INSPIRATION //

EMPTIES // FEBRUARY

This month wasn't super exciting, but I did get rid of a lipstick!  If you had told me from a year ago that I was getting rid of a perfectly good lipstick, I would have clutched my pearls in horror!  If you're following my super duper special lipstick challenge, you'll have seen that Wet N' Wild's Stoplight Red was my first purge!  Very exciting.  I'm also getting rid of that bottle of sea salt spray, because even if the spray nozzle hadn't broken off, it smelled awful.  :(  Finally, I'm getting rid of my hairbrush!  I've had it for years (gross, I know) and one day I realized, huh, the brand is right on the handle.  Why don't I just look it up on amazon and see if it's reasonably priced.  And it was!  So I bought a new one!!  Joy of joys!!!

As for things I actually used up: Nivea!!!  I've had that container for way too long, but I've recently started using it on my hands at night, which is great.  I also used up my sample of Lancome's Teint Idole Ultra Makeup Stick, which was really nice.  I would maybe be interested in purchasing a full sized one to try it out.  Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing mask was interesting; it was super intense and made my face burn.  Maybe not for me??  I find that mud masks all make my skin tingle and burn like nobody's business, so maybe I need to find something more gentle, or just forego them all together.

Bogavia's Exfoliating Facial Scrub was nice, but I never feel like manual exfoliation helps me at all.  I exfoliate my face whenever I wear makeup when I take it off with the washcloth, so I feel like maybe that's enough for me.  I also tried out a sample of Bogavia's Night Cream (not pictured, I saved the little jar) which was nice!  But it didn't solve my dehydrated skin, even though it felt good and was unscented.  Maybe for a summer cream?  First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Cream was also a bust.  I used it for about a week before my skin completely rebelled.  I got little bumps all over my forehead, and more red spots on my cheeks and chin.  I mentioned it in the comments on XOVain and someone pointed out that it has Eucalyptus Leaf Extract in it, which is irritating to sensitive skin.  C'mon FAB!  I'm going to give the other packets I got to a friend, so hopefully it'll be better for them.

I also decided to finally toss some of my other samples that I never use.  The two packets I got at least three years ago, probably have gone bad by now.  The pots are Sunday Riley's Night Oil and Good Genes, both of which are totally out of my price range, even if they worked for me, which I don't know if they do tbh.  I tried them for a bit and then broke out a bit, blerg.  Whelp!

February Totals

Empties // Full Size // 1

Empties // Foil Packets // 5

Empties // Deluxe Samples // 0

Purged // 3

Toss // 5

Yearly Totals

Empties // Full Size // 8

Empties // Foil Packets // 6

Empties // Deluxe Samples // 1

Purged // 24

Toss // 15

#12LISTS2016 // 2

(Gillian's List // Kate's List)

• Reading people's blogs, especially some of my favorites, has become a great past time.  I love reading about people's lives and being inspired by their photography and writing.
• Shooting the shit.  At work, I talk to a lot of people.  But now, I know new people through them being co-workers, but I've also began to strike up conversations with regulars.  Who would've thunk it, huh?
• Down time at work allows for surprisingly deep conversations.
• Beauty provides a topic that's easy to talk about to a lot of people.  It develops conversations in to surprisingly deep talks, sometimes.  I can talk to Danielle about the new Gwen Stefani collab with Urban Decay, or I can talk to Olivia about how the beauty industry is a construct to make women spend money.
• As I get older, it gets harder to come up with "excuses" to see people.  No one just hangs out anymore.  You need to eat food, or watch a movie or television show, play a game, or go shopping.  Some of by best conversations recently have been over food, or on walks.  I love taking walks.
• I did yoga with Tho a couple of weeks ago, and it was seriously amazing.
• This just makes me think of Bri, who is all about making meaningful connections with other people. 
• Have you ever felt that connection to everyone else at a concert?

LITTLE LISTS // III

Here's some cool things I found on etsy recently.  I love browsing the internet, so I wanted to try interfacing with this stuff in a way that wasn't buying or being sad I can't buy these things.

I love the look of this illustration.

I've always loved these illustrations, so having a print of one would be amazing!

I've always loved Johanna's blog, and I dig all of her designs and accessories, 

especially this neat face pin!

Such a sweet patch!

These earrings are so my style.

I love this artist's experimental items, these broaches are so cool!

THE LIPSTICK CHALLENGE // II

DAY VI  //  2/22/16

"Jeffree Starr Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in BLUE VELVET"

COLOR - navy blue

FINISH - matte

TASTE - only slightly "chemically" scent which is pleasant and disappears almost immediately.

WEAR - pretty good in general, wears away at the inside of my lips almost immediately through talking/drinking and looks kind of weird (see photo).  Layers well, but feels kind of dry after a couple of hours.  Photo was taken at the end of the work day, had reapplied three times.

APPLICATION - applicator helps, but I'm discovering I'm kind of bad at applying liquid lipstick without a lip liner.  Takes more thought and time than applying a bullet lipstick which are my favorite formulation.

PRESENTATION - nice, hard plastic tube that feels good.

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - this is a really nice color and has good wear.  It does stain your lips though, and takes some scrubbing to get off.

DAY VII  //  2/23/16

"MAC Retro Matte lipstick in RUBY WOO"

COLOR - true red

FINISH - matte

TASTE - vanilla

WEAR - great! Very comfortable in the lips, only wears away slightly on inner lips after drinking/talking.

APPLICATION - great

PRESENTATION - great (sensing a pattern?)

KEEP/TOSS? - keep DUH

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - this isn't my HG lipstick for nothing.  Pretty sure I'm going to wear this lipstick until I die tbh.

DAY VIII  //  2/25/16

"Revlon Super Lusterous Lipstick in REALLY RED"

COLOR - brick red

FINISH - creamy matte

TASTE - none

WEAR - weird!  May need to try this one out again.  Wore a lip liner, and despite the matte finish it feathered, especially after licking my lips after taking a bite of muffin.

APPLICATION - great

PRESENTATION - nothing to complain about, revlon tubes are pretty classic.

KEEP/TOSS? - not sure, check for dupes.

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - this is a nice neutral red but I have to have something close to this by now, and I don't really love this any more.

DAY IX  //  2/26/16

"Beseme lipstick in RED VELVET"

COLOR - blue red

FINISH - creamy matte

TASTE - sweet, vanilla maybe?

WEAR - doesn't feather, great all around lipstick

APPLICATION - great, angled bullet makes it easy to get a nice, precise line

PRESENTATION - gorgeous gold & red packaging, angled bullet is nice, unique choice.

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - I'm starting to want to swatch all my reds together to see what their differences are, and maybe see where I can cut out some of my cheaper tubes to be replaced by higher end options, which sadly are usually nicer.  This reminded me a bit of Revlon's Really Red.

DAY X  //  2/27/16

"NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien"

COLOR - rose pink

FINISH - satin cream

TASTE - none

WEAR - great!  matches my lip color so it doesn't look awful when it fades, but it does fade evenly.  

APPLICATION - easy, lip pencil applies creamily and is easy to trace the shape of the lips.

PRESENTATION - NARS lip pencils are nice, but sharpening anything always makes me feel like I'm wasting product.  I would love if this was sold as a lip bullet.

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - Maybe see if this is available as a NARS tube lipstick?  This is a really nice, flattering nude for my lip/skin tone and I would love to have it as a nude staple.

LITTLE LISTS // II

With all the time I spend on the internet, I find a lot of stuff that I think is cool.  So here's some cool stuff.

I loved Randi's (of Sailing over a Cardboard Sea) Twin Peaks Style Study.  I love Twin Peaks, and I love really looking at the costume design of "period" movies and television.  Also, Audrey's eyebrows are my eyebrow goals forever.

Also see: The Cut's Ranking of all 118 Sweaters Seen on Twin Peaks.

A Clothes Horse did a really cool list of Six Vintage Women Photographers You Should Know.  I recognized one or two, but this was a really neat introduction.  I love vintage photography; I really feel like modern photography has lost something that it had in the past.

I was linked to an amazing blog called Queering Makeup, which is all about the relationship between beauty and non-normative presentation.

Speaking of makeup, if you like watching people apply makeup while dropping some pretty amazing views on non-heteronormative sexuality and gender presentation, check out Jeffree Starr's Get Ready With Me with Alyssa Edwards.

Silvia from I Want To Be A Fool is basically everything I want to be in a blogger.  Her photography is gorgeous and I always love reading her entries.  Her recent one about Sicily left me speechless.

An Illustrated Guide to the Kon-Mari Method really helped me figure out what Marie Kondo was talking about in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

I've been watching Weezy Waiter's videos for at least six years now, and recently I've been clicking a bit more often as I move away from my youtubers and let's players.  This video made me really think, and I can't wait for this next series.  Good thing he uploads daily!

Last but not least, I've absolutely been loving Panic! at the Disco's new album, Death of a Bachelor.  I've also been re-visiting my beloved My Chemical Romance.  Two albums of note are Danger Days: True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and, of course, The Black Parade.

THE LIPSTICK CHALLENGE // I

Let it be known that I have a lot of lipstick.  A lot.  I'm not currently by my collection, so I can't count, but I know I have at least 35.  Probably more, tbh.  So, in an attempt to start playing with makeup more and rustling up my makeup collection (maybe while keeping me from buying more), I'm forcing myself to wear every single lipstick in my collection.  I'm going to rate each one in six categories: COLOR, TASTE, WEAR (time lasting on the lips, feathering, upkeep required), APPLICATION, and PRESENTATION.  I then decide weather to keep or toss, and then write any last notes on the lipstick that may not fit in to the aforementioned categories.

At the time I'm writing this, I've already done about ten days, and mostly stuck to my favorites.  However, I know things will get a little dire as we get towards the end of my collection.  I'll be begging for my beloved Ruby Woo!!

DAY I  //  2/12/16

"Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in SHAMELESS"

COLOR - red-toned purple

FINISH - satin matte

TASTE - minty

WEAR - wears unevenly, transfers easily, and leaves a ring around the outside of the lips.

APPLICATION - needs a couple of coats for even application, applies patchy

PRESENTATION - nice, colored matte lip crayon packaging, doesn't need sharpening (plus!)

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - I don't really love this one, or reach for purples any more, but it's nice to have in the collection.  I'll probably toss it eventually, especially since I now have a Jeffree Starr liquid lipstick in purple, though the colors are different.

DAY II  //  2/15/16

"Wet N' Wild Megalast lip color in STOPLIGHT RED"

COLOR - bright neutral, slightly blue-tones red

FINISH - cream

TASTE - none

WEAR - awful.  Used a lip liner (Rimmel Lasting Finish in RED DYNAMITE) but the lipstick still feathered in about two hours.  Had to take off and apply a different lipstick, as I was at work and couldn't be bothered with checking it often.  

APPLICATION - Great, very pigmented, great round bullet.

PRESENTATION - awful.  Wet n' Wild notoriously gross packaging.  Bullet doesn't wind down all the way in the tube so lid hits the bullet when being put on and off, so the lipstick smears everywhere if you're not careful. 

KEEP/TOSS? - toss

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - I love this color and the pigmentation, I just wish it didn't feather!  Ain't nobody got time for that.

(my phone screwed up my glasses while editing??  why phone????)

DAY III  //  2/16/16

"Sephora Cream Lipstain in ALYWAYS RED"

COLOR - neutral red

FINISH - matte

TASTE - slightly cake-like scent, very mild, does away after dry down

WEAR - wears off any part of the lips that are at all moist at application, meaning that it was gone from the inside of my lips almost immediately.  Transferred on to a coffee mug after over an hour after application.  Feels dry on the lips after a couple of hours of wear.

APPLICATION - Have to wipe off doefoot applicator before applying thin coats.  Also lip liner is a must, due to my inability to apply this lipstick inside my lip line in any orderly fashion.

PRESENTATION - fine, simple lip gloss tube, black cap.

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - probably won't repurchase.  I have great matte red lipstick already, and have since learned I prefer bullets to liquids for colors that aren't crazy.  Longevity isn't a selling point due to the dryness.

DAY IV  //  2/18/16

"Wet N' Wild lipstick in DON'T BLINK PINK"

COLOR - blue-toned hot pink

FINISH - creamy matte

TASTE - none

WEAR - great!  No feathering, color fades evenly and doesn't leave a rind around the lips.

APPLICATION - nice shape, tugs a little while being applied but is generally nice feeling.

PRESENTATION - gross Wn'W packaging

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - great for a simple cat eye/pink lip combo, which I forgot I liked.  Great flattering hot pink.  Forgot how good this one is!

DAY V  //  2/21/16

"Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in CRUSH"

COLOR - red-toned berry

FINISH - glossy, a little glittery (????), wears down to a faint stain

TASTE - slightly minty, less so than Revlon's matte balms

WEAR - glossy application feathers slightly, but leaves a nice pink stain after a couple of hours wear.  Better for a bitten stained look than a well defined lip.

APPLICATION - a little streaky, but after a blot and reapply looks good

PRESENTATION - same sort of packaging as Revlon's other Colorburst crayons, but the Balm Stain's have a glossy tube.  The writing as worn off a bit.

KEEP/TOSS? - keep

ANY LAST THOUGHTS? - it's a bit glittery on first application, not a huge fan of the glossy finish.  Nice to find a "gloss" that doesn't feather too badly on my lips.  Ideally, I'd love to find a matte berry stain, which is when I'd toss this one.