First, a little story. I’ve been mentioning in other blog posts that we are getting a lot of nutty storms out here. On Monday evening, I’d given Miss Butterfly the job of cleaning all my makeup brushes. Doing so would “buy” her a new mascara, which she was in need of. I was worried that on Tuesday morning, before returning to work, I’d go to do my makeup and find that my brushes were still wet.

I needn’t have concerned myself. We got a bunch of storms overnight and the power went out. It’s not actually possible to do my makeup in the dark at 5:30am. which is the time I actually have to work on this hobby during the week. I ended up going to work bare-faced, which hasn’t happened in over a year now. It was no big deal, though I sorta thought it might be. Apparently beginning to wear makeup at the age of 41 is a much bigger deal than just stopping wearing makeup.

In any case, this is all to say that I ended up a day behind on my 3 color weekly challenge due to this day of no power in the house. But, the challenge still got done. Let’s look at Wednesday’s look first.

I determined that I did want to use all the colors in my challenge for Wednesday’s look. I also pulled in a darker brown matte single from Sydney Grace, as it’s the next darker shade from Dusty Trails which is in the challenge.

For Wednesday’s look I used Dusty Trails in as a transition shade, the darker brown matte in my crease, and Poppy on the outer corner of my mobile lid. I did fluff it up into the crease a bit, but it wasn’t my goal to really showcase Poppy, I just wanted a darker color on the outer part of my mobile lid. Then, I used Just Peachy all over the mobile lid.

On the lower lashline I used Dusty Trails, bringing it up and connecting it to the color on the eyelid area. Then I decided I wanted a liner of some sort. I ended up choosing a royal blue color. I am not sure it was the perfect look, but I couldn’t figure out another color I wanted to try to use that I had in my collection. My stash of liners, while growing, is not that large at this point, and my color choices are somewhat limited.

I did try one new thing though, which was to use an angled brush to smudge out the liner a bit and then flip it out at the corner. I doubt it shows, as it was quite subtle. I didn’t want to ruin a look when I needed to go to work and was running short on time.

Here’s the look. One of these photos cracks me up, that’s Rose in the background waiting on breakfast.

I liked this look! It’s pretty surprisingly subtle considering that the darker matte brown from Sydney Grace is really very pigmented. The Poppy in the outer corner is barely visible but still provides depth.

In other news, with this look, I decided I needed to figure out why I am not using Bare Minerals serum concealer. I can easily see why in my second photo. Nice circles showing under my eyes with the bonus of mascara transfer. I will go back to using that on areas of my face that are NOT my under eyes.

On to look 3. I had a little trouble with this one to be honest. I feel like the three colors I pulled from for this week are surprisingly limiting. Who knew that I’d actually think that bolder, stranger colors were easier to work with!

I swatched out a few options last evening just to see what I could come up with and I ended up pulling in another color from Sydney Grace. This one is a shimmer called Tiara, it’s a taupe shade. It doesn’t advertise as a duochrome but it has a bit of that feel to it. It also has a green tone to it. It’s lovely!

So, as per usual, I used the Dusty Trails as a transition shade. I used Poppy in the crease and on the outer corner. Then, I used Tiara all over the lid. Then, I popped Just Peachy on the center of the lid over Tiara to give it some extra dimension. I used Dusty trails on the undereye and highlighted the inner corner with another Sydney Grace shadow I failed to photograph, it’s called Bailey’s Bliss and it is from the Taylor Bundle as well.

I used a nude liner in my waterline and a dark blue liner on the lower and upper lash line. Here’s a photo of what I came up with:

 

Not too shabby!

I used the random number generator to choose which shade rolls out of my 3 color challenge for next week, and it’s Poppy. So that leaves me with Dusty Trails and Just Peachy for next week. I’ll show what rolls in next week. I am kind of hoping for something bright since the two shades I am left with are awfully subtle! And here’s a little spoiler, I’ll be adding a bunch of shades to my list.

So, stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, have a great weekend!

 

 

I absolutely stuck to my guns when it came to masking or using treatments regularly. I posted this photo halfway through the month:

Since then I was able to finish up three products.

The Grown Alchemist polishing facial exfoliant-I was never in love with this product. I used it once or twice a week all fall, winter, and spring. I am thrilled to be done with it. There was a massive air bubble toward the end and I finished it up rather unexpectedly. I didn’t make a point to use this more during the may challenge so you could just say it’s a bit of a coincidence that I happened to finish it this month.

Aphrodite Olive oil face mask-I really enjoyed this deep cleansing mask. It was very gentle compared to other clay masks I’ve used. I am glad I cut it open, I got another 4 applications out of it that way. I doubt I’ll repurchase but I am glad I got to try it and use it up.

Ren evercalm-the was absolutely the stand out product this month. In fact, I’d say that it was the one where I seemed to have the best results. One morning I woke up and thought I looked REALLY pale. But, then I realized it was probably this face mask working its magic. That being said, I wasn’t entirely using it the way the directions suggested. I was using it after my nightly skin routine and sleeping in it. Almost daily. But, the results were so good that I would consider purchasing more from Ren’s evercalm line to try. At some point in the future when I have used up the huge stash of products I already have.

Other products I got use out of even though I didn’t finish-

Ahava hydration cream mask-I used this a bunch of times and will continue to do so again now that the Ren mask is used up. Using it at night to sleep in works nicely.

Peter Thomas Roth exfoliating gel-I probably used this about 5 times over the month. It’s a product I like just fine but probably won’t purchase again.

Elemis enzyme peel-I used this 3 or 4 times. I am not sure if I see great results from this product but it does work for continuing to keep a good chemical exfoliating routine going.

Amore Pacific-same type of product as the elemis peel, and I used it only twice I believe. I don’t think they even make this product anymore so I am going to be working toward using it up in the upcoming month.

Glamglow supermud-I used it once and only in my T-zone. This is well known for really being a drying mask so I didn’t want to push it at this point.

While we absolutely have a few more days to go this month and I absolutely will continue my may mask challenge through the end of the month, wrapping it up here will do as there’s no way I’ll finish another product in the next two days. I am super happy to have done this challenge though. I have certainly noticed smoother skin overall, and seeing real results on the redness of my face really was interesting and surprising.

