Shucks, I am behind the damn game. Thanks for bearing with me.
The November Beauty Insider / VIB Sale is now behind us. What, for many beauty lovers, is a time of spending excess was calculated restraint for me. Although I’ve heavily reined in my beauty spending over the past few years, purchasing a home does a number on your priorities.
Details on what I bought at the 2018 VIB Sale after the jump.
Tarte Knockout Tingling Treatment, $39At the end of August, during the surprise BI sale, I purchased two things:
My interest in the latter was piqued when Stef Nicole mentioned it in her 2017 skincare video; she’s a highly skeptical character, went in to try this with an admirable level of skepticism, and came out impressed. So hey – I’ll give it a shot too. Like her, I question the foray of makeup brands into the skincare realm, but her judgment is pretty damn solid.
For as long as I can remember at this point, I haven’t tried any new skincare products. This was due to a few things:
For chemical exfoliation, I was largely relying on my Alpha Skin Gel for an AHA. That said, I can’t seem to get my hands on the Alpha Skin Gel easily – and for the first time in a while I felt adventurous.
In early April, my husband and I went to one of the outlet malls near us to do some minor clothing shopping. Having never been there and not wanting to waste time perusing stores that weren’t interesting to us, I printed a map beforehand, looked up the listing, and marked off the stores we wanted to check out. While I was going through the list, one caught my eye even though it was entirely off-base in terms of the purpose of our trip: The Cosmetics Company Outlet.
A quick-and-dirty search revealed precious little other than The Cosmetics Company Outlet carries discounted MAC, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, and some others. As these brands are traditionally not available anywhere except brand counters, sites, and sometimes at select Ulta and Sephoras – I was immediately skeptical. Like what is this, some flea market-esque booth peddling otherwise semi-exclusive wares?
Are the cosmetics for sale within legitimate?
On top of coming in later than usual, my dang graphic had issues – thanks for bearing with me. I’ll update with a picture later. :) For details on my August 2018 Favorites, follow the jump!
I haven’t been thrilled with my facial sunless tanning situation for years. Then, I came across sunless tanning serums and decided to give the highly-rated Clarins Glow Booster a shot. Boy, am I glad I did!
For a while, I was just using what I use on my body, cut with a moisturizer or argan oil. Then, I’d apply with a black beautyblender or even a cast-aside buffing brush.
The results were OK; it didn’t look unsightly, but I didn’t like the heaviness of the lotion on my face. I never have!