Tuesday Tips: Wear Makeup For YOU!

Today I wanted to address something that has a more personal meaning to me. Working in cosmetics can be really fun, but sometimes it just makes me realize how insecure women can be about themselves. Not everyone has to wear foundation and powder and eyeliner and mascara and eyeshadow and every other makeup product imaginable.

I think society makes women believe that we need to wear makeup to be beautiful. Wearing makeup is not a requirement and you should only wear if you want to. I just think some women don't fully understand that or maybe need to be reminded of it sometimes.

Personally, makeup makes me feels good about myself. I struggled with feeling very insecure about myself throughout my middle school and high school years. It maybe even started before that. Makeup became something that made me feel good and for the longest time, I thought I needed foundation and everything else because I felt it made me more beautiful. It took many years and a lot of growing up to realize that I don't need to do anything to please anyone but myself. 

Hahaha I found them gem on good ol' Facebook. I thought I was super cool.

I obviously still wear makeup today, but I wear it for the right reasons. I wear makeup for my own pleasure and not to impress anyone. I don't do it for the compliments and I don't do it to get anybody's attention. I do it for MYSELF!

Basically today's tip is to love the skin you're in. Wear the makeup you want to wear and don't wear makeup for anyone else but YOU. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

I hope you all have a great New Year's! Stay safe and have fun! I can't wait to see what 2014 brings! :)

Ulta Cyber Monday HAUL!

This is kind of late, but better late than never right? Here is my Ulta.com Cyber Monday haul. I haven't used very many of these products yet, so I don't have any in depth reviews of them, but you can at least see what I got.

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Unapologetic

I just had to try these and they were buy one, get one 50%, so I thought now was as good of a time as any. This shade is a little lighter than I expected, but I still love it. It is basically a bright pink with a hint of orange. The color payoff is AMAZING! The matte aspect is what really attracted me to the product (that, and I just love Revlon products in general). These are $8.99 at Ulta.

I've Been a Bad Blogger...

I suck. I have been really slacking on posts lately. I've been crazy busy these past couple of week (excuses, excuses), but I am slowly getting back in the swing of things.

I'm sorry and I'm trying my best to just put together as many posts as possible so that I can post things periodically every couple of days. Thanks for your support, views, etc. :)

Tuesday Tips: Don't Go Overboard With Bronzer

This tip is going to be pretty short and sweet.

If you use bronzer, please try not to go overboard with it. I see too many women walking around with bronzer all over their face, looking very unnatural and orange. You are beautiful just the way you are and your makeup should be used to enhance your features or play up some features.

Also, bronzer is not a foundation, so please do not put it all over your face like so UNLESS the rest of you is somehow way darker than your face or if your foundation is too light for
your face and you need to compensate a bit.

I'm not bronzer expert by any means. These are just my tips and opinions. There are hundreds of Youtube videos that you can watch on how to wear bronzer if you aren't sure.

I hope everyone is having a good week. I have my last final tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to post some things I've been meaning to post now that I will have a little bit more time, so look for a new post or two later this week.

Fortune Cookie Soap HAUL! (Nightmare Before Christmas Collection)

I ordered a bunch of stuff after Fortune Cookie Soap's launch party a few weeks ago and finally got it all last week. The downside to me ordering all this stuff is that I hadn't gotten my Soap Box at the time, so I had to guess which scents I would like best. Some of the scents I like better in the Soap Box I wish I would have gotten more products of. Oh well.

I also ended up winning a sort of contest FCS did during their launch party. They ask questions and have you answer them on their Facebook page. Then they randomly pick winners for each question. I won a free fortune cookie soap of my choice from the collection and the holiday worlds mini fortune cookie soap set.

Here is a look at everything I purchased/won. Just a warning: this post is VERY picture-heavy. I have talked about the actual scents in my previous post about the Soap Box, so you can check that out for scent descriptions there or look on the FCS website.

Oogie Boogie Fortune Cookie Soap
It's earthy brown with a bug sticking out of it. How perfect is that? 

Jack Fortune Cookie Soap
Pretty self-explanatory how this captures Jack. The specks on it are glitter from other products that kinda got everywhere.

Tuesday Tips: Don't Overdo the Perfume

Have you ever walked by someone and been gagged almost to death by their perfume? I'm sure you have because I have experienced this way too many times.

Here's the thing: you don't need to douse yourself with perfume. If you have sprayed yourself with with it and can't smell it after a while, that doesn't mean it has worn off. Beautylish had posted an article a couple weeks ago where they talked about this:

It’s normal to lose the ability to smell your signature fragrance.

Apparently, everybody gets accustomed to their own perfume, in the same way that we get accustomed to other elements of our direct environment. (Think about how you can smell something stinky when you first enter a room, but that over time, your nose sort of adjusts.) According to Malle, once you get accustomed to your fragrance, you’ll only smell it when you spray it, or when consciously trying to pay attention to it. But that doesn’t mean others can’t smell it. Therefore, Malle warns strongly against putting on even more to compensate. “I always suggest to remember how many sprays you applied when you first started to wear that fragrance, and stick to it. Maybe one extra ‘pshitt’ for special occasions but not more!” he writes.

So my tip for you is to spray a perfume on yourself a few times (remember how many times you spray it), wait an hour or so, and have someone smell you. If they can still smell the fragrance on you then you don't need more. Stick to that number of sprays when applying it in the future.

Tuesday Tips: Beware of Salon Products Sold in Drugstores

I've decided to start giving a weekly tip that may or may not be beauty-related. They will mostly be beauty-related in some way, but I might throw in something else every once in a while. I will do one every Tuesday, hence the name Tuesday Tips.

My first tip comes from reading this article written by a hair stylist. I don't really ever buy salon hair products at a drugstore, but this makes me never want to start. It's worth the few minutes it takes to read.

http://www.xojane.com/beauty/why-you-should-avoid-salon-products-at-the-drugstore

If you really don't want to read the article, here is what I think you should know:

"What happens is that the world's least threatening black market underlords (actually, they call it the 'gray market') will buy salon products from a legitimate distributor, then set them aside in a warehouse for years until the barcode expires so they can't be tracked.  During this time, not only does the barcode expire but so does the product inside, warping from heat or just the cruel sands of time into something that is an ineffective shadow of its former self."

I would suggest not taking any risks and buying salon products from an actual salon. You can feel better knowing you are getting the real deal and you can get advice about what products to get from your hair stylist. That is a win-win situation! :)

Have you read my November Favorites blog post yet? Check it out here!

❤ November Favorites ❤

Woah. Where did the freakin' month go?!

By the time the end of each month rolls around, I usually feel like the month went by pretty fast. November seemed to fly by so fast though that I feel like it should still be the middle of November.

The new month means it's time to share with you what products were my favorites in November. Let's take a look, shall we?

Revlon Lash Potion Mascara

This mascara is actually pretty dang decent! It doesn't really clump, has a good brush, and it holds a curl while volumizing my lashes. I have noticed a few times that it does flake slightly. It doesn't do it all the time though, so I don't know if it's common with this mascara or not. It's still a part of my favorites for November though because I used it almost every day and I think it's a good mascara for a drugstore brand.