The Daily: March 7th, 2023

Oh my darlings, today is not a makeup sort of day. While I normally suffer from bouts of insomnia, last night my sleeplessness was helped along by my babydoll’s snortling and snuffling. It is actually a good sign as it means his sinuses are finally draining, but it doesn’t make for a very restful night for the light sleeper beside him. namely me.

Oddly the snuffling is not as bad as the brief period of absolute silence. I will get use to the sounds and start to drift off and then it would go completely silent. Which is the part that woke me up. My first thought was that he suffocated himself somehow and was now dead. So I’d stay awake until i was sure that he was breathing.

It was not a good night and I only started really drifting off around four in the morning. Which is almost like an insult if you ask me. Up all night mostly only to finally drift off and get into deep sleep as the alarm goes off. It is somehow quite cruel.

It was however a lovely morning on the porch. The weather is just now nice enough that I can take my first cup of coffee out there and have a grand time sipping in the still cool but not cold weather. Admittedly I am fairly sure the morning pollen count didn’t help me.

However as i went out onto the back porch it was a sad and desolate place. When the wind roared through I put the trashcan as well as all of the light weight patio chairs in the shed. So there was nary a seat to be found. So I stood with my coffee and glared at the feral cats who have started breeding somewhere in the neighborhood. They see me and run, but their scent is causing the squirrel’s and voles to depart so my garden is actually doing better. I don’t in general mind them, but I am a little wary of how quickly they seem to be multiplying.

However they keep their distance when I am out back so everything was fine. Except for the lack of patio furniture. Although it did leave me with a nice blank slate to study. We have the odd assortment of patio furniture that you pick up because you need something and this happens to be on sale at the end of the season because no matter how many times you tell yourself that this THIS is the year you will be picking up patio furniture, you some how miss the window and just pick up something so you can enjoy the space.

Well our mismatched somethings are beginning to wear out. I actually drifted over to the site Homary where they have some patio furniture I really adore. It actually turns the patio into an outdoor living space with furniture designed to be in the out of doors. They have a spring sale going on right now with up to 70% off for summertime goods. Like the patio furniture.

Of course there is what I like and what my babydoll likes. It is our main decorating dilemma and why it takes so long to actually make design choices. We both have very different styles and finding a compromise that actually looks good is always a trick. Sometimes a compromise ends up looking like I chose half of the room and he chose the other half. Which is something we try to avoid. Which makes us slow decorators.

And often times we put things off until whatever interim thing we are using while we make a decision no longer actually works. Which is almost to the point where we are with the patio. So I think that this afternoon I am going to brows the Homary site and pull up several things I like and hopefully one of them appeals to him as well. And oh yes, I am going to use the 70% off sale as encouragement to think about committing to a purchase.

So no makeup today but there is some plotting and planning and mooning over lovely patio furniture from Homary. I’ll circle back later to try to talk him into some of the smart bathroom features.

Have Coffee, will travel…

I spent a long time working a job where I was on the road ninety percent of the day. It was one of those jobs where I would go into the office in the morning to do paperwork, then I would drive a few hours, go to a meeting or give a presentation, then possibly have lunch before I went back on the road to reach another town for another meeting.

I did get to see a lot of different places and I met a lot of fabulous people, but it meant I spent a lot of time in the car and I often had really long days. During this time I accumulated a lot of different travel mugs. Some held coffee, others had morning smoothies.

Now I mostly work from home. However I have the tendency to pour myself a cup of coffee, sit it next to my mouse and then get working on something and forget it. And so I have returned to the travel mugs for my work day coffee. The thing is though that I don’t always want it to feel like a travel mug.

This travel mug from Smartass and Sass is really helping me out. It is double walled glass that does a really good job of insulating and keeps my coffee warm for a long time. The silicone band acts like an insulator sleeve to keep the coffee hot and my hand from not getting too hot. The silicone top is also well suited, fits well on the cup and all of it is dishwasher safe.

Personally I like the saying stamped on the front. “Excuse me, I have to go make a scene.” is more dramatic than my day usually gets, but as a writer I find it also strangely appropriate as a large chunk of my day is spent creating scenes.

One thing I also like about this is that while the lid makes it look like a travel mug. If I am feeling just like having a cup of coffee and don’t need to keep it hot while working (because I am drinking it while reading something instead of forgetting it while answering e-mails) I can take off that lid. Then I just have a glass coffee mug that fits well in the hand and feels good to hold.

For me this is a definite upgrade from the string of refillable travel mugs (most of which came from various gas stations along my old work route and were attractive mostly because they got me free or discount refills). It also suits my work now. It has traveled out of my house for the occasional meeting and will no doubt see several road trips, but for me, this is a great everyday office coffee mug. if you are looking for something that can easily go from home to car, to office, this might be an alternative.

Scenting the air with Rituals

This Rituals Oil diffuser in The Ritual of Ayurveda, came in my Look Fantastic Advent Calendar. While it looks beautiful, with its well-shaped amber glass carafe of oil, I was a little concerned about it. While I really enjoy Ritual’s products, they are highly scented. Their body lotions are excellent, but I have to make certain to use them at home and not where I am going to come into contact with a lot of people. While I love the scents I am aware that many people are scent sensitive.

For the most part I have only used body products. I have one candle from them, but the scent, even in hand lotion form, was one of their few light ones (The Ritual of Sakara). This Rituals Incense is Rose scented. Rose is always a little bit of an extreme scent. And for me Rose can either be nice or it can be cloying. This is not cloying.

The scent is Indian Rose and Sweet Almond oil. I don’t know if the almond oil balances out the rose or if they are using a different rose to scent the oil than I am familiar with, but it is a nice light scent. As the scent takes a while to absorb into the sticks and from there perfume the air around it, it starts off very light. The scent wafts through the air and is quite pleasant.

This set is described as the mini version which is perfect for small rooms. While the scent is lighter than I expected it is still potent once the sticks are fully saturated. I found it a bit much in a small room. I had it in my office and left it overnight. The next morning I still enjoyed the scent but I thought it might be better in a larger space. I put the oil diffuser into the sunroom. The sunroom is twice the size of my office and it has an open doorway leading through the central part of the house. The scent was the perfect amount for the sunroom and does gently drift into the surrounding spaces. Even though this is a mini, I don’t think I would want anything larger in my home. I live in a house that was built in the late 1950s and while some of the interior has been modified so the rooms are less boxy and closed off, it is not a huge house. (My office is a 12×12 foot square for reference.) This Mini oil diffuser from Rituals is the right sized oil diffuser for my home. I am quite happy with it and to be honest, I like the amber glass of the bottle enough that I will be refilling it and using it again w=once it is empty.

And I am always happy when something can be reused rather than thrown away.

I also like that it has a rubberized stopper for the bottle. I will admit I struggled getting it out of the top of the bottle, but I love the fact that I can always put the stopped back in. While I love scent and having various ones in my home I do have some family members who are very scent sensitive. Knowing that I can enjoy the scent and when I know they are visiting, put the stopper back in and let the scent fade from the air really helps me out. It was a pain to get out of the bottle but it also means that when it is back in the bottle I know the oil inside won’t spill out.

Over all I find this Oil Diffuser in the Ritual of Ayurveda to be a really good product from Rituals that I will enjoy for a long time to come.

Lighting the Demi Mini Candle

This Demi Mini candle came in my Look Fantastic Advent Calendar. It was Day 4 actually (if you are keeping track). I was excited to see this candle for several reasons. The first is that even before I opened the box, the scent drifted out and it smelled fantastic. There were two options you could have received in the advent calendar, one was the Femme and one was the Elle. I received the Elle Mini which is the heavier set woman. I really like that they have more than one body type as a possibility both in the box and on the company website.

Which means the different body shapes ae not just something for the Advent Calendar but something that the Company has on heir website. Which i like. The Mini in the calendar is clearly a mini version of the candle. But on the website you can purchase both the Elle or the Femme in the full size for $19 each or you can by the set together for $25. for the description of the Elle candle…

‘Elle’ Hand poured with 100% natural soy wax blend, with an indulgent cocoa oud scent. Vegan and cruelty free.

Size: 12cm x 8cm x 4cm Weight: 250 grams

We think our candles are too cute to burn, they add fragrance to a room without lighting. However if you do decide to light your candle please never leave unattended and always burn on an even fireproof surface. Burn time around 2-3 hours. Each candle is hand poured with love and care. Imperfections and air bubbles are inevitable although we do standard checks before we send them out to you. (We only send out the best)

The candle has no base, it is just the wax so you will need to put it on something. The scent of the candle is strong without lighting it, which turns out to be a save as you will see. In general, i don’t keep candles that I don’t burn. If I have a candle i will be lighting it. Scent is important and this one has a cocoa and Oud scent that I find deliciously fantastic.

I put it on a tea cup saucer, mostly because I had the tea cup out at the time i decided to light it so it was easy to grab. When the wax spilled down and pooled on the dish it was easy to pry off. I just then needed some soap to get the last of the waxy residue off of the saucer. But the china worked well. I imagine any slick surface would work. The wax pried up easily with my finger nail. But you will need something underneath if you plan to burn.

With my candle the wick was suspiciously long. I should have trimmed it before lighting because it flared up with a really high flame as it caught. The flame died back down to a reasonable level once the wick burned down a little. Little did I know, the wick wasn’t a long wick, it just wasn’t seated deeply in the candle. It only reached to the waist of the the female figure. If it had been seated correctly, It would have reached down to mid belly. why they didn’t have a wick that went all the way down to the bottom of the candle, I don’t know.

It does mean that as the candle burned the entire wick fell out of the candle.

So my remaining candle is more or lass a soy wax figurine. it is still mostly in tact so it is cute. It oddly looks like a more damaged classical statue which i find appealing. The sent of the wax is still fantastic. To be honest I will more than likely put this in a small net bag to keep the wax from rubbing onto anything and then put the remaining wax figure in my chest of drawers. I think if I put it in the middle drawer (it is a five drawer unit) it will perfume all five of the drawers. And it does smell fantastic.

I don’t know if the regular sized candles have the wicks that go all the way down to the base or if their ‘too cute to actually burn’ means that they don’t make them with the intent of having you burn them. If you are buying them for the look and don’t intend to burn them, these are fantastic candles. the are well scented and well formed. If you intend to use this candle as a candle, I would perhaps look elsewhere.

My Favorite New Travel Item

Let me introduce you to my favorite new travel item, The soap Sheet packet from SOS Studios on the Shop Miss A site. I know soap sheets are not a stunningly new item in the world, they have been around a while. However this is my first real experience with them.

I picked this set up from Shop Miss A a while back when I went and just decided to order a whole lot that interested me from the site. As pretty much everything is a dollar it is a shopping spree where I got a lot for very little money. And I found several items I will most certainly be ordering again.

To be honest, I slipped this set of soap sheets into my order simply because I was curious. I’d heard of soap sheets bet never tried them/. The Shop Miss A site had many scents to choose from and I went with the Peach. And to be fair the soap sheets smell like peach. Slightly. Mostly they smell like soap that might have once been placed next to some peaches.

The sheets are thin and feel a bit like wax paper. I put one in my hand and then added water. The sheet starts to dissolve almost immediately. one quick hand rub and the sheet dissolved into bubbles. I rubbed my hands together, washing them and then rinsing them off.

Any peach scent went down the drain with the suds and my hands were just left freshly washed. I suspect that would happen with any scent that you tried these soap sheets in. Some might be stronger than others but i am pretty sure it is the soap that will count.

It is just soap. It isn’t a moisturizing soap, nor is it a terribly drying one. I did end up using hand cream after using the soap, but as after washing my hands I generally sprayed hand sanitizer on them, the lotion was more to do with the hand sanitizer than the soap sheets.

While I was traveling for Thanksgiving and this did let me avoid the mostly empty soap dispensers in the restrooms on the drive. While I was home I ended up washing my hands a lot more than when I was here. There were several children with stick fingers around, mostly because we had a make your own caramel apple event on the Saturday post thanksgiving while several parents went out shopping. There were also several people who had recent operations moving in and out of my visit so the washing and sanitizing was intense. Beyond that, this was an amazingly useful product to have on hand, not just for the trip but in everyday life.

I may have purchased this set of soap sheets from Shop Miss A on a whim, but it is now one of my favorite items and I will be stocking up so that I can keep one in my purse, one in the car and one in my travel kit. Sometimes it is the simple things that make all the difference.

Holiday Gifts: Bold Loft

I have this tendency to remember Bold Loft only around Valentines day. Don’t get me wrong, they make fantastic Valentine’s day gifts. But they also make great gifts for those you love year round.

Their designs are clean looking and most of them are done in black and white with just a hint of red in the hearts. There are actually solid colors available this year. i saw some blue pillows that would actually suit my bedroom really well and might be in an upcoming purchase as we do a little New Year’s Bedroom Refresh.

Bold Loft has large body pillows like the one featured in this photo (left). The case is 54 x 20 inches (135 x 50 cm) and fits most standard sized body pillows. I think that new pillow cases are a fantastic way to just refresh the bedroom and make it look bright and new. (plus the case doesn’t take up a lot of space which nit a lot of décor items can claim. For me it is nice to have items like this that I can trade in and out. I also don’t have a lot of storage space, so something simple like a change of decorative pillow cases really works for me. Personally, I am partial to the I love you to the Stars and back line. There are however many different ones to choose from, all featuring the general theme of love.

If you are looking for regular sized pillow cases instead of body pillows, Bold Loft has you covered as well. They do have the classic white as well, but I thought I would put the solid colors up so you could see the difference in the designs.

My bedroom has three light blue walls and one dark blue feature wall. The headboard on our bed is a soft gray. I am still in negotiations with my babydoll on the duvet cover. We have very different tastes. So finding something we both like has been an interesting (and ongoing) challenge. We both have items that we each had in our own places before we moved in together so we trade them out periodically. For reference as to how on going this is, we combined households in 2010.

Admittedly we have moved about five times since then. Slowly the things we each had are starting to wear out and when they do we come together and buy something we both like. We actually find it easier to wait until things wear out and then begin the debate. With bedding we are actually reaching the breaking point as we have slowly been wearing things out. However with the bedding it is only the sheets and coverlet my babydoll cares about. He has no interest in pillows or pillow cases, which is why I tend to lean into these form Bold Loft.

Which is probably way more about the inner workings of my home then you probably wanted to know. But these pillow cases take up very little space in my linen closet. And they ae an easy decorative item that can be changed out when needed and are easy to just throw into the wash with the rest of the lanudry.

If however bedding isn’t on your todo list, I recommend the mug sets. While many of them are specific for couples and celebrate things like valentines day and weddings, many of them are just little reminders that someone is loved. As I have always lived at a far distance from large swaths of my family, I am partial to the themes of love over a distance, like the Love has no Distance on the right or the I love you to the moon and back featured on the left. These twelve ounce stoneware ceramic mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe.

Again I personally like all of the simple, clean line drawings that are used for illustrations. There are many other gifts and gift sets available on Bold Loft. From superhero themed t-shirts, glasses, and other sets. I find them fun and a nice celebration of love. While you can go onto the site and search by type of item, there is also a menu that lists the items by event: wedding, anniversary, valentines day and long distance gifts.

Honestly, I think they make great anytime gifts. After all why should telling someone you love be seasonal? While I tend to lean more towards Bold Loft for Valentines day, their sets make great Christmas gifts and lovely items to simply refresh your home for the new year. it is well worth taking a look.

A little light with the Ritual of Sakura

I recently received this Rituals Ritual of Sakura candle in a subscription box. While I have used many products from the Ritual brand and in fact several items from the Ritual of Sakura Line this is the first time i have tried one of their candles.

In appearance I find the tiny candle just adorable. And there is something aesthetically appealing about the frosted glass and straightforward labeling. It is, all told a pretty little candle. And one I looked forward to trying out.

Rituals is a brand I find interesting. Many of their products are very highly scented and while I often adore the scents, I have to be careful who I wear the products around. For example the Ritual of Mehr hand lotion is one of my favorites, but the scent is so strong and so long lasting that I really only wear it at home.

When I took this candle out of the box, the scent was an intense cherry blossom scent. I was slightly concerned that it would be overpowering once lit. However the body wash from the Sakura line comes on strong in the shower and only leaves a light delicate scent on the skin so I had hopes this would perform in a similar manner.

so I lit the candle. For as intense as the scent was when it came out of the box, once the candle was lit the scent faded. It gave off only a light perfume. Interestingly, once the candle was blown out and allowed the cool, the cooled solidified wax had a stronger scent than the candle did when it was burning.

even wax melting (it cooled enough to solidify on the side before the picture. The candle does cool very quickly

when lit, the candle gives off a lovely glow and the frosted glass is really shown off to good effect. The top of the glass does get hot, but if you pick the candle up below the wax line it still stays relatively cool.

When burning, the candle burns evenly. There is no tunneling effect where the wick burns down a hole through the center of the candle leaving loads of wax to the sides. This is a small tea light sized candle, but given the way the wax melted while burning I suspect that it would still burn evenly in a larger size. In the room where it was burning there was a barely there fragrance that was light and sweet.

