Girl, You Only Have One Face

Welcome to another neutral week. This time with TWO neutral palettes. This picture just looks so...beige. The dirty Beauty Blender doesn't seem to be helping. Avert thine eyes. Face products : ~ Bobbi Brown skin foundation stick "00 alabaster" - not my favorite, but I like having the stick for travel so I don't have to limit my liquids as much. I'm going to try applying it with a sponge instead of a brush this week, so we'll see if I like it any better that way. ~ Sephora Collection bright future gel concealer "04 buttercream" - I can see streaks on the side of the packaging and less product is coming out on the doefoot, so I imaging I'm getting close to the end of this. I think I'll be a little disappointed to see this one go. ~ Fenty pro filtr primer - decent primer. It's solid enough that there's a mountain of product around the edge of the bottle, with a hole in the middle. So I can't use the pump anymore - I have to s...

Intro It looks like 2019 is going to be the Year of the No-Buy. All over YouTube, people are starting No-Buys, Low-Buys, etc. with varying sets of rules. I, like many others, was particularly struck by the videos of Hannah Louise Poston's no-buy for 2018. I watched the year-end wrap-up recently, and too many of her points hit home for me. I encourage you to check out her videos if you're unfamiliar. Many people are doing Low Buys in which they set limits on the amount of new products they can buy, likely so they can continue to produce new and exciting content. However, I don't make any money from this blog (nor do I anticipate doing so in the future), and its' content doesn't hinge on "new and exciting" anything. My finances have not necessarily been suffering as a result of my makeup purchases either, and I feel lucky to say that. So why a no-buy? Why I consider myself to be an everyday person who happens to spend way too much time and money on makeu...

It would make sense that if last week was a palette extravaganza, this week I pull out all the single shadows I have bouncing around. I really never reach for those poor suckers. Probably because I have so many beautiful palettes. Maybe someday I'll be one of those people who has a carefully curated Z-palette of singles that meet my needs. But for today I have a basket full of singles. Base products : ~ L'Oreal infallible pro-matte foundation "101 - Classic Ivory" ~ L'Oreal magic lumi highlighter pen - I'm using this as a concealer, and I'm not a fan of the brush applicator. It clicks up like nothing...nothing...nothing...big glob right at the base of the bristles. Will finish using, but will probably not repurchase for that reason. ~ Becca Velvet Blurring Primer - liking this more each time I use it. Gives my face a soft, powdery feel after application and makeup goes on nicely over it. ~ Too Faced peach mist setting spray Face products : ~ Bit...

This past month has yielded some progress, but picking so many mostly-full items means I won't see myself finishing a whole lot. Especially at the beginning of the project. I'm happy to get more use out of these products, especially since they're the ones that usually get shoved to the back of the line. ~ Tarte Tartlette in Bloom: There's really not any visible progress on this. I've been using this as a companion palette to a different more colorful, shimmery palette each week. It has been a decent "workhorse neutrals" palette. While I don't LOVE it as much as I did when I got it, I also am not as bored with it as I was when I put it into the project. I have more appreciation for its' place in my collection and I'm happy to continue using it. ~ NARS Audacious lipstick "Anita": If you look at the picture from the intro post, you'll see that I was in the "A" before, and now I'm into the "R" on the sid...

This is apparently palette week. And another project pan week. I'm hoping all the fun colors in this week's companion palette will get me out of the rose-gold rut I've been in. Base products: ~ L'Oreal pro matte foundation "101 classic ivory" ~ NARS radiant creamy concealer "Vanilla" ~ Hourglass Veil Mineral primer foil ~ Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray Face products: ~ NYX highlighter "Ritualistic" ~ Bite multistick "Gelato" ~ Hourglass Ambient Lighting edit volume 4 - using this for the bronzer and the setting powders. I'm honestly not sure if I know how to use these correctly. They're allegedly supposed to turn me into a beauty goddess, and I haven't seen that effect yet, but I'll keep you posted. Eye products: ~ Tarte Tartelette in Bloom ~ Urban Decay Elements eyeshadow palette - it's been a hot minute since I've used this one. I feel a little silly buying it at full price when i...

This is the week in which you'll start seeing my Project Pan items...over and over again. Sorry bout it. My plan is to pair the Tartelette in Bloom with a different companion palette each week. I'm just really not the biggest fan of the Tarte shimmers. And from seeing my makeup baskets each week you probably already know that I like to sparkle. Anyway, here's this week's basket: Base products: ~ Laura Mercier foundation primer "radiance" ~ L'Oreal pro-matte foundation "101 classic ivory" ~ Cover FX power play concealer "P light 2" ~ Too Faced Peach Mist setting spray Face products: ~ Bite multistick "Gelato" ~ NYX highlighter "Ritualistic" ~ Benefit Hoola Lite ~ L'Oreal infallible pro-matte powder "100 porcelain" Eye products: ~ Tarte Tartelette in Bloom ~ ABH Soft Glam palette - this has been pairing well with the In Bloom, but the looks have been pretty similar. ~ ...

My goal for 2018 was to pan the Anastasia Beverly Hills Master Palette by Mario. It's a limited edition palette from Christmas 2016, and it was a gift from my fiance (now husband). Since it's LE, I was hesitant to use particular colors and, to be honest, the palette as a whole - what if I run out and can't use it again?! Once you see my year-end progress, it will become clear that those fears were completely unfounded. Here's where I started the year: You can see some nice dips, and there are clearly shades I enjoy. There are no pans. Here's how I ended the year (please excuse the lighting): Over the course of the year I hit pan on: NYC, Kim, Muse, Marina, Lula, 5th Ave, Bronx, and Paris. I didn't have any goals for using Hollywood or Claudia. I didn't make much visible progress on Isabel or Violeta. A few notes about my makeup usage habits - I work three 12-hour shifts a week as a nurse. At the start of the year, I worked night shif...

Y'all. This month looks pitiful compared to past months. I suspect it's because I've mainly been using full-sized skincare so I'm not blazing through as much as I have been. ~ It cosmetics secret sauce moisturizer sample - was a little too much for my oily skin. would not repurchase. ~ Mario Badescu herbal rehydrating serum sample set - this was a gel moisturizer, so it's no surprise that I liked this one. Might try it again in the future, but I have a lot of moisturizer to go through first. ~ 2 Sephora samples of Commodity Gold perfume - this is a warm, sweet scent that I really enjoy and I currently have a travel-size spray. ~ Living Proof perfect hair day shampoo - if you remember when I finished the conditioner, you'll recall that I hated this pair of shampoo and conditioner and I used it up as a shaving cream. Would not repurchase. ~ Estee Lauder sumptuous infinite mascara - this has a plastic bristle brush, which I normally don't like, but...

I know, it's already past both Christmas and New Years' - this is what happens when you work through the holidays. This project went really well! I think six items was a good number for me. I got to play with a variety of products outside of the project so I didn't get too bored, and was still able to get good progress on my project items. Anyway, let's get to it: 1 ~ finish Bite "Pepper" 2 ~ hit pan on Colourpop "Fluffy" 3 ~ hit pan on "Bronx" 4 ~ finish Buxom "Dolly" 5 ~ finish L'Oreal "highlight" eyeliner 6 ~ finish Too Faced Hangover primer 1 ~ "Pepper" - I finished it! I used it until the plastic started to scrape my lips as I applied it. I'm not about to dig out product and apply with a brush. I tried to use the other end of this, "Bronze" but it wasn't flattering on me and I'm happy to move the entire thing out of my collection. 2 ~ "Fluffy" - I...

Happy 2019! Here's how I did for the last month of 2018. Purchases: ~ Anastasia Beverly Hills "Sultry" palette - $45 Books read ($1 per 100 pages) ~  Eclipse  by Stephenie Meyer - 629 pages ($6.29) ~ Queen of Shadows  by Sarah J Maas - 656 pages ($6.56) ~ Eat, Pray, Love  by Elizabeth Gilbert - 348 pages ($3.48) ~ Breaking Dawn  by Stephenie Meyer - 297 pages ($2.97) ~ Promise, Texas  by Debbie Macomber - 379 pages ($3.79) Exercise ($5 per workout video, from the BeachBody line of workout videos) ~ 12/13/18 - 1 hr walk - $5 ~ 12/16/18 - 1 hr walk - $5 ~ 12/17/18 - 1 hr walk - $5 ~ 12/20/18 - 1 hr walk - $5 Duolingo ($1 per 10 day streak) ~ 12/2/18 - 230 day streak ($1) ~ 12/12/18 - 240 day streak ($1) ~ 12/22/18 - 250 day streak ($1) Money available to spend: $3.81 Just barely out of the negatives. Here's to the new year!