It’s week two of my little self imposed challenge. I used a random number generator last week to discover which eyeshadow would roll out for this week, and the verdict was Royalty, the dark purple shade from last week. This week I used a random number generator to roll in my next shadow, and turns out that’s another Sydney Grace single, this time a very basic matte transition shade. The color is called Dusty Trails. Here’s the color combo I am using for three looks this week.

For today’s look, I decided, since I am home all day, that I wanted to give a try to Ciate London’s Eye Lustre that I got in boxy charm. I’ve tried to use this a couple of ways so far and it’s always too intense and goes creasy on me. I was pretty ready to toss it until I remembered that when I was using a stila liquid eyeshadow I preferred the application of the product with a brush. So, that’s what I decided to try with the eye lustre as well.

I did not use Just Peachy this time, just Poppy and Dusty Trails are represented here. I used dusty trails on my transition area and poppy all over the lid, blending it into the crease. I admit that I got a little carried away and I am pretty sure Poppy overtook the look. I am not sure it’s easy to see much of Dusty Trails. But it is there. It’s also on my undereye. Then, I used the ciate london eye lustre on a packing brush and swiped that thinly on my lid, over the poppy, from the inner corner to the middle of the eyelid. There were moments I felt it needed a little building up, so I went in with an additional coat, but I’ll admit that wasn’t a great thing to do as it tended to try to pull back up and off the eyelid. So, the second layer is trickier than the first. I used my cover fx palette brightener on the inner corner. It seems to have picked up some of the poppy pigment and turned a bit pink. I am not mad about it.

It did really turn down the intensity of poppy, using it with the eye lustre overtop. I see no signs of creasing, so using the brush helped in that way as well. It definitely helps punch up a look a bit and I am glad I discovered a way to use the eye lustre. I’ll have to add it to my list of eyeshadows to pull from!

I am also glad I got an opportunity to give this a try on a day I am not going anywhere, just in case.

 

Last time I posted a beauty balance post I had 5 items leaving my collection over what entered. Spoiler alert-at the end of this post, this number will remain the same.

I picked up two shampoos in the ulta hair event. Neither of which I’ve tried before.

And, I have two items leaving my collection:

One is a little sample of Replica fragrance which was lovely but didn’t seem to stick around all day, and the other a peppermint body scrub which I didn’t like at all.

It’s the end of May now, and I’ll be doing a final beauty balance post at the end of the month, after I do a project pan update. I don’t believe anything more will enter my collection this month. Next month is a “rough” month, as I receive fab fit fun and boxycharm. But, that’s my last ever fab fit fun box, my subscription has been canceled. That’s one less subscription from my subscription purchasing spree last year. All that is left is boxycharm for June and July and then I have to make a decision, do I want to keep just the one subscription or do I want to move on from them entirely. I think the best thing to do though is to take a break and work through the items in my stash. Then I can revisit if I am ready to subscribe again. But as it stands, I am still 5 items leaving over what has entered and I will definitely have more that will leave my collection at the end of the month.

First of all, let me state for the record that I am currently messing around with how I am taking photos of my eye looks. I have not been happy with what I’ve been doing thus far. The full impact and punchiness of the looks haven’t really and truly shown through. I think this is, in part, the fact that the selfie facing camera on my phone just isn’t good enough. So yesterday I experimented with the mirror and the forward facing camera. After all, I really did want to capture just how cool the pink/gold duo chrome highlighter looked over the purple eyeshadow.

When I got home from work and got changed into comfy clothing to take the dogs for a walk, I wandered into the craft room to see if I could experiment, and here’s what I got.

This is after a workday of wear, but you can certainly see the glitter a bit better.

I experimented a bit more this morning and I will continue to do so in order that these looks come across in more reality than they have been. But, let’s talk about today’s look.

I loved the mac duochrome highlighter so much over the top of the purple that I thought I would try it again today.

This time I used Cinnamon as a transition shade. You might think that looks a little intense for a transition on light skin like mine, and you’d be right. But, I had decided that I would go in very lightly and tap off my brush before blending into my transition area.

Then, I used a dark brown matte shade from my JH morphe palette, once which isn’t pictured. The colorway is called chip. This was for my crease and I did use this in my outer corner as well.

Then, on the inner half of my eyelid I used Poppy and on the outer half of my eyelid I used Royalty. I figured I might as well get some more use out of that purple. Then, I popped the mac highlighter over the entire thing.

Under my eye, I used cinnamon and then I used Royalty at the outer corner as a liner. I used my Cover FX face palette brightener as my inner corner highlight and a nude pencil in the water line.

So, this look is a bit more red and a bit less intense than yesterday, but still quite dramatic. But I like it.

So, that’s it for my 3 challenge looks this week. Since once I get this ball rolling, each shadow will spend a total of 3 weeks in my rotation, I figured the only fair thing to do was to use a random number generator to pick which shadow leaves my collection this round. Turns out, it’s Royalty, and I can’t say I am disappointed about that. But, I have not yet used the random number generator to choose the incoming color for next week. I’ll post that at the beginning of next week.

So that’s a wrap for week one of my little challenge. It was a good time. But, I am looking forward to just using one palette tomorrow morning.

 

Day two look of my 3 color weekly challenge coming right up. If you missed it, here are swatches of the colors I am working with.

Today I decided I really needed to give the purple a go. I mean, prior to this I’d just used it as eyeliner. I know that it’s dark and intense and not something I am used to wearing so I wasn’t sure what I should do. But, I’ve come up with something I rather like.

First I took the ace beaute grandiose palette:

Since the color poppy is also part of the challenge, I figured I’d start here. I used Clove as a transition and Poppy in the crease. Then I set down the purple from the JH Morphe palette all over my lid. I blended the edges so they didn’t look harsh (And all messed up.) Knowing full well I didn’t feel like having this dark color on my lid all day with no dimension and depth, I added my Mac highlighter from the Shiny Pretty Things collection, the one that is a duochrome shifting gold to pink, and popped that from my inner corner partway across the lid. Adding the sheer pink/gold sparkle overtop lightened the look quite a bit. It’s still dark, but it’s a bit less intense. I left the purple in the outer corner as is.

