DIY Beauty

Anything But Mid is hosted by Amy Edwards and Whitney Stropp. Neither host is a doctor and nothing here is medical advice. Lightly cleaned for readability.

Whitney: I'm Whitney.

Amy: And I'm Amy.

Whitney: And this is midlife.

Amy: Which are anything but mid.

Whitney: That's right.

Amy: All right, today's topic, drumroll right on mic, okay. Cool. All right.

Whitney: Well, it's a drum roll, but I did it down here.

Amy: Yeah, you did. Today is DIY beauty hacks and things that we like to do ourselves.

Whitney: Tricks tips of the trade. I mean, but, yeah, not our trade, but, yeah.

Amy: What made you want to do this? Is it because you DIY?

Whitney: I don't DIY DIY See, I can't even say it. I don't do a lot. The things that I do, I do consistently. But really, I I feel like there's a lot of beauty hacks and trends. Honestly, I was thinking about you because I feel like you're always put together. You know, for my birthday, you gave me some really cool makeup stuff that that I thought was like

Amy: I gave you the liquid NARS Orgasm.

Whitney: Yes. Yes. And so I just thought, oh, it's nice because when I look at you, Amy, I think, wow, she looks really awesome. What is she doing

Amy: Wow, thank you.

Whitney: that I might be able to also do? And so a couple of years ago, I was like, I need help with my eyebrows because as we get wiser, your eyebrow hair gets lighter, or falls away.

Amy: Just leaves.

Whitney: With a forced smile. Yes. So I was like, I need some help because your eyebrows always looked like you had literally taken a tiny comb and brushed them up and

Amy: I do. I do take a tiny comb.

Whitney: Oh. Well,

Whitney: Now it shows. You didn't tell me about that. That's one of your hacks.

Amy: Oh yeah. Yeah, you use a little a little brow

Whitney: Yeah, I have one now. Well, yeah, lots of times on your eyebrow pencil it'll be on the end.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, just that.

Whitney: So, yeah, okay. But but then you told me, you know, like how to do it and I thought, oh, that was really helpful, and now I do that all the time. I mean the truth is for me, in order for me to get out of the house, it's eyebrows, mascara, and some lip gloss at the bare minimum. Like that's me in my natural look.

Amy: Yeah. Oh, me, too. Me, too. Not really the mascara, but brows, I usually put on like a tinted sunscreen, and then I like Coola, the Bronze Goddess one. It's a little dark, but it's nice. Gives you a little tan. Which I'm a DIY tan person, too. And then I do a little lip, I do my lip cheat from Charlotte Tilbury is my favorite, and so I do it outside my lip line or like a clown mouth.

Whitney: That's what everybody's doing these days. Everyone's clown mouthing it. First trick: clown mouth.

Amy: Clown mouth is important.

Whitney: Which just means you're lining your lip a little bit wider than your actual lip. I do that with my top lip because I don't have one.

Amy: Yeah, I do. Mainly with my top lip, yeah. Yeah, it looks good. It always looks good.

Whitney: And I make a little bow. Yeah. Have the perfect lip. Until I eat something.

Amy: So, funny you should mention eyebrows. So, I get a lot of compliments on my eyebrows. I have over the years, but it's a it's like a pain point for me. So, let's talk about it for a second.

Whitney: What Yeah, what do you mean?

Amy: Well, growing up, I have a natural unibrow that's pretty intense. It's pretty serious. All You know what, on the YouTube, when we edit this, I'll put in a picture.

Whitney: Put in a photo.

Amy: Yeah, and and people made fun of it, and it was a source of embarrassment for me.

Whitney: And back then, I'm sure you're I mean, like we talked about before, you're a hairier person, just culturally. Yeah.

Amy: Yeah, very. I'm very.

Whitney: Whatever.

Amy: Not even culturally. No. My mom's really not, my dad's really not, my sister isn't. I got the hair gene.

Whitney: Oh, really? Oh, interesting. Because I was about to say your mom must have coached you if she had the same issue growing up, but she didn't understand.

Amy: No. She had no clue. She had no clue.

Whitney: Well, she knows what a unibrow is.

Amy: She didn't have curly hair. She didn't have

Whitney: But did she help you in that stage of life?

Amy: She tried. She tried, and I screamed and cried because it hurt,

Whitney: Aw. Waxing hurts.

Amy: and she got frustrated and mad, and gave up. And so there we are.

Whitney: And then she said, you can keep that unibrow, thank yourselves.

Amy: Yeah. So she didn't know what to do. She was like blonde, and so my sister was, too, when she was young. My sister has no hair. It's really sucks.

Whitney: Yeah, but now isn't it interesting that that source of so much pain is now the thing that everyone compliments you on and covet?

Amy: It's cuz I worked my ass off. It's cuz I worked hard on it. So it's a little bit ironic. When people compliment me, I just go like People say, "I wish I had your brows."

Whitney: Oh, and you're like

Amy: And I just look at them and I go, "Hmm, you think you do." You know, you think you do, but really value what you have because you never know what that person went through for what they've got. I think it's a really good lesson to Yeah. wish for something, you know? And so I mean you can tell. It's like a little bit emotional for me. And they do look good now, but I mean it's been years and years and years of work and a nice stint of over plucking in the 90s thanks to Drew Barrymore and others.

Whitney: Oh, yes. Thanks, Drew.

Amy: I I blame Drew. Yeah, I wanted some sort of Drew, Poison Ivy kind of

Whitney: Thanks, Drew. So what is So so tell us some tricks and tips for eyebrows.

Amy: Well, I pluck and shape. I did get them waxed for years, but they didn't do a good job. I'm never I'm just My DIY is because I'm never really happy with what someone else does, and I'm impatient. So it's better if I just do it myself cuz you have to drive all the way to go get something done, drive home,

Whitney: Well, and that's cheap. Yeah.

Amy: pay, pay. So it's like time and money when just learn to do it yourself. That's my

Whitney: Yeah. So, I would assume that the it's give us the instructions. You take your little brush and you brush everything up so that you know what are the stray hairs.

Amy: Yeah, and then I use scissors.

Whitney: I get rid of none of the hairs because I need them all.

Amy: Yeah, I have some crazy ones, and they'll grow really long. So I'll brush them up, and then trim them with little scissors, and don't really pluck from the tra- top ever, unless there's really some crazy hairs. Really, just pluck from underneath,

Whitney: A lot of stuff. Okay.

Amy: and you want to keep them thicker. You want to You don't Don't go too thin. Like, thicker brows are never going to go out of style anymore, I don't think. I think I don't think we're swinging back to those days of the 1920s or the 1990s. Right? Really thin.

Whitney: Right. I feel really sorry for those women that got the tattooed eyebrows on really thin. There's no cha- Well, I guess they could add more ink, but

Amy: Yeah. Now, if you're going to tattoo your brows, you do microblading, which I actually got 2 years ago. I went ahead and spent the money and got the microbladed, which is like a tattoo.

Whitney: So, that's like little Yeah, it it confuses me when you say microblading because I feel like that's like cuts, but

Amy: It is. It it is. It's little cuts that they fill with an ink that matches you, so it's not tattooing because that ink is a specific color that will turn blue. It's like So, don't do that to your eyes. Don't do that to your skin. Do not do it. And so, microblading you have to be careful though because it can scar, and you don't want to do too much.

Whitney: That's the scary thing about making the decision to do something like that because you don't want to fuck things up so bad that it doesn't Yeah, it's not correctable.

Amy: That's in your Yes, which which happens to people. So, go to somebody really really good. I went to this chick, I can't think of her name, but she goes by Brow Joon, J-O-O-N, and she was awesome. She takes like two hours,

Whitney: It's painful.

Amy: mocks it up. It does hurt a little, but she numbs it, so that's good. But man is it worth it. I didn't realize how sparse mine were.

Whitney: Yeah, mine are sparse. Mine are gray and sparse.

Amy: And it So, it's going to make I think it makes you look youthful.

Whitney: I 100% agree. If your your face starts to lose its pop,

Amy: Yeah! Yeah.

Whitney: you know? So, like the eyebrows help your your face pop. Your lashes help your face pop. And your lips.

Amy: And then beware, too. I feel like my brow shape changes when I get Botox. I don't love getting Botox. It drives me kind of bananas because my face changes in little ways that only I can tell.

Whitney: But that doesn't mess with the microblading tattoos or anything?

Amy: I don't think it did, but it just looks a little different. And if you're filling it in yourself, you have to kind of do it differently if you get the just the little little micro-heaviness of Botox can change how your brows look. So, I prefer how my brows look when I don't have Botox, but I prefer how my forehead looks when I do.

Whitney: Yeah. You have to do the balance.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. So that's my advice on brows: like go underneath, fill in. I like the Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil.

Whitney: Mhm. That's what you told me.

