The Skincare Line Up: December 23rd

Welcome to the Friday before Christmas. This afternoon I will be heading out so next week will be interesting, but lets see what got used this week shall we?

Cleanser (day time): GlamGlow Supercleanse Clearing Cream to Foam Cleanser

Cleanser (night Time): Milk Wash Exfoliating Jelly Cleanser from Beekman 1802

Toner: Elemis Superfood Fruit Vinegar Liquid Glow

Serum: Ole Henriksen Truth Serum

Out with the old, in with the new! Sale on Sale – Take an Extra 25% Off Sale Items!

Eye cream: Byroe Rose Tea Eye Cream

Moisturizer: Drunk Elephant Protini polypeptide Cream

Night Cream: IT Cosmetics Confidence in your Beauty Sleep And Wander Beauty Do Not Disturb Overnight Repair Concentrate

Lip Mask: Tatcha Kissu lip mask

Okay there were a couple of items that I ran out of last week and so I reached for products I already had in use. To replace the empty Skin Inc Serum i went for my trusty Truth Serum from Ole Henrkisen. I have lost count of the number of times I have used this serum and I will no doubt pick it up again when this bottle is done; It is a really great vitamin c serum that doesn’t make your skin sun sensitive. I am a fan.

I am also a fan of the Elemis Superfood Fruit Vinegar toner. I know, I love most Elemis products. There is something about this scent that I just love. It is like fermented apple cider. It also works really well.

And then we have the two cleansers. They are a fabulous power couple and I adore both of them. I will happily use both of these any time.

Returning also is the Byroe Tea time Eye cream. It is fantastic. The gel texture has it absorbing really well and my skin is absolutely loving it.

Having said that all four of these products are too big for me justify packing in my bag. This Christmas is going to be a shorter visit than usual as I spent two weeks at my mom’s in September and then we went down for longer over thanksgiving. And so the smaller bag is packed. Plus I need space for the box of gifts we are adding. So as much as I love these products I will have to leave them home and know that they will be waiting for me when I return.

This week the It Confidence in a Beauty Sleep cream finished on Tuesday. I like it. It is a good cream and I think that for the duration of a jar of cream i could tolerate the scent of it. It is strong and not my favorite scent. But it works well enough that I would be willing to ignore it for the duration of the jar. I would probably be very happy to finish the jar when i am done,. but I do like the cream enough to use. For me it is a thicker cream that works well in the Winter but I think might be too heavy at other times of the year. If you have drier skin then it may be for you for a longer part of the year, just know it is highly scented. Even though i suggest you test most moisturizers before you use them full size, I would definitely recommend trying this first just to see if the scent is for you before picking up a full jar.

Since it ran out, I rolled in the Wander Beauty Night Concentrate. I have used it before and absolutely loved it. So it was really nice to have it in my list up again. While I could probably make space in the bag for it, the type of pump it is doesn’t make it ideal for travel, so I will leave it home and then start using it again when I return.

As for the Drunk Elephant, I scraped the bottom of the sample sized container this morning. I used every drop of this and as far as samples go, it did it’s job. I definitely wast to purchase the full size of this moisturizer. it wasn’t large enough to see results but my skin felt so soft and hydrated after I used it that I am definitely willing to put it on the list for a full sized trial. I loved this sample. It had almost no scent to it, absorbed well and felt fantastic. It moisturized well and I am looking forward to a longer trial sometime in this upcoming year.

Tatcha Lip, always fabulous. And going into the travel bag before i leave.

And that my darling is my skincare for this week. While most of the items were super fabulous, they will be staying here and waiting for me when i return from Christmas. It will be nice to return to them, but it will be a sample sized Christmas.

Also this week I will be skipping the Friday Face Mask since I will be on the road. I suppose I could put one on while i’m driving but I really think that might be a bit much for my fellow travelers. I will probably put on a face mask with my mother tonight, but that won’t make it to a post. I hope that whatever you are up to this year, you have a fabulous vacation and some well deserved down time if nothing else. Merry Merry and I’ll see you back here next week.

The Skincare Line Up: December 16th, 2022

Another week, another list of skincare products. This week I find it really exciting. And yes, there are a few empty containers in that line up. That means after I type up this week’s list i get to decide if I want to try something new or continue with other products. it is a toss up as the lure of working through a few more samples before the new year is strong. it is one of the reasons I rolled in a sample sized moisturizer this week. But we’ll get to that in a moment, first the line up…

Cleanser (day time): GlamGlow Supercleanse Clearing Cream to Foam Cleanser

Cleanser (night Time): Milk Wash Exfoliating Jelly Cleanser from Beekman 1802

Toner: Best Face Forward Clarifying toner

Serum: Skin Inc Supplement Bar French Pine Bark Serum

Eye cream: Byroe Rose Tea Eye Cream

Moisturizer: Drunk Elephant Protini polypeptide Cream

Night Cream: IT Cosmetics Confidence in your Beauty Sleep

Lip Mask: Tatcha Kissu lip mask

Okay the Two cleansers are a great power couple. The GlamGlow brings things to the surface and the Beekman 1802 sends them on their way. basically it is a clearing cleanser and n exfoliating cleanser. The exfoliating cleanser is the reason I don’t have an exfoliator in my line up at the moment. this is a gentle daily exfoliator I really enjoy. These two products are pretty much going to be with me until the end of the year. I suspect they will run out about the same time as the year does. But that does mean i get to start the new year with a ne cleanser so i am okay with that. But for now, they are fabulous.

This toner is now done and I have to say it is kind of a relief. i really should have put it to the side when my skin stopped breaking out. It was great when i was breaking out, it helped bring down the blemishes without irritating the skin, but once they were gone it was a little too drying. So it won’t be a constant use product but it certainly has a place. I enjoyed it when I needed it. It was drying when I didn’t need it and I am happy to have used it up. if it had been larger than a sample size I would have stopped using it when my skin no longer needed it. I just couldn’t see putting half of a sample back in the drawer. But we are now done.

