Tag: ciatelondonsettingpowder

The Daily: March 8th, 2022

The rains have come my darlings. The park is flooded, mold rises through the air and the temperatures have dropped by at least 20 degrees. I understand the reason for the temperature change, but it always bothers me when it is that much of a drop. It also gives me a barometric headache so me and the ibuprofen are great friends today.

Today’s exercise was an indoor affair today. I spent time with a weight ball and hand weights I know I’ve said this before, but I love the soft touch feel of the Prosource Fitness ones. They are just easier to grip and don’t get slick when I am sweaty or squeak. I know that sounds strange but with some of the slicker plastic ones there is occasionally a squeaky sound when your hands are all sweaty that I just don’t like. It makes me feel like the weights are begging for relief from my sweaty palms. The prosource fit ones don’t do that but more importantly the soft texture to them keeps them from becoming slick as I work out.

Which I like.

I like working with the weights although it does remind me that I really need to come up with decorating plans for the sunroom. It has the extra throw rug we didn’t have a place for when we moved in which is now serving as the place where I put my yoga mats to do indoor workouts. It also has my indoor green house and a plethora of plants waiting for the last frost to pass by so they can be planted outside. It does make the room smell very lush and green right now but Mid April is generally out last frost so soon it will feel like an empty room again. But that is something to think about after the work day is through. After all, I am still working on finishing up the master bedroom. It is almost there though. just a few more pieces and the room will be complete. Then I can start on the bathroom. which will be interesting, but again, something to think about later.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Ole Henriksen’s Banana Bright Primer (currently the site has a 30% off sale going on so you can get this primer for $24 (instead of $40)

Foundation: Tom Ford Traceless Soft Matte Foundation

Bronzer: Viseart Bronzer

Blush: bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush

Highlight: Wander Beauty Wanderess Glow (now back in stock)

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Translucent setting powder

Eyeshadow: Lime Crime Prelude Exposed Palette

Lid Primer: Moonlit Primed for the Night Eyeshadow Primer

Mascara: Elizabeth Mott It’s So big Mascara

Lips: Sigma Liquid Lip in Venom

Let’s start with the two items that have reached their final use. The first is the Ciate Powder. I have been trying to use it up for a while and now it is empty. I have another already waiting in the wings but am going to try to resist opening it while I use up at least one other open powder. I really enjoy this powder so it will always return. This was a final use for the Elizabeth Mott It’s so Big mascara. It will not be returning. It is a fine basic mascara but the volumizing is minimal and honestly there are many other mascaras I enjoy using more. This was it’s last use and I will not be repurchasing.

Today I reached for the Banana Bright Primer from Ole Henriksen for a few reasons. One, it is one of my favorite brightening primers and smells like candy, two I chose a matte foundation that really benefits from a brightening primer underneath and three, the moisturizer I am using can also be used as a primer under the makeup and since i suspect it will land on the brightening side I wanted to use my favorite brightening primer for comparison’s sake. Plus I just love using this primer. It is even good on no makeup days if i just want a little something on the skin but don’t want to bother with anything else.

The Tom Ford Foundation is beautiful. It came to me Via Influesnter a while back and it is a good all round foundation. I forget how liquid-y it is though and each time I am surprised and make a bit of a mess with it. It is a beautiful finish and I like wearing it, but I think I don’t reach for it that much because I really do make a mess with it every time. It has a turning top that you turn and a pump arises. If you turn it you have to make sure it clicks into place or it will slide down when you press it and splatter and make more of a mess. Like I said it is a great foundation and I will keep it in my collection, it is however not a foundation I can reach for when I am in a hurry. It is a night out foundation, not a get ready quickly in the morning one.

Which probably tells you a little more about me than it does the foundation.

The Viseart, bareMinerals and Wander Beauty products are all in my top tier of products I enjoy using. The Viseart is light but buildable and I love the packaging. The bareminerals blush blends easily and can be natural or built up depending on your choice. And the Wander beauty can be left in a stunning stripe of highlight or blended in to create as soft glow. It has not escaped my notice that three of my favorite products leave me in control of how much product I want to use and let me go from neutral to bright. I like having that choice. In face products I will always lean into buildable rather than highly pigmented. All three can go highly pigmented but they can also be blended out well. That is kind of my wheelhouse.

I know you were expecting the Huda Beauty palette again today. I didn’t choose it for two reasons. The first is that after a week and a half I have formed my opinions and the second is that I wanted to try the lid primer with a different shadow. I love the Lime Crime Prelude Palette. It is one of those palettes I reach for if I am not testing a palette out. it is just a really good everyday palette that doesn’t get boring and can be brightened if need be. Plus since I use it often I know haow the shadows perform.

Which makes it ideal for testing the lid primer.

I did find that the lid primer does brighten the shadows. I don;t think it actually causes them to be brighter in and of themselves, I think that it causes more pigment to stick to the lid. And it does keep it there. My shadows haven’t faded. It does mean that it looks like a went a bit more heavy handed than normal with the shadows than usual. Howerver with the Lime Crime the lid primer didn’t make it harder to blend. The shadows blended just fine. They were just darker.which makes me think the Huda Beauty might have been part of the issue. But switching the shadows did give me a better perspective n the lid primer.

And then there is the lips. I think this came in a subscription box a while back and I am sure I tried it out, possibly even reviewing it, but I couldn’t honestly remember using it, so I took it out today. It is a fantastic red for me. The shade is kind of what I look for in a red. I don’t like a lot of pink in my red lips I prefer the deeper shades and this gave me what I wanted. The doe foot applicator is nice and shaped well for application. Sometimes liquid reds can get messy to apply,

While this lip dried down a bit it didn’t dry all the way. As a result it is still slightly sticky and it does leave lip prints everywhere. While I love this color, I think this formula is one that I would wear if I knew I wasn’t eating or drinking anything. Or kissing anyone’s cheek for that matter. It leaves a print that is hard to wipe off. (I kissed my hand to check and then had to use makeup remover to take away the red stain from the back of my hand. This is a show don’t touch formula. Which has it’s place, but probably not in everyday life.

So that was todays look my darlings and for me it is time to get back to work. I hope you are having a fantastic Tuesday.

As today is international Women’s Day, there a few sales going on today only. I’ll list a few below in case you want to take advantage.

800x600

The Daily: March 7th, 2022

Good grief I desperately needed this weekend to make up for Friday my darlings. Apparently an automated control check flagged my site for violations. It took me most of the day to get to a person to look it over and decide the computer had been mistaken. the journey to find a person was somewhat perilous.

But I did, and all is better now.

