DIY Sea Salt Spray

I'm excited to introduce a new feature on the Gossip Ghoul Blog: DIY Thursdays! In other words, I am devoted Thursdays to tutorials, how to's, and reviews of DIY projects (DIY means Do It Yourself for those of you who don't know). There are a lot of fun DIY projects out there online, and I've been trying them out to see which ones actually work or are worth the time and effort.

Picture from Sephora.com

My first project is DIY Sea Salt Texture Spray. For summertime hairstyles, textured, beachy waves are one of the most fun (think Gisele), and salt sprays or surf sprays are an essential part of that. The product with the biggest following is Bumble and Bumble's Surf Spray, but that's rather out of my price range for a hair product. A homemade option is a lot more affordable. There are a ton of different recipes for sprays at different blogs and beauty sites, but the one from The Beauty Department seemed to me to be the best, easiest, and most affordable option, since I had most of the ingredients already. Thus follows my attempt at recreating their sea salt spray.

Here's what you need:

• an empty plastic spray bottle
• 1 cup hot water
• a tiny dab of water-based pomade (I used Got 2b's Playful Weightless Creme Pomade, since it's made for adding texture.)
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (Just a note: it must be sea salt! Table salt will not work!)
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 3 drops argan oil
• 2 tablespoons leave-in conditioner

First, unscrew the lid of the bottle, and pour the water in.

Next, add the pomade. The Beauty Department says to use a "nickel-sized dab." Just make sure to use one that is water-based, or it won't dissolve.

Third, pour in the sea salt. Be sure to use fine sea salt, since coarse-ground salt will have a harder time dissolving.

Then, add the coconut oil and three drops of argan oil. These, along with the conditioner, will act as a moisturizer and prevent the sea salt from drying out your hair too much.

The next step is to put the lid back on and then shake up all the ingredients so far to dissolve everything. Then add in the leave-in conditioner and shake again.

Voila, you now have your own texturizing surf spray. I've been having a lot of fun with mine. I do Wednesday Addams braids most mornings, and I scrunch in some surf spray with my fingers to damp hair so that when I take out my braids, I have effortless beachy waves. Easy and fun! Tell me how it works out for you in the comments.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Fabulous Tip of the Day: Textured Ponytail

Today's Fab Tip:

"Make second-day hair work in a cool pony by spritzing with dry shampoo and lightly teasing all over. Leave some pieces free (so it's not perfect!), and put hair in a semi-low pony."
-- Taken from Seventeen September 2013, page 112.

I would recommend a dry shampoo with some volumizing properties, like Tresemme's, and of course lightly mist hairspray so that the pony stays artfully messy all day.

Picture from MySupermarket.com

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Word of the Week: Frangible

Since this blog is supposed to help me with my writing, I am utilizing it to enhance my vocabulary, a very important part of my writing, of course. I should never stop trying to improve my skills, after all. Therefore, I am bringing back the Word of the Week. Basically, every Wednesday I choose a word not common in everyday conversation, and the challenge is for me and you readers out there to use it in one or two sentences by the end of the week. Send me your sentences in the comments, or tweet me with the hashtag #WordoftheWeek. Today's word is:

frangible
(adjective)
easily broken; breakable; capable of being broken; brittle; fragile

Example: I never really thought about how frangible items are at work until I dropped a gallon-sized glass jar of kimchi and had to clean it all up.
Example 2: Sometimes I wonder just how frangible my relationships are with family members and friends when it becomes apparent what a disconnect there is between us.

Have fun!

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul

Fabulous Tip of the Day: Blushing Beauty

Today's Fab Tip:

"Powder blushes are a bit faster to apply than creams, because you don't have to blend as much."
-- Taken from Crazy Busy Beautiful by Carmindy, page 172.