Amy: The best.

Whitney: And you told me like little like lines up, just like swipes up with the pencil. And that was very helpful.

Amy: Wow, you really paid attention!

Whitney: I really did. And then I don't know if you told me this or if I read this, but I also do you kind of line the underneath shape of the brow and the the top of the brow, and then it's like a little coloring book.

Amy: Yeah. And then when you use that

Whitney: You just swipe swipe brush and you and you swipe. It'll create those little lines a lot of times, too. So, if you don't if it looks too thick or something, just use that. It'll soften and cuz you want them kind of soft. You don't want too harsh like you're

Amy: And that's hard when you're only using Cuz that that's what happens to me sometimes. I'll put too much in, but I always it's kind of like with jewelry. You put on it all, and then you take one thing off. I yeah. I will do the eyebrow pencil, and then I'll either just take my finger and kind of rub it around, or I'll take a tissue or something

Whitney: Oh, smart.

Amy: just to, you know, make sure that I'm not looking like a clown.

Whitney: Right. Okay, well, that's a good first tip: eyebrows.

Amy: Yeah. It's It's really made me wake up though and like look better. So the microblading. So I'm glad I did it even though I DIY-ed my brows and was scared to do it/refused to do it for a long time. Plus, it's expensive, but it does last for like 2 years. She does like touch-ups so you can go back for that. And I think I went back this year for a touch-up maybe, and like it it's pretty great. Yeah, like it's pretty amazing.

Whitney: Well, I just for people who don't want to do the microblading, I will color my my eyebrows. Like if so I will color my own hair. I'll I'll go back and forth. I color my hair, then I go

Amy: Okay, let's talk about hair color.

Whitney: Yeah, let's talk about it. Well, I brought my hair color.

Amy: Smart. Nice. Let me see it.

Whitney: You get it at CVS.

Amy: It is L'Oreal Superior Preference.

Whitney: Well, I just go for the literally I just look at the the color on the lady on the front, but it's always 6R or something like that, even if it's Clairol. It It always seems to be like 6R or something like that, the light auburn. But recently I wanted it more coppery, so I went to the salon, and then it went way too copper. So it's like it's always a balance of trying to figure it out. But when I do my roots myself, I just go to CVS, 20 bucks, and it doesn't have to be perfect. You know, you do all the roots, and and then like sits for 15 minutes, and then you do the you pull it through, and you use the rest all the way down, and then I put a little on my eyebrows.

Amy: Yep. Ooh!

Whitney: Yeah. And so for $20 I got my hair did and my brows.

Amy: Well, on that note, if I used box color from Clairol, Medium Cool Brown, used to be called Clove, religiously since probably '99 I used it for like 20-plus years.

Whitney: Oh, nice.

Amy: Hairdressers hate it. They admonished me, told me Is admonished it's bad, right?

Whitney: Bad for your Yeah.

Amy: Yeah, they told me it was really bad

Whitney: For your hair health or something?

Amy: and I shouldn't do it. Yeah. But I did it for years and I loved the color. And then I'd go to the salon, and they'd get it too dark. And then I'd go to the salon, and they'd do it wrong. And it was expensive and I was pissed. Now, okay, she has finally She did an all-over color before my wedding for like the first time in ages cuz I've been getting my my extensions. She did an all-over color, and fucking nailed it.

Whitney: Good. So now you have the recipe.

Amy: It looks so good. I but it it I'm not sure it stays as well cuz it's like semi-permanent and so that's kind of frustrating. But I'm going back tomorrow actually and I'm going to tell her to do the all-over color again cuz it was so good, but it's I'm I'm like tempted to go back to the box.

Whitney: This is what I

Amy: It's so fucking good.

Whitney: This is what I will tell you with my own experience. Red is hard to maintain.

Amy: Oh, yeah. You have a special circumstance.

Whitney: So hard to maintain. I was born with auburn hair, brownish, reddish that over time became more brown, which is so cruel.

Amy: It is cruel!

Whitney: So cruel!

Amy: Cruel!

Whitney: Not cool. And then so then I started coloring it to keep that same color. And as I have aged, the grays have come in and I don't even know how gray I actually am, but I would guess I

Amy: Me, too.

Whitney: I'm pretty gray.

Amy: Like, mine's growing out right now and I mean like it's

Whitney: Yeah, I I would bet that I could be almost all gray. Redheads

Amy: Redheads go gray?

Whitney: They go white.

Amy: White.

Whitney: It's white. Yeah. So anyway, as as I have gotten older, me coloring it myself used to last for 4 to 6 weeks. Now it lasts about a week and a half.

Amy: Holy shit.

Whitney: Because Not all over, just on the hairline, the scalp and stuff. And especially just where the sun sees it, cuz like if I change my part, then I can get another week out of it. But I can't do anything about around my face, you know? So it it doesn't last as long anymore, which is so sad. I just went to the the hair colorist like 2 weeks ago, I I guess, maybe, and they used I didn't realize this, but there are different kinds of colors, so you don't have to No one ever told me this, but like once your grays start getting stubborn, they can use like a gel-like substance that attaches better to like gray hair. Well, that was the issue that I had afterwards though because I didn't have copper all over my head, and then she put copper, and then it didn't stick, and then she put the gel, and I was like a fucking fire truck coming out of there. I literally You know that guy on the Christmas movies, the Mr. Fire What was his name?

Amy: Then you've got to drink gel. Yes.

Whitney: Heat Miser! Heat Miser!

Amy: Oh, Heat Miser!

Whitney: Mr. Heat Miser. I literally felt like everyone was like, there's Heat Miser over there. And I like it to look natural. So you're going to have to find the balance, but I didn't even realize that there were other options until this last time when she was like, oh, she was washing the color out. She's like, oh, no, it didn't take.

Amy: Uh.

Whitney: And so that's when she threw that fire gel on there,

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: which I'm still working with, but I would strongly suggest having people try the the the the grocery store stuff. And here's another tip if you're worried about it. You don't have to be stuck with it if it doesn't work. You get It used to be Prell. I would buy Prell shampoo, and it would

Amy: You used Prell? That shit would dissolve your hair.

Whitney: It It strips all the color.

Amy: Oh, yeah.

Whitney: So, I would take Like, if I hated the hair Cuz sometimes I would mix two colors together. I would get my 6R and then I'd get like a coppery and mix them together to try to find, you know I mean, I was a mixologist.

Amy: Oh, you were full DIY.

Amy: You just said, "I'm not that DIY." I'm like, wait a minute.

Whitney: I know. With my hair, I am.

Amy: Yeah, you are.

Whitney: And then with then if I didn't like it, I would wash it with Prell like five or six times in a row, and get it get it calmed down. Now you can just go and buy a clarifying shampoo. Those are stripping shampoos.

Amy: I used something else to strip when mine was too dark. I was so mad. I looked like I was 105.

Whitney: Oh, no.

Amy: When it's too dark, you know, it's like

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah.

Amy: harsh as hell. I was so mad. I went and bought something that's like like like big time stripper, like Like whatever you use.

Whitney: The big stripper.

Amy: To just yeah, like and so like I went to Sally's and bought something specific,

Whitney: Oh, wow, Sally's.

Amy: and washed and washed, and I was just I was so upset. And so anyway, like uh that and that's partly why I have to do it myself cuz I don't trust people.

Whitney: No, and then when I started losing my hair, I was embarrassed to go to the salon because I didn't want them thinking,

Amy: Aw.

Whitney: "Oh, my gosh, this woman is losing all of her hair in my sink." Like, I was I was yeah, I was a little I didn't want anyone judging me.

Amy: Aw, that's

Whitney: Um, so that was another reason why I went back to doing it myself. One other tip about coloring: like if you like your hair color, but you feel like it is um not shiny, you can get a clear gloss. So, it's like a color, but it's a gloss.

Amy: I know what that is, but

Whitney: And then it makes

Amy: You can buy that yourself?

Whitney: Yeah!

Amy: Where?

Whitney: Well, I think you at ne- I used to be able to get it at like CVS. It depends. You can look for it at the grocery store, look for it in the

Amy: What is What is it called?

Whitney: pharmacies. Clairol has one. Uh Hold on, I

Amy: Is it called like Clear Gloss or something?

Whitney: Yeah, it's like um

Amy: Holy shit.

Whitney: It's hair gloss. Now, glaze is different than gloss. Cuz you may find glaze. I know. I'm actually

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: I know a lot about this.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: Gloss is more permanent. It'll last longer. Glaze is more of a temporary fix. But if you wanted to see how your hair would look, you could try the glaze first.

Amy: Oh, my god, I need that so bad. So bad.

Whitney: But Clairol has one. I didn't write it down, uh. You'd probably do best to go on like Amazon and find one, but I'm pretty sure Clairol has one that's like 0 0 2 or something. Like that's the number. But it's just a clear gloss, and it makes your hair look shiny.

Amy: I love that. I want to do it. Speaking of that, it reminded me that I have straightened my own hair, too. Be very careful.

Whitney: Brazilians?

Amy: Yeah. I bought one, it's called Brazilian, and it's like your own Brazilian. And so I've done that myself, but really I've gone to get them, and

Whitney: Yeah, I only did that a couple of times.

Amy: now I'm overdue. It's good for me.

Whitney: When I lived in LA, It My my my hair was fine there. Back in Texas where it gets super frizzy or like if I was

Amy: Which is just the texture for sure.

Whitney: if I was going to Mexico or something, then I would splurge and get a Brazilian so that I wouldn't be like Gene Wilder walking around Mexico.

Amy: Yeah. That's me. That's me.

Whitney: Yeah. Me, too.

Amy: And I don't I don't have a good one right now and so But I'm not quite patient enough for that, and it's tough. It's really

Whitney: Well, I would be more scared because it's basically like a a reverse perm,

Amy: Well, once I bought an Ogilvie home perm and I just brushed that shit right through, I straightened it out.

Whitney: which is super

Amy: Sure did. I used it as a relaxer instead, y'all. I have really curly hair.

Whitney: That is smart.

Amy: And uh yeah, you know, it seemed to work. It wasn't too harsh. That was literally over 20 years ago that I did that, but

Whitney: Yeah. One more thing on um if you don't want to do like a perm sitch to straighten your hair. I don't know how you blow your hair dry. Maybe everybody does this, but I section my hair off, and so I'm not trying to blow dry all my hairs at once. I've sectioned it off and I'm only doing a little section at a time with my roll brush, and it I mean I did it this morning and and it's super straight.

Amy: Nice.

Whitney: And I have curly hair. Yeah. Is that what you do?

Amy: I do my best. I do my best. With the extensions, it's a little bit more challenging to section. I do my best, you know, it's a lot of hair, and then by the end of it I'm sweating and a little tired, but

Whitney: I do want to talk more about the extensions because I'm so curious. I don't like to take a lot of time for myself. It's hard for me to go get my nails done, so I don't want to sit there. Now, I've got eyelash extensions. Hold on.

Amy: Oh, my god. Oh, my god. A guy took like 2 hours to do my nails one day. I was losing my fucking mind, and finally, I was like, this This is too long. I was like, this is too 2 hours? Yeah, I don't know if he was new or what, but I lost my shit.

Whitney: 2 hours. Oh, man. I could not.

Amy: And I was like, listen, this doesn't work. I was like, this is too

Whitney: I got to get out of here!

Amy: Yeah! I start to go crazy, and that's why I'm so DIY. Back in the '90s,

Whitney: I got to get out of here.

Amy: I couldn't stand it. I did I learned to do my own acrylic nails like

Whitney: Oh, wow.

Amy: and they Were they great? I don't know. They were fine.

Whitney: My niece does it, and she is like an artist.

Amy: And

Whitney: I know we're skipping around a lot here, but let's talk about nails for a second.

Amy: Yeah, I I mean I don't do gel on my toes because I lose my mind. It's just too much, and then it weakens my toes. I do get my nails done just cuz I like how they look.

Whitney: You feel polished, literally.

Amy: Yeah, you you do. And but I've found somebody that's pretty fast. I don't get nail art because I can't handle the time crunch. It's just like I just I need it In and out. basic, and like to be as streamlined as possible, like make an appointment. Like because I really do start to get crazy, and I don't like a lot of shit hanging off of me, too. So it's a stretch for me to have extensions because I don't like eyelash extensions. I don't like permanent jewelry. I like to take off all my jewelry.

Whitney: I have the eyelash extensions. I've got permanent jewelry.

Amy: Oh, my god, that would drive me bananas.

Whitney: It's just a tiny little I've had it for like 3 years now. I don't even notice it.

Amy: No. No, not for me.

Whitney: That is so funny.

Amy: I can't stand shit hanging off of me, so this is like the fact that I am able to tolerate these cuz I used clip-ins for a long time, and that is like fine by me.

Whitney: When you have hair extensions, how do you shampoo and dry your hair? I mean like I thought it would be pretty easy, but it sounds like it's because it's attached and you can't

Amy: It's an ordeal. When they take them out and I go to the salon, I'm going tomorrow as a matter of fact. When they wash my hair, it is glorious.

Whitney: It feels so good. Yeah, cuz you can get in there.

Amy: I I feel all I want I want to scratch, I want to just like, oh, it's so good.

Whitney: Yeah. But then will you put them immediately back in?

Amy: And then they put it immediately back in, it's kind of

Whitney: And that's a long process.

Amy: Yeah, it's not that bad. If If she's doing a lot of color, it takes a little longer. Yeah, it it's I think the appointment is 3 hours, but doesn't always take that long. It's rough,

Whitney: 2 hours? Oh.

Amy: but there's downtime so I bring my computer and I can handle it.

Whitney: I don't like going to the salon. I used to go to, you know, woo-woo like fancy place in LA and it would take 4 hours because they would put me off to the side and do other people. I like in and out. I'm like

Amy: In and out. It's itchy. You're like, "Can I have a comb to itch?" Yeah.

Whitney: Anything more than 90 minutes, I'm like, no, I can't.

Amy: And it costs an arm and a leg. And so, I suppose there's some people that like it, but

Whitney: Yeah. Thi- this box color, 30 minutes.

Amy: Yeah, I know.

Whitney: 30 minutes.

Amy: It's great.

Whitney: But it doesn't last that long anymore.

Amy: It's got to be The quality of box color now has got to be as good as salon color was 20 years ago. Yeah. Right?

Whitney: I I would bet. Yeah. Clairol keeps coming out and L'Oreal, they keep coming out with new versions of it.

Amy: Yeah! So, anyway,

Whitney: So We'll see. We'll see.

Amy: you know, I I'm all for do-it-yourself. They said it messed up my hair, or they would say that, but I don't think it ever did. My hair grew good, it looked good. People complimented my color all the time. It was easy to keep up. Anyway, I just I can't do the time and everything. Yeah, me neither. Me neither.

Amy: So, I don't know, for better or worse. I do my I've I will go get a spray tan in a machine. I will go get it from people, too. But, man, if I can do it at home, give me give me

Whitney: Do you So, you do your whole body and face? Tanning?

Amy: Oh, fuck it. I just do where I need it.

Whitney: I My My body, this is something that is sad that happens as you get wiser. Little things pop up on my skin like like like little moles and stuff, right? And lots of times you can't see it, but if you ran your hand on my leg, you would feel them. And if I try to do a tan, it just all attaches to those spots, and I look like a leopard, more so than I do normally.

Amy: Yeah, I have a blotch on my leg that like spray tan like attaches to.

Whitney: Yeah. That's my entire body.

Amy: And then it gets my and I'm like, "Oh, that sucks."

Whitney: Yeah. It sucks. Some of it are freckles that just attach. No, I can't do it.

Amy: Okay. Not worth it.

Whitney: Yeah. As a matter of fact, it got so bad because I would want to do it so badly that I have a Facebook memory that pops up every once in a while that says, "Dear To the Whitney that wants to tan herself,

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: do not do it. Take it from me, signed, you know, Spotted Whitney, or whatever." And it'll come up every once in a while and I'll be like, "Oh, yeah, it doesn't work for me. Doesn't work for me."

Amy: Uh-uh. Oh, good to know.

Whitney: Yeah. Isn't that funny?

Amy: I was thinking about all the things I DIY. I used to have eyelash extensions. I hate them. They make me insane. I can't like they come off in my sleep or something. I like an eye mask when I sleep. So, I got crazy today, Whitney, cuz I have a couple of events later today. I put on some

Whitney: Yeah. Laughs.

Amy: fake ones, eyelash extensions.

Whitney: Yes. They look very good. And I I do have um lash extensions right now. I was just playing around with it cuz I was going to be out of town

Amy: Thanks.

Whitney: um for a couple of things, and I thought, well, this will just be a fun I I I was noticing that I felt like I looked old and tired when I woke up in the morning, and I have a boyfriend, and I didn't want to look old and tired when I wake up in the morning. So I thought, well, I'm just going to try it. It's excruciating because I do not like to sit still

Amy: Excruciating.

Whitney: to have them put on, but once now they're on, and I don't think about them. As a matter of fact, it's probably time for me to go get them filled. And um

Amy: Are you going to do it?

Whitney: I will, because I I'm going to do it through Christmas, because I have a lot of things. And I like looking

Amy: Good idea. You've already committed. You've come this far. It's the initial one that's worse.

Whitney: Yeah, I like the way it looks. But but I will say if you don't And and the extensions, at least here in Texas, the initial is like 200 bucks, and then it's like 100 bucks every 2 to 3 weeks to get them filled.

Amy: Damn.

Whitney: So, it's expensive. You can go to the grocery store or CVS and get those Kiss What what What kind do you have on?

Amy: These are not uh brand is like Kiss or something. The style I like is called Pompadour. It looks good.

Whitney: I have to really I don't have good

Amy: It's hard.

Whitney: Yeah, it's hard. It takes training.

Amy: It's hard. It takes a couple times. And of course like I really started to train myself 10 years ago at it, and that was about when my eyesight started to go, so.

Whitney: Yeah, get yourself a magnifying mirror. But my sister is that's all she uses fake lashes, just a whole strip, and she uses Lee press-on nails and her nails look like they've been professionally done.

Amy: Wow. And they stay? Your hair doesn't get caught in them? Cuz my hair gets caught underneath.

Whitney: Super glue. Well, I don't ask her about that, but super She super glues it and they stay on. I mean, just the other day I was like, "Oh, those nails are great." And she was like, "Lee press-on."

Amy: No, that would make me crazy.

Whitney: But as far as the eyelashes go, if you want help putting them on, a lot of these places you even go to the makeup counter, go to MAC, buy their eyelashes, and they will put them on for you.

Amy: True. True. Yeah.

Whitney: And I thought you had to remove them every day, but I don't think you do.

Amy: Depends. There's some new ones I was just looking at that say that they'll last like a week or something like that, but I didn't buy them. I was like, I don't know. That'll drive me crazy.

Whitney: I tried the magnetic ones, too. Have you ever tried those?

Amy: No, but I'm I could not do it.

Whitney: I couldn't get it. It would not work for me. And then you got this bla- I'm I'm not a steady hand. You don't want me performing any surgeries on you.

Amy: Yeah. No. Laughs.

Whitney: So, the line is just like err, err, err. And it didn't even work, and then you got to clamp it. I couldn't

Amy: Yeah. It looks way too hard.

Whitney: I could not do it.

Amy: And And actually even when I see the ad for it, I'm like, that doesn't look quite right.

Whitney: Oh, really?

Amy: If I was looking at that person's eyes, I'd be like, "Mmm, are you wearing magnetic lashes?"

Whitney: Right. I love the lashes that you have on because they don't look too over the top, even though they're called Pompadour.

Amy: Well, yeah. They're I'm careful with which ones I select. I hate big flared ones and so.

Whitney: Or the ones that look like you've got a spider on you.

Amy: Give me a fucking break. Nobody wants to look like that anymore. We don't want caterpillars on our eyes anyway.

Whitney: I mean, a lot of girls do, but not our not us.

Amy: It's That That time is over though, let's be real.

Whitney: Oh, it is? Okay.

Amy: I mean yeah, it's over.

Whitney: I never got on board.

Amy: Now you want natural like if you can do it.

Whitney: I feel like mine are not.

Amy: Yours look really good. Very natural, actually.

Whitney: Classic.

Amy: Really good. These don't necessarily look natural, but they look more full for me. And then I so I didn't do a line of eyeliner, and then I maybe I can zoom in on this part. So I took

Whitney: You did the watermark waterline?

Amy: I no. Well, I did do my waterline, yeah, with some eyeliner, and then I I go in after it's done, and I take my like eyeliner pen kind of thing. It's like e.l.f., it's like e.l.f. brand, and then I dot in if I see any white space.

Whitney: And fill in the little. Yeah. So, I I have tried to do the waterline cuz I have heard that that helps make your eyes look wider, but it just falls into my eye.

Amy: I know. It's really annoying. It It comes off.

Whitney: Well, yours look great.

Amy: Well, thanks. So, see how it lasts all day, cuz I'm hoping it'll last all day. Um. Oh, I was going to tell you I saw a funny meme. And it was like, who decided that manicures were self-care, because it feels like going to the hand dentist? And I was like, oh, my god, it is the hand dentist.

Whitney: Laughs. It's the It's

Amy: It's not fun. I am tense as fuck a lot of times when they start in on my nails.

Whitney: It's the mindset. Oh, really?

Amy: I hold a level of tension where I'm just like so convinced they're going to hurt me.

Whitney: Have you been I was about to say, have you been traumatized by

Amy: I've been hurt too many times. I've been hurt many times. I think I'm sensitive.

Whitney: I I used to get hurt when they would take those blades on your heels. They're they're not allowed anymore. They're illegal.

Amy: Oh, I made them stop a long time ago, and I didn't know they were illegal, and good. The cheese grater?

Whitney: No, the cheese grater is still legal. This was those blades.

Amy: Oh, no. Fuck the cheese grater. Don't use the cheese grater.

Whitney: It was those blades. It looked kind of like a um razor, and it was a blade. Remember those?

Amy: Yeah, I didn't like those.

Whitney: And I would come out of there like bleeding.

Amy: I'm tense, like, just thinking about Bleeding? Oh, my god!

Whitney: Yeah. I know.

Amy: Just on two bloody stumps.

Whitney: Well, I have I have very very um dry um heels. Like concrete blocks, my feet. Like my husband, my dead husband, his feet were like super soft, and they'd get bloody from playing soccer and stuff, and then I'd be coming in, like, you know.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: I was like, why did you get those feet? I We needed to switch. And my my little trick for helping with that is fuzzy socks and Aquaphor.

Amy: Nice. Yes. Yes, I'm all for it. I'm all for a foot mask at night. I'm a DIY There's one called Baby Foot. Have you ever tried that?

Whitney: No. Is it the one Is it one where they it like over the course of 7 days, it's peeling? I can't, dude.

Amy: Oh. Oh, it's amazing.

Whitney: I thought you didn't like anything baby.

Amy: I don't.

Whitney: Baby spinach, baby carrots. Laughs.

Whitney: But you like baby feet?

Amy: I like the Baby Foot, but only on occasion. Otherwise, yeah, just just do it up at night with some socks.

Whitney: Yeah, see, that's what I do.

Amy: Yeah. I also am a DIY face masker. I do it all the time. I love face masks. I'm a I'll I've started to allow myself to do it all the time, especially when I travel, I just like face mask it up like travel.

Whitney: Okay. And you make your own stuff or you go and buy like your Target's or Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy: No, I buy it. Not real I don't even really like Target ones that much. I'll use them some, but I really prefer like

Whitney: You do the Korean ones?

Amy: Korean.

Whitney: Yeah. Korean's They know their skin care, man.

Amy: I like that to hydrate. And then I buy like Eminence makes really great ones, and

Whitney: And you order them online, like on Amazon?

Amy: Sometimes. Or I'll buy them like if if I'm traveling and there's a spa, I'll go into. Sometimes they have nice sheet masks. I'll buy SkinCeuticals ones.

Whitney: So they're they're not as expensive as getting an actual facial, but they're not like the $5, $3 ones.

Amy: Right. No, I I don't love those. I always choose those. But, in a pinch,

Whitney: Yeah, well.

Amy: they're pretty much okay. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely have those.

Whitney: Do you do the I brought mine. The the eye things, the under-eye? And do you put them in the refrigerator?

Amy: Yes. No. I love them.

Whitney: I think you have to be very careful because I thought oh, all of them could go in the refrigerator, but then I put a whole jar in the refrigerator, and it dried up all of the goo that makes it work. Yeah.

Amy: Oh. Damn. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Whitney: Okay, one other little question cuz I do put those on, but I always get confused on how it goes on your face. Does the little corner go in the corner

Amy: I agree.

Whitney: or does it flip and the heavy stuff goes You know what I'm saying?

Amy: I do the little corner on the outside.

Whitney: You do?

Amy: I know, though. I'm always confused.

Whitney: I get so confused. I don't know I don't know what's

Amy: We should look it up, I guess, cuz I don't know either.

Whitney: I've looked it up a million times. I I guess I don't remember.

Amy: I do the tiny part out here and the fat part toward my nose.

Whitney: Yeah. And I do the tiny part towards my eye, yeah, the the corner of my eye.

Amy: Your nose. You're probably right.

Whitney: I don't know. I don't know. I feel like I need it more under my eyes, so I'm like give me that give me all of it.

Amy: Yeah. But no, I agree. I'm glad you brought that up. I'm glad you brought it up. Speaking of face, here's something that I want to talk DIY on, and that's dermaplaning. So, a lot of people are DIY dermaplaning,

Whitney: which is really just using a razor. Is that what you mean?

Amy: Well, I have had an actual aesthetician tell me, "Just shave your face. It's a secret." And then I had another friend who's really into skin say she just shaves her face.

Whitney: Okay, so my sister for the longest time has shaved her face, and it's a joke, like she's just like, "I got to get my shave in."

Amy: Everybody knows?

Whitney: Well, well, I don't No, here here's what I will say.

Amy: Ha, I'd be secretive.

