xoVain's Beauty Editor On Nail Art, At-Home Waxing, Unibrows

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• I don’t pluck my brows at all, I prefer a full-on uni. But I do trim them with my mom’s old surgical scissors (she used to work in hospitals), brush them in place with Le Métier de Beauté’s Anamorphic Lash Mascara in the brown shade, and keep them
• My boyfriend always wears his hair in braided pigtails. I bought him some colorful little elastics on a Ricky’s run to spice his signature look up a bit.  
• This is a salon down the street from where I live in Brooklyn. I’m wondering if Rihanna and Amanda Bynes are actual customers. Also very impressed with the beard work.
• This is the only way to do at-home bikini waxes. I highly recommend GiGi’s Brazilian hard wax—it really grabs the hair and doesn’t require strips.
• I went to Blow in the Meatpacking district to get an updo. I’m not the best client--I asked her to redo the weird braid thing I had in mind about four times before just settling on a high ponytail.
• My nine-year-old self would be going bananas at the import stores in Midtown.
• Interview essentials: my red notebook and my DSLR. Also: beer.
• I practice nail art on my boyfriend’s toes because they’re so huge.
• First facial this week. (I probably shouldn’t be getting more than one a week, but I’m really bad at scheduling.) Irina at Mario Badescu is my favorite, we have great talks, she’s such an interesting lady!
• Wearing Revlon’s Colorstay nail polish in Coastal Sun. If my nails are really long I always paint underneath.
• Nothing annoys me more than excess packaging! Love these Fresh lip balms, but why must they trick me with a box that’s twice as big as it needs to be!?
• Chanel’s Illusion D’Ombre is the best glitter eye shadow, hands down. Mine dried into a little ball shortly after purchasing, but it works the exact same as it would if I didn’t leave it un-capped for a couple of days on my counter.
• I’m getting my roots touched up at Sally Hershberger Downtown after going full-on blonde a few days before. I see Aura Feldman, aka “The Blonde Whisperer.”
• Prototype nail design for a post. I always do a trial run of an idea before doing a much more polished (no pun intended) version of the look to photograph.
• Another xoVain writer recommended these Salux exfoliating washcloths and I was lucky enough to come across them at Pearl River Mart in Soho. I bought the last neon yellow one, sorry.
• My friend shot a perfumer in Williamsburg and brought me back some samples: suede, cashmere, fig, and cocoa. They’re meant to be layered, my favorite combination is fig and chashmere.  
• Second facial of the week, this time at a less expensive place in Chinatown. I bought a package of acne facials and the nice lady just absolutely annihilates my face. It takes about three days to fully recover, but once the irritation subsides my skin loo
• The only way to recover from a Korean acne facial is with Mario Badescu’s Rosehips Mask. It’s so soothing and leaves skin super moisturized. I’m on my third container this year.
• Ending the week on a sour note: this nail polish busted open (probably from my dropping all my bags on the hardwood floor immediately upon getting home), and leaked over everything in my purse. Bummer.
• Brunch with my boyfriend at the same Mexican restaurant we always go to. I snapped this photo as he was swatting my hair out of my hand—he hates when I pick off my split ends.
• I went with my friend Charlotte (who owns Sokoglam.com with her husband) to a Korean bath house in New Jersey. This was the super-ornate entrance to one of their steam rooms. I could have spent all day there—most vis
• Boyfriend surprised me with a trip upstate. I love these vintage vanity accessories—the apple is a container for body powder and to its right is a tissue box display.
• I’m slowly adding new soaps to my cute soapbox collection that I keep on my dresser. I find interesting soaps everywhere—from fancy pharmacies to the dollar store down the street.
• This has to be the best-textured body butter I’ve ever tried. Not too thick that it doesn’t fully absorb, but still really rich and creamy—like pudding I guess? It smells nice too.
• Sometimes nail art trials don’t go so well. I was trying for a digital camouflage print, but it ended up looking like this, and I’m not really sure what “this” is.

Texas-bred, Bushwick-residing Annie Kreighbaum spends her days the senior beauty editor at xoVain and her evenings practicing nail art on her gracious boyfriend's toenails (they're much larger than a girl's fingernail). In her week of documented beauty, Annie gets not one, but two facials, visits a bath house in New Jersey, and shares her bourbon of choice to accompany at-home bikini waxing sessions.

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