Just some updates with what is going on around here. First and foremost, our lovely foster dog, who was with us for more than 2 months, found her forever home!
We will absolutely miss her cute face and antics. We will NOT miss having what is, technically, a puppy around the house. While she was over a year old, pregnancy happened while she was still a puppy, and that plus mothering kept her from continuing on as a puppy like she should have. So she picked up where she left off in our home. Her new family will love growing with her and I am so glad she found her place.
Miss Butterfly, who had been begging for a foster dog break prior to our foster dog finding her home, immediately decided she wanted a new foster once she was gone. While that’s not how it works, we did end up saying we’d babysit another foster, so this little guy is with us at the moment.
He’s not really afraid, he makes himself at home in any situation. He’s not a puppy. And he likes Mr. Ink, something our previous foster never could manage to do. So, we are pretty pleased with our short time with him.
I’ve been doing some knitting again. Still working on the festival of stitches I showed off last time I posted about knitting. It’s come a good way since then! I am really enjoying the progress.
Mr. Ink has a week of vacation this week, and while I am trying to get at least one day off, work is busy enough that it may not happen. It’s fascinating to me that despite a pandemic, things are moving along so quickly at work that I cannot afford to take time off. Crazy!
Last month I had ordered quite a few items so my totals weren’t fantastic. I think I’ll make up for that a bit this month. Last month I had 42 items leaving my collection over what entered it. This month I’ve had a bunch of empties and a couple declutters.
Going left to right, top to bottom-
3 haircare products in a row, a hairspray, a texturizing powder, and a mousse. Each were fine in their own right and none of which I’ll run right back out and repurchase. I liked the mousse the best out of all of these.
Then we’ve got an elemis face mask which I actually finished last month but forgot to get it into my empties. I would not repurchase.
I finally finished my it cosmetics matte cc cream which I liked quite a bit but have too many other foundations in my collection to repuchase, at least for now. Maybe sometime in the future. Out of all of the cc creams, this one is my favorite for summer use.
A couple declutters-first is a conditioning treatment from living proof that I don’t need but my daughter might like. Then there’s a benefit brow product I am giving her because she lacks a brow product. I like the brow product and I would repurchase but I’ve got other brow products I can use instead.
There’s a little perfume sample I used up pretty quickly as the scent didn’t stick around, so I wouldn’t repurchase.
Bottom row-first my Roc retinol capsules which I DID repurchase, you’ll see those later in this post. Then two belif products, the moisture bomb and the aqua bomb, both of which I absolutely love and would certainly repurchase. I am, however, considering a couple other moisturizers first to see if there are others I could enjoy as much as these.
And finally a colourpop eyeliner that I absolutely hated and would not repurchase.
All of these items brings me to 54 items used up over what has entered my collection this year. I am still managing to reduce my collection overall. But, I did have 3 incoming items, so my total for the month is actually 51. Here’s what I purchased:
These Roc retinol capsules I just adore and I think they have made a lovely difference for my skin. So, I replenished them, and since they are almost always on a buy one get one half off discount, I tend to purchase two at once.
The other item is an elf brow wax product that I wanted to try. I haven’t used it much yet so I don’t really have an opinion on it.
And that’s it, that’s all the purchasing for this month. Next month I’ll have some items from ulta’s current sale but not much makeup, mostly skincare. While there were makeup items I would have really liked to pick up, I decided that I was enjoying my collection as is well enough to give a pass to anything that wasn’t something I was replenishing.
I did manage to find a new project that I could get inspired about. I had seen a finished Festival of Stitches stole on instagram and decided that was one I could really get interested in.
I immediately chose three handspun yarns that would work for the stole and began winding them. And there they sat for at least a month while I went through my no knitting period.
Then when I started knitting again, I acted like I couldn’t read a pattern and had to restart the project at least 4 times. I don’t know what my major malfunction was but there was certainly a brain block I needed to get through.
I am on my way now and have knit the center triangle.
I am not sure I ever expected to knit baubles voluntarily but I really do like the look of them in there. Now I get to begin the next section.
I am so pleased with how far I’ve gotten with my partners in cream project pan this month! While I did not finish any items, I’ve made good progress on each one. It’s felt very steady over this past month. Here’s last month’s photo:
I had intended to cut open the cc cream and finish it off in the first week, which I did. Since I knew it would be done shortly, I preemptively added the little perfume rollerball which was completely full.
Here’s my progress this month:
The product I am most proud of is the born this way foundation. The color only suits me when I am at my most tanned. I’d been using it as a mixer for this summer but I am now at a point where I can just use it alone. No mixing. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold out on that, it completely depends on how warm it stays and for how long and also how much opportunity I have to stay outside. But, this is the most progress I’ve had in a year so I am thrilled with it and eager to get as much use as possible in the upcoming month. Once I can no longer wear it alone, I’ll use it as a mixer as I lighten back up for the winter. I would genuinely LOVE to finish it up this year but I suspect that won’t be possible.
The next best progress is the No Poreblem primer. I made more progress on this than in past months. The line is a bit deceiving as I no longer can use the pump. I have to scrape it out bit by bit.
Steady progress only on the setting spray.
The clarins sunscreen has seen great progress as well. I’ve stopped using it only for my face as my skin does not react well to it. I use it for my face sometimes but also regularly use it for my tattoo. I do believe I’ll finish up this product this year even if it isn’t quick.
And finally the Tocca Maya perfume rollerball-I made steady progress and I’ve used it exclusively. If I do so again for another month I should be done and I can choose something else to roll in.
So, next month I think I’ll be able to roll in another product or two. Depending on the weather, I may be back to using cream makeup products again, which I think would be fun! Next post should be a beauty balance post, and since I did finish quite a few items, I am rather excited to post and get them into the recycle bin.
Time to update my eyeshadow roulette project, and I am going to tell you right away that I am still just loving this challenge. Here’s the swatch photo from last month:
My goal is to hit pan on these or to use each 30 times before rolling the color out and randomly choosing another. Let’s discuss the colors:
At the top is Urban Decay Big Sky from the born to run palette. I finished my 30 uses and got a rather significant dip in the shadow.
Below that is a christmas palette from Too Faced, and I was also able to finish my 30 uses of that color.
Then there’s a lovely copper shimmer color from Nyx, it’s a single. As of today, I’ve used it 19 times.
Below that is another Nyx single, the pink shimmer color. I’ve used that 14 times.
And then from the nyx happy birthday palette, another copper shimmer, this one I’ve used 11 times so far.
I rolled in Violet Voss Sugar Crystals palette, color Mint Choco. Used only 4 times so far, which is no surprise, it’s a rather bold color to try to incorporate with so many neutrals.
I then needed to roll in two new colors since I had 2 completed goals. Here’s the swatch now:
The two new colors are at the bottom. The first is Violet Voss Sugar Crystals Sherbet. It’s supposed to be an orangy light shimmer but it kind of just comes across as light. I have used this 2 times in the past month.
And, finally, Urban Decay Born To Run Palette makes another appearance, the color is Double Life. It’s a darker coppery shimmer than all the other coppery shimmers currently in this project, and it seems like it may be a duochrome. It’s a copper shimmer on a blackened base. The thing is, while it applies quite dark to the eyelid, it doesn’t stay dark, it seems to lighten up throughout the day, making it quite wearable. I like the color and it performs a lot better than the Big Sky color previously in the project which is only technically suitable as a liner shade.
Changes to “rules” this time is that I am officially going to only roll in Born to Run palette colors in a random fashion until I hit pan on one of the born to run shadows. Then I’ll roll it back out and concentrate on something else.
And here’s a shot of the pans of the shadows I am using. First of all, I circled in blue the one rolling out so that you can see the nice dip I have going in there. To be honest, If I really want to hit pan on this palette, continuing to concentrate on that color would probably do the trick. But at the same time, I rather want to actually use this palette for a bit. In December I’ll have had it for 2 years and really not used it often at all!
You can see that the two singles sitting on the colorful palette have nice dips in them already. These are the two nyx singles. I also have a rather solid dip in the color in the nyx palette. I’ve been concentrating on expanding my bonus pan in that palette as well as using the mattes in that palette and I am rather hopeful I’ll hit pan prior to 30 uses. We’ll see!
I’ll be predominately concentrating on the nyx shadows this month to see if I can get them rolled out and more of the born to run colors rolled in. I’ll try to use the super bright Violet Voss colors 4 more times this month if possible. I guess if I were to use Sherbet as an inner corner highlight I could get more than 4 uses, but I’ve got another color I am trying to pan that works best as an inner corner highlight as well.
In any case, I’ve again enjoyed this project for another month and am eager to continue. While there’s part of me that feels many of my palettes are neglected in my collection, that same part of me realizes that’s exactly why I shouldn’t purchase more eyeshadow palettes, and that’s exactly what I hoped for. So, I am continuing on this fun little journey of eyeshadow roulette and looking forward to the upcoming month, rolling out shadows, and concentrating on my born to run palette.
I’ll tell you what, I mentioned in a recent update post that I haven’t really been knitting lately, and that is certainly the case. However, I did have a project on the needles for a time and I finally finished it.
It’s another Nighshift shawl, once done with the first colorful one I was inspired to knit another since I had the yarn for it. That being said, I kind of ended up going on a tangent in regard to the color transitions. I planned them out how they’d best work for the yarn I had rather than what the pattern called for.
This one was far more pink and purple toned than the previous one, and I planned it that way. I again truly enjoyed knitting this and also very much enjoyed using all my leftover handspun yarns for it. And now I have nothing on my needles at home and haven’t had for about a week. At work I’ve got a project but I haven’t worked on it since at least March. It may be some time before I manage to post another craft related photo. And for me, that’s a little odd.
