A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to get in shape because I was sick of being weak. I also decided that writing down my progress might help keep me motivated.
Presenting:
In Search of Fitness
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Some quick questions
Hey everyone, I'm feeling a lot better now - still have four more days of antibiotics left, but I'm much improved! I haven't used anything else up yet - still working on that face wash and blush sample!
Anyway, I found these questions on Phyrra's blog and decided to use them as some quick writing starters.
1. Are you a Product Elitist?
No. Some high-end stuff is really worth the money. Some cheap stuff really works well. I pay attention to the ingredients lists and to performance. I like getting high-end stuff in kits or on sale to save some cash.
2. Do you wear bright eye shadows?
Heck yes! I can wear warm browns or brights, and like both effects. Lime green eyeshadow is my favorite!!! I can't really do anything anywhere between straight neutral and brights. Anything greyed makes me look like death.
3. What’s on your tips?
Nothing at the moment. I'm planning on doing Wet N Wild Shield soon.
4. What’s your favorite type of pet? Cat? Dog? Big or small? Scaled?
Cat. All other animals are either too needy or wouldn't let me know they were hungry. I really love cats, though. They're super cute!
5. Name a Guilty Pleasure.
Shitty SyFy Original movies. Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus is my favorite! I also need to DVR Triassic Attack soon.
Anyway, I found these questions on Phyrra's blog and decided to use them as some quick writing starters.
1. Are you a Product Elitist?
No. Some high-end stuff is really worth the money. Some cheap stuff really works well. I pay attention to the ingredients lists and to performance. I like getting high-end stuff in kits or on sale to save some cash.
2. Do you wear bright eye shadows?
Heck yes! I can wear warm browns or brights, and like both effects. Lime green eyeshadow is my favorite!!! I can't really do anything anywhere between straight neutral and brights. Anything greyed makes me look like death.
3. What’s on your tips?
Nothing at the moment. I'm planning on doing Wet N Wild Shield soon.
4. What’s your favorite type of pet? Cat? Dog? Big or small? Scaled?
Cat. All other animals are either too needy or wouldn't let me know they were hungry. I really love cats, though. They're super cute!
5. Name a Guilty Pleasure.
Shitty SyFy Original movies. Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus is my favorite! I also need to DVR Triassic Attack soon.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
RIP bacteria-infested lipgloss
This morning, I had to throw away three lipglosses that had become contaminated with the bacterial throat infection I came down with on Tuesday night. I had been in the process of using them up, but I had to send them on their way sooner rather than later. Figured that if the nurse at the clinic recommended replacing my toothbrush, it was also time to say goodbye to the gloss.
1. Tarte Vitamin-Infused lipgloss mini in 40 Winks. Not too bad, I got through about 75% of it before I had to junk it. The glitter was a bit too chunky for my taste, and it was sticky, but it wasn’t bad. That said, I probably won’t be repurchasing.
2. Sally Hansen Soothing Lip Tint in Pinkberry. Got through about half of it. Sticky and not super great. I'm always looking for something shiny, colorful, and lasting that feels more like balm than anything else.
3. Aubrey Organics lip shimmer in Sugar Frost. Clear, slightly shimmery minty lip gloss. Not sticky at all, and probably the thing I’m saddest to see go. If AO repackaged this in a squeeze tube, I’d be all over it – but I’m going to be limiting my collection of wand-style lip stuff from now on (I’ll probably keep a few around at a time, but not amass a huge collection of them). I’d only gotten to use about a quarter of it.
1. Tarte Vitamin-Infused lipgloss mini in 40 Winks. Not too bad, I got through about 75% of it before I had to junk it. The glitter was a bit too chunky for my taste, and it was sticky, but it wasn’t bad. That said, I probably won’t be repurchasing.
2. Sally Hansen Soothing Lip Tint in Pinkberry. Got through about half of it. Sticky and not super great. I'm always looking for something shiny, colorful, and lasting that feels more like balm than anything else.
3. Aubrey Organics lip shimmer in Sugar Frost. Clear, slightly shimmery minty lip gloss. Not sticky at all, and probably the thing I’m saddest to see go. If AO repackaged this in a squeeze tube, I’d be all over it – but I’m going to be limiting my collection of wand-style lip stuff from now on (I’ll probably keep a few around at a time, but not amass a huge collection of them). I’d only gotten to use about a quarter of it.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Used it!