On the lower lashline, I used Clove and then the purple as more of a liner. On the inner corner, that’s where I used my third color, the sweet peach color from sydney grace. It’s rather too dark for an inner corner highlight, but I wanted to give it a try. I lined my waterline with a nude liner. If I’d thought about it, I would have tightlined in black but I didn’t think about it, so here we are.

The final look. I did have to wear my glasses today, my eyes decided that contacts were a no go. Probably ok since I am hiding behind them with such an intense eye look.

There you have it, look number two. Not sure what I’ll do for my third look, I might try something pretty subtle since both today and Monday feel quite bold.

 

I’ve been really inspired by the youtube project pan roulettes that are based on panning eyeshadows. The basic premise is that you write down every single eyeshadow color you own, number them, and then use a random number generator to concentrate on 6 shadows until you hit pan. When you hit pan on one, you use the random number generator to pick the next shadow to roll in. I love this idea, it’s so interesting to me. However, as a newer makeup lover, I have lots of shadows and not many that are close to having pan.

Nevertheless, yesterday I wrote down every single eyeshadow without pan in my collection. Originally I had thought that I would play along with the eyeshadow pan roulette. But I would choose 3 shadows instead of 6. So, I picked my 3 shadows. Then, I thought about it a bit longer and decided that I don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. Instead, I am going to use those 3 shadows to create looks during the week. Then, I am going to roll one out and one in for the next week. This will have me rotating the shadows regularly and getting creative with what looks I can make.

Of course, there will be photos. But first, let’s look at what the random number generator chose for me this week.

The left swatch is a sydney grace single called Just Peachy. The middle is Poppy from Ace Beaute grandiose palette. And the purple is Royalty from the Morphe Jaclyn Hill palette.

So, it should be interesting to play with these three, add other shadows, and see what I can come up with. I think this will be an enjoyable way to make me think creatively and a great way to stumble through my entire collection.

For the record, I have 233 shadows at the moment. These do not include the shadows that I’ve hit pan on (there are only 3 of those anyhow). So, if I don’t get completely bored with it, this particular challenge could go on for a very long time. I am eager to use the ones I’ve chosen, but there are certainly some colors in my collection I am going to find very difficult to use for 3 weeks at a time! But the point is to play in my collection and think creatively, so I am sure I’ll figure it out.

On to today’s look. For the record, I plan to try to create 3-4 looks per week using these. I want to make sure I am thinking creatively, but I also want to make sure that I have an opportunity to use other palettes in my collection as well. Anyhow, today. I circled in light gray the colors that are in my little challenge. I circled in dark gray the additional colors I used for today’s look.

I started with the lightest shade as a transition and used the brick colored matte in my crease (both circled in dark gray.) Then, I packed Poppy all over my lid. Poppy packed on the eyelid isn’t as punchy as I imagined it would be. I am wondering if giving it a sticky base would have been wiser. I had hoped for a really dark wash of color because I put Just Peachy over the first 2/3 of the eyelid, looking for poppy to darken it up. It didn’t quite work as I’d expected.

Then, I decided I also wanted to incorporate Royal. I have no rule about trying to use all three challenge colors in a look at once, I simply figured I’d try anyhow. I started with the brick colored matte under my eye. Then I used the lightest colored matte to smudge out the brick color. Then I took Royal as an eyeliner on the upper and lower lash line. Using a nude or shimmery gold liner on the inner waterline would have been smart but I completely forgot. I do think that it would have really amped up my look. I used the brightener from my cover FX face palette for the inner corner and browbone. I don’t typically use a shimmer on my brow bone, but this look was translating pretty dark and I wanted to brighten it up in some way.

A closing thought from day 1. First of all, I’ve gotten a bit spoiled with some nice high-end eyeshadow palettes. And I’ve ignored my Morphe JH palette completely. Now that I’ve used it, I am absolutely finding that the mattes are harder to blend than the nicer palettes I own. I am going to leave it in the challenge for now, but it is entirely possible that this one may someday get decluttered to Miss Butterfly. Which would please her just fine I am certain, as she’s the one who has gotten the most use out of it up until this point anyhow. That being said, she’s got a pretty hardcore obsession with BH Cosmetics palettes, and she probably doesn’t use this palette that much these days either.

I am truly not sure how I’ll use royalty. this is just not a shadow I have much interest in. I am going to have to come up with something though, as I definitely want to give it a try tomorrow. I also think I’d better add a nude lipstick to my purse if I want to keep playing with shadows this way. I am trying to pan the bite beauty lipstick I am wearing in the above photo, but it’s a bit dark for the dark eye looks.

In any case, that’s the first post of a new challenge I am quite excited about. I am really looking forward to moving through my collection and seeing just how far I get. I have the idea that I need to get this all in an excel spreadsheet so I can delete the shadows I’ve already used. But, that can be a project for another day, there’s no chance of me struggling to get a random number generator to come up with something new for me with 233 shadows to choose from. At least not any time soon.

So, I’ve been posting eye looks for a little bit now. I decided it might be beneficial to use one palette at a time and then post 3 looks from that palette. That’s what I’ve decided to do this time.

I chose the Too Faced White Peach palette. This palette caught quite a lot of criticism for it’s lighter tones and subtle eyeshadows. I just don’t think it’s the color payoff most people who are really into makeup are interested in. I am positive it doesn’t work on even medium skin tones, I am pretty light and a number of the shades are almost invisible. But, I would not say it’s much different than, say, boudoir eyes or natural eyes or any of the other more subtle palettes that too faced makes.

Ultimately, I like the palette.

For the record, since it’s pretty hard to see, the lower right colors are “On the Peach” and “Peach Passion.”

For every look I used peach cream to set my primer.

For the first look, I just did the look I’ve been doing repeatedly with this palette. I used peach suede as a transition, sweet fig in the crease, and glistening peach on the lid. Sweet fig under the eye and peach ice on the inner corner. It’s simple, it’s fairly subtle, and it’s easy. Also, very work appropriate.

