Out of the Hot Seat and into the Fire

Well, it's official.  I'm a middle school English teacher!  Woo hoo!  I'm looking forward to having my own classroom come August and beginning my journey as a licensed educator.  Fingers crossed everything goes relatively smoothly.  As for this blog, I have to apologize for not keeping up with it.  I've moved two times in the last 3 months and have yet to settle down into my little one room apartment in the blistering heat of Las Vegas.  Yep, I'm officially a Vegas girl...  Well, more like a Northern Nevada girl that has recently relocated to Vegas.  I don't know that I could ever truly be a Vegas girl.  ;-)

I am, however, already in search of a way to supplement my income.  Money being tight and bills coming out of my ears - and let's not forget those cringe worthy student loans - this first year teacher salary is barely going to cut it.  That being said, and the fact that I like to eat more than twice a day not far from the front of my mind, I am debating on whether or not to join Beautycounter, the cosmetics company I reviewed not so recently.  I was and still am very impressed with their products.  Their concealer is to die for and their lip glazes are amazing!  Still, I've never been much a salesperson in the I'm about to shove my products down your throat kind of way.  I prefer to work for a store where people willingly walk in and then seek out my service and expertise.  When I think of being a cosmetics rep, I can't help but think of those girls I met in college that worked for Avon or Mary Kay *gag.*  Not that there is anything wrong with those companies or the people that work for them.  I just hated having to listen to their sales pitches and even worse, having to reject them.

So, with all that in mind I'm going to do some further research before jumping on the bandwagon.  It's too bad Beautycounter doesn't own a shop in Vegas.  I would make a beeline in that direction, resume in hand, so fast!  *Sigh*     

Beautycounter Cosmetics - "Safe Skincare"

In my quest to cure my sensitive skin of all it's colorful ailments I ran across Beautycounter.  This is a newish cosmetic and skincare company that prides itself on providing women with products that are safe to use.  According to their site, the US has only banned 11 ingredients that companies are not allowed to put into their products.  The EU has banned 1,300.  Beautycounter, a US company, has banned 1,500 ingredients.  After reading their mission statement and watching a few of their Youtube videos like the one below, I decided to give one of their products a try.  So I ordered their Touchup Skin Concealer Pen in the lightest shade they have, Fair.  I was impressed that the shade matched my skin tone pretty closely.  I have an especially hard time finding products that are pale enough for my vampire-white skin.  The concealer lasted a good five hours on bare skin without a powder to seal it.  In my experience, MAC's Pro Longwear Concealer lasts the longest, pretty much all day which is impressive considering that I have oily to combination skin.  However, MAC products do tend to break me out after prolonged use.  So back to Beautycounter's concealer - my skin didn't react at all from what I could tell.  I didn't see any further breakouts and my skin actually seemed to benefit from the moisture.  Needless to say, I will be repurchasing this product and have already ordered their Tint Skin Complexion Coverage (a tinted moisturizer) and decided to try one of their lip sheers in the shade Twig.  Hopefully, I will be just as impressed with these products.

    

100% Pure Cosmetics - Must try!!!

So far I have been very impressed with 100% Pure.  I will write out a full review for each product, but for now I want to give you all a brief review of what I've purchased.  My favorite products are the Mint White Tea Moisturizer (for normal to oily skin), the Fruit Pigmented Tinted Moisturizer in Creme, Cocoa Pigmented Bronzer, the Pigmented Blush in Peppermint Candy, the Lip Glaze in Elderberry, and the Black Tea Ultra Length Mascara.  I've used these products (with the exception of the tinted moisturizer) almost daily and so far have been very impressed.  As mentioned before, I've been struggling with acne and major breakouts.  My skin has since calmed down quite a bit (I will write an acne care blog soon) and they haven't made my skin any worse.  The makeup is VERY pigmented so go easy on the application.  The bronzer is especially dark and will look brown if you slather it on heavily.  The lip glazes are beautiful (I bought two others that don't compliment my skin tone but are nonetheless very pretty shades) and last a long time.  I'm almost out of the Mint White Tea Moisturizer and need to repurchase soon.  It smells delicious and leaves my skin saturated and has been helping with my dry, flaky skin. 

I would highly recommend 100% Pure Cosmetics.  There are a few products I did not end up enjoying, but that had more to do with personal preference than a fault in the products themselves.  I will give full reviews of each of the products soon.   

100% Pure Cosmetics

I struggle with acne.  I haven't always, in fact when I was a teenager I had perfectly clear skin.  *Cue the hallelujah music.*  And then I hit my mid-twenties and I started breaking out.  I am now officially someone who struggles with acne 24/7.  It's horrible!  I've tried countless products, am currently on three topical medications (I refuse to ingest any antibiotics or other forms of internal acne treatments - have you read the side effect?!?), and have tried just about every skin cleansing routine on the planet.  Nothing is working. 

So I decided today that I'm going all natural.  No more chemicals, no more unnatural makeup to cover up my acne.  I'm done.  The topical creams and foams are not working.  The makeup I'm using, specifically the concealers and foundations, are breaking me out worse.  My skin is pissed.  I'm pissed.  No more.  Luckily for me, there is a company out there that I found that's all natural.  They have natural makeup, cleansers, etc.  All of their products are made with essential oils, natural plant based ingredients and the pigments are made using fruit.  The company is called 100% Pure Cosmetics.  I just dropped over $100 on their products and will be trying a new regimen using only their products.

Now, the only issue is that I couldn't afford to purchase all of the makeup products I would normally use on a day to day basis, for example, the eye shadows.  So I will be using my normal store brand eyeshadow.  As soon as I receive the products I will be blogging about my experiences - and including pictures so that I can document if there is any improvement in my acne. 

Wish me luck!

Bellami hair extensions: Update

If you'll recall I chose the Bellami Piccolina 120g 18" Ash Brown hair extensions.  This is going to be the shortest review ever.  They did not blend well into my super fine, super thin, shoulder length bone straight hair.  The color was perfect, but it was beyond obvious that I had extensions in and unfortunately I just don't have enough hair to hide them.  I tried flat ironing them into my hair, I tried waves and even full on curls.  No luck.  So, if I decide to continue to grow my hair out (possibly down to my chest) I will try them again and keep my fingers crossed.

Hydra Sparkling Magic Lip & Cheek Balm by Givenchy - If you don't have it, get it!

     I was skeptical at first when I purchased this product from Sephora about six months ago.  I remember getting into my car, a case of buyer's regret starting to wash over me as I opened the Givenchy box and pulled out the miniscule lip and cheek balm pot and thought, "I spent over thirty bucks on this thing..."  Normally, I panic when I have to spend a similar amount of money on a 1.01fl. oz. bottle of foundation let alone a lip and cheek balm!  But I have to say, six months later and still not hitting bottom of the pot I am not only impressed, I'm hooked.

     This little product goes a long way as far as I'm concerned.  It changes color to match your own lip color with a little extra pink to really make them look flushed.  The texture is wonderful and I could reapply it all day long if I had to, but it stays on for quite a while before my need for moist and balmy lips takes over.  Using my Nivea chapstick over the top of it when my lips start to feel dry only gives it a slightly more muted effect.  I love it even more when this happens because my lips look naturally amazing at that point.  "Oh these?  Yes, they are my natural lips.  Aren't they awesome?"
      As for using this product as a cheek stain - yes, it works very well.  I wouldn't say that I'm a fan of using it over my foundation though.  The consistency is a bit thick to put over my cheeks.  This may be only an issue for me though as my skin is super acne prone.  But the color it gives off is equally as stunning on the cheeks as it is on the lips.  It is especially pretty if you're going for the "natural look" and are wearing a minimal amount of makeup.  
   

Essie "bikini so teeny" Nail Polish = Love

I've received so many compliments on Essie's Bikini So Teeny nail polish that I decided I absolutely had to publish a blog on it.  To begin with the color is very flattering on my ghostly pale complexion.  The polish does have a very fine grade silvery glitter in it that even girls completely opposed to blinged out nails can appreciate.  The extra shine gives an already beautiful pastel lilac blue color an extra pop!  Two coats of this stuff does the job.  Be prepared to tell women where you purchased your nail color and what was that product's name again?  Overall, I would highly recommend this particular color to girls with paler skin or cooler undertones.  Also, a neat trick to make sure your perfect nails last longer is to use Orly's Bonder as a base coat and then the Won't Chip over the top of your nail color.  I've gone for a full two weeks with no cracks or chips.  Now that's what I call a good nail day (or fourteen)!