Girl, You Only Have One Face

I picked mostly-untouched shadows last month, so I don't have a lot of progress to show. I'm anticipating a few months of "Hark! A dip!" as I dig into my UD Naked shadows. Anyway, here's how the first month went. ~ Lorac Mega Pro 3 "Dark Navy" - ha. It's a good thing I intentionally only put this in to "see how much use I'll get out of it over a month" because the answer is: not much. It's a) not really a color I use regularly and b) kinda patchy. I used it maybe two or three times, which is two or three more times than I otherwise would have used it. ~ Urban Decay Naked "Darkhorse" and "Toasted" - "Darkhorse" is another shade I intended to use for a month, then rotate out. I used it to darken my outer corner and once or twice as a liner. "Toasted," on the other hand, was my all-over lid shade for pretty much every look I did. It currently looks like I rubbed my finger over it a bunch of...

This month had me finishing off more actual products, and fewer foil packets, so I feel like I've actually made some progress on moving things out of my collection. ~ Clinique take the day off balm - this is the second or third one of these I've finished off and I've already purchased its' replacement. It's the only way I actually get all my mascara off at night and don't end up waking up as a raccoon. ~ Philosophy purity cleanser foil - This does the job for me, but isn't really anything special in my experience. I get these as samples frequently and don't mind using it that way, but wouldn't purchase. ~ Sephora collection rose cleansing cream - The rose scent was nice, but this left my face feeling kind of slippy and may have been the cause of some painful breakouts. Would not purchase or use again as a sample. ~ Drunk Elephant beste jelly cleanser - This was mild, unscented, and okay. And I think that's all it's intended to be. I h...

Purchases: ~ Sunday Riley "Power Couple" duo (includes Good Genes and Luna oil) - $85 ~ Wet n Wild dual-ended contour stick - $4 - I wanted to learn to contour, and though I've been tempted by mid-range contour kits, I started small and drugstore. If I end up liking the technique, maybe I'll get something else. If I don't, then I'm not out too much money. Since this was during the 20% coupon time I also got staple replacements that don't come out of this budget (cotton facial pads, loofah, dry shampoo, & body sunscreen) ~ Olly Skin Detox vitamins (don't judge me) and Sephora Favorites summer sun on the fly kit - $32 during the Sephora sale - I also got a mother's day gift and dental floss for my husband (that man loves Cocofloss, what can I say), both of which don't come out of this budget. Books read ($1 per 100 pages) ~ Darker  by EL James - 552 pages - $5.52 ~ The Cruel Prince  by Holly Black - 384 pages - $3.84 ~ The Runaway Pri...

A few of the beauty Youtubers I watch have been participating in a Pan Those Eyeshadows project pan (namely Too Much Tash and Rebecca Morgan). Instead of picking one palette to work through, the focus is on hitting pan on as many shadows as possible throughout one's entire makeup collection. I made a list of every pan of eyeshadow in my collection, then used a random number generator to choose five shadows to work on over the next month. For context, I have 166 individual pans (ouch). As I made the list I thought to myself, "Man, I really hope I don't get that  shade to hit pan on," and decided that for certain shades I've never been drawn to (nay, never even used) I would have the goal of just using it for a month and then pick another one the next month. Along those lines, the rules I have for myself are as follows: 1) Choose shadows randomly. 2) Shadows chosen already having pan can either be a) finished or b) not used and another shadow randomly chosen in...

March saw the end of more skincare and perfume than it did makeup products. As you may have seen in my Healthy Habits update, my purchasing also increased this past month. I'm aiming to have April have more products out than in. ~ Drunk Elephant C-Firma day serum - I like having this vitamin C in my routine. I feel like it makes any dark spots or acne scars less noticeable more quickly. I already had a backup of this. ~ Sunday Riley Good Genes lactic acid treatment - This also does nice things to my skin texture, and I also have a backup of this. ~ Viva la Juicy Soiree sample - This had a light, fruity scent, but it smells very similar to a Bath & body works spray I have, so I wouldn't purchase this. ~ Michael Kors Sexy Amber sample - The notes for this are sandalwood, patchouli, amber, and musk. It smelled nice, but not all that special to me. Would not purchase, but would use another sample. ~ Boscia detoxifying black cleanser - This smells very strongly like pa...

This is the monthly installment of how I "earn" my makeup budget by doing things that are better for me than consuming makeup and makeup-related media. Purchases: ~ The Balm Batter Up eyeshadow stick "batter up" - $3 - as with most of my makeup purchases from Marshall's, I regret this already. Still trying to make it work. ~ Benefit brow bar service at Ulta - This is a beauty service, and thus not included since it's not an area I tend to go crazy with. ~ Too Faced Peach Perfect duo - $32 (I used a $10 gift card) - This comes with the full sizes of the peach perfect primer and the peach setting spray. I've tried both and have said I'd repurchase both so this was a good deal for me. There was also a decent GWP code and 8% back on Ebates, so I'll take it. ~ ABH brow wiz (from Ulta 21 Days of Beauty) - $10.50 - I also bought another Clinique "Take the Day Off" cleansing balm, but since that's a replacement it won't come from ...

I picked some pretty ambitious I-just-want-to-see-some-progress kind of products for this project, so I don't have any new products finished up, but I do have some progress to show! ~ Tarte Tartelette In Bloom - When I added this palette, it was intended to be more of a last hurrah before I threw it out guilt-free. However, through this project I rediscovered how much I enjoy using this palette, mainly the mattes in the palette. I have a more noticeable dent in "jetsetter" and I actually used the dark colors in the far right column. At some point during the project I stopped using the sharp liner brush for my lower lash line shadow and started using a stubby smudger brush and I like the effect so much more. I'll be keeping this palette around - mostly as a companion palette for my all shimmer palettes - and I'm glad I took the time to get to know it better. ~ Becca shimmering skin perfecter pressed "Moonstone" - I re-pressed this after the last ...