Chapstick Duo: Novel, but Not Good

Chapstick DuoChapstick Duo, $4

A few weeks ago, my lips were dry ALL. DAMN. DAY. Miraculously, I somehow had no lip balm in my purse OR desk at work.

How?!

After work, my husband and I had an appointment and couldn’t stop home for me to restock from my stash there. My lips were DYING, so we stopped at a CVS so I could run in and get some balm. I just went up to the register, expecting regular ol’ standby Chapstick to be there. NOPE.

Instead, I’m greeted with Chapstick Duo, a silly-looking double-ended EOS wannabe. The appeal of Chapstick Duo is that you get two balm flavors; mine was a sophisticated pairing of Cotton Candy and Pink Cupcake. There was no time; I grabbed it, paid, and went on my way.

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December 2017 Favorites

December 2017 Favorites
December 2017 Favorites
C.O. Bigelow My Favorite Night Balm, $7.50 / Dove Beauty Bar, varies / Twilight Bath Bomb, $7/ IKEA TOFTBO Bath Rug, $8
Amope Pedi Perfect, $49 / Clarisonic Radiance Brush Heads, $27 (but as cheap as $15 ea if you shop smart)

The one week of free-time I had in December was spent doing holiday things – baking, spending time with family and friends, the like. The rest was spent as pure downtime, regenerating and recharging along with my husband. I could have worn glitter eyeliner every damn day – but I didn’t. In fact, I hardly wore any makeup at all for half the damn month. Instead, I spent time doing self-care things.

So, in short, all of my December 2017 Favorites are along those lines.

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January 2016 Favorites

January 2016 Favorites
January 2016 Favorites
1. San Francisco Bay Single-Serve Coffee, varies* / 2. EOS Blueberry Acai, $4
3. Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum, $18 / 4. Remington Smooth & Silky Foil Shaver, $30

Okay, one month down. Three until pleasant weather. Here’s what I distracted myself with through the bleary first month of 2016; my January 2016 favorites!

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The Lawsuit Against EOS is Stupid

lawsuit against eos

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a lawsuit against EOS. Ahh – a fine example of our modern, overly litigious society. I was starting to worry; I hadn’t heard anything along the lines of restaurants being sued because they served hot coffee in a while. The lawsuit details what seems to me to be an allergic reaction. So, naturally, instead of simply going, “Damn, that really sucks, I was excited to try that product, it’s a shame it won’t work out for me,” and throwing it away…what does the plaintiff do? Sue!

Yes, the reaction was unfortunate. As it turns out, it seems like some other people have reactions, too. Also unfortunate. Wait, what?! You mean it’s possible for more than one person to have the same type of allergy? Get off my internet!

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Worth it? Glamglow Poutmud

Glamglow seems to be continually expanding their line of luxury skincare products. Frankly, I’ve lost track of the entirety of their line, but came across the new Glamglow Poutmud during some Sephora.com browsing.

Glamglow PoutmudGlamglow Poutmud

Like all their other products, the packaging is appealing – bright colors, clean lines, very sleek. But packaging isn’t enough – I’ve waxed disappointed about the Thirstymud mask (it breaks me out) already, and I can’t imagine paying full price for Thirstymud ($69). Really, I’d be hard-pressed to pay even half price for it. My skin’s reaction aside, it isn’t that impressive a product.

Glamglow Poutmud, as I’m sure you may have guessed, is a lip treatment; supposedly a, “powerful duo to gently exfoliate, nourish, and treat lips.” Poutmud, which retails for $39, features two hocus-pocus containing 0.88 oz spheres – one is an exfoliant, the other a balm. But really, the ingredients aren’t anything special. A bunch of oils and butters, fruit extracts, some sugars and salts. It really isn’t ground-breaking, and it damn sure is not worth $39. Plus, being in little pots means they’re less sanitary than, say, dispensing from a tube.

Of course the hype machine has people convinced that everything Glamglow is selling is so amazing (and I haven’t tried their other facial masks) but almost forty bucks for not even an ounce of each a salt and sugar scrub and then a lip balm in cute chrome spheres? Seriously? One reviewer on Sephora’s site says of Glamglow Poutmud,

“Once again, Glamglow made an amazing product. I don’t know how else to describe this, but AMAZING.”

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Noteworthy and New at Sephora

I was browsing, as I often do, and came across some noteworthy and new items on Sephora.com. I haven’t tried any of these products, but they’re interesting enough to talk about.

