This morning I woke up feeling like the end of the year was just steamrolling towards me. I know, I am anxious for this year to finally be over and done with. I am so ready to just turn the page. At the same time I have a long list of things that needs to get done not only before the end of the year but before I take off for Christmas. I’m leaving late, but staying a few extra days after to help with the putting away of everything. As my Mom is now working with one hand she needs someone to take down the tree and put things away. we got everything out while we were down over Thanksgiving and even though she likes to extend her holiday tree time she wants us to take it down before we leave.
I think part of that is practicality, but part of it is also this bad year. My brother died in May and this is the first Christmas without him which is hard in general but because his Birthday was December 29th Christmas and his birthday were always so intertwined that we all just want to skate through it this year. I admit it has been one of the years where the festive cheer is a little low, but family is all the more treasured.
This week starts the first of the holiday parties. Well actually the first was on Friday. It was fantastic. I indulged a little but before I left home I had a big bowl of minestrone soup (and then brushed my teeth before walking out of the door so I didn’t blast anyone with minestrone breath).Having the relatively low calorie but incredibly filling soup in me meant that I could take a few of the items that I wanted to taste without eating a lot of the highly caloric foods at the party because I was hungry. It meant that I got the treat without completely torpedoing myself with calories.
I know, it sounds like a strange consideration because you want to partake of all of the holiday delights but I sat down with myself and thought about it and there were only a few items that I really enjoy eating and a bunch of things I eat simply because they are there and because I don’t want to be the person who takes all of anything so if I am hungry I tend to graze, taking one or two things from each tray rather than just focus on my favorites. With a bowl of soup in me, I can take one of each of my favorites without the grazing on things i don’t particularly want, maybe even indulging in a second item I really enjoy.
As most of the gatherings I am going to this year have the patter style grazing so that people can move openly in a relatively large space, this is a trick that really helps me out. And why I now have soups ready to go for the week. I don’t know what sort of holiday gatherings you are going to this year, but if you are trying to watch what you eat, I highly suggest going for a soup that feels hearty and filling. This is not the time for a light consume. This is actually the time for mushrooms to shine in my opinion. They give a depth to soup, but you also have to chew them so both flavor and texture wise it feels like you are consuming more than you actually are. Just stick to the broth based mushroom soups rather than the cream ones if you are looking to cut those calories while still getting that satisfied belly.
Just my holiday dieting survival tip.
Today’s Look
Primer: Glam Glow Supermatify Primer
Foundation: Kristopher Buckle Triplicity Foundation
Bronzer: Iconic London Precision Duo Contour Pot
Blush: Tarte Cream blush Breezy in Pink Sky
Setting Powder: Beauty Bakerie Flour in Oat
Eyeshadow: Tresluce Palette in Midnight Deseos
Lipstick: Guerlain Black Red Lipstick
This is the last week of this primer. By the end of the week it will be no more. The primer is a good one, but it has been discontinued and so I will use it and even though the refills are still available, I will let it go. It is a really good product though so the temptation to pick it up on amazon is strong. But I will resist.
As for the foundation stick. It too was fabulous. It too is discontinued. Amazon still has it but the brand has gone under. I loved this stick and have been trying to use up the last of it. Today was the last day of use. It is now off to the land of empties and as good as it was, it will not be returning. Let’s all have a moment of silence. Thank you.
Moving on. The Iconic London Contour pot. Love the powder, hate the cream. I have tried and while I will break it out in a review with pictures, the cream just doesn’t work right for me. I do love the powder though and the size makes it perfect for travel. I think after the review is posted I will forget the cream exists and just use the powder. For now I feel compelled to keep giving it a try to see if I can make it work. It didn’t today and I had to take it off, redo the foundation and then use the powder. At least the foundation touch up used the very last dregs of the foundation so I feel even better about letting it go.
This blush I haven’t used enough to know if I like it or not. It needs to be warmed up before it can apply right and when I tried applying it with a finger tip it blended away pretty quickly. After warming up I could apply it with a makeup sponge and then it worked really well. I think I will have to play with it more to really decide if i like it or if it is a cream blush i don’t want to bother with. At the moment I am kind of on the fence.
What can I say, I love this setting powder. I know, I’ll start switching them out soon as I rotate through products, but i really like this. The slight tint keeps it from looking blinding on me. and it really sets my makeup well.
I could not resist the Tresluce palette. Well more accurately speaking I couldn’t resist the gold foil shadow. I will admit that I just sort of slapped on the other colors so the gold would have something to play against. I really just wanted to see if it went on as fabulous as the finger swatch, and it did. I also made a little bit of a mess. I think these shadows will need to be applied with a damp cotton swab because they are thinner than my fingers and i have more control that way. But as messy as i was the shadow looks amazing in person. Like I gold leaf-ed my eyelid. I am so going to have to play around with that.
I was going to go for something more neutral with the lips but that gold just yelled “Grab the red lipstick!” And so I did. I went for the Guerlain because I really just love the lipstick. And because the gold felt luxe. And so does the lipstick. So it worked out.
And yes for those following along i completely forgot the mascara. I didn’t realize it until about an hour ago and then just said oops. I will survive.
And so that is me today my darlings. The light is strange on the photos as the sun is no where to be found and I used the ring light on my makeup mirror to keep the shadows from making the pictures pointless. I like to take the photos in natural light so they show the makeup in real life. But alas real light was hard to find today.
Paperwork however is easy to find. The race to the end of the year has arrived and I must join in to clear my desk before I take off. I suspect many of you are doing the same so I will leave you to it. Thanks for taking a little break with me.
For those of you looking to stock up, No7 has 60% off selected makeup items. The sale is from today until the 19th of December. The Perfect Light Pressed powder and the Lift and Luminate Serum Foundation from No 7 are staples of my makeup bag. I highly recommend both. Happy Shopping.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 