 Ugh, I feel like there's something in my eye. Hi, good morning. I look a little crazy. My hair desperately needs to be washed, but I want to record a heatless curls hair tutorial. So I'm waiting till tonight to wash it, and I saw a little bit of water on myself just now. I was brushing my teeth. But it is Wednesday morning. I'm getting ready to go out and run some errands. I have a lax appointment, and then I have to make a couple returns, and I'm going to stop at salon centric and exchange that curling iron if you saw the last vlog. My curling iron that I use at the salon died after having it for many years, and I replaced it with a different one, and I tried it out last night, and I just don't really love it. It's not the right size, and I also just don't like the shape and the design of it, so I want to just exchange it for the one that I used to have. And hopefully there won't be any problem doing that because I still have the receipt and everything, and I just bought it two days ago. And then I'm going to come back here and work on more vlogmas videos. Sunday morning, I am driving up to Pennsylvania. I'm going to stay there for a couple weeks with my family for Christmas, and I'm trying to get ahead on videos, especially for the hair tutorials, because I don't really have a good place to film up there, and I'd rather just do it here. And plus the day that I'm going to be driving up, it's like a nine to 10-hour drive, so it's going to be basically my entire day. And after doing the long drive like that, the last thing I'm going to want to do is pull out my computer and have to be editing. And even the first day or two while I'm up there, I want to be able to just be in the moment with my family. So if I can have some videos pre-made and scheduled before I leave, that would take a lot of stress off of me and be very helpful. So that's what I'm trying to do. It's a little bit overwhelming because I really just have like today and tomorrow, because then Friday and Saturday, I'm pretty much working all day, and I still want to clean my apartment because anytime I go out of town, I always like to leave my place clean. Like I want all the laundry to be done. I want the kitchen to be wiped down. I want all the dishes clean because I just don't want like filth to be sitting there for two weeks, you know? And plus then it makes it easier when I get back home to just come home to a clean place and everything is done and I don't have to worry about getting caught up. So I just feel like I have a lot to do over these next couple of days, but we're gonna get through it. And it's gonna be such a rewarding feeling to get everything done and then just be able to go up to Pennsylvania. And after Vlogmas is over, I'm gonna take at least the next like two weeks off. So I'll get a nice little break and it'll all be good. Anyway, didn't really do makeup. I just put on SPF, a little bit of under eye concealer. I feel like that is always like, even if I don't want to put makeup on, but at least putting under eye concealer, it just makes my face so much better. Like it makes me look so much more awake and like put together. And then I just did a little bit of that NYX brow glue, clear brow gel. And then for my hair, I'm just gonna pull it back in a low bun. And I'm gonna put perfume because even if I'm leaving the house looking like an absolute bum, I will still always put perfume on. I will never leave the house without making sure that I smell good. And this portion of the vlog is sponsored by dossier. I just put on the Amberie Saffron, which is a replica of the Baccarat Rouge 540, but it costs a fraction of the price. So that's what dossier does. They make luxurious fragrances more accessible and affordable by offering replicas of well known brand name perfumes. You get the exact same quality, same scent, same lasting power. It just comes in simpler packaging with a different name. If there's a perfume that you love and dossier has a replica of it, why would you not get it on there? You are gonna pay so much less money. For example, the Baccarat Rouge 540 originally retails for over $200, but the dossier version is 49. Their perfume started $29, and they also have colognes and unisex scents on there as well. They also now have home products. So they have read diffusers, which I've had this one for a couple of months now. And it's still halfway full. The Amberie Vanilla, this is a replica of the YSL Black Opium. And that used to be my signature scent, and this smells exactly like it. They also make candles. Their products also make for really good gifts. So if you're trying to figure out last minute gift ideas, I highly recommend dossier. I will have a link in the description to their website. Go take a look. Even if you're trying out a brand new scent that you've never smelled in person before, they have a really great return policy, so you don't have to worry about that. But they have a really good sale going on right now. Like I said, check the description for that link. And thank you so much, dossier, for continuing to work with me. It's been years now, and I truly love their products. You guys know this has been my signature go-to scent for a few years