Today’s work out was again a long stretch on the walking trail. The wind has picked up and you can practically feel the rain on the air, which was a good reminder to set up an indoor workout for tomorrow. And as the creeks are still running high, possibly for longer depending upon how much rain actually falls. In reality it could blow right past us and drop not a sprinkle, or the weather front could park itself for a week and flood the low lying areas again. At this time of year anything is possible.

If the weather holds off until later this afternoon then I am going to get my bicycle out of it’s winter storage and begin the process of getting it ready for the spring. I know I probably should have done it sooner, but I just didn’t get around to it. So out it will (hopefully) come today and the readying process will begin. And this year i will be remembering to wear a watch and use an extra layer of sunblock. Once that cool air starts washing past me I forget that the sun is still hot over head. And as I proved last year once I start riding my bike I forget that it is exercise and just enjoy the ride.

Good for burning calories, not so good the following morning when my thighs think that I am a monster. This year, I’m going to try to find a balance. So with a walk in and bike repair and the planning of an indoor workout, I think that I am hitting Monday pretty strong. let’s hope the rest of the week flows just as well.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Porefessional Primer from Benefit Cosmetics

Foundation: Maybelline Fit Me Matte and Poreless Foundation

Bronzer: Trestique Bronzer Stick

Blush: Illamasqua Gel Blusher

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Translucent setting Powder

Eyeshadow: Huda Beauty Mercury Retrograde Eyeshadow Palette

Lid Primer: Moonlit Eyeshadow Primer

Mascara: Wet ‘n Wild Big Poppa Mascara

Lips: Uoma Lip Liner in Angelou and Illamasqua Antimatter Lipstick in Midnight

Today my darlings we are saying goodbye to the porefessional. It is one of my favorite go to primers, but alas the tube is now empty. It is on my to be repurchased list because I really love it. I have lost track of how many tubes of this I have gone through. The problem is I have other primers that i really need to work through. So I am going to be doing that. I want to clear away at least two more before i repurchase this. Mostly because I know as soon as I repurchase it I will want to use it. So I delay rebuying. But for now it is goodbye.

At the moment I am going through my foundations. And I know as I have been sorting them I seem to like all of the ones I have. The truth is that when I use a foundation i will wear it exclusively for a week. If i don’t like it in that week, then I general get rid of it. If it is interesting enough to play around with a little more I will keep it a little longer, but in general if I don’t like a foundation, it doesn’t stay. So I generally like all of the foundations I am going through It is mostly a recap and a decision as to what has outlived it’s time with me. This maybelline fit me is a really good drug store foundation. I have the shade 115 which suits my skin fine at this time of the year. It is a little light in the summer, but as I generally go for more BB creams and tinted moisturizers in the summer, that’s fine.

I like it but I have enough foundations I can wear in the summer that I don’t feel the need to double up on shades. It is very matte, so I probably should have put an illuminating primer under it. I just really wanted to use up the last of the Benefit cosmetics primer today. The big issue I have with this primer is the container. It has an open top and I always waste product when I dispense it. I have recently seen this foundation in a tube at Ulta so when I repurchase it I will be going for that instead. Hopefully the formula is the same. It is a great formula, I just waste product due to the open top. I do better with droppers and tubes to be honest. This foundation has very little product left and is sitting on the edge of expiration so I think that I am just going to go ahead and let it go. I will repurchase it though as it is a good drug store foundation, I’ll just puck up the tube instead of the bottle.

For the rest of my face I chose some favorites. I’m hoping to finish out this Ciate Powder this week. it is good and I already have another one in waiting. The Trestique is a long time favorite and the Illamasqua I like more with each use. It is simply a great formula.

I have to say I am actually liking the Huda beauty palette less with each use. Without the lid primer the shadows have a tendency to blend into nothing, except for the shimmers which just take over. With the lid primer, the shades are brighter but they don’t blend as well. Also the colors are somewhat misleading. I dipped into a brown shade and it turned out to be reddish. Which is fine, just not what I was expecting. The shimmers are stunning, I’m just not liking the mattes very much. Which is odd as I usually love Huda’s eyeshadow formula. There is just something about this palette that I am not a fan of.

I noticed I had purged several mascaras lately and used this as an excuse to pick up another tube of the Big Poppa from wet ‘n wild. It is a great mascara and I am a big fan. I picked up a tube as soon as it came out and used it to the last swipe. The issue with this mascara is that the timer really starts ticking once you open it. I try to let mascaras go at the six month mark (unless something happens to cause an early purge) and at the six month mark this one is ready to go. About the time when I know it needs to leave my makeup bag, it starts clumping letting me know it is ready to go. It works beautifully up until then and as I sometimes forget how long I’ve had a mascara open,. it is kind of nice to have that built in timer.

The illamasqua lipstick I love. It is a bullet style lipstick that dries down just enough to extend longevity but not dry out your lips. It is slightly more on the pink side than I would like, so I use the darker lip liner under it. This was one of those lipsticks I picked up in my quest for the perfect red lipstick. It looks the part in the tube, but is slightly pink on the lips, so the quest continues. But the formula is great and as it is only $11 I think I will pick up some more shades.

And that my darlins is the look for today. I am saying goodbye to an excellent primer and a good foundation and still wearing down a setting powder. I am also falling in love with a gel blusher and getting irritated by eyeshadow. So it was over all a mixed bag. The final look didn’t come out too badly, but it was an interesting set of products to work with. And now my darlings it is back to work for me. I hope the rest of your Monday is simply fabulous.

Save $200 for RANGER fat tire 750w electric bike

The Daily: March 3rd, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. I hope you are having a fantastic Thursday. For me there was a great big long walk in the morning and a shorter walk just after lunch. I couldn’t help myself. I know the work is piling up on my desk, but it was sunny, 68 degrees and my allergies have now died down due to the lack of standing water everywhere. So I took advantage.

And yes, I know I’ll have to work a little late tonight to make up for it, but I don’t care. It was worth it, even with the looming deadlines. At least the big extra project i took on at the first of the year is nearing completion. It was one of those things that don’t look like a lot of work in the beginning and then rise like an iceberg wreaking havoc on your scheduling.

But two more weeks and it is done. which means St. Patrick’s day will be extra special this year. I’ll have to figure out something fun for that one.

But on with the day. Work out completed, paperwork in hand and tonight I am making vegetarian sushi. I’ve been practicing with my kit and things are really shaping up. And I like the sushi rise with cucumber, cilantro and avocado in it. It is super tasty and definitely something I am going to remember when our cucumber plants are producing fruits by the bucket. Last year we made homemade pickles and had tzatziki made fresh on a near weekly basis. As well as eating cucumbers in a variety of ways. It’s nice to have another quick recipe where they can be used. And yes I will eventually get fish to use in my sushi (because I do love my salmon and tuna) but we generally eat vegetarian during the week and keep meat and fish for Fridays and I really like having something something like this that I can pull out fairly easily.

And it is getting easier with practice.

Plus it is yummy.

And it is going to be a life saver in the summer when it is too hot to contemplate eating hot food. Maybe I can try serving it with the tzatziki sauce…Something to contemplate later.

Today’s look:

Primer: Benefit Cosmetics Porefessional Primer

Foundation: Kristopher Buckle Triplicity Foundation Stick

Bronzer: Buxom Staycation Bronzer

Blush: Illamasqua gel colour veil

Highlighter: Wander Beauty Wanderess Glow

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Setting Powder

Eyeshadow: Huda Beauty Mercury Retrograde Eyeshadow Palette

Mascara: Tarte Gifted Mascara

Lips: Elf Sheer Slick in Black Cherry

Okay the Porefessional, the Ciate setting Powder and the Tarte Mascara are all in the final stages of use. The porefessional has three to four uses left so I will probably finish it out over the weekend or if not use the last of it on Monday. It is fabulous and one of my favorite matte primers. I know it is a standard and not something nifty and new, but it is a primer I have repurchased often and will repurchase often in the future. I just have to clear out a few other primers to make space for it.

Plus if I repurchase it right away I won’t resist opening it and using it and I have a few other products I need to finish up first. Sometimes shopping is about knowing yourself. I know I won’t resist opening it so I delay repurchasing.

the Ciate London is also a setting powder I will use again. I actually have an unopened jar in my collection. I need to finish this travel sized out and at least one of my open and almost empty powders before I open it. But it is a great powder and I will use it again once I finish this.

The tart mascara is nice and this is it’s last use. Today I was scraping bottom to use it. It is a good mascara and I like it. To be honest my next Tarte mascara will probably be the Lights, Camera Lashes as I like that formula just a bit better. But it is a good mascara and I would have no problem using it again. I just know I prefer another variety from the brand and that I;d purchase it first.

To be honest I chose products today that I know I like because I wanted to think more about the foundation and eyeshadow. The Elf sheer slick is a long term favorite I think this is my third tube of the Black Cherry. The Wanderess highlighter I liked so much in sample form that I purchased a full sized version, which is rare for me with highlighters. I always like the look of them but often forget to use them. The buxom bronzer is nice and more on the subtle side. It is too light for me to use once my skin darkens with the sun so I am happy to have it out now. I just know the shade I have has a seasonal usage for me. And I am thinking of purchasing a darker shade for summer use but at the moment I have several summer bronzers I can’t wear in the winter and several lighter bronzers I can’t use in the summer. I will probably use them up and pick my favorites as I clear things out, then look at getting multiple shades of the same product.

And the more I use the Illamasqua gel blusher the more I absolutely love it. I really like quite a few Illamasqua products but at the moment this is really the best thing I have tried from the brand. It blends in well, can go subtle if you want a light wash of blush with a BB cream for a natural look or be built up for something more glam. It is super easy to work with once you get used to the texture. It feels a bit like over set custard, or something you put far too much gelatin into and to use you just lightly rub your finger along the top surface. It feels like something you should have to dig into. Resist the urge and you’ll be fine. It is just beautiful to work with.

And so this brings us to the two products I most wanted to talk about. The first is the Kristofer Buckle Triplicity foundation stick. I picked this up in one of the brand’s kits a while back. I thought it was a great way to try multiple products from the brand. and I was right. A couple of the products were okay but this foundation stick was fantastic. I used up the entire stick that came in the kit, and repurchased as soon as I realized I was running low. The foundation stick I have is running low, but when I went back, it was out of stock. Then lots of things were out of stock. However the makeup began appearing on Amazon and Walmart sites. I don’t know if the brand made a deal, or went bankrupt but Amazon and Walmart are where this foundation can be found. At least on line I have no clue if it is in the actual stores. The walmart near me has a really poorly designed parking lot with routine traffic accidents so I tend to avoid it whenever possible.

The foundation is beautiful. It glides on smoothly in a super creamy formula and blends into the skin well. I have a couple of other stick foundations but to be honest this is my absolute favorite formula. It is now offered for sale on Amazon for $4.50. which is much less than I paid for mine. I’m going to be doing a little investigation to make sure these aren’t clear out items (because I worry about expiration dates) but if they aren’t this will be repurchased and because of the great formula and really now price, probably once again becoming a standard for me. I just need to figure out if it is still in production.

And now to the eyeshadow. Yesterday I used a lid primer and the shadows performed beautifully. They were also overwhelmed by the shimmer shade i chose. So today I used only matte shades and I left off the lid primer. I can really see the effectiveness of the lid primer. And I think this shadow palette needs it. Today, the shadows worked well, but blended out a lot more than I anticipated. Which is fine I don’t mind the faded look, the problem was that by this point in the day they are almost completely faded (the picture was taken just after application) I used a substantial amount of the matte blue and it is a very subtle presence. Now it is more of a suggestion. I’ll try to do a similar look on Monday with the lid primer to see how they compare. Also I am finding these aren’t buildable shadows. What you get with the first application seems to be what you get. Period. I’ll continue playing with this palette but at the moment I am on the fence about it. It will probably be my palette for next week as well while I try to figure out how i feel. I hope you don’t mind.

And that is it for me. A bit long winded but in the end I am still testing out the huda beauty palette and I now have a research project for Kristopher Buckle. I also have my fingers crossed with the Kristopher Buckle because this really is a fantastic foundation formula. I’m really hoping the brand just made a deal. I’ll let you know when I find out. Fabulous foundation shouldn’t be kept a secret.

The Daily: March 2nd, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. It is really nice to be back with you. Yesterday was a bit of a mess. The surgery went fine. My babydoll was okay. It took longer than they thought it would, but everything worked out well. The issues came when we had to get the medication from the pharmacy. The office called it in.

The benefit of having a chain pharmacy is that you can pick your medication up anywhere. The drawback is that sometimes they send the prescription order to the wrong branch. we drove to the pharmacy we always use, found out it wasn’t there and that because it contained a controlled substance they couldn’t transfer it so we had to drive all the way to the other side of town to get it. It wasn’t too much of a problem for me as I was driving and not the one who just underwent dental surgery. But the numbing agents started to wear off my babydoll before we actually got the prescription. Which is why we also picked up a bottle of water and he swallowed the first pain tablet in the parking lot.

which felt far more clandestine then it should have.

And meant that by the time we got home my babydoll was feeling quite silly and feeling no pain. It made for an interesting day, but not a typical one. Today is a bit more normal.

Yeah for normality!