1. VO5 blackberry sage tea conditioner. Pretty good at light conditioning. It was my second bottle. I'll probably buy another at some point, but it's not something I MUST HAVE around at all times.
2. BeFine chamomile and beet lip serum. Ok, kind of strangely greasy. Didn't irritate me, though, and that's what I needed at the time (my lips are ridiculously sensitive).
3. Aveeno body lotion mini - bought this when I needed an emergency hand cream. Kind of "eh."
Coming up on a face wash and blush sample...
Running tally:
59 things total
11 full size products
2. BeFine chamomile and beet lip serum. Ok, kind of strangely greasy. Didn't irritate me, though, and that's what I needed at the time (my lips are ridiculously sensitive).
3. Aveeno body lotion mini - bought this when I needed an emergency hand cream. Kind of "eh."
Coming up on a face wash and blush sample...
Running tally:
59 things total
11 full size products
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Updated blog sale:
This is what's left. Email me at emilys dot livejournal at gmail dot com to buy. Will ship anywhere. I need some funds pretty badly at the moment.
Sheer Cover gone!
Sinful Colors polish gone
ELF lipstick gone.
Xed out hair stuff gone, #9 gone
Used it!
One real winner, one kind of "eh" product
1. Alba Botanica Sea Lipids cream. Will I buy this again? Yes. This is a good, moisturizing, but lightweight cream. It doesn't break me out. I like it. My skin responds really well to seaweed.
2. Some random tiny jar of spf 50 sunblock. It came packaged with a sunblock stick I wanted. I used it up as protection from windburn while I go running. It worked for that. I wasn't wowed or anything, though.
1. Alba Botanica Sea Lipids cream. Will I buy this again? Yes. This is a good, moisturizing, but lightweight cream. It doesn't break me out. I like it. My skin responds really well to seaweed.
2. Some random tiny jar of spf 50 sunblock. It came packaged with a sunblock stick I wanted. I used it up as protection from windburn while I go running. It worked for that. I wasn't wowed or anything, though.
Monday, November 15, 2010
I've been award-tagged!
I got blog awards from The Peach!
So in that spirit, here are a few other blogs I like and would like to pass on the awards to:
The Peach at Just Peachy - again.
Blix
Jennifae
Nea at Fashioned in Finland
I'm also supposed to list ten things I like:
1. My supportive inner circle
2. Employment
3. Endorphins
4. Chocolate
5. Coffee
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. Spring and fall weather
8. earrings
9. a good walk in the woods
10. anything lime green
Sunday, November 14, 2010
High-end vs. low-end vs. indie
In case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of debate about whether high-end makeup is any better than low-end stuff. A lot of this leaves out the indie companies at least half my stash comes from. So I thought I'd do a quick pros and cons of each category.
The biggest criteria people use when they refer to high-end and low-end products is cost and quality. Higher cost doesn't necessarily equate higher-quality, but it does sometimes. There are also some excellent and low-cost products out there.
High-end pros:
Packaging is always beautiful
Available at Sephora, Ulta, and online
Larger companies have access to some really good ingredients and formulas
High-end cons:
Cost
Some products really just don't work as well as you'd hope.
Sometimes the ingredients list looks just as bad as low-end stuff.
High-end winners (worth the dough - but maybe wait for sales anyway):
-Tarte cheek stains. Beautiful products. The natural formula ones are hit-and-miss (I swapped away Green Siren because it was so hard and waxy, but Natural Beauty and Ten are beautiful).
-Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners. Great staying power, and more color selection than cheaper knockoffs (some of which are actually ok)
-Korres eyeliners - creamy, natural colors without questionable ingredients.
-Josie Maran argan oil sunblock - doesn't clog skin, works great!
-Gabriel Color lipsticks (cost similar to high-end, available more at natural stores). Also good. I really like their lipglosses, too.
Low-end/drugstore pros:
Cheap!
Easily available.
Some really good stuff out thare.
Low-end/drugstore cons:
Much more likely to be full of synthetic crap.
Some really sucky products (I'm looking at you, Cover Girl smoky shadow stick).
Packaging often looks and feels cheaper.
Harder to find good bright colors.
Low-end/drugstore winners (Good stuff, great price, extra win!):
-Ecotools brushes. Most of my brushes are Ecotools, and they are excellent.
-Physicians Formula Healthy Wear powder foundation. SPF!!! 50!!!
-Wet N Wild Color Icon eyeshadow palettes - surprisingly good pigmentation!