Let me just make a statement about my skin here. First of all, I took these photos pretty late in the day compared to what I usually do. Also, I had decided to experiment with not setting my foundation and using all cream products. You can see that I am hella greasy. That is not an appropriate technique for my skin. We will not be trying that again any time soon!

Ok, on to the next. On a better skin day. Or, rather, foundation day. For this look I decided after owning the palette for a while, I should perhaps branch out into some of the other colors available. I wanted to go pretty subtle. I used peach sorbet as a transition shade and creme de la peach in my crease. I popped peaches and dreams all over the lid. I used fuzzy under the eye and then used my urban decay metallic gold liner on the inner corner and the waterline.

I ended up super happy with this look, even with my visible mascara smudges. Still learning! In any case, this is absolutely a look I’ll do again.

For look 3, I wanted to explore the darker, cooler tones available in the palette. This time I used sweet fig as a transition shade and crease shade. Then, I wet my brush and used peach passion all over the lid. I ended up intensifying that with using my finger and peach passion, as I wasn’t quite getting the intensity I was after. Then, I wanted to use peach ice as a topper, so I popped peach ice over peach passion on the inner half of my lid. I had to go back and forth a bit with the two colors to create a decent blend of the two toward the middle of the lid.

I then used sweet fig under the eye and peach passion under the eye at the outer corner. I had a TON of fallout with this look, which I cleaned up with a makeup wipe. That’s what creates the almost winged look, it was all in the fallout clean up that this happened. On my inner corner, I used the new ciate london liquid eyeshadow I got in boxy charm. That was rather an intense inner corner and I don’t think I’ll try that again. But, the look itself was great and I will continue with that.

It was fun to challenge myself to use my palette for 3 days in a row and make conscious decisions about what I was going to do and try with it. I think I’ll do that again with my tarte be a mermaid palette. I haven’t used that palette in a good long time now and it would be good to get back to it. I mean, at one time I was trying to pan the entire thing! But that’s gone completely off my radar lately. Between wedding and boredom with using the same palette over and over, I just couldn’t stick it out. And I think that’s fair.

 

You know, I really thought that in May my beauty balance would get easier but I need to quit taking my kid shopping. She’s an expert at getting me to purchase stuff. We went to Ulta to pick up some dry shampoo for her. In the dry shampoo aisle, this conversation happened:

Miss Butterfly: Mom, my stepmom doesn’t like batiste, she likes not your mother’s dry shampoo. You should try it!

Me: I haven’t even tried batiste yet!

Miss Butterfly: Well, then you should. You should get one of each and compare them to see which you like better!

And that’s how I ended up with these:

Thankfully, they are sample sizes. But, I could totally have waited on both of these as I am working through a large container of oribe dry shampoo I got in a subscription box. There is No Need for me to have picked these two up at this time. And that’s precisely my problem. My desire to try things often overrules my desire to be logical about my beauty purchases. I am getting better, much better really, but not yet good enough.

So, I started this post at two products leaving over what entered my collection and now I am evenly balanced again. I seriously considered not even posting these because I was so frustrated, but that would completely make these posts pointless. The entire point is to be accountable while trying to weed down the collection.

On the upside, this month I’ve gotten better at moving through some samples. In fact, so much better that I now no longer have any sachet size samples of haircare and I have only one sachet size sample of skin care. I’ve rocked the sample use up this month.

First of all, the not a sample. That’s the belif true cream aqua bomb. I very much like this product, but I switched my daytime moisturizer to the Youth To The People instead. I do have another belif aqua bomb sample size in my collection, but I am hanging on to it for summer travel. It’s such a nice convenient size.

Below that I’ve got a Verb sample of shampoo and conditioner which were fine but I don’t have a particular love for them.

I tried a tatcha the water cream sample and boy were they stingy with that one! It was not one where I could make it last a few days, it was absolutely a one time use sample. That’s a lot of pretty packaging for such a stingy sample. Obviously not going to purchase.

The hourglass mineral veil primer I used up, it’s another fairly stingy sample. I did manage to get two days of use out of it though. I can’t say it did anything special for me. I’ve wanted to try this for so long. Hourglass really did my skin a solid when it was a mess from lack of any skincare when I started playing with makeup that I tend to believe that hourglass has miracle products. The thing is, that ONE product was a miracle for me, but it was a miracle because I wasn’t doing any other good work on my skin. It’s a lot harder for a product to perform a miracle when I am already doing my skin as many solids as I can.

And then there’s the obagi serum. This was a generous sample and I was able to use this over multiple days. But, I didn’t really research the product well and still am not completely sure what it was supposed to do. Nevertheless, I used it up and it’s out of my collection.

So, despite my frustration with myself (And my kid too, quite frankly) I did manage to work through some things and since it’s still mid-month, I suspect I’ll have a few more empties before the month is over. But, I also need shampoo, so I’ll have one or two arriving as well, depending on what I choose to pick up from the ulta hair sale. Thankfully I’ve got enough conditioner to last me a very good long time, and I have amassed ridiculous amounts of styling products as I carefully devote my time to the deva curl product I am trying to pan, so I truly ONLY need shampoo.

One of the reasons I do these posts multiple times a month is because it does help me to evaluate and then not shop. But, I will admit, the true reason I do them multiple times a month is that saving my trash is really annoying!

In the first 5 days of the May Mask Challenge, I masked 3 times, which is really exceptionally good for someone who struggles to manage to do so once every 2 weeks.

Now we are 2 weeks into the challenge so I thought I’d do an update. The mask photo I had chosen to use was one which I had taken in January. So, I pulled out all my masks and mask type products so that I could get an updated photo.

This is my current collection. These are almost all from subscription boxes, the only thing in here that I purchased myself is the peter thomas roth peeling gel. It’s not exactly a mask, but it serves a similar purpose. Basically, like a few other things in the above collection, it is an extra step in my skincare routine which I generally don’t feel like taking. The only exception to this really is the Grown Alchemist product which is an exfoliator that I keep in the shower. I use it about twice a week and there is absolutely visible progress on that tube of product.

