Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Empties: Makeup I Have Used Up: 12-30-2014

A few of these have been sitting in the bag I store this stuff in since July; I’ve not been feeling the most up to organizing my thoughts on these things so it has taken a while to get posted.

Wet n Wild Fergie: Clear Coat



Sunday, December 28, 2014

Never Used: 12-28-2014

I have a lot of makeup, more makeup than I will ever be able to use in a timely manner. But I’m okay with that because the makeup serves more of a purpose for me than just going on my face. It is my therapy for helping me to get through the days when I physically don’t feel good and it is my entertainment on the days when I can’t do other things but don’t feel bad enough to stay in bed all day. I don’t feel guilty for having as much as I do and I value all of the makeup I have quite highly.

Every once in a while when going through my makeup I find something that expired/dried up before I got a chance to use it. I thought it might be helpful to post about those things and a bit about why they never got used in the first place as the reasons will not always be the same.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Influenster Follow up: Blue Diamond Fruit Flavored Almonds and the Vitamin Shoppe Next Step

I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This follow up is very late compared to when it was received because I have not felt up to writing this until now. My apologies for how long this has taken to complete.

These two products I was unable to use because they both contain stevia. I have both had reactions to stevia and therefore am unable to consume products that contain it. My husband had no interest in trying these and I wasn’t going to press him. I do hope to someday be able to make use of the Jaxx Shaker Cup, but at this time have not found a need for it, if I ever do I will follow up again.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Influenster Follow up: Aqua Spa Relax Collection

I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This follow up is very late compared to when it was received because I have not felt up to writing this until now. My apologies for how long this has taken to complete.

Of everything that came in the #govoxbox, this was what I was most excited about. I love bathes, I love bath products, anything to make the bath more relaxing is pretty much a win with me.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Influenster Follow up: Muller Greek Corner and Corner yogurts

I received a coupon for this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This follow up is very late compared to when the coupon was received and the product consumed because I have not felt up to writing it until now. My apologies for how long this has taken to complete.

The yogurt was consumed by my husband because I am not used to have dairy products. The below are his thoughts on how it tasted.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Influenster Follow up: Playtex Sport Fresh Balance

I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This follow up is very late compared to when the product was received because I have not felt up to write it up until now. My apologies for how long this has taken to complete.

When I received this product I thought, “great, free tampons, I can always use more tampons.” I waited until time to use them and then was only able to use two of them. It wasn’t because of a problem with how they absorb, it turns out I am allergic to these. We are not sure if it is because of the perfume or because of the odor absorber, but I had an allergic reaction that ended up being a three day long problem and I only used these for about 10 hours before realizing what the problem was. So I can’t really review these because I wasn’t able to really use them for long enough to say much about them.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Never Used: 07-08-2014

I have a lot of makeup, more makeup than I will ever be able to use in a timely manner. But I’m okay with that because the makeup serves more of a purpose for me than just going on my face. It is my therapy for helping me to get through the days when I physically don’t feel good and it is my entertainment on the days when I can’t do other things but don’t feel bad enough to stay in bed all day. I don’t feel guilty for having as much as I do and I value all of the makeup I have quite highly.

Every once in a while when going through my makeup I find something that expired/dried up before I got a chance to use it. I thought it might be helpful to post about those things and a bit about why they never got used in the first place as the reasons will not always be the same.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Keep in Mind: June 2014

The month of June saw a massive decline in health for me, to the point where my health problems became visible not just in my need to use a wheelchair outside of the house, but also in my physical appearance and written all over my face. I first developed dark circles under my eyes that were significantly darker than I have ever had to deal with even when not sleeping. Then they turned blue to the point that it looked like I had been punched in the face. I also had bruising elsewhere and no cause for the bruises to be appearing, it was all related to my digestive tract no longer being able to absorb nutrition from my food. We have made changing to my food and the way I am having it so that it is easier for my body to absorb and it seems to be helping, but it will be a while before we will know how much.

