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Good Products from FabFitFun

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Although I’ve canceled my subscription, I came away from my five seasons with many good products from FabFitFun that I think is worth sharing. Not all of it is explicitly beauty, but still ended up being neat.

West Elm Indigo Tie-Dye Bowls





This incredibly cute set of ceramic blue ikat bowls from West Elm. I would never purchase these on my own (both because 1) West Elm and 2) I wouldn’t typically reach for ikat prints or bowl sets) but they’re pretty. I keep bobby pins and Invisibobbles in them.

Avene Thermal Spring Water
Avene Thermal Facial Spray, $14

This is one of those things that I simply cannot bring myself to actively choose to spend money on, but it is pleasant to have if I end up with it as a gift/freebie/from a subscription box like this.

I’ve had the Evian ones ($14 for twice as much) in the past. they’re surprisingly nice in the summer if you’ve worked out or been outside.

Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Mask 6 Pack

Wander Beauty’s Baggage Claim eye masks, $25

I love eye masks, and these are really damn nice. They have a cult following for a reason I would never pay $25 for 6, however, so this was a big win in the box they came in. The bad thing is that I REALLY LIKE THEM – but I still refuse to pay that much for them. So, I’d repurchase if they were more affordable.

Instead, I tend to buy these from Amazon ($10) or any of the eight thousand just like them on Abra’s recommendation. They aren’t miracle workers, and I’m in the market for something that is a better value.

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Off Topic: Period Care is Covered by FSA

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A silver lining of this lousy year is that now, period care is covered by FSA I’ve shared before that FSA funds can be used to buy sunscreen. That is great, and I highly recommend doing so if at the end of the year you find yourself with an excess of FSA funds (and don’t need healthcare, spare glasses, etc). But this isn’t about sun safety.

Period Care is Covered by FSA (FINALLY)

This is about how finally, in 2020, prompted by the CoVid-19, Congress decided that, “oh hey, maybe menstrual care products are healthcare products and should be eligible for purchase with FSA funds,” via the CARES act.

Not Amused

Can we talk for a moment about how we could have purchased any number of ridiculous, frivolous, bullshit products with an FSA? We could buy a $25 lip gloss because it had some SPF in it, but we couldn’t buy some damn tampons with those same funds. This is on top of the absurdity that hygiene products like these are frequently taxed at a different rate (a quite literal pink tax, rather than the markup variety) than other hygiene and personal care necessities because some morons seem to think that’s a great idea.

Maybe some of them aren’t complete bullshit, like light therapy for acne. But why could we spend $200 in pre-tax dollars on some splurgey skincare gadget with questionable efficacy before we could spend those dollars on basic, routine hygiene that so damn important to our ongoing health. No one wants blemishes, but I dare-fucking-say that one is slightly higher priority in terms of, “shit we need,” than the other.

The Bottom Line

I’m happy that period care is covered by FSA funds now, but I’m simultaneously irritated as hell that it took so long, and took a global health crisis that not only threatened lives and safety but incomes and livelihoods, for tampons to be considered slightly less of a luxury.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Worth it? Frank Body Coffee Scrub

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Frank Body Coffee Scrub
Frank Body Coffee Scrub, $17

Last year, I opened a FabFitFun box only to be greeted by a cheeky, overly confident, millennial pink ziploc-style bag from Frank Body:

Guess what? You’ll be naked in one minute.

Frank Body

Well, I never!

So – turns out, the pink bag contained a body scrub. For some reason I haven’t yet psychoanalyzed, I hoard the living hell out of scrubs. I had just committed to doing the body scrub equivalent of, “Project Pan,” so I could oh, you know, stop being quite as stereotypical.

Obviously, the next thing to do is open the brand new package and use it rather than using the tub that needed to be used up. Obviously.

The Bag

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Chatter: Funny How That Works – An Update

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Two weeks ago after hulking out on some school obligations, I found the motivation to put some work back into the site and started posting again. The third item of business, in fact, was getting the Euphoria Makeup post OK to publish.

A few days after I started scheduling content, my state issued new guidelines requiring telework when possible. Frankly, it was already mandated, but the new order made it a bit more black-and-white. So, I have returned to working from home after two months back in the office (which itself was after two months of working from home).

This means that I can, “get away,” with wearing ridiculous bright colors if I find the inspiration to slap them on my face at 6AM. I only did it a few times before; but hey, it was fun so I might get to give my Electric palette something to do. In the dismal world we all find ourselves in at the moment, some frivolity is nice.

So – for fun (?) here’s some insight into what I’ve been up to:

School

In May 2019 I embarked on an adventure to earn a degree. I work in a field and role that conventionally requires one but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been contrarian. It occurred to me that I have probably maxed out on how far I can go without one (unless I get entrepreneurial); since I desire further advancement, it is a necessity. At the start, I figured I’d be able to do this half-time at best and that it would take me about four years to get the first leg (an Associates) done. “That sucks,” I figured, “but it’s a necessary evil at this point.”

I sold myself short.

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Changed My Mind: Invisibobble

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Four years ago, I shared an incendiary opinion on the Invisibobble Traceless Hair Ring. I dismissed it as a gimmick. Since it came out, numerous other companies have adopted the concept in their own, similar telephone-cord-like ponytail holders.

Invisibobble

FabFitFun

I ended up receiving a pack of six Invisibobble in a FabFitFun box last year. It contained three clear and three light beige/light nude. Recalling my prior assessment, I sneered at them, like an ass.

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Clarisonic Shutting Down; WTF L’Oreal

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Since 2004 (founded 2001), Clarisonic has been improving the cleansing game of countless people. Many of us suckers who bought into the sonic cleansing technology became devotees. The company was acquired by cosmetics giant L’Oreal in 2011. Since then, dozens of iterations of their cleansing devices have been designed and released. I’ve reviewed two of the devices – the Mia 2 and the Smart Profile.

Clarisonic Going out of Business
Clarisonic Shutting Down as of 9/30/2020

The End of an Era

When the news dropped last week that L’Oreal is shutting down the Clarisonic brand, however, many beauty consumers (myself included) were shocked. They are closing effective September 30 of this year and immediately marked down everything 50% on their own site with guidance for other retailers to do the same. Retailers may continue to offer product after that date, but items are not being manufactured or restocked.

Hey, cool, another thing I (and many others) really like getting discontinued. Sweeeet.

Why?

Parent company L’Oreal reports:

This difficult decision was made so that L’Oréal can focus its attention on its other core business offerings.

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