Running Makeup - Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon

This year, I decided to run my first half marathon. Mind you, I ran for the first time less than two years ago! I took a "Couch-to-5k" program at my local YMCA and started from nothing. I now love running for exercise and, of course, the cute outfits! Because I'm not a serious runner, I thought that the Disney Princess Half Marathon would be the perfect race for me.

My Ariel-inspired outfit was the easy part to plan:  I had already picked out the perfect fabric to sew my mermaid-esque skirt, scored a red Manda Bees headband on etsy that didn't budge the entire time (seriously, I had a tan line.), bought an amazing purple tank top from Athleta, and even found green Nike running tights! The hard part (aside from the training during our looooong & harsh Indiana winter), was to decide what makeup would be best for race day. I know, I know... Makeup for a half marathon?! YES: this is Disney World! There will be a photo-op at every mile along the way. And, of course I wanted to show off my accomplishment to the entire Insta/Twitter/Facebook universe! The race started at 5am and the last bus left our hotel at 3:30, so I was going to need a little help looking lively that morning.

After looking up "running makeup," "race makeup," "makeup for runs," and any other variation of the search, I could hardly find any articles that were any help at all.  So, I decided, I was going to have to do the research myself. With some help on suggestions for waterproof mascara, I started at the Covergirl display at CVS and went from there. Trying out my purchases on my morning treadmill runs, I must say that I got pretty lucky and found some great products right away! Read on to find out what I used and why I loved it.

Mascara

I started my CVS trip at the CoverGirl section for mascara, because I heard a lot of great things about their waterproof mascara. I wanted a mascara that was waterproof, black, and added volume. I have found in the past that waterproof mascaras often added the color, but not an adequate amount of volume. Because of the description and the funky brush, I ended up with CoverGirl Lash Blast Waterproof Volume Mascara in Very Black. 

One coat of this stuff makes my lashes darker, longer, and fuller without clumping or ever running. I even tested it's staying-power after my test-run (pun intended!) in the shower and it still didn't run. I love this. It is almost too good at staying on.

Eyeliner

Almost as important as mascara is eyeliner; especially at 3:30am after two full days of four disney parks. I went in to this one blind: I knew I wanted black, waterproof, and cheap but didn't know where to start. I literally turned around after grabbing the mascara and saw the Rimmel display. "Perfect!" I thought as I read the descriptions of their eyeliners , "Waterproof and only $4!" Not so much. The shelves were empty except for a few brow pencils and damaged liners. Ugh. Next to the Rimmel end cap was N.Y.C., however, so I checked it out.

I grabbed their NYC Waterproof Eyeliner in Black and loved it! This eyeliner, too, stayed on through my treadmill test and the shower after. I have to use serious eye makeup remover (Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover, of course) to get this stuff off. Makeup remover wipes will not cut it. Both my eyes were still fully lined after my 13.1 race - it was perfect!

Eye Shadow

Eyeshadow was an added bonus: I didn't expect to find any, but thought it would be nice if I could have a layer of coverage on my thin lids and add some highlighting. I took a chance on Rimmel's Scandal'Eyes Shadow Stick in Bulletproof and I really like it! It goes on very smoothly and doesn't crease. I'm not sure that it stayed on for the entire half marathon, but lasted long enough to make me look awake in the wee hours of the morning.

The Finish Line

All-in-all, I was very pleased with my makeup. It was just enough for what I needed without looking over-done.  Let me know what your favorite makeup products are for running or exercising so we can all share our knowledge with each other!

Wingapo!

Kudos Nordstrom

(Nordstrom.com : Taylor Dresses Jacquard Party Dress in Tangerine)

A few weeks ago I found the perfect sundress for my brother-in-law's afternoon wedding in May.  It was a 50's style A-line with a bold modern print.  The tangerine was a great match for the guava & champagne wedding (I am not in the wedding but the wife of a groomsman so I don't want to exactly match, just "mesh"), and the style was perfectly conservative yet amazingly flattering for the Catholic service.  I had even picked out the nude espadrilles I would wear with it!  There was only one problem:  it was sold out in my size by the time I went back to order it.

Story of my life.  I had waited too long to purchase the dress of my dreams (at least, for this particular event) and now it was no longer available!  But, I was determined that I would figure out a way to get it.  Afterall, Nordstrom has one of the best customer service departments around.  Surely I could make it work.

Attempt #1 to save the day: look at what other sizes are available.  I had been losing a little weight, so a smaller size could work and I could always get a larger size altered (Nordstrom has free alterations for their products).  Ah ha!  They had the next size smaller available online (one could not be located at the stores within a 25 mi radius of my zipcode)!  But, being the Savvy Shoppanista that I am, I decided that I would wake up early the next morning and have Nordstrom ship it to me from a store that it was available at rather than order it online so that I could save the shipping costs.  This was my second mistake.

Attempt #2: The next morning I woke up and went to Nordstrom first thing.  I had business to tend to.  I ended up being about 45 minutes early, but at least I would be one of their first customers which would decrease the risk of more dresses selling out by the time I got there!  I looked around the dress section to see if I could find any size of my dress, and that proved unsuccessful.  So, I went to the counter where I was warmly welcomed by Joan.  I pulled out my phone and opened the web browser page which I still had opened to  my dress to show Joan what I was looking for.  The page automatically refreshed and I saw that even my new size had sold out!!  Over night?!?  Really?!?  I tried to keep my cool and told myself that another store would surely have it.  Joan began to look up the inventory at the other stores, meanwhile I tried on two sizes of the same style & manufacturer as my dream dress.  I was happy to find out that the smaller size actually fit much better than my original larger guess - woohoo!  Joan came back to my dressing room and told me that she had found one location that possibly could have one dress left. I felt releif!  At least, until she told me that it would be another 3 hours until we would find out because it was in California and they weren't open yet due to the time difference.

Throughout this experience, I was having a conversation with Nordstrom personnel via Twitter which gave me reassurance that this would work out in the end.

(Read tweets from bottom to top)

I could see that between my shopping skills, Joan's help, and Nordstrom's customer service something good was going to happen.  And, it did!  I spoke with Joan 30 minutes after the Cali store opened and she had them ship my dress directly to me free of charge!  After a short celebration, I moved on to order those nude espadrilles...

The point of the story here is not to pat my own back because I got the dress I wanted despite my bad decision to wait to order it.  It is to commend Nordstrom for the exceptional service they provided me with.  Neither Joan nor the Twitter team were about to stop until they found me my dress.  As important as discounts and bargains can sometimes be, there is nothing as awesome as the quality of service (not to mention the products) provided by high-end retailers or brands.  Kudos to you, Nordstrom!

Please visit Nordstrom's website and Twitter (@Nordstrom) account.