The Daily: March 27th, 2023

Good afternoon my darlings and welcome to another Monday. I hope yours is treating you well. Mine is chugging along nicely actually. We had a weekend where the weather was nice and the wind was blowing just right so we opened all of the windows to air out the house and began the first major spring cleaning of the year.

It felt fantastic. I know cleaning is normally not high on my fun times for weekends, but there is something about the full spring clean that just makes me feel so fabulous. The house smells fresh, all of the extra winter things are gathered. Even if we get a cold snap the hats and gloves and scarves and other winter things that pile up are put away for the year. Sheets are washed, blankets hung out in the sun and you find things you thought you lost.

It feels a bit magical.

And to top it off this weekend when the house stuff was done I sat down and cleaned my makeup brushes. I have to say there is just something extra nice about sitting down to do your makeup on a Monday morning with a full set of cleaned brushes. This is my every day jar. I have other brushes that I will sometimes swap in so that I don’t have to clean the brushes I used because of time and other excuses. I cleaned all of those too. It took quite a while because I have been putting it off for a long time. I did end up putting all of the extra brushes out of sight so that hopefully i will just remember to clean these instead of swapping the dirty brushes out for clean brushes.

One can hope.

I have to say it was a nice way to start off a Monday. I got back into my early morning workout routine, making it just a little bit earlier than before actually. We have started putting the seedlings out to start the hardening process so after Easter we can start the garden planting. That means adding a little early morning garden tour to the schedule to make sure things get watered before the sun is fully up. Right now it isn’t much of an issue, but I need to get in the habit of checking every day now so that when the summer heat rises I have the habit of checking each morning well established.

Mornings are not my strong suit and to be honest, habit is how my mornings run. It takes a bit to set a habit but once it becomes habit and I can run my mornings on partial autopilot, things go a lot more smoothly. So the seasonal transition has begun. My day now starts with me rolling out of bed and into my workout clothes, doing my indoor workouts, putting on the coffee, checking the garden and then coming in for shower and skincare. After that the regular day can begin. The first week of transition is always rough, but today wasn’t that bad. I might be feeling differently come Friday, but today at least went well. I am taking it as the positive step into spring.

Today’s Look

Primer: YSL Touch Eclat Blurring Primer

Foundation: Tom Ford Traceless soft matte foundation

Bronzer: Viseart Bronze Noix

Blush: Beseme Cosmetics Cream Rouge in Crimson

Highlighter: Wander Beauty Wanderess Glow in After Hours

Setting Powder: Anastasia Beverly Hills Setting powder

Eyeshadow: Butter London Natural Goddess Palette

Mascara: Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara

Lips: Yensa Super 8 Vibrant Silk Lipstick in Noble

In March I am making an effort to work through my primer samples. To be honset I may have to make that a goal for April as well. I had more samples in that samples box than I thought I did. This one has been hanging on for a while. I am going to make an effort to use it all this week to try to work through it. I love this YSL primer. It makes my skin feel soft and smooth and foundation glides over it. I think I keep putting off finishing the sample because I know I am going to want to pick up the full size as soon as it is done and I really need to finish out some full sized primers before I do that. While I love primers for a stretch there subscription boxes were just sending lots of them so my already large collection multiplied. When I did my spring cleaning of the makeup this weekend I found a couple of full sized primers I hadn’t even opened yet. So need to clear out some space before purchasing any full sized items. Which I know is a stupid reason to drag out the use of a sample size. But it is such a good primer.

But I am determined to finish the sample. It will not be going back in the makeup drawer.

The Tm Ford Foundation I need to remember to reach for more often. I think the reason that I don’t is because it is a very liquid formula and can be a bit messy. Usually I dispense product onto my hand, dot it onto my face with a finger, blend with a brush and then if necessary go in with a makeup sponge. With this foundation I dispense a tiny bit on the hand, dip the brush onto my hand and apply, then dispense a little more. I have to watch the dispensing as it will run off the back of my hand. It does mean I use less product so this bottle will last a long time. The top does get messy and needs to be wiped down after each use but it is a beautiful light weight foundation.

