Takin' it off

So, sorry about the rather sparse amount of postings lately. Summer, specifically June equals paperwork madness at work. This in turn makes the thought of typing even one more sentence after work unbearable and I therefore neglect the blog for sleep/zoning out. Again, apologies. I will at least try to post something once per week.

Moving on.

I've been watching a lot of YouTube vids about people's skin care routines and I really wanted to throw my two cents in. Because I'm a follower.  For reference, I have come to the conclusion that I have pretty dry skin year round. In the summer I do sweat on my face, so I can get shiny, but the dryness is pretty consistent. However, for what ever reason, during the change in seasons my skin will become really flaky around my hair line and I still have yet to find something to help that out. Gross.

Day time:
Cleanser: I don't always use a cleanser, just because I'll wash my face at night and because I'm lazy/running late will just rinse off with water. If I'm breaking out I'll use my St. Ives Green Tea cleanser. The rest of the time I'll use the sample of the gel cleanser that came with the Clarisonic Mia. About 80% of the time I'll use the Clarisonic Mia in conjunction with one of the cleansers.

Moisturizer: I've recently acquired a few different moisturizer samples so I've been mixing it up in this area. My staple is the Clinique dramatically different moisturizer for dry to very dry skin. I seriously continue to be amazed that a moisturizer can make such a huge difference in my skin. This has helped even out my skin's texture better than any exfoliater ever did.  The samples I have are the Ahava moisturizer and the Likewise moisturizer from my Birchbox. I like the Ahava sample, which is quite a generous sample size, because it's thicker in consistency than my Clinique moisturizer and a little goes a long ways. The Likewise sample is a super thick sunscreen with SFP 50 with supposed added anti-aging benefits, but I really only use this on my neck; it really needs to be worked in and can leave a white tint behind if you don't. I haven't really noticed any differences since adding these but I'll keep using them until they're gone.


Night time:
Pre Cleanser: I take my eye make up off with the Neutrogena Oil Free make up remover. I really like this and it works way better than the L'Oreal stuff I had been using. I put some on a cotton ball or pad and use gently massage my eyelashes to get my mascara off then use the other side to swipe the rest of my make up off. What's super awesome is that it doesn't sting my eyes if it gets in them (and trust me, I pretty much swiped the cotton ball over my eyeball).


Cleanser: I then use my St. Ives Green Tea cleanser and take about one pump on my fingers and rub it on my dry face and then the excess on to the wet Clarisonic Mia brush head then go at it. 


Moisturizer: After washing, I will take the maracuja oil and just put some oil straight under my eyes and tap it it then mixing the maracuja oil with my Ahava moisturizer and rubbing that it afterwards. I tend to put more under my eyes and then the rest all over my face and neck. I pretty much hydrate the shit out of my under eye area since that's where a lot of my dryness lives. 


That's pretty much it currently. I think I'm going to experiment with some other cleansers and moisturizers (to add to my Clinique, that is) to see if there's anything that will help take my skin to the next level. One product I'm very interested to try out is the Caudalie beauty elixir. And I also need to find a proper eye cream for both day and night. Any suggestions? Or suggestions for other products that are life changing?

Haul!

  I rarely buy a bunch of things at once, but I started using Ebates (and by using I mean one time) to get some of the tarte smooth operator that Ulta didn't have in my color. Well I hate paying for shipping, so I loaded up my virtual shopping cart and ended up with a lot of free samples :)

Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara, Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch concealer in Buff, Ulta Extreme Wear Matte Mousse blush in Peach, Ahava moisturizer (sample), tarte smooth operator tinted moisturizer in Agent 04, benefit the POREfessional (sample), tarte pure maracuja oil (sample),  and Euphoria by Calvin Klein (sample)

The POREfessional was seriously the smallest sample I've ever had. And I can't say for sure that it really did much. I don't know if it would work better under a regular foundation rather than a tinted moisturizer. It felt very velvety and was nice to apply.  That's about all I can say. I did notice that it mattified the areas where I applied it, but again, I can't say that I noticed any huge difference. I also don't have large pores, so... yeah. I am so not helpful tonight :(

So this blush specifically states that it is a matte finish blush. But that is a big fat lie. It has shimmer out the ass. I also didn't find that I could even tell that I had blush on after applying it, but I could see the shimmer. I'm not saying that I don't like the shimmer effect; it sorta has the built in highlighter thing. My problem is that wasn't what I wanted.  It applied well and blended nicely but maybe I should have bought... not this. I'll keep wearing it because why not? It isn't awful by any means.

