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)!

 

Do NOT waste your money on Nailene French Express Press-On Nails!

The title says it all.  Do not buy this product.  They are a waste of money.  These fake nails are even worse than the stick-on nails I used to use as a little girl.  You know, back when I put lipstick on my eyelids and eyeshadow on my cheeks.  Yeah, it was that long ago.  You'd think some company would have created a better product by now. 

So I put these on and they looked terrible, but I decided to give them a day before taking them off.  This was unnecessary, however, as they began to pop off about an hour later!  At this point I just started peeling them off one by one, cursing the drug store I bought them at for wasting my hard earned (and sadly miniscule amount of) money.  You've been warned! 

Bellami Hair Extensions - You want how much!?!

I have the finest, thinnest hair ever.  Seriously, you can see my scalp at certain angles.  Most people's hair gets thicker as they get older or at least they get a lot more of it to make up for its fine texture.  At 27 years old I still have baby fine hair.  It's super soft and super stubborn.  On the plus side, when I style it right, it is kind of pretty.  When it was long people were forever wanting to touch it since it felt like silk.  This is little comfort to me since I've always dreamed of having a head full of hair like Catherine Zeta Jones or Nicole Kidman in Far and Away.  Ah, to have crazy Disney Merida hair... 

The good Lord, however, did not see fit to bless me with such amazing locks so in my search for the fix I ran across real human hair extensions.  The only previous experience I've had with extensions is a faux ponytail that I purchased online.  I had a belly dance performance coming up for my college's Night of All Nations celebration and I didn't want to be the only belly dancer in my troupe with bob length short hair.  So, I purchased the fake ponytail.  And for the performance it worked out great.  Unfortunately, it will not be as useful for everyday use as it's a little over the top on thickness and length.  Also, I've noticed fake hair moves differently and tangles more than real hair.  There's also the problem of static cling.  If anyone knows how to cure this and is from a dry state like mine, please comment some advice.  We have absolutely no humidity here which makes for some very electric hair.

But back to my real human hair extensions story.  I spent quite a few hours on Youtube (of course) looking up as many tutorials and reviews as I could find on hair extensions.  My first impression was to choose from either FoxyLocks or Bellami.  Both companies seem to have a cult following and the majority of their reviews were very positive.  I originally tried to purchase from FoxyLocks, but this company is located in Great Britain and apparently my bank is not too keen on the idea of transferring money to foreign lands.  :-)  So, my next attempt was through Bellami.  I chose the Piccolina 120g 18" Ash Brown hair.

The color seems about right and should be close to my actual color (after all my dye fades out).  Even if it doesn't match perfectly, I should be able to get it to blend in by curling my hair.  That is the hope anyway.  In total the extensions and the shipping cost me about $105.  Not great, but not too bad after seeing what most companies charge.  I will be writing an initial impression review once I receive the extensions and then a follow up after I've had them for a few months.  Until then, I am anxiously awaiting my most expensive hair extensions' arrival.  Here's to having thicker longer hair!   

10 Year High School Reunion... Has it really been that long?

I hate New Years resolutions.  I never make any and even if I did, I know myself too well to believe that I'd ever keep any of them.  But with my 10 year high school reunion on the horizon I figure I'd better set myself some goals to reach before May.  Please notice that I said goals, goals I can and will reach.  Resolutions I just ignore.  Completely.

While I'm not fat by any means, I have gained a good 30 lbs since high school and my quack (I really need to get a new one) keeps reminding me that I'm a bit too heavy for my height.  Not that I need to be reminded.  My tummy sticks out and hides my hoo-ha.  I think that's a pretty obvious sign I need to loose a few.  So, with getting healthier in mind I plan on exercising more and eating more vegetables.  I seriously hate vegetables.  They taste gross which is exactly how you can tell when something is good for you.  "Wow, this tastes horrible.  It must be really good for me."

I say this, and of course, I'm eyeballing that package of sour straws across the room.  Mmmm.....  Strawberry sour straws...  Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought.

 

Okay, so maybe I'll focus on the exercising more often first and then cut down on the sweets.  #1 I'll walk my dog once a day and then we both will need a nap.  #2 I will belly dance at least once a week (for class) and practice at least once a week as well.  #3 I will attend at least 2 pole dance classes a week.  They offer yoga and toning classes there too so maybe I should try some of those.  So now I have a plan.  I'll start first thing.  Tomorrow morning.  No, wait tomorrow night is better.  Unless I feel like watching an episode of Archer, or How I Met Your Mother, or Justified...  This is going to be hard. 

Fantastic Fake Nails for Under $6.00!

I've always loved the look of fake nails, gels and acrylics.  I even tried the gels last year - french style with blue sparkly tips.  My nails had never looked so good!  But unfortunately the girl I went to was a bit of newb and damaged my real nails.  It took me a few months of growing them out before they were back to normal again.  After that experience I swore up and down never to wear fake nails again.  Well, it's 2014 and it's been about a year since all those self-promises so I figured it was time to try again.  Looking down at my unadorned finger nails, I realized that firstly I didn't want to damage my nails again and secondly that I really can't afford to have them done professionally.  So, like any good cheapskate I did some research on Youtube to find an alternative to a nail salon.  Enter my options of press on nails.  After watching a few videos and getting to see the results for most cheapo girls I was impressed.  The nails looked great and were exactly what I was looking for - they weren't pricey and they caused a minimal amount of damage to the real nails.  I grabbed my purse and headed to Walmart to purchase my first pair of glue-on nails.  The options were a bit picked over and unfortunately, no blue sparkly tips, so I settled on Kiss Everlasting French real short nails. 

 
They look amazing!  I'm so happy with them and really surprised at how realistic they look.  And the best part of all is that they only cost me $5.97!  What a bargain!  I will definitely be doing this from now on when I feel the need to give my nails some sprucing up.