Sadly the Skin Inc serum is done as well. I really enjoyed this. It absorbed into the skin really well and really fast. I loved it for morning use as it made my morning routine flow smoothly. I did see a little bit of a textural improvement in my skin while I used this but honestly i don’t think I used it long enough to actually see real results. I suspect that if I used it for a longer time I would see improvement. At least I hope I would because it felt really nice. I will be trying this in a full trial in the future. i will also be looking into the benefits of French Pine bark as my skin seemed to really enjoy it.

And then we have the Tea Time Eye cream. I am so going to have to do a deep dive into these ingredients because my skin really likes it. I am starting to see increased improvement around my eyes and I am really hoping it continues to get better as i use it. It feels really good on the skin. It is a gel like texture rather than a cream, absorbs well and has caused no clogged pores thus far. I know it hasn’t been used that long but I am really loving this eye cream.

The two moisturizers in this week’s line up are both samples. I think I should be able to get through most of this coming week with both of them before the samples run out. I’ll see how long they will last and have something to roll in should they run out. I know I should probably start with the day cream and then go to the night but as i used the night cream two times last week, i am going to start with it. The It night time moisturizer is a light lavender color and has a really great level of moisture for me at this time of year. It is a really good night cream. It also smells like a combination of licorice and menthol. Which isn’t great.

It does fade after you apply it. It is just the initial scent that gets me. I find myself bracing before opening the jar. I know that sounds strange but for me scent is really important. There are really good products that I won’t use because the scent will keep me from actually using the cream. This is right on the line. I think it works well enough that I might be able to get past it long enough to use it. I think part of the willingness to use it is that I think at other times of the year it may be too thick for me to use with my skin type. I think it might be a winter only cream and that means that it would be a winter use cream. I might be able to use it for the winter and then not use it the rest of the year, then come back the following winter. if that makes sense. I’ll see how I feel when the little sample is empty.

After one week of use I already know i am going to have to try a full size of this Drunk Elephant cream. It is the first item I have tried from the brand and I really liked it this week. It absorbs well and rather quickly. My skin felt soft and hydrated but not greasy. I was very impressed with it. I am hoping I can stretch the use of this sample to the end of next week because I really enjoyed it.

And as always I love my Tatcha Kissu Lip mask. I am going to finish every drop of this lip mask and then I am just going to purchase another one. It s a really great mask to put on over night and just sleep in. My lips are soft and hydrated when i wake. And considering the heat is running all night at this point, that is really impressive. It may be my favorite product from 2022. I know it was out before 2022 but this was the year I tried it so that’s my label.

And that my darlings is this week’s skincare line up. I hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. I do love skincare…

Find deals on best-selling running shoes just in time for the holidays. Save up to 25% on select styles from New Balance, Saucony, Mizuno and more. Plus, earn free shipping on all orders over $99.

The Daily: December 15th, 2022

Good afternoon and welcome to a very cold and crisp day. I know we aren’t as cold and crisp as a lot of other places. My babydoll’s family is currently shoveling out several feet of snow. I also have one great uncle who is cackling because he is living in a place where someone else has to do the shoveling and he doesn’t have to actually go anywhere. I know he is cackling because he called to let me know the package I sent for Christmas arrived so I didn’t have to worry about postal issues. He was laughing about not having to shovel snow and then went straight into a conspiracy theory about the post office for about twenty minutes. I’m not entirely sure if the postal service is a force for good and the only thing keeping us from a land of chaos or an agent of evil who will take us all down. Given the conversation it could go either way.

In fact there could be two factions working simultaneously within the system.

I think he picks a group and works on a conspiracy theory for the year. Last year’s was the liquor industry. And again, not sure if they were a force for good or evil either. It could have gone either way too.

I rather like hearing the annual conspiracy theories.

And I am glad he got his christmas package. And doesn;t hae to shovel snow.

While we are chilled here, there is no snow. The rain is gone now too. I’m sure it will return. what are the holidays without at least one ice storm. And that’s what it feels like it is working it’s way up to actually. but that worry is for another day. Right now, it is cold and clear. I may stay indoors but i am going to sit in the light from the window for a bit this afternoon just to soak it in. But before then…

Today’s Look:

Primer: Glamglow Supermatify Primer

Foundation: NARS Natural Radiant Long Wear Foundation

Bronzer: Too Faced Chocolate Soliel Bronzer

Blush/highlighter: Gold Rush Blush From Benefit Cosmetics

Setting Powder: Beauty Bakerie Flour in Oat

Eye Shadow: Tresluce Midnight Deseos

Mascara: Fenty Full Frontal Mascara

Lips: MAC Love Me Lipstick

Today we have a last use for two separate products. That’s right my darlings. The Glam Glow Primer is finally empty. It is no more. This was it’s last use. It was great with oil control and took down redness like a dream. But the brand no longer makes it and it is only available on Amazon. So even though the container is refillable, I will not be refilling it. It was fantastic though.

Also fantastic? The Benefit blush. I loved the Gold Rush blush. the shade was perfect for me and it had just the right amount of light catching shimmer. Mostly that was gone by now. As is the blush. And I don’t think Benefit makes this shade any more. They redid their blushes and got rid of many of the old favorites. I need to take some time and check out the new ones. However this one is now empty. There is no more usable product. And that makes me both sad and glad all at the same time. I loved both of the now empty products and I am sad they are no longer going to be in use, but I really love the feeling of actually finishing a product up completely. It just feels so good to know that none of it went to waste.

Plus both were rather bulky containers and them leaving creates a pretty big pocket of space in the drawer. hich I can’t say I am mad at.

Today I pulled out the NARS Foundation. I don’t use it often because I picked up the wrong shade. This one I can only wear in the depths of winter and even then I need a bronzer to help even it out. I need to really just buy a new bottle, but then i look at the other foundations I need to get through and tell myself i can just use this one until more of the others have been used up, then i’ll be able to justify getting a new bottle. And I really o need to remember to get a new one. It is a great foundation. The trick for me is to remember to start with a very small amount of product. I always forget how little product you actually need to cover the face. and then i waste a lot of product by dispensing too much. A little gos a long way, remember that and you are golden. It is a really good foundation . And I need to use it more.

Today I adjusted the shade w a bit with the bronzer. This Too faced bronzer is great. it is highly pigmented and I generally use it either in the summer time or if I am trying to slightly modify the color of my foundation. this isn;t the first time I’ve picked up the wrong shade. This bronzer really comes in handy and why it was pulled out of the summer makeup section for front line duty today.

With the eyeshadow, I couldn’t resist the blue green shimmer shade. It is more metallic than shimmer. It also applies a bit patchier than the other shades. This I think needs a lid primer underneath. It is lovely in the pan and fantastic looking on a swatch, but thus far it is the patchiest of all the shadows. It doesn’t apply as smoothly as the other metalics and was kind of a pain to deal with. Once in place it seems to be staying in place really well. So there is little fall out. The fall out you see is me being a bit messy during application. I also doesn’t blend. Once it is on, it is where it is, you can see the marks where I tried to do a little blending. This shadow wasn’t having it.

Fenty beauty. I have used this mascara before. with Fenty there are a couple of things that are really nice. Mostly the gloss bombs. Pretty much everything else that I have tried has been just okay. it isn’t bad, but it is forgettable. this mascara is one I don’t mind using but won’t miss when it is gone.

and as always I love Mac Lipstick. it is a staple and always looks good. It is sort of the standard. You must be at least this good to stay in my makeup bag. I have several products that exceed the mark, but it is good. Reliably good. which is saying a lot. Also the MAC lips are currently on sale. (The above link will take you there, not an affiliate link, just something i noticed when i was linking the products).

And that my darlings is me today. Not half bad although I spent way more time with that eyeshadow than I planned. And in the end it still looks like I took five seconds. I was really happy with the layering of the mattes before the shimmer though, so it is a little disappointing. Anyway, back to work for me.

The Daily: December 14th, 2022

Ah the Best of Lists have started. I always love this time of year. I think part of it is that the items I get to talk about have all passed the test and are good ones. There is no quibbling about the various applications. They are all good products, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the list. I always prefer to say nice things about a product. I always feel slightly bad about talking bad about one too actually. I know that when I complain about a product the company isn’t reading it and crying into their pillow about it. But I still feel bad. I won’t lie and say it is good when it isn’t to spare their mythological feelings, but I still feel bad.

But with the best of lists, I don’t have to feel bad at all. I just get to talk about the good products.

I know, I’m a bit of a dork but it makes me happy.

Plus because I am holding off my reviews of the products I am trying now until after the best of lists are done, I can just enjoy trying some of the products that are here. I can play around with them more and then later think about reviewing them and doing the standard tests I do with them. For now it is just fun. I can also use up products that it is time to let go of as well. So let’s see how today turned out.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Glamglow Supermatify Primer

Foundation: Yensa skin on skin BC full coverage Foundation

Bronzer: Ace Beaute Bronzed in Paradise Palette

Blush/highlighter: Natasha Denona Cupid Cheek Duo

Setting Powder: Beauty Bakerie Flour in Oat

Eye Shadow: Tresluce Midnight Deseos

Mascara: Tarte Light Camera Lashes Mascara

Lips: RMS Lip Balm

Today I went a little low key with my look. I am mostly sitting at my desk today. Usually that means ‘try out the glitter’ but I just wasn’t feeling the glitter today so i went for a more everyday look. I am still using up the last of the primer and tomorrow should be it’s last day. It is fantastic but only available on amazon if you are looking for it. It is great at oil control and matifying and was especially fabulous in the summertime for me.

I haven’t used the Yensa in a while as I am trying to rotate through but I love this foundation. It is just a beautiful product. easy to use, looks great and lasts all day. Every time I come back to it i just love it more. I know it made my favorites list this year but it may actually be my top favorite. Just don’t tell the other foundations.

I haven’t reached for the Ace Beaute bronzer palette in a while. I tend to forget about it. It is a good palette with many lovely shades. It comes on pretty pigmented and blends out well. i always use a light touch. I can wear it more in the summertime as even when I am fully tan the second lightest shade is my shade. Now I have to use the lightest shade and be delicate in my touch. It isn;t the shade rage that has me bypassing it though. It works well enough and looks goo but after about half a day it usually fades away on me.

The Natasha Denona Cupid dup was I think a limited edition. The brand still has cheek duos just not this one. I have other cream blushes from ND that I like more than this one. Other highlighters too. This one is nice enough once it gets warmed up but it isn’t my favorite. I may actually put it in my to be used box to reach for it more just to use it. It is one of those okay to use but wouldn’t repurchase products.

As always Love the Beauty Bakerie setting powder, especially with cream products.

Today I used one of the lighter shades from the Tresluce palette. It was a one and done look and it worked pretty well. It is darker where i put my brush down and lighter everywhere else. I had to dip into the pan several times though. I am not using an eyelid primer because in my every day life I just don’t use them. There are some shadow palettes that need them and while I keep a couple of them around, like the lid primers I don’t use them much. I will when I go to actually test and review this palette try it with the lid primer but a I am just playing around with it now, I am not using one. This is the third day I’ve used this palette though and it is a bit uneven. Some of the shadows blend really well across the lid and with each other, others not so much. Once this shadow was in place, I really liked it. It is just not a dip in the pan once and swipe across the lid sort of shade. Which is fine, it is just something to note when using this palette.

I really like this tart mascara for lengthening. It can give a bit of a spidery look to the lashes because it lengthens without thickening, which I don’t care for. I use a lash comb to make them look a little less spidery.

This RMS Lip balm is one of my favorite lip balms I wore one down to a nub and then when another one came in a Glossy box I was very excited. Except that it was broken when it arrived. (They compensated me for it, but they couldn’t send out a replacement) So I ordered a new one on my own, because it is just a really good formula. And there was a sale on at the time, I ordered on Dermstore and technically I was ordering other products, saw they had this and added it to the cart, but you get the idea.)

And that my darlings is me today. Not too dramatic but just right for a mid week working at my desk. And the sun was actually out so i could take the pictures in natural light. Which always makes me happy. makeup can just look so different in artificial light. Anyway it is back to work for me. Have a great wednsday!

The Daily: December 13th, 2022

I have to say I was inspired by the finishing up of the Triplicity foundation. it felt goo to use it up and move it along. This week will also see the end of the Glamglow primer and today I am releasing a mascara as well. Finally letting go of a few items has made me realize that there are things I need to use up in the next year. Some are from discontinued brands, others are older products and some are so so products that I want to use up and clear out With theses they are good enough to keep and use but i know i am never going to repurchase them. I promise myself that i will use them and let them go, but I end up reaching for my favorites instead.

I think I have come up with a plan. I think at the start of January I am going to make up a little box. Into the box I will put a selectin of items that I want to try to use up in the box. Then whenever I don’t have anything specific in mind to use, I will reach for one of the items. I think if I keep the box out where I can see it I will reach into it more. And then at the end of the month i will do a check in to see how i did. I think I may add a few of my favorite single shadows in just so I can remember to use them as well.

And if I still don’t reach for the item when it is constantly in sight, perhaps it is time to let it go. I really like this plan. I tend to watch the project pan videos on YouTube. I like the idea but I know I can never do that as I would just get bored if I reached for the same product every day. But I think this could be a good way to use up and purge.

In this upcoming year my main goal is to clear out the clutter from pretty much ever aspect of my life. Not only have things shifted in the last couple of years but as we have been spending more time at home in the past couple of years, there has been an accumulation and now I find I don’t have the space to do some of the things I want to do because things I don’t use are in the way. So I guess this year is about figuring out what I really want and doing a bit of streamlining. I’ll never be a minimalist, but I think it is time to let some things go.

Now of course it is time to see the products I used today. Again the sun was iffy when i took the pictures so I used the light on my makeup mirror as a ring light. I prefer natural light but the sun just didn’t want to cooperate with me. So fake light it is.

Today’s Look

Primer: Glamglow SuperMatify Primer

Foundation: Bounce Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation from Beauty Blender

Bronzer/Blush/Highlight: Marc Jacobs Omega x Three Palette

Setting Powder: Beauty Bakerie Flour Setting Powder in Oat

Eyeshadow: Tresluce Midnight Deseos

Mascara: Complex Culture Executive Level Mascara

Lips: Revolution Pout Bomb Plumping Lip gloss (clear)

Love this primer but it is no longer made. There are only two more uses of it in my container though so I am hoping to let it go on Thursday. The link will take you to amazon. It is a fantastically mattifying primer.

It has been a few days since I used this foundation and I found that the pump clogged on me It took a while to get it going and when it did I ended up arching a shot of foundation at the wall. It seems to be working well, but i think this is a foundation that doesn’t take well to being left to sit on it’s own. I think the pump is partial to clogging. The packaging is changing though so maybe that has been fixed. I do like the foundation. But I will be watching the pump.

I know Marc Jacobs no longer makes makeup. But I love this trio and it is perfect for my skin tone at this time of year. I won’t talk about it too much even though i will still be rotating it in until the seasons change. i love it, it’s slim line travels well and after the product is used up i will use the compact for travel. As long as it is wearable, I will wear it.

Love this setting powder. It has not been discontinued as Beauty Bakerie is doing well. And I hope they do well for a while. especially as I adore their Lip Whips. (incidentally, still on sale, suggest stocking up, the link above will take you to their site.)

While I love the metalics in this palette, I wanted to see if i could get a more neutral look It doesn’t look as reddish in normal light, but I used the makeup mirror light for the photo and it makes it a lot brighter. It is far more neutral without the light. Unfortunately when I tried to take the pics without the light there were just weird shadows. This was a really quick look with mattes only and it was nice. The colors seem to be highly pigmented though so go lightly. this is only a second use so I’ll need to play around with it more, but that was how it seemed. These were the most neutral of the shades and while not very neutral I could easily wear to to a meeting without anyone thinking it strange. As I spend more times in meetings than parties, it is a consideration.

Oh the mascara. This Complex culture mascara came out of the gate strong. For the first few uses I adored it. It lengthened really well. And then it started clumping in the tube. The tube got messier and messier and more product clogged up the top so it actually looked older at a week old than some of my mascaras that are getting ready for the three month purge. (I don’t keep mascaras past three months any more. I was keeping them for six thinking i could push it but now I am keeping fewer open in general so my few open ones aren’t actually lasting past three months. At the moment I only have three open ones). This one isn’t three month’s old. I think it might be a month old and I had to fight the tube so much that this will be my last day of use. it is a mess and while it still looks good, it is not worth it. The top sticks and it is just a mess. Other products look as good if not better and don’t have these problems. I would literally choose to buy any of them before I would repurchase this one. Looks good, but isn’t worth it.

As a lip gloss I really like this Pout Bomb formula, It is glossy and while a little sticky when first applied, the stickiness fades. It has a nice mint smell and a slight tingle of the plumper. I did not check to see f it was plumping. Next time I use it I’ll take before and after photos to see if it is actually plumping. But plump or not, it is a really great gloss.

And that my darlings is today’s look. It is quick and simple, but it is kind of the week for quick and simple. I also had a meeting today and didn’t want to be glitter coated. This was my last in person meeting this week so I may play around with the glitter (the shifting greenish blue shade is calling my name actually). But for now it is back to work. Tomorrow, there will be glitter. Today is more e-mails and follow up calls. not as glamorous, but it is necessary.

The Daily: December 12th, 2022

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.

The Skincare Line up: December 9th, 2022

This week is an interesting mix of the products I used for travel and want to use up and the products I was using before I traveled for thanksgiving. Plus, there are a couple of new items to the line up. Oddly only one item has reached the end of it’s use and will be replaced for next week. Of course several of the items remaining only have one more week’s worth of use left in them. Confused yet? I know, let’s get into specifics. It will make sense as we get into it.

Cleanser (day time): Glam Glow Supercleanse Clearing Cream to Foam Cleanser

Cleanser (night Time): Milk Wash Exfoliating Jelly Cleanser from Beekman 1802

Toner: Best Face Forward Clarifying toner

Serum: Skin Inc Supplement Bar French Pine Bark Serum

Eye cream: Byroe Rose Tea Eye Cream

Moisturizer: OGEE Velvet Botanical Moisturizer

Night Cream: IT Cosmetics Confidence in your Beauty Sleep

Lip Mask: Tatcha Kissu lip mask

Okay as usual we start with the cleansers. My travel Cleanser (OSEA Ocean Cleanser) finished out around tuesday so I returned to the two cleansers i was using before I traveled for Thanksgiving. The morning cleanser was the Glam Glow. It is a really good clearing cleanser and I have really been enjoying it. It feels like you are puting on a thin clay based mask, and we all know how much I love a good clay based mask. It also is a clearing cleanser and it really good at bringing clogged pores to the surface so you can clear them away. It pairs really well with the Milk Wash from Beekman 1802 as that is an exfoliating cleanser. Most exfoliating prducts i can only use at best a couple of tiems a week. This is actually gentle enough for me to use daily. I could probably use it twice daily with no issues, but I really like the one two punch of clearing cleanser in the morning and exfoliating one in the evening. For me this has worked really well. Both cleansers are around half way empty at this point so i still have a few more weeks with them. I can’t complain about that as I will be very sorry to see them go when I am finished. At the moment I have a stick pile of cleansers to work through so I can’t buy any more until I whittle down the pile but both of these are on my list to repurchase.

The BFF Toner has been really good for me as I over indulged at thanksgiving and needed some clearing power. I am noticing that there is a little bit of drying going on now that my skin is not breaking out as much as it was post butter and sugar extravaganza. I think this is the sort of toner that i really can only use when I am having break out moments. I am happy to finish it out, but in the future if i pick it up I will pick it up to use only when my skin is breaking out. I think this week I should be able to finish it out. It may return, but it won’t be a daily use because my skin simply doesn’t need it.

This will probably be a last week of use for the Skin Inc serum as well, but i am actually really sad about that. I haven’t used it long enough to see long term results but I really like the way my skin feels after I apply it. The serum absorbs very quickly and my skin feels very soft. While I love trying out sample sized products this is one of those times when i wish I had a full sized version because i really like the way it feels and would love to see if it had any line plumping wrinkle erasing properties. it feels good on the skin though.

This was the first week of the Byroe eye cream. It is a gel formula rather than a cream style. I don’t know if it is because this eye cream is following a cream that i thought was just so so, but this eye cream gel from Byroe feels fantastic on the skin. It absorbs well and even though I have only used it for a week I can actually see a little bit of improvement in my fine lines. Even though it says rose in the name, I don’t get a lot of rosy scent,. although to be fair given how it has performed this week it could be an overly scented rose bomb and I would still keep using it. This eye cream came out of the gate strong. Hopefully it can keep up the good work and the improvements will continue. I have tried a few creams that were super fab at the beginning but then their performance tapered off. This one started strong, hopefully it will just continue to get stronger as i use it.

This is the last day of use for the OGEE Velvet Botanical Moisturizer. I really enjoyed using it but this morning when i went to apply it, the pump sputtered and I had to unscrew the top and sort of steal the last of the moisturizer from the bottle with one of my skincare spatulas. It is officially empty. It was a great moisturizer but for my skin it was more a day cream than the only cream. I think if the weather were warmer and the central heat less drying then i could use it as my only moisturizer. At this time of year though I needed a little extra moisturizer a couple of times a week.

This week I used the It Confidence in your Beauty Sleep Night cream for the two times this week i needed to roll in something. It was good for those two days and this coming week I will be using it as a night cream until it is gone. The cream is good. The scent of it is quite strong. It is a licorice root and menthol sort of scent. I only used it twice and twice was okay with the scent. I think this will be interesting to see how I like it over the course of the week. And for me that will be all about the scent. The feel of the cream is nice but that strong scent may be a bit much for me. I think it was extra strong because for the most part most of the products I am using at the moment have very low scents. Still it will be interesting to see how I feel with nightly use.

And so my darlings that was this week’s skincare list. Over all it wasn’t that bad. The tone was a little drying but the eye cream was a bit fabulous. It should be fun to see how things proceed.

Beyond Clean Beauty. Ogee is plant powered, vegan, gluten-free, GMO free and certified organic ingredients.

The Daily: December 5th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I had a pretty good one. While not the most exciting thing, this weekend we emptied out our pantry and looked over everything. We normally have a pretty organized pantry. And in case you are picturing some large walk in affair, remember my house was built in the 1950s. The pantry is a closet with shelves. I’d say it is about three and a half feet wide and has shelves that are just a little too deep for me to reach the back without a full stretch, possibly on tip toes depending on which shelf it is.

I don’t actually use the top shelf so my baby doll stashes his emergency Doritos and cinnamon bears up there. He can only really use the front of the shelf properly so he was actually astounded by the amount of things he actually had hidden away up there. There were five bags of Doritos back there. If you have a pantry with deep shelves, the best thing I can recommend is to get some plastic boxes. I know they aren’t as pretty as the glass jars all over the organizational websites, but some inexpensive plastic baskets from some place like Target are a life saver. It doesn’t give you more space, but it lets you use the entire shelf without losing things in the back or having to the blind tippy-toed reach to the back.

we need to pick up more as we only have a few and as things get busy we just start putting things in the pantry without putting them away properly so it was an ungodly mess. But we like to sort of go through and clear out the tail ends of everything before new years as well. It means that we will end up with at least one pasta dish that actually is composed of three or more types of pasta as we try and use the little bit left in each of the bags and boxes. You know the bits that aren’t enough for a full meal on their own? Yeah we will use them up before new years. And then there will be one moment the first week of January where the pantry will look so nice. There will be one box of Angel Hair Pasta and another unopened bag of rice. It will look so lovely as we use up the just a little buit of quinoa or bulgur wheat from the bulk food bins.

The neat and tidy won’t last. Life, at least my life, doesn’t lend itself to perfect pantries. And then in the spring we’ll have another clear out as we kick off the new season. (And then again in summer, and then again as we start fall, notice the trend?) this year we missed the fall clear out so it was extra messy and oddly extra satisfying to clean up. But yeah, between now and the Christmas feasts we will have som mixed up meals as we clear up a lt of the tail ends of things.

I know not the most exciting way to spend the weekend, but it was very satisfying. And when it was done, I felt justifies in sacking out and binging television shows from Paramount +. I caught up on Blood and Treasure and RuPaul’s Drag Race and Star Trek’s Lower Decks. Okay I probably binged more than i should have, but my sinuses were packed with the dust of cleaning and by the time I was done I needed sinus meds and a break from moving things around. And I did enjoy sacking out with my baby. As the weather was cold, raw and damp all weekend, I can’t regret it too much.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Glamglow Supermatifying Primer

Foundation: Bounce Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation from Beauty Blender

Bronzer: Iconic London Contour Duo Pot

Blush: Hourglass Ambient light in Diffused Heat

Setting Powder: Beauty Bakerie Flour Setting Powder in Oat

Eyeshadow: Sweet Potato Pie palette from Beauty Bakerie

Mascara: Complex Culture Executive Level Mascara

Lipstick: Dose of Colors Liquid Lipstick in Stone

Today I reached for a primer I need to finish out. It will make an appearance for most of the week. It is on the edge of being empty and I thing one solid week of use will finally finish it out. I do not know if this primer is still being made. I know Sephora lists it out of stock. The refill pods for this come up on Amazon (that’s where the above link will take you FYI. I really like this primer. It is super mattifying and it really blurs out the pores. The case is big, and the initial purchase was a bit pricy for the amount of product inside, but the refill is only listed as $12.50. Part of me wants to purchase the replacement. I’ll wait to see if it has truly been discontinued before I purchase it. It is a really good primer though and it has many good skin care elements. For mattifying it is also top notch. I just hope it hasn’t been discontinued.

This Bounce Foundation I like more with each use. Two pumps is all I need for a medium coverage. It blends really well and lasts a really long time. It is a great foundation. The package is one that seems like it was a good idea at the time but in practice is just messy. I think they changed the package, but the formula is still the same in the new package. Currently the foundation in the original square package is half off on the site (the above link will take you there).All you have to do is remember to wipe the side of the bottle down after each use. I am very glad I picked this up. I haven’t finished the test out of the foundation, but i already know, I am a fan.

This Iconic Dup is an interesting product. I love the small pan as it is perfect for travel and I really like the powder pan in the duo. I also really don’t like the cream product of the duo I tried to reach for the cream today, but just got frustrated and went for the powder instead. I think that is going to be a standard thing though. I really like the powder, I just really don’t like the cream.

I don’t reach for this blush often enough. I really like it. The shade is nice, but for me it is just a soft glow that I really enjoy. It always makes me thing, you know, I don’t need a highlighter today’ because I just like the glow from the blush and don’t want to distract. And each time i use this blush I end up thinking that I really want to get one of their blush palettes. It is just a really good formula.

The more i use this Beauty Bakerie powder the more I like it. It really sets my makeup well without looking powdery. I also keep putting off the review of it so i have the excuse to keep using it instead of switching between powders like i usually do. I’ll write a review and start switching powders again, next week. For now i am using this and love it.

Today I went for a little bit of a sunset look with the Sweet Potato Pie palette. I used the reddish shade as a sort of liner, then had the orange shade on top with the yellow in the inner corner and the blended over the top of the orange. I am really enjoying this palette actually. I think it is because i have been using neutral palettes for such a long time, having a palette with pretty much not a single neutral shade is just a lot of fun. I don’t know if these shades will ever be an every day go to for me, but I am really liking the formula. I dip in once and it gives me enough pigment. i do tap off the brush before i apply (which i do with all shadows) and there has been no fall out. I think at this point I have used all of the shades multiple times so this will be my last week of testing this palette. But I think it is one I will return to when I want to play with some oranges and yellows. I have nothing else like it in my collection so i will happily keep and use it.

This mascara. I was pleasantly surprised by it at the beginning of it’s use but it has been only a couple of weeks (two ish) since I opened it and already it is starting to get clumpy. The first couple of uses were fine, but that is all. To get rid of the clumps I had to go in with an eyelash comb which I haven’t had to do in a really long time. If you are going to go for this mascara, get a travel size and just know you are only going to get a couple of uses out of it.

And to finish up todays look I went for the Dose of colors liquid lip as it is a nice neutral color and i thought I hade enough color with the eyeshadow. Over all I am pretty happy with the way today’s look turned out. The eyes may be a bit brighter than usual, but they aren’t too over the top so it works for the day. And since today it is me working at the desk, it isn’t like there is anyone to comment on the bright eyes anyway. So really todays makeup was just to make me happy and you know what? it does. Especially with sleet just now beginning to hit the window glass. It makes the brighter eyes feel a bit more happy. but now it is back to work for me. Have a great rest of Monday. And remember, don’t forget to do something that makes you happy today.

The Skincare Lineup: November 18th, 2022

Good morning my darlings and welcome to the Friday Skincare line up. Here we discuss all of the products in my line up and how I feel about them. As you can see we have a couple of changes but most everything is still in motion from last week. Let’s dive in and see how all the products are playing with each other, shall we?

Cleanser (day time): Glam Glow Supercleanse Clearing Cream to Foam Cleanser

Cleanser (night Time): Milk Wash Exfoliating Jelly Cleanser from Beekman 1802

Toner: Elemis Superfood Fruit Vinegar Liquid Glow

Serum (night Time): Ole Henriksen Truth Serum (night)

Serum (day time): Beekman 1802 Collagen Electric Daisy and Peptide Booster (day)

Eye cream: MZ skin Eye cream

Moisturizer: OGEE Velvet Botanical Moisturizer

Lip Mask: Tatcha Kissu lip mask

I know a lot of this looks similar to the week before but there were some exciting changes this week. Forst let’s look at the cleansers. The Glamglow has been in for a few weeks at this point and I really like it. It’s strength is pulling clogged pores to the surface. It’s weakness is leaving gray charcoal film all over the sink so that it needs to be wiped down after every use. (I wipe it down while I am brushing my teeth actually and it works well, just don’t let it dry).

but for every clogged pore brought to the surface, an exfoliator is needed to send it on it’s way. This week I rolled in the Milk Wash From Beekman 1802. It is an exfoliating Jelly cleanser. And it is a really interesting product to use. It dispenses like a clear jelly and you apply it to a dry face. I remove my makeup pat my skin dry and let my skin dry off completely before I go in with this cleanser. As I take my makeup off after dinner and don’t wash my face until bedtime it works well for me. The cleanser feels almost like a light Vaseline on the skin. It foams up a but when you add water and wash it off. Th9is was it’s first week of use but I can feel that with the one two punch of clearing cleanser in the morning and exfoliating cleanser at night my face is clearer.

You know I love Elemis and you know I love this toner. It works well and I think the scent of it is just fabulous. It’s a bit like a fermented apple cider. So perfect for the time of year and yet still fresh feeling.

With the serums I suppose I could layer them but i tend to like my Vitamin C serums in the night so I just reach for the Collagen serum in the morning and the Truth Serum at night. Even when there is sun out, this Truth Serum is fine for me to use during the day. I’ve used it before and had no sun sensitivity from it. the collagen booster is helping to lock in moisture during the day. It is slightly stick even after it sort of dries down but applying a moisturizer right after it has had time to settle ends the stick factor so that it isn’t a problem. the truth serum doesn’t have any issues with stickiness. It also smells like freshly squeezed orange juice. I suppose that should make me want to use it in the morning but there is something nice about using it in the evening. Both serums work well with the moisturizer I am currently using.

This week I finished up the night cream I was using so I used the OGEE for both morning and night time application. It worked well until about Wednesday. And I think the reason things changed was the central heating. Until now it has only kicked on a few times a night. Starting around Wednesday it kicked on repeatedly during the day and then ran most of the night. The more the heat kicks on the drier my skin becomes. The OGEE moisturizer is a fantastic day cream and I can continue to use it as a day cream, but i am going to need to bring in a night mask at least twice a week if I am to continue using this as my full time moisturizer while the heat is running.

I don;t mind that actually. I am perfectly fine having a day cream and a night cream. In the warmer months it isn’t that big a necessity. It is only in the winter when the temperatures drop and the indoor air becomes dry that I need a day time and night time moisturizer. It is a split that occurs pretty much every time the seasons change. So I will be rolling in a Night mask a couple of times a week until I reach the end of this moisturizer. other than that, I really enjoy the OGEE moisturizer. And I love that it is clean skincare.

I can’t say that I love the MZ Skincare eye cream. It is okay. It isn’t too heavy and I haven’t noticed any real clogging of the pores where I apply it (for me that is an area that gets clogged pores easily) but I haven’t really noticed too much in the way of line plumping of the crow’s feet either. it is still early thought. I am just at the thirty day mark with this eye cream so maybe I will wake up on day 31 with baby smooth skin. It is doubtful of course. I will keep using it until I get back from Thanksgiving (because it is open, small and easy to travel with). After that i will do a bit more of an evaluation.

And then finally we have the lip mask. The Tatcha Kissu lip mask is still working fantastically well. I am trying to finish out the Sephora lip scrub. It is less fantastic. It is one of those products that is okay and if I was trying to get my order up to get free shipping I would add to the cart, but it isn’t something I would specifically go to Sephora to order. It is fine to use if you come across it, just not worth seeking out.

And so that is my skincare line up this week, the good, the not so good and the forgettable. There really wasn’t anything bad, but there were a few fabulous items and a couple I can’t want to see continue on to hopefully show results. And now we dive into the work day that is Friday. I hope you have a fantastic one.

Black Friday 2022

The Skincare Lineup: November 11th, 2022

Ah, here we are again my darlings, the skincare line up, my favorite post of the week. Don’t get me wrong I love the other posts, but skincare is my true love. I can bore people to tears with my discussion. So I save it up and bring it all here. You will notice that I did not put the ExfoliKate from Kate Somerville in the line up this week. I have been using it about twice a week, however i used it this past Saturday and my skin got a bit red and itchy. That hadn’t happened before with the Kate Somerville, but I decided to skip it for a little while while I figure out if my skin just had enough of the product or if it was reacting with one of the newer products in the line up. While several products are still in motion, I did have two new ones enter the line up this week, the Beekman 1802 Collagen Boost and the OGEE Velvet Botanicals Moisturizer. Both are actually designed for sensitive skin and I used them each with no problems. It was just when it came into contact with the Exfolicate that the itchiness happened. So I am going try and figure out what is going on before I use it again. The rest of the products I used all week with no issues whatsoever.

I’ll look into it and get back to you. And I doubt you are using the exact same line up as I am right at this very moment as I am using a random collection of products rather than a set, but I figured I’d mention it in case it comes up with you.

So on to the line up!