New at Sephora - Kat von D Shade + Light Contour Palette

Kat von D Shade + Light Contour Palette, $46

The KvD-branded makeup line has released a contour palette new at Sephora ostensibly as an Anastasia contender. It only comes in one set of shades (more similar to Anastasia’s lighter palette) and has spectacular reviews so far. Curiously, the darker pans (for carving out cheekbones and whatnot) contain more product than the highlighting/setting pans. KvD/Sephora also released this dual-ended HaC (that’s Highlight and Contour) brush to go with, priced at $36, though any you prefer, of course, will do.

New at Sephora - Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palettes, $58

It is no secret that Hourglass repeatedly produces things of beauty. And I don’t mean beauty products; the products and packaging are beautiful, elegant, amazing. Their new eyeshadow palettes are features housing similar to their highlighter and blush trios, and the panless presentation of shades is a sight to behold. The collection, which is currently only available to VIB Rouge members, includes seven palettes with five shades each. I don’t think I could justify this purchase for myself, but they’re really fantastic to stare at.

New at Sephora - Benefit Puff Off!

Benefit Puff Off!, $29

I can’t shake the, “Oh look, another gimmicky item from Benefit!” feeling I get when I look at this. This eye gel has a cutesy clothes-iron-shaped applicator for, “ironing out,” any fine lines or puffiness. Personally, I’ll leave my skincare to the skincare companies, but this will be at home in the collections of Benefit fans. This isn’t only new at Sephora; Ulta has this, too.

New at Sephora - The Stunningly Ridiculous and Actually Kind of Offensive $675 of Christian Louboutin Nail Polish

Christian Louboutin Starlight (via the Wayback Machine), $675

OH LOOK, more nonsense from the shoe brand. How lucky that they have a few shoe models in such a low, low price-point! Aside from its mere (annoying) existence, this item’s ridiculosity (yes) is compounded by the fact that the polish is the very same that I wrote about a couple months ago…its just that the bottle is adorned in Strass crystals. Not diamonds or anything, just…swarovski. So not just nail polish, but tacky nail polish in a gift box. Yay! Seriously, seeing this stuff on sale at Sephora makes me roll my eyes. How many of these are they actually selling? It has to be the single most expensive item they carry (not talking about sets or kits).

New at Sephora - YSL Volupté Tint-In-Oil

YSL Volupté Tint-In-Oil, $32

A new twist on lipcolor, Yves Saint Laurent delivers color suspended in oil as an alternative to a more-traditional gloss. Surprisingly, a lot of the reviews report that it is actually drying. Not sure what to make of that – I’d certainly have expected it to be hydrating. I wonder if other brands will enter the fray?

New at Sephora - BITE Smashed Agave Lip Mask

BITE beauty Smashed Agave Lip Mask, $26

Bite’s highly-touted lip treatment now in a rosy-red hue. I’d probably go for the original because I’d wear it to bed (don’t want pinkish red on my pillowcases, after all) but it is really nice to see brands responding to what consumers have been asking for.
New at Sephora - Dior Cheek & Lip Glow

Dior Cheek & Lip Glow, $37

Look! Dior’s making Benetint! Just kidding. I’ve never tried Benetint, but I know if this product preforms as well as the Dior Addict Lip Glow appears to (at least according to sales), it’ll have a cult following in no time.

And, let’s end on a positive note, because that’s a nice thing to do…

New at Sephora - Sephora Teint Infusion Ethereal Natural Finish Foundation

Sephora Teint Infusion Ethereal Natural Finish Foundation, $24

That’s a mouthful, but this is Sephora’s foray into the serum-foundation game (like bareMinerals bareSkin, Perricone No Foundation Foundation Serum, YSL Fusion Ink, etc). Sephora foundations, at least since I’ve been paying attention to prestige-level makeup, have gotten pretty good reviews and at only $24 the price is pretty damn nice (especially considering that some drugstore foundations are as high as $15 now). My main complaint is that currently this is online only – makes getting a color match pretty difficult. I’m not sure if this serum foundation’s shades are configured for ColorIQ matches, but I intend to find out because I really, really want to try it. It’s honestly my favorite (taking into account I haven’t tried any of this) of what I’ve found new at Sephora.

Have you seen anything new at Sephora – or anywhere else! Anything beauty-related – that was noteworthy?