Transcription
[Music] Young, and fine, and dark, and handsome. The [Music] boying. Hey, what’s up, you guys? It’s Michaela, and welcome, welcome back to my YouTube channel. So we’re starting off this video looking a little rough, just a little—not too much. Now, not too much, not too much though, not too much. So that can only mean one thing: it’s maintenance day, baby!
I am a huge girly girl, if you couldn’t tell, and so I really do love maintenance days. But if you are a fellow girly girl, or you just like to get these maintenance things done, then you know it can run you a coin, and it takes a lot of time. So if you’re a busy G, ago, you’re a mom, you’re in school, you have a job, it can get hard to kind of squeeze in all of these appointments, and I just can’t do that every single week. So that’s why I like to have these little at-home maintenance days. I can do them whatever I want, and it saves me time and money while still kind of making sure that I’m maintaining my maintenance and my upkeep, so I can feel and look my best.
So if that sounds like you, if you are part of the body-on-a-budget community, I do hope you enjoy this video. Before we get started, don’t forget to follow me on all my social medias, like my Instagram and my TikTok. And with that being said, let’s get started!
First things first, I have to do my nails. Funny enough, I always get asked about my nails, and I want to say nine times out of 10, they’re actually press-ons. I just love doing them at home; it’s so quick and easy, and they always come out so, so good. For supplies, of course, you’re going to need the press-ons of your choice. I really like these BT art box ones from Amazon; they come in a variety of styles, and every single one is just such good quality. You’ll also need a top coat and a builder gel. My favorite brand for polishes is Beetles. The nails are matte, so you’re going to need a top coat to give that glossy finish, and the builder gel is just going to thicken up the nails so that they don’t really look like press-ons; they look like actual acrylics. You’re also going to need a nail file and a cuticle cutter, a UV LED lamp just so you can dry down the top coat and the builder gel. I have this really cute mini one from Amazon; this one is so mini, it’s literally like the size of my palm. And then I use the KDs nail glue. If you want your nails to stay, this is the best nail glue. And these last two things are optional, but I also like to shave my knuckles—and that actually made me cringe. I hate the word “knuckles”—and then I use a little cuticle oil.
The first thing you want to do is start by pushing back your cuticles. You’re obviously going to want to do this with the cuticle pusher, but for some reason, I could not find one, so I just use the end of anything rounded. You’re going to take your cuticle cutter and gently cut your cuticles. I don’t like to go crazy with this, but I do want to clean them up a little bit, just so that it looks very clean and like an actual manicure. Next step is super important, but you’re going to want to take a nail file and buff out the natural shine on your nails. If you have problems with your press-ons lasting, most likely it is because of the prep, so you really want to make sure you’re taking your time and really getting off any oils from your natural nail beds. And to make it last even longer, you can even get an alcohol pad and wipe down the nails. Once I’m done buffing down the nails, I’ll just go through the line of nails and start to find which one matches with each one of my fingers. A big tip is that if you’re ever in between sizes, make sure to size up, just because you can always shave down the sides, but if you pick a nail that’s too small, most likely it’s going to, one, be uncomfortable, and, two, pop off easier. And then once I have all my sizes, I’ll just take the nail glue and put a really, really good amount onto the press-on. You want to find a good in-the-middle; like you don’t want to put too much that you’re going to flood the nail, but also if you don’t put enough, your nail is not going to last at all. And I’ll just firmly press down on the nail and probably hold it there for 7 to 10 seconds, or just until, until you can feel that it’s fully dried. Afterwards, I’ll just grab my nail file and then start to sharpen up the sides by giving it a good shape. It’s going to make it look even more like an actual manicure instead of just being a press-on. Once I have the shape that I like, I’ll go in with my Beetles builder gel, and this is a really thick gel, so you’re going to want to take your time and make sure that you apply it all over the nail so that it’s even. Like I said, this is just going to make it look like it’s an actual thick acrylic and not a press-on. Then you can grab your LED nail lamp and start to cure the nails. Once the builder gel has dried, I’ll apply a good layer of my top coat just to seal everything off and give it that nice, pretty finish. And once again, pulling out the LED lamp and curing the nails till they’re completely dry. And afterwards, they look so, so good—like genuinely look like you could have got them done at a salon. I’m obsessed! This step is optional, but like I said, I take a little razor and I’ll just shave any hair that I may have. Another optional step that I really, really recommend is just taking a little bit of some oil—I just use any old cuticle oil. This is going to give it that really healthy and hydrated finish, and they just come out too, too good. I don’t think I’ve ever not been happy with the press-ons, and that’s like the best part, and it just saves me so much time, and they were so affordable—like you truly cannot beat this at-home manicure.
Next step in the routine, we are going to shave the face—so kind of doing like an at-home dermaplaning. And how I do it is very simple; all I use is this hair identifier kit. So I first start off with the hair identifier spray, and then you want to shake it thoroughly and just directly spray it on your face. And you want to spray it about like 5 inches away from your face until your face is completely covered, so I can see exactly what parts of my face need to be shaved, what parts I’ve already covered, what parts I’ve missed. I’m not going over the same spot over twice, because that will irritate your face, as well as any parts that I’ve missed. I originally saw this on TikTok, and I was like, that is like the biggest sham I’ve ever seen; who is spending their money on that? Me, immediately, add to cart! Let me just say this is actually my second bottle, cuz I love this stuff. I can’t take myself seriously; I look like Jack Frost, Martin Short—I’m coming for that role! So now that this is all done, I’m going to wash it off and then meet you guys back in a second. Okay, I just washed my face, and it feels so smooth; it’s actually ridiculous! If you have skin that can handle shaving your face, I highly recommend you do so; it just makes the appearance look very brighter, clearer; it also feels softer as well. I literally just get this from Amazon; I love using this; it actually makes it fun. I will say the only thing is this is heavily scented. I personally think it smells really good, but I know a lot of people have very sensitive skin where they can’t handle any scent on their face. If that’s you, stay clear; just use an oil as a replacement. But if you’ve also seen this on TikTok and you were really skeptical like me, I personally think it works, and I love using it for these little maintenance days.
When it comes to self-tanning, I love to do this at home. The first thing that you’re going to want to do is make sure that you’re exfoliating your skin. I personally like to use a dry brush, and all you want to do is just buff out the, the surface of your skin and brush in the direction towards your heart. This is just going to get rid of any dead skin cells and just even out the surface of the skin so that your tanner can apply a lot more smooth. Afterwards, you’re going to want to go in with some type of body moisturizer. I like to use the Fenty body butter; it is my favorite one for self-tanning because it’s just like a Goldilocks thing; it’s like right in the middle of being perfect; it’s not too thick to where your tan won’t develop, but it’s also not too thin so that your tanner won’t glide. It’s right in the middle with a perfect buttery consistency that just melts into your skin. So I will thoroughly apply this all over my body, and then I will take a self-tanning mitt—I get this from Target—and then my favorite, ever-loving, Tan-Luxe Express Tanning mousse. I always get asked what tanner I use, and nine times out of 10, it is going to be this one; it’s just so, so perfect at giving you that nice olive golden complexion. I hate when tanners kind of develop a little green; this one will never fail me. Then after you’re done tanning, you’re going to want to leave it on for as long as you possibly can, take a shower, and then you’re left with the best finish.
Now I will say, if I am going to pay for a service, it is going to be to get my toes done, just cuz I think it’s so worth it; like a pedicure at the salon lasts so long. However, if I’m in a little bit of a time crunch, I do like to do them at home. And my toes were so bad today; like they were in desperate need of it. It’s kind of like the same steps that we did for the press-on nails, so you’re going to take your file and just shave off any of the shine and natural oils on the nail beds, and then you can go in and push back the cuticle and then nip them off with a little cuticle cutter. I also like to cut my nails with my cuticle cutters. I will say that if you are going to do press-on toes, they aren’t super long, so you want to make sure that your natural toenail is short, or you’ll see your natural toenail peek out. After my nails are nice and trimmed, I will just go in and size each of the toes, and once I get the correct size, I will take a good glob of my nail glue, poop it on there, and then firmly press the fake nail against my natural nail and hold it there for about 10 seconds. Once it’s firmly gripped on, I will continue this process throughout all my nails—I’m just applying the glue, sticking it on the nail, and firmly pressing and releasing—and you’ll slowly see it start to come together. They end up looking so, so good, and I just feel like it’s so quick and easy and convenient. I’m somebody that only gets white toes when I go to the nail salon, and so just having them super accessible at home when I need it just makes it so perfect. I think it comes out very clean-looking, very classy, and they come out looking so, so cute.