I like the fact that the Viseart bronzer is buildable rather than highly pigmented. I feel more in control when I use it. It blends well and the tone is great for my skin. I also adore the packaging. I know packaging isn’t everything but I do like the little fold out pouch.

the foundation pump always gets messy because it is such a liquid formula

Today was the first use of the Beseme blush. Technically speaking I did use in on Thursday but then here was an incident involving mud and a run away dog and well perhaps we had best call today a first use. The metal tin is lovely and the cream is highly pigmented. I also have Crimson which I think is their darkest shade. it works well for my skin but it needs a light touch. I applied with my finger and it needed to be warmed up a little. Which my finger did. I will try using a sponge for application tomorrow to see how that does, but the finger approach worked well. I dotted it on my cheek and blended with clean finger tips. I would recommend having a cloth to wipe off your finger as soon as you are done. Even after applying I had product on my hand and it needed to be wiped off.

I remembered highlighter today. I don’t always. I love highlighters but I don’t always remember to wear them. The Wander Beauty is one of my favorites though. I have a sample size pan but the sample lasts forever. At some point I will get a full size but it will take a while. I like that even though this is silvery it has a pink under tone that lets it blend in a bit better. It can be stunning or subtle. As I am usually going for an office look I prefer the subtle.

The ABH Setting powder is nice but messy. There is no inner lid so I always get a spray of powder everywhere. I am almost done with this container though. I have a back up waiting but I am ready to clear this one out.

Today I pulled the Butter London Palette out of the drawer. This palette I don’t reach for often but it always makes it through the decluttering process. So I decided to take it out and see if it really deserved to stay. And yeah there is a reason I keep it. The colors are rich and saturated. The one matte is brown and when the brush is tapped off there is little fall out. It blends well as a base and then the shimmer shades glide over easily with a dry brush. The shadows stay in place all day and despite having only one matte there is enough variety in the six pans that I don’t get bored. It is a really good little palette. I think i gets lost sometimes because of it’s size but there is a reason it has lasted through the declutters.

Of the Tarte mascaras I have tried this is my favorite. It gives me nice long lashes with one coat and it doesn’t flake. perfect for a daily look.

This is my first actual Yensa Lipstick. I usually go for the lip oils from Yensa. Although that may have to change. This is a creamy pigmented formula that is really nourishing on the lips. It is a bullet style so it doesn’t dry down and there are lip prints, but even when the color starts to wear off the lips feel hydrated so for me that is a big win. Plus I like the color.

And that my darlings is me today. When I tidied up I found some products I hadn’t reached for in a while and I decided to use them. I am really glad I did. I thought I might use them and decide that no, they don’t need to stay. Instead I realized there was a reason I kept them around. Which is also good to know. Especially now that i get to use them.

But for me it is back to work. I hope you have a fabulous rest of Monday.

The Daily: January 24th, 2023

Good afternoon my darlings. Today is a chilly one. I have had fun with the computer for most of the day. The first issue is more fun.

At the bottom of my computer screen there is a section of the menu bar that tells me the temp and the basic weather conditions. It is basically the degree and a one word descriptor. The descriptor is sometimes a little less than helpful. From about May onwards it just says ‘Humid’ Occasionally Humid is replaced with Raining and then it goes back to humid. I have more of a descriptor selection from October through April, although Humid does still crop up. Today it tells me it is cloudy. The fun part is that every time I have glanced down at the menu bar the degree has dropped by one. We started out this morning at 34 and we are now at 22.

And no I don’t think that my looking at it cause it to drop, i just think it is funny that every time I look it has lost one degree.

The second computer issue has been a little less amusing.

I am starting to set up to record audio books. Prior to this I’ve worked with other people’s set ups and recorded other people’s books. No I want my own set up not only for other people’s books but for my own. Today, I wanted to test the system and the room, so someone loaned me a cheap microphone so I could test out everything to make sure it worked properly (noise canceling, recording all that stuff). That way I can adjust what I need to pick up when I order my microphone. This mic came with a USB connector and it took me far to long to realize that the reason I wasn’t getting anything to record is that my computer wanted me to use the mic jack instead of the USB port. which made the ‘I can do a quick test in five minutes’ plan go out the window. It disturbs me to know just how long it took me to realize that it was definitely an operator error.