                                               

                                                         Dream Lumi Touch concelear in Buff

 

I had read slash seen some good reviews about the Dream Lumi Touch concealer and since the Make Up Forever concealer is not floating my boat, I thought I'd give this a whirl. The first thing I noticed was that the consistency was much thicker and drier that I was expecting. Coverage was alright and it seemed to last all day. I didn't sleep much last night so I wasn't really paying attention. I was somewhat worried that it was much pinker than the tinted moisturizer (which doesn't look like it comes across well in the picture I took) but ended up blending in well.       

       

                                           

                                                  tarte Smooth Operator in Agent 04

This tarte purchase was the reason I got the sample I'll talk about next. I'd been recommended this tinted moisturizer by the one nice sales lady that works at Ulta a few weeks ago. She gave me a sample to try since they didn't have my shade in stock but after two weeks of waiting for a new shipment, I just wised up and bought it online. (I'm still deciding if I prefer instant purchase gratification or getting packages in the mail....) Once again the color didn't translate super well in the photo but what do I really expect from using the camera on my phone? I like the sheer coverage that give a dewy finish and is moisturizing enough that I don't need to put two layers of moisturizer on. It's probably not the exact shade for me but being so sheer it still looks natural and helps even out my skin tone. It really doesn't cover blemishes well, but whatevs. The biggest negative about this was after I was low on the sample and it dried out some. When I put it on it looked really cakey and didn't blend well. I had to start over and then I mixed it with some moisturizer and it worked well. 

I am really excited to try this baby out tonight. This was a deal that was happening through tarte and was a free sample I received for purchasing the Smooth Operator. The spiel on the side of the box is as states: 

         "This earth-prescribed treatment oil targets your individual skin concerns and delivers harmony, moisture and vitality. 100% pure, undiluted and cold pressed, it restores skin balance to aid in skin recovery and rejuvenation. Rich in essential fatty acids known to rebuild and repair skin, maracuja oil gives the appearance of brighter skin thanks to a high dose of pure vitamin C. This powerful anti-aging elixir provides instant hydration quenching dry skin with no greasy or filmy feel."

The directions say to use 2-3 drops at night. The bottle seems like it's a fairly decent size sample so I anxiously await brighter, more harmonious skin. What really draws me to the tarte brand is that they use a lot of natural ingredients without parabens, mineral oil, petrolatum, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate (which Wiki tells me is the ingredient that deadness your ability to taste sweetness that lives in toothpaste, is used for detergents and can cause skin irritation), syntheic dye and synthetic fragrance.

The rest of the products I will test out and get back to you. In the mean time... anyone use/heard of maracuja oil before? What was your experience?

Less exciting, but not forgotten

So I was going to post yesterday, but I had a new personal best for most hours worked in one day, so I pretty came home and went to bed. Sorry. When given a choice, I most always choose sleep.

Moving on.

So I bought a Sonia Kashuk (Ka-shook, Kash-uke?) eye palette in 10- perfectly natural prior to picking up the Naked Palette. It comes with 6 eyeshadows and a base. And after ignoring it for quiet some time after getting the Urban Decay palette, I finally re-discovered it over the past several day. I'm learning that I love it and it really fills in some color gaps that I find in the other palette.

I would love to know the names/numbers of the individual shadows, but either I threw away the paper with them or they didn't mark them. 

I just really love how these blend out well and give some nice shimmery colors but also have the matte dark colors. This is where I think it fills in where the Naked Palette leaves off. I really want my darker shadows to be more matte and the Naked Palette has two matte light and medium colors, but really doesn't have any thing else. 

I've been wearing the medium brown (top row, far right) on my lid and then blending the color up towards my eyebrows. The color diffuses well so there's some shimmer but the actual color is more noticeable on my lid. 

