Gardening in High Heels

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Favorite beauty empties

One of my beauty goals for the year is to use up one product before I move on to another.  I don’t know about you, but I have a bad habit of purchasing new items before I’ve used up others.

I also have a bad habit of watching YouTube videos with things like “New at the drugstore haul” and “January favorites” in the title.  And I’m an only child in the sense of I see someone with a new beauty thing and I’m all, “Omg you have that? I’ve heard of it and it’s pretty and I want it too!”

Favorite recent beauty empties for winter skin

Anyway, for 2015, I’ve been trying to use up my stash so I’ve been doing the 365 Days of Empties challenge on Instagram and I thought I’d highlight a few of my favorite items I’ve used up.

Yes To Grapefruit Dark Spot Serum

This is a holy grail item for me.  I used an entire bottle of Clinique’s Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector and didn’t see the results I saw from using half of a bottle of this.  It isn’t a miracle where things will fade overnight, but nothing is.  I love the way this smells, how it feels, and most importantly, how it works.

I also have the Yes To Grapefruit CC cream but it isn’t the right color match for me.  It’s really pink and I’m really yellow.  Any suggestions anyone?

Yes To Grapefruit is my holy grail dark spot corrector for acne scars and imperfections

Udderly Smooth Hand Cream

My hands get so dry in the winter, of course.  I get patchy red spots on the back of my right hand and swollen knuckles and cracks..my hands take a beating.  I was at the dollar store a while ago and saw this on the shelf.  I remember my mom using Udderly Smooth cream when I was younger, so I had to pick this up.

While I have other hand products that I love, I really enjoyed using this, too.  It’s light like water, but powerful like a heavy cream.  I am so in love with how moisturizing and soothing this cream is.

Udderly Smooth Hand Cream feels so moisturizing and is super light

Philosophy When Hope Is Not Enough Serum

I got a bundle from QVC and this was part of it.  I really got it for the Microdelivery Triple-acid Brightening Peel pads (another holy grail omg-Ineed-backups-of-this product) but I was pleasantly surprised with this.  It’s hydrating, makes my skin feel so smooth, and plumps it up.

My skin may be a little young for this, but I want to start taking care of it with good products early.  Spend on good skincare, save on color cosmetics is my philosophy…usually.  Sometimes the high end eye shadows are on sale and then it’s just a free-for-all.

Philosophy When Hope Is Not Enough serum adds moisture to dull skin

It’s a 10 Leave-in Conditioner

This smells great and it feels lovely when I apply it, but it wasn’t anything special.  I don’t have a brand preference when it comes to leave-on conditioner, so as long as it protects my hair, it’s all good.

It's a 10 Leave In Conditioner makes my hair smell great but isn't anything special

GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment

This stuff is expensive but soooo worth it.  I can physically sense when my skin needs this mask because of how purifying it is.  It just sucks all the stuff out of it and leaves my skin so soft and so bright.

The dregs of this jar dried up and I may have shed a tear or two.

GlamGlow Supermud clearing treatment is my holy grail face mask for when my skin feels congested

Benefit The Porefessional

I have to say that I did not like this sample at all because of how hard it is to get the powder out of a packet, but the product was good.  It really absorbed oil nicely and I didn’t look as shiny by the end of the day.

That said, I was testing it and tried to use it on only one side of my face and left the other side with just my MAC Mineralized Skinfinish and honestly I didn’t notice a difference from side to side.

Benefit The Porefessional anti-shine powder sets makeup and absorbs oil like magic

Have you tried any of these / have you created any empties?  What do you think?

Since this is an Instagram challenge, I took these photos with my phone; excuse quality/lighting.

A Tale of Two Brows

Truth time: brow pencils scare me.  I avoid using them because I don’t want to look like that girl with two-tone eyebrows.  I also don’t want to looks like I’ve taken a liquid eyeliner and drawn on rectangles above my eyes.  I think you know what I’m talking about.

I love this video from Jenna Marbles because it illustrates my point perfectly.

