Sin, Naked, and Buck Buck Buck.

That title is pretty suggestive.. I should change it. Yeah I'm not changing it.  Happy Friday my beloved internet unicorn friends!  Two days in a row, I'm getting pretty good at this.  Today's prompt is your morning make up routine. The other day I posted this picture on the interwebs 

The lipstick I'm wearing isn't in this post but it's just Jordana Twist and Shine Moisturizing Lip Stain. Long name but it seriously stays on forever and it's like $2 at Walgreens. Get all the colors. 

And my favorite blogger Juliette. Said she wanted a make up tutorial, and if you guys don't know yet, Juliette gets what Juliette wants. Mostly because if she doesn't she'll complain about it A LOT and no one wants that. Because that's just how it is. 

And then, fate of all fates, today's prompt was morning make up routine. It was obviously meant to be. So here we go with my morning make up routine.

I got the Naked palette for Christmas last year from my awesome gift giving little brother. (No one needs to know that he called me from Sephora in New Mexico and said "what am I getting you for Christmas again?") and then I set to you tube to figure out how to use said palette. I came across this tutorial from the beloved and bowed down to (she's basically the Beyonce of make up tutorials) Jaclyn Hill. I changed it a little bit though. She uses Sidecar as the lid color and I use Sin because who has time for glitter fall out every morning? Not me. Go ahead and watch this. I'll wait........

Now that you get the gist. Here we go. 

After I drag my near life-less body out of my bed, I wash my face. I've been using this 1-2-3 step system from Clinique and I really like it. Also, If you don't have a clairsonic you should invest. Best money I've ever spent towards my skin. 

Naked Eye Shadow Palette/ Maybelline Line Stileto/ Lancome Hypnose Drama/ Clinique Even Better Foundation/ Nars Creamy Concealer

After I've washed my face, and juiced myself up with some coffee I head to my vanity to do my make up. Usually with Toby at my heals. (Secretly I think it's because he thinks my beauty blender is a ball for him to play with... and he's hoping I'll drop it.) 
These are my tried and true go to make up favorites. Maybelline stopped making the line stileto liner for awhile and I was devastated. Until I found it again and now I'm stocked up for life. (Because eyeliner lasts forever didn't you know that? Just kidding it doesn't but I'm to lazy to find another one I like as well.)   And how I do my eyeshadow.

This is where I changed Jaclyn's tutorial a little. I used Sin instead of Sidecar. Because it's less glittery. 

Take this bad boy on a fluffy brush and just fluff it into your crease. Get it in there real good. When you're done you still won't be able to see it. but it's a good "transition" color so it's not just glitter and the brown we're using next. 

Buck. I like this shadow mostly because of the name. Buck buck buck goose. And it's a nice neutral (because that's all the rage) brown that you could literally use with any color. LITERALLY.  This one goes on the outer corner of the crease. To add some depth. 
One last thing because I understand that this post has literally gone on forever. The best part about this look (and Jaclyn's tutorial) is that every brand sells colors that are similar to this. Everyone sells a shimmer champagne, a nude, and a brown.  Ok, now it's officially gone on forever. Have a happy weekend y'all! 

Face Spiel: Search for perfect primer #2

Generally I wear a liquid foundation. I wore a cream to powder when I was younger and didn't need as much coverage. But since my face started blemishing up I switched to liquid. Until I went to a bareMinerals store and someone did my make up. It. looked. awesome. I never thought the foundation could give that much coverage since it was just a powder! And it was mineral which was good for your skin! So Mr. Spiel told me to go ahead and get it. So I used it from February of this year to about a month and a half ago. My face was acting up like it never had before. I was completely fed up with it, the mineral foundation wasn't giving me the coverage it used to, so I switched back to a liquid. Wow, I just realized how off topic I was. Anyways, when I bought the starter kit it came with their Prime Time Foundation Primer. This one had the same consistency as the Mary Kay Primer. It's a silky smooth texture. I got the sample bottle so it only lasted me a couple months until I had to switch back to Mary Kay, I honestly didn't see much of a difference.. It didn't make it any worse, but again, didn't really change my life. So ladies, I'm still on the hunt! Next on the list to try is Clinique's new primers!  Keep checking back, or follow me on bloglovin' or by email!