I highly suggest this palette, I found mine at Target along with some other palettes from Sonia Kashuk that I may also invest in. I've heard good things about the brushes as well. So lovely to find quality products for a good price :)

Anyone else have a palette from Sonia Kashuk? What are your thoughts?

May empties, or close enough

With this being my first month keeping a blog, I purchased a few more things than I normally do and also forgot to keep some of the things that I've went through, so this is a rather small empties post. I have another bad habit of relegating products I don't like to the bottom of my makeup bag, only to be left there for far beyond the recommended date of use. Maybe I'll do a post on those...

Moving on.

1. St. Ives Purify Exfoliating Body Wash


I bought this after a friend recommended it to me. I really like the scent, which is light and clean as well as the "salt" used for exfoliation. It's not too abrasive but I can feel it's getting the job done.  The price for the money is good in my opinion, since this has lasted me several months with regular use. I generally use it with a loofa or scrubbing gloves for extra impact, but seems to work well with just using my hands.

2. L'Oreal Clean Artiste Makeup Remover


I seriously had this for close, if not more, than a year. Prior to buying the Clarisonic Mia, I would just use this on a q-tip to get the makeup residue off after washing my face. Now I use it to take up my eye makeup and then wiping off the rest of my face before using the Mia. I thought it worked pretty well, until I bought a bottle of the Neutrogena makeup remover. In comparison, this stuff just doesn't seem to work as well and I have to wipe my eyelashes quite a bit to get all my mascara off (it's not even waterproof). So it's okay but I think there are better products.

3/4. Kerastase Cristalliste Bain Cristal Shampoo/Conditioner samples


These were in my May Birchbox along with some oil from the same line. Smelled great. The problem I have is that I don't think that I can tell if it works with just two to three uses. However, I wasn't about to buy these either, no matter how great they were since one bottle is $36 for 250 ml (or 8.5 oz) and $39 for the conditioner. Sorry. Unless that shit makes my hair grow money, I'm not buying it.

Some of the things that I threw away before I realized I needed them, or in some cases when I forgot, were some cotton pads and a tube of toothpaste (maybe that was last month).

Clarisonic Mia

Okay, I think I've had enough time to formulate an opinion about the Clarisonic Mia. I think I've had it for a few weeks now. Who knows. My sense of time is so wacky. I always know the date and day of the week but for some reason things that happened two days ago feel to me as if they happened several weeks ago. Odd.

Moving on.

I went to Ulta after several... weeks (and I'm pretty sure real weeks, not fake day-weeks) of watching YT vids and researching, like the good little analytical researcher that I am, and they had pink and gray. 

Serious? Good thing I like gray. Which is apparently the "boy" model that comes with a normal brush head versus a sensitive one and a trial size of the Refreshing Gel Cleanser. After being some what passively aggressively harassed by the checkout girl for purchasing the gray model I went home to use it. Oops. Forgot I had to charge it FOREVER before using it. Insert sad panda face here. I did not charge it for that long though. I charged it until the thing buzzed twice after removing the charger, indicating that it was ready to sluff the gross shit off my face. Hurray!  

I also must admit here that I frequently get my hopes way, way too far up for pretty much everything, including the results of this product after first use. Shocking how fast a minute goes. That really can't be enough time to do anything of significance. So I was bummed when my face wasn't a glowing mass of photoshopped quality perfection. I kept using it anyways, twice a day. I am going to see results damnit!

So, in one video that I watched, she said that be prepared for it to cause breakouts due to the amount of gross-ness it was breaking up. While I did have break-outs in abnormal spots (re: my cheek), correlation is not causation and I can't say for sure that it did this. I was also doing a lot of work related phone calls so that could have added to that little problem.

The most significant, but rather subtle, difference is in the tone of my face. It truly does look more even and far less splotchy even in the morning when my redness can be a touch out of control. My skin is, even from the first use, really soft. I haven't been having as many problems with texture since using the Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizer, but I'm sure this has helped keep any build up at bay.  I can't say currently whether my pores are any smaller in size; however it does seem to keep my pores from collecting.... whatever pore clogging stuff is called... and turning in to "blemishes." Another little tip is to use a cream or gel cleanser rather than a liquid one. I try and use the St. Ives Green Tea liquid cleanser and it ended up dripping in to my eye. Less than fun.

