another Used It!

Back (sort of). Chapter 1 is now a lot more citation-rich, and I'm hoping to send it off to my committee soon. It's pretty stressful, still, but I have a better idea of what I need to do now than I used to, and more realistic goals, too.

Anyway, I used some stuff up.

1. Silk Naturals eyelash serum. I didn't notice a really big difference in my eyelashes, but I did use it on an area of my brows I used to overpluck, and now I'm happy with them again. My biggest complaint about this product is the packaging - the pump dispenses more than you need, and it seems unsanitary to have to use the pump tube as a wand. If this came in a squeeze dropper bottle, it would be awesome. I will probably not buy again, as I'm now satisfied with my brows and don't really want to reintroduce another step to my nighttime routine.

2. Best Bath Store acne bar. Not bad, but also not a miracle worker. I don't really know how I ended up with so much soap - my water's hard enough to chew and it never rinses well enough.

3. Sephora mattifying primer sample. Eh. It didn't work with a liquidy base over it - maybe it would have been better with a powder. It looked to be entirely silicones and preservatives, so I'm not sure what part was supposed to mattify - it didn't.


87 items gone
26 full size items gone

Also, you followers are comment shy. Don't be! I love feedback.

week-long break!

I just spent a whole week being sick, and hopefully with my new drugs I'll be back to normal in no time. Because I was sick, I didn't get to work on my thesis, which needs to be drafted by the end of the month.

This week, I am doing a social networking/beauty blog blackout. When I come back next Sunday night, I hope to be able to talk about my new stuff (thanks, sales!) and do another used it post.

I'm up to 39 followers now! This is very exciting. Please don't abandon me during my absence! I know who some of you are because I follow you, or because I know you from a forum - but please, leave a comment introducing yourself! I'd love to know more about my small but significant audience.

In fact, feel free to discuss what you're interested in hearing about in the comments. If there's any other beauty blog that does an entry you really think I'd like to read - post a link in the comments!

a premature RIP to three products

My worst fears came true and my cold turned into a sinus infection. I also picked up some pinkeye while I was at it. So, three things are in the trash now because they are now carriers of disease. I'll also be dipping my eye brushes into some alcohol and spraying down the bronzer I'd been using - it's good I haven't felt like doing much makeup recently.

1. Korres Rice Bran mascara (brown) - not too bad, not spectacular, either. I did like it, but it didn't show up well with darker shadows.

2. Cover Girl Lash Blast (very black) - I did actually really like this. This is why I shouldn't ever spend extra money on mascara - Cover Girl is beeswax-free and cheap. And also, it works!

3. Aubrey Organics strawberry frost lip gloss - pretty sure this is full of sinus infection bacteria now, which is why I hate wand style glosses and will probably be avoiding them in the future. I might look into getting some squeeze tubes and decanting. This was nice stuff, and the man said he liked how it smelled.

I should be feeling better soon, thanks to the antibiotics (pill AND eye drop forms!)

Used it! moisturizer, soap, conditioner

REN revitalizing night cream with frankincense and boswellia - deluxe sample size I got as my first Sephora reward. Not a bad product, if a bit funky smelling. However, the active ingredients are present in such tiny amounts that it would probably be best to just buy some of those and mix them with another moisturizer or face oil.

Garnier triple nutrition conditioner - travel size. Decent stuff, I've also gone through two full size bottles, so I might buy more in the future. I don't love it, but it works and it's cheap.

Twink Beauty (etsy) mint and chocolate soap - if you like soap (I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't) and you like dessert, you will like this. I very much enjoyed my showers smelling of cookies, but my water is hard, and after I use up my soap stash I'm probably going to be sticking to other surfactants and mild detergents.

84 items gone
24 full size items gone

Right now I'm working on a sunblock and some other stuff. I'm back at my stash of sample eyeshadow baggies, too.

Check out my guest post on Just Peachy!

The Peach at Just Peachy asked me to do my first ever guest post for her while she goes on vacation. I'm so honored!

Anyway, here it is: My Makeup is Making Me Ouchy!

My Physicians Formula haulage wasn't over!

So, I'm getting over a cold. I did have to call in yesterday, but in the process of getting cold meds also got a CVS coupon for $10 off Physicians Formula foundations, powders, blushes, or bronzers. This week, those things happen to be $7 off at CVS already. They also have some clearance stuff still out.

So, I bought:

Physicians Formula organic blush/bronzer duo - usually $13
Physicians Formula Solar bronzer - usually $12
Physicians Formula Plump Potion lipstick - usually $11

So, my total out-of-pocket expense for two bronzers and two lipsticks was $5.75, or on average less than $1.50 for all four things. My haul would have cost $36 full price, but THE LIPSTICK WAS A TWO-FER PACK!

So, I really got $47 worth of stuff for $5.75.