Before I get too far into this, I’ll tell you right off the bat, this particular project is drawing to a close. A few more months and I’ll likely just be done with it. I am not going to keep rolling items in. I just don’t feel like I have enough backups in my life to need to keep rolling items in. And that’s really the goal in the first place!
Here’s the photo from last month:
I had finished two items and rolled two more in. Now here’s where I am this month:
The shower gel is really getting close to being finished. I feel positive it will be gone by next month’s update. I have to turn it upside down to get the product out of the container now. I have very much enjoyed using this for the past 8 months and am glad i had the opportunity to try it.
The elemis face mask I did not mark a new line on because I might have used this once in the past month. I think since my return to full time on campus work I have just not given myself the time to do face masks. Quite frankly, our state and our surrounding states aren’t doing all that well and I have a suspicion we may return to some form of partly remote work again, so I may do a little better with this in the upcoming month. I really would like to finish this one up!
The cleanser made steady progress, I may finish this month, and if not this month, I’ll finish next month.
While I’ve been using the toner every morning, I did not see enough use to mark it on the container, so I did not do so. Maybe next month!
And finally, the hair product. I used 9 grams of it, and that’s maybe only 2 uses. I have decided to declutter this item and give it to my daughter.
And with that, I am telling you that I am not rolling anything new in to replace the declutter. If I happen to find something to roll in between now and next month’s update, I will add it. Otherwise, I plan to let this particular project expire. I’ll keep working on it until I’ve only got an item or two, and then I’ll call it quits. But I don’t see a big point in continuing it now, I just don’t have a lot of extra body care and hair care items laying around that need to be used up! And that’s a very good thing.
While I am a bit late in posting my update this month, I am still on a roll with my projects. As a reminder, this is one where I am using prompts to choose products. And I am trying to keep this one primarily makeup related. As I am working through the prompts, I am listing them and then crossing off the ones I have completed or made a goal on.
1. A product with cute packaging 2. An expensive product 3. A product in loose form 4. A drugstore product 5. A product I bought because of youtube 6. An old favorite 7. A product you haven’t used in a while. 8. A product of your choosing 9. A product from a previous project. 10. A unique product 11. A product you don’t like
And here’s the photo from last month:
I rolled out the hourglass powder and rolled in the white eyeliner from colourpop.
Here’s where I am now:
A product I haven’t used in a while was my blue silkissimee L’Oreal liner, and I had the goal to use it past the L’Oreal brand name. I knew I’d have it done this month as I was so close last month. Indeed, I was technically finished a week later though I continued to use it all month.
A product I didn’t like was the white colourpop eyeliner. I never thought it worked well, and despite it being quite new to my collection, it dried out, cracked, and bits of it kept breaking off and falling on my floor, or one time in my coffee, which I only found after I finished drinking my coffee. This is finished because probably after 3 uses the last bit broke off and fell on the floor. The three uses I had done had frustrated me completely anyhow. So I was not sorry that happened.
A drugstore product is my nyx eyebrow pencil which I am still using almost daily and working my way through. I have little to say about this other than I bet I’ll still be working on this well into the new year.
A product of my choosing was my it cosmetics cc cream. Despite having worked on finishing my matte cc cream at the beginning of the month, I did manage to get a good amount of this used. I am hoping that this month will be the final push on this one and I’ll finish it up so I can roll in something new next month.
An old favorite is the sample of benefit hula bronzer. While I realize that it doesn’t look like I really made any sort of dent in this, I have been using it consistently. I just decided to concentrate my brush on areas that did not have pan already.
My unique product is my little pan of frankenhighlight I created myself. It’s crumbly now, and I wasn’t able to finish because using this as a face highlight is too light for my skin in deep summer. I’ve been using it as an inner corner highlight but that’s slow going!
And with that, I get to roll in two new items.
12. A product you bought online.
The question is, what product didn’t I buy online? The vast majority of my makeup collecting has been online purchases. So, this prompt left me a ton of freedom. So I chose an Urban Decay eyeliner color starfire. It’s a travel size liner and I chose it because my eyeshadow project currently has a ton of coppery shimmers in it. This is a nice subtle way to tie in all those coppery colors. My goal is to work down to the 24 on the label.
13. A product you received as a gift.
I am fairly certain that there’s only one product I’ve ever received as a gift and that’s my Urban Decay Born to Run palette. So I’ve rolled it in. It’s been a goal this year to use this palette more, so I am not at all sad about this. My goal here is to hit pan on something in this palette. In reality, the closest I am to that in ANY shade is Big Sky, the blue that was in my eyeshadow project. While some colors in this palette are misses, by and large, I really like this palette. I plan to concentrate my usage for my eyeshadow roulette challenge on this palette as well. 30 uses of a few colors should help me hit pan, ideally before the end of the year.
So, that’s a wrap for another month. It’s nice that the two items I rolled out were balanced, one a longer term goal and the other short term. I am still enjoying this limited makeup project pan. I like that I can explore various items within my collection while also concentrating on a few select items to make use of them or use them up. It’s a nice balance I am enjoying very much!
Suzy Sells Sea Shells 