Style Lush

Reader Help: Best Towels?

by Lawyerish    

Internet, I have a question:  what are the best towels you've ever used?  

I have the oddest assortment of towels in my house.  We got some for our wedding almost nine years ago that were okay but not quite luxury-hotel-level of awesome (and they're getting fairly threadbare by now); plus years ago I picked up a few at Restoration Hardware that have become downright scratchy over time; and more recently, I bought a couple of Lands' End bamboo-cotton towels that have held up the best, but I am wondering if there's something better out there.

Do I go cotton?  Silk?  Cotton-poly blend?  Bamboo?  Egyptian cotton?  Turkish?  Combed cotton?  SO MANY CHOICES.  

Please help.

(Photo credit: apartmenttherapy.com) 

Reader Help: Eyelash Curler

By Megan

Do you curl your eyelashes? Should I?

I don't currently curl my eyelashes, although I have done so intermittently in the past. I never really noticed a major difference when I was curling my lashes. However, lately my eyelashes seem droopier than usual. Is this an age thing, or am I just becoming very good at finding fault with my own appearance?

I'm willing to add eyelash curling into my semi-regular makeup routine, but I'm not sure where to start. Can I just pick one up at a drug store, like this one by Revlon?

Or, is it worth investing in something a bit fancier. Honestly, even the pricier models all look relatively the same. I'm intrigued by this Laura Mercier model, but I'm not confident that I wouldn't clamp my eyelid in the process.

Help me look like a grown up who's not playing in her mother's make up drawer, and tell me what to do, please.

{Photo credit: amazon.com, nordstrom.com}

How Would You Wear It? Gap Skirt

By Jessica

 

I recently purchased this skirt

in an effort to break out of my knee length skirt comfort zone. It's about mid-thigh length and has pockets, which means I pretty much automatically love it (because of the pockets, not the length, short=scary!), but I can't decide what to wear with it. I initially purchased it thinking I would wear it with the boots my husband bought me for my birthday

and bright/pattered or navy tights? But I also bought some adorable navy blue satin flats that are an option as well. I just have no idea what to put on top.

What would you pair with this skirt?

House Plant Help?

By Jessica

 

Growing up, my living room was filled with house plants. And I do mean FILLED. At one point, there was even a full greenhouse attached to the house through the window in our living room. We built the greenhouse from scratch and I spent days reading my books or practicing my cello surrounded by nature. My current house has not one plant inside and every time I have to pull an outdoor plant in, when threatened by a freeze, I'm reminded of my childhood living room and how much I loved having all those plants.

The thing is, I have no idea where to start or what grows best indoors, do you? I have a lot of windows but usually the blinds that cover them are shut tight. For the love of plants, I suppose I could break out of my cave like existance...unless you know of some plants that thrive in a dark environment? I usually keep the blinds closed because my windows are not the best and it helps with energy conservation, also to shut out the nosiest of neighbors.

 

{Photo: me in my childhood living room, practicing my cello}

Beating my head against the skincare wall

By Lauren

I have always, always had challenging skin. Back in high school, in the worst-skin days, I emplyed a bevy of prescription remedies to banish the neverending pimples. Some combination of Retin-A and something that had to be kept in the refrigerator finally worked, although it left my skin dry and red and sore to the touch . . . a classic case of the cure very nearly being worse than the disease.

Things have improved in adulthood, certainly, but my frustration is mounting that here I sit at age 36, contemplating the unholy combination of fine lines and persistent jawline acne that currently plagues me. There are worse problems, sure, but I've always longed to be one of those women who has pretty skin. 

I think my biggest frustration in trying to find an appropriate skincare routine is that I just don't know who to ask. Obviously any cosmetics-counter employee is going to recommend products from her employer's line. But what if a cleanser from Line A is best for me, along with a moisturizer from Line B and an under-eye cream from Line C?