This is very true, especially if you use a big fluffy powder brush to blend for a very natural-looking flush. My favorite powder blush is Nars in Orgasm, one of the best powder blushes out there.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Taking The Plunge

Not just warmer weather, but hot weather has finally arrived. Summer is upon us, which means all the magazines and beauty blogs post self-tanner tips and tutorials and skin cancer prevention Q&A's, while those like me who prefer cadaverously pale complexions slather on 100+ SPF and top it off with Bare Minerals Mineral Sunscreen. It also means everyone around town wears tiny shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops, only to freak out when they enter the freezer that is the Asian supermarket and shriek, "It's cold!" Meanwhile, I shrug in my double layer of sweaters and say, "Oh, is it? I hadn't noticed."

My lifesaver in summer. Picture from Sephora.com

It also means that my apartment complex has opened the pool, so I can swim, on the condition that I wear swim clothes. All that leads me to swimsuit shopping.

There are few things that fill me with such dread and Lovecraftian-level horror as swimsuit shopping. The last one I bought was ten years ago. It was the only one piece I could find that both fit me and was affordable, and it worked well for a few years; but it is no longer in wearable condition, even if it could still fit me. The last few years, despite having easy access to a pool, I never replaced it. You see, swimsuits are something that absolutely must be tried on before buying, which leaves me standing before a full mirror with all my bulges and rolls of fat and cellulite on display. I have a lot of issues, and yes, body issues are part of that, which is why I have sworn off bikinis and two pieces. There is no way I'm going to show off my squishy midriff to the world. That, and bikinis almost never have enough support for my ample bosom, except for Victoria's Secret bikini tops. Those have amazing support like VS bras but are way out of my affordable price range and even further out of my comfortable skimpiness range.

This year, however, after seeing so many pretty suits in the fashion magazines (which say that one pieces are in again, hurray!), I decided to take the plunge. I pretended to be blase about it. "My plans for the day? I'm just going to buy a swimsuit and then drown myself in ice cream, vodka, and self-loathing," I told my sister breezily. I made sure to eat a healthy and non-filling breakfast of fruit that morning so that I wouldn't feel too pudgy. I spritzed on a flirty perfume and put Cruel Summer on my mp3 player to put myself in a bright mood, and then I headed to the mall.

Image from Polyvore.com

My first stop was Charlotte Russe. I had seen an adorable halter one piece with ruched sides in a lovely coral at the store previously, and I shop at Charlotte Russe often enough to know I take a size large in just about everything there. I went to the fitting room and told myself not to focus on the negative as I slipped off my skirt. Only... I couldn't get the swimsuit up my thighs. Apparently, their swimwear is sized differently than the rest of the store's clothes, and they didn't carry any XL one pieces.

Since that was my first pick, I was pretty discouraged, but I went to a few other stores and tried to stay optimistic. However, my heart kept sinking deeper and deeper with each failure of a swimsuit. After an hour and a half, I ended up at Target, which had a surprisingly large selection. I found an actually flattering, ruffled, purple suit with shapewear built in, but it was twice what I could afford. I tried on several and picked the one that sucked the least: black with spaghetti straps and a tiny bit of blue and green trim at the v-neckline. I also got a coral coverup dress to slip over the swimsuit so that I won't feel so exposed on my walk to and from the pool.

So a few days ago, when I slipped into that cool water and let the day's stress just melt away, I didn't think about how terrible I looked. That swimsuit felt right in the water, so it was worth all the pain and effort.

And, you know, black is slimming, so there's a plus, right?

Dive on in; the water's perfect.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Any good?

Hey, everyone! How have you readers been enjoying the Fabulous Tips of the Day? Have they been helpful at all? Let me know what you think and what kinds of tips you'd like to see more of.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.

Fabulous Tip of the Day: Spritzing Facial Mist

Today's Fab Tip:

"If your skin looks too dry after foundation, try spritzing it with a little water. Then blend with a non-latex sponge."
-- Taken from Crazy Busy Beautiful by Carmindy, page 66.

Moisturizing is incredibly important. Just be sure not to spray too much, or your makeup may start to dissolve. That's not so flattering.

XOXO
Gossip Ghoul.