Rescue me! Cold Weather Remedy

I was given Garnier's Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel Cream as a Christmas gift and I tried it out once last winter and wasn't particularly happy with it, but now that the weather is getting colder, my skin needs a little bit of a rescue from the dryness. On the packaging it says it's for normal to combination skin, and while I don't consider myself to fit either of these categories I tried it out anyway. It comes in a quite handy little glass pot, which makes it easy to get product out without risking squirting it everywhere or wasting a ton that you can't end up getting out of the container. It doesn't have a particularly noticeable scent, which I find to be a positive because I don't much care for putting chemicals on my face that have the chance of giving me acne (which perfumed lotions do a lot more often than I feel they should).

The consistency was at first a little disconcerting for me. It 's more fluid than I had expected initially, but it works to the products advantage in a way because it is super light on the skin and doesn't leave behind a residue like some lotions can. It also definitely moisturizes. I find my skin to be quite dry most days and this lotion worked like a charm, even though it was for normal to combination skin. The formula is super easy to apply and a little goes a long way, which you all know I love using less when I can.

The only real problem I have with it is that it seems to make my skin tingle (in a not so pleasant manner) after I put it on, and this continues until it dries. This isn't particularly going to stop me from using the product, though I may read the ingredients and speak to a doctor to determine if I have some kind of sensitivity to something in the product.

I do hesitate to use any moisturizers around my nose however so I will have to try this out and see how I feel about it on my nose, because it is particularly oily (but somehow my skin is still dry).

As always, stay beautiful!

(And warm...)

BNB

DIY Project: Makeup Palette

I undertook a giant project in hopes of downsizing the amount of space all the makeup I hoard will take up, without having to actually throw things away that I still find useful. I may not use the products every day, but I'm not ready to let them go just yet. So I decided that maybe my best bet was to pull all of the makeup pots out of their palettes and place them in a magnetic palette, much like the Z palettes you can buy.

This process was a lot harder than I expected in some cases... Some palettes are better constructed than others for sure. Depending on the type of glue and how much was used simply prying the pots out may or may not be your best option. A lot of the cheaper palettes I actually heated up with a lighter and softened the glue enough to pry it off the trays, but for the ones that didn't work for I had to use nail polish remover, or simply pry at the pots and hope for the best. I cracked a few shadows and bent a few trays, but I got them all out. The cracked ones may or may not stay in the same trays, a lot of them are sort of weird shaped (whoever decided it was a good idea to make triangle trays I hate you...).

The next part of the process involved building the palette base. I had started out putting magnets on the bottom of the pots themselves and putting them in a metal box, but realized that the actual Z palette brand has a magnet palette base and metal pots, so I quickly changed my plan and glued a magnet sheet to the bottom of my one plastic palette I wanted to use and stuck the few trays I had that were metal in it. I only did this because if I want to buy a Z palette at any time I want my pots to be compatible with it without any issue.

I have to figure out how I'm going to go about making the cheaper aluminum pots react to magnets. I thought about washers, metal paint like you put on the walls, buying a thin metal sheet, using magnets that will attract to the base, or simply just splurging on the little metal stickers from Z palette when I buy the empty trays to finish my potting adventure.

I still have a bunch of lipsticks, loose shadows, and cream eyeshadows that have to be potted into metal trays so that I can put them in the tray as well. I don't intend to put many of my lipsticks in the case, as I much prefer applying them from the bullets themselves, but there are a few that I hardly every apply that I figured might be better off as part of a palette rather than taking up space in a drawer or just sitting in my train case hoping that I remember they exist one day and using them.

I haven't tried the potting process for loose shadows or the melting process for lipsticks and cream shadows, but I will post a little blurb once I have time. I only have one empty pot at the moment so I have to wait for my Z palette pots to come in the mail before I can undertake this part of the process.

Hope this is helpful!

Have Fun and as always Stay Beautiful!

BNB

One Use Sample: Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey

This product was a one use sample that I received in the mail. But let me say right away, this product was not at all what I expected, and I'll give you the reasons why straight up.

1. I felt like the general quality wasn't spot on for this one.
2. I felt like the color payoff wasn't what I expected it to be. I know it's supposed to be between a gloss and a lipstick, but it wasn't really tinted right.
3. I had to really pile it on my lips to get the color to show up.
4. The color was so brown-ish that it didn't suit my skintone at all. the packaging it came in made it seem more like a deep wine red than a brown red.

I've never used many clinique products because I find them to be pretty expensive, but I thought I'd give it a try. Sadly, I was unimpressed, but at least I hadn't purchased and entire tube of product only to be disappointed.

First Thoughts on NYX Lip Primer and NYX Matte Lipstick

When I bought NYX's Lip Primer in Nude, I had heard it being raved about on YouTube by a few beauty bloggers I follow, and I decided that maybe I would give it a chance and see if it helps me cut down on the amount of times I have to fix my lipstick. I haven't gotten to try it with many of them yet, but the ones I did try it with so far gave me inconclusive results as to whether it works or not. I tried it first with my new lipstick from NYX which I will also review in a moment. Some people were complaining that the formula was tacky and kept lipstick from applying smoothly, but I had no problem with that myself, the lip primer went on smoothly, as did the lipstick. I will have to see though how other lipstick apply over it as time goes.

NYX's Matte Lipstick in Nude has a smooth application texture, and the finish is very matte, but my biggest issue is that this color is not at all the color I expected it to be when it said Nude. The color is so much more yellow-y tan than I had imagined and it looks like I'm applying a horribly mismatched color of concealer to my lips. I probably should have actually bought this in the store rather than ordering it online to save myself the trouble of not getting the right color, but they only had one nude shade, so I had assumed it would be a more versatile shade than it was... (You all know what Assuming does.)

Long story short: Pale Girls Beware.

Maybe I'll learn to love these products over time, or maybe not.

As always, Stay Beautiful!

BNB

Haircut and Product Sample Review

So I finally went and got a haircut yesterday at my local barber shop. Which sounds as weird to say as it probably does for you all to hear that I don't go to a salon instead. I've got really short hair so the guy at the shop pretty much just shaves the back down really short and then cuts the top until the hair doesn't get in my eyes when it's pulled forward (it sounds pretty boy-ish when I describe it, but it's really cute I promise).
It's a pretty versatile cut, I can style the top in just about any direction I want, and even with the back being so short I can still keep from having the same hairstyle every day, which was one of my issues with having long hair because I pretty much wore it the same way every day.

Anyway, to go with this new haircut I decided to try out a product sample I got last month in my purchase from Ulta.
I started out using it yesterday evening, and I'm already loving it.

Get Action Wax from a company called Matrix on their Design Pulse line of hair products.

It's a spray wax. Yes, a wax that sprays on like hairspray. I never thought I would find a wax that didn't require me to scoop out a bunch of goop and try to spread it evenly about in my hair. I've been unsuccessful with regular styling wax so often that I hardly ever bother anymore, but this product sample changed my mind. I'm going to be purchasing this product and using it every day until I decide to grow my hair out again.

Pros;
It has great hold, it's definitely waxy, but it doesn't get hard and crispy over time. You can move the hair around and style it after it dries to some extent, though the product does hold in place enough that it's not going to fall flat quickly. It's minimally messy, and doesn't have any real type of smell that I've noticed (It's definitely not a bad smell, but I can't really smell any strong scent of any kind after I spray it).

Cons:
I find it to be a bit of a downer that I have to buy their products through their site or through amazon. I figured Ulta sold them, since it was after all a free sample from their store, but this is not the case which I found a little misleading and made me grumpy. The only other not so great thing about it is that it seems a little more on the expensive side, but I'm willing to shell out a little extra money for a product that works as well as this one does.

Stay Beautiful!
 BNB