Next thing on the agenda is I’m going to give myself a little at-home blowout. It’s actually not a blowout at all; it’s just like more bouncy, voluminous curls. I never get my hair professionally blown out; the only time I ever get it done it’s like after my hairdresser cuts my hair, and she does a little blowout at the end. But I love the look; I literally get my hair cut so that I can do these little at-home curls. So let me show you guys how I do it. All I do is I start off with a little bit of heat protectant; this one is the BioSilk heat protectant cream, and I’ll just apply this all over my hair. NGL, this hairstyle is pretty damaging, so you want to make sure you put on a good layer of heat protectant. And afterwards, I will section off my bangs to do first—this is like the only hairstyle that I ever do where I’ll do my bangs first—and then I’ll just take my curling iron and begin to curl inward. After about 10 seconds, I’ll just release the barrel and then kind of cup it in my hands. Ow, that’s hot! And before this completely cools down, I’ll take a little roller and then I’ll roll it in the opposite direction; so I curled in, but I’m rolling outward, and then I’ll just take one of these clips and I’ll clip it away. And then I continue this step; so I’ll take the barrel and start to turn towards the end, and then once I get to the end, I’ll roll up, and after holding it for about 10 seconds, I’ll gently release, taking the roller again, I’ll begin to roll this and then pin it away. And I’m going to keep on repeating this step throughout my entire head of hair. [Music] [Music] [Music]
All righty, guys, I’m officially done with curling my hair and putting them up in the rollers, so now while these cool and kind of set, I’m going to do my eyebrows. Doing the eyebrows is so, so simple; I talk about it on my channel, I think every single glow-up video I do. I do not trust myself waxing or threading; I have a really high pain tolerance, so I can let other people do that to me, but I can’t do it to myself. So I will just go in and groom my eyebrows normal, just meaning by squeezing any random hairs. I might even take like a facial razor and get like the tops of my eyebrows as well, and then I always brush my eyebrow hairs upwards and then cut them with a little eyebrow scissors, and that’s how I groom them—probably do that maybe like once a month. And I also like to tint my eyebrows; for that, I use Just For Men beard dye. This stuff I’ve had for maybe over a year, and it’s still going strong. I paid to get my eyebrows tinted like forever ago, and I thought they looked okay, but they really didn’t last that long. I mean, this doesn’t either, but like this cost me 5 cents per eyebrow tint, and on top of that, I remember it being really expensive, so I like to just do it by myself. I always tell people when I do this, it’s never going to, like, microblade the eyebrows; it’s not going to make them super, super sharp or anything, but it’s going to give them a nice little shape and give it that full appearance, and it’s super easy to do. You just take the color base and then mix a little bit of the color developer with it. I like to just mix it with the end of like one of the bottles, and then after, just take an angled brush and literally apply it as if you were filling in your brows. So I always start off at the arch of my brows, just because when you fill them in, obviously the most amount of color is on the brush in the beginning, and you want your arch to be the strongest. And then with whatever is left over, I’ll drag that to the tail, and then whatever leftover from that, I’ll drag that and smudge it in the beginning of my brows because I want the inner part of my brows to be the softest. Once my eyebrows are filled in, I’m going to leave it for about 5 minutes just to let it fully develop. After the 5 minutes, all I do is just take a piece of tissue and then just begin to wipe it, and then you’re just left with nice, dark, and filled-in eyebrows.
From time to time, I also like to do a little at-home lash extension moment. I don’t do these that often, just cuz I don’t really like having lash extensions 24/7. All I personally do is first start off by curling my lashes; I have really naturally stick-straight lashes, and so if I don’t curl them, they just won’t apply right. And then I’ll take a little bit of the lash bond and gently comb that through my lashes. The lash length is just going to depend on the look that you like; I like mine a little bit more natural, so I’ll take a shorter, like 14 or 12 mm, and then I’ll apply a little bit of glue to the cluster. I definitely recommend this if you want them to last longer, and then you’re going to want to gently stick them underneath your lash as close to your natural lash line as possible. Next, I’ll grab the sealer and just seal them all off; this is going to get rid of any sticky, tacky feeling and set them into place. And I’ll continue this pattern to the other side. And since I do the lashes really natural, this probably takes me like 10 minutes, and then these are the lashes done. I just do one layer; I know a lot of people stack them; that’s what gives you that like really big extension look, but personally I just get a little annoyed if I have too many on, so this is how I like it—nice and natural, perfect for every day.
With the lashes on, that means I can finally take down my hair from my rollers. So I always start off with the back and then I just like hold kind of near the top and then twist it out. So bouncy! Love her! Taking out your rollers is like the best feeling; it literally feels like taking off a bra. Mhm. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Now that’s what I’m talking about! And this is the result of the finished at-home blowout. I just love, love how airy and fluffy, just voluminous, and it just looks perfection! And that was it for today’s at-home maintenance routine, so that you can look and feel your best for less money and less time. I hope you guys enjoyed today’s video; don’t forget to subscribe down below and follow me on all my social medias. I love y’all so, so much, and I will see you in my next video. Bye!