Chatter

Worth it? Beauty Subscription Boxes

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beauty subscription boxes

Subscription boxes in general are everywhere, catering to various interests and desires. There are boxes for people who want purportedly healthy snacks, boxes for dog owners, boxes for geeks, and, what’s relevant to this blog, beauty subscription boxes.

Like other subscriptions, beauty subscription boxes do several things. They:

  • Give us something to look forward to. Admit it, you like receiving packages.
  • Create an opportunity to try items that we might not otherwise choose to buy for ourselves.
  • Yield the novelty of a value set month-after-month.
  • Enable smaller or newer brands to get their good name out there.
  • Provide a way for established brands to generate buzz about new products.
  • Offer an outlet for brands or retailers to deal with overstock.

Some companies offer subscription boxes for $10 per month (or less if you agree to six months or a year). I’ve tossed around the idea, but until now, I’ve let it go. Here’s why:

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Self Tanning Prep

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It’s finally sunless tanning season! Maybe you bother year ’round, maybe you’ve already started for the year – but for the rest of us, here are some tips on how to achieve a great sunless tan regardless of the products you’re using.

Shower

Self Tanning Prep - Original Dove Beauty Bar

For best results, you should always apply to just-cleaned skin! When I’m showering with self tanning prep in mind, I use a mild soap like classic Dove (which is what I use in the shower most of the time anyway). Some of the richer, creamier body washes contain oils (great for ultra-moisturizing, not great for self tanning prep). While you’re at it…

Shave

remingtonshaver

…at least the areas you wish to tan with coarser hair, such as the lower legs. Don’t feel like you need to shave everywhere – for instance, I don’t shave my forearms; the hair that grows there is fine and light.. If you wax or have removed the hair via a laser device, you get to skip this – lucky you! Still, you need to…

Exfoliate

Self Tanning Prep - Eco Tools Shower Gloves

While in the shower, exfoliate your skin to remove any dry or errant patches. Sunless tanner works best when everything is smooth; otherwise you risk a patchy or muddy application. No product can prevent it – you simply have to do your due-diligence. I use a pair of scrubby shower gloves or a sugar- or salt-based scrub. If your scrub has oils (many do!), you might want to do this before you suds up to remove any oils.

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Products I Love But Don’t Always Use

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Just because a product is good, or even great, doesn’t mean I’m always up for exerting the effort to use it. I could easily title this post, “Products I Love But Don’t Routinely Make Time For…Because Sleep.”

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade

Dipbrow, for instance. Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade is fantastic. I’m still a loyal user, but I don’t use it daily. I simply don’t always have enough time, or bothers to give, to sit there in front of a mirror sculpting my brows with a brush. It is possible to use this product in a hurry, but I’m usually seeking a different look.

sephoraserum

Sephora Teint Infusion Ethereal Natural is so gorgeous. The finish is wonderful. It is not, however, remotely forgiving to the smallest hint of atypical texture – be it dryness or flaky skin. It requires me to pay a little more attention to my skin before use and during application; not a bad thing, I’m just not always up for it.

 

udfbombRed Lipstick (any). I love reds and close-to-red shades; they’re bold and empowering. That said, I usually wear MLBB shades for two reasons – one, they’re flattering and two, they’re effortless. You have to be trying to mess them up, right? But red (like UD F-Bomb or even bold, close-to-red pinks like UD Catfight) requires attentiveness. Depending on your poison, you may or may not need lip liner, but applying without a mirror is out of the question. KvD Foiled Love Lipstick in Adora (now discontinued, but I believe Adora is available in the Studded Kiss formula now) is life, but I can’t slap it on haphazardly running out the door.

 

Products I Love But Don't Always Use

Pigments are delightfully fun! I only own four – three from NYX, and Rushmetal from MAC (from that whole Glambot thing). Anyone who has ever used loose pigments can tell you, however, that there is no such thing as, “really quick,” with them. Application takes more steps, fallout is a thing, cleanup of your workspace will always be a thing. I only really end up using these for special occasions as a result.

Maybelline Gel Liner

 

Gel liner is my favorite, but most days, I’m using dark eyeshadow to define my lashline. I need at least three minutes to apply it, more if I’m doing something, “fun,” like wings or flicks.

I really enjoy all of these things, but in my normal, run-of-the-mill, day-to-day life I can’t pull it all off. I’ll often do one of these things on a weekday, but being as that I wake up at 5:45, I’m desperate for all the sleep I can get!

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month

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If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that sun safety and skin cancer awareness are important topics to me. I remind multiple times a year to practice sun safety and to take measures to protect your skin, but I take advantage of may being Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness month to ascend my soapbox. It’s a little deranged, really, to name today Melanoma Monday – but so it is.

Month before last, my father had to have yet another area removed. Squamous Cell Carcinoma. That’s at least his second procedure. That’s not even getting into about what my mother has gone through.

I was an idiot and used to tan in tanning beds.

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TPDTY: Acrylics Can Be Uncomfortable

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TPDTY stands for Things People Don’t Tell You. This series will feature bits of beauty wisdom that most people don’t hear until after the fact; like a ridiculous, disappointing, secret club.

AcrylicsAcrylics – Photo from http://www.nailsartdesign.net/

Acrylics can be uncomfortable but, skillfully applied, they aren’t.

The problem lies in cut-rate shops with employees of dubious skills doing rush jobs with low-quality product and tools. I haven’t gotten an acrylic manicure in almost five years, but it makes me sad hearing people who have bad experiences with something that is supposed to be nice and make them feel good.

Have you ever heard someone say that acrylics completely ruined their nails?

That’s not quite right.

That is their perception, and it isn’t a a crazy conclusion to draw, either. In this case? Hate the player, not the game.

Any enhancement may compromise the strength of the natural nail to a certain point, but if the nail technician takes care with their application, your nails will not be, “ruined,” post-removal. A little soft for a few days? Maybe, yes; use a strengthening top coat like this one from Sally Hansen and you’re good-to-go. Shredded, paper-thin, with visible damaged layers? NO!

Why?

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Commentary: Buy Your Own Makeup

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This whole post was inspired by the events that played out over the course of this text message conversation posted on Distractify. Don’t send people on errands to buy things they don’t know about – or, in short… buy your own makeup.

In the share, a woman has tasked her significant other to go to the store and collect for her a lipstick with only vague descriptors (not a brand, line, or color name), and a false lash kit. Unfortunately, the poster was well out of his element.

  1. If you must send someone to buy things (especially makeup!) – BE SPECIFIC.

The least you could do is send them with a photo or figure out and tell them exactly what you want.

2. If you screw up and task someone with such a thing, then realize they are not up to the task (due to lack of information or familiarity), do not have them continue. Sure, the willingness to try is cute, but…don’t. Go buy your own makeup.

“Light, bright,” might mean something to us when it comes to lipcolor, but it doesn’t mean much to a lot of people.

3. If you realize that this individual cannot tell the difference between a bottle of nail polish and a tube of lipstick…ABORT MISSION IMMEDIATELY.

See number 2.

4. Don’t encourage people to open non-testers to swatch them for you. (And don’t do it yourself!) You are precisely the reason why we can’t have nice things when it comes to drugstore.

You suck, I hope you’re pleased with yourself.

The article was meant to be humorous. To a point, it was – but I can’t shake the feeling that this stuff happens more often than ever occurred to me before I read that silly piece. For the love of cats, go buy your own makeup and don’t send someone else who is not qualified to do it for you.

(Also, I’m not suggesting that significant others are inherently not qualified – but unless yours is pretty interested in your facepaint process… just don’t.)