Don’t tell my kids, but on my dresser there’s a small bowl which holds all of the barrettes, clips, pony tail holders, and other hair accessories that I find around the house.  I started collecting them a few days ago, and while they still have plenty of goodies left in their bathroom, slowly but surely the quantity is dwindling.  I will be thoroughly amused on the day that they can’t find a single hair accessory anywhere in the house - and believe me, that day is coming.

This is why I don’t spend big bucks on barrettes.  I’m a confessed Gymboree addict, but you’ll never catch me purchasing the matching hair accessories.  Just like the matching socks, they usually disappear after one wearing.  Pointless, at least in this house.

So as you can imagine, special hair accessories must be kept under tight security around here.  That’s why the gorgeous clips we received from Maiden America live here, in my kitchen, on top of the stack of “Mommy stuff” that no one except me - not even Kyle - is allowed to touch.

The girls are allowed to wear these beauties on special occasions, under strict orders that they are NOT to remove them.  While in their younger days my girls had barely enough hair to hold a clip, they now have plenty of hair and much greater manual dexterity - along with apparent aspirations to become hair stylists.  Instead of styling their dolls, they style themselves.  Methinks it might be time for a couple of pixie cuts…

Except I won’t do that because I honestly love how cute they look with these gorgeous clips in their ‘dos.

Maiden America is known for their non-slip hair clips - and I will tell you that these suckers really don’t budge.  Kyle wore one for a whole evening before he realized it - and he’s got short, fine hair.  So perhaps a pixie cut isn’t out of the question after all, since even a military-style man’s cut can hold these clips.

My only suggestion to Maiden America is that they might introduce a line of clips with simpler styles and fewer embellishments.  My girls actually have a plethora of fancy dresses (thanks to my mother, who has great taste to go along with her Neiman’s charge) and wear them fairly often, but I’m pretty sure they’re in the minority.

Oh, and if you check out the Maiden America site and you’re dismayed by the prices (which start around $6-7), think about the money you’ve spent on clips that have slipped out, fallen out, been yanked out, and are now lost forever.  Really, if you’d just bought a few of these beauties to start with instead, you’d have come out ahead.

Check out Parent Bloggers Network for more reviews of Maiden America non-slip hair clips!

When I finished reading Beauty Confidential six months ago, I tucked it into my bag and went shopping at Sephora with Nadine Haobsh’s recommendations in mind. I posted here about the products I’d been using myself and how well I liked them. Now it’s time to revisit my routine - see what’s changed over the past six months and what’s remained the same.

First of all, what am I still using?

Cleanser - Cetaphil Face Wash

Foundation - Bare Escentuals i.d. Bare Minerals

Eyeshadow - NARS eyeshadow in Nepal

Blush - NARS blush in Orgasm

All of these products have stood the test of time. It takes hardly any time at all to apply the foundation, eyeshadow and blush, and it makes an amazing difference in how I look (especially in these postpartum weeks when I would normally expect to look like death warmed over). And they’ve all lasted; I’m just now replacing my initial liter bottle of Cetaphil and my first tiny container of Bare Minerals, and I haven’t even made a dent in the eyeshadow or blush.

What products have I abandoned?

Mascara - Lancome Definicils

Lips - Fusion Beauty LipFusion lip plumper

I know that Lancome Definicils is the gold standard where it comes to mascara, but it was just too much for me. Too thick, too clumpy, too much effort required to make my lashes look natural.

So I switched to another Beauty Confidential recommendation: Kiss Me mascara. It’s a purely lengthening mascara (check the cheat sheet on the mascara display at Sephora to choose a mascara that does what you want it to), and it’s waterproof and smudge proof. Really, it is. The only downside is that it requires gentle persistence to remove it; it doesn’t wipe away as easily as other mascaras.

The lip plumper worked (or at least I think it did), but frankly I got lazy. Lip plumping just isn’t a priority for me, I suppose.

What products have I added?

Shampoo - Aveda Shampure

Conditioner - Terax Original Crema

Perfume - Chanel Coco Mademoiselle

I do like the Aveda Shampure (a Beauty Confidential recommendation), but I have to admit that I’m really smitten with the Aveda Rosemary and Mint shampoo. It smells delicious, and it’s got a slightly cool and tingly sensation - great for warmer weather.

I definitely give Terax Original Crema two thumbs way up. It’s $48 for a liter bottle, but it’s worth it. Plus, you don’t need much for a good application. When my hair was longer, I used two pumps; now I only use one. The liter bottle lasted for the past six months.

Coco Mademoiselle is just yummy. I love perfume, but I always forget to put it on. Now I’m making a conscious effort to do so, and it’s become part of my routine.

Finally, what products do I include in my routine that aren’t Beauty Confidential recommendations, but I love them all the same?