So to continue the normal…

Today’s Look:

Primer: Benefit Cosmetics Porefessional Primer

Foundation: Catrice HD Liquid Coverage Foundation

Bronzer: Trestique Bronzing Stick

Blush/Highlight: Natasha Denona Blush and Glow Palette

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Powder

Lid Primer: Moonlit Primed for the night

Eyeshadow: Huda Beauty Mercury Retrograde Palette

Mascara: Tarte Gifted Mascara

Lips: Grande Cosmetics Plumping Liquid Lipstick

Setting Spray: ABH Dewy Set

Okay at the moment the Benefit Porefessional and the Ciate London are going to be in most of my makeup looks. I love them both so I have no problem using them, but they are also both almost empty so I am going to use them both until they are finished up. Both are fabulous and both will return to my makeup collection, I just want to finish the products out.

In my rotation through foundations so i can decide what to keep and what to get rid of, I picked out the Catrice to use today. I love the coverage of this foundation. The reason i don’t reach for it more is because while it is a perfect match for my skin right now, it only matches my skin for a few months out of the year. And the foundation doesn’t have a lot of give in the shade. If I want to use it more often I will need to pick up a different shade. Once out door gardening begins in the spring I won’t be able to wear this. The second reason I don’t reach for it more often is because of the dropper applicator. While I love droppers with my foundation this dropper isn’t the best. Perhaps I picked out a faulty one but the dropper makes it really hard to get the product out. So I usually pour it onto my hand.

the dropper annoys me though so I don’t often reach for it. Which is a shame as it is a really nice foundation. while I am still rotating through Foundations, I think I may keep this one out just due to time sensitivity. Plants generally start moving outside at Easter, so I have until then to wear this shade. I might try to get a bit more wear out of it before my skin tone changes with the season. Because even with the faulty dropper, I do like this foundation.

The Natasha Denona blush and highlight palette I recently remembered I had. I couldn’t remember why I forgot it as it is beautiful. I used it today and realized why I don’t often reach for it. The cream blush is fabulous. I would use it any day of the week with no problems. The three powder products in the set are okay. They are products I will use because I took the palette out to use the blush and not because I wanted to use them. I am only using them because I wanted to use the cream blush and they were there. Whale the palette is lovely and I love looking at it (and the powders look nice as well) if repurchasing, I would only purchase the cream blush. I’m not sure if it is sold separately but it is definitely the best of the lot.

The Trestique Bronzer stick you know I adore. You know I have repurchased it several times, will purchase again and adore the fact that it is now refillable.

Today I tried out the Moonlit lid primer. I’ll be honest, at first I wasn’t to enthused. It is supposed to have a natural tint, it blends to nothing. But then I applied the shadow, I went a little brighter with the colors than usual as I am trying to test out the palette. The shadows worked much better with the primer than without. The blending wasn’t as smooth, but the shadows look more pigmented and stayed in place longer. So for a first use of a lid primer, this was a good result.

the eye shadow is nice. I like Huda Beauty’s formula and this is pretty standard for them. It works better with a lid primer on them, clearly. The aqua shimmer sort of took over. I used the light blue matte on the lids prior and had a very soft easter-y look but then I added the blue shimmer and it kind of obliterated the mattes. I think that is going to be a thing with this palette. The mattes work really well on their own and blend beautifully but then the shimmers and glitters obliterate everything. I will keep playing with it to see. It is an interesting set of colors.

The Tarte mascara is nice, it works well and it is close to being finished. It still has product but I think it might have been open a while. So I might spend March rotating it in before letting it go. Just because it is getting to be time to clear it out.

For the lips i reached for the Grande Lips plumping lip gloss. It has that minty scent that most pluming glosses have and there is a slight tingle and a slight plumping. The color is a little pink for me so I don’t reach for it often. I love the want applicator though. It is pointed at the end in an almost arrow like shape so it makes it easy t line the lips and fill them in. Because of the color I may actually try pairing it with a darker lip liner and see if i can adjust the shade. The formula is nice, its just a little too pink.

And finally I used the Dewy set because I used both matte primer and foundation and I felt like I was looking a little flat. And this gives a bit of a shine as well as locking everything into place. If either of my face products are dewy or illuminating I can’t use this setting spray, but it works well with all matte products. You won’t be really dewy but it will help add a little depth.

And so that is my look today. The eyes are a little brighter than I planned, but I suppose a little aqua glitter in the middle of the week isn’t a bad thing. I hope your week is going well and I will see you back here tomorrow.

SIGN UP NOW: Get first access to our NEW Beija Flor Elasti-Cream!

The Daily: February 28th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings and welcome to the end of February. It is a cold one too. The wind is blowing and the air has not gotten above 37 but feels closer to 28. I don’t know why 28 always just seems as though it is super cold in my head. I think 28 is the temperature where for some reason my internal alarm bells start ringing and I start worrying about frozen pipes and out door plants. Which is silly. Any plant that could be taken down by frost is still in the greenhouse and our pipes are well insulated. Childhood holdover I suppose.

But as chilly as it was, this was the first day in nearly a week that the park was not flooded. And so I took to the walking trails. I was well and truly bundled up but I was reveling in the lovely sunshine. And the dry pathways.

I know I complain a bit about the flooded walking trails, but I don’t really mind the rain. After all the more we get, the less likely wildfires become. And I am with Smokey the Bear on the preventing wildfires page.

Although even with the pathways dry and clear I don’t think dry is something we will have to worry about for a while. I did get an extra long walk in though. Partially because it was possible, and partially because I don’t know what to expect for tomorrow. Tomorrow my babydoll is having dental surgery so normal life is a little up in the air. The morning posts will still be up as usual, but the afternoon Daily post may be a little light.

Today of course, my mini foundation declutter has begun.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Benefit Cosmetics Porefessional Primer

Foundation: Ulta Beauty Youthful Glow Foundation Serum Drops

Bronzer/Blush/Highlight: Real Her Ultimate Glow Getter Palette

Setting Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Setting Powder

Eyeshadow: Huda Beauty Mercury Retrograde Palette

Mascara: ABH Lash Brag Mascara

Lips: Uoma Lip Liner in Angelou

Today was actually an interesting mix of products. I chose the Porefessional promer because I know it works well with all of my foundations, and the Ulta Beauty foundation needs a matte primer under it. At least for me. It tends to be a bit glowy without it. I also need a setting powder with it as well. Since the Porefessional goes well with all of my foundations, and it only has about a week or two’s worth of product left in the tube I am going to keep it out and use it in an attempt to use it up. This is kind of sad as it is one of my favorite primers, but I have a bunch of other primers I need to start reaching for, if only to clear them out, so using up the last of my favorite and refusing to purchase a new tube until I’ve made some space in my primer drawer does help me out. It makes me sad, but it is helpful..

I am also sad that this is the last use of the Ulta Foundation. It is a great foundation and I will repurchase it in the future, but I was scraping bottom today in order to apply it. There is a little bit left, but not enough to actually cover my face. So I used it today and am saying goodbye to the bottle, until we meet again in a new form. I originally picked up this foundation in a sort of emergency. I had an event I wasn’t expecting sprung on me and I had to make an emergency pitstop in Ulta. This was on sale and in my shade so I picked it up. And I am very glad I did.

It is a serum foundation and a very liquidly one at that. You really need to remember to shake it before applying and it needs a primer underneath or it will settle into the fine lines. With a prefilling primer underneath, you are golden. The foundation applies smoothly and stays in place all day. It will wear a little around the mouth. I find it does this less with a good all over setting powder. Over all it is a great $16 foundation. I picked it up in a hurry and even though this is it’s last use, I will be repurchasing it sometime in the future. Or picking it up in another emergency.

My setting powder is the travel sized version of the Ciate London setting powder. There is very little left so it will be around until it is gone. I have a full sized waiting in my unopened drawer though so it won’t be gone long. I am trying to whittle down my powders though so I may wait a while before opening it. I am one of those people that likes some variety in my products but once I get too many things open i start worrying about spoilage and I also have a hard time focusing on which products to use. Its also why I get into the habit of reaching for a few products and then surprising myself with products I forgot I had. It is something i am trying to work on. But I do like this powder. If you use a lot of flash photography it can have a little bit of a white cast. The Coconut setting powder actually doesn’t have this problem though so if you do a lot of flash photos then I would suggest that.

I don’t.

Mostly because the flash photos I take generally end up looking as though they were taken at a crime scene. Especially in the kitchen. I took a photo of a princess cake I made (the dome one with the marzipan blanket over it – I was very proud it turned out well). The room was dark enough that the flash went off. It looked like I was a detective marking out which item contained the poison. which as I was quite proud of managing to create the cake was so not what I was going for. So …right, not a flash photo aficionado.

Moving on….

Love the Ultimate Glow Getter. it was easy to reach for and worked well. The pans marks are definitely starting to show through. No silver yet, but it is getting there. It is a great travel palette or an Oh crap I slept through my alarm and have ten minutes to get out the door palette. Quick and easy.

The mascara and lip liner too, quick easy and I really like the look of them.

Then we get to the Huda Beauty Palette. This is my first use of the palette, so i tried for a matte, a shimmer and one of the more glittery shades. The mattes look far more pastel in the pans then they apply. The shadow I used today was the dusty pink called Off Balance and darkened at the corned with a bit of vortex. I dipped into the pink thinking it would be closer to neutral skin tone for me. It was brighter than I thought. As there are several really pastel looking shades, I am curious to see if this holds true for them as well. I used a pink shimmer, which wasn’t that pigmented (today I used only a dry brush) and then I used one of the glitter shades, super moon. It applied clumpy and then I used my finger to smooth it down and it spread like warm butter. It just applied clumpy with the brush.

I think this is definitely a palette i will have to play around with. Looking at it it looks very Spring/Easter-y so I thought this was a good time to test it (ahead of planning for easter.)It seems a little less pastel than I planned. But I will continue to play and see what I see. The mattes are highly pigmented. I’ll just need to find the right way to apply it. And I think the glitter will give me a good option to try out the lid primer.

Over all it wasn’t a bad look. I have a foundation that is leaving, even though I love it. A primer and powder that I am using up and an eye shadow palette to try. Not a bad Monday, makeup wise.

The Daily: February 24th, 2022

Today my darlings the rain is pouring down and the sun has decided to take the day off. even though it is mid afternoon it feels as though it is still early morning. which is not helping my productivity. I had to turn up the radio and dance myself into productivity today.

Well chair dance anyway.

There was a lot of arm and shoulder shaking with head nodding and the occasional under the desk foot movements. But I did for the most part stay at the desk. My few ventures outside were more of a rescue mission to the mail box and brief sprints to the car. You have to love when you have to dry out a bill before you can think about paying it. And then I accidentally stuck one of the wet flyers to the counter top and a corner of it dried and stuck to the surface so I had to soak it off, which wasn’t part of my planned day, but necessary.

I’m hoping the chair dance burned extra calories. I did my exercises but my babydoll was giggling when he told me he was picking up dinner on the way home. He is in that ‘soon I will have dental surgery and need to eat what I want now’ phase. while I appreciate not having to cook, I am a little worried about what he’ll be bringing home. It is however out of my control. So I did my exercises, and I am hoping for an extra calorie burn while dancing and using my resistance band at the desk. Because there is also a lot of work to get through today. It was a busy morning and it looks like it will be a busy afternoon. I think as a reward I might finish binge watching The Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount + tonight. I also might catch up on the Winter Olympics coverage they have on there as well. I’ll be honest I keep meaning to watch but thus far the only winter olympic bits I’ve seen are the ones reviewed by Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg. which are absolutely fabulous, but not really watching the Olympics.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Ole Henricksen’s Banana Bright Face Primer

Foundation: Natasha Denona Transformatte Foundation

Bronzer: Trestique Bronzing Stick

Blush: Illamasqua Colour Veil Blusher

Highligher: Wander Beauty Wanderess Highlight

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Setting powder

Eyeshadow: Lime Crime Prelude Exposed Palette

Mascara: Pat McGrath Fetish Eyes Mascara

Lips: Uoma Lip Liner in Angelou topped with Kinship Super melt Jelly lip mask

next week I am going to start rotating through my foundations. My goal is to see which ones are expired and which ones I no longer want as well as which ones I really like and need to remember to reach for. In the BoxyCharm choice for Premium (which was Monday) I chose a Charlotte Tilbury Foundation so I know I have a new foundation coming in. That is sort of what prompted the foundation clear out. I figure I’ll rotate through my products and see what I see more than plan a declutter. So I wanted to use the Natasha Denona one more time. Since I know I like it and I just used it, I know I’m keeping it, I will have to set it aside while I sort through products. So I used it with the primer I like pairing it with the best and that is the Banana Bright. The brightening primer just works so well with this foundation. I really like the way my makeup turned out today.

The trestique is a long term favorite and I couldn’t resist using it again. I justified the use because it was still out from yesterday, but it is just a really good formula for me.

My plan was to use the Illamasqua blusher as both blush and eye shadow today, but while it is fantastic for me on the cheeks, The shade didn’t look quite right on the eyelids. I think if I were going to use this as a shadow I would get it in a darker shade, which they make. Although I love a lot of my single shadows, I really forget to reach for them so at the moment I am trying not to buy single shadows.

There are only two single shadows I have ever managed to use up in my life. They were both from Chantecaille. One was a smoky brown matte and the other was a shimmery iridescent pink. I was being minimalist in my products and used them as my only two shadows until they were empty. I absolutely loved them.

I’m thinking of getting a metal panel and putting magnets on the back of my single shadows so that I can create a sort of wall art piece that will keep the single shadows from getting lost in the shuffle, but that is a project for another day.

I’m loving the Wander Beauty highlighter, but I also justifies using it again because it was out. I will switch it up more and not just reach for it automatically. I need to actually do a bit of a highlighter declutter as well. I have a couple of shades I’ve been hanging on to because they are different and not because I actually use them. I may work on that while I go through the foundations. But today I used one of my favorites and I am okay with that.

Because the blusher didn’t workas eyeshadow I pulled out my Lime Crime Exposed Palette. it is just a good easy palette to use. The eight shades are well thought out and complementary to each other. I have my quick go to looks with this palette but if i want to shake it up, I can easily create something new. there is enough variation in the colors that it is not boring.

Today was the last of the Pat McGrath Mascara. It is a good mascara. I like the way it looks and performs. Thee are just other mascaras I prefer. So while I wouldn’t mind using this mascara again, I’m not putting it on my repurchase list. So today was it’s last day.

The Uoma lip liner is a nice color and it suited me today. I’ve tried it alone and it is a little dry and I tried it with lipstick. Today since I wanted to keep the color, I went and put a lip mask over it. The lip mask has worn off but it keeps the line hydrated and my lips actually feel pretty good. I think I may have to pair these two up again. I also might try pairing this jelly mask with other more drying lip liners and see what I get.

For now though that was my makeup for the day. No surprises as most of these are products that I use routinely. They all worked as expected. The mascara is being cleared out but everything else will return at a later date. Next week I plan to play around with the Huda Beauty Retrograde Palette so we’ll see how that performs as well as clearing out some other products. But for today, I got to use some of my favorites and I feel pretty good about that.


The Daily: February 23rd, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. Today is hot and humid. Which seems like a strange thing to say at the end of February. We are sitting at 57 degrees so possibly hot is a little bit of an exaggeration. But we had a boat load of rain in the night and the air is thick with even more impending rain. The park is even more flooded and I doubt there will be any walking for at least three days. And that is if there is no more rain.

So indoor workouts it is. I have my yoga mat and hand weights from ProsourceFit and I have my newest indoor work out item, resistance bands. I honestly picked them up because I thought it would be amusing and that they would be rather pointless. They are turning out to be rather fab. They weren’t expensive and take up so little space when not in use. I am really liking them.

Other than the indoor workouts, it has been a keeping my head down and getting as much done as possible. I know there is a day next week (Tuesday) where I am taking my babydoll to the oral surgeon. The appointment is early but he is the sort who when he has undergone anything painful or feels sick he needs to be babied a little, so I suspect that I will not be getting anything done then. So I am trying to get ahead of things so that I can essentially take Tuesday off without feeling swamped next Wednesday. It also means that I am going to have to watch out for calories. whenever my babydoll knows he is going to get dental work done, he craves things that he knows will be hard for him to eat right after the dental work. So while tonight is a salad night, starting tomorrow he is more or less in control of the menu plan. I have no idea what he is going to choose so I’m going to have to roll with it and really focus on my portion control. But for tonight, there is salad.

Today’s look:

Foundation: Natasha Denona Transformatte Foundation

Bronzer: Trestique Bronzing Stick

Blush: Illamasqua Colour Veil

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Setting Powder

Highlighter: Wander Beauty Wanderess Glow After Hours

Eyeshadow: The Nubian Palette from Juvia’s Place

Mascara: Pat McGrath Fetish eyes Mascara

Lips: elf Runway Ready Berry Bliss Lip Palette

Okay first off, you aren’t seeing things. I skipped the primer today. I wanted to see how the foundation performed without it. I will say that the foundation did not apply as smoothly as it did over a primed face and it doesn’t have as good a coverage. It is still a really good foundation, I just like it better with a primer underneath. The primer just gives it a better surface so it doesn’t have to work so hard to look fabulous.

The Trestique Bronzer I love. What can I say. It is fantastic. It is so easy to grab and it hasa built in blending brush. I actually really like the built in blending brush as it works really well with the formula. This is maybe the third or fourth bronzing stick I have had. I love that they are now refillable. That just makes a great product even more fantastic in my opinion.

Can I tell you, I forgot about this Illamasqua Colour veil? I had it stored with my eyebrow gels for some reason (I think I saw the size of the container and just stored it next to the ABH for size reasons. I have the color Frission and it is the perfect barely there dusky pink tone on my skin. It blends so well and even though I like being able to use a light hand with it, it is buildable. When I went to get the link for this page I saw this blusher also used as an eye shadow. I haven’t tried that yet, but as my trial of the Nubian is ending I may give that a shot tomorrow. I love it as a blusher.

The ciate London powder is also a favorite. I am trying to use up this deluze sample sized jar since it has been open a while and I am getting down to a really low amount. I actually have a full sized unopened and waiting in the drawer for when this ends, but I want to clear out some of my open powders so the Ciate will be making a few appearances in the upcoming daily posts. I figure if i use it up and at least one of my other really low setting powders I can open up a fresh one soon.

The fethisheyes mascara is also here to get used up but unlike the Ciate once it is used up, it will not return. It is a nice mascara and if it showed up in a subscription box I would use it, but as I have other mascaras that are just as good if not better, I’m not going to repurchase it.

The wander Beauty highlighter is one of my favorites and I will happily continue to use it. I love the way it blends into just a soft glow rather than just a bright swipe of silver. You can leave it as a bright stripe but my preference is blended.

And finally we reach the lips. I do reach for this palette quite a lot. I don’t tend to use it for the daily posts though because I think elf stopped carrying it. I know you can still pick it up at Walmart and Target, but I could never find it on the elf site, which is usually not a good thing. the link just takes you to the Elf Lips page. I can see why these lip palettes aren’t all that popular. They are products you use at home and not easily tucked into a purse. So it is difficult to refresh your lipstick while you are out. However i really like the formula and I love the ease with which I can blend colors. Today’s lips are actually a mix of three shades. the formula feels good on the lips. They don’t really dry down, so they do leave lip prints. However recently, I haven’t been eating while in public and I rarely remember to touch up my lipstick in public. I think part of that is a lessening of bathroom time in public. Generally i am out and about in short bursts and I’ve gotten into the habit of using the restroom before I leave and then not using it again until I return home so I don’t look in the mirror and thus don’t see my lipstick needs refreshing. So even though i can see why it isn’t a best seller, I really do like it and love playing around with blending the shades to create exactly what I want.