I'd like to say it's amazing. I won't. I think it's decent possibly even good. The company has a 90 day money back guarantee that I may or may not use. I can't decide if I could get the same results with different products. Another downside is that the recommended life of the brush head is 3 months and replacements heads are $20 a pop. Not that I'll change them that much. Shiz, I don't change my contacts for months on end, same with my toothbrush. I feel no need to start now.

Anyone else have thoughts on this baby? Or been underwhelmed? Did you keep it or return it?

Thanks for stopping by!

7 deadly sins of beauty

I do love a good quiz/questionnaire so I'm going to do this one. Fun and not too long!

1. GREED - What is your most inexpensive beauty product? What is your most expensive? 

    My least expensive product would be my E.L.F. gel eyeliner at $3. My most expensive is the Naked palette and the Clarisonic Mia.

2. 
WRATH - What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? What has been hardest to find?


    Again, the Naked palette because it's so beautiful but I only use a few colors since I feel rather inept at applying the darker shades. The hardest to find for me is a good mascara that gives some volume without clumping the poo out of my lashes.    


3. GLUTTONY - What are your most delicious beauty products?

    I've recently bought the Neutrogena rainbath which I think smells amazing. I'm not super in to the fruity scents and this has a sort of amber smell that I really like.


4. SLOTH - What beauty product do you neglect due to laziness?


    I'm really, really bad about putting lotion on. I always put it on my face, neck and the bottom part of my legs, but that's it. It never fails to bite me in the ass when summer comes around too.


5. PRIDE - What beauty product gives you more confidence?

    I'd say concealer and mascara. It helps me feel like I look awake and fresh faced.


6. 
LUST - What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?


    I do love a good beard. Especially when it's a little grown out but has been tended to... so like no neck beard. 


7. ENVY - What item would you most like to receive as a gift?
    Honestly, I just love gifts in general, since I don't receive them that often. So anything is a nice surprise.

Lip things

So, here I am. Bored but too "je suis fatigué" to do anything about it. I really want to go shopping, but I was too busy today helping the boyfriend set up a cardboard display in a movie theater (frack the piss out of that thing... really who makes such complicated things? Sadists, that's who) that I didn't get up the energy to go shopping until after things were closed. I still don't understand why shops still close early on Sundays. I think I'll hit up the trifecta tomorrow (Ulta, Sephora, Target) and maybe Rite Aid to see if I can be suckered in to any holiday deals.

To pass the time until it's an appropriate and not too embarrassing time to go to sleep, I've been skimming through some of the blogs I've been following (see links below). One pattern that seems to be reoccurring, especially on the beauty related YouTubes, are lady's obsessions with lip products. Now some may prefer gloss to stick or sheer color versus highly pigmented. But still, everyone has loads of lip things.

It makes me want but that has been one area that I really don't care about. Lip things just don't make me all tingly. Every now and again I'm like "yeah, lip gloss" buy something and then stare at it taking up counter space in the bathroom. This, much like my hesitation with mascara, goes back to my glasses wearing days. I would have on lip gloss and then my hair would get in it and then I'd have a line of gloss on my glasses. GAH! It never failed. So right from the start it was always more trouble than it was worth.

Add to this my color challenges. I suppose I could say I'm all about the natural look and when I wear anything that isn't "me but better" I just don't think it looks quiet right. My lips are fairly pinkish naturally and so trying to find a "me but better" is a pain in the ass. I mean, they're pink, but like, dusty pink... maybe.

Let's face it, I'm an incompetent mess when it comes to choosing lip stick/stain colors. I can pick out a decent sheer/gloss, since the color isn't as pigmented and is harder for me to mess up. But now with watching and learning about all these amazeballs lip sticks (they have matte lip things?!?!) it makes me think that maybe I'm missing out. And still I hesitate. When would I wear them? Certainly not to work. Maybe out, but that's not often. I also have the bad habit of licking slash biting my lips which also diminishes the lasting power of even the longest lasting of lip wear.

Oh gosh, decisions. Any thoughts? Anyone else new to the lip product world and care to share your experience?

Lovely blogs:
Zoella
Essiebutton
Chelsea Wears