now. Now that I'm smelling good, showered, feeling fresh and clean, I got my clean girl aesthetic going on today. I am gonna head to my wax appointment, and I will see you when I get back home. Got my original baby back. I checked the box on the other one, because remember in the last vlog, I was saying that it seemed smaller? Like I thought I meant to get a one and a quarter inch, but I thought that I got the one inch on axis. I was like, this is really small. And even my friend whose hair I curled, she was like, yeah, these curls are definitely like tighter and smaller than usual. But the box said it was a one and a quarter, and this is a one and a quarter, and they are just, it's just different. And I love this curling iron, because it has the hole here to stick your finger, because when I'm curling people's hair, I like to be able to hold up here. And I love resting my finger in there, because it just makes it so much more secure, and I feel like I can work so, so much faster. And they had another one in there from the same brand that just looked different, and it was all black and like looked so sleek. But I was like, you know what? I'm not even going to risk it, because I don't want to have to go back and exchange it again. So I'm just going to go with Old Faithful. I've been using this curling iron for years and years, and I love it. It's what I'm used to. Plus I had a 40% off coupon, so I actually ended up getting this a little bit cheaper. I'm gonna head home now. I will see you in a bit. Much yesterday. I was just like in the zone trying to get everything done, and I would like clean a little bit, then go and edit for a bit, then go clean some more, and I got a lot done. So my bag is officially packed for Pennsylvania. My apartment is clean, and I am all caught up on vlogmas videos. I have a couple more that I'm going to film later today, but they shouldn't take too long to do. But I want to try the new tartlet tubing mascara that I got earlier this week. It's like a fiber mascara, so it doesn't smudge or give you raccoon eyes throughout the day, and then it slides off really easily with water. So it's never going to stain your skin. And I use the Thrive Cosmetics mascara that's like this, and I love it. I've been using it for months, but that one you can only order from the Thrive website. And then when I saw that tart came out with one, that's like the same idea. I was like, oh, well that's convenient because I can just buy it at Ulta. So I just did one like thin coat, but look how long and separated my lashes look. I love that. And I have been using the Grande Lash Serum every single night on my lashes for the past... How long has it been? I don't know. I showed you guys on a vlog. It's been at least a month now, I want to say. So that's definitely been helping my lashes grow. I want to see how buildable this is, because that's what I really like about the Thrive mascara. It's super buildable, and I can make my lashes look like I have a classic set of lash extensions on. Okay, that looks good. I feel like it's not as buildable as the Thrive one because this one I feel like dries really, really fast. And then once it's dry, it just feels really stiff and it's hard to build up on top of that. Whereas the Thrive one, I feel like stays wet longer so you can really like build it up like crazy. But I mean, my lashes look great. So I'm going to see how this wears throughout the day. But yeah, I'm getting ready to go to the salon. I have two clients today. I've done both of their hair before and then after I am done with the salon, I'm going to come back here, record the last two hair tutorials that I need for Vlogmas, try to hopefully get both of those edited as well, depending on how tired I feel, we'll see. I recorded this heatless curls tutorial last night before bed. So I got to go take this out and finish up the rest of that video. But I'll see you when I'm about to leave for the salon. Here is my hair. It's cute. And it came out right. Like this is the way it's supposed to come out. I just liked how it looked a lot better when my hair was longer, like on the short hair. It's just a little intense. I guess if I do a side part, I feel like I like that better. But I don't know. It's just not, it's not my vibe. So I am going to do a claw clip, call it a day. I was planning on washing my hair again tomorrow anyway because I want to tone it and see if maybe one of my co-workers will give me a blowout. And I also am thinking about giving myself bangs. Not full on traditional bangs, but what I used to have, like a longer curtain bang. Actually, one of the videos that I'm going to record tonight is how to cut your bangs tutorial. So I was going to use a piece of hair extension to do that. So I don't have to cut my real hair. And I'm going to see how it looks on me. And then who knows? I might end up cutting my real hair. I don't know. I'm so back and forth about it. But I'm about to leave. I decided I'm going to stop at Starbucks on my way because I have extra time and I could just use a shake and espresso. That sounds so good right now. And yeah, I could make it myself, I guess, technically. But I also want to get my friend a gift