Day Moisturizer - Philosophy When Hope Is Not Enough spf 20 and Turbo Booster C Powder

Night Moisturizer - Philosophy Hope In A Jar

Day Eye Cream - Philosophy Dark Shadows

Night Eye Cream - Philosophy Hope In A Tube

Face Primer - Philosophy The Present

What can I say? I love Philosophy’s skin care line. It works for me.

My day moisturizer, When Hope Is Not Enough, isn’t at all greasy, and it really provides great sunscreen coverage - which is important every day all year long, especially at altitude. My night moisturizer, Hope In A Jar, is light and fluffy and absorbs quickly. Personally, I can’t stand heavy creams on my face, even at night, so this one is perfect for me.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I hadn’t been using eye cream consistently until last fall. Even so, after only six months, I can see a difference. I don’t look ten years younger, but the wrinkles around my eyes are greatly diminished.

Finally, I love The Present for those days when I don’t want to put on makeup - I’m going to the gym or out hiking or biking, and it would look kind of silly to get all gussied up just to sweat it off. The Present provides an additional layer of sunscreen, and it evens out my skin tone and eliminates shine.

While finding the right products has been helpful, the greatest result of having read Beauty Confidential is that I’ve established a routine, and I stick to it. Consistency is the key - to great hair, great skin, and feeling good about how I look.

Oh, and one last recommendation? Don’t bother with the brick and mortar Sephora. Order online instead; you’ll get more free samples, and you won’t have to contend with the snooty salespeople who sigh heavily as they deign to ring you up.

I haven’t worn makeup regularly - beyond a touch of eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick - since my freshman year of high school. No kidding, the last time I wore foundation every day was when I was fifteen. I don’t read fashion and beauty magazines, not even while I’m waiting for my foils to process.

I do take steps to camouflage and/or prevent signs of aging. I wear moisturizer with sunscreen every day. I apply lip balm, hand cream and night cream (when I remember to wash my face) before bed.

And I do spend time and money on my hair - cuts and highlights and products, even a professional quality hair dryer made in Italy.

But makeup? Too much trouble.

So it doesn’t seem likely that a lazy girl like me would be interested in a book like Beauty Confidential, right?

Au contraire! Beauty Confidential is perfect for lazy girls like me. I don’t want to read through issue after issue of a half-dozen magazines, trying to extract what may or may not work for my skin, my hair, my coloring. For me, that’s not entertaining; it’s excruciating.

When did I know I would love Beauty Confidential? When I got to page 16 and read the section titled “The Lazy Girls Club” - all about how to condense makeup into a ten minute routine (and what products to use - bonus!). Now I’ve incorporated products from elsewhere in the book, as well as products that I already used, into my own ten minute routine:

Cleanser - Cetaphil Face Wash

Gentle and effective. Much better than any other cleanser I’ve tried because it leaves my skin squeaky clean without overdrying it.

Moisturizer with sunscreen - Philosophy When Hope Is Not Enough

SPF 20 (I think), light and absorbs quickly. One of the first lessons I learned upon moving here is that I can’t go without sunscreen, no matter how little time I spend outside, nor what time of year it is.

Foundation - Bare Escentuals i.d. Bare Minerals

If you hate foundation the way that author Nadine Haobsh and I hate foundation - sticky, gloppy, dirty, germ-ridden yuck that it can be - then give Bare Minerals a try. Until I tried it myself, I thought Nadine was a bit obsessive in her adoration of Bare Minerals. Now I fear that I may become similarly obsessed.

It feels like you’re putting absolutely nothing on your face, just making circular motions with a big fluffy brush, but the results are incredible. It doesn’t smudge or smear or require touch-ups. It’s foundation that I’d actually wear in midwestern summer humidity.

Mascara - Lancome Definicils

I prefer lengthening mascaras; volumizing formulas make me feel as if my lashes are full of clumps. Nadine notes that you should wipe off excess product from the brush with a tissue before applying - good advice that I’d actually first heard several years ago. And even though I really like this product, I still comb through my lashes afterward to separate them and remove excess mascara.

Eyeshadow - NARS eyeshadow in Nepal

I hadn’t worn eyeshadow in at least fifteen years. Okay, maybe ten - I think I wore some on my wedding day.

Great color, easy application (I actually use my fingers as Nadine suggests, and it works), and it doesn’t crease.

Blush - NARS blush in Orgasm

Oh my. The name says it all.

This color is light and subtle, and like the NARS eyeshadow, it applies easily and lasts. I did pick up a Sephora blush brush, as my old all-purpose blush brush has seen better days.

Lips - Fusion Beauty LipFusion lip plumper, Clinique Black Honey gloss

The lip plumper is just like a gloss, except it’s clear. I apply it before bed and in the mornings, and I use the Clinique gloss during the day. These glosses are not like the drugstore versions; the applicators are sturdier and the glosses themselves are thicker.

Does the lip plumper work? I don’t know; it seems to. If nothing else, I dig the tingly sensation.

What did I disregard? Concealer. I hate concealer. I bought the L’Oreal True Match Super Blendable concealer that Nadine recommends, and while it’s an improvement over the Revlon concealer I’d tried most recently, I still hate it. Not enough of an improvement to justify the effort.

Not only has Beauty Confidential prompted me to make myself a bit more presentable before leaving the house each morning, it’s convinced me that nightly skin care should be just that - nightly. So now I remove my eye makeup (old standby is Neutrogena eye makeup remover), wash with Cetaphil, and use my Philosophy night cream (Hope in a Jar - I prefer it over When Hope Is Not Enough, which feels kind of heavy for me) and eye cream (Eye Believe - it hasn’t eliminated my sunken eyes each morning, but they’re looking better) - every single night.

Is it silly to start a new beauty routine now, being pregnant? Actually, I think it’s the perfect opportunity. I’m not spending money on clothes, and I’m certainly looking for ways to improve my appearance - namely by drawing attention away from my lower half. And it’s always a good idea to take care of your skin.

Will I keep up with it once the baby comes? That, I can’t say. I fully intend to keep up with the skin care, and it sure doesn’t hurt to have an arsenal of cosmetics that I actually enjoy using. Who knows? The dark circles may get to be bad enough that I’ll gladly break out the concealer in addition to all the other goodies.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy looking pretty. From the neck up, anyway.

When I’m cleaning, I like to feel as if I’m really working at it, or else I’m not convinced that I did a thorough job.  I don’t go for the self-propelled vacuum cleaners, or the shower mists, or the magic sponges.  Give me a good old cellulose sponge and a can of Ajax instead.

Likewise, I tend to apply the same “scrub it ’til it shines” approach to myself.  And over the years, I’ve discovered that body parts - especially teeth and gums - don’t respond well to the Ajax approach.

So I’ve tried to be more gentle while brushing.  It does seem to have helped slow the recession of my gums - which is a relief, considering how much I look forward to a third round of gum surgery - but I still don’t feel as if the surfaces of my teeth are as clean as they should be.

Obviously, it was high time that I tried an electric toothbrush.

The Oral-B Triumph with Smart Guide (available in stores September 2007) arrived on my doorstep, and I took it right upstairs to hook it up and charge it up.  It comes with a base where you charge the brush and can store additional brush heads inside.  But the really cool part is the wireless display that adheres to your mirror.  It shows how long you’ve been brushing (even gives you a signal after every thirty seconds so that you can move on to another quadrant of your mouth), notifies you when it’s time to replace your brush head, and even flashes a warning if you’re applying too much pressure to your gums (score!).

All of which is all very well, but the best part is how my teeth look and feel after brushing.  Honestly, it’s like a professional brushing - but without the gross, gritty toothpaste they use at the dentist’s office.  My teeth feel totally slick and smooth, and they actually shine.  And while I don’t struggle too much with stains, since I don’t smoke or drink red wine, I expect this brush would really help those who do.

I’m sold on electric toothbrushes now, and I’m especially sold on this one.  No more manual brushes for me.  And if I can be converted, then I’ll bet you can be too.

Much of my undergraduate coursework focused on microbiology, and the two most unnerving classes I ever took were Human Parasitology and Food Microbiology.  While I was fairly disgusted by much of what I saw, it certainly did convince me to take precautions to protect myself - and now my family too - against germs.

That said, I hate anti-bac gel.  It smells funny, it feels funny, it dries out your hands, and it leaks.  And for Pete’s sake, would someone please explain why there are anti-bac gel dispensers alongside soap dispensers and sinks in restrooms?  A quick swipe of anti-bac gel does not absolve you of the responsibility to WASH your hands after using the restroom.  And if you’ve already washed thoroughly and you don’t aspire to create super-germs, then why do you need the gel?

We moved to Denver nearly two years ago, and we’re still adjusting to the aridity of the climate.  It’s especially hard on my girls’ skin, especially in the winter.  Anti-bac gel is out of the question; regular handwashing (with hand lotion applied afterward) is our routine.

But I took the girls - and some CleanWell hand sanitizer - to the zoo on Monday.  I love the zoo, but let’s be honest:  it’s gross.  Nearly everything is outside, so it’s covered in grime.  Kids cling to the guardrails and press their noses against the glass.  And when you do run across a restroom, you really don’t feel any cleaner even after you wash your hands.  Other than Disney World, I can’t really think of a better place to try out a new hand sanitizer.

I’ll admit it; I’ve been converted.  This stuff is great.

It doesn’t smell funny.  It doesn’t feel funny.  It doesn’t dry out your hands - ask my older daughter, whose hands get dry and itchy thanks to mere handwashing - and the pump spray bottle and sealed towelettes eliminate leaking entirely.

Count me in with the rest of the anti-bac crowd, because I truly don’t see any reason NOT to carry and use CleanWell.

Check out the rest of the CleanWell reviews, courtesy of our fantastic bloggers at The Parent Bloggers Network.