Whitney: So, then I'm like, "I can't shave my face." Like, there's just something mentally, I can't shave my face. But then, during my hair journey, there were moments where I was like, "Good lord, like the peach fuzz and the stuff." And so I did shave my face.

Amy: And?

Whitney: And I thought it was fine, but recently I did go and get a dermaplane because I did some research and they said that they're not the same.

Amy: They did say they're not the same. They're not the same.

Whitney: And the dermaplane is going to get more of the dead skin off and deal with the peach fuzz, but then the then it comes back as peach fuzz, where supposedly if you're shaving, it can come back as a coarser hair.

Amy: I think they're I think they're not, really. I've heard mixed. I've heard mixed on that. I'm not sure what's true.

Whitney: Well, I will tell you this: I loved the way I my skin felt after the dermaplane

Amy: Me, too.

Whitney: versus after just shaving in the shower. And maybe it's mental, you know.

Amy: But it usually the dermaplane is combined with like some facial action, too. So, you know, awesome often.

Whitney: Yeah. Did I get some facial action? So,

Amy: I bought an I bought a

Whitney: I can't remember. Do-it-at-home?

Amy: Do-it-yourself dermaplane. Yeah, it's the brand is like, I don't know, it's something like Tod Whitman or I don't know, something It's like a name. Todd Whitman.

Whitney: Robert Palmer.

Amy: Anyway,

Whitney: I don't think Robert Palmer is right.

Amy: He might. Anyway, so I bought it and it's got like little settings and it vibrates and you change the blade and it

Whitney: And you have to be careful. You have to be really taut with your skin.

Amy: You have to pull it taut. You have to go Yeah, you have to do it a certain way. They have feathery like feathery strokes. And so um so I bought that,

Whitney: Okay, and?

Amy: and so I've been doing it once a week. I like it. I like it. I just again,

Amy: dermaplaning is great, but it costs an extra like $70

Whitney: Yeah.

Amy: when I do it with a facial, and I'm like, "Ay-ay-ay." Like

Whitney: Right. Well, that's why I go keep going back to shaving. But then I'm like, "I don't want to shave my face." I don't know. Well, they do say that that's why men faces look better because they constantly are shaving, which is exfoliating.

Amy: Justin's just looks better. He doesn't shave, obviously.

Whitney: Well, he's No.

Amy: But he gets back from the beard place, and his skin They put hot compresses on his face and his skin looks like baby face.

Whitney: Oh, yeah.

Amy: I'm like, "Man, the power of heat and hot towel."

Whitney: But he also has a baby face.

Amy: Yeah, he does. He's also in his 30s.

Whitney: Laughs. But he's also in his 30s.

Amy: Okay, so dermaplaning. I'm also doing at-home red light therapy.

Whitney: Okay, let's Let's talk about that. I have two red my mask, red light masks at my house that I purchased online two and a half years ago.

Amy: I do my red light mask. You have two?

Whitney: Well, I'm glad you asked. It was a buy one, get one free,

Amy: Laughs. So you kept both?

Whitney: and I was going to give it to my sister for her birthday.

Amy: The one who shaves her face?

Whitney: She wanted a Yes, but then she wanted a foot massager. So I was like, okay, it was two for one, so who cares if she doesn't want it? And then I put it on and it was so like hard, like it was like this hard mask that I couldn't move around, it wasn't comfortable.

Amy: Oh, I hate the hard one.

Whitney: And I thought, this is not good for me. And I tried to return it, and they said, "Just keep them and we'll refund your money."

Amy: Oh, I love that.

Whitney: So I have two red light masks that I don't use.

Amy: I love that.

Whitney: I keep thinking I'll put them on like, you know, Marketplace or something. Then I bought a red light panel. And I

Amy: Ooh, I want one of those.

Amy: I can't believe we don't have one.

Whitney: I will happily let you borrow mine if you would like, because now I joined this gym that has a red light bed that I lay in.

Amy: But see, you have to go there.

Whitney: Well, I have to go there to work out, so I might as well get some red light therapy. But I'm not sure that it's working.

Amy: Might as well. Well, I think there's benefits to red light, but my red light mask is soft. So I just attach it on my head, and it's bendable, and it's so nice. So you could really use it. It's from HigherDOSE. And then you can lay it on your neck or your chest, too. It's It's nice. I have used it consistently for years, and since I've been having these breakouts on my cheek, I've been using it and it's it when I use it religiously, it helps a lot. I don't know, I

Whitney: I bought that panel, and I was really trying to use it on my

Amy: How much is the panel?

Whitney: It was like 300 bucks or something, I know.

Amy: I want one.

Whitney: And then I um I thought I you you you have to just sit there. Like I can't I you're supposed to close your eyes, so like it's on, you know, it's a panel, so it's not like the face mask where you've got little eye holes. So, I have to close my eyes, and then I was like, I'm just going to use it as meditation.

Amy: You don't Wait. It doesn't have eye holes? Wait, what?

Whitney: This isn't the mask, this is the panel. Oh, the bed. The bed. Yeah, the panel. The panel.

Amy: The panel.

Whitney: So I'm I have it in my closet, and I was using it, but you have to sit there for like 15 minutes with your eyes closed, and then I was like, I'm going to meditate. Well, I don't know how to do that properly. My I It's just I'm my skin is crawling. So then I thought, I'm going to put it on my feet

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: cuz I get these little things on my feet um on my skin like keratosis thingies or whatever.

Amy: Okay. Okay.

Whitney: They're really pretty, you guys.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: And I I was like, I while I'm putting my makeup on, I'll use the red light on my feet. But now I go to that place where there's the bed, and I thought it was going to help my hair grow, but nothing's happening.

Amy: Hmm.

Whitney: Maybe it is happening, and it's just baby hairs.

Amy: Yeah. HigherDOSE came out with a hat, a red light hat.

Whitney: People swear by that hat.

Amy: Yeah, people are talking about People are saying that um it stimulates hair growth, but I don't know. Bryan Johnson wears it.

Whitney: No, there is documentation saying that it actually does help, but I don't know.

Amy: Bryan Johnson wears it.

Whitney: Yeah, I know. And I don't know if it's the intensity, but I am in a bed and I'm in there for 20 minutes.

Amy: Yeah, yeah, I've been in one.

Whitney: So it's got to be It's like the old tanning bed.

Amy: It is It's It feels nice in there, yeah.

Whitney: Exactly. Yeah.

Amy: Yeah. Okay, maybe that's a good solution for you. Good for you. It's hard to tell what effects you're getting from a red light, but it it is good. So, I I do like it. I think as long as I'm using it consistently, I'll see results.

Whitney: We'll see. We'll see. Right. Yeah.

Amy: So, anyway, there's that. And so that's a DIY. Then also, along with that, I I like some gua sha and facial massage. I see a difference when I use it. I don't think it takes a lot. I build it up in my mind too much that I need to

Whitney: There's that.

Amy: do it longer, but

Whitney: Now, is this with your fingers or with the little like jade crystal things?

Amy: I like both. Use your fingers. Who cares? Like, just go like this upward strokes and like you will see results. People are trying to sell you brushes and gua sha, and who cares. Gua sha is cheap, but it it helps. And so just go upwards on your lymph nodes and stuff. Do it while you're watching TV. Do it with some oil on your face, not too much, and or or lotion or whatever, product. And don't use any product when you use the red light mask. And I do it while I'm watching TV. I like my red light mask cuz it's got eye holes.

Whitney: Yeah. I can't. I've got no holes. It's just me in front of a panel.

Amy: Yeah, fuck that. Don't do that. My friend Aaron Alexander travels with a red light panel like, and like, if you're traveling with him, we were in like an Airbnb once. And like from under his door of his bedroom you see the red glow. red light. And I was like, "Oh, my god." So he's next level. But like you could just turn it on in your bedroom and have red light and it's better for your melatonin production, and

Whitney: Oh, you see the red glow. Oh, interesting.

Amy: Oh, like when I'm going to sleep at night. Yes, yes, it's good for that. So you don't have to use it that way. Just turn it on and it takes the blue light out, right? Which is bad. And so you want red light, like on your phone and whatever. Like if you press your side button three times,

Whitney: Mhm. Let it glow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy: you know, it turns it red.

Whitney: I don't Does it still do that? Because

Amy: Mine does it. Maybe it's my settings. I don't know.

Whitney: No, no, no, I remember that was a thing and then mine stopped doing that, but I don't know. That's probably a user issue.

Amy: You might have to reset it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, okay.

Whitney: Um,

Amy: Good. What else? What else?

Whitney: all right. Oh, okay, I'm going to go back to hair for a minute, because

Amy: Mm, oh, good, I got something to say about that.