Add to that the fact that decent skincare products, even many of those from the drugstore, just aren't cheap. I'm willing to spend a certain amount of money to help my skin look better, but I'd really like to know that the products I'm choosing are going to work, you know? I've tried various product combinations, ranging from Oil of Olay to Proactiv to Kiehl's, although I haven't asked a dermatologist for advice in years. I'm just at a loss as to how to deal with aging issues and lingering acne, though at this point I'm willing to try just about anything.

What do you do, dear readers? Do you have a favorite drugstore regimen? Are you a department store devotee? Do you put your trust in a dermatologist? Please help!

{Image credit: nomoredirtylooks.com}

DIY Upholstery?

By Jessica

I'm having an issue with my living room which can be summed up in one word: brown.  We have a crazy tall accent wall that we did with wood, brown of course. We have Pergo floors, dark brown. We have an enormous leather and micro-suede sofa and it's brown (camel and chocolate brown, but still brown). The walls are all tan (GAH MORE BROWN) and we have two chairs that match the couch, still more brown!

See? BROWN.

I do have a bright coffee table,

colorful pillows, and bright prints from Etsy on the walls.

I also recently painted the fireplace

white, which helps, but I'd really like to recover the two matching chairs.

You can see them in the top picture, one flanking the fireplace and the other in front of our entertainment center. They have wood accents and are in a similar micro-suede fabric to the couch. I have no idea if I should paint out the wood in addition to changing the fabric but that'd be easy. The hard part, at least it seems hard to me, is changing out the fabric. I considered taking them somewhere to have them redone for me, but they aren't high quality furniture (they are "good enough") and it seems crazy to spend big money on them.

Have you ever tackled your own upholstery? Do you have any tips or tricks?

 

 

 

 

Reader Help: Accessorize this corner

By Megan

One thing I really enjoy about our home, is that when we moved here last summer, we were a fully established family of four. That helped us know what furniture and room layouts would work best for us, and we bought our furniture accordingly. There's one giant exception to this, and that would be my husband's piano.

There's only one reasonable place for the piano, and it's here, next to the stairs.

We love this piano. It's over ninety years old, and for Christmas last year, my parents had it compeltely rebuilt on the inside. Someday we would like to have the outside refinished, and we plan to have the bench recovered in the same leather we used on the giant ottoman/coffee table that's behind me in the picture. Unfortunately, I just don't love this space.

Trust me when I tell you that there's no other place for the piano. Perhaps, when the playroom is no longer a playroom, we can move it in there. Until then, it must live here. The cabinet next to the piano is also non-negotiable as it houses all of the television related equipment. Since the television is mounted on the wall, all of the wires run through a tube to this location. The only option for moving them would require busting into walls, and we would prefer not to go that route.

So, with all of that explained, help me to accessorize this space so it's not such an eyesore. The painting on the wall and the (nearly invisible) hurricanes are just place holders. These are items that I scavenged from my mom's storage unit, and attempted to find homes for here.

Here's another angle:

Before placing the piano here, we had a chair in the corner. Now we're just not sure what to do. The space looks both crowded and empty to me, and I need the expertise of our readers to help me through this. I think I need something big on the wall above the cabinet, and... what else?

{Photo credit: me}

Help me curl my hair.

by Christina

I've been flat ironing my poor hair into submission for years. I have plenty of hair but it's fine, and a little unruly if I don't blow it out properly and then iron it. But I've been wearing this same look for a really long time. I've had a few cuts over the years but I've always worn it straight. Then, this weekend, my husband said something about maybe trying to curl it. Hmm, okay. The more I thought about it, it sounded like fun. I love my current cut so this would be a fun way to change it up for date night or some random day that I feel like doing something a little bit different. Not an original or ground breaking thought, I know. This is what I want it to look like..

(via hitfix)

It's of Christina Applegate in Samantha Who. My hair is a little longer than hers but still. Super cute wavy-curls. So, how do I do it, use rollers or a curling iron or one of those funky wands that A'Dell asked about? A few of you like those. I own a huge barrel iron and that totally didn't work. Any advice? I have a date this weekend and would love to try it out!

