Pink Ritas and Lip Gloss

I am in the process of cleaning out my apartment and have been reflipping through my old Shape and Self magazines.  I have found some really good recipes and tips by rereading my magazines.  Tonight I found this one tip that I was really surprised about because it was something I would have never thought about had I not read this tip.  It has me rethinking my approach to drinking water each day, especially while I am sitting at my desk.

Smoker’s lips (those fine lines around your mouth) is on the rise, even in nonsmokers. Why? Apparently, too much pursing as you sip on a water bottle or sip through a straw, can cause the same wrinkling around your lips.

Eeek! I drink the equivalent of 4-5 bottles of water each day! I think I will be bringing a large plastic cup to work to drink out of instead. If you want to avoid these wrinkles, the tip suggested either trying a wide-mouthed bottle (try the HEB branded water) or switching to a glass.

I have never been much of an artist.  I always desired to be one but my brother received the artistic gene.  I did have quite the bit of fun back in my sorority day painting banners for the house or decorating trash cans and such for my little sis.  Something about holding onto a brush was very therapeutic and fun.

Two years ago, I discovered the art of using brushes to apply pieces of my makeup - mainly eye shadow, blush, and eyeliner.  I have to give the beauty experts credit.  They were and still are right that when you use a brush you can blend your makeup better and you use less product.  Taking that into consideration, I finally purchased a foundation brush from Sephora and have been trying it out.  At first I felt like I was painting foundation on my face.  I wasn’t sure how much foundation to dispense nor how much to apply onto my face using a brush.  It took a little playing and practice before I got a handle on using a brush with foundation and I am really glad I made this purchase.  I find the brush helps to spread the foundation all over your face and gives a smoothing effect.  I also find that I am now using less product than even before I started using a brush.  It really is similar to painting and finding the right amount of product to “paint” on your face.  Definitely two thumbs up on this beauty trend/technique!

Yay!  My boxes came.  So far I have used the Stila tinted moisturizer (SPF 30, oil free) and my Urban Decay eyeshadow in Mildew.  I have yet to try my Pop Beauty Lid Gold eyeshadow but I have a feeling it will be on Friday or Saturday as well as breaking out the new She Uemera eye lash curler and maybe a few of the free samples.  Shipping was incredibly fast as usual for Sephora and the samples included were worthwhile.

But… you knew it had to be coming… I am only 50% happy with the products I have tried.  I love the Urban Decay eyeshadow in Mildew and you can either layer it thinly for a spring look or thicker for a fall look.  There is no glitter in this eye shadow so there are no worries about having glitter all over your face.  The blending ability and ease of use help me to give this 5 stars.  What I am less than impressed with though is Stila’s tinted moisturizer (SPF 30).  This is a product that has been out for a few months now.  I was curious to try it since I am fair and can use all of the SPF I can get on a daily basis and I tend to break out if I’m not careful with my makeup routine.  I had never noticed before but the other Stila tinted moisturizer (SPF 15) is not noted as being oil-free.  So I paid the extra $6 for the newer version and have tried it out about 3 times.  I find this formula to be thicker and darker than  my usual tinted moisturizer.  I really had to work hard at blending the moisturizer into my skin and spreading evenly.  I have never had this issue with the other version and I just find the thickness to be strange being that this is moisturizer.  Due to the difficulty in applying from thickness as well as the darker color I am giving this a 2 star out of 5 star rating.  I have it packaged back up in the box and ready for return.  My face does pretty well with the older version acne wise so I’m not going to change it up just because this product is being advertised as “oil-free”.  I have a sneaky suspicion the other one is oil free but they are trying to get you to spend the extra few dollars on the newer version.

I placed 2 orders over at Sephora.com last weekend during the long holiday weekend and now I am trying to be patient to get my goodies but it is so hard.  It is funny though because nothing that I have ordered is really “new” to me but nonetheless I want my boxes and I wanted them yesterday!  So what am I waiting for?  Lots of fun items such as the new Stila SPF-30 tinted moisturizer (which is new to me), a Shu Uemura eye lash curler (replace my old one), Urban Decay eye shadow in Mildew (just loved the free sample and bought a full sizer), and Pop Beauty’s eye palette in lid gold similar to the lid silver that I already have.  I also have a few foundation primers coming as free samples and once I get those in I can finish my foundation primer review post as I should have tested out a fair number of them via free samples.  I will give full reviews of everything above as soon as my boxes arrive.  Order one includes the Stila tinted moisturizer and Shu Uemura eye lash curler and that should be in on Monday I think.  The second order hasn’t shipped yet so it could be next weekend or the following.  Either way as long as it gets here in one piece I can’t complain!

Wow!  I am completely blown away with this product.  As you know I have been looking for the perfect mascara for almost a year now.  One of my biggest complaints has been falling eyelashes (won’t stay curled) and then too difficult to remove and thus I remove lashes with the mascara.  Well a few months ago I was complaining in Sephora while buying yet another brand of mascara and the girl recommended Make Up Forever’s Sens’Eyes eye makeup remover.  I wasn’t completely out with my sephora brand remover and wasn’t really thinking all that much of it since let’s face it I am not familiar with that brand at all.

Well the day finally came when I ran out of my Sephora eye makeup remover and I was  going to try the Stila brand since I had some luck with the free sample not too long ago.  Unfortunately, Sephora didn’t have this in stock so I went over and grabbed the Make Up Forever Sens’Eyes.  Can I just tell you I am in love with this product!!!  I have only used it once but I don’t think I’ll be switching to something else any time soon.

To use it you squirt just a little onto a cotton pad.  Then you smooth it out over the cotton pad and apply to your eye lid by just gently placing on the eye lid and holding for a few minutes.  While you are holding the remover is dissolving the makeup and picking it up on the pad!  No rubbing involved.  I did the same thing with my lash lines and everything came off.  I had no eyeliner or mascara left over after I finished applying the remover and I didn’t lose a single lash.  This product is totally worth the $23 selling price.  Only thing you have to remember is not to press on the pump too hard or too much of the product will come out.

I am super excited.  I finally earned enough Discover cash back bonus awards to cash out again.  Normally, I cash out for a payment towards my balance but this time around I decided to let my bonus work for me and I cashed out my $20 for $25 at Sephora.com.  You know what that means right???

Shopping spree and new products to try out except I don’t know what to spend it on.  I’m not sure if I want a new Philosophy 3-in-1 since I finally used up the last of my Crumble Berry Pie scent (so not my favorite) or if I want to splurge on a new She Uerma eyelash curler since I have had no luck lately with my quest for new mascara.  But then there is always those products I always think about trying but never buy because they are a little pricey or the latest trends in makeup.  Tough decisions.  I might just splurge and try the new trend -> teal eyeshadow over a shimmery brown.  I figure I already have Stila Kitten which is the perfect light, shimmery brown maybe I should just splurge and pick up the Urban Decay eyeshadow Peace as shown below.  I’ll report back what I decide on and how much I like it.

A few years ago I was at my local Foley’s (ok maybe it was 5 years ago since they are now Macy’s) Benefit counter and the girl working the counter suggested I try using a liquid eyeliner instead of a pencil eyeliner.  I can’t remember why I was there or what I was there for but it definitely was not about eyeliner.  So after much pondering I decided to give it a try and order a brush and liner from sephora and I have yet to go back to pencils since!

Since buying my eyeliner brush I have learned that by adding a tiny bit of water to any eyeshadow you can have instant eyeliner.  The only down-side is that if you use too much water you can end up with a complete mess in your compact or hard spots from adding the water.  Too Faced actually has a promising tool - Liquif-Eye which is a stiff brush with a pot of solution that you rub across any eyeshadow and create instant eyeliner.  While this isn’t really new from what I was doing before I thought it would be good for traveling or keeping my eyeshadow clean (ie not drenched).  So here it is:

As you can see its rather compact.  I would say the whole thing is about as tall as a pencil liner.  It is not any thicker than a tube of mascara so great for traveling.  I have tried this out twice so far and well I’m rather disappointed in the product.  Yes it stays true to its word in that it is not messy and it can turn any eyeshadow into a liner but… it doesn’t really work unless you are using a dark shadow as the liner on top of a really light shadow on your lid.  In other words, eyeshadow as a liner and not a shadow just isn’t dark enough without trying to cake it on.  I can see this coming handy with the Benefit Bebe Cakes which are dry liners that you add water too.  I think I’ll dig one of those out this weekend and give this a try with it.  I quit using the Bebe cakes because they are very dark and one off stroke can leave you with Cleopatra eyes instead of subtle eyes for work.

So overall - I think its an easy product to use and helps keep eyeliner from going on too thick or ruining shadows by adding too much water, I just don’t think it delivers what it is marketed to do.  So my recommendation is to stick with a brush and your Stila Smudge Pots and forget the Liquif-Eye (or at least return it before you lose out on the $18).

Love handles - Who wants those? I know I don’t! So in my ongoing effort to improve my boring workouts I have found another fun exercise to do with my exercise ball. This time the focus is on getting rid of those pesky love handles. This exercise is fairly simple and easy to do in the comfort of your home. You just need an exercise ball and a wall. Sounds simple. There is one move you do for both sides of your body and because you are balancing between the ball and the wall there shouldn’t be any worries of rolling off the ball either!

Ab Exercises from earlier in the series:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I made the trip home this past weekend without a hitch Friday night. Unfortunately, the main bridge between Baton Rouge and Houston was shut down for most of Sunday so Mike and I had to take the scenic route to Opelouses to catch I-10 again. I think if we would have known the extent of the closure we would have left sooner than 6pm. It made for a very rough drive home and an even rougher day at work. Luckily we arrived safe and sound and will just catch back up on rest/sleep next weekend.

We ended up heading home for a couple of reasons. The main one was for my cousin’s wedding shower. She is “getting married” at the end of May. I put it in quotes as she and her fiance/husband jumped the gun and got married privately in February and are still having the big wedding next month. Its all rather interesting.

I am not a huge fan of wedding festivities such as the bridal shower and even less of a fan of those lingerie showers. I am rather picky about my undies and find it a pretty private matter and not one I’d want to share with my friends. I’m also a brand/label snob even when it comes to undies and chemises
and I would hate to ask my friends to not only buy this stuff for me but to spend the money on the brands I prefer. So luckily I just had to sit through the standard pots, pans, towels, linens, etc. before what turned out to be a very looong drive home. Not sure if I could have handled a lingerie shower and then a long drive home.

Growing up I was always a coupon clipper. I remember sitting at the table on Sunday mornings and cutting out coupons for my favorite foods and then those I *thought* I might try and slip into the basket Somewhere along the lines coupons started dwindling and my usage of them stopped. It probably was when I went off to college and decided I was too cool to read a newspaper other than the student paper. But now that I am on my own and paying for groceries myself I’ve started to pay attention to prices and wondering about coupons to cut down my expenses. I’ve read on a budget message board about how much people have been saving at CVS and Target so I’ve been scouring the internet. I did find a few Target coupons that are quick and easy to print out and redeem. I’ve never used an internet coupon so I’m a tad nervous but I figure the worst that will happen is they will tell me no. It doesn’t hurt to try. I’ll let you know how it turns out.