I really don’t like when my technical failures produce head slapping moments from things I should have realized a lot quicker than I actually did. It does mean that I know what I need to check before ordering, but it it took up a larger chunk of my day than I planned to give. And I have no one to blame. It would be nice to have someone else to blame, but alas it is not to be. And now the mic and any additional necessities will be ordered separately. Because I need the microphone to test out what necessities I may need. I was hoping to get them all in one shot. But that to is not to be.

Today’s Look

Primer: AOA Studios Blurfection Face Primer

Foundation: Yensa BC Skin on Skin Foundation

Bronzer: Viseart Bronze Noix

Blush/Highlight: Beauty Bakerie Cotton Candy Champagne Blushlighter Palette

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

Eyeshadow: Ciate London The Velvet Palette

Mascara: Milk Makeup Kush Mascara

Brows: Benefit Cosmetics Precisely My Brow

Lips: Laura Mercier Rouge Essentials Beige in Time (70)

I know I have been testing out the HIDE foundation. I planned to continue with it but this morning I noticed the expiration date on the bottom was January 8, 2023.And while I haven’t had a problem with it on my skin, I always get really timid with expired foundations. I’m actually quite annoyed with this as it was a really good foundation and I just got it in This month’s BoxyCharm Premium. It actually arrived after the 8th so it was expired when i received it which doesn’t make me happy at all. I think I wore it enough to form a review of it, but I don’t think I will be wearing it again. At least not this bottle.

So I fell back to one of my favorite foundations instead, the Yensa BC Foundation. I have no problems reaching for it. And actually since I wanted to test out a primer it was good that I was using a foundation I know and love. Today I wanted to try out the AOA priming Balm. It is a balm formula It is about the size of a single eyeshadow and like most things on the Shop Miss A site it was only $1. I figured it would be good to travel with, providing it was worth using.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well it has performed thus far. It is not as creamy as other balm primers. It is a little crumply, but it warms up and is less crumbly once on the skin. I think if I held it in my hand and warmed it up in the pan it might not be crumbly at all. As soon as it touched the skin that wasn’t an issue. It just needs a little warmth. It blended beautifully and the white faded to nothing. It smoothed my face down and helped fill in some of my fine lines. I was very impressed with it’s first use.

I went for the Viseart Bronzer today. It always performs beautifully. In general every product I have tried from Viseart performs beautifully.

I also reached for the Beauty Bakerie Blushlighter palette today. This always amuses me. I look at it and every time i think, wow that is a bright pink blush. Then I apply it and it is bright when I first apply it, then I blend and it just blends beautifully. I gives me a nice soft blush. I could build it brighter if I wanted (or had a darker skin tone, which for me would be mid summer so I an use this year round) but it just blends so beautifully for a soft glow. I really need to stop thinking of the bright pink and use this more.

Today I also went for the Kim Chi setting powder. While I would use this just because of the powder puff, it is also great setting powder. So it is sort of a win win. Very little is actually needed so the container will last a really long time.

I did go a little crazy with the shimmer from The Velvet Palette today. I accidentally grabbed the wrong brush. It was fluffier than I expected and so there was more shimmer than planned. But I still really like these shadows. Ciate shadow formulas can be a bit hit or miss for me, but this one is beautiful

I think this may be the last of the Milk Makeup Mascara. It is as sample tube and I think the sample is now ended. Which is sad, because it was a beautiful mascara. It is definately one I will purchase again.

And I went back for my OG brow fave today. The precisely my brow. This was once the only brow product I used and while I have expanded, I really liked going back for it today and will be using it more often.

And finally the lips. This is a bullet style lipstick so it never dries down and does leave lip prints on coffee mugs. It is a super creamy and comfortable formula though and I really enjoy wearing it. Plus the magnetic lid means I can put it in my purse with no worries of it coming open. And as this is a lipstick that will need a touch up, that is a very good thing.

And so my darlings that is me today. I rather like how things looked today and quite honestly it was really nice to have one thing turn out well today when I spent far to long babbling incoherently at a microphone that wouldn’t work. I know, having your makeup come out well is a small thing, but today it is a consolation prize. And now it is back to work for me. Have a great rest of the day.

The Daily: September 21st, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. Today is a day filled with last minute things. I am spending it wrapping up the last of my contracts that need to be done before I leave for my Mom’s house. Tomorrow I’ll do a last minute tidy before I begin my packing.

I have no expectations of it staying tidy while I am gone, but i will feel better if I leave the house clean. And so I thought today you might like to see what makeup I am taking with me. As I will only be using the makeup I take with me while I am gone, there won’t be any daily posts until I return (there will be regular reviews up). So I thought it would be nice to share what I am going to be using for the next two weeks.

I am actually taking a train case (mostly because I wanted to put my skincare and makeup in one easy to use case). Also since I will be going for two weeks instead of just for a holiday I am taking more full sized products rather than the travel and sample sizes that I usually travel with.

The train case is an old Caboodles one. I’ve had it for years and it does look a little rough around the edges from travel and there are stains inside. What I do like about it is that the case is easy to wipe down. There are actually far fewer stains than there could have been, I’ve just had this for nearly a decade and it has seen a lot of use. It is a well travelled case. Plus for the first two years it was where I kept all of my makeup. In addition to wipeable interior, this one also has metal corners which has also kept it going for a long time. The link will take you to the Caboodles site (Mine is the Medium train case) if you are interested.

But as with most things it is what is inside that counts. While i will go through the skincare tomorrow let’s take a look at the makeup now.

Primer: Tatcha The Silk Primer

Foundation: Yensa Skin on Skin BC Foundation

Powder/Bronzer/Blush/Highlight: Pur 4-in-1 perfecting powder palette

Brows: iMethod Beauty Eyebrow Stamp Kit

Eyeshadow: Naked Honey Palette from Urban Decay and Viseart Petit Pro Deux

Mascaras: Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Brag and Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real Magnet Mascara

Lips: Guerlain Velvet Longwear lip in Black Red, MAC Love Me Lipstick in Bated Breath, So Juicy Plumping Gloss from Colourpop, Stay Glossy Lip Gloss from Rimmel London and Yensa Super 8 lip oil.

First I chose the Tatcha primer because it is my favorite. I know it will work and it is easy to use. While there are many primers that I really enjoy this one is my long term favorite and the one I will always repurchase. It blurs pores beautifully and works well both with my skin and under pretty much any product I pair it with. And when traveling a primer that isn’t going to cause problems is for the best. This isn’t the time to try something new.

The Yensa Foundation is also one of my top foundations. The BC foundation is just so beautiful on the skin. I tlooklike my skin but better. Even though I rotate through foundations, I have managed to use up an entire Yensa BC foundation this year. This is actually my second one of the year and I have enough product to get me through the two weeks and maybe a little to spare in this second one. I have already ordered a replacement, which should arrive while I am gone so I will have a fresh one ready for me when I return.

The Pur palette I am taking with me because it is an easy face palette to use and will travel well. I tend to travel with it a lot, mostly because it is a hard plastic case and won’t break but also because it is just easy. Pur is one of those hit or miss brands for me. There aren’t a lot of products I like from them but this palette I really do love using. For me it is one of their few hits.

The Urban Decay Naked Honey Palette I adore. It has all of the browns and golds and bronzes that ,my little heart loves to use. and the shadows work well. For me it is a fantastic everyday palette. I added the Viseart petite palette because it has some fabulously pigmented shades that are easy to work with and I thought that at some point I might want to take a break form the browns and having a few colors on hand might be a good idea.

I am taking two mascaras with me as well. The ABH Lash Brag which is very volumizing and the Benefit They’re Real Magnet which is extremely lengthening. They work well together and alone and are in my list of top mascaras. This Lash Brag has been open long enough that both product wise and time wise it won’t be coming back from this trip. I only keep mascaras a max of six months and this is nearing that time limit. the tube is also starting to feel close to empty. So I will take it and finish it up. The Benefit is new and has yet to be opened. And yes I do have a replacement ABH waiting to be opened when I return.

The brows I don’t want to think about so I am using the stencil and pomade from iMethod Beauty. While the stencils will remain in my makeup kit, I think I will run out of brow pomade during this trip or very soon after. while the stencils are fabulous the pomade is good mostly because it is the right shade for me. I may or may not replace the pomade with the iMethod pomade but I remain in love with these stencils.

And now the lips. You knew I wasn’t going to choose just one lipstick didn’t you. And In all fairness I should confess that there is a lip scrub and my Tatcha Kissu lip mask already in with my skincare. But I did think about my lip products. There is the lip plumping gloss. The Rimmel lip gloss has just a light shade that is just my lips but better. The MAC is my go to neutral. I almost always travel with a lip oil and the Yensa Super 8 is my favorite. This one is half way empty already. I have lost count of how many times I have repurchased it. And for a bold lip I am bringing the Guerlain lipstick.. Plus that is in a reusable case with a mirror which is always handy.

Of course my baby doll pointed out that it is heavy enough that it could also be used for self defense if needed. The case is a substantial and reusable metal case. It is quite fabulous and to be fair it is somewhat heavy. Not that I plan to throw it at anyone.

And so my darlings, these are the products I have chosen to take with me for my two weeks at my mother’s house. I think they pretty much cover any contingency that I might face. Into the train case it will go, along with the skincare (packed last minute). This is the makeup I will be wearing for the next two weeks and quite honestly I am very pleased with my selections. But now it is back to work for the final push to clear off the desk before I go. Have a great afternoon everyone.

The Daily: September 19th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. Do you see the photo to the side? I know, some of you are wondering why I took pictures of my shoes. But those aren’t just any shoes. Look closely, do you see? That’s right, they are close toed shoes.

Those are actually two of my favorite pairs of shoes actually. I tend to wear them from fall through spring. Thy are getting a bit worn actually and I will soon be looking for replacements, but that is not the point. The point is that in the summer they live in the closet, in a heat induced hibernation. I simply can’t wear them in the summer because I will overheat. With the exception of my walking shoes I haven’t worn closed toed shoes since May. And truthfully since we hit our first 90 degree day the first week of May, sandals arrived with Cinco de Mayo.

If you look on the calendar t=you will see that Thursday Autumn officially begins. And while my tomato plants are still producing like it’s July and I am just now starting to harvest the first of the cantaloupes (Halloween melons anyone?) the temperatures have dropped enough that I felt justified in slowly edging out a few of my favorite early fall pieces. Like the shoes. It also helps that this weekend the strap broke on my sandals. While I purchased a couple new pairs in the spring this was the pair that I was hoping would last one more summer. You know that really comfortable pair that despite how fab they feel were discontinued by the brand and you can’t find anywhere any more? This was my pair. I hoped they had one last summer in them and they did, barely. So away they went and to make them feel like they survived to the end of the summer I took out the first of the fall shoes.

Not that I think the shoes actually care, but I am so ready for fall and it seemed like a good reason. I also felt like today needed a bit of glitter and I started taking out some fall makeup. But we’ll get to that below. Today though, I was feeling like fall, despite the overflowing tomatoes.

got a hair cut over the weekend. The bangs were trimmed and I had layers put in. It feels so much lighter and has a lot more movement.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer

Foundation: NARS All Day luminous weightless foundation

Setting Powder: Fenty Beauty Pro Filter in Cashew

Bronzer: Viseart Bronze Noix

Blush/Highlighter: Natasha Denona Bloom Blush and Glow Palette

Brows: iMethod Beauty Eyebrow Stamp Kit

Shadow: Maybelline Color Tattoo cream shadow in Knockout and Hourglass Scattered Light Glitter Eyeshadow Foil

Mascara: Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Brag mascara

Lips: Guerlain Velvet Lip in Black Red

like I said i was feeling fall today and for me that meant getting out an actual foundation instead of a tinted moisturizer. I went for the NARS because it is beautiful And it works well with the Tatcha Primer underneath. We all know I don’t need an excuse to use the Tatcha primer. It is one of my absolute favorites. It lasts forever and is well worth the price.

The NARS foundation is a good one. You have to shake it before use, especially if you don’t use t everyday. I always forget how little product you actually need for this foundation. A little goes a really long way and it lasts a really long time. It is a luminous formula that is still on the matte side. As you all know I am not a dewy look kind of person so for me this is perfect. it is brightening and works well. I did go a little heavy with it today because I simply forgot how little is actually needed. It is a thinner formula so it is more like a serum than a cream. Which is something to watch out for when applying. I might use this again tomorrow because I just like it.

The foundation is slightly too light for me (It is my winter shade) so I used the Fenty setting powder. It is in the shade cashew and is slightly too dark for me. The two paired well. By using the darker powder with the lighter foundation I actually got something that looks fine for me.

For the bronzer I reached for the Viseart. I like the formula and I was thrilled that it is now back in stock. For a long while they just couldn’t keep it in stock. It felt like taunting when I used it and it was out of stock. ‘Oh I like this bronzer but you can’t get it because it is out of stock. Ha Ha.’ Not that I was thinking that, but it felt that way. Now it is back in stock so I can recommend it again. It is a product that is more buildable than it is pigmented. For me this helps as i sometimes get my balance off so I like sort of drawing a light line on my cheek so I can make sure that my cheeks match before I build it up. It does blend very well also and I just find it to be a good product. And it is back in stock.

The ND Bloom palette sits in the back of the drawer because of it’s height but I really like it and need to find a way to bring it forward. I have a blush declutter coming up so perhaps once i clear a few products out I will find a way to adjust it’s location so I can reach for it more. I love the cream blush in this palette. I’m not as enamored of the highlight as I prefer something a little more subtle but I like it enough that when i take the blush out I will use the highlighter. I would still like just a pan of that cream blush though.

The iMethod stamp is a favorite so that I can get my brows to look like they match. The stencil is a permeant addition to my makeup bag, the pomade is however running very low. I will need to replace it soon. I like the pomade formula. I need to try it with my other formulas to see if they work as well with the stamp application.

The Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Brag i like more and more each time I use it and I will certainly be repurchasing it. It has a fluffy hourglass wand and is fantastic with both volume and length. I haven’t had any problem with flaking either which is nice and again a reason to repurchase when this tubes time is done.

the semi dried out color tattoo was hard to work with but I do love the shade and that glitter

For shadows, I wanted to use the Glitter shadow from Hourglass. I just felt like a little shimmer for a Monday. Because of it’s size it is stored with my Color tattoos from Maybelline. So I took one of the mattes out to use. It is a bit dried out. and it was hard to use. So it doesn’t look the best and the eyes don’t match because of it, but it was still usable, barely. I may try the rehydrating with facial oil trick on it because when they aren’t dry they are fabulous. Today, not so much. We’ll see how the rehydration goes. I did love the Hourglass though. There is a little fall out mid afternoon because I didn’t use a primer. Also when I used the Hourglass with the Maybelline when it wasn’t dried out, the cream shadow helped lock in the Hourglass without a primer. They make a great pair actually. And if my attempt to save this cream shadow doesn’t work I will probably just repurchase it. It is a good formula. I may have to order it though as the drugstore almost never has the color I want when i go in.

And finally I used the Velvet Lip from Guerlain. I adore this formula. It is a bullet style lipstick but once it settles into place it stays there. I did not leave a trail of lip prints on coffee mugs and tea cups throughout the day. If it weren’t so pricey I would stock up on this formula in multiple shades. As it is, I will use this one down to the nub and purchase a refill. It looks great and is super comfortable to wear. Plus it has some weight to it so it feels extra luxe to use. Even if i am in a t-shirt working at my desk today, I felt super special putting it on. And it never hurts to use something that makes you feel special.

And so my darlings that is todays look. I was thinking fall and leaned into it hoping the weather would follow. I know we are due a few more sweltering days and it will be October before fall thinks about arriving, but I am hopeful and a little encouragement can’t hurt. So it is back to work for me now. Have a fantastic rest of your Monday.

The Daily: April 4th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. I am starting off this week exhausted. We had company over the weekend. My brother and mother to be exact. I love them both dearly, but neither of them ever stop talking. They also talk over each other and both to you at the same time about entirely different subjects. And they both talk in their sleep. My babydoll heard talking and went into the hallway and looked into the guest room to see my brother completely unconscious talking to the ceiling.

The gist seemed to be some piece of equipment breaking down, in case you are interested.

I loved having them and it was great to see them but the constant stream of words was honestly exhausting. When they left my babydoll and I each retreated to different rooms and didn’t talk the rest of the day just because I think we were both talked out. And on my walk this morning I didn’t even turn my ipod on I just walked in the empty park in silence. Well not actually silence. The birds have returned.

Okay that sounded a little ominous. They haven’t returned as in some horror movie type way, it is just spring. Although with the temps plummeting again, you wouldn’t think so. we have a lot of birds and the park was alive with birdsong today. It was actually nice to leave off the head phones and actually listen to nature. I don’t do that often enough. I need to remember to leave off my ear phones more often. Admittedly I can only do it when it is just me at the park. If there are large groups from one of the offices that back onto the walking trail I find myself eavesdropping on their conversations. I don’t mean to but I just can’t help myself, hence the voice blocking music.

For Today’s Makeup I went with simple and easy. The only thing I am currently testing out is the highlighter. I just wasn’t really up for testing today.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer

Foundation: No 7 Lift and Luminate Triple Action Serum Foundation

Bronzer: Viseart Bronze Noix

Blush: Gold Rush Blush from Benefit Cosmetics

Powder: No 7 Perfect Light Pressed Powder

Eyeshadow: Storybook Cosmetics Little Briar Rose Palette

Mascara: Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara

Lips: UOMA Lip Liner In Angelou with Kinship Lip mask as a topper

Today was super simple. The Tatcha primer always performs beautifully so it is a no brainer to reach for. And No 7 may be my absolute favorite foundation at the moment. Don’t get me wrong there are others that i really like, but this one is the top of the charts. I think I am in general starting to like serum foundations more as a style, but this is a no fail foundation for me. I can put it on in the morning and not worry about it all day. If it is warm, then I may have to do a quick powder pat with my compact, but that is it. And warm is not really on today’s agenda.

the shimmer transfers and drips down the nose, but the mattes are great

Seriously All weekend I thought about how I need to start changing over my wardrobe now that we were in consistently 70s temps, and then last night we had a frost warning and it was 34 when I woke up. That’s the real springtime madness. But moving on.

The viseart is excellent because it is easy to control the level of pigmentation and build it up. It is just a beautiful bronzer and the perfect shade for me. It can go from light natural looks to more glam ones, or as glam as I get these days. And you know I love the Gold Rush Blush. I can’t be the only one though as it is back out of stock on the website. I keep meaning to see if it is one of the pans in a cheek palette. I like a lot of benefit products and this blush has started to get a severe dent in the middle from where I have used it. When I replace it, if it is included in a palette I may go for the palette so that I’ll have other product to play around with and not just stick to my favorite. but I have a few months before I need to get serious about that.

I have less time with my No 7 pressed powder. The pan showing through the product is showing more and soon it will need to be replaced. I have a couple of other pressed powders I want to use up and clear out so I may put off repurchasing it just because I know as soon as I repurchase I will just go back to using it. But I like the way this never looks powdery, especially when I use it for mid afternoon touch ups on summer afternoons.

The Stila Mascara is also rapidly moving into the favorites category. I am a fan of how my lashes look today. and the UOMA lip liner, you know I love.

Which leaves us with the highlighter and the eyeshadow. I grouped them for a reason actually. The highlighter I am having issues blending. It isn’t that it doesn’t want to blend, it is just that you have a limited window for blendability. If you apply it and don’t start blending immediately it is just going to decide to stay where it is. But then thee is a tendency to blend all the way out. I will continue playing with it, but at the moment it is not my favorite liquid highlighter.

The mattes in the storybook cosmetics I love. Today I used the blue tinted silver called Fairies on my inner corner and my cheeks have a bit of sparkle to them that does not come from the highlighter. With Storybook cosmetics I generally love their mattes and don’t care for their shimmers. The problem is I really love their mattes and forget about the shimmers until I apply them. Maybe I need to pair one of my shimmer palates with it and use the mattes from one with the shimmers from the other. Alas, I did not do that today so it looks like I have cried silvery tears. Or it would if I didn’t adjust every time I pass a mirror.

Over all, today was about quick and easy and I chose the products that perform well without me having to think about them, for the most part. while there are many good products, the hero of today’s look has to be the No 7 Foundation. It is quite simply fabulous.

But now it is back to work for me. I hope you are having a great Monday and recovering well from whatever your weekend held.

The Daily: March 21st, 2022

Ah Monday. Always a toss up between a nice easy day and utter chaos. I kind of like the fact that you can’t really tell which it is going to be until you ae in it. I worked hard on Friday and thought I had cleared the deck so Monday would be a nice easy slide into the work week. It hasn’t turned out that way. I think someone drank some panic juice over the weekend. I had three calls this morning from someone about a project i turned in two weeks ago.

Somehow he forgot that it came in, her reviewed it sent it back to me for changes and then got the changes in last Wednesday. So I had a few freaked out messages followed by an apology as he confused the project i did with something from someone else. Which, from what I figured out with the messages, isn’t due for another two weeks. But also has nothing to do with me.

I did however have a minor freak out thinking I missed something. So most of the morning was unsettled and in panic mode. Until the apology. when I knew it wasn’t me that got confused. Always nice to hear, but it did throw everything off track. There was no walk this morning so my plan is to finish this and then go on a longer walk to kind of soothe my brain and mentally settle before I try to get on with what I had initially planned for today.

What a way to start the week.

But at least the apologies were effusive when the mistake was realized.

Today’s Look:

Primer: Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Primer

Foundation: Charlotte Tillbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation

Bronzer: NudeStix Nudie Bronzer

Blush: Benefit Cosmetics Gold Rush Blush

Highlighter: Illamasqua OMG Beyond Powder Highlighter

Powder: No 7 Perfect Light Pressed Powder

Eyeshadow: Viseart Petit Pro Trois Shadow Palette

Mascara: Athr Beauty Big Bang Mascara

Lips: MAC Love Me Lipstick in Bated Breath

Today was a mix of favorites, new products and in progress testing. Let’s talk about the favorites first, you know they are ones I love and reappear often. There is the Banana Bright Primer, the Gold Rush blush, The Illamasqua Highlighter, the No 7 Powder and the MAC Lipstick. All are products I will use repeatedly and then repurchase to use again. In fact as far as pressed powders go I am only using up the few others I have and then I will only really keep the No 7 around. While I will try others it is now the only pressed powder I purchase.

I am currently trying out the Charlotte Tillbury foundation. While I liked it with the brightening primer, when i used my foundation brush I found there were a lot of streaks in the product and I had to spend time with the makeup sponge to blend them out. I didn’t have this problem with the Tatcha primer, so I think it is just the brightening primer. I will be rotating primers to double check. Today I used only the makeup sponge to apply the foundation over the brightening primer and it worked really well. I liked how the foundation applied much better than when i used a brush. I think this just might be a foundation that applies better with a sponge than a brush. which is good to know. It takes me longer to work with my foundation when using a sponge than with a brush but with a full coverage foundation like this I don’t mind. I generally only use full coverage when I am going somewhere and then I take extra time. It just isn’t something I would want to do first thing every morning.

The Athr Beauty Mascara is also an ongoing trial. It is not a one swipe and you are don’t mascara. You need to apply several coats. However if you do, it lengthens the lashes beautifully. It just takes a few coats. I know that sounds silly to say, but each coat uses more product so the more coats you need the shorter the length of time the mascara will last. which is something that needs to be factored into the value of the product as a whole. I know they make a big deal about the recyclability of the wand, but I would prefer if it felt a little more sturdy in the hand. It feels a little on the thin side.

There were two absolutely new products today. The first was the bronzer stick that came in my Macy’s box. The color is nice but it took some effort to blend. I am going to break out a denser bristled brush to try with it tomorrow, but the formula isn’t wowing me at the moment.

The second new product was the Viseart Palette. I have the petite Deux so when IPSY had the trois on an add on I added it. I really love those little fold up packages and the shadow formula is very nice. I went light today going for a subtle look. It works just as well as the other palettes from Viseart which is nice as I have had a run of hard to work with palettes, It is nice to have a shadow palette where things just work as I expect. The Viseart formula blends really well and despite high pigmentation, they can blend down to be a really soft look. The formula I like, so it is a matter of seeing if the color selection works and how I feel about it after using it as my sole palette.

For me, that was today’s look.

For those of you who don’t know Today is world Water Day and Avene has a sale going on. I love Avene Thermal Water and stock up on it every Spring. It is a fantastic way to cool down gently after working in the garden or going on a walk once the weather turns hot. It is less of a shock to your system than anything colder would be and it hydrates. I know, not the spa like image spray water usually projects but for me it is a garden staple and a bottle sits by my garden door all summer long. Soon it will be time for me to stock up so I might be taking advantage of the sale as well.

Avene – World Water Day GWP Free 50ml ATSW w/ $55 Code: REFRESHME