Sarah 💋

Lucious Lips

Happy Monday! After a cozy snow weekend, I was not ready to get back to the daily grind. Alas, here we are. With a lip scrub!

I don't know about you all, but I love to exfoliate. My face, my lips, my hands, I actually have to remind myself not to do it to much otherwise I'll end up OVER exfoliating. I just love the soft, clean, no grime feeling I have after sloughing all the dead skin away.

I know pretty much every one has heard of E.L.F. and I'm totally on board with it. We have it at Target and just recently started carrying it at Wal-Mart (which I try avoid so I can't tell you if they balance out each other as far as different products) I glanced the packaging as I was running through trying to find some bathroom essentials. I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, that even though these products are dirt cheap, there quality is much higher.

My first ever e.l.f. purchase was the lip exfoliater, it's awesome. Like most beauty bloggers/beauty blog readers, I try to read reviews of products before I purchase them. The reviews I read about this were pretty 50/50.. Some people loved it and some people said it smooshed into the container and they had to scrape it out, but come on, $3?! I couldn't pass it up, and I'm glad I didn't. It sloughs off all the dead skin and moisturizes! My lips feel so soft and prepared for any lipstick coming it's way! I use it all the time (probably too much) 

Mine is rounded at the top now and almost gone, bit I've had it for a little over 2 months? And it was $3, I don't exactly expect to pass it on to my future children. 

So, bottom line, if you haven't tried this stuff I definitely suggest you do. Your lips will be noticeably soft after one try! 

Showing my Clairsonic some love

So I'm not sure if I've talked about my clairsonic, but I'm in love with it. That bad boy gets my face super clean. I use the acne brush head so it's not to hard on my skin, the bristles are super super super soft.

I understand these things are pricey, and you have to buy the new brush head every couple of months (they're $25) I hold out until they do their brush head trade in's, you get like 10% off a new brush head for every brush head you trade in I think, at Dillard's. Since these bad boys are so expensive, you have to buy at the right time. Sometimes they do a promotion, like 20% off the seasoned Clairsonics. Mine was on sale, because it's ugly green fall color. But I'd be willing to bet it works just as well as the cute cheetah print one. I know during the spring they come out with pastel colors that go on sale towards the end of summer. But I'll be the first to tell you it's worth the chunk of change. When I worked at Dillard's EVERYONE was required to watch the clairsonic videos that they send out to the employees (even though I worked in lingerie) and it's what sold me on it. It really does everything it promises. My skin is super soft, I don't really have wrinkles (granted I'm only 23 but I smile a lot) so fine lines around my eyes, and my pores are smaller since using it. If you have Acne, be warned, I've read TONS of articles that their clairsonic increased their cystic acne. I have cystic acne every once in a while and I haven't run into this, but I would definitely do some research before you make the plunge if there's even a possibility that it could wreak havoc. If you have a friend that has a clairsonic, buy your own brush head (be careful there are tons to choose from and if you pick the wrong one, you'll be completely turned off from it, stay away from the deep pore cleansing one, it's the roughest one there is.) and just use your brush head on your friend's clairsonic, then you can get a good feel for whether it will work for you.


Break down of the brushes I've used: 

The problem with the brushes is that you don't think it makes a huge difference which one you buy, until you use it. I started out with the original brush head that came with the it, it was soft and worked. It's honestly been so long since I used it I can't give you any details. I will say, when I started out using my clairsonic, I wasn't using a make up remover then a cleanser. I would put my cleanser on my fully made up face and use the clairsonic. (I know, it grosses me out just thinking about it.. .blaaahhhhh) So needless to say, it got pretty dirty pretty quick. That's when I learned the trick of taking my make up off first. The clairsonic doesn't twist in a circle motion, it vibrates back and forth over the skin. I explained it to my mom like the "brush head is shaking the skin, shaking all the dirt to the top" then you wipe it off. So I was shaking all the make up and dirt together..... gag. a. magot. (our preacher said that on Sunday, I about died.) 




