Monday, July 3, 2023

June 2023 Arrivals

Ok folksickles! Look at me for a change, pretty much only buying essentials.

1. Milani Make It Last Original Natural Finish Setting Spray: I'm running low on my current setting spray and have heard good things about this one so I decided to pick it up. It may seem a bit pricey for a drugstore item upfront but I feel like it's a good deal for it being 6 fl. oz.

2. Biore UV Aqua Rich Water Essence SPF 50+ PA++++: I really enjoy using this SPF so I purchased another tube to have on hand. I do feel like I'm running through it rather quickly though.

3. Bath & Body Works Berry Waffle Cone Scented Candle: This was on sale and I just couldn't resist it, this candle smells absolutely delicious!

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Disclaimer: I purchased everything listed above.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

June 2023 Favorites

Hey folksickles,

Alright, all the goodies I've been enjoying in June :) 

1. Virtue Labs Full Shampoo & Conditioner: I'm sure you can tell from the size of the bottles in the above photograph that I loved these enough to purchase the jumbo sizes. Both this shampoo and conditioner feel very high quality (which they should, at their price point) and leave my hair feeling clean, smooth, hydrated, and manageable. My hair just looks and feels better/healthier when using these products. Additionally, even though Virtue Labs has their Flourish line, I prefer the scent and effect that the Full line has in terms of making my hair feel thicker and healthier.

2. Charmed Aroma Peach Sugar Kiss Candle: Unfortunately, while this candle didn't have any jewelry in it (I mean my bestie, who bought me this, couldn't have known), it smells absolutely delicious and has a wonderful throw. I'm adding it to favorites not only because it was a gift from my bestie but also because I would really look forward to lighting it so my room could smell delicious. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: I purchased the products discussed above myself with the exception of the candle, which was a gift from my bestie.

Saturday, July 1, 2023

June 2023 Empties

All my monthly trash on display for you to see. :P

1. Charmed Aroma Champagne Shimmer Candle: This candle really grew on me in terms of its scent, it's sweet and fruity. The candle has a really great scent throw as well.

2. PURITO PLAINET SQUALANE OIL 100: I'm sure one could've predicted that, as this is squalane, I really enjoyed using it. Like other squalane oils, this helped keep my redness in check and helped smooth my skin texture. It, like other things, unfortunately didn't help get rid of my eczema patch.

3. Juvia's Place I Am Magic Concealer: I really love this concealer because it's high coverage and blends into my skin beautifully while providing a natural, ever-so-slightly dewy finish. I tried to scrape every last bit of it out of the packaging because I love it so much.

4. Dove deep moisture body wash: I love these body washes to shave with because they're hydrating and provide a nice glide for my razor.

5. Skinfood Buckwheat Loose Powder: Overall, this was a nice powder with some slight mattifying and smoothing effects but I found that it creased on my under-eye area.

6. Dr. Bronner's Citrus Orange Magic Soap:  I used this for washing my makeup brushes and I really love the way this particular one smells. It's sweet and citrusy. 

7. essentials Aromatherapy Peppermint oil: This is a nice peppermint essential oil but I feel like it's expensive for what it is.

8.  Trader Joe's Super Lemon Room Spritz: This room spray smells really nice but also does a good job of keeping critters out of my room in the summertime.

9. Garnier Fructis Style Volume Hairspray: While the flexible control is my favorite of their hair sprays because it gives my hair hold without any crunchiness, I like this hairspray as well. It does have a stronger hold, and therefore does give my hair a bit of that crunchy texture if I get generous with this, but I find that it works well when lightly spritzed all over the head.

10. Harajuku Lovers Wicked Style Love: I really enjoyed this scent as it reminded me of a cross between grape juice and wild strawberries. It's a nice spring/summer fragrance to have and I think it smells fun. 

11. COSRX Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence: I am so sad to be out of this because I feel like it provided very nice, intense hydration to my dehydrated skin. My skin feels so much better and overall smoother and softer now since I've been using this. 

12. Trader Joe's tea tree oil: If I'm being honest, I feel like tea tree oil smells really intense and I mostly like using this to clean out my air conditioner vents because it has antifungal properties.

13. Neutrogena Ultra Sheer body mist sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 70: The ultra sheer formula has been a go-to for me for many years because as its name implies, it's a sheer, non-sticky formula that doesn't ball up or act funny on my skin. I used to purchase the 100+ but that seems to have disappeared.

14. MIZON Multi Function Formula Snail Repair Eye Cream: I am so sad to have run out of this because I really loved this eye cream. It provided a lot of hydration and helped to depuff and smooth out my eye area.

15. Tree Hut Exotic Bloom Shea Sugar Scrub: This has a sweet, floral scent to it that I enjoy and provides a nice, gritty, scrubbing experience.

16. Freeman Clearing sweet tea + lemon Peel-Off Clay Mask: I'm sure no one is surprised when I say that I am glad to be done with this mask. While it has good ingredients in it, I wish they would make this a wash-off mask because it being something meant to peel off, it's just difficult to remove and makes a mess of both my face and my sink.

17. Bisous De Provence Lemon Verbena Triple Milled Soap: This soap smells delicious, lathers well, and feels hydrating to the skin. I feel like it's a nice soap to give as a gift.

18. Trader Joe's Peony Blossom: Although my original review for this candle was less than glowing, this year's version of the candle in the rose gold/copper tins is incredible. The candle melted beautifully, smelled delicious - like a blooming garden, and had a nice throw that filled up my room. 

19. Pearlessence Faux Mink Lashes Wispies x2: Despite them being faux mink, I find these lashes are easier to apply and have thinner lash bands. They have a pretty, natural appearance that gives a voluminous, full lash look.  

Disclaimer: I purchased all of the above with the exception of the essentials Aromatherapy and  M-61 products. 

Love It Or Leave It; Review 2.0: ColourPop Stone Cold Fox Pressed Powder Palette

Hello folksickles. As a makeup junkie and blogger you may have realized that I review a LOAD of eyeshadow palettes and I like to think of myself as being largely an eyeshadow junkie. In order to declutter a bit  I've decided to pick out a palette or series of eyeshadows for the month and have that be my monthly selection for those instances where I'm not doing a tutorial for the blog. Every month I'll do a recap on the eyeshadows - how I feel about them and whether I'll be keeping them or giving them away (and why :P) as well as if I think it's worth its price tag. 

You can find a look I did with the palette here. These are the looks I created this month:
So as you can see I created mostly soft, neutral, smoky looks with this palette. I really love the quality of this palette - the color payoff is excellent, the shadows are beautiful and they blend well. I've really enjoyed playing with this palette because, unlike many other cool toned palettes, this doesn't make me look zombie-like or dead, where it's draining color from my face. If we're going to get super technical it's because the actual base tone on most of the shades in this palette is warm, the colors themselves are just on the cool end of the warm spectrum. In any case it's a "cool" toned palette that works for me and one I really enjoy using so it's definitely nice to have in my arsenal. Additionally, I love that this palette contains transition and highlight tones that would work on multiple skin-tones from light to dark and that it has shades that can be used for contouring the face along with shades one could use as eyebrow powders. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: I purchased this myself.

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Love It Or Leave It; Review 2.0: ColourPop She's a Rainbow Pressed Powder Palette

Hello folksickles. As a makeup junkie and blogger you may have realized that I review a LOAD of eyeshadow palettes and I like to think of myself as being largely an eyeshadow junkie. In order to declutter a bit  I've decided to pick out a palette or series of eyeshadows for the month and have that be my monthly selection for those instances where I'm not doing a tutorial for the blog. Every month I'll do a recap on the eyeshadows - how I feel about them and whether I'll be keeping them or giving them away (and why :P) as well as if I think it's worth its price tag. 

You can find a look I did with the palette here. These are the looks I created this month:
I obviously had to finish off this rainbow palette and Pride month with a rainbow look
So as you can see I created some very fun, colorful looks. I really love the quality of this palette - the color payoff is excellent, the shadows are beautiful and they blend well. It's been a lot of fun playing with this and I don't want to put it down because, frankly, it feels like it's been a while since I played around with multicolored, fun looks. That being said, I wish that this palette didn't have the glitters in it because they're too chunky to put on my eyes and are too dark to use as cheek highlighters so they're just kind of... there, taking up space. Additionally, I did consider passing this palette along because I have most of these shades in the monochromatic palettes but I decided to hold onto it for now because I love having these colors together in one place. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: I purchased this myself.

Friday, June 9, 2023

Love It Or Leave It; Review 2.0: ColourPop Disney Mulan Palette

Hello folksickles. As a makeup junkie and blogger you may have realized that I review a LOAD of eyeshadow palettes and I like to think of myself as being largely an eyeshadow junkie. In order to declutter a bit  I've decided to pick out a palette or series of eyeshadows for the month and have that be my monthly selection for those instances where I'm not doing a tutorial for the blog. Every month I'll do a recap on the eyeshadows - how I feel about them and whether I'll be keeping them or giving them away (and why :P) as well as if I think it's worth its price tag. 

You can find a look I did with the palette here. These are the looks I created this month:
So as you can see I created some neutral, smoky, and red looks with this palette. While most of the shadows in here are great quality-wise - they're pigmented, they blend easily, the majority of the shimmer shades in here are micro-glitters and unfortunately, that poses a few issues. Due to their texture, they don't go on very smoothly and have the tendency to irritate my eyes when I go to wash them off at the end of the day. In addition, they have an odd scent to them. For these reasons, I will be passing the palette along. While I genuinely really like the matte shades in here, I find that I have overall similar shades in other palettes and because I don't see myself reaching for this in the future, I'd rather pass it along to someone whom I think will get some use out of it.  

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: My wife gave me this palette as a gift.