Whitney: since my hair has been thinning out, and granted, I know that it still is thicker than a lot of people, so I shouldn't complain, but it is getting thinner. I've come up with some tricks to make it look full. For example, the half-up, half-down scenario where you pull the the sides of your hair up and you kind of get a little poof right at the top, and then the hair that is in the ponytail, it makes it fuller around the crown, which is where I'm losing my hair. And then the top is a little poofed out, you know, so it make makes the the gives the illusion of more hair. You also can Yeah, go ahead.

Amy: And that's a DIY facelift, cuz you're like pull look like look. You're like, oops, this back. That's why you see Heidi Klum

Whitney: Oh, like pulling it.

Amy: with like

Whitney: Always a ponytail?

Amy: and like J.Lo and stuff. They pull

Whitney: Always a ponytail?

Amy: that back like that because it pulls their face back.

Whitney: Oh, a little DIY Do-it-yourself facelift.

Amy: Hell, yeah.

Whitney: Also, I realized that you can do double ponytails, so it's going to be kind of hard to explain, but like if I put the top part of my hair in a ponytail, and then I bring the bottom and put it in a ponytail, then my my hair looks longer in the back, and it kind of looks like you're just a cool, trendy chick, but really you're trying to make it look like you've got more hair.

Amy: But really, you're losing your hair. But really, you're bald.

Whitney: That's not funny.

Amy: Well, speaking of hair, are you done? Okay.

Whitney: Okay. Yeah.

Amy: Speaking of hair, along with the home dermaplaning, I bought a laser hair removal that you do at home.

Whitney: What?

Amy: I know. I know.

Whitney: For your unibrow? Sorry.

Amy: Maybe. Sorry.

Amy: No, really, like for other parts of my body.

Whitney: For your For your legs and your bikini area?

Amy: Yeah, a lot a lot for my bikini because I don't want to get it waxed.

Whitney: Really?

Amy: Yeah, so um No, I haven't opened the box yet, but I'm warming up to it.

Whitney: But it's like a light therapy. Oh, wow. You'll have to get back to us.

Amy: Cuz I did get laser hair removal all over my body years ago, probably 17 years ago, I don't know, something like that. And uh it was a commitment and a time investment, but that one served me well. You know, along that line, I feel like there are a few things we should shout out that I will not DIY, and I don't believe others should do.

Whitney: Ooh, okay. Oh, no. Can't wait.

Amy: No, you wouldn't do this, but like chemical peels and acids, don't do it. Be careful. It's tempting sometimes, but you could really burn yourself and hurt yourself and damage your skin. And it's tempting. For somebody like me, it is tempting as hell.

Whitney: I didn't even think you could get those things.

Amy: You can get some things, yeah.

Whitney: I mean, I'll do like some intense pads or something, but nothing that's going to actually

Amy: Yeah, I think you can get your hands on professional-grade stuff, so just don't do it. Don't inject anything.

Whitney: mess it up. Really? I agree.

Amy: What are you injecting?

Whitney: I'm doing that Glow peptide thing, so I'm injecting

Amy: Where? Not in your face.

Whitney: Uh, no. In my C-section scar.

Amy: Laughs. That just made me go white.

Whitney: I'm I'm doing it yourself scar removal, so.

Amy: Oh, my god. The thought of injecting something into a scar.

Whitney: It's not in it. It's not actually in it, it's there's like a little shelf above it. Did you have C-sections?

Amy: Nope.

Whitney: Okay. Well, when you have a C-section, there's a little shelf above the where the scar is, and so you just put the the needle in there.

Amy: Oy. Ow.

Whitney: Anywho.

Amy: Scar Scars are tough. One time, I got poison ivy or something on my face. I'm super allergic and see Do you see these scars on my face?

Whitney: I I Googled about it and it's fine. Yeah, yeah, I see them.

Amy: Yeah. So then I was like, I can get these off. So I actually

Whitney: Injected yourself?

Amy: I actually used a nail file and I was like to kind of file them away.

Whitney: Gasp. Oh, my gosh, did it work?

Amy: I scarred them more.

Whitney: Oh, shit. That sounds so painful.

Amy: I can't believe I'm telling that. As long as you're there.

Whitney: I just said I'm injecting my C-section scar, so I'm pretty sure

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: I'm a I'm also I also whitened my teeth, but you know what I read? That there's people that use a um and I I had this down not to do. A woman used a Magic Eraser on her teeth. She was like sharing it on social media. Don't do that. It can Oh, shit. No. That's

Amy: make your enamel go down. But I did ask I recently had a dentist on my show, and I did ask about whitening strips, and she said that's okay. Don't do I don't do it all the time. I literally do it before I have an event. I use the Crest White Strips.

Whitney: You notice that quickly? Like if you have an event the same day?

Amy: Oh, hell, yeah. Hell, yeah.

Whitney: Well, I will tell you this.

Amy: I'll use a white strip. It It brightens my teeth.

Whitney: My brother-in-law Yeah, he uses Crest White Strips, and he he literally is that mouth that's like, ding. So

Amy: That's the It's The Crest the the Crest

Whitney: We don't want too much. Is it too much? Like you're like I mean, it maybe a little much, but they I get yeah, I didn't realize they worked quickly.

Amy: Power of white. Cuz like Yeah, they work quickly. I haven't done it in maybe a couple Or, maybe I did it last week. I'll do it like once a week or something. So, I just do it from time to time.

Whitney: Well, they look good. Yeah.

Amy: And I feel like it just Because Because I drink a lot of coffee,

Whitney: Well, it does.

Amy: so.

Whitney: Yeah, and tea is the worst. That's a bigger stainer than coffee.

Amy: Yeah. Anyway,

Whitney: so be really careful even about your teeth. Don't use a Magic Eraser. Well, when you said no injections, what were you

Amy: Oh, don't inject yourself with like Botox or filler and stuff like that.

Amy: Uh-uh. Yeah. No. None of that.

Whitney: I agree.

Amy: No. And even micro needling, I think there's like little Someone bought me this like a little uh micro needle or thing that it was like a little roller, but it was like needles, and you could roll it on your face and then put your product on, and it would seep in more. And I never used it. It freaked me out.

Whitney: That takes professional Oh. Cuz you're afraid. Yeah.

Amy: Which it takes a lot to freak me out.

Whitney: I mean, if you Yeah, you were sawing off. You're trying to saw off scars on your face.

Amy: That was 2003 and I was

Whitney: That was still scarred.

Amy: Still scarred, guys. Still scarred. So,

Whitney: Oh, man.

Amy: but I really am a DIY-er. I love it so much because I don't have the patience. Even makeup, I getting it professionally done drives me bananas. I'd almost rather learn to do it myself, and when I really put the effort in like a makeup artist, watch some tutorials, do my eyes first, the whole nine yards,

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah.

Amy: I look great. Like it looks great.

Whitney: Agreed. If I If do-it-yourself makeup artist

Amy: And and most of the time if I get someone to do my makeup, I'm not happy with it. At my wedding,

Whitney: You didn't like it?

Amy: I had Well, she did overall, mostly, I'd say I liked it about 80%. But she did a couple made some weird-ass choices that I had to go fix, and like I was like, what the fuck? Like, literally, I had to go in and fix it, and so often times I have to go in and fix it and I'm like, what are people thinking? This doesn't look good. And like my lips were all harsh, and I was like, no. So, anyway, I had to go in and fix it, and I still would have done a few things different. But anyway, and my hair, I always have to go in and fix it. So, I'm just like ugh, I'm just DIY.

Whitney: Yeah. It's No one's going to do it better than you.

Amy: That's what I feel.

Whitney: You have a specific idea in your head. I will say I'm a horrible makeup person. Like I don't understand how to make my eyes look like anything I try like if I try a smoky eye, it just looks like a black eye,

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: you know? But one of the things that I do love that I think is um very user-friendly are the shimmery, tinted moisturizers. Like for me, with my skin, it's very dry, it's all about like the creams and the shines and the shimmers. And so I brought it, I think. Um.

Amy: You know what? While you're grabbing that, that's an important point because if you're watching someone do a tutorial who has 20-year-old skin, take that into consideration because that doesn't work for me. I will buy that product, which I've been doing, and I'll buy that product, and then it'll get cakey on me. It'll It'll cake up over the day, like whether it's a primer, whether it's one of those spray hold things,

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah.

Amy: like you spray your makeup, what whatever, setting spray.

Whitney: Oh, yeah.

Amy: I will look horrible in an hour. So if it's an if it's somebody young, it's not going to work for your skin.

Whitney: Yeah, you have to look at people that are in your age range. So this is L'Oreal. I'm really I love a lot of L'Oreal stuff.

Amy: Lumi Glotion.

Whitney: Lumi Glotion. It's super shimmery. We're not spokespeople for them. But um it also gives me a little bit of a like a glow or a bronze look. People sometimes are like, "Oh, did you just get back from vacation?" And I'm like, "No, it's just my Lumi Glotion."