Next I tried the Deep Pore Cleansing brush, because who doesn't want their pores deep cleansed? Well, me, that's who. I know these pictures don't shoe very well, but these bristles are a bit stiffer, and I think longer (don't quote me on that.) but this brush wreaked some serious havoc on my skin. It made me dry, flaky, my acne wasn't under control.... it was horrible. I quit using this brush quick fast and in a hurry.



Now I use the Acne Brush Head. This brush head is the bomb. It's so soft and fluffy. Its shorter bristles than the deep pore cleansing (I seriously wish I could tell you why that makes a difference, but apparently it does..) I've repurchased this brush head atleast 2 maybe 3 times... I always want to try something else, but this one works for me, and after my deep pore cleansing experience, I think I'll stick with what I like. Until I'm feeling more adventurous..


This orginally started out as a "Battle of the Brushes" post, because my grandma sent me the Mary Kay brush, that's supposed to rival the clairsonic, but I've only used it twice, and I realized I hadn't done a post about my Clairsonic yet. So here it is, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Tuesday!

Good night, moon.

Well hello Wednesday. You're my second favorite day of the week. The middle, almost Friday, close enough away from Monday. You're just right, you're like the last porridge that the girl in the woods ate, she ate the whole bowl. Then she took a nap. Now I'm hungry and I want a nap....  Yesterday I pull from Kay's list of awesome blog posts, today I'm going rogue. Since I did a morning routine post yesterday I'm getting crazy creative today and doing a night routine. Boom. Didn't see that coming did you? Full of surprises over here. Surprises and Easter candy.  So here we go, my night routine: Generally I go to the gym 3-4 days a week, so let's pretend I've praised sweet baby Jesus that the day is over, I've cursed my mom for kicking my butt at the gym, and I'm on my way home to my couch and my babeh's (including Roland). Honey, I'm hhhhhooooommmmeeeee (I say to the cat because Toby is in his kennel and Roland isn't usually home yet.) Let Toby out, and try to keep Voldemort inside at the same time (it's a circus act believe me.) After that I turn the t.v. on and have a snack while I watch USA, whatever is on I'm not too picky, usually it's either Law and Order: SVU -my favorite- or NCIS of some sort. By the time I'm done with my snack Roland's home and we try to decipher what we're going to have for dinner.. If I've pulled something out to make it's a lot easier. If I haven't then it's usually every man for himself. After we eat, watch some tv, play with the babehs, I hop in the shower. First I take my make up off, lately I've been using the Purpose make up remover because it takes off my mascara and eyeliner too without burning my precious baby blues. Then I wash/condition my hair, sing a song, contemplate life, maybe shave my legs, sing another song, and rinse the conditioner out of my hair. Then I wash my face with my clairsonic, this varies what cleanser I use lately I've just been using whatever is in the shower which has been St. Ives Tea Tree cleanser. Rinse, get out, and dry off. Now what... oh right, leave in conditioner in hair, I guess I'll get dressed now.. Pajamas, check, back to the bathroom. -This part is different, sometimes I'll do a mask and while it dries I'll go back down stairs probably eat something else and watch tv (Roland's usually asleep at this point). When I don't do a mask I spot treat any bumps on my face, then I apply Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum (if you ever make one high end beauty purchase it should be this nectar of the skin gods.) Then I moisturize and go back downstairs to relax/creep blogs until I'm sleepy.  What is your night routine?

Good morning, sunshine.

Usually I blog from work, but it's been so crazy lately, you'd think I worked in a tax office or something.  So here I am on Monday night getting ahead of things and posting for the week (hopefully).  Thankfully, Kay at The Best of Intentions posted a list of 36 Best Blog posts, and boy are they.  My favorite one is probably "Ten things you learned from Criminal Minds," but since I'm not up on my CM, I tweaked it a little bit to 10 things I learned from my favorite tv shows. But that's not even the one I'm doing right now, right now we're talking about routines. As you know by now, all of my family is in Mary Kay, so when I was growing up a cleansing routine was pretty much beat into me. Cleanse, tone, moisturize in the morning, cleanse, tone, treat, moisturize at night. Since I've started experimenting with different cleansers and moisturizers my routines have changed quite a bit. So here we go, my morning routine:
Ugh, alarm, hush. *snooze x5* Ok, gotta drag my lazy butt out of bet. Feed the babehs. Turn on water, hot hot hot hot hot, ok better. clean my face. -I use my clairsonic on low, and an oily/sensitive skin proned cleanser.- Time to sprint downstairs (because my house is almost always cold) and make coffee (or tea, depending on how British I'm feeling that morning.) Now, making my way back up stairs is going to be tricky since my cup is overflowing. Ow Voldemort  (the cat), now is not the time to play. If I spill coffee on you, there's no one to blame but yourself.. Alright, alright, alright. Head back to my cleansing area (aka the bathroom) to spot treat. Sip some coffee (most important step) Moisturize. -Lately I've been using a normal/sensitive skin moisturizer to keep my skin from getting too dry. I read on Caroline Hirons blog that just because you have spots on your face, a bump here and there, you don't treat your whole face like you have acne. Genius that woman is. Anyways..- Alright coffee, lets make this face beautiful presentable.  I prime with Clinique discoloration primer, while my primer sets I prime my eyes. Then I use my Sephora beauty blender (the $13 one, it's a little yellow miracle worker) to apply my Clinique Better Skin foundation (I honestly couldn't tell you if that's what it's really called... that's the gist of it. Foundation that is better for your skin.) -I read somewhere that if you apply your powder BEFORE your foundation it helps it to last longer, I haven't yet tested this theory, but if you have what do you think? Does it help? Let me know.- Moving on, foundation, check. Let's try some eyeshadow... Alright Naked pallet, I'd like to not look like a toddler left alone with crayons for too long.. andddd I look like a clown. That'll have to do. Ok why does it look weird.. foundation, eye shadow, brows? neh not today. Oh, eyeliner. ugh.. eyeliner. I've been wearing liquid eyeliner off and on for as long as I can remember, and it's still my most dreaded part of putting on makeup. Does it ever get easy?.  Alright, now all I have to do is apply some mascara and I'm done. 25 minutes to spare?! Let's see, I could get dressed and head to work early..... oooooorrrrr I could climb back into bed for a few precious moments. Back into bed I go.   Before I start the long grueling process of trying to decide what to wear.  Alright, clothes on, face on, hair pulled up.  I guess it's time to go, goodbye babehs, goodbye bed, goodbye coffee. Till next time. 
What do you do in the morning?

Don't fall for the lie!

#Longhairdon'tcare

You've probably seen this hashtag on, well, everything. I'm convinced that this was created by a person with short hair.... If you have long hair, you can't "not care", it should be:

#longhairdon'tcareaboutanythingelsebecauseidon'thavetime

and here's a couple reasons why, for those of you that can rock short hair. 

(looking at you, Chelsea)

1. When I take the time to fix my hair I don't have time to care about either sleeping in or doing my make up. A double edged sword. I love hitting that snooze button, and I look scary without make up on. Which is why most of the time my hair is tossed to the side into a top knot.

2. Washing your hair is seriously an all night event. I wash my hair 2 to 3 times a week (depending on how many times I went to the gym wore it in a top knot). The whole process takes about 2 to 3 hours depending on if I blow dry it then or not. Granted, during the hair mask portion of the evening I'm not constrained.. I can do whatever I want, but it's still an important part of the process.

3. This may just be me, or it could be everyone, but a problem I have is that I've been waiting 3-4 years for my hair to get to a desired length so I can have "pinterest worthy" hair. Well guess what? Just because your hair is long enough doesn't mean you can work that intricate up do. Hello, layers.

4. Speaking of different hairstyles, who has time outside of getting ready to try different hairstyles? When I was in high school when I got bored I would curl my hair, or do something different to it. I'm not in high school anymore and I don't have an abundance of time to try out that intricate braid... Curled or straight, those are my options when I actually have time to fix my hair. I did branch out and start doing a sock bun, but that's as creative as it gets..

5. Living in a windy city. I think I tweeted about this the other day.. My hair has been so tangly lately there's no point in leaving it down. It just ends up in a huge knot any way.

So for those of you with short hair thinking "Man, I wish I had long hair." It's not all it's cracked up to be. I would cut my hair if I didn't have to have all of it for an up-do/veil in October.. I've had short hair before, and after the wedding I'll probably cut off a couple inches.. We'll see.

This is probably the shortest it's been in the last 5 or so years... This was the year we took our cheap butts to the closest halloween store and found the cheapest matching costumes we could. Martini glasses. 

Have a fabulous Thursday, it's almost Friday!

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Shopping at Sephora and a sweet puppy

Happy Monday, beauties!

I finally did it. I made the decision between Ipsy and Birchbox and I gave them my credit card information. After much deliberation and a million EleventhGorgeous "Subscription Battle" videos, I went with Ipsy. They've repetitively beat Birchbox and I hear a lot of people are complaining about the stuff BB is sending out lately. So, I decided Ipsy is the one for me, and who doesn't love cute make up bags?

This weekend I took Roland to the land of the lost Sephora and Lush. I went in for a couple things and actually left with less. I needed:

A mask/exfoliant
Hand cream (from Lush)
Under eye concealer (turns out I'm allergic to the Revlon one I've been using.)
Maybe a new cleanser, cause ya know, who doesn't want another one.
Some kind of night moisturizer, may it be an oil or night cream, whatev.

I talked to the lady at Sephora about masks and exfoliants for like an hour. I was asking about the Glam Glow masks, because come on, $69 for a mask? That mask better make me look like a Victoria Secret Model over night for that kind of dough. I told her what I was using she said the only thing she would add was an exfoliant, after much debate and a whole lot of information about my skin she probably didn't care about, I chose a chemical exfoliant from Origins.She said chemical exfoliants were better for the skin because abrasive ones tend to scrape the skin which makes it build up more layers, which could cause cystic acne. Boom. Sold. Give it to me.



Then we mosied on over to Lush, I got the hand cream I needed (charity pot) and I snagged a lip scrub that I've heard so much about. I'm real plain Jane about smells though, I couldn't branch out to that popcorn or bubblegum, I went with Mint Julep and I love it.

As you can see, I'm still on the hunt for an under eye concealer, so if you have any suggestions let me know!

Have a fabulous Monday!
(here's a dachshund ready for bed. Enjoy)

Dupe vs. Dollar: Beauty Blender Edition

That moment when you get all your make up on and it looks awesome, and you realize you didn't put on any primer so it'll be gone in about 5 minutes. That's the kind of morning I had.

Who here has heard of the Beauty Blender? -everyone- If by some chance you haven't heard about or seen one, fear not, that's what we're talking about today.



The original beauty blender. Did anyone else know that "Beauty Blender" is the brand of these little pink miracles sponges? Now you do.
The website says:

Beautyblender’s patent-pending elliptical shape makes application foolproof by allowing you to access hard-to-reach areas with stunning ease. Its suede texture is sensual to the touch and its unique curves fit the contours of your face, leaving your make up dazzling and undetectable. Beautyblender is latex free, non-allergenic and odor free.

I personally have never used this one, there are about 1 million dupes out there for this bad boy, and the one I'm using now works pretty fantastically if I say so.


The Up & Up Latex Super Blender from Target, this was the first one I tried. Maybe it's because it's latex, maybe its because it's only $5, who knows but this one did not do anything for me. It was so heavy, and dense. It didn't absorb any make up but it didn't do anything for blending either. It kind of just smeared around my face. It definitely didn't give me any kind of "flawless finish." I went back to using a brush after this let me down. Then I went to Sephora.

The Perfectionist Makeup Sponge is the one I'm using now. I went to Sephora with every intention to purchase a full fledged pink beauty blender. Alas, they didn't carry them in the store. So I bought this cute little fellow. It was $13, but it was worth it. It's so soft, and it bounces right off my face. This one leaves me with a flawless finish. It's amazing. It's so light, especially compared to the one from Target.




After I used this one for awhile, I went to TJMAXX where they have a couple of different brands, and I opened one -shhh- to see if it was as dense as the one from Target, well good news! It's not! It's almost as light as the one from Sephora. So run to TJMAXX and get one now, it's worth it I promise.

I don't plan on purchasing a legit $28 beauty blender when I can keep getting these for half the price. I re-fall in love with this bad boy every time I use it.

In the case of Dupe vs. Dollar: Beauty Blender edition:

Dupe does it better!

Have a fabulous Thursday y'all!

It's wentWORTH it.

I know I'm way behind the times, but has anyone else watched Prison Break? Mr. Spiel and I are OBSESSED. Wentworth (hence the title) Miller is phenomenal, and my favorite. If you haven't watched it, Netflix it. If you have watched it, hush. Moving on.

I'm not real sure where this post is heading, but it does have a point, so bear with me, and get what you can out of it.

As most of you know, I've struggled with acne for awhile. When I was in high school it wasn't awful just normal "that time of the month" onesies, until I turned 18 and then BAM, crazy, awful, cystic acne. All over my chin, jaw line, and around my mouth. They would cluster up so there would be anywhere from 4-5 pimples either right on the same spot (so it looked like that three headed dog from Hercules -the cartoon-) or all near each other so it was wide instead of tall. Awful, I wish I had pictures of it, but I got pretty good at turning my head a certain way, and covering those puppies up. There are some pictures where you can see a mountain on my chin, but most of those have been disposed of. Ugh, ok enough of memory lane. Lately, my skin has been blessing me with more good days than bad, and I thank it for this kind, kind gesture. A truce almost. I'm doing good things for it, and it's paying me back ten fold. A couple of things I've started doing:

1. Exercise: I know, I'm the laziest person in the entire world, seriously. But I've started exercising -shredding for the wedding, and all- not a lot, maybe 3 times a week. Just enough to get my heart racing, blood pumping, and carbs burnin'. I read an article once about how exercising affects your skin it said to "think of it as cleansing your skin from the inside." Getting your blood flowing carries the oxygen to your skin cells, keeping them all working in order.

2. WATER: I can't stress this one enough, this was the main thing I wanted to talk about and it turned into a whole skincare post, so, you're welcome, I think. Water, water, water, water, this is the main thing I changed in my life lately. It's a real struggle for me to drink water, I hate it. It doesn't taste good, it's blah, there are so many other things out there I'd rather be drinking than flavorless moisture. Especially since we're getting a McAlisters (I plan on drinking their sweet tea for 6 weeks straight.) A couple months ago, I would go days without drinking water, probably weeks, as awful as that sounds. It's still a struggle, but I'm getting better at it. I take bottles of water with me to work I drink one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and at night I drink Lemon & Cucumber Water. If you don't like water, drink. this. now. It's awesome and it's so easy. You're supposed to add mint to it as well, but that's actually IMPOSSIBLE to find, so I just stuck with lemons and cucumbers, and it's delicious. This is supposed to get rid of your unwanted water weight, which I haven't noticed, but I do notice that my skin. looks. AMAZING. Not trying to toot any horn, but even Mr. Spiel noticed it. Seriously, it's soft, I have one red mark on my chin, but it's not even raised, just a red spot. I don't think I've lost any weight because of this magic water, but I feel healthier, I feel lighter. Don't make this thinking it's going to cure your worst woes, but if you struggle with drinking water, this will work. Even if this stuff wasn't good for me, I'd still drink it.

3. Food: This is my weakness, I love food, I love eating, but I'm picky. I don't like anything too spicy, and I'm a texture eater. I don't like peanut butter, onions, mushrooms, peppers, or fish. I could eat chicken every day for the rest of my life, and mac and cheese is my first true love. I guess when I say I love food, I really mean, I love snacking. Chips, cookies, those are the things that haunt me. I've swapped my chips for cheese nips (because cheese itz are disgusting, does anyone else feel me on this? Mr. Spiel thinks I'm crazy), but I can't find a substitute for cookies, or ice cream... MMMM Braum's calls to me on a daily basis. The other day, Roland said "I know how smokers feel," "How?" I asked him, his reply? "Because I crave cookies allll the time!" The struggle is real in our house.

One thing that has kept me encouraged through this "Bettering ourselves" journey is something I read on a blog the other day, (I'm going to get better at remembering where I read things. Promise) But what I read said to add before you start worrying about subtracting. If you focus more on adding in good things like water, fruits, vegetables, and focus less on the daunting task of cutting out all the bad things, you won't get so discouraged so easily when you eat a cookie... or two.

So with that, go and add the good things in your life. 

And have a fabulous Tuesday! 

Depotting for your Z pallet

This Monday thing needs to stop happening. I'm never prepared for it. If every week were a four day week with a three day weekend.. Let's be honest, I still wouldn't get anything done, but one can dream.

As un-excited as I am for Monday, I'm super excited about this post! My Z pallet came in this weekend, along with my Real Technique flat top stippling foundation brush (mouth full!). I ordered the large cheetah z pallet. It's awesome. All of my random eye shadows are all in one place. Now I'm not shuffling through 5 pallet's trying to find a specific color I know I have, but just can't find. I will say, the weirdest thing happened. First let me tell you how I "depotted" my eye shadows.


Things you'll need:

1. A blow dryer
2. A towel (I just used a hand towel)
3. The eye shadows
4. TIME

I did this on Saturday, while watching Law and Order SVU, it took about 3 episodes and 2 cups of coffee. (Granted, I wasn't doing this the whole time, I had to get up and do something else in between.)

1. I put the towel on my coffee table and plugged the blow dryer in,
2. The first eye shadow I did was a duo in a pot. (the weird thing I mentioned earlier happened to this eye shadow, keep reading!) I turned it upside down on the towel, and started blow drying the bottom. I kept my blow dryer on low for the most part, and turned it on high during commercials. (Sorry I revolve this thing around SVU... No I'm not.)
3. Once I had been blow drying for awhile I tapped on the bottom and the inner plastic portion popped out, I blow dried that for a little bit, tapped again, and boom the pans popped out. This is where it got weird, the next time I tried to use this one, it was a cream consistency. This had been a new eye shadow that I hadn't used before so I don't know if it was supposed to be creamier than most powder eye shadows, but it definitely is now. Maybe it was the formula? I don't know, but both the yellow and the orangey color that was in it are creamy now.. I mean I don't hate it, but just beware.
4. I did the same thing to my Lancome pallet's, Clinique colors, Mary Kay, and a couple of Maybelline colors I had. They all turned out really well. Some of them had A LOT of glue that got all clumpy on the bottom, I used a Clorox wipe and rubbed on it for a while and it came off. The pallet also came with a couple metal strips since the pallet is magnetized, (which, you'd think since you're depotting down to the pan it should stick anyway since most pans are metal. Not true, I had to use the strips on some of mine.) I also had to use the strips for the ones that the glue would absolutely not come off. I just covered it up!

Side Note: This will most likely deform your pallet's. My Lancome pallet won't shut, and the pot lid won't screw back on. So, just an FYI, if you want to keep the container it came in, I probably wouldn't go this route.

Well, that's how you depot, and place em in your shiny new pallet! Does anyone else have a depotting technique they use? I'm all ears! Happy depotting!

And have a fabulous Monday!

Clairsonic Competitors: Mary Kay

This post has a really cool name, too bad because this will probably be the only other "Clairsonic competitor" I test (within the foreseeable future at least).

If you read my posts (thank you) you'll see that I mention Mary Kay atleast every other post. It's a force of habit really. Growing up that's ALL I used. My whole family sells it (literally, my Great Grandma, Grandma, Aunt, Mom, Great Aunt, Cousin, Aunt on my dad's side, it's ridiculous) so I never really saw the need to try anything else (that and my Grandma was a fierce Mary Kay sales woman, she poured my moms Clinique powder down the toilet when she was younger, so I was afraid to try anything else). Every time Mary Kay comes out with something new, she usually sends it my way (perks of being the favorite granddaughter of a National Sales Director, toot toot, sorry MB;) That's how I came across the Mary Kay Clear Proof system (I'll link it at the bottom) and the Time wise cleanser set, which I think everyone should at least try, even if you're not looking for an anti aging anything just yet. That time wise makes my skin so so so soft. For real y'all.

Anyways, my grandma sent me the new Mary Kay brush (which, funny story, she must have known they were coming out with for some time now, because when we went to visit her last year I showed her my clairsonic, with zero reaction out of her. She's still a Mary Kay natzi at heart.) Since you heard all about the clairsonic and how much I can't go without it, I figured I'd let you guys in on this little brush baby.


The Handle: Pro: the handle on the Mary Kay brush is the first thing I noticed. It's a lot easier to hold than the clairsonic. The MK is thinner and lighter. Con: it's lighter. I feel like I have to push really hard on it before it does anything to my face.. I can hardly feel it, which may be the point of their brush, but when I use my clairsonic I can feel it working. Not so much with this brush.

The Brush: Pro: These bristles are really soft, similar to the clairsonic. The brush's circumference isn't as large as the clairsonic so it's easier to get in and out of places (the clairsonic does have a feature on all the brushes, that the outside ring that's white, pops off, so you're left with the little colored center part. But let's be honest, that's a lot of work.) So I like that about the MK brush. Con: the bristles are really long. Like I said in the last post I don't know why that makes a difference but I promise you it does. This one also doesn't come with options, one and done, one size fits all...

The Power: I have nothing good to say about it, it doesn't move very quickly I don't feel, so like I said I have to push down really hard and I feel like I'm hurting my skin more than helping it. This does have two settings, but I honestly can't tell the difference. I will say, I like that this one isn't as loud. But if being loud is what un-clogs my pores, then by golly wake the neighbors for all I care. Also, it comes with batteries. It's not rechargeable, and I was afraid to take it in the shower, what if the water leaks in there?

If you were to ask me what I think about Mary Kay, I love it, they have good products, they are good at listening to their directors at what the customers want and they're usually on trend, but, I think this brush is a miss. If you have it and love it, let me know! I love hearing what other people have to say about the brushes since there are such diverse opinions.

Hope you all had a fabulous Monday!

P.S. The Clear Proof cleansing system post! A saga about my acne battles and the step towards the cure.

It's my Friday + Search for the perfect primer!

Today is technically Wednesday, but for me it's FRIDAY! Can you say 4 day weekend! Woo hoo!

Tomorrow I have a couple appointments for wedding stuff, but after that, we're home free! Roland's on vacation, and we get to spend the whole weekend putting together my "Will you be my Bridesmaid" boxes to ship out Monday! (Probably not the whole weekend, and he's not even aware of it yet)

This morning I was doing my make up and I was looking around my vanity for some chapstick, (yes, I know.. second day in a row I've talked about chapstick.. sue me.) I found 3.. three.. three! spheres of EOS chapstick.... I have a serious problem because that's not even all of them. I have another one downstairs in the living room, two in my bag, and one in my desk drawer. I may need an intervention if I find any more. (and that's just spheres of EOS, not even the other chapsticks I have floating around my bag.)

My car has this little hideaway storage spot kind of underneath the console/stereo. I didn't even see it until I got into the passenger seat, so it's hard to see and explain. But I was telling Roland how excited I was to finally have some storage other than my console compartment, he asked me how many chapsticks I'm going to leave in there to melt in the summer, clearly it's a public problem I have.



So it's been awhile since I've talked beauty. I'm going to tell you about the primer I purchased about a week or so ago. The L'OREAL Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base. Like most of you, I'm sure, I'm pretty skeptical when brands tell me things are magic, but L'OREAL products were buy one get one half off and I had to get concealer anyways, so why not. This primer is definitely unlike anything I've tried. It's extremely thick. I was little off put by how thick it was actually. Usually I just dot my primer on my face and rub it in. Not with this one. You have to rub it between your fingers, to heat it up and melt it a little, before you can do anything with it. Also, I've found it doesn't necessarily do anything for keeping my make up on. I mean I want a primer that's going to keep me from looking make up less past noon. This one didn't really stun me on the make up front. With that being said. I really like this, and will continue using it. (probably won't repurchase though, too little time, too many primers to try). Although it's thick, once it's on it really does what it says, hides your pores and lines. It really give my make up a smooth canvas. It even covers up the size of pimples a little. I have a honker on my chin that won't go away, (probably because I can't leave it alone), and it doesn't look nearly as red or swollen after I put this primer on. Also, it doesn't break me out, it's not sticky or slimy, or chalky. I wouldn't wear it by itself. I know people that wear the Porefessional Benefit primer always say  "when I wear this primer I almost don't even need make up." I'm looking at you Nicole Guerriero. But this primer definitely gets a thumbs up for me, and if you don't mind the thickness or having to melt it between your fingers before use. I would definitely suggest this to someone with less oily skin.






What addictions (like my chapstick problem) do ya'll have? And does anyone know how to get chapstick out of upholstery?