Beauty related posts.
I’m officially renaming my Empties posts to Trash Stash. 😀 Once again, I’ve accumulated enough empty beauty products to post – I reckon this will be a monthly feature going forward. I can no longer deny it – being on a No-Buy has definitely forced me to use up some of my stash!
I may have mentioned on this blog that I have a lot of nail polishes. I may also have mentioned that many of my nail polishes are unworn, or as I call them: Untrieds. And many of my Untrieds are Illamasqua. Today I bring you Illamasqua Poke.
It is described on Illamasqua’s site as:
Bright violet purple, shimmer finish.
I’ve been thinking about getting cosmetic tattooing, or permanent makeup done for a long time now, and I’ve finally decided to proceed with it (consultation appointment tonight!) The main reasons I want to do this are 1) to reduce the amount of makeup I need (with potential cost savings over time), and 2) to save time getting ready every day.
The areas I am getting tattooed are:
In the future, I think I may even do some eye shadow shading as well – I’ll bring in my beloved MAC Satin Taupe so they colour match it.
I was nominated by Sandy of Lippie Obsession and Gwen of Gwenan Carter for the Infinity Dreams Award! Huzzah! Sandy always has great FOTD and useful reviews on her blog, and Gwen is a mommy to cutie Jacob, balancing mommy topics and beauty stuff on her blog. Go check them both out if you haven’t already!
Rules
I’m going to partially combine the 2 nominations and just state 11 facts about me since I think I’m running out of remotely interesting things to say about myself at this point… I am struggling with coming up with 11, let alone 22! I’ll do the 11 Facts at the end just in case I duplicate a question response with a fact.
I happen to have all of CoverGirl’s LashBlast mascaras in my stash, so I thought I’d do an overview post to show the differences between them, and my preferences.
From left to right, the order in which they were released, and their claims, they are:
Volume (orange tube) Jan 2008 “For bold, high-volume lashes”
Luxe* (deep pink tube) Feb 2009 “High-volume lashes tinted with shimmer”
Length (yellow tube) Sept 2009 “Makes lashes up to 80% longer looking vs bare lashes”
Fusion (purple tube) Apr 2010 “Volume + Length in one stroke”
24 Hour (black tube) Jan 2012 “Power hour after hour. Bold, intense volume”
Clump Crusher (green tube) Nov 2012 “200% more volume + length, zero clumps”
Full Lash Bloom (pink tube) Dec 2014 “Exceptional lash fullness that’s soft to the touch”
For this overview, I am just looking at the non-waterproof formulas. I typically do not wear waterproof mascaras for regular usage.
* I just realized that I’m missing Luxe in my stash, the darker pink tube. But I can speak to it since I’ve tried it many moons ago – it’s a gimmick to have shimmer in mascaras, it doesn’t shows up on the lashes unless there’s a spotlight on them. The only place you’ll notice the glitter is on the cotton pad when you remove your makeup at night. The Luxe version is literally the original LashBlast Volume with glitter dumped into the formula.
Keep reading for details on each type
Today, I’m reviewing a recently acquired item – you may recall that I bought this during Targetgate™, along with a few Sonia Kashuk goodies. The Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen retails for $12.00 (1.2g) and is a Target exclusive brand here in Canada. Once Target stores closes here, I’m not sure if Pixi will be available in a bricks and mortar store here anymore.
This liner comes in a fancy box. I don’t think I’ve seen another drugstore brand that sells pencil eyeliners in boxes.
Meredith from Shadow & Sugar nominated me for the Creative Blogger Award, which is another tag type of post going around, and I’m more than happy to accept! Thank you Meredith, I’ve enjoyed reading your blog and getting to know you better!
The rules of the award are:
Let’s preface this post by saying that I’m not an expert on skincare – my opinions are just my anecdotal, personal experience. I also don’t battle with too many skin concerns in terms of deep wrinkles or loss of firmness – I would say that I’m in more of a preventative and maintenance mode.
My current primary concerns are:
• Fine lines: laugh lines, forehead, and under eye area
• Sun spots, aka my freckles – I get comments on them [from mostly Asian sales associates] but I’ve had my freckles since I was young, so I’m not sure if they really are a sign of aging?
• Sallow / dull appearance
I mainly use targeted anti-aging products at night before bed, for a few of reasons: typically these products are richer and I’d rather not have greasy skin during the day. Also, when sleeping, the skin goes through a renewal process which lends itself to better absorb and utilize the anti-aging skincare ingredients. Lastly, some anti-aging ingredients, such as retinods, cause sun sensitivity so I would rather avoid that if possible. During the day time my primary focus is sun protection.
A few weeks ago I came across this book at a used book store: Can You Get Hooked on Lip Balm?
I couldn’t resist and bought it. I’ve read most of it now and while there’s a lot of just common sense advice “Do curling shampoos really work?” (no) or “Is it safe to use lipstick on your cheeks?” (yes), I also learned a few things. Today I’m sharing this one about the infamous Aspirin mask.
This is part deux of “How I wash my brushes” entry. As I mentioned in that post, I used to simply lay my brushes flat to dry them after they’ve been washed. But with advancement in the technology of makeup brush care, I have improved my methods!
First up, my eye shadow brushes. I found this nifty art brush holder at the dollar store:
In the promotional images, the art brushes are placed with the bristles facing up for storage, but for the purpose of drying my brushes, I face them down – but with brush guards protecting the bristles. This is key. Don’t just put the brushes facing down and smooshing the bristles. The purpose of drying my brushes with the bristles facing down is to let gravity do some of the work: it prevents moisture from getting trapped in the ferrule (the metal part of the brush, where the bristles are glued in place). If moisture gets trapped in the ferrule, it can weaken the glue and cause the hairs to fall out. With this brush holder, I can fit 49 eye shadow brushes, and the whole set up can be taken apart completely for compact storage.
Continue reading
stash matters 