After I took this photo I divided out the masks into categories. Anything that was supposed to basically do the same thing as another product, I put the second product away. I think it will be easier to see progress if I just concentrate on a few items at a time. But, that’s what I did yesterday. There was very little rhyme or reason to the masking I did in the second week.

I used the Elemis papaya enzyme peel once, I used the peter thomas roth peeling gel once, and I used the aphrodite olive oil mask twice. I used the grown alchemist product three times and I decided to begin using the Ahava hydration cream mask as a sleeping mask to see if it works fine for that use. Here’s the thing, I finished my FAB overnight cream and hadn’t yet broken into my cerave overnight cream. I just finished a sample size of the laneige water sleeping mask, so I figured that before I broke into that, I’d better use something I already had open. It seems to be working fine for that category in my collection.

In the upcoming weeks I am going to concentrate on the aphrodite olive oil mask, the Ren calming mask, and the amore pacific peel. I’ll continue using the grown alchemist and the ahava products as I currently am. And, I want to use up the tatcha mask before the end of the month. I can get two uses out of that one product so I should probably get on a roll there.

Finally, I am genuinely hoping to finish up one or two of these products completely. We shall see if that can be done in the next two weeks.

It’s time for another beauty balance post since my boxy charm arrived. For the first time in a long time I will use absolutely everything in this box. That’s great! It also means I’ve got 5 items entering my collection.

I am pretty excited about this box. I love blush and I love Alamar Cosmetics, so this is right up my alley. I would have liked to get the FAB moisturizer rather than the glamglow cleanser but I am not too upset about it as a cleanser is something I can always use.

I would like to track, once I have quit subscription boxes, how long it takes me to get through all my stashed cleansers. I have gotten so many in boxes over this past year that I think it’ll take me more than a year to finish them all up. I have one coming next month as well, I already know it.

We were”perfectly” balanced in my last beauty balance post, so now I have 5 items entering. But, I do have empties!

Some of these are a little bit of a spoiler for my project pan but I think it doesn’t matter too much. First of all, the clinique shadow I had depotted and then used as a setting powder for my eye primer is gone. Thank goodness!

I am giving the NYX butter gloss to Miss Butterfly. I don’t like it. I like their intense butter gloss formula but I don’t like this one at all.

I finished up a small size of the belif sleeping mask. It lasted a nice long time, but I don’t feel like it is necessarily so moisturizing that I must have it back in my life. I won’t repurchase.

I also finished another sample size of the belif hungarian water essence. I like this product quite a bit but I don’t feel an overwhelming urge to go get it and bring it home.

I finished a bvlgari perfume sample, it was a nice scent (omnia I believe) but it didn’t stick around all day and I had to reapply. I don’t like doing that, it’s too fussy for me.

I finished a philosophy purity made simple cleanser and I would repurchase this. No time soon because I’ve got cleansers to spare in my collection. But, I did love it! It was gentle and it smelled amazing.

And I finished a sample size of the laneige sleeping mask. I liked this, I liked how it dried down on the skin before heading to bed, but I don’t think it moisturized enough for me to go out and purchase. I am a convert for the lip sleeping mask but this one doesn’t impress me the same way.

So, that’s 7 products out, leaving me 2 products out ahead of what came in. I will have more empties before the end of the month, we aren’t even halfway through the month yet! So, I am again on the right track for this month despite the VIB sale purchases early in the month.

 

I love my Alamar palette, I really do. I don’t use it that often. I should though! Each and every time I pull it out to use I get so excited about how well the mattes blend and how well the shimmers pop. I really do need to pick up the second palette because it truly is that good, and I imagine the second one is as well.

The palette in question:

Even when just using the mattes I get the most incredible well-blended looks. Using the metallics just adds to the drama. It’s all so ridiculously easy to use as well. I do love this palette. It was the best boxy charm ever gave me. Nothing else has ever quite lived up to this one.

Anyhow, the look in question, let’s get to it. I used coco-taxi as a transition shade, used Tropico in my crease, and Guantanamera in my outer corner. This is pretty typical for me when I use this palette. I then added El Malecon all over my lid. I decided it didn’t have enough depth for me, so I then added celia over el malecon toward the outer corner. I did so lightly as I didn’t want this to become a teal look, I wanted to keep it toward the lighter color. But it did help add a little dimension. Then, I used coco-taxi on my under eye with tropico concentrated toward the outer corner of my under eye. I lined with style sepia liner (oh the joy I will feel the day I get to never use that liner again!) and used my urban decay gold shimmer on the inner corner.

This truly is one of my favorite looks with this palette. It stands out and yet it is still a bit of a neutral look. In fact, I love it so much I want to recreate it again tomorrow.

Next up, using the Ace Beaute grandiose palette:

We received this palette in one of our subscription boxes. I haven’t played with it all that often, but I have very much enjoyed the looks I’ve created with it. Most of what I’ve created has clove in my transition and poppy or rose in my crease, giving me quite a colorful look. I often get compliments on these looks when I wear them at work even though I think they are a little overly dramatic. Now, rose is actually a shimmer, or maybe a satin? You might not think it works in the crease, but I have found that it does.

Today I wanted to avoid clove as a transition, so I started with cinnamon instead. I ended up using clove in the crease. Cinnamon was pretty dark as a transition so I used patchouli to blend it out and lighten it up toward the browbone. I used poppy in the outer corner and rose on the lid. That turned out pretty dark, and I wanted to lighten it up. So, I used jasmine popped on the center of the lid as a spotlight. Over the darker rose, it looked pretty nice but it took a bit of blending on the edges to look like it belonged there.

For the undereye I used cinnamon blended out and then rose toward the outer corner. If I had a do over, I wouldn’t have done the rose. I know full well that rose or pink on the lower lashline makes me look tired and/or sick. I tried to mitigate that a bit with using a nude liner on my waterline. But, it was probably too late. In any case, I lined with my style sepia brown liner of course. And for the record, I am NOT panning an eyeliner after I am done with the style sepia one! I used my gold urban decay liner on the inner corner. And that was that.

It’s a darker look than I normally wear with this palette but I like it. And, I like that I got to try something that didn’t have another peach transition shade. Prior to this, I truly felt that the only transition shade I could use was clove. I believe I was incorrect. Just took a little finesse.