Amy: Yeah. It's my Lumi. I use a Laura Mercier one that is similar to that that I really like.

Whitney: Yeah. I love it because, you know, again, for me, it's all about the shine and and and creams.

Amy: Well, you want to look dewy, not not like

Whitney: Yeah. And you can get this at CVS. It's like 10 bucks or 12 bucks.

Amy: Cool. Okay.

Whitney: Yeah. Oh, one other thing I'm going to share. If you go online and you find a product, this is a little DIY thing,

Amy: DIY.

Whitney: you find Yeah, I can't say it right. Do you it.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: Whatever. Do-it-yourself. Um.

Amy: Do your- Do it yourself.

Whitney: Use ChatGPT. GPT. See, I have GBT? language issues.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: The Chatster, whatever. Put in like I did this uh for something recently where I was doing like you know, just a deep dive on uh skin products and stuff and they were recommending like Goop was recommending something that was like fucking $200.

Amy: Oh, my god.

Whitney: So I just went into my Chat GPT, and I said, what is an inexpensive alternative that is similar to this product?

Amy: Nice.

Whitney: And he listed like three things that I could get at CVS. Or order on Amazon. So, you know, if you need help with something, D Y DIY.

Amy: There you go.

Whitney: Then um use your chat.

Amy: Yeah! Chatster.

Whitney: Yeah. Use it.

Amy: Oh, that's cool. I like that.

Whitney: Yeah. See what the high-end brands are and then

Amy: Have you ever been in a Goop store?

Whitney: No. I I didn't even know she had a physical store.

Amy: They had a pop-up here in Austin once, and I happened to go. I was walking by with a couple people. They were having a party during South by, and I was like, "I want to go in." And they were like, "Are you on the list?" And I was like, "No." And right then someone I knew walked out and she goes, "Oh, just let them in." And they they just gave up and let me in.

Whitney: Oh, awesome. They gave up.

Amy: And I walked in, and bumped right into Gwyneth Paltrow.

Whitney: No way. She was there? Oh, cuz it was South by.

Amy: Yeah! And I was like, whoa, hi. She was by just standing there by herself.

Whitney: And how'd she look?

Amy: Very conservative. She was wearing a very conservative like navy outfit and shoes.

Whitney: Yeah, no, she is conservative like that. Her look is very

Amy: Yeah. This was a few years back, but she was nice. She was really nice.

Whitney: New England.

Amy: But that store, and then I went in the store this year, there was one in Hawaii in the hotel that we were at, the Auberge hotel. Dude! The prices in that store.

Whitney: It's insane.

Amy: It was gorgeous. I wanted everything, but it was in-fucking-sane.

Whitney: For her products?

Amy: Wow.

Whitney: When she first started her her company, like I got in on at the ground level, like with the newsletter, and I was like, oh, this is going to be fun. I really like her and And it was like, yeah, a gold dildo for $500.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: And you're just like, what?

Amy: Yeah.

Whitney: First of all, does it have to be gold? Second of all, why are you selling those?

Amy: I don't know. Where else you going to get a gold dildo?

Whitney: Exactly. Laughs.

Amy: I have a red light one. Yeah. I have a red light one.

Whitney: But is it So, it's used for health purposes?

Amy: Just like your red light mask,

Whitney: You want your vagina Yeah, cuz

Amy: It stimulates collagen production and um hydration and all these things. Yeah. So it's a red light that you stick up on in there. Shaped like a dildo.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Helps with Elasticity. But it's it's warm, but it doesn't vibrate. You'd have It they That would be dumb because it means it has to stay in there for a while,

Amy: No, it doesn't vibrate. Laughs. Yeah.

Whitney: right?

Amy: Yeah, it doesn't vibrate.

Whitney: How long do you have to keep it in there?

Amy: I think like 10 minutes, you know. Yeah. I don't use it as much as I should. I'm going to get that out.

Whitney: You should, because this is one of the things I I think you and I talked about this, but like the everything the elasticity of everything is going away as you get older. The all your moisture and everything is just being sucked out of you. Um, and that's one that's one area where people think that it's just dry, but it's actually losing its elasticity, so.

Amy: Yeah. I don't even think Goop carries those, so

Whitney: I'm shocked.

Amy: one-up on them.

Whitney: Gwyneth, get with the program.

Amy: Get your red light dildo going.

Whitney: Did you buy that or did someone give it to you?

Amy: Um, I had a guest on my show, that sh- Susan Bratton, who's amazing. She's in her 60s, and she's a sexual biohacker and and educator, and she recommended it, and she gave me a discount. So, but it it was not cheap. It was like $400, $300, or something. So, I did get like 20% off. So, I think if you go to Susan's website, you can get a discount. But, um, anyway, for how much I paid, I should be using that thing.

Whitney: You should be using it every day.

Amy: Okay, I'm going to use it. I'm going to report back.

Whitney: Especially considering that you're off of your hormones and stuff. Like it would be interesting to see if you notice a difference.

Amy: Ooh! Well, we need to visit about my algae journey, so.

Whitney: Yes, we've got so many more episodes.

Amy: We really do. We really do. If you Okay, so are we Are we good here?

Whitney: It's very exciting. I mean, I have a couple of other little tricks.

Amy: Sure. Let me hear.

Whitney: Um your mascara, if it's clump if it clumps, before you put it on, rub it in your in your hands. Not the actual the tube.

Amy: Laughs. You're black all over your hands. You're like

Whitney: And then you smear it on your face. No, you take the tube of mascara and you rub it in your hands to warm it up first,

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: or if you're doing other things, you can just stick it between your legs, like in in your thighs to warm it up while you're putting on other stuff. And then it goes on smooth and clump-free.

Amy: Smart. Oh, my god, it's cold weather approaches. That's pretty good. I love that.

Whitney: Do you exfoliate your lips? Cuz that's something Sometimes.

Amy: Sometimes.

Whitney: That's something that you should be doing cuz otherwise your lipstick gets I don't do a lot of mattes lipsticks. I do a lot of glosses, but still, don't forget your lips.

Amy: Okay, I have this weird I have this weird spot on my lip. It's like a bump, and it's I have one on my nose, and I have one on my lip forever.

Whitney: Yeah. Forever? Is it like a collagen thing?

Amy: Yes! It's like a little collagen build up or something like that, and if I use certain lip products, it blows up.

Whitney: It blows up?

Amy: And then I have to dig it out.

Whitney: Gasp. Not with the digging!

Amy: Then I do it myself.

Whitney: You have to? You really have to?

Amy: I'll pick, and pick, and pick at it until it bleeds, and then it kind of comes off, and then I start over. And so I'm very

Whitney: Sick. My goodness.

Whitney: You are a do-it-yourself surgeon over there. You're a picker.

Amy: I will pick, I will make things bleed, I will do surgery on myself.

Whitney: Okay. Laughs. Well, maybe you need to add that to the list of things you don't want to do yourself.

Amy: No, you really don't. I'm just being truthful.

Whitney: Yeah. Well, there my sister's the same way. She just picks and picks. Luckily, I did not get that. The the magnifying mirror makes it even harder to not pick and stuff, cuz you see every little thing that's going on.

Amy: I have an ultra-magnifying mirror. One day, my mom had passed away, my sister and I were like cleaning out her stuff, or maybe she was like dying or whatever. And my sister and I were in a room, and she had an ultra-magnifying mirror, and my sister was like, "Have you looked in here?" And I was like, "No." This was 20 years ago. And I started to look, and she couldn't even talk to me. She goes, "I'm trying to talk to you. I didn't know I was going to lose you to the mirror." And I was like, "I can't stop." And then I Now, I own one that's mega-magnifying with a light, and I mean it's it's intense.

Whitney: Yeah. And you're Yeah. When you you It's almost like remember in um Gulliver's Travels when he would go to he You didn't What?

Amy: No. What Gulliver?

Whitney: You didn't read Gulliver's Travels in high school?

Amy: No. Uh-uh.

Whitney: Huh.

Amy: Anyway, what happened?

Whitney: Well, he goes to two different islands. One is the Lilliputian, the little people, and then the other are the giants. And the little people look so cute because he can't see every little hair on their face and wrinkle or whatever. They're all just so cute. But then he goes over to the giant side and everyone's hideous, because everything is magnified. So you just need to be careful. You don't You're not as hideous as the magnifying mirror is telling you.

Amy: True. That's true.

Whitney: You want to be I want to live on the Lilliputian side.

Amy: Ah, I I mean I just got a new iPhone 17 and Gigi got one, too, and we took our picture and she started

Whitney: Oh, zooming. Mhm.

Amy: She could see every pore, and when a 16-year-old girl gets every pore

Whitney: It's totally messing with your brain.

Amy: Oh, you're fucked. Okay? Because I started zooming in on mine, and I was like, "I don't like this at all! I don't like it at all." And she's laughing at

Whitney: Yeah. Dude, I can't believe you're just learning about the zoom. I come from a family that will take a photo and then zoom in and take a photo of that zoom-in, and then send it to the group message. So you're horrified. And then my sister will keep all those horrifying photos for just the perfect moment 10 years later, and you're just like

Amy: Laughs. Wow.

Whitney: Yeah, it's brutal. It's brutal.

Amy: It's so sad. I need to do that shit.

Whitney: I think our last um do-it-yourself tip should be smile.

Amy: What? Smile.

Whitney: Smiling. You're never fully dressed

Amy: You're one of these people that's like, smile! It's like

Whitney: No, it's like if you want to look

Amy: I don't want to be told to smile. No, I'm not. Well,

Whitney: No, well, I did just tell you to smile, but I'm saying the light from within brings the glow out. Smiling, happy thoughts, affirmations. I know people roll their eyes, but I mean, that's creepy.

Amy: Oh, sorry. I was like, what's creepy? Affirmations?

Whitney: You're You're creepy clown smile that's like uh frozen. Um no, just remember that that's truly that's truly the best beauty um tip is feeling good about yourself.

Amy: DIY feeling good about yourself. Yes. Do that and Mel Robbins says give yourself a high five every day in the morning in the mirror, yeah. Look at yourself and high five yourself, or look at yourself and be like, "You're beautiful." Because let's be honest, when we're in that magnifying mirror, we're like, "Good lord, somebody help me." It's not positive stuff. No, it's not. I do a lot of self-love mirror work, and tell myself, "I love you," and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Whitney: See? There you go. You're good enough. You're smart enough. And gosh darn it,

Amy: I have to. I have to. Or I will

Whitney: Lose your mind.

Amy: Yeah, or I will look at myself in the in the magnifying mirror. I will zoom in and feel bad about myself. So, I have to stay on top of it.

Whitney: Yeah. Yes.

Amy: Yeah, so that is the best DIY beauty hack of all. Love yourself. Love your Love, love the shit out of yourself. Smile at yourself, you know, like tell yourself that, like You don't have to smile You don't have to smile at any men telling you to.

Whitney: Smile at yourself. Give yourself loving eyes. Are we going to share a mid moment or are we going to end on that positive note?

Amy: Sure. Share a mid moment.

Whitney: Well, my mid moment happened Well, I had several, but one of them was I do another podcast, my Every Widow Thing Podcast, and we had a guest on, and so I had three mics set up and started the process. Halfway through the interview, I look over at my co-host and her mic is off.

Amy: Shit.

Whitney: I forgot to turn her mic on. So for the first 40 minutes of the interview, she can't be heard.

Amy: So sorry. Are we even recording? Okay, we are. We're good. Thank God. You made me have a panic attack.

Whitney: And and I thought I had everything lined up, I had all the stuff going. I even This is the sad part. I even thought I checked the mic, and was like I said, "Say something in your mic." And she was like, "Something in your mic." And I'm looking at the stuff, but my eyesight's not great.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: So I was like, "That looks good." And now for half of the interview, you can't hear her.

Amy: I'm so sorry.

Whitney: It's very sad. Anyway, mid moment.

Amy: Well, I have more of a mid rant.

Whitney: Oh, okay.

Amy: This has been on my mind, and I feel like the older I get, the more pissed off I am about it. And that is we went to an event last weekend, and it was at this place called Assembly Hall in Austin. And how nice were the bathrooms?

Whitney: Yeah, the bathrooms were really great.

Amy: Boom. Bathrooms were A+. They were like gender neutral, they were little rooms.

Whitney: Wide. Yeah, we shut the door completely. It's not like

Amy: Yes. So awesome.

Whitney: If you got locked in there, you couldn't sneak under the

Amy: Ooh, it was a It was awesome.

Whitney: The door, right.

Amy: Really that's how bathrooms should be. I went to Vegas recently. Bathrooms were the same way in casinos, like way to go casinos. Yep. Yep.

Whitney: Yep. A woman's involved, clearly.

Amy: But literally everywhere else on Earth, or in the United States anyway, we have just decided that it's okay to have bathroom stalls that you can just see right on into and see out of.

Whitney: Oh, right. Right.

Amy: I'm so fucking over it. Like in the in the airport. Like, I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? When did we all collectively decide that that's okay to have fucking bathroom stalls that you can see into?

Whitney: Nobody wants to see that. Right. Because you're saying that the space between like the door and the like it's too wide?

Amy: Yes!

Whitney: Yeah. No, you're right.

Amy: 1 million%. Yes, it's too wide. You can see, and you can see out. If you and you're exposed, literally. And somewhere along the way, we all just go, "Well, I guess that I guess that's the best we can do. I guess that's how bathroom stalls function." No, it's fucking not!

Whitney: We need to We need to shrink that gap. Yeah.

Amy: And like why are we not fixing this? So anyway, I'm putting it out there that that needs to be rectified, remedied, the whole nine yards. I'm very fired up about it.

Whitney: Yeah. Because by the way, the fashion trends now, I'm wearing full-on jumpsuits that need to come all the way down. Like I'm basically naked in that stall.

Amy: Oh, if you're wearing a jumpsuit, you're naked at some point during the night.

Whitney: Nobody needs to see that.

Amy: And if it's cold outside, I'm like it's not worth it for me. No way. I have to like plan around it, bring a blanket, I don't know. Like a shawl. No, not worth it because and then you've got to deal with the fact that there's a hole, a hole in your stall. Like anybody could just be like, "Oh, hi."

Whitney: Yeah. It's not even just a little peephole. It's a full top-to-bottom line that they can see everything.

Amy: Yeah. And we're all kind of operating on the honor system like, "Oh, oh, I I know it's there, but I won't look." Like

Whitney: Well, look, guys aren't going to feel sorry for us because they have urinals and troughs that they just go right up and stand next to each other, and pee.

Amy: Well, they're the ones designing bathrooms for the most part, so if you want to change it, men, fucking change it. We want ours changed, and I'm pissed off about this. The older I get, the more I'm like

Whitney: Yeah. Amy is not having it.

Amy: What in the world! Why have we just all been like, that's okay?

Whitney: Get your shit together, Carol. Jim, why did you design this?

Amy: Like, hmm.

Whitney: I try not to use any public restrooms.

Amy: How in the world? If you're hydrating, how do you do that?

Whitney: I don't know. I have a very large bladder, I think.

Amy: Laughs. You're a tiny person. You must be all bladder.

Whitney: I'm half bladder. Oh, man. All right, well, we'll put it out there. Somebody needs to redesign these bathrooms.

Amy: I get really fired up. Yes.

Whitney: Okay. Done. Do you feel better?

Amy: Sort I um sort of, I I really wanted to get that off my chest, so. Yeah, and I just like I don't know why I'm this old and it's still not fixed and it's just like we're okay with that. Like, we're okay with so many things in society that I'm just like, that's not okay. It's not okay. I don't want my kids growing up in a world where that's the thing.

Whitney: Yeah. Right. Oh. Okay. Oh. Laughs. I will not have my child grow up in a world with these kinds of bathrooms.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: All right. Well, I guess that's that today.

Amy: That's That covers everything. If you want to email us, it's anything at Anything but mid

Whitney: Anything at mid. It's Anything But Mid Podcast@gmail.com.

Amy: Do you know how many Every Every time I type it, Anything But Mid Podcast Every time I type it, I type Amything and I'm like, "Nope."

Whitney: Yes. I type I type Anythigen.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: I type Anythigen.

Amy: Yeah, you do.

Whitney: Anythigen.

Amy: We had to really rename our like our RSS feed.

Whitney: Oh, did you do that? Oh, good.

Amy: Thigen, sure did. Sure did, sure did.

Whitney: Anythigen.

Amy: Anythigen. Anyway, whatever.

Whitney: It's anythingbutmidpodcast. Like us, subscribe, follow, email us, tell us your mid moments.

Amy: We have an Instagram. We have an Instagram, we want to hear your mid moments.

Whitney: We got a YouTube.

Amy: Yeah, the whole nine yards, and I'm just so I'm over the moon excited about the show. So, and we got new pajamas today.

Whitney: Yay. We got PJs.

Amy: Adding to our collection.

Whitney: That's right.

Amy: Yep. Now we have two pairs each, so. Yay! Moving on up!

Whitney: Laughs.

Amy: Laughs.

Whitney: All right. You guys go out and have a fabulous day, fabulous night, fabulous life,

Amy: or don't because you know what? We do what we want.

Whitney: You do what you want. But people choose not to. I don't know, the other day I was really attached to my bad mood, so. Oh, yeah. Embrace it.

Amy: Mhm. Bye!