Hello folks! It'll be quiet here for another few weeks, until after I take an exam that I have not adequately prepared for AT ALL it's making me so anxious. In the meantime, here are some randomly weird beauty shenanigans!

The braid trend hits mainstream with salons offering "braid bars." Huffpost reports on a Manhattan salon that offers hair braiding services for upwards of $50. Call me a cheapskate but I wouldn't pay big bucks for something prepubescent girls master during sleepovers.

And then there's this weird contraption that's being offered at a "reasonably priced" £25. It would be cool if it was an ultra-futuristic oxygen mask. But no, it's been unglamorously dubbed as a "face bra," which is exactly what it sounds like. It supposedly slims the jawline and prevents laugh lines. Considering that boob bras may not be all that helpful to our assets as previously thought, this is just ridiculous.

And finally, something I can get on board with -- if only I can get past the raw material used to create these cute and peppy DIY blotting papers.