This month I seem to have finished up the core components of my face skincare products all at the same time – so odd how that happens.
The sense of accomplishment in finishing up products never gets old!
Trash Stash: September 2015
Beauty
Beauty related posts.
Review: Essie Gel•Setter Top Coat
By now you’ve probably heard about the Essie Gel•Setter™ top coat – it’s fairly new on the market and promises “cushy, rock-hard shine of a gel, in a foolproof formula”. I was living under a rock and had not heard about this but stumbled upon a display while I was doing some birthday hauling. I picked it up mainly because at the time I had just recently got gel polish applied and loved the shine of the gel polish. Also, the top coat was on sale. 😉
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish
This post was prompted by the prospect of letting go one of my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish (MSF) in my makeup purge. By now, you will already know which one got the boot. I only owned 3 of them in total, so the 33% reduction was a significant event. I owned:
Left to right:
Stereo Rose – Coral with golden bronze shimmering nuances
Petticoat – Pale rose with gold and amber veining
Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearl
Mineralize Skinfinishes are baked products with a marbled effect which makes them very eye-catching in the pans (they look like little planets to me!) MAC describes them as “A luxurious powder with 77-Mineral Complex that adds highlights to the face and body”. MSFs can vary so much in their finish, level of shimmer and pigmentation from shade to shade. There are some that are more of a highlight but some act more like a blush. The 3 that I own I use as blush.
Blogger Recognition Award and 250 Days of No-Buy
Today marks my 250 Days of No-Buy! 😀
Fun fact: As a Mandarin slang term, the number “250” (二百五 èrbǎiwǔ) is an insult meaning “stupid person” or “simpleton”. 😕
I was nominated sextuply (yes that’s the word) recently for the Blogger Recognition Award – first by Katie of Plus+Beauty, secondly by Chris of fivezero, thirdly by Janella of Skin Diary, fourthly by Joy of StyledWithJoy, fifthly by Chic and Polished, and finally by Polished and Inspired! 😀
How to Sanitize Makeup
Say you’ve just decluttered a whole bunch of your makeup, and you’re planning on giving them away. Or conversely, you participated in a swap, and you received gently used makeup – how do you sanitize makeup?
I’ve participated in MUA swaps way back in the day, and have given away lots of my makeup to friends. I generally keep my makeup in very clean condition, but it is still prudent to sanitize everything before you give them away. Here are some items you will need:
The Purge: makeup edition
Hello! I’m back from vacation – I’ll post some pics from the trip by the end of the week. Today I’m back with a bang! Over the Labour Day long weekend, I spent hours going through my stash to declutter items that I no longer use. Today, I bring you: The Purge! I toyed with doing an elimination style competition for items in my makeup stash, but decided it would take too long. And like removing a Band-Aid, makeup purging – while painful – should be done quickly. Many of these items had been contemplated before and made it back into the fold because I had talked myself out of purging them. This time, I’m being ruthless! These are all being purged from my stash:
Collab: Collection Lasting Perfection Ultimate Wear Concealer
Today’s post is a collaboration with StyledWithJoy! We both received the Collection Lasting Perfection Ultimate Wear Concealer a couple of months ago. As we’re both in North America (her in the US, me in Canada), neither of us have direct access to this cult beauty item which is exclusive to shops in the UK. Luckily for us, we finally got our grubby hands on this from our respective fairy godmothers (her sister in her case, and through my lovely swapper Nicola, in my case).
Foundation mixology
Since I’m guilty of buying new foundations instead of using up my current open bottle(s), typically I have at least 12 different ones on the go. Some of them are better suited for the summer, while others are only used during the winter months. My skin tone often straddle between light and medium shades, so I typically mix 2 different shades to get a suitable colour match. In addition, mixing different foundation formulas helps to get a finish that works better for my combination skin type.
Typically, I like to mix foundations to both colour match and improve on the formulations to my liking.
My Deborah Lippmann neutral polishes
Today’s entry was prompted by THIS post from fivezero, showing the new Deborah Lippmann Fall 2015 collection called “Undressed”, which caused my face to go like this:
Just look at this range of neutral gorgeousness:
Back to MAC pick and some other stuff
A couple of weeks ago I asked for recommendations on which MAC lipstick to trade in for, and a number of you chimed in on your recommendations.
The big reveal!
stash matters 