Reader help: Your favorite at-home hair dye

By Manda

Ever since the highlights debacle I put myself through a few months ago I've had to dye my hair to get it close to its natural color and to cover the brassy, brassiness of it all. I now dye my hair every one to two months, depending on how washed out and BRASSY it looks (I'm still pretty bitter. Grow hair, GROW!).

That being said, I've experimented with a few different haircolor brands at home. My natural hair color is light ash brown with some gold highlights and no greys (WEEP). I prefer temporary color that washes out in 28 shampoos. My original hope was that it would stain the bleached portions of my hair and then wash out of the rest, but basically? My relationship with haircolor is going to have to go on a while until this mess is grown out enough to be cut off.

I've tried Clairol Natural Instincts in Light Cool Brown (it was ok ... this is my go-to) and Medium Brown (too much red!). The application is usually pretty drippy and my hair smells like hair dye for a few days. It does a decent job coverage-wise.

I also recently tried Garnier Herbashine in Medium Ash Brown. I actually really loved the texture of this hair color ... it's super thick and creamy and dripped a lot less and my hair felt much more conditioned after I used it. It also smelled really good and I really liked the conditioner that came included in the box. The problem? The color I chose was much too dark (great choice just days before your scheduled family photos, MANDA!) and bled onto my towel for DAYS afterward. I might try this one again in a lighter shade sometime.

I also have one box in my cabinet for next time. L'Oreal Paris Healthy Look Sublime Mousse in Pure Medium Brown. Looked promising ... until I just looked more closely at the box and realized that it's actually permanent hair color. Nevermind!

{all photos via Amazon.com}

I have SO MANY QUESTIONS!

Do you dye your hair often at home? Do you have a favorite brand or do you switch around? What is the reason? Have you used any of these brands? Any help or advice is appreciated as I navigate these annoying waters.

Reader Help: Kindle Fire - Awesome or Not?

by Elizabeth

Ok, dear readers, I need your help, again.  

I am a fan of the "one big Christmas present" method of gifting. I think it actually saves you more money than cobbling together a ton of little stuff, it's easier, and it means I can give my husband at least one of the cool things he's eyed all year long.  In past years I've given him a guitar, a banjo, a J. Crew coat, and a really big gift certificate to his favorite movie store.  One year I stole the list of music he wanted that he'd been compiling for ages and spent three months buying CD's so I could give him the entire list all at once. (We're old, this was before I Tunes.)  

Anyway.  This year I was thinking of giving him the Kindle Fire.  He already has an Ipod Touch (that my four year is always trying to bogart).  An Ipad is waaay over budget, and we already have one old school Kindle that we fight over, but not enough so that we need another regular old plain jane Kindle.  Plus, we share one computer, and my husband is writing a book (I know!) and so when we're not fighting over the Kindle we're fighting over the laptop.  

I thought maybe the Kindle Fire would be perfect - we'd still have our old Kindle to read most books on, but the Fire could be used that way during the times we both want to read something, and if my husband was hogging up the computer with his writing project, I could use the Fire to check my email or shop for shoes or to display a recipe or whatever. And though it pains me to say this, the 4 year old could use it to play Angry Birds when we just need a break from the talking.  (I know, I know, he's only four, he should be taking a walk through the woods or what have you, but cut me some slack here,  he hasn't stopped talking in two and half years.)

Anyway, I just looked at the Fire in person in Target and now I'm not as sure.  It seems a little small to be used as sort of a Faux Ipad and a little too heavy to be awesome to read books on.  And I have already seen that criticism out there, but quite frankly I have no other ideas for my husband so I'm leaning towards getting it anyway.  I just need to know - does everyone hate it? Or do some of you out there love it and totally recommend it? 

Also, he already guessed that he's getting a Kindle (damn him!), so if I don't get him one, I need to get him something else AWESOME, and I've got nothing.  

{Photo credit: amazon.com}