card from there to include with her birthday gift. So I wanted to go there anyway. So I may as well get myself a coffee, but here's my outfit. And don't mind all the craziness behind me. I was washing my thorough blankets. Here's the fit, super comfy John Mayer merch. These pants are from Target. And then I'm wearing my new balance sneakers. Let's go. I'll see you at the salon. This client gets a full head of baby lights to blend her gray. So I did that. And then I toned her. I do 10p, 10VV and 10GI by Redken Cheat ZQ for her gloss. And this was her finished hair. Beautiful, blended, nice and bright, such a pretty blonde. And then my second client, like I said, it had been almost a year. Last time she came to me was in February. So her hair was super grown out. And she was long overdue for a haircut as well. So I did a full head of TZ lights alternating between slices and weaves. And then I toned her with 8GI and 9GB Redken Cheat ZQ. And this was her finished hair. I just got home and I am kicking myself. I knew I was forgetting something. I decided while I was at work, I was asking all my co-workers like, should I cut bangs? Because I said how I was going to do like a how to cut your bangs at home tutorial for Vlogmas. But I was going to just use hair extensions and not actually cut my real hair. But then I decided, you know what? I'm just going to do it. I think it'll be cute. So I was all excited. I was like, yes, I'm going to come home and I'm going to cut my hair, tone it, blow it out. And I forgot my shears at work. Oh, so annoying. My co-worker that's there right now actually lives right next to me. So I could see if she doesn't mind grabbing them for me and then dropping them off because she has to pass here to go home anyway. There was one more video that I wanted to film. So I actually am going to do that really quick while I have this last like 15 minutes of natural daylight. So I'm going to just do that at least. I'll check in a little bit later. That was literally perfect timing. I could literally see the sun setting as I was wrapping up the video. Anyway, I am going to heat up some food yesterday. I had made salmon with rice and broccoli. So I'm going to eat that and do some editing. My co-worker said she can drop my shears off for me. So I'm going to cut my hair. It is now currently 8.30. I just got so much work done. I officially have one, two, three, four upcoming videos already uploaded, scheduled, filmed them, edited them, did the thumbnails, description. I feel amazing. And I am in the process while I just cut my bangs and I just recorded the tutorial for that. But because my hair is curly and I have a bunch of product in it too, so I'm not able to get the full effect. So I want to wash it, give myself a blowout, and then film the end of that video. But I figure I wanted to tone my hair too because it's starting to look pretty faded. And I feel like you can see my natural ashy root a bit. So it's time. So I'm going to do Redken Shadesy Q4NCH. It's just a rich, dark, chocolatey brown. So beautiful. And I mix that with the Shadesy Q Processing Solution Equal Parts. And I'm just going to do it. I hate doing it in the tub and then getting the color, like washing all down my body and staining my tub. It's annoying. So I'm going to do it in the kitchen sink, especially because I have like a hose faucet, so it's a little bit more convenient. So I'm going to shampoo with the Paul Mitchell Shampoo 2 Clarifying Shampoo. I always like to do that before color so that it removes any buildup. I'm going to clip my hair up while it's processing, and then we'll do some questions of the day. This is so much easier to do that when my hair is short. The mascara. Speaking of which, I do feel like under my eyes looked a little bit dark when I got home. I don't know. I mean, you guys saw the clip, so you tell me. I do feel like sometimes the Thrive one does that, but not usually. So I don't know. I definitely need to test out some more. So I just kind of smush it into my hair. It spreads pretty well when you're putting it on wet hair. So I just lather it like a shampoo. Make sure it's evenly distributed. Actually, now that my hair is short, I don't even think I need to actually use a clip. I can just kind of do that. Set a timer for 20 minutes. 20 minutes, starting now. Okay, let me pull up some questions. So at the end of each vlogmas vlog, I am answering questions that you guys leave me in the comments of the previous vlog. So if there's a question that you have for me that you would like me to feature and answer in the next vlog, we'll leave them down in the comments. The first one I see says, I'm also a hairstylist. I'm three years in and I'm feeling burnt out and like I'm hitting a low point to the point that I just want to quit. I was wondering how you've dealt with this feeling in the past. I feel like I feel burnt out at least once a year minimum, but it only got to the point where I was like wanting to quit. I would say there were like two times where I kind of considered it. The first time was only a few months out of beauty school. I was just working in a really toxic salon. I have a story time all about it. I'll link it down below