Brow maintenance one of my least-favorite activities.  It takes so long to do myself, but I don’t like scheduling an appointment to have someone rip the hair off of my face, pay at least $15 for the pleasure, and then tip them on top of it for something I can do myself.

That said, shout out to Laura at the Sewickley Spa – I used to work there and she’s seriously the brow whisperer.  I haven’t met anyone who can do them like she can.

What happens when you accidentally wax your eyebrow off

One day, I didn’t grab her before she left and I absolutely HAD to do my brows myself because they were tragically beyond tweezing and I was going to a wedding with Jonathan that weekend.  It was the first time we’d be attending something fancy, and it was only a few months after we started dating so I was still pretending #iwokeuplikethis.

I’ve done it before myself and I wasn’t worried.  I carefully applied wax, smoothed the paper on top of it, and ripped off the tail from my right eyebrow.

Sexy.

Panicked, I went to Target and collected all the brow cosmetics I could find.  I compared brand reputation, price, color.  Since I never did anything with my brows, I didn’t know what I needed.  I did know that I needed something that would look natural and stay in place all night.

I lucked out when I chose this Revlon Brow Fantasy pencil/gel combo.  It got me through a humid day and a long night.  The pencil feathers on color naturally and the gel keeps brows in place without looking like you have gel on your brows.

Revlon Brow Fantasy saved a big beauty whoops

I have relatively straight and thick brows, so they don’t need much help.  Translation: I usually don’t put anything on them to make them look presentable.  I don’t need to fill my brows in or apply gel to hold them down.  It’s possible there are other brow products out there that may work better for stubborn brows, but for low-maintenance hairs like mine, I’m really happy with how this turned out.

And if Jonathan noticed, he didn’t say.  He’s much too polite for that anyway.

So that’s today’s tale of two brows.  I’ve had some bad brow experiences, like the time I used pre-waxed strips and got my eyelashes stuck to them.  But that’s another story for another day.

Have you had a beauty oops?  How did you get yourself out of it?

Review: Boots No7 Protect and Perfect

I am in my mid-twenties, but I’m conscious about what I put on my face to help slow down the aging process.  I made a decision to invest on the things that go on my skin and get a little cheap on things like mascara and lipstick.

I usually use Philosophy skincare products and I haven’t purchased anything from the drugstore (aka the drugstore section of Ulta) in ages since I no longer work close to an Ulta.

Review Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Advanced Serum

So I am out of the loop when it comes to what brands are available.  Thanks to Influenster, I know that a quality Boots No7 skincare line is available at Target.  I just know them as color cosmetics, but I guess they’ve grown up.

I received the Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Serum to try out.

I was excited to get it because it is for the early signs of aging.  I know my skin isn’t looking old, but now is a great time to start to ward off problems down the road.

Trying out the Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Serum

I liked the way it made my skin look and feel.  It was light weight and left my skin feeling fresh and supple.  It was almost like splashing water on my skin.  This serum made it feel comfortable and I did see a bit of a glow on my skin when I used it.

I did see that after using it for a while, I had some pitting in areas I never did before.  I don’t know if I had some problem areas from acne scarring that weren’t noticeable or this created some issues I’ve never had.  Either way, it was unusual to look at my forehead and see dimples.

I haven’t seen them since the sample ran out, so who knows.

Serious drugstore skincare from Boots No7

My big problem is the sample.  Boots No7 says that you’ll see first results in two weeks and full results after a month.  Fantastic.  Buuut…..

….C’mon now.  This packet doesn’t have two weeks’ worth of product in it.  I think I got a scant week out of it.  Sadly, I don’t know if I’ll be purchasing more.

I know, the whole point of a sample is to give you a little taste, hook you, and make you buy the full size.  It’ll start to work its magic and you’ll want to keep it going.  I get that.  I just wish I was able to get a little more of a well-rounded review out of this.

Overall: I like this serum, but with the imperfections that I noticed the longer I tried it and the short trial time, I don’t know if I’ll be picking it up.

Have you tried Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Serum?  What do you think?

Disclaimer: I did receive this product from Influenster to review.  As always, you’re getting my honest opinion.  This post does contain a referral link to Influenster should you like to sign up!

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