.V but when we do its all programming that is well done and that we enjoy and that equals out to quite a few shows. I limited my list to shows that are current and either on air or in production. 

-MB

OOTD, Most excellent kelly green

I wanted to start this blog right away an Outfit Of The Day, This is one of the things I look forward to with other Bloggers and I needed to get in on the fun. Thanks be to my Birdfriend Lindsey for taking these in the salon parking lot!

I love, love, love this kelly green dress!

I saw this dress in a catalog that normally doesn't carry my size. I was afraid it would be too tight or short, but after looking at it online for a few days I said screw it and ordered it anyway. I always am on the hunt for this color green and it is pretty hard to find. I had plans to wear this sexy dress to an old friends wedding, but when it arrived it was tight, and short and deemed inappropriate for a wedding. i almost returned it because I was a little uncomfortable in, but I embraced its embracement of my curves and we(dress and me) could not be happier!*

*yes, Alex I know "embracement" isn't a word. Using it anyway.

But AHA! I have saved something for you! The back of this dress is AMAZING!

Looks a little twisty here but just beautiful! The only thing I don't love about this dress is that it is extremely thin, panty lines and nipples and anything else show right through. Slips and Spanx included. Also I feel that the tissue thin fabric will shorten its life span so I have only worn it twice.

Paired this gem with some gold flatty wedges and a locket that was tucked ind=side when we took the photos.

Dress: Alloy.Com
Locket: Mom
Clutch:Mom
Wegdes:Mother in law.

I swear my parents don't buy all my clothes.

-MB

Motherbird begins.

Ello! To all of you that may not already know me, I am Jami, owner of that lovely posterior you see in front of you. I am a mother to an adorable son, Andrew

 and wife to a super stud, Alex.

This here blog is to give me something fun to do whilst  ignoring the laundry and dog hair littering my house. I plan to share outfits, recipes, most excellent parenting advise and the occasional penis joke. I am also an Esthetician and make up artist and am looking for an outlet in which to share my Knowledge.

I have recently been inspired by a group of women who blog about Fat Acceptance, Feminism And HAES (healthy at every size.) I am hoping to attempt to use this blog as a way to curb 33 years of body image issues by having my own corner of the Internet where my size doesn't matter.

 I also wanted to start a blog to try something new,  perhaps enhance my tech skills and writing skills, and look at my life in a more creative manor.

So...Here's to hoping that a few people will read this, and even more that I will complete more than this one entry.

-MB
.