The next palette is a two for one deal. I ended up using the palette two days in a row. It’s the boudoir eyes palette from too faced. It was one of my first palette purchases and I got it half off. Likely because it seems to have been discontinued.

As you can see, I’ve used it pretty well. I like the looks I get from this palette though they are very tame. I like that it is a cool-toned palette, so I don’t have to go pick up the latest cool toned palettes that are on trend as I already have a couple. As for the performance of these shadows, quite a few of them don’t show up all that well on my skin. Most of the colors are very light and the ones that aren’t tend to give quite similar looks once on the eye. Nevertheless, I use this regularly.

The gray matte shade in the middle of the far right row is called garter belt. It’s tough to see in the above photo. I figured I’d get that out there ahead of time since I will be referencing the shade regularly, it’s often used.

In the first quite tame look I used In The Buff to set my eye primer. I then used Fuzzy Handcuffs as a transition shade. If we are honest, that is another color I could use to set my primer as the color payoff is about zero on my skin. But, it does work nicely to blend out the crease color. The crease color is Garter Belt. Then, all over the lid I used Birthday Suit. Garter Belt was used on my under eye area as well. Then, I used my urban decay gold eyeliner to highlight the inner corner, used my milk makeup eyeliner in a nude shade on my waterline, and used a black liner on the outer corner of my undereye and eyelid.

This look is a bit smokey but mostly gentle and I wear it pretty regularly at work when I want something easy and low key. And particularly if I am trying to pair a cooler toned lipstick with my look.

Now for another. In this situation, I paired my boudoir eyes palette with a bright pink shimmer single eyeshadow which I didn’t get a photo of. I don’t think it will matter because you’ll easily be able to see it on my eyes.

I started off the same as the look above with In The Buff, Fuzzy Handcuffs, and Garter Belt in all the same spots. But, I added French Tickler on the outer corner really attempting to shape out a V and a blown out look. Then I added the bright pink shimmer over the lid. I again used Garter Belt in the under eye area and the urban decay gold shimmer on the inner corner. Since I have decided I want to use a liner that is not style sepia that I am trying to pan, I used a dark purple urban decay eyeliner on the outer corners of my lids and undereye. My nude colored Milk liner was used on my waterline. And that was that.

In this case, I did try not to take the bright pink all over the lid but more like 3/4 of it, leaving the black blown out V to add drama all by itself. This is one of those cases where I think a winged liner would look fantastic if I was capable of it, but here we are. Plus, I am wearing this to work and trying to do a winged liner when I’ve only ever successfully accomplished that on one eye once just wasn’t in the cards for the morning. In any case, despite the high drama of this look, I had fun with it, and I paired it with a cool-toned lip gloss of a similar shade to the shimmer on my lid.

This post may get scheduled later, but as I am writing this, it’s Friday morning and it is fun to close out the week with this final look. I managed to post all but one look this week and that was quite fun for me. We’ll see what happens next week!

Soon after my last post/incoming product delivery arrived, another one arrived. I mentioned that I had decided I wanted two of the GOT urban decay liners and that I was struggling to get them due to them being repeatedly sold out. I got the second one.

That one is a gold metallic color. And as it turns out, it is an absolutely exact replica of my metallic gold urban decay liner I got after the holiday.

See the one WAY over on the far right? That’s the one that is exactly the same as I just purchased. And I am not mad about it. Why? Because I love that liner so much as an inner corner highlight. But, I didn’t want to use it because it didn’t seem to be one that is in their regular line up and I couldn’t get it again. Without even trying, now I have it. I recently told myself I wouldn’t pan another liner, but I might have lied. Because I can totally pan the gold one now that I have a full size. (Except I won’t, because I also want to actually use all the other liners I have floating around.)

Anyhow, now that I’ve worked through that tangent, I also picked up an oil. I am getting pretty close to being out of my face oil and I figured I’d take advantage of the order and the sale. Naturally, the order came with another two samples. This brings me back to a beauty balance. I am not posting any empties today. I’ll have my boxycharm order pretty quick and I’ll post some empties then. I will also mention that I have decided that the easiest way to deal with the many sample sizes that are arriving in my collection and thus kind of screwing up my beauty balance is to USE THEM. And so I am using them, and my next beauty balance post should be featuring a number of them.

I really had a good time making the last eye look post, once I got over my fear of taking so many close up selfies. I guess I’ve seen so many really beautiful eye look photos done with extremely high quality cameras and likely fancy lighting situations that I will never be able to reproduce that I figured why bother? Why bother? Because I am just a normal person in her 40s who likes to play with makeup and there have to be others like me out there.

So, I’ll start with a look I did with my ABH Sultry palette. First of all, I need to mention that because I knew I’d wear this at my wedding, I’ve had the opportunity to really spend a ton of time with this palette this spring. And it is hands down my favorite palette. I love the color payoff on these shadows and it’s soooo easy to use. I have loved every look I’ve ever created with this palette. It makes me want ALL of the ABH palettes. (Not gonna do that, but if I could get my hands on the Norvina at a discount, I’d probably get that one.)

Anyhow, here’s the palette I’ve used. I am not going to bother with the circles because I think the color names are fairly visible this time.

So, I started with my mac paint pot eye primer, then went in over it with Fresh to set the primer. Then, I made a look I am making about once a week with this palette. I take Bloom all over the transition area. It’s a bold choice because it’s such a pigmented color. But, with enough blending, it looks very pretty. Then, I use slate in the crease, blending it a bit up into the transition where I can. The gray over the coral makes a really interesting almost purply color. At the outer corner of my eye I went in very lightly with noir, I did blend that to almost nothing. But it, too, over the bloom makes an interesting purple-toned color. I used steampunk all over the lid. I’ve been playing with which shimmer to use with this look, I’ve tried Teak and Cinder as well. I think maybe my favorite has been cinder. I mean to try it with cyborg at some point, but I suspect that’ll be quite an over the top look. Anyhow, in this case, I used Steampunk. For the undereye area I used slate for the bottom lash, blended Bloom into the outer corner of that, and then lined with a black liner. For my inner corner, I used a gold eyeliner. Here’s the resulting look:

This look has become a go-to spring look for me. I just love it. It’s fresh and bold but it also has the cooler tones of the grey. For the record, I am wearing a coral lipstick not pictured here, and grey slacks. So, the entire thing is highly coordinated as well. With my gray hair….well, it’s probably a little over the top. But I like it.