in case you missed it. It's a good one, but it was a terrible time there. And I just felt like I wasn't growing. I was learning stuff, but at the same time, I didn't feel like I was getting the encouragement that I needed. And I just felt like I was constantly doing stuff wrong. And I was like, am I not meant to be in this field? But then I ended up changing salons. And I went somewhere where she really valued education. She valued me and wanted me to grow and get better. And she helped me tremendously. And I feel like I improved so much in such a short period of time. So that was the first time. And then the second time was when I moved down to North Carolina two years ago and I did end up taking a break. I was feeling burnt out and I was at a point where I was like, okay, I'm in a new state now. So now I have to rebuild a clientele, reestablish myself in a brand new area. I don't know if I have it in me and if I want to even do that. It was just kind of overwhelming. So I took a step back and I just did YouTube full time for like 10 months. And then I got to a point where I started to miss it again. And I started by working the front desk in a salon first just to kind of like get my foot in the door, see how I felt about it. Also feel out the clientele down here to see like, okay, do I even want to start doing hair again? And then after a few months of that, I was like, okay, I'm ready. And I've been slowly taking clients more and more. And now I'm at the point where I'm no longer doing the front desk. I am just exclusively doing clients part-time, you know, in addition to YouTube. I feel like I have fallen back in love with this industry all over again. So maybe you just need a reset, whether it's taking time off or maybe like changing it up, go take some more classes, you know, something to re-inspire you or maybe where you're working is kind of a toxic environment. So maybe it's time to look for a new salon. Or if you really feel like you just don't want to be in this field anymore, that's fine too. It's never too late to change career paths. You know, nobody who says that you have to stay doing the same career for your whole entire life. You can change it up as many times as you want, whenever you want. So that is my advice, wishing you the best of luck though, because that's a tough feeling. Do you wear an apron at work? I just graduated a Cosmos school and I always wear one. Also, do you wear gloves when foiling and toning? I do, but I notice a lot of people don't. I never see you use a Marcel iron. Do you like them? I actually really do. I think the curls are so pretty and even better than a wand. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of wands, but I don't use a Marcel iron anymore. I'm wondering, now that I think about it, I'm like, what happened to my Marcel? Because I had a Marcel iron when I was in Cosmetology school and I can use one, but I just like using a regular spring iron. And that's just like what I'm so used to using now. So it's the fastest thing for me. I don't usually wear an apron unless I'm going to be doing a color correction. I anticipate what appointments I have and then I will just dress accordingly. So I know if I'm doing dark color on someone, I will just wear all black. That way, if I get color on my clothes, it's fine. Most of the time when I wear an apron, I still manage to get color on my clothes somehow anyway. But if it's going to be like a messy project, then yeah, I will wear one. And I don't wear gloves when I'm foiling ever because I feel like they would just get in my way. Like I like being able to touch. And I don't see a need to wear gloves because my hands are not touching product at all. I will sometimes wear gloves when I'm toning if I have freshly done nails. And especially if I'm toning with a darker color and my nails are painted a light color. But honestly, I usually don't wear gloves because it just takes extra time to be trying to put them on. And I don't like shampooing clients with gloves on. I just like to be able to feel what I'm doing. So I know it's not good and I know they teach you in school to always wear gloves. Anytime I'm doing permanent color really on somebody, I will wear gloves. But that's kind of the only time to be honest. Oh, and speaking of nails, if you could only wear one color on your nails for the rest of your life, what would you choose? Probably like a milky white color, like Funny Bunny by OPI. That's usually my go-to because I feel like it just looks really clean and fresh. Anyway, I am going to wrap up this vlog here. So I'm sorry, you are going to have to stay tuned till the next one to see... Oh wait, actually. Uh-oh, now that I'm thinking about it, the next vlog is actually going to be when I'm driving up to Pennsylvania. So it's not going to be a vlog. It's going to be a client horror story. So you're going to have to wait a few days until you get the hair reveal. So I am sorry to do this to you, but hey, it's how I know you will stick around. Thank you guys so much for watching. Thanks for all the support throughout Vlogmas. I will be back tomorrow with a new hair tutorial and in two days with a client horror story. I'll see you then. Bye.