And so that my darlings is todays look and how I feel about it. I had several favorites, one ending test and a couple of products I want to use up. Plus I have a new test for the blusher I really enjoy. I’m not sure how well it will work as shadow given my skin tone but it should be fun to try. Maybe I could pair it with one of my liquid shimmers I tend to forget about as well. something to think about. But for now, it is back to work for me in an effort to get ahead of my Tuesday absence. Wish me luck.



The Daily: February 22nd, 2022

Oh my darlings, the rains have arrived. Temperatures plummeted in the night, causing a fantastic morning migraine, but that has for the most part faded. For which I am eternally grateful. This week is going to featue rains off and on but now that the atmospheric pressure is more or less constant it is jut rain and not skull crushing headache.

I can live with the rain. In fact i rather like it. It may ruin my walks in the park due to flooding (if it weren’t for the flooding, I’d just take an umbrella. However here the floodwaters are unexpectedly deep in places and because it is flooding as part of a river system there is actually a current that is quite strong in places so it is best to leave it alone until the waters recede) but it is fantastic for my garden. The daffodils are starting to come up and we have the first few spears of tulip leaves.

We also have a rabbit nibbling the tulip leaves so when the rain stops I will be mixing up some bio friendly dish soap into some water in a spray bottle and spraying down the leaves. The rabbits don’t like the taste of soap any more than I do. It is thus far the only thing I can figure out that will keep them off of the plants. It is actually my favorite pest control tool. I picked up one of those little plastic spray bottles in Target for about a dollar and it works fantastically well. I’ve had it for a few years now so it was a good investment.

This week in addition to my usual rainy day exercises, I’m incorporating resistance bands. I did a short work out with them yesterday just to get used to them and thought ‘well this is silly’ and then this morning I am really feeling it in my upper arms. It may have felt like I wasn’t doing much but this morning the muscles in my arms beg to differ. I’ll keep trying them out and once I’ve got a feel for them I’ll review them for you. But I have been looking for something more to use to work out my arms. And this I can actually use at my desk, which is nice and lets me take a few minutes during the day to stop and do some arm work. I actually used it this morning while I was on a conference call. It was extra useful as one of the people I was talking to was actually rather annoying. It was a great way to keep from snapping at them after I explained the same thing for the fifth time.

It was a call where the answer didn’t actually change but the person I was talking to seemed to think that if they just rephrased it, they could get what they wanted. It was an excellent use of adjectives I will give them that. And the resistance band was a great way to keep from interrupting so they finally felt they asked as many ways as possible and finally had to accept the answer. I suspect my arms and shoulders will be quite sore in the morning.

But it is definitely a win for the resistance band.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Ole Henriksen’s Banana Bright Primer

Foundation: Natasha Denona Transformatte Foundation (still currently on sale for 50% off)

Bronzer: Buxom Staycation bronzer

Blush: Benefit Cosmetics Gold Rush Blush

Highlight: Wander Beauty After Hours Glow

Powder: Ciate London The Extraordinary Setting Powder

Eyeshadow: Juvia’s Place The Nubian

Mascara: Pat McGrath Labs Fetish Eyes Mascara

Lips: Uoma Lip Liner in Angelou and YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in Le Nu Satin Finish (#70)

Today I wanted to try a glowy kind of primer under the transformatte foundation and to be honest I really enjoyed the depth it provided the mate foundation. I went with the banana bright a that always works so well for me when I want just a little bit of glow. If paired with an illuminating foundation it is too much for me, but paired with a matte formula the Ole Henricksen is fantastic. And it worked beautifully with the Transformatte. I have been very impressed with this foundation over all.

I wanted a slight bronze today as I was going for a more natural look to my face makeup and I really love this bronzer for that sort of application. It works well over tinted moisturizers for a really natural look or can be built up with a full coverage look. The one I have is a little light for summer time use if I am going for anything other than a natural look, but it is fantastic at this time of year.

The gold rush blush I love for just a warm glow. of the Benefit blushes it is my favorite and the one I come back to. The gold tones just work so well with my skin tone. It isn’t shimmery once you get past the initial over spray, but it does bring a warmth to the cheeks. And at this time of year I can look a but pasty, so i appreciate it.

The wanderess glow highlighter is also a fantastic product. I tried a sample and liked it enough to purchase the full size. It is one of the few silver toned highlighters that I can say that with. I tend to lean more towards the golden tones in highlighters but this one can be bright or subtle depending on how you blend it. It can lend itself to the stripe of silver if that’s your thing, but I love blending it in to a soft glow. I really need to remember to reach for this more often. I know I say that a lot, but rarely with highlighters.

The Nubian by Juvia’s Place returned as I am still testing it out. It is a really good shadow formula and I love the everyday colors. The slight variations in color mean that most looks I get out of the palette have a very similar feel to them, but the formula of the shadows is really nice.

The fetisheyes mascara is also nice. It looks good and I have enjoyed using it. The mascara is reaching the end of it’s life though and has only a few uses left (so you may see it repeat for a week or so). while it is good, it isn’t better than some of the drug store formulas I’ve tried out. So for me, while nice, it isn’t worth the price. I will finish out the tube and then let it go. if it comes my way again I will use it, but I will not be repurchasing it.

Which leads us to the lips. The Uoma lip liner is a little dark and while not as drying as many lip liners, could still do with a lipstick. The YSL lipstick is a little too light, so I put them together. while I like the combination, The YSL lipstick has a bit of a perfume scent and taste to it that I don’t actually care for. while it looks great and has a fantastically moisturizing feel, that perfume taste kills me. The picture was taken after first application and I let the lipstick wear off without reapplying because I just couldn’t take the taste. So right now the Uma is standing alone.

So that my darlings is todays look. And now it is back to work for me. The rain may be shushing down but the paperwork remains. Such is life. But it was nice taking a little break with you.

Wander Beauty

The Daily, February 9th, 2022

Ah Wednesday, the most panic inducing day of the week. It always hits me on Wednesday how much there is still left to do and how the week is already half over. This is the day where my to-do list grows longer, I get to my desk early, eat lunch at my desk and stay just a little bit later just because I feel that I won’t be able to get everything done before the week is out.

It doesn’t help that for some strange reason everyone calls me on Thursdays. Sometimes to change deadlines and others to add things to my list. And sometimes in just plain freak out mode. I suppose that is probably part of why Wednesday always feels heavy. If i deal with my freak outs today, I can deal with everyone else’s tomorrow.

