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Alpha Skin Essential Renewal Gel 10% AHA

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Alpha Skin Essential Renewal Gel 10% AHAAlpha Skin Essential Renewal Gel 10% AHA, $15

Alpha Hydrox 10% AHA Lotion used to be a staple of mine, but I discontinued use because it felt greasy and gross to me. Time passed and I experimented with skincare, and I found that my skin likes a mix of physical and chemical exfoliation. During our break, Alpha Hydrox rebanded to Alpha Skin; new logos and packaging, new (higher) price tags. Little did I know, they sold the gel I now use, Alpha Skin Essential Renewal Gel 10% AHA, before. If I only knew!

Applying

Retailing at $15 for 1.7 fl oz, the Alpha Skin Essential Renewal Gel 10% AHA is a thin, clear gel that housed in a short squeeze-tube. When I use the product, I apply a pencil-eraser-sized dollop to clean skin in circular motions with my fingertips. It isn’t remotely greasy – I give it two minutes to absorb, then apply 2-3 drops of argan oil. I apply before bed and have glowing, smooth skin in the morning.

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Contigo Chill

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Contigo Grace

Hydration is important. After about a year of using a Camelbak Eddy which was hard to clean, I switched to a Contigo Grace water bottle. I love that I can drink from it one handed; the Grace is designed such that you don’t have to fumble with unscrewing and re-securing a cap. It is lightweight yet sturdy and inexpensive to boot.

The Contigo Grace is great, but it isn’t insulated. Generally, I like my water cool (not cold – somewhere between room temperature and cold) but it is difficult to keep it that way if you’re carrying the bottle around by hand. It ends up warming up a bit more than I love when I’m running between meetings at work. Solution: Buy an insulated one.

Enter the Contigo Chill

Contigo Chill

The Chill features a similar one-handed, push-button dispensing design as the Grace, but it’s stainless steel and maintains temperature for about 12 hours. I’m really enjoying it so far.

So far, so good. I’m happy with it; I got the Scuba Blue one, but if my Target would have had the Matte Black/Berry one, I would have gotten it.

If you’re partial to one-handed use with sip-valves and straws, the Contigo Ashland Chill is your guy; my husband has the non-insulated version and it’s just as sturdy and excellent as the Grace. The straw

The Bottom Line

The opportunity to test the Contigo Chill in the heat of summer has not yet manifested because I’ve only had it for about two months. Do I think it will maintain cold or cool in 90+ degree heat for twelve hours? No, realistically – but even four hours would be awesome in those conditions. I convinced my husband to get a Contigo Chill in addition to his uninsulated bottle from them and we haven’t looked back.

No Buy Oops – What I Bought

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I broke my no buy by getting a disappointing manicure. Fortunately, the pedicure I got with it was decent, but dear heavens is it difficult to get a manicure that doesn’t suck.

I learned my lesson – I DIY for a reason!

Anyway, while we’re at it – when I was planning, I failed to recognize that Ulta was going to release a 20% Platinum Perk and that Sephora was going to have its coveted BI sale smack in the middle of my attempted limited consumerism.

Oops.

It’s not all bad. I didn’t go crazy. I bought:

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Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation

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Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation, $36

Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation…so refreshing to have a product with an absurdly long name! It’s been a while.

I’ve never been a fan of caking on product to hide problems. Even when I was in the throes of ridiculous skin woes, I wouldn’t do it. That doesn’t mean I’d go bare-faced…but troweling on Instagram-ready, drag-worthy makeup does not seem like a healthy choice for problem skin.

The Purchase

Over the holidays, I finally ran out of the powder foundation I was using on lazy (read: most) mornings where blending a cream or liquid product was out of the question. Armed with a 20% off Ulta Platinum voucher, I picked up Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation. I like the idea of mineral powder foundations; even though bareMinerals didn’t blow me away with its lofty claims, it is a decent product that is user friendly. My hope was that I’d find a better shade match and a similar level of user friendliness in this Tarte product.

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Worth it? Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner

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Cinema Secrets Brush CleanerCinema Secrets Makeup Brush Cleaner, $24 for 8oz

This was a legacy post that I gave a facelift because I seriously cannot tell enough people about this product. If you’re an artist? Lifesaver. If you aren’t, it means you can avoid buying thirty seven thousand brushes, because you can use the same one over and over in a look.

I’d seen this brush cleaner in blog posts and on YouTube. I was curious but…really, how good can it be? It’s a brush cleaner. I had come close to buying it a few times for myself but always talked myself out of it. My current system is good; why invest in another product – especially with that price tag? Fortunately, a wise friend sent this wee little spray-bottle of it to me.

I tested it that night, but was not prepared to record or demonstrate my findings. Spoiler alert: I was blown away and wondered how the ever loving hell I haven’t had this product in my life before.

Let me just show you.

Before

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