High school’s awkward for many people, and Jolie was no exception.  I went to two different schools: for three years, I attended a large public high school in Alpharetta, Georgia, and then voluntarily shipped myself off to boarding school in Santa Barbara, California for my senior year.  (Jolie’s weird like that.  Her Georgia friends were not amused.)  The Georgia reunion was this weekend, and after the awesomeness of my Santa Barbara shindig, I thought nothing could compare…but I was wrong!

From a beauty standpoint, it was excellent to see how great everybody looked: few let themselves go, and many were even more glossy, fresh-faced and well-groomed than I would have assumed.  Sure, our high school closely resembled one of those clique-driven, individuality-crushing battlegrounds that you see in raunchy teen comedies starring Seann William Scott and baked goods, but over the years, the majority of my classmates seem to have matured, calmed, and learned the very crucial differences between good makeup (flattering!  subtle!) and bad (RuPaul!  spackled!).  Jolie, by the way, counts herself among the beauty enlightened, as you will see from the “before” and “after” photos below proving that a little beauty knowledge can make anybody (even me!) blossom.

14-year-old Jolie, in New York City, with her best friend A.  So, that’s what my natural color looks like!

Jolie, at 15, in the middle of her “I will only wear No Fear t-shirts and flannels” phase.  It led to (I kid you not) a style-intervention from my then-best friend’s mom.

At 17, beginning to resemble an actual adult.  (Away, baby fat!  Away!)  A., you will note, looks exactly the same.  (Damn her genes!)

Ahh!  Now, that’s better!  Thank God for highlights and smokey eyes.

A quick bit of housekeeping: if you’re coming to my site from my old, forwarded URLs of blog.nadinehaobsh.com, jolieinnyc.com or jolienyc.com, the site will have large, ugly, unwieldy Register.com frames at the top and bottom.  Please do update your URL to my new address—http://jolienadine.com/blog—which is, mercifully, frame-free! 

Okay, my loves, I know that my YouTube videos are the height of crap—we’re talking epic bad lighting, camera angles, and posting/editing skills, not to mention the fact that I apparently have the worst lisp in the history of the world—but be gentle.  Jolie is learning!

This weekend, I went to the Nelson J. salon to have highlights done by Nelson Chan, who also does celebrities including Heather Graham.  He’s well-known for the care he puts into his blondes, and was recently named one of the Best in LA 2008 by Los Angeles magazine.  I was not disappointed: my strands are the perfect buttery shade of California blonde, with extra light face-framing pieces.  I highly, highly recommend his work.

So, to see the results, check out my pointless little video below (my camera is broken, alas, otherwise I would have just taken pictures) — haircut pics/vids to follow soon!

Jolie’s new highlights…

I’m having a weird beauty blogger existential dilemma right now.  The Lancome Oscillation mascara, as you might know, is on sale today (for One…Day…Only!) at Sephora.com, Lancome.com and in select boutiques.  (It appears to have already sold out at at Sephora, FYI, but is still currently available on the Lancome website.)  Everybody is freaking out over the fabulosity of said mascara (and by everybody I mean a select group of beauty obsessees, assorted bloggeratti and various editors), and of course I’m also dying to try it, seeing as I’ve championed Lancome’s formulas for years, and have sung their praises all over Beauty Confidential.  But, as I went to the website, filled out my information, and was about to press the “buy” button, I thought, “Wait a second.  What am I really buying this for?”  So that I can feel exclusive?  As though I have the inside track over millions of women who won’t try it until it’s released in December?  I already have six unopened mascaras in the queue, and it’s not as if I’ll be the only beauty blogger writing about it tomorrow.  In that case, is it really worth the $34? 

And if I’m not willing to fork out money for beauty products unless I do actually have the inside track–or am in dire need, feeling impetuous at CVS, or traveling in Europe…does that just make me a cheap bastard? 

Over the years, I’ve written at length about how beauty editors (and now bloggers) receive free products, and I’ll admit that I haven’t paid for any makeup in ages.  Hell, even random items like deodorant and razors often arrive on my doorstep.  We serve as guinea pigs, testing and writing about things so other women can decide for themselves how to spend their cash.  But today, I’m just a beauty consumer like everybody else…and practicality (hey, the economic crisis stretches to Jolie, too!) is winning out over curiosity. 

Aside from dizziness that can’t be explained away by my haircolor, I’m fine, family and friends!  Sadly, Heidi and Spencer–and myriad H-town delights–are probably okay, too.

My favorite earthquake-related tale, here: When the earthquake struck I bravely bolted past my small children to secure my 50″ plasma on the wall. I’m a hero, it didn’t break.

Yesterday was the biggest social event on the English calendar: Cartier International Polo Day at Guards Polo Club in Windsor.  I’ve been lucky enough to attend the past two years, and it is a seriously massive to-do; the 2006 party remains the best and wildest I’ve ever attended.  (And, believe me, with the pretty polo people, that’s saying something!)

Prince Harry attended with Chelsy Davy last year; this year, spectators were treated to an insanely dapper-looking Prince Charles. 

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Check out Allure.com Daily Beauty Reporter Jessica Matlin’s take on her five current favorite volumizing mascaras.  Her picks include Avon Supershock Mascara, which she compares to DiorShow in terms of brush chubbiness. 

Ahh, DiorShow. 

Can I confess something here?  I might be the only beauty editor and makeup aficionado on the planet who doesn’t have spontaneous orgasms because of DiorShow’s so-called fabulosity.  Now, I like DiorShow.  I name check it in Beauty Confidential (page 110), and it is, indeed, very, very good.  But I always feel like I’m missing something when I read flowery, gushing, OTT reviews proclaiming it as The Best Ever!  Really?  Ever?  For me, the brush is just a bit too fat, and I can’t reach those tiny hidden corner lashes that you don’t notice until they’re defined (and then it’s, like, Wow!), and I find it awfully prone to clumping, and I simply can’t stand that rose scent.  I feel like I’m using my great-grandmother’s mascara from 1893.  Don’t get me wrong: I don’t stabby-hate it.  There will just be no babies made with it.  Et tu, beautés?

Et voila!  You asked for my Vi Peel photos, and here they are.  On the left is the “before” photo, taken six weeks ago.  On the right is the “after” photo, taken this afternoon.  I’m wearing mascara and a little eye shadow in today’s picture, but am not wearing any other makeup; both photos are WYSIWYG.  For a larger, in-your-face (or, rather, in-my-face) version, check out this link. 

Now that I’ve had a chance to compare the side-by-side shots, the difference is actually pretty remarkable and leads me to say that I would enthusiastically recommend the Vi Peel to those with pigmentation problems.  (My doctors at Profiles Beverly Hills performed mine.)  And, by the way, if the scary “Nadine without her makeup!” photo on the left isn’t the world’s greatest advertisement for Bare Minerals foundation (I told you all I had ruddy, messy skin!), I don’t know what the hell is.

Finally, visit my new Jolie page on You Tube for two laughable videos I took of myself the day and night following my Vi Peel with my new Flip camera.  Seriously.  No making fun.  (Um, and maybe you shouldn’t look at the videos while you’re eating.  Day two of the peel is absolutely disgusting.)  Loving my Flip, however!  I’ll start uploading some fun how-to videos for your enjoyment.

xo, J!