Nerdy Girl goes Girly Girl, and me vs. Dwayne getting ready.

Hey Nerds,
You know, being a girly-girl is a lot of effort when you're a nerdy-girl.  Actually, I like getting dressed in skirts and dresses, but the rest of me is low-key.  This past weekend, Dwayne and I attended my company's formal Christmas dinner party.  I tend to go every other year and when I do, I like to put extra effort into my look: nails, party dress, jewelry, maybe a little extra eye make up, etc.  But, it's not easy to be super girly-girl and it takes more time for me to figure out what to do.

Let's start with the dress... I wore a dress I already had, because, one, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a new dress, and two, I had enough dresses in my closet to pick from.  I did go browse a few times to see what was available, but nothing struck me as looking amazing, and there were no good deals.  Don't most woman love shopping?


Skin prep.  My dress was strapless and also above the knee... and I have super super dry winter skin... like, imagine, you scratch your leg and streaks of white flaking skin are left behind?  I had to get my skin moisturized, and I also wanted my skin to have a subtle sun kissed look instead of looking like Casper.  I applied self-tanning spray starting the night before.  It wasn't showing up at all, so I had to do another two coats the next day... and it's smelly.


Nails.  I don't like keeping my nails long because I find they get in the way of everyday tasks.  I also don't like getting manicures because for $25, it doesn't last very long and the idea of sitting in a salon for an hour isn't my idea of "relaxing".  (Relaxing for me would be having a good book and warm blanket, or watching Netflix/YouTube).  When I try to paint my nails, it looks pretty bad because I want to rush through it and I paint my skin too.  So, I decided to try fake nails in a short French Manicure style.  I thought, how long can this take to do?  10 minutes?  NO.  it took me 25 minutes and I had issues getting the glue on and having some of the nails stick on.  I don't know how people can keep these on constantly.  I keep losing a couple nails a day.


Face skin treatment.  My face was also look dry and dull from winter, so I bought a hydrating and lifting face sheet mask.  Although that was fine, and I didn't mind it, I had to keep it on for 15 minutes, and I thought I could get my nails done in that time.  But, as you read above, my nails took 25 minutes so I had to stop doing my nails to take this mask off.


Hair.  I have long curly hair, and I wanted to wear it an an up-do to make it more special.  But I'm not a hair stylist and not good at doing creative stuff with my hair, so, bam, help me out YouTube.  I managed to make my hair look someone decent, but there was a tonne of hairspray and bobby pins holding it in place.


Make up.  Next up is make up and my routine looked like what I put on mostly everyday, but with extra care in applying it, and a bit of a heavier hand, and more coverage.  I also added some gold eye shadow, oh la la.


Nip - Tuck.  Underneath those dresses, us ladies have to wear garments that pull us in, and hold us up, at least in my case.


Dress.  Finally pull on the dress.


Finishing Touches.  Since I didn't buy myself a new dress, or shoes, I did buy some new accessories: pretty double hoop earrings, a subtly sparkly necklace and evening purse.  Pop on my heels.  Apply a coat of lipstick in something more daring and dark than my usual color... and finally I'm done primping myself.


But it was a lot of work for a nerdy girl who doesn't like the idea of going to salons, and doesn't like to go shopping.  And even though it's a lot of work, I do like the end result and feel special being all dolled up.



Here's how Dwayne got ready:
Buy a new shirt 2 hours before the party.
Take a shower and shave.
Take a nap
Put on suit in 5 minutes
Put in hair gel.
Done.


BTW, Dwayne surprised me by picking out a shirt and tie that totes went with my plum colored dress.




Here's a few pics of us before the party: