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Monday, March 7, 2011

Completely Random Return Post (Makeup, Hair, Nails and Breakfast Sandwiches!)

Been a while since my last post.  Since moving and changing jobs I've realized that I have an obsessive personality.  Before I was so busy and miserable that all I had time to do was work, sleep, and drink/party with fellow disgruntled coworkers.  But now I have plenty of free time to indulge in my crazy obsessions.  I can usually feel when I'm in the midst of an obsession and recognize that I have an unhealthy interest in something but I know that it will pass eventually.  At first it was origami and this blog, then it became beauty products, then my new Kindle and books, then cooking, and recently nail polish.  So this will be a bit of a random post.


I recently bought the Tokidoki lip balm stains in donutella (a sheer coral strawberry) and pink martini (a sheer hot pink).  I am loving them!  They're not true stains or true balms, but a little bit of both.  So it's still a very flawed product but oh so fun to use and cute packaging!  I like that the color lasts a bit longer than my usual lip products.


Pics below - Donutella is on the left and pink martini is on the right.  I actually like pink martini more than donutella!  I was surprised but Donutella is a bit too orangey for my complexion. 
Cute lipstick tubes!
Swatches - I got the colors mixed up here so left is pink martini and right is donutella.
Oh and now look and see my vanity table and makeup collection!  This is not all of it but it's all of the stuff I use most often now.  See that coaster on the right?  My morning ritual is to bring my iced coffee (yes I drink iced coffee all four seasons) and do my makeup as I slowly caffeinate myself.
So in the upper left are a few foundations and bb creams I don't really use much and the Shu rouge sticks and Nars gel blush that I love!  I am also really into cream blushes from Canmake and Tarte.  Tarte is a bit greasy feeling but I loooooove Canmake.  On the left of those is a container for some random pencils that I don't use much.  Middle left are my eyelash curlers, Dior eye shadow and mineral foundation.  Middle are my concealers, pencils I use most often, Nars eye lid primer, Dior lipstick.  And then towards the right are my Benefit cream eye shadows, random lipsticks, L'egere double white 02 foundation, makeup brushes, and Laura Mercier mineral foundation (recent purchase - like it so far except it doesn't quite match my skin coloring).


And inside the drawer are makeup items that I almost never use anymore.  Lots of Nars eye shadows and blushes, my old cream eye shadows from Shiseido and Shu, and various eyeliners.
Ah and here are my skin and hair products!  This is probably a third of what I actually own but these are the things I use most often.  I ended up giving my sister my Shu red products since they're a bit too rich for me as the weather gets warmer.  I love love love the Murad moisturizer, PTR uber dry sunscreen, Klorane dry shampoo (spray), Boscia clear complexion cleanser with botanical blast, and the Philosophy amazing grace body emulsion (I hated the smell at first, but the lotion is so good and I got used to the smell).  I have yet to find a good pimple cream or eye cream that actually does what it says it will do, and do it well.
Also, I have had a hair revolution.  I have discovered products that actually do what they say and have completely changed my hair.  I introduce you to Shu Uemura's Art of Hair.  AMAZING!  


I recently had a complete breakdown of will power and spent a ton of money on Shu's hair products, without having tried them before.  I did a ton of research online and picked the products that I thought would work best for what I wanted.  Luckily Shu's hair products ship from within the US and so shipping was faster than the extremely slow ass Shu beauty products which seem to follow a shipping route that circles the globe.  I was so excited for the package to arrive!  Below is my lil pug helping me to open the wonderfully packaged products.
Sigh.  So beautiful!  So I purchased the Muroto volume shampoo, conditioner, and masque (those are the blue products).  I also purchased a travel sized portion of the Essence Absolue (camellia oil), Ample Angora (a volumizing mousse), Liquid Fabric (a beach hair/waves spray), Satin Design (a moisturizing/smoothing liquid) and the Depsea Repair Foundation Spray (prep/leave in conditioner spray).  Also came with a free sample of the shimmer line.
Unboxed.
So far I have only used the Muroto line, the Essence Absolue, Ample Angora, and the repair foundation spray.  After first use I wasn't that impressed.  But then after a few uses, I noticed my hair looked and felt different as I was letting it air dry a bit before I blow dried it.  My hair was sticking up a bit from my scalp and  looked smoother and denser.  And now after I blow dry my hair, I have, as my friend calls it, princess hair.  Thick and dense but smooth and voluminous.  LOVE.  


I have to say that the Muroto volume line may be a tad bit drying for many.  I have a pretty oily scalp so it's really only my ends that need some extra attention.  The conditioner is probably not as moisturizing as I'd like but I'm worried that if I use another conditioner it'll deflate my hair.  Maybe it's all needed to work together?  The Ample Angora is not a heavy lifting product but what's amazing about it is that it's a very very very lightweight mousse/foam.  Normally when I use a volumizing mousse my hands afterwards feel tack and I have to wash them and my hair feels stick and crackly.  Not at all with this product.  And love the Essence Absolue.  It adds a slight shine and smoothness to the hair but afterwards my hands feel completely dry.  Not oily at all!  The repair foundation spray hasn't impressed me much.  I probably will continue using it but won't repurchase.  I thought I could use it to protect my hair from heat if I didn't want to use any other styling product, but I use Ample Angora and Essence Absolue every time I wash my hair!


I still have to try out the Liquid Fabric and Satin Design.  I'm hoping these products will help manage my hair during the extremely hot and humid summers here.  I'll keep you posted on my thoughts on those!


Oh and here is a pic for my recent obsession - nail polish!  I had another uncontrollable shopping spree (don't worry the nail polish and hair shopping sprees were spread out over a couple months) and bought a ton of nail polish.  The past few days I've been wearing Essie's Demure Vixen.  An interesting shimmery mauve that looks more pink on me than I thought it would.  The photos don't quite show the color as well as in person.  The shimmer is almost mother of pearly so the color changes in the light.  A very happy surprise since the color looked like a typical purple-y and unshimmery mauve.  
This polish is extremely sheer.  This is with 3 coats with a base and top coat.  Base is Sally Hansen double duty (fine but nothing great) and the top coat is Essie Good to Go (love love love!).  Essie Good to Go is extremely fast drying and thin.  Not goopy at all.  It makes doing my nails at home 100x easier!  I always used to mess up my wet/soft nails as I waited for them to dry.  No more!
This picture shows the pink in the polish a bit better than the previous photo.  And it also shows my increasingly fat pug to the left on her new leopard-print snuggie bed that she loves more than me.  I am really loving this Demure Vixen color and would have kept it on longer if I didn't have a ton of other new polishes to try.  I'm now wearing Essie's BBF which is a perfect nude/neutral on me.  Like my nails only better.  I previously tried Essie's Sew Psyched (a muted olivey green shade), which I thought gave me zombie or fungus hands, and Essie's Not Just a Pretty Face, which was a bit too pink for my tastes.  So after two fails I tried BBF which I like enough to keep on for now.  It's a good shade for work but it's a bit boring compared to Demure Vixen.  Toenails painted with Essie's Luxedo, a deep dark black red which I love.  Pics to follow another day.



Jumping topics, I have gotten into the habit of making a breakfast sandwich every weekend morning.  I have also mastered the art of making an over easy egg.  I love that oozing dribbling yolk in the middle.  Nom nom nom!  I make my sandwich with two egg whites and one yolk, 2 slices of turkey bacon (I LOVE turkey bacon!  It's not as good as real bacon of course but for a substitute it's amazing!), some babel light cheese, all on a whole wheat sandwich thin (it's yummier with better bread, but I like to keep the bread light), topped with lots of tabasco sauce, salt, and pepper.  And a nice iced coffee to go with it.  YUM!


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