Next up we’ll look at the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette. I really enjoy this palette but it is another one I haven’t given that much attention to. I got it half price over last summer. I picked up the chocolate gold palette for Miss Butterfly at half price at the same time. That was her birthday gift and she uses it all the time. But, I got interested in panning my tarte be a mermaid palette and didn’t give the sweet peach palette all that much attention.

This palette has a surprising amount of neutrals when all is said and done. But, I also love a peachy toned shadow as I am sure I’ve mentioned. I decided for this look I was going to concentrate on the brown tones. I am sorry that not all the pan names show up on my photo, I’ll do my best to explain anyhow.

I began by setting my primer with white peach. I had anticipated making a much softer look than the one above, so I used Georgia as a transition shade. I then used the brown shadow below Bellini in my crease. Since Georgia isn’t a very poppy transition shade, I blended the brown up closer to my transition as well. Then, I took Charmed, I’m Sure on the outer V. I tried to blow that out a little further from my eye than I typically do. Not sure how successful I was. Anyhow, I put Bellini all over the lid and used Luscious in the inner corners. I did pop an unphotographed highlighter on the very middle of my lid just for a little more dimension.

Under the eye I used the brown shade under Bellini and Charmed, I’m Sure toward the outer corner, connecting it with the blown out outer V section. I lined with the style sepia liner I am trying to pan (There’s a theme here!) and then called it good.

So, the browns are far more neutral than I’d usually wear, and I kept the transition shade pretty subtle, but in the end I don’t think my look is any more subtle than the look above, despite being far less colorful.

Here’s another using my Sydney Grace Taylor bundle, light and dark. This was a bundle offered last summer during their christmas in july sale (I highly recommend keeping an eye out for that as I see it is happening again this year.)

First of all, I need to mention that there are two shadows here that are not Sydney Grace. Those are the one circled in lime green and the one second from the top left which I did not use in this look. The one in green I used to set my eye primer. It’s a morphe shadow. I just slipped it into this palette because it needed a home.

So, after setting my primer, I went in with the top three browns which are circled in white.  The lightest as my transition, the middle as a crease color, and the darkest on the outer corner. These browns are quite cool toned which I love. The darkest is a bit hard to blend without blending into nothing but that’s the case with many of the darkest shades in many palettes. I used the shimmer circled in yellow all over the lid and then popped the lightest color shimmer onto the center as a spotlight. That would be the color circled in burgundy. I then needed to blend my crease a bit more as much of the shimmer migrated upward, as is typical for me. I blended the lightest brown on my undereye and then the mid-toned brown toward the outer corner of my undereye. I lined in my style sepia liner I am trying to pan (Will it never die?) and then my inner corner got a nice sparkly urban decay liner in gold.

Here’s the resulting look. It’s quite cool toned since those browns are so cool toned.

I think three is enough for today though I do have one more in my back pocket. I’ll save it for another post. These have been fun to do. Just recording what I am doing has made me feel a little more creative, exploring shadows I haven’t messed with before. But, I can see why one might want a fancier camera to get better photos. That’s not really in the cards for me but it’s fun to think about.

 

 

When we last left off, I was 9 products leaving over what was entering.

And in that post, I made some big claims about how I was not going to purchase from the VIB sale.

Except, that’s not actually what happened. The first thing that happened was that I watched a review about the ordinary moisturizer that I wanted to pick up and try as a daytime moisturizer. It sounded like it was going to be much to heavy for my skin for daytime use. I am quickly running out of my current daytime moisturizer and I didn’t want to be without, nor did I want to go out hunting and purchasing a bunch of things that didn’t work for my purpose. So, instead, I purchased a moisturizer I know I like and then I also picked up the one from the ordinary to test out.

Another thing happened. The Game of Thrones collection from urban decay launched. I knew right from the start that I wanted two of the eyeliners. And eyeliners are on the list of things I have allowed myself to purchase. Really, the sale is a great time to get those two eyeliners. Except when I went to purchase, they were already out of stock. So, feeling like it was unlikely that those eyeliners would get back in stock in time for me to get them on sale, I just moved forward with the moisturizer purchase. I chose my free samples and called it good.

The very next morning, one of the eyeliners was back in stock. So I purchased it, chose my free samples, and it shipped as well. They arrived at the same time.

That’s 7 products leaving me only 2 out of my collection over those that entered. (And those of you following along in my project pan will also notice I’ve now allowed myself another three fragrances in my collection, complicating my project pan as well. But I LOVE trying fragrances, so that’s ok.)

So, naturally, I went into my empties tub and took a look around.

The result wasn’t very encouraging. I finished the samples of smashbox primer, for the record I only liked the radiance primer, and I finished a sample size of shampoo/conditioner. For those, I really liked the scent of them. It was rather a masculine scent that lingered on the hair for days, and I found it rather pleasant. But I am unlikely to purchase anyhow. I tend to enjoy heavy conditioning products rather than anything that claims to be volume boosting.  So, I’ve got 4 products leaving the collection over what has entered.

And one final note, I did try that the ordinary moisturizer. It is too think for daytime use for me. However, I think it’ll work just fine for nighttime use. I don’t regret having it, but am also very happy I picked up a different choice for the day.

 

One of the youtubers I follow fairly peripherally, Lisa Stevens, just began promoting something she thought up called May Mask Challenge. I have to admit, due to subscription boxes I’ve got a ridiculous amount of face masks. I really don’t use them very often.

Now, she plans to mask daily but I know that is unrealistic for me. But, I think I can manage a face mask three times a week.

I am using the above photo which I took in December or the beginning of January. I may add a few more I have received since then. But, I did finish the trader joe’s sheet masks, the blaq undereye masks, and the peter thomas roth hungarian thermal heat mask already.

