Cheap Friday: Hair Flower

The Icing $7

Ok.  I'll admit it.... I shopped at The Icing today in Penn Square Mall.  It's full of tacky & trendy jewelry & purses but they have some legitimate gems there.   I signed on to Summer Camp Music Festival next weekend and I needed some cheap hair accessories that I could lose/ruin/combat crazy hair.  I won't talk of what all I bought (think pink & blue hair extensions) but this barrette will translate to every day life if it survives the trip.  

I found this guy in the back with many other fake floral hair clips.   It's an off-white flower with a secure hair clip attached.   I figured it will look cute pulling back sweaty bangs or stuck on the side with some beachy waves.  We shall see how it goes! 

Cheap Friday: L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion

$8

I adore suntans.  Absolutely.  But the skin cancer & early aging that come along with sun bathing worries me a bit.  Also, I work 40 hours a week and don't necessarily have the time to bake by the pool.  My Saturdays and Sundays are incredibly precious to me.   Spending them half naked covered in sweat (well to some people that sounds awesome) isn't something I'm interested in.  I would rather be sewing, cleaning my house or exploring Netflix in my air conditioned living room. 

For the past two years (or maybe 3) I've been a HUGE advocate for L'Oreal's sunless tanning line.   The Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion is my absolute favorite and looks beautiful after the first application.  The tint shows you where the lotion is AND makes you sparkly.   I like to use it after a shower on a Friday night and then once again on Monday or Tuesday to keep the color during the week. 

At 8 bucks and maybe 10 applications, it's a total steal.  (I also think they're on sale at the May and 50th CVS right now).  

NOTE:  Like all sunless tanners, you will start to see the color flake (especially between your boobs where your bra rubs all day)...It's weird.  It sucks.  But just apply again and it will camoflauge it.   Much better to have slightly splotchy cleavage than freckles and wrinkles.  

Cheap Friday: PictureShow App

$2.00

In an era of vanity & camera phones, Instagram singlehandedly popularized the self portrait.  With its dozen or so filters, it turned us into amateur Warhols & food photographers (what's with all the brunch pics?).   One of my favorite apps to make yourself look far more interesting than you do is the PictureShow app.  You have endless editing options like cropping, light leaks, and retro photo frames.   My favorite option is the random photo editor which uses pre-set combinations to transform your previously average photo.  You never know what you're going to get but they're all pretty rad.  Here are some examples.