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Mