There are so many words that rhyme with ‘mold,’ I had a hard time choosing one for my title. Hope I didn’t disappoint.
Wearing my ROP Kai in Mocha Brown and what looks like a mop but is actually a sweater
Mold remediation starts on our house tomorrow. I am still staying with my sister, and although I tried the first few days to stop by the house each day for a while, by Wednesday I just couldn’t do it anymore. First of all, my sister doesn’t live nearby, so it was a lot of driving, and with the hacking cough and other allergy symptoms I’ve been dealing with for 7 months finally taking their toll, I just felt too worn down to keep up all the traveling. I even canceled all my tutoring gigs for the rest of the week so I could hide out at my sister’s house and just rest.
Wearing ROP’s Evanna in Mocha Brown
It seems to be helping. Last night I actually went all night without coughing, and for some reason today I was just ravenous – I ate an ENTIRE PIZZA by myself for lunch and God knows what else. Usually this would be a bad thing, but I haven’t had much of an appetite lately so I took it as a sign that I might be on the mend. My allergies starting giving me hell around 4 PM or so, but given the pollen situation in Houston right now that’s not terribly surprising. Once your immune system starts freaking out due to black mold, it’s gonna be hypersensitive to everything for quite a while, so this is the sort of spring I’m going to get this year, it seems.
Wearing Rae by ROP in Melted Marshmallow, and Maybelle SuperStay Matte Ink lipstick in Ruler.
If there’s any plus side to all of this, it’s that we’re finally going to fix up some areas of the house that have needed it for years. Our floors have been in terrible need of an update, but we were too cheap and lazy to get it done. Now, we have no choice, so we’re going to pony up the cash and do it right this time, instead of on the cheap like we usually do when it comes to home expenses (because we hate how much this stuff costs). Same for replacing some really old, desperately in need of an update cabinets and painting the walls (and finally removing the ridiculous wallpaper that hasn’t been in style in over 20 years, but again – lazy and cheap). I might actually not mind taking photos or making videos with my house showing instead of the backdrops I always use – but we’ll see about that. I do love my backdrops.
It’s like I was trying to run away from Rylee but it wouldn’t let me go. Damn, that’s an ugly wig.
I tried to at least use Rylee and Hudson in some photos, but honestly, those are still two ugly-ass wigs and they didn’t even photograph all that well. And both of them are ready for the trash after one photo session – I have $30 wigs that have outlasted these monstrosities in a photo shoot!
I had to edit the color of Hudson here, because that Melted Sunset was just too stupid-looking. The lipstick is the Maybelle SuperStay in Ruler.
After playing around with the Kai and Evanna, though, I’ve actually discovered I like them both better in the Mocha Brown, which was the original color I bought them in. So I guess I didn’t really need to get those two others in the Marble Brown and the Caramel after all. Oh well.
Evanna in Caramel Brown, and SuperStay Matte Ink in Protector
The only other thing I wanted to mention was discovering the most amazing long-wearing lipstick I’ve EVER tried: Maybelline’s Super Stay Matte Ink. I love the idea of long wearing matte liquid lipsticks, but they are so tricky to wear; I grabbed a tube of this in the Fighter color at the grocery store, mostly just because the packaging was cool and flashy and caught my eye, and it wasn’t expensive so I figured what the hell. As the reviews will tell you, this stuff doesn’t dry as quickly as other liquid mattes; it will stay a little tacky for about ten minutes, which can be annoying but actually lends itself to less dryness even after it finally settles down. I actually don’t mind the tackiness as the dry-factor is my one big complaint about these lipsticks – and OMG y’all. This stuff LASTS FOREVER. Seriously. I put Fighter on the next day around 9 AM, ran errands, ate lunch, tutored three students, drank a coffee on the way home, AND washed my face around 10 PM – and I’m not lying when I tell you that after all that, it was STILL ON MY LIPS without retouching once. Even when I woke up the next morning – IT WAS STILL THERE. Miracle.
I look insane here and I am not sure why. That’s my real hair, BTW – yes, I ombre’d it to hell and I like it, sorrynotsorry. And I’m wearing the Fighter Matte Ink here – one of my favorite colors.
I have, of course, tried like 10 different colors already, and there’s a handful I really like from the neutrals line (Fighter, Driver, and Seductress are my faves). It’s hands-down (lips-down?) the BEST longwearing liquid lip I’ve ever tried, and I’ve spent some serious coin on longwearing lipsticks over the years! So check it out!
OK, this about catches me up for now. I’m in a bit of a wig mood since reviewing all those ROPs, but as much as there are some others I’d like to try (damn that Sarah by Jon Renau is tempting) they’re all just too much for me to spend when I don’t wear them out that much. So I will keep an eye on the clearance sales and perhaps snatch something up again soon for a future review. Anyway, time for bed now *cough, cough*
mareymercy. 
Surely that is not you in the teal tee shirt? The mouth and nose do not look like yours AT ALL! Your hair looks great though I can’t enthuse about short bangs. Always looks kinda weird to me but……. weird is cool these days I hear. As for the lippy, I have used Revlon Color Stay in the tube (color you paint on at one end and liquid gloss at the other) for a decade. Swear by that stuff. Never dries out, it’s incredible and lasts all day
I hear you about the short bangs, but at the same time – I look awful when I try to wear them longer! And without bangs, my hair looks even MORE flat and baby-fine that it does with them. I’m always kind of on the fence about the bangs myself until i try to grow them longer and it just looks so unappealing on me. I think because of the fine hair again – they look thicker the shorter they are and when they are long it’s like little greasy strands of nothing. LOL. Oh well
I had the same problem with my own hair and bangs. Eventually I grew them out and cut a few wispy strands because I needed something on my forehead. But I had to wash that little bit of bangs every day or they looked greasy.
Good luck with the mold remediation. Sounds like you will be undergoing a major renovation. Would love to see “before” and “after” photos. If you are on the fence on some of your selections or need some direction, give me a shout on my e-mail.
Thanks!
That Evanna is super on you! Beautiful! Hey, thanks for the makeup review also, I always appreciate those, especially of drug store brands. Makeup is fun!
🙂
Coughs are no fun especially at night! We have a product called Night Nurse that’s really good, on Houzz I saw this new wallpaper that’s like a picture on the wall a set size to go on plain walls they would make good backdrops for photos.
Anyway, hope you’re feeling well soon x
Cynthia, I haven’t had the luxury of time to read your post for quite some time. And am stuck on one wig that I now just wear all the time so I’m not shopping wigs for a while. But I was clearing out emails and thought I’d check you out. I am SO sorry to hear about your mold issues. I know you are on it and have read Dr Richie Shoemakers work, seen his posts etc. If you have not educate yourself! It’s life saving info. Also check out Suzanne Somers book, TOXSICK it’s very good.
Something you may not know is that the essential oil blend referred to as THIEVES OIL is good for killing mold spores in the air. You need to use a nebulizer type diffuser, they sell them at Edens Gardens essential oil company and probably many others. It’s the only thing that works in this way. We have also found ozone to be helpful and after treatment, an air filter that does Ozone ongoing. We bought a Royal Line Pro, but there are others with Hepa filters and other important features. Good Luck and I’m thinking about you! Maggie Hoehn from St Louis MO
Thanks Maggie!
Cynthia,
I haven’t had the luxury of time to read your post for quite some time. And am stuck on one wig that I now just
wear all the time so I’m not shopping wigs for a while.
But I was clearing out emails and thought I’d check you out. I am SO sorry to hear about your mold issues.
I know you are on it and have read Dr Richie Shoemakers work, seen his posts etc.
If you have not educate yourself! It’s life saving info. Also check out Suzanne Somers book, TOXSICK it’s very good.
Something you may not know is that the essential oil blend referred to as THIEVES OIL is good for killing mold spores in the air.
You need to use a nebulizer type diffuser, they sell them at Edens Gardens essential oil company and probably many others.
It’s the only thing that works in this way.
We have also found ozone to be helpful and after treatment, an air filter that does Ozone ongoing. We bought a Royal Line Pro, but there are others with Hepa filters and
other important features.
Good Luck and I’m thinking about you!
Thanks – we are working on the house now while we stay at my sister’s. We’ve got a lot to clear out, but we’re getting it done. And I feel much better since I’ve been out of the house for a week.
Feel better, Cynthia! We had this issue in our first place which was a 1st floor condo on concrete slab. We had a 75 gallon fish tank in the bedroom. A dehumidifier helped a little & then we realized having the tank was defeating the purpose of the dehumidifier. Anyway, I wasn’t getting well & even had to be hospitalized because my asthma got so out of control. My husband finally removed the carpeting and low and behold there was mold beneath it. The carpet was sopping wet underneath. After that, we put in laminate floors and I was fine. Before moving into our current home, the inspector found small amounts of black mold in the attic. The seller paid to have it removed and it hasn’t come back. Hoping the same for you 🙏🏼
PS You look great! I love the lipstick. I’ll have to look for it next time I’m out. I’m always up for a new lipstick. 😀
Yeah, this black mold is no joke! I start to feel better but then as soon as I try to get back to life I get worn down and start coughing and hacking again. Went back to dr yesterday to get another round of steroids and some other meds and am taking the rest of the week off from tutoring. The doc said it could take months for my symptoms to clear, even after the mold is cleaned out. Yikes!
Ugh! I know how miserable you feel! And it affected my voice like it has yours as well, but I thought it was from my inhaled medications. Did your dr give you an inhaler? It was helpful for me, but I’m not sure if it would be for you. It’s just a thought. I hated being on the steroids but it was the only thing that helped me to get better, that and the breathing treatments which you can do at home with a nebulizer. Most insurance will cover the nebulizer if your dr prescribes it. There’s also steroid inhalers which helped me during that time. I was on a ton of medication. But once I got better and our place was eradicated, I was good as new.