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.
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It’s officially the first week of Spring! I toyed with the idea of doing a Spring cleaning makeup purging entry… but I’m just not mentally up for sorting through my stash yet. So instead, I’ll show you how I clean my makeup brushes.
My method has developed over time. For years I simply washed my brushes with baby shampoo, laid them out on a towel and called it a day. But as more tools became available, I was able to improve my method and set up.
I wash (or sometimes referred to as “deep clean”) my brushes regularly – my eye makeup and foundation brushes are typically used only once and then set aside for cleaning. My sponges are also used just once and usually washed that very morning – I don’t like to let foundation dry inside the sponge which can permanently stain it. This may seem excessive but I don’t want to risk bacteria build-up which can cause cross contamination between my brushes, my makeup and my face.
Some of you expressed amazement at the amount of brushes I own. Let me refresh your memory, I have:
• 202 eye brushes (of which 163 are eye shadow, 31 liner, 8 brow brushes)
• 126 face brushes (41 blush, 33 foundation, 25 powder, 18 bronzer, 9 concealer brushes)
I don’t think that’s too much, but my perspective may be a little skewed.
Here they are:
The idea to create this Tag came out of a discussion with StyledWithJoy in the comments section of one of my posts a couple of weeks ago. We’re both on a No Buy for 2015, and we decided we needed a place to commiserate. If you’re on a No Buy or a Lo Buy, please join us in answering these co-authored tag questions – it’s cathartic!
1. When did you start your No Buy / Lo Buy? How long is your No Buy / Lo Buy going to last?
2. Why did you decide to go on a No Buy / Lo Buy?
3. Have you ever attempted a No Buy / Lo Buy before? If so, how did it go?
4. What do you hope to achieve with your No Buy / Lo Buy?
5. What product(s) have you hit pan on since starting the Makeup No Buy?
6. Do you have more empties because of it? What product do you miss the most?
7. Do you think you can survive the ban from makeup?
8. What is the one product you envy right now but can’t get? For eyes? For lips? And for face?
9. Have you cheated and bought something already?
10. After your No Buy / Lo Buy, are you planning a big haul? What are you going to buy?
In honour of today being St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would showcase some green makeup items in my stash. Let’s use the local dollar store as a gauge for what colour green we’re talking about:
At first glance, I would claim that I do not own very many green makeup items. But I actually do, especially eye shadows.
This is a list of beauty related “hacks” – just tips and tricks that are inexpensive, and perhaps a little unconventional. There are all things I use on a regular basis that have been helpful to my beauty routine – I hope you get some new ideas!
Wheeee! Another Tag post. These sure make their way around the blogosphere. I enjoy reading them as they add a different dimension to an otherwise singular focus blog topic (be it beauty, fashion, cooking etc) – and as we know, everyone is multi-faceted. Thanks Bree, and StyledwithJoy for tagging me on this one.
stash matters 