During this month I have also been using makeup to help distract me from just how far down I was falling health wise. I applied it to my face, when I couldn’t do that I swatched it on my arms or I rearranged it, and when I couldn’t do that I just stared at it. But this month was one where makeup played a bigger roll in giving me something to do throughout the day because most of the time, I could do nothing else other than that.

Of all of the days that I used makeup on my face this month, I had three where I really liked how it looked and one day where I thought I looked absolutely fabulous even though I felt horrible. That one day, while physically unable to do much of anything, I could not stop smiling about how great the makeup had turned out and how wonderful that was making me feel emotionally.

This one day specifically and this month in general reminded me just how important makeup is to my emotional wellbeing, not because I think it makes me look better. I don’t wear it to hide from others how my health is doing (well, I wear it to keep my parents from worrying too much about me but that is only one time a week). I don’t wear it because it is expected, my husband could not care less whether or not I actually used any of the makeup I have, he just knows it makes me smile when I look at it and when I use it so that is why he keeps buying it for me.

So this month there is not a specific product that I want to remember to use or not use. I just want to remind myself to use the makeup as much as I possibly can because it really does work as a therapy for me to help me get through the pain and the frustration that goes along with having an illness.

When I am looking at the makeup, rearranging the makeup, picking out makeup to apply, and applying the makeup, I am not thinking about the pain I am in. I am not thinking about the things I would rather be doing. I am just thinking about the makeup and how pretty it is, and how I can use it, and what all I can do with it. And that makes it a very important thing for me to have.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Influenster Review: PROFOOT Pedi-Rock

I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This is another product for the feet that I really should not be reviewing, this time because my feet are probably the most ticklish part of my body and even doing a pedicure is a challenge. Oddly, I have tried using pumice stones several times over the past 20+ years that I have been aware of them. I am one of those people who wants to take part in a every beauty ritual I learn of including ones for the feet, but alas, I can never run anything along the bottom or sides of my feet more than once without ending up in hysterics.

For this product I was solely looking to see if I could actually touch it to my feet and not start laughing hysterically.


Influenster Review: PROFOOT Triad Orthotic

I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

I am the wrong person to do a review for anything related to the feet. I don’t like shoes and I spend the majority of my time barefoot. When I am wearing shoes, they are sandals and they are only worn to leave the house or the running sandals we found so I could exercise on a treadmill and exercise bike. Shoes make my feet feel very restricted and I tend to fall over more in them because I walk with my feet rather close together and so when I am wearing shoes, they catch on the other shoe. I nearly fell over several times while trying to review these inserts. So I did my best, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I didn’t have very high hopes going in to this testing and review period.

For this product I was mainly looking to see if it would make wearing my running shoes that I haven’t used in over five years wearable again because they were custom fit to my foot and even those I can’t stand wearing.


Influenster Go VoxBox: Preview Post

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This is the preview post I normally do before actually reviewing products received from Influenster. I will admit now and probably before every review posted after this from this series that I was really surprised I qualified for this box because part of the survey to qualify asked for food allergies and I listed gluten and dairy. Two of the food items have dairy and one has gluten. The third one doesn’t have either of those, but it does have stevia which I don’t eat because my brother have a serve allergic reaction to it and I am afraid to eat anything with it. So those three things will be tried by my husband and the review of them will be what my husband tells me.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Samples: Benefit Stay Flawless 15-Hour Primer

I received this sample in the packaging with the Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen WOW Brightening Sunscreen Makeup Foundation in “I’m pure 4 sure” Ivory that my husband got me for my birthday last year. It has taken me this long to actually use it, nearly nine months.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Sample: M.A.C Studio Fix Fluid in NW 10

I received this sample of M.A.C’s Studio Fix Fluid in NW 10 when I was at the mall one day before starting this blog, but I had been thinking about starting it. I told my husband it would be a good idea to get shade matched before I started the blog because M.A.C’s foundation shades seem to be commonly used to tell how close someone’s skin tone is to your own so I wanted to know in order to make this blog more useful to anyone who might end up reading it.


Friday, May 2, 2014

Keep In Mind: April 2014

This is probably going to seem like something of a “yeah, dud” kind of Keep in Mind, but because of my personality, if someone gives me something, I am going to try and make the best of it, even if it doesn’t really work for my skin tone. The only way I would not use something is if I turn out to be allergic to it and then I would try and find someone to give it to that can make use of it.

So for this month’s Keep In Mind:

Foundation that actually matches your skin tone!

I have a lot of foundations, most from the drug store, all generally the lightest shade in the line because my husband knows that if the lightest shade doesn’t match me it is probably because it is too dark and there isn’t going to be a shade in the line to match me. I have yet to find a foundation that is actually too light for me which is probably why I got shade matched to M.A.C’s NW10.

I have spent what seems like the last whole year using up two Sheer Cover Mineral foundations because my husband’s parents bought a Sheer Cover starter kit for me when I first started getting back into makeup. I don’t know if this kit was in the lightest shade or if it was a medium shade, all I know is that both of the foundations and concealers that came with it are all too dark, but me being the “I can make it work” kind of person that I am, used them anyway. It probably helped that initially I wasn’t wearing the makeup out of the house so the only person seeing it on me was my husband and he is a little too kind and always said it looked fine. No matter how much I tried to convince him that it would be better to let me know if something doesn’t look right than it would be to have me leave the house with funky makeup going on, he always says it looks fine, no matter what.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

One Note: Donna Michelle Color Changing Nail Strips

So far I don’t think we have found anything from the Donna Michelle brand that actually works well at the Dollar Tree, but we keep trying and since I like all things nail related it seems, when my husband saw the nail art stickers he picked up a couple, the one shown below and a second one I haven’t had the heart to try yet that has flowers on it.


Monday, April 28, 2014

One Note: Revlon Nail Art Neon in 120 Light Neon

This is a One Note because I am pretty sure this is going to be removed shortly from my nails and is being posted more to remind me to tell my husband not to bother buying any more of the duel-ended nail polishes from Revlon because they have been more miss than hits for me. Granted this one is kind of old, but it is also the first time I used it, although it does kind of look like maybe it had been opened in the store before he bought it because the yellow end was half empty or more. But either way, it is very gloppy and not nice.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

Samples: The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Primer

I received three of these packets from a Body Shop and tried it shortly afterwards. I was really excited to try these out because I use the Tea Tree Oil line for my facial wash and thought this would be a no brainer because I love the facial wash.

First the claim on the packet:

Front of packet:


Thursday, April 24, 2014

Samples: L’Oreal Revitalift Miracle Blur

This was a sample that came in a magazine so it is entirely possible that the way it worked for me is different from how it would be if it had been in the proper container.

First, what the card claimed:


Front:

The 30 Second Miracle

Try it to believe it

Directions: Apply Miracle Blur in the palm of hand to see instant results

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Empties: Makeup I Have Used Up: 04-19-2014

Sheer Cover Mineral Foundation in Buff


It has been a while since I managed to use up a makeup product and I forgot how exciting that can be to be within the last two uses of something and then to finally use it up. Then again, I probably still had two uses worth of it today, but I just wanted it done and to move on to the next thing to use up that I went really heavy handed with and I am probably currently several shades darker than I would be normally.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Holiday Nails: Easter 2014


So this year I decided to go for a less is more approach and discovered something in my collection of nail polishes that I didn't realize worked the way it did.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Review: Maybelline Great Lash Mascara in 102 Brownish Black

So the first Mascara review will be of Maybelline Great Lash in 102 Brownish Black.  This is an older mascara as far as how long it has been around, but it is also one of the first mascara's I purchased so I need to use it up before I start using the newer ones that have been purchased.

Mascara:    Maybelline Great Lash Mascara - Brownish Black

Front of package: