I may have been late to the whole Emi Jay craze, but I am now officially a fan! When I bought some of these hair ties for my sister for Christmas, I picked up a pack for myself as well. I am so happy I did!

Before I discovered these hair ties, if I wore my hair up, I would have to keep it up all day because it would get the dreaded kink. I absolutely LOVE that I can wear my fine hair in a ponytail for an hour or all day and it still doesn’t have a dent!

Right now, I am loving the new color and ombre packs for spring. At $10.99 for a pack of five, they’re not the cheapest hair ties in the world, but they’re worth it!

Sorbet 5-Pack

Pink Ombre 5-Pack

Seabreeze 5-Pack

Green Ombre 5-Pack

I love getting my nails done, but it never fails that, within 24 hours of leaving the salon, at least half of my newly polished nails are chipped. It feels like a complete waste of money. But between lots of hand washing, digging through the diaper bag and playing with Legos, the chips are inevitable. . . until now.

Gel color is the new thing in nails—it bakes on under an LED light and will last for weeks without chipping or dulling. Simply put, it lets me be a put-together professional and a hands-on mom (pun intended) at the same time! The only drawback is that getting a gel manicure at the salon can be a bit pricey—anywhere from $60 to $100 here in the DC metro area. Granted, you don’t have to go back for a while, but it’s still pretty expensive.

Companies like Red Carpet Manicure, however, have come to the rescue with at-home LED gel kits. The Starter Kit from Red Carpet Manicure costs $59.99 and includes one bottle of polish. There are 36 shades of gel polish, and each one is $9.99. If you plan to get more than one gel manicure and you have a steady hand, the at-home kit is definitely the way to go from a cost perspective.

I love how effortlessly chic messy buns can be—and I also love how they help me get away with not washing my hair when we’re having a particularly crazy morning. But somehow I could never achieve that perfect “undone” chignon that celebs all seem to manage. I chalked it up to the fact that I have really fine, not so thick hair. No matter how many bobby pins I stuck in there, it would always fall out.

And then I discovered the Spin Pin by Goody (cue angels singing). I had heard about these little corkscrew pins before and had read rave reviews in fashion mags, but the reviews were all by hair stylists who could already create the style in their sleep and, therefore, did little to make me believe I’d have the same success. Still, I saw them in Target during my last trip and decided to give them a shot since they’re only $6.49.

Imagine my shock when they actually worked! Not only did they hold my slippery, thin hair, but it took me less than a minute to throw my hair up into the perfect messy bun. It did take me a couple of tries to figure out the best way to twist my hair and the perfect placement of the pins, but once I nailed those details, I was in business! I wish I had bought these things ages ago!

If you have had a child, you have had dark circles under your eyes. It’s like a rite of passage. And if you are “blessed” with my kind of genetics, you still have those shadows long after your little one is sleeping through the night. Enter Erase Paste from Benefit. Through the years, I have tried countless brands and types of under eye concealer—lipstick-esque applications, liquid, mousse-like fluffy stuff, the list goes on. It’s always either too yellow, too thick, doesn’t blend well, there’s always something. Having dealt with dark under eye circles my whole life, I knew what I was in for with parenthood (they could only get worse); so when I read a recommendation for Erase Paste on a parenting blog just before my daughter was born, I figured I’d give it a shot- who better to recommend an under eye concealer than a new mom, really?

Well I loved it! It helped cover the dark circles without looking like I was using concealer, and it was really easy to work with. It also really brightens my entire eye area. I use it everyday so I don’t look like a zombie. It’s a little pricey ($26 for the small pot), but I’ve had it a year now (again, using it daily), and I still have plenty left. Bottom line, if you’re trying to banish dark circles, you need to try this stuff!