Cleanser: Glam Glow Supercleanse Clearing Cream to Foam Cleanser

Exfoliator: Kate Somerville Exfolikate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment (not used this week, due to itchy redness, see above)

Toner: Elemis Superfood Fruit Vinegar Liquid Glow

Serum: Ole Henriksen Truth Serum (night)

Serum: Beekman 1802 Collagen Electric Daisy and Peptide Booster (day)

Eye cream: MZ skin Eye cream

Moisturizer: OGEE Velvet Botanical Moisturizer

Night Time Moisturizer: Tatcha Indigo Overnight Repair

Lip Mask: Tatcha Kissu lip mask

Okay let’s start with the cleanser. The Glamglow cleanser is really bringing up buried clogged pores. I am actually really impressed with it’s work. It does leave a charcoal film on the inside of my sink so I do find myself wiping it out a bit more than usual, but the cleanser is great at clearing out the pores. And since it is a clearing cleanser, it is nice to have it do what I expect. I think I am about half way through the tube of cleanser. I am thinking of rolling in a second cleanser though, to use in the evenings. I just received an exfoliating cleanser from Beekman 1802 (subscription box) and i am thinking of using that in the evnings and the Glamglow in the mornings. Partially because I am very curious about the exfoliating jelly cleanser, but mostly because i know I am going to need to roll in an exfoliator if I keep using the Glamglow. It just brings too many things to the surface not to have a routine exfoliator with it.So I get to indulge my curiosity and be practical all at the same time.

Fabulous!

I know this is a strange thing to say about a toner, but I really like the scent of this Elemis toner. I know it is mostly about how the products work (and it does work fantastically well) but I really like the scent. Maybe it is because of the time of year. It has almost a fermented apple cider vibe going for it. it is a little lighter and a little fresher, but that is sort of the scent. And I really like the toner. Now that I’ve figured out how hard to press so that I can dispense the product without causing it to fountain. I also like that when it dries down it isn’t sticky. Sometimes toners can leave a little bit of a sticky film on the skin and I like to feel like my toners are taking the last of the nasties from my skin, not adding a layer.

I switched the Truth Serum to night time use because with the brightening toner I didn’t feel like I needed it twice a day. Plus I love this serum and only using it once a day helps it last longer. I’ve used this Ole Henriksen serum before (a couple of times) and my skin always reacts well to it and looks good. I just don;t have a lot of dark spots so using less still gives me the same glowing skin.

It also let me roll in a collagen serum, and while i may not have dark spots, and a terribly uneven complexion (even though I love the vitamin C) I do have a multitude of fine lines. I know, time man, in the end it will get us all. But if I can plump up some fine lines and at least delay the inevitable a little while, I am all for it. The directions for this booster are to either add a drop or two to the moisturizer or to apply it directly for a more powerful boost. I used it on it’s own. Its not that I am looking for a stronger boost, I just don’t like mixing things with my moisturizer. I like layers to my skincare.

I’m sure it would be fine either way, but somehow my brain thinks of the moisturizer as the final layer that locks everything down. And yes, in my mental image mixing something into the moisturizer is like putting holes in the fence. It lets in those pesky free radicals that get in like those rabbits got into my garden.

I know it really doesn’t work that way, but that is my mental picture and so I layer skincare.

I never claimed to be logical.

I do like this collagen booster though. I still have to restrict myself to a drop or too or it is too wet on the skin. I am curious as to how it will work as the level of the product drops lower in the bottle. Itis a very short dropper and a very rounded bottle. But that I will fin out in time. For now, the serum is nice.

The MZ Skin Eye cream is good. I really hate to say this but I would probably like this eye cream more if I didn’t know how much it costs. It is a good solid eye cream. It goes on well and doesn’t clog the pores. Is it my favorite? No. both the Perricone MD Hypoallergenic Firming Eye Cream ($72 on Dermstore) and the Dr. Brandt DNA Triple Peptide Eye cream ($82 on the Dr. Brandt site) I’ve used in the past are much better eye creams in my opinion. This is okay but not spectacular. It is a $95 eye cream (on Dermstore, it is pricier on other sites). It sort of puts the eye cream in the same playing field as the Periconne MD and the Dr. Brandt, pricewise. Performance wise it is not worth that price. It is a good solid eye cream but not a spectacular one.

I have two moisturizers in the line up this week. This was the first week for the OGEE moisturizer and i did like it. it absorbs well without leaving a greasy film and the aloe and jojoba scent of the cream (very light scent) is a nostalgic one for me. It is a first week of use so there aren’t any startling reveals but it is a good solid moisturizer filled with all sorts of organic goodness that my skin likes. because I am finishing up the tatcha cream i am using as night cream, i have only used this during the day. As the Tatcha sample is empty now I will be using it as my only moisturizer this week. My one concern is that his moisturizer is rather light and has more of a day cream feel to it. I’ll see how it performs this week as a solo act. I may be surprised. I do know that I really like it as a day cream though.

And alas the Indigo Overnight repair cream I have been using as my night cream is now empty. (I do have a second sample size, but I am going to leave it in the drawer for now.) I really did like this. It would definitely be too much to use as anything but a night time moisturizer, but it is actually designed for night time use. As a deluxe sample I was able to use it enough to know that I will pick this up for a full sized trial at some point. I love that it had no scent to it and was just a really good light weight but heavy duty moisturizer. I went to bed looking a bit glazed, but my skin wasn’t sticky and the cream absorbed into my skin rather than the pillow. It is one I will try out for longer.

And of course we finish with the Kissu lip mask. I prefer the original to the tinted and will continue using it until it is done. and then I will repurchase it. It is a great over night treatment and I am fond of the consistency.

And so my darlings that is me today. It is not intensely different from last week as there are a lot of products still in motion. But with skincare, drama is usually something to avoid. At the moment I have a good line up of solid products. Now I just need to keep using them to see if they yield the expected results.

New customers can enjoy 15% off on Dermstore!