Left alone and unlit (especially after the first burning) it will sent out a stronger fragrance, but it is still a fairly lightly scented candle. Scent wise it is delicately floral and lightly perfumes the air without becoming cloyingly sweet or overly floral. I typically lean towards spicier, musky or even citrusy scents because florals can become a bit cloying for me. this Ritual of Sakura candle from Rituals was a pleasant surprise and one that I will happily continue using and look at purchasing in a larger size.

Two weeks of the Kusker Water Flosser

For the past two weeks I have been using the Kusker Portable Oral Irrigator. It is basically a water pic/water flosser. Oh, and if you are interested Kusker gave me a 10% off code of MSMIMSY.

I grew up using the super clunky water pics with a little tip fitted onto a long cord that led to a plastic box with water in it. while I loved the feeling the water pic gave my mouth, the device was sometimes more trouble than it was worth. The cord tangled. If you didn’t fit the box on the machine just right then it wouldn’t quite work (the gears had to line up on my model). And worst of all water could remain in the cord and go stale so you had to run it a bit to make sure all the older water was out before you actually used it. And sometimes it still tasted stale.

But I always loved the clean feeling using a water pic gave my mouth.

This water flosser from Kusker had all of the great clean mouth feeling that I loved, but none of the troubles of the model I used as a kid. First of all there is no cord so water isn’t getting trapped anywhere. It has water in it when you are using it and then it is not there when you aren’t.

The tips were easy to trade out (this model has four to choose from). They snapped in and when you wanted to remove them, you pressed the button at the top and lifted it out. It was super easy to change them out. I found I generally used one of the standard tips for general cleaning and then I used the tip with the soft white tip for really getting between the teeth.

This model also has four modes to switch between depending on not only your sensitivity, but what you are using the device for. To go over my teeth I used the regular mode, and when I went to work on my gums I generally found the soft mode more comfortable.

Without the cord the water starts to come out of the tip as soon as you press the button, so you need to put the tip in your mouth before you turn it on to avoid making a mess. I was initially concerned about switching modes due to this, but you can change the modes without turning on the water flosser. You simply press the mode button and select the mode you want, then put the tip in your mouth and press the power button.

No muss, no fuss.

One of my initial concerns was also dealing with weight. It looks as though it is going to be a heavy device. It isn’t. even completely filled with water the device was not too heavy to use comfortably. It fit in my hand well and the textured grip kept it from slipping no matter how wet my hands were.

While the water flosser gave my teeth and extra clean feeling, to really bump it up, I did add a little bit of mouthwash to the water carafe and it worked beautifully. This device was easy to use and I really enjoyed the extra clean feeling my teeth (and gums) got from using it. I only used it once a day and once I got into the habit of using it right after brushing my teeth at night it was easy to incorporate it into my routine.

While I didn’t travel in the past two weeks, the provided bag fits the device and charging cord easily, and even has a separate pouch for the separate tips so I know it would be very easy to travel with. I think the key would be to let it dry out completely before packing and everything will be fine. I anticipate getting a lot of use out of this device. The Kusker Water Flosser has earned it’s place in my bathroom and in my dental line up.

First Use Kusker Portable Oral Irrigator

Growing up I had braces on my teeth. Because of this one of the items that was a constant in my bathroom was the water pic. The model I had was a plastic basin filled with water that sat on top of the machine. When it turned on it sounded a bit like a lawn mower. It wasn’t as loud, maybe the lawnmower from the neighbor’s yard instead of your own. The pic part was connected to this contraption by a long plastic cord, through which the water ran. The cord often got kinks in it and was kind of a pain.

Despite the troubles with the machine, I loved it. Well okay I didn’t love the machine, but I loved the way my teeth felt after using it. I could use the water to get in between every little crevice and pay extra attention to my gum line. As much trouble as it was, my mouth appreciated the effort.

each piece was individually and sanitarily wrapped

So when Kusker asked it I would like to try out and review their portable Oral Irrigator, I took a look at it and was thrilled to say yes. They also gave me a code for you to use for 10% off if you are interested. It is MSMIMSY and it is for any purchase on their site not just the water pic. While this was sent to me, my opinions are my own. However I have to say I am very excited for this trial. While this machine has the same water pic ends that the machine of my childhood featured, it is an all in one unit. The water carafe is located in the bottom of the unit and the pic part clips onto the top. For the pic you just insert it into the hole at the top and it clicks in securely. To remove you press the eject button and lift it out.

There are no cords to tangle. You don’t have to make sure there is nothing interfering with the connection between the carafe and the machine. And it is on the quiet side. It makes about as much noise as an electric toothbrush.

There are different modes of use, four actually, for the Kusker Care Water Flosser; Normal Mode for regular cleaning, soft mode for gentle gum massaging, Pulse mode to massage gums, and DIY mode which is where you can adjust the intensity of the water depending on your preferences. I love the amount of control that you get with the modes. and the buttons on the front are easy to see and easy to use. In my first use I ran through all of the modes and it was really easy to use.

There are also four separate attachment nozzles. They are easy to insert and remove. I only used one of the tips but during my trial I will work through all of them and add my thoughts into the final review.

Before use the Water Flosser needed to be charged. It comes with a USB cable. I like that there is a soft rubber cover for the charging plug. I plugged the cable into an adapter cube since I am using it at home instead of traveling with it. It does come with a travel bag and while the bag fits the device perfectly, it also has a small pocket for the pics and cord which makes it really convenient. You don’t have to just drop them in the bottom of the bag and leave them loose. I like that it keeps them from getting dinged up and possibly bent.

I let the device charge over night before my first use. I will monitor it throughout the trial to see how long the charge lasts. The manual tells you not to use it while plugged in, so once charged I disconnected the cable and recovered the port so no water could get in.

The carafe was relatively easy to fill. The cover for the water fill was a little stiff. I suspect with regular use it will loosen up a bit. It had that same stiffness that a new book has. With use it will loosen up a bit and be easier to open for filling. For my first use I filled the tank to the top mark on the plastic carafe.

I then discovered there was one difference I hadn’t anticipated. Without the cord, there is no delay between turning it on and water coming out. With the older units, you turn the machine on then lift the pic to your mouth because it takes a minute to get the water through the cord. Sometimes it took longer because the cord was kinked.

carafe cap a little stiff but I’m sure it will loosen up with use

This had no cord. Just a straight run from carafe to pic. So my mirror took the first shot of water. Luckily it shuts off as fast as it turns on, so a press of the button and the mirror only took one shot. I then wiped it off, Put the pick in my mouth and tried again.

While this first use was more me playing around with buttons and determining the easy/difficulty of set up and taking it from box to first use, I have to say my mouth felt that old familiar fabulous clean. I may not be working around braces any more, but I do love the extra clean feeling I get from using a water pic. I am very much looking forward to putting this Kusker Oral Irrigator through it’s paces in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see how it performs.

The Daily: May 2nd, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings and welcome to May. With as much trouble as the April showers caused, the May flowers are beautiful. And of course more showers are on the way. we had on and off rain here this weekend so I did the last of my spring garden planting between rain storms. The bonus was that I didn’t have to water. We have a garden bed I am keeping my fingers cross for this year actually. It has been a battle to reclaim it from the weeds since we moved in. Last fall we stripped it out completely digging down about a foot to get rid of all the little weed rootlets. we then laid down a garden fabric to suppress weed growth and layered card board over that (a fantastic use of old subscription box packaging in case you were wondering) and then buried the lot of it in rich dirt, fertilizer and mulch. It sat all winter and this weekend I went and scattered bread seed poppy seeds. They are the poppy seeds you see in lemon poppy seed bread in case you are wondering. When the flowers are ready to seed they throw the seeds out in heaps and self seed themselves once they get started so I am hoping that the seeds will not only take, but take over. I would much prefer a bed of purple-y blue poppies to snarled masses of bindweed.

That has been one of the major house projects for a while so reaching the stage where i could just scatter seed was a major accomplishment. And now all I can do is wait and hope nature gets on board.

But with May also comes the need for the changing out of the bed linens. once we get a stretch of good weather all of the winter blankets will get washed one last time for the season, strung up in the sunshine to dry and then packed away while the spring/summer covers come out of storage. I don’t know if you have issues with blanket storage but as both my babydoll and I come from families who believe you can never have too many blankets, storage is always an issue. Until we picked up these vacuum storage bags. I picked mine up from Amazon (it is a general link, no affiliation) and they have been a life saver. Not only do they save space by compressing the blankets but my babydoll has major allergies and soring out blankets in the vacuum sealed bags has really helped. The UV of the sun kills any potential dust mites and then the vacuum seal protects them when not in use.

The park is once again flooded so I am back to Yoga today instead. May tends to be an indoor work out and then things dry out a little and I end up on the summer schedule, walking as soon as I wake up so i don’t give myself heat stroke. Even so with my muscles sore from the garden work, I feel okay with the stretching of yoga. I also feel rather virtuous for completing so many of my spring chores this weekend. Now if only my afternoon paperwork goes as smoothly, I will be all smiles at dinnertime.

Today’s look:

Pre Makeup Base: Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre

Primer: Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer

Foundation: Yensa Super Serum Silk Foundation

Bronzer: Buxom Staycation Vibes in Rooftop Tan

Blush: bareMinerals Bounce and Blur Blush

Highlighter: Iconic Illuminator in Original

Powder: Kim Chi Beauty Puff Puff Pass Set and Bake Powder

Eyeshadow: The Balm and the Beautiful from The Balm Cosmetics

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: Persona Cosmetics lip liner in 90210

Today was interesting as far as testing and favorites go. As for favorites I went for the tatcha silk canvas. I have the balm formula. I haven’t tried the liquid version and I am curious to see how it performs but I absolutely adore the creme formula of this one. It is pore filling and helps lock makeup into place. It also has that lovely Tatcha skincare scent to it. I generally find my skin reacts well to this primer as well. I did want a matte primer today because of the highligher, but I’ll get to that in a moment. The long and short of it is that I adore this primer.

One of my other favorites is the Bare Minerals blush. I am always happy to reach for this one. It can be a little too intense in color in the winter (I have the shade Mauve Sunrise) but as my skin gets summer tan it just looks better and better so I will be using this a lot in the coming months. Which is no hardship. I do need to look into a lighter winter shade though, but I have a little bit of time now before that is needed.

The Buxom Bronzer is also more of a spring summer product. It is of a tone that takes me into spring and early summer but generally isn’t worn after July when I am full on summer tanned. Or at least that was last year’s scale. I ended up spending more time outside last summer than I planned. I also wanted to try a powder product today with the Kim Chi powder. On my first use of the powder I overdid it and everything looked powdery. I was just so enthused but the actually useful powderpuff in the container that I couldn’t hep myself. And over use made things look powdery.

Then I tried a lot of cream face products and it worked fantastically well with them. So I wanted to see if it was me over doing it or if it was just layering with other powder products that caused the issue. I think it might be a bit of both. With one powder product and the rest cream the setting powder didn’t look powdery when used with a light touch. I think however it is the sort of powder I will prefer with cream face products. I also think I am going to use that puff with several other powders. I do like this powder though, it just needs to be used sparingly to avoid a powdery look.

I have been trying out the Saint Luxe liquid highlight and wanted to try it against another liquid highlighter. So today I picked out the Iconic Original Illuminator which is an old stand by. It was far more glowy a product than the Saint Luxe. The Saint Luxe is far more subtle of a glow. Which I don’t mind actually. I know that using the Iconic with Natural look makeup (which is sort of my go to in the summer) is too heavy a highlighter. I don’t think the Saint Luxe will be. While I am finishing up my Yensa trial this week, I think that after the trial is complete I will be trying out the highlighter with a tinted moisturizer instead of a regular foundation to see how it performs. I have high hopes. The Iconic was nice today and I like being able to make the comparison.

The stila mascara I love. It needs one coat and I am done. The fact that I reach for it a lot means the tube is almost empty and will soon need to be replaced. But it is now one of my favorite mascaras.

The persona lip liner worked well all over my lips. It is a creamy formula that can be used as a lipstick. After a few hours though my lips do start to feel a bit dry so I add a lip balm over them. That is enough to keep the lips moist. So I am good with this lip liner.

Today was the first use of the Balm’s The Balm and The Beautiful Palette. As a first use I did the one matte all over the lids with a lighter matt in the corners look. I love the Balm formula. The brush didn’t need tapping off and the matte blended beautifully without a powdery mess. I am looking forward to playing around with this palette.

And that my darlings was today’s look. I feel like I went a little long today but I have several products I am testing out. Hopefully you found it interesting. But now my beauty break is over and I must leave you and heed the call of my inbox. It is the first of the month and and it seems everyone has a new project to start. So off we go. Have a great rest of Monday.