Beauty &amp; Books

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Friday, August 28, 2015

Book Thoughts: Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

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Go Set A Watchman is the sequel to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (you can read my review of To Go Kill a Mockingbird here). It is a short read, at fewer than 300 pages. This book takes place about 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird, set in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout, the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird returns home from New York during vacation and observes the changes that have taken place within Maycomb, and how Maycomb differs from New York.

Scout returns home to see her father, Atticus, aunt Alexandria and kind-of beau/perhaps future fiancé, Hank. Apparently, Scout and her brother Jem grew up with Hank and were close friends. I don’t recall Hank from To Kill a Mockingbird so it is strange that they were such close friends but Hank was never mentioned… Anyway, Scout catches Atticus and Hank at a citizen’s council meeting that espouses deeply racist thoughts. I don’t want to go into too much detail in case you want to read the book, but this event calls into question everything Scout thought she knew about her father, Hank and Maycomb as a town. Scout seeks counsel from her Uncle Jack and ultimately confronts Hank and Atticus. The narration focuses on the tensions between the North and the South in regards to race relations and states’ rights and the high racial tensions between White and Black residents of Maycomb.

I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy this book. The continuity between this book and To Kill a Mockingbird was off (e.g., there is no mention of Hank in To Kill a…) and it was full of pointless flashbacks (e.g., playtime to set up the relationship that supposedly existed between Scout, Jem and Hank). A lot of the storytelling felt forced or out of place. The book did not do enough to set up events or delve deeply into racial tensions that were growing during the Civil Rights Movement. I don’t think you’ll be missing anything if you skip Go Set A Watchman.

Disclaimer: All products are purchased by me or my lovely husband unless otherwise noted in the post. All opinions are 100% honest and my own. I do not provide positive reviews for payment. Products that work for me may not necessarily work for you. This post is not sponsored.

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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Finish 5 By Fall 2015 Challenge: Update #1

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In this challenge, I am trying to use up five products by the beginning of Fall (September 23^rd). I first saw this challenge on PrettyPistol86’s YouTube channel. There is a whole community of YouTubers that do challenges like these throughout the year to try to finish up products in their makeup collections. I decided to jump on this challenge because I want to use up products I have that are not cruelty-free. Since I try so many products to review, I want to make sure I focus on finishing up some so I don’t have a lot of extra products lying around. You can read my introduction to this challenge here.

Here’s the progress I’ve made in the month I’ve been doing this challenge:

1. Philosophy Amazing Grace Firming Body Emulsion (32 oz.)

I didn’t make as much progress on this as I thought I would. You can see my starting line and the progress I’ve made since I introduced this challenge I’ve used up about a quarter of the product I had left. I thought I would be halfway done since I’m using it every day, but I don’t think that I will finish this up by September 23^rd. This lotion absorbs into the skin really well, which is always appreciated so that your clothes don’t stick to your skin. It has a slight floral scent that is not overbearing.

2. L’Oreal True Match Super-Blendable Makeup SPF 17 in N1 Neutral Soft Ivory

I’ve made some good progress on this foundation but I’m not sure if I can use it up by the 23^rd. I have over 50% of the bottle to go. I will be sad to see this foundation go, but I have a few other foundations I need to use up too.

3. L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

There is definitely less product on the mascara brush now, so I know I’m getting close to the end of this product. I’ve had this mascara open for a little bit and would have to throw it out at the end of September anyway so I wanted to use it up. This is an all around good mascara and it very popular among YouTubers. You can read my full review of this mascara here.

4. Maybelline Color Tattoo in 135 Hydrangea Hype

*sigh* I feel like I’m making no progress on this Color Tattoo even though I use it just about every day. I’m also getting sick if using this. Since it’s purple, I can’t use a lot of my other eyeshadows and I’m just getting bored with it. I didn’t think that I would use this up by Fall, but I thought I would have some noticeable progress. I’ve seen YouTubers doing “finish it up” challenges (oftentimes called “Project Pans”) where one of their products is a Color Tattoo—they seem to make good progress, but it’s not happening for me.

5. Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in 04 Mega Melon

The Clinique Chubby Sticks are one of my favorite lip products. I’ve made good progress on using this up—I’m about halfway through as evidenced by the lines on the product cap. This color doesn’t go the best with the silvery-purple Color Tattoo so I wish I had thought that out better. It doesn’t look bad, just not ideal.

This is my first Project Pan Challenge and I’m definitely learning a lot; like, that I underestimated the amount of time it takes to use up a product. Oh well…

Are there any products you are trying to use up? Are you doing or contemplating doing your own Project Pan Challenge? Let me know!