Now, my favorite category of makeup is indie, artisan stuff. There are tons of small companies started by people who love makeup and just want to make some really good stuff for makeup fiends everywhere. Prices for indie stuff tend to be a little more than drugstore but less than high-end. Quality varies from brand to brand, and you have to be careful that you're not just buying repackaged mica. You can avoid this by knowing how plain mica behaves without a base and following bloggers.
Indie pros:
Wide variety of products.
Creators usually have a lot of passion for it, which shows.
Creators are very responsive to customer feedback.
Some really awesome stuff!
Indie cons:
You have to sample in order to know if a color will work, because you can't make returns and don't want to be surprised by products that don't look like the picture.
Shipping costs money most places.
Some shops have minimum orders.
Research is super-necessary.
Indie winners!
Silk Naturals skincare, eyeshadow, vegan lip gloss.
Hi-Fi shadows
Aromaleigh everything (so sad about them, still)
Fyrinnae shadows
adorned with Grace foundation and blush
Morgana Cryptoria vegan lipstick.
Probably will expound on this topic more later - but I have to get ready to kid-wrangle. :)
The biggest criteria people use when they refer to high-end and low-end products is cost and quality. Higher cost doesn't necessarily equate higher-quality, but it does sometimes. There are also some excellent and low-cost products out there.
High-end pros:
Packaging is always beautiful
Available at Sephora, Ulta, and online
Larger companies have access to some really good ingredients and formulas
High-end cons:
Cost
Some products really just don't work as well as you'd hope.
Sometimes the ingredients list looks just as bad as low-end stuff.
High-end winners (worth the dough - but maybe wait for sales anyway):
-Tarte cheek stains. Beautiful products. The natural formula ones are hit-and-miss (I swapped away Green Siren because it was so hard and waxy, but Natural Beauty and Ten are beautiful).
-Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners. Great staying power, and more color selection than cheaper knockoffs (some of which are actually ok)
-Korres eyeliners - creamy, natural colors without questionable ingredients.
-Josie Maran argan oil sunblock - doesn't clog skin, works great!
-Gabriel Color lipsticks (cost similar to high-end, available more at natural stores). Also good. I really like their lipglosses, too.
Low-end/drugstore pros:
Cheap!
Easily available.
Some really good stuff out thare.
Low-end/drugstore cons:
Much more likely to be full of synthetic crap.
Some really sucky products (I'm looking at you, Cover Girl smoky shadow stick).
Packaging often looks and feels cheaper.
Harder to find good bright colors.
Low-end/drugstore winners (Good stuff, great price, extra win!):
-Ecotools brushes. Most of my brushes are Ecotools, and they are excellent.
-Physicians Formula Healthy Wear powder foundation. SPF!!! 50!!!
-Wet N Wild Color Icon eyeshadow palettes - surprisingly good pigmentation!
Now, my favorite category of makeup is indie, artisan stuff. There are tons of small companies started by people who love makeup and just want to make some really good stuff for makeup fiends everywhere. Prices for indie stuff tend to be a little more than drugstore but less than high-end. Quality varies from brand to brand, and you have to be careful that you're not just buying repackaged mica. You can avoid this by knowing how plain mica behaves without a base and following bloggers.
Indie pros:
Wide variety of products.
Creators usually have a lot of passion for it, which shows.
Creators are very responsive to customer feedback.
Some really awesome stuff!
Indie cons:
You have to sample in order to know if a color will work, because you can't make returns and don't want to be surprised by products that don't look like the picture.
Shipping costs money most places.
Some shops have minimum orders.
Research is super-necessary.
Indie winners!
Silk Naturals skincare, eyeshadow, vegan lip gloss.
Hi-Fi shadows
Aromaleigh everything (so sad about them, still)
Fyrinnae shadows
adorned with Grace foundation and blush
Morgana Cryptoria vegan lipstick.
Probably will expound on this topic more later - but I have to get ready to kid-wrangle. :)
Friday, November 12, 2010
100th post!
This is my 100th post! Holy crap! I never thought I'd have so much to say about makeup...
Several things for this momentous occasion.
I have now used up 56 things, and out of those, 9 were full size products (mostly hair stuff...).
Recently emptied products:
1. Zia Skin Basics cleanser with seaweed. I had no complaints about this - kept it in the shower to wash my face in the morning. Very gentle, and I'd probably consider buying it again if I had more disposable income.