It is on Wednesdays that I love the smoothies I have stashed in my freezer from Smoothie box. On days where I know lunch isn’t going have much time dedicated to it these are my favorite secret weapon. If you want to give them a try you can use code LOVESMOOTHIES for $15 off all products. They are great in a pinch lunches.

My make up today was also quick and easy to help with Wednesday time management. And so that I could plot my day while applying it and not worry over products too much.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Benefit Cosmetics Porefessional Primer

Foundation: QMS Medicosmetics Active Glow Tinted cream

Bronzer: Viseart Bronze Noix

Blush/Highlighter/eyeshadow: Doucce Posh Powders Palette

Powder: Ciate London Setting Powder

Mascara: Eyeko London Black Magic Mascara

Lips: Patrick Ta She’s Juicy Lip Mask

Today was simply quick and easy. I went for the Benefit Cosmetics primer because it always works well for me and because I wanted to put the mattifying primer under the QMS. it is a little brightening and I do like it better with something matte.

The viseart bronzer is really going to be one of my go-to bronzers when I am going for a more natural look. I love the way it can be built up for something more dramatic or it can be softened to go with a tinted day cream like the QMS. It was a good combo.

The Doucce palette was the experiment in today’s look. I really only use one blush and one highlighter but there are actually three pans of blush and three of highlighter so I decided to use one of the blushes that is too orange on my cheeks as eyeshadow and use one of the bright silver highlighters in the inner corner. It isn’t my favorite look but it came out pretty well and was quick and easy. It didn’t last terribly long though . while the blush stayed on the cheeks all day, when I use it on my eyes I need to remember to use a setting spray.

I do love how the faded look sort of lets the dramatic lashes kind of pop. I really do like this Black magic Mascara.

Since I was going low key, I just grabbed the lip mask from Patrick Ta and figured it would do as lip gloss today. Plus my lips were feeling a little on the dry side, so it made sense to me.

To be honest, I am actually quite pleased with my low key look. I think it worked well and while the eyeshadow use of the Doucce palette needs a setting spray to help it out, I like the fact that I can use more than two pans in the palette. Which makes it quite a win. Especially since I really like the one blush I do use. I think knowing this will make me reach for the palette more often.

And now my darlings it is back to work for me. I have a long to do list and not much left in the day to get through it. Wish me luck!

The Daily: February 7th, 2022

Have you ever had that morning where you wake up and are ready to go and hit the week hard? You wake up Monday with your to do list in your head and you are ready to blaze through the day and even see if you can get ahead instead of just keeping up? That was me this morning. I woke up fifteen minutes earlier than my alar, which is a minor miracle since me and mornings do not get along.

Almost as soon as my feet hit the floor I had my to do list in my brain and I mentally started planning which item needed to be completed first. And then i turned my computer on.

Apparently my computer did not get the let’s kick this week in the pants like we are trying for a field goal memo. It was slow, dare I say sluggish and was disinclined to leave it’s mechanical dream land behind. Eventually if got going, but it wasn’t happy.

So while it thought thongs through I put on my makeup, looking for easy and quick while I redirected my brain power towards thoughts of clearing out old files and giving my computer’s memory a good scrub down. It substantially altered my day’s list of activities, but hopefully if I can get that done today the rest of the week (and beyond) should flow a little more smoothly.

Today’s makeup look was quick and easy though, so there is that.

Today’s Look:

Primer: elf Puff Puff Primer

Foundation: No 7 Lift and Luminate Triple Action Serum Foundation

Bronzer: Viseart Bronze Noix

Blush: bareMinerals Bonce and Blur Blush

Powder: Ciate London Extraordinary Finishing Powder

Eyeshadow: bareMinerals Natural Oasis eyeshadow Palette

Mascara: YSL faux cils mascara

Lips: Yensa Super 8 Lip Oil

Like I said above, today I went for quick and easy. At this point I know how the baremineral’s palette is going to react, but i wanted to try the highly pigmented green shade in a look that leaned a bit more neutral than green tastic. Essentially the last time I used the green in the palette it was a bold green that dictated the entire look. I wanted to see if i could actually mellow the green. It actually mellowed fairly well. I applied just a smidge to the center of my lids and then used a clean brush to blend it in a bit more and I think it turned out really well. I still think it is a color I will reach for when i am okay with it dominating, because it is just that kind of shadow (highly pigmented) but I like the fact that if I used a light hand it could blend well without becoming muddy.

I’ll be honest, I chose everything else because I liked it and it worked without me having to put too much thought into it. Seriously these are products I can pick up and use without having to worry about how they will perform. The mascara I chose because it is an open sample size and it is nearing the end of it’s life so I wanted to just go ahead and use it up. The YSL mascara I won’t purchase in the full size. It was an okay mascara and worked well today, but honestly there are many drug store mascaras that perform as well if not better, so I don’t feel the need to splurge on it.

And that is kind of my rule with mascaras. I use a lot of mascara (because I don’t use false lashes) and I have no problem paying premium price for a good mascara since it us such a stable, but the trick is that since there are a lot of good drug store mascaras out there that cost less than $10 to get me to spend more than $10 on a mascara, the mascara has to outperform the drugstore brands. While this YSL mascara works as well as some of the drug store mascaras, it is outperformed by others. So I will use up the last of this sample (I think it might last the week so it will be a repeat item as I use it up) and let it go.

I am going to have to reorder the Yensa Lip oil though. even though it hasn’t made a frequent appearance in my daily makeup look, I have been reaching for it a lot throughout the day and the amount in the tube is getting really low. It is just a really good, quick shine that actually adds moisturize to the lips. It is fantastic over a lip liner if you happen to be using one as your lipstick. Today, I decided it would do for the makeup in general.

And that was my look. I will be honest, with the computer frustrating me, I chose products I knew wouldn’t frustrate me. That was the driving force behind my makeup choices and you know, I have no problem with that. It is just the kind of day where one issue ends up trumping most every other item on the to do list. but I am glad I tried out the mellowing of the green. It was the last thing I needed to try before pulling together my final review for this palette (full review posted on Thursday). And who knows, with luck I will get the computer sported today and tomorrow I can choose my makeup for less utilitarian reasons. For now, it is back to work for me. I need to wrap up the last of todays to do list and start clearing out some old files. I suspect the clearing out of files will extend my working hours today. For some reason, clearing out files always takes much longer than I expect. Which is probably why I put it off so long. And why my computer is currently mad at me. I suspected it would be my fault in the end. which means it is up to me to fix it. So off I go into the archives. Wish me luck.

Nuxe offer: Get Free Mini 30ml Huile Prodigieuse Oil when you spend $60