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