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Monday, August 24, 2015

First Impressions: August 2015 LooksBook by Starlooks Subscription Box

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This is a monthly beauty subscription box that costs $12. You receive three “Perfect Size” Starlooks products and three gift cards. “Perfect Size” makeup is about ¾ the size of the full-size product, and is meant to be more transportable and easier to use up than a full-size product. You can also choose what goodies you receive ahead of time online, something that most subscription boxes do not offer. Starlooks is a company that carries cruelty-free, professional-level makeup. Full disclosure: Starlooks was kind enough to send me this box free of charge to review, so a big thank you to them! With that said, I will still give my honest opinion of the products I received.

The products arrive in a Starlooks box. The box and top will be good for storing makeup, like Birchbox boxes. The makeup products were contained within a mesh satchel and the gift cards came in an envelope. This month’s theme is “Resort Edition.”

I’ve used each of the makeup products once (I just got the box in the mail) and wanted to give you my first impressions on them.

1. Starlooks Gimme More Volumizing Mascara (1.13 oz., perfect size)

I’m not seeing this mascara on the website, which is a little weird. When I made my picks it was listed as a new product, so it might not have hit the website yet. It has a natural bristle brush that is cone-shaped. The formula of this is on the wetter side and I think it will be better once it dries out a bit. It curled and lengthened my lashes, but didn’t thicken them. It held the curl all day long and didn’t flake. As far as mascaras go, it was relatively easy to wash off.

Value: $7 (based on other perfect size mascara)

2. Starlooks Long Wear Eyeshadow in ES2 Gold Coast (1.6g, perfect size)

This is a beautiful bronze color with gold shimmer that I think will go great with most eye colors and skin tones. If you like the look of foiled (i.e., shiny) eyeshadows but they scare you a little, this would be a good type of shadow for you to try. This is also a new product that I don’t see on the website yet. It wore well throughout the day, even without an eye primer. This color is multidimensional and would be good for a one eyeshadow look (which is how I wore it today). I packed it onto my lid and blended it out to my crease; I also lined my lower lash line with it.

Value: $9 (?)

3. Starlooks Slanted Liner Brush (#824, full-size)

This is a synthetic angled liner brush. This could be used to apply eye liner or to fill in your brows with powder or gel/pomade. I used this to apply the Starlooks Gold Coast eyeshadow I received to my lower lash line and it worked well.

Value: $18

And here are the gift cards I received:

1. $20 Gift Card to Starlooks Pro, not including celebrity lines (the card had $10 printed but a “2” was written over the 1 making it a $20 card I guess. Little weird…)

2. $20 Gift Card to Starlooks, includes celebrity lines

That’s $40 towards makeup from Starlooks—so I’ve got $80 in gift cards to Starlooks between this and last month. A haul is in order!

3. $25 (I think) Gift Card to Nomad Tribe.

Nomad Tribe works with local artisans around the world to make unique clothing and accessories. Each item has a trim that was made especially for that piece. I will definitely find some things I like here. If you join their mailing list you get 50% off your first purchase!

Total Makeup Value: $34

Total Gift Card Value: $65

_____________________

Total Box Value: $99

This subscription box is definitely well worth the $12. I’m a little concerned that I couldn’t find two of the products online though, hopefully they will be there soon. What are your thoughts on the Starlooks Subscription Box? Let me know! If you’re interested in signing up for the Starlooks Subscription Box you can go through my referral link or hop onto Subscriptions.Starlooks.com.

Disclaimer: Starlooks sent me this Custom Starlooks Subscription Box free for review. However, all opinions are 100% honest and my own. I do not provide positive reviews for payment or free products. Products that work for me may not necessarily work for you. This post is not sponsored.

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Friday, August 21, 2015

Beauty Lingo Defined

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Ever hear someone in a blog or on YouTube say they were excited to hit pan on a product? That this bronzer is great for contouring? That they de-potted an eyeshadow? Did you think to yourself—what the heck does that mean? Today, I’m going to define some commonly used beauty terms!

Dupe means that something is a duplicate for something else. Usually, this means that someone has found a drugstore product that mimics the effects of a high-end product. For example, I had a Beauty Battle on eyeshadow primers and discovered that Wet ‘n Wild’s Fergie Take On The Day Eyeshadow Primer in CA027 For My Primas was a duplicate, or dupe, for Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Original (and Wet ‘n Wild’s eye shadow primer is about 1/3 of the price of Urban Decay). They had the same texture and performance.

Fallout is when a product ends up where it shouldn’t. The term fallout is typically used when talking about eyeshadows. Flakes of eyeshadow, especially glittery eyeshadow, can end up under your eyes or on your cheeks because the powder does not stay on your eyelid—it falls out onto your face.

Lippie is another term for lipstick. Other types of lip products, like a lip gloss or lip stain, can also be referred to as lippies.

When you hit pan on a product you can see the bottom of the pan that is holding the product. You can see that I have hit pan on this Sonia Kashuk eye shadow, as evidenced by the appearance of the metal bottom (or pan) that the product sits on.

While hitting pan can be exciting (and very hard to do), experiencing hard pan is not a happy occasion. Ever have a powder product that feels hard on the top, or like there is a film preventing you from accessing the product? That’s known as hard pan. I’m not exactly sure why it happens (nor is Google), but my guess is that the product dries out if not used regularly. Whatever the reason hard pan occurs, it is a pain in the neck. You can remedy hard pan by scraping off the hard layer. If the product is old and develops hard pan you may want to chuck it.

Next, onto the lines—tightline and waterline. To tightline means to put product (usually a dark eyeliner) onto the inner rim of your upper eyelid, just below your upper lash line. To put something into your waterline means you put product (usually a dark eyeliner or a brightening one) onto the inner rim of your lower eyelid, just above your lower lash line. Both help achieve a more finished look and make your lashes appear fuller. Adding shimmery eyeliner (I like Milani’s Shadow Eyez eyeshadow pencil in 03 Champagne Toast) to your waterline helps brighten up your eye area. When you apply a liner to your tightline or waterline, pay attention to whether the liner travels to places it shouldn’t (e.g., your eye or your dark tightline liner ends up covering up your brighter waterline liner) and if the liner fades throughout the day.

Contouring is using bronzer to define your face to give you a chiseled appearance. When you darken something it recedes and when you lighten something it pops out. The typical place to contour is in the hollows of your cheeks—this lets your cheekbones pop as below your cheekbones recedes. You can also contour the sides of your nose and under your chin to make them appear smaller/thinner. You usually want to use a more gray-toned matte bronzer and not one with shimmer so that your face doesn’t look overly done up.

Strobing is the highlighter’s response to contouring and is the “new thing” right now. There is every day highlighting—like on your cheekbones, brow bones and inner corners of your eyes—and then there is strobing. Not only do you use more product with strobing as compared to normal highlighting, but you really go to town with where you highlight—down the center of your nose, above your brows, above and under your cupid’s bow, in lines on your cheeks (imagine cat whiskers), and more! Obviously, you blend in the highlight so that you don’t look like you have a bunch of glitter on your face. The effect is meant to be very glowy and lit from within.

To de-pot a product means to take it out of its original packaging, but keep it in the metal (or whatever type) of pan it comes in. To the right, you can see I’m de-potting my PIXI by Petra Beauty Bronzer in Summertime (from my May ipsy Glam Bag). Sometimes you can just pull a product out of the packaging and sometimes it takes some coaxing with something like tweezers. If that still doesn’t work, you can bake the product on parchment paper and a cookie sheet at 200-350°F to loosen up the glue holding the pan to the packaging as suggested by the instructions that came with my Z-Palette.

And to answer the question that just popped into your head, a Z-Palette is an empty makeup palette that you can store your de-potted products in. You can see my PIXI bronzer that has been de-potted and placed in this Z-Palette, along with other products.

The bottom of the palette is magnetized so if your de-potted product is in a metal pan it should stick to the palette. If not, my Z-Palette came with metal pieces you can adhere to the bottom of a product to make it stick to the Z-Palette.

I hope you found this helpful! Let me know if there are other beauty terms you would like defined.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Review of bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow

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Usually when I talk about eye primers they are clear or provide a sheer wash of color to the lid. The bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow acts as a primer but provides more coverage. This product claims to do five things: 1) prime, 2) provide 12-hour color, 3) brighten the appearance of your eyelids, 4) smooth lines and wrinkles and 5) protect with SPF 15. The SPF is important. We normally pay attention to putting sunscreen on our face, but not our eyelids (or lips).

This eyeshadow is available in 10 shades—all on the neutral side—from nudes, to pinks, to browns to moss. It costs $18 for 0.10 oz. of product (compared to $12 for 0.16 oz. of Urban Decay’s Primer Potion and $5 for 0.34 oz. of Wet ‘n Wild’s Fergie eyeshadow primer), definitely on the pricier side.

I received a sample from Sephora, I believe, and the color is Barely Nude, a soft creamy nude. This nude color acts as a great base to even out any discoloration on your lids and provide a neutral base for your shadow. You can also wear it alone for a natural look and the color is buildable if you apply more than one layer. It comes with a doe foot applicator. I use the applicator to put some product on my lids and then blend with my fingertip. It is blendable, but dries quickly. It plays well with other shadows and helps keep them in place all day. I definitely like this as a base and shadow on its own. This is something I would consider picking up in the future even though it is a bit pricy. The added color and SPF set it apart from other primers and a little does go a long way so it would last awhile.

Have you tried the bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow? Let me know your thoughts!

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Monday, August 17, 2015

First Impressions: ispy Glam Bag August 2015

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ipsy is a monthly subscription box company created by Michelle Phan and is $10 a month. You get a mix of makeup, skincare and hair care items, usually 4-5 full- or deluxe sample size products in a makeup bag. When you sign up for ipsy, you take a quiz in order for the bag to be customized to your skin type/tone and your general preferences. You can retake the quiz as many times as you like. You can also review each product in your bag to help ipsy further customize future bags and earn points to purchase products. You also receive points when people sign up for ipsy through your referral link.

This month’s theme is “prep school” and the bag reflects that theme. The bag this month has a black and white houndstooth pattern with fuschia detailing on the zipper. The vinyl lining inside is also fuschia.

Product #1: noyah All-Natural Lipstick in Desert Rose (sample; 1.4 g)

This lipstick is a bubblegum pink color which was surprising given the name a look of the product in the tube, I thought it would be a rosey color. This is not a color I would ever buy for myself so it’s nice to get a sample in a subscription bag to add to my collection. Now I have a bubblegum pink if I’m ever in the mood for that color. This lipstick applies a bit patchy and settled into the lines of my lips so I would recommend exfoliating your lips first. I also think there are performance issues because the finish is matte. This lipstick claims to be all-natural, synthetics free and never tested on animals. The ingredient list looks pretty good, but then again I’m not an ingredients expert. A full-size (4.5 g) is $18 on the noyah website.

Value: $5.60

Product #2: Doll 10 HydraGel Cream Blush in Flirt (deluxe sample; 0.11 oz.)

This is almost a full-size product! The full-size on the Doll 10 website is 0.14 oz for $16. Warning - alittle bit of this cream blush goes a loooong way. I applied it with the e.l.f. small stipple brush. It is a pretty rose color, just apply with caution since it is very pigmented. It claims to be lightweight, blendable, buildable and natural looking. I would agree with these claims with the exception of natural looking. This claim I cannot speak to because I definitely applied too much so we shall have see the next time I try it. I can’t find information on whether this brand is cruelty-free or not.

Value: $12.57

Product #3: Lord & Berry Ultimate Lipliner in #3035 Nude (deluxe sample; 0.03 oz.)

This lipliner is a browny nude with a hint of pink. It could double as an eyeliner, I think. It has a creamy texture and is easy to apply. Lord & Berry is a Europe-based brand so I’m excited for the opportunity to try them out. I can’t find how big the full-size of this product is so I’m estimating the value based on the sizes of my other lipliners. The blogs I use for reference say that Lord & Berry have a questionable cruelty-free status, which is a little concerning…

Value: $13.50

Product #4: Albertini International Divine Skin Hydrator In Shower Body Moisturizer in Unscented (deluxe sample; 1 oz.)

In-shower lotions are popping up more and more lately so I’m glad to get to try one through ipsy. I haven’t tried this yet, but it claims to hold moisture/rehydrate your skin. It is made with women over 40 in mind so I wonder why ipsy sent it to me as I am nowhere near 40…maybe because I have dry skin. You can use this product two ways: either as an after shower moisturizer or you can apply it in the shower, lightly rinse it off and then towel pat dry. A full-size is $16 for 9 oz. This is a cruelty-free product (yay!).

Value: $1.78

Product #5: eco-beauty by La Fresh Group good night. night cream (deluxe sample, 0.5 oz.)

I was so, so, SO EXCITED to see this in my ipsy bag. I received the day cream version of this moisturizer in my January 2015 ipsy bag and absolutely loved it. I will be using this night cream once I get through the sample I’m using right now (review to come). This moisturizer claims to hydrate, smooth and plump skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and crow’s feet. It is free of parabens, sulfates, artificial fragrance, animal byproducts, etc.. It contains a lot of anti-aging ingredients, including the super popular hyaluronic acid. A full-size is $40 for 1.7 oz. This is a cruelty-free brand.

Value: $11.76

Swatches (left to right): noyah lipstick, Doll 10 blush sheered, Doll 10 blush, Lord & Berry lipliner

Overall Value: $45.21! I will use all of these products and am especially excited for the eco-beauty night cream. I will use the three makeup products (lipstick, blush and lipliner) and they are good compliments to what I have in my makeup collection. I’m interested to see how the in-shower body moisturizer works. I have tried a few different subscription boxes but none have consistently hit the mark like this one. ipsy delivers again!

If you subscribe to ipsy, what did you get in your bag?

If you’re interested in signing up for ipsy, feel free to use my referral link J

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