I already have the olive oil deep cleanse face mask in my project pan, so obviously I’ll work on that one. The Ren calming mask I probably have the most use out of, and I will concentrate on using that as well. The elemis papaya enzyme peel seems like a good one to work on once a week. I think I’ll start with those three and hope for the best. In fact, in this first 5 days of the challenge I’ve already used each of them once. If the weather gets significantly warmer, I’ll throw in the glamglow or the peter thomas roth peeling gel. We will have to see where the weather and my skin takes us. But, I can say that I am lucky if I mask once a week at this point and any improvement on that should move some items through my collection.

I am never going to be someone who enjoys using face masks. I just find it a bit of a waste of time, and I also feel like if I am keeping my skin in decent condition daily, I just don’t really need them. And not needing them means that I don’t see a huge benefit from them.

In any case, I’ll report back on how I’ve done with this little challenge and if anything interesting comes of it. For instance, will regularly masking change my mind about masks? Will I finally be able to move some out of my collection? Will I get to using some of these I’ve never even used? Will I fail miserably because I am too lazy to mask in the first place?

Only time will tell.

As so often happens when I take up a new hobby, that hobby sort of bleeds onto my other friends. Miss Marja has taken a bit of interest in makeup lately and is finding herself tempted by many things in ulta these days, while wisely resisting the urge. It’s fun to have someone I can talk to in person about this stuff. I also had my friend Christelle in town for the wedding. She, too, has dipped her toe into the makeup waters and is eager to try more. We discussed a bit before her arrival, then more once she was in town. I sent her home with a few things. And then talking with her on the phone last evening she said “I see on your blog sometimes you’ve mentioned what colors in a palette you are using where, but I wish there were photos.”

So, I am trying something new and we can thank Christelle. When I think of it, I am going to track what I am using on my eyes and also attempt to find a way to communicate that.

Below is a “palette” of singles. The majority of this set is from Sydney Grace, they were supposed to be melt Gemini palette comps. But, I’ve added depotted shadows from a pur palette received in boxy charm, there’s one from Vanessa’s Vanity, and one from an ipsy bag. I am sorry about the look of the entire palette as well, my daughter dropped this one and it’s looking a bit rough around the edges, and there’s one shadow which I had to repress.

In any case, I can’t use names on this one so I am using circles.

I began with the lightest yellow-toned shade (circled in dark blue) as a transition. The slightly darker brown (circled in purple) I used in my crease. Then I added the dark brown in the outer V (circled in light blue). Then I used the Steve Laurant loose pigment all over my lid (circled in grey) and the silvery shimmer in my inner corner (circled in brown). I went back in with the mid-toned brown (circled in purple) on the lower lash line and then ended up using a black at the outer edge of my lower lash line. Once this was done, I used a greenish brown liner on my upper and lower lashline to finish it up.

It’s not a look I’ve tried before, I was just messing around this morning. I was most interested in using the loose pigment. I took one photo at home and a second at work.

 

The pressed pigment doesn’t show up as shimmery as I wanted it to, and I remembered that last time I used it I had used a glitter glue. The shimmery payoff was much better under that condition.

Here’s another. This one is a just playing with makeup look. I wanted to accomplish a couple of things with this one. First, I wanted to see if I could do a half cut crease to make the lime green look less like a fading bruise. Second, I wanted to try a winged liner, which I never do but thought might be fun. I only put a full face of makeup on one side of my face because I knew I was just messing around and would wash everything back off immediately. I used two different palettes, or rather, a tiny Pacifica quint and a Nyx palette.

My goal was to use the tiny Pacifica palette. But, since I couldn’t use the lime green matte in my transition or crease, due to the fading bruise issue, I pulled out the NYX palette for the lighter colored orange. (Circled in blue). I used this in my transition, then used the matte orange in the pacifica palette (circled in lighter blue) as my crease shade. I took the dark brown (circled in purple) shimmer and added that to the outside of my lid. Then, I did a half cut crease on the inner portion of the lid, packing the lime green (circled in yellow) over the concealer. It’s NOT one of those particularly precise cut crease looks, but it does help the lime green be placed in an area where it can shine without looking really strange and bruised on my skin. I had fun messing around with this look. Oh, and inner corner was done with the light shimmer circled in red.

 

In the end, I felt pretty ridiculous in this look. I don’t do winged liner and feel I may be too old for it. But, I do think experimenting with makeup is good fun and I am glad I played with this look which I immediately took back off once I was done.

One more for this post. Mr. Ink and Miss Butterfly bought me the urban decay born to run palette for my birthday last year. In the ensuing months, I did not get that much of an opportunity to use it since the engagement and wedding makeup testing came soon afterward. I spent a lot of time on that, and honestly, I ended up really liking my choices so it turned out to be worth it. But I am enjoying playing with this palette now.

What happens most often right now with this palette is that I use that peachy shade at the top as my transition color and then build from there. But, often that’s what I am doing with my Sultry palette too. So, I decided I would avoid that this morning. I wanted a rather berry toned look, so I planned to play with the pink-toned shades. So, anyhow, I set my base with weekender, circled in dark blue. Then, as my transition color I used Riff, circled in light blue. I thought this might be too dark as a transition shade so I started with a light hand. Turned out it was no problem at all, and I was able to get a bit more heavy-handed without it looking too overwhelmingly dark. I then used Hell Ride, circled in purple, in the crease. I put punk, circled in brown, in the outer V. And then I put wildheart, circled in pink, all over the lid. Using Stranded, circled in red, I brightened my inner corner. Then, I decided that the wildheart color, more of a satin than a shimmer, didn’t have as much color depth as I wanted so I popped Ignite, circled in yellow, on the middle of my lid over wildheart just using my finger. That helped a bit.

I try to avoid using berry tones on my lower lash line for the most part, as it tends to make me look a bit tired. So instead I used Riff with Punk at the outer edges of my eye. I finished all this off with my style sepia liner I am desperately trying to pan (greeny brown) and that was that.

 

I like this look but I think this palette needs a lot more use and experimentation on my part. If I keep up with this little project, I think we can expect to see more of this palette featured regularly.