I think I'll like the stuff after I play with it some more - the lipsticks were a bit of a risk, but they don't have beeswax, rosemary, or lanolin (the stuff that breaks them out), so I'm hoping they'll be safe.

Still no sign of the new products I'm interested in, yet, though... :(

Sunday night sick post

It's Sunday night and I have a cold. The handful of ibuprofen I took an hour ago is starting to make a dent on the achiness and the headache, but my throat is angry. The man made me tea and ordered in won ton soup, which helped a little, and I watched a lot of stupid TV and looked at lots of pretty pictures of makeup on the internet.

Earlier today before I felt like such crap, I became annoyed at how many of my 5g jars had stickers on the clear lids obscuring the contents from view when stored upright. So I pulled them off - there was still all the info on the bottom sticker. Now I need to go buy some Goo Gone, but I can see the colors without picking up the jars. I also sorted the shadows by color instead of by brand, which is helpful. I own a lot of green and blue. Mostly green. I also have nice small collections of neutrals. Pinks, purples, orange, red, and yellow are all sharing another drawer. Looking at that drawer makes me think of a fiery sunset.

I also mixed Fire Opal and Copper from Pink Quartz together because I liked them better mixed together than separately. It lightened the copper to dark peach and gave it a light purple duochrome. Then I used the jars for a couple baggie samples from HiFi. Seriously, if you like fun colors in manageable sizes at low prices, get some baggie samples from HiFi because they are amazing. I can't believe I paid so much more at Pink Quartz for the same amount of an inferior product. Pink Quartz stuff has almost no adhesion and goes on much sheerer than you'd like it to. By "no adhesion" I mean that I can swatch it on bare skin, run water over the swatch, and have most of it rinse away. HiFi swatches stick around a little harder. HiFi shadows are creamy and give you a solid swipe of beautiful color.

But now I am sick, and it sucks. I hope I don't have to call into work tomorrow because then I lose pay. :( I also hope this is just a cold and not a doctor-requiring illness, because my health insurance has a nasty habit of not paying for any of my care.

I need a good job with good benefits. And soon.

This has been a more ranty than usual post. I do not apologize.

Recent Physicians Formula haul

Hey yous!

So, as you may know, Physicians Formula (my favorite drugstore brand) just released a bunch of new stuff. CVS is also having their beauty clearance sale, and a bunch of older Physicians Formula stuff is on sale for 75% off.

I have bought:
The new Mineral Wear nude liquid primer
The new Happy Booster blush
Mineral Wear pressed powder - Soft Green (this formula - they seem to be phasing this product out)
Mineral Wear blush - blushing glow
Healthy Wear bronzer - fair
Shimmer strips duo liner and shadow - hazel eyes

I still need to fill out the rebate form for the primer (yay almost free stuff!), the Happy Wear blush had a $3 off coupon, and the other stuff was all on sale for 75% off.

I haven't tried the primer yet - but even if it doesn't work, I won't be too sad since it was pretty much free with the cost of a stamp.

I do like the Happy Booster blush - it's kind of what I was hoping the shimmer strips blushes would be, except that those are all full of frosty 80s shimmer that I did not want. Happy Booster offers more of a glow than blinding frostiness, which is good.

The Mineral Wear blush is also nice - good for a goof-proof, shimmer-free wash of color. The color I got is a light apricot, which is good for days I don't want pink but I still want color.

I'm hoping the green powder will be nice as well - sometimes all I have to cover is a bit of redness, and not wearing any powder makes me an oil slick in short order. I used to really like the translucent shade of this product before I got into loose stuff, so if this works out as great, I'll be happy.

Last time I tried a Healthy Wear bronzer, I'm pretty sure it was the Light, which was too dark. The Fair seems to work a bit better. I like that it's matte because that's better for contouring and not making me look like a clown. Seriously - this one time in high school I was in a play and the lady doing my makeup to make me look old made me look liked I'd been horribly disfigured in an explosion or something. So not cool. This bronzer should not have that effect.

Last but not least - the duo liner/shadow. Look at the picture in the link. See the tiny colored ends of the wand? That's all the color you get. It's a very small amount. The product seemed fine when I swatched it, but I'm thinking it'll go quickly.

This company also has a few other products out there that I'm dying to try - if the new airbrushing brush is actually really soft, I might be interested in that. I'm also keeping my eyes out for the lash boosting eyeliner pens (I want to snag one with a rebate sticker) and the Glam Collection shimmer strips gel liners for brown eyes - but I'll have to wait until those are a little more commonplace and go on sale.

Physicians Formula isn't half bad - they just seem to be very hit or miss for me. I either love their stuff or hate it (I'm looking at you, shimmer strips bronzer and all Organic Wear products I've tried, as well as the funky smelling Bamboo Wear powder inserts).

I'm such a sucker for anything they put out - thankfully I'm not interested in the other new Mineral Wear products or the new Shimmer Strips eyeshadows.