2. Aveeno body wash - some combo of pomegranate and rice? It looked like sticky mucus with brown grains in it. It worked ok, but I'm not at all sad that it's gone.
Also! I've been wearing my HiFi Cosmetics shadows a lot lately, and must tell you that they are amazing! I'm thrilled with the wear and the color depth. Psycho Mind is still my favorite, but I've acquired some new greens, purples, and neutrals, too - and I adore all of them. I also got the lip gloss in Corrode, which is a sheer milky white with greenish pearlescence. Looks like a slight twist on a nude lip alone, and also funkifies any lip color. Love it! Will have to remember to post pics of stuff.
Stuff coming up:
1. Thoughts on low-end vs. high-end.
2. A rant against holiday palettes.
3. I'm almost out of a couple more things! (full sizes here, too)
Several things for this momentous occasion.
I have now used up 56 things, and out of those, 9 were full size products (mostly hair stuff...).
Recently emptied products:
1. Zia Skin Basics cleanser with seaweed. I had no complaints about this - kept it in the shower to wash my face in the morning. Very gentle, and I'd probably consider buying it again if I had more disposable income.
2. Aveeno body wash - some combo of pomegranate and rice? It looked like sticky mucus with brown grains in it. It worked ok, but I'm not at all sad that it's gone.
Also! I've been wearing my HiFi Cosmetics shadows a lot lately, and must tell you that they are amazing! I'm thrilled with the wear and the color depth. Psycho Mind is still my favorite, but I've acquired some new greens, purples, and neutrals, too - and I adore all of them. I also got the lip gloss in Corrode, which is a sheer milky white with greenish pearlescence. Looks like a slight twist on a nude lip alone, and also funkifies any lip color. Love it! Will have to remember to post pics of stuff.
Stuff coming up:
1. Thoughts on low-end vs. high-end.
2. A rant against holiday palettes.
3. I'm almost out of a couple more things! (full sizes here, too)
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Blog Sale! - Quantity discounts! Lots of stuff still available!
If you want anything - EMAIL ME at emilys dot livejournal at gmail dot com
Willing to ship anywhere. You choose and pay for your shipping.
Sheer Cover Bisque foundation and brush. Sealed, new. 10$
Evian Nourishing cream 90%. $5
Physicians Formula grind-your-own-loose powder highlighter. $5
Neutrogena Skin Clearing mineral powder classic ivory. Used twice, no sponge. $5
Silk Naturals Sleep in a Jar Extra Light Peach full size. 90%. $4
Aromaleigh Nightbright Gothic Lolita shimmer powder. Used twice. $4
Jane Iredale Rose Gold powder. Used twice. $4
OPI polish in pale light green color. 90%. $4
Gabriel Cosmetics lipliner in Nutmeg. $2
Boots Expert scar care cream. 90%. $2
Hair clips - $2 each, or three for $4. No longer available: metal beak clips, plain brown claw clip (three teeth on each side)
$1.50 each (or all for $8):
EDM Rare Silk full size
50/50 mix EDM sunglight and mint
50/50 mix EDM sunlight and PMUP
NYX Kiwi single (90%)
ELF mineral lipstick Rosy Tan
Boom Shaka Laka macadamia mint lip balm
Wet n Wild gold polish
ELF earthy eyeshadow
Free with purchase
Crushed PF bamboo powder light translucent
Baggie of Fair wet n wild mineral foundation
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Hempz haircare samples
I had sample packets of Hempz shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair. I got two uses out of the conditioner and three uses out of the shampoo.
The shampoo is ok, but nothing special (though it is sulfate-free). The third ingredient is some sort of copolymer, which I don't like.
The conditioner seemed really nice at first - but it's so chock-full of silicone that I couldn't really do much with my hair because it was too floaty and slippery. But it still tangled, so go figure.
I'm expecting to use up a face wash and body wash this week, but it's taking forever!
Also, I'm still selling stuff in the post below. If you have ANY interest in ANYTHING on there, let me know. I'm willing to let most things go for just a little.
The shampoo is ok, but nothing special (though it is sulfate-free). The third ingredient is some sort of copolymer, which I don't like.
The conditioner seemed really nice at first - but it's so chock-full of silicone that I couldn't really do much with my hair because it was too floaty and slippery. But it still tangled, so go figure.
I'm expecting to use up a face wash and body wash this week, but it's taking forever!
Also, I'm still selling stuff in the post below. If you have ANY interest in ANYTHING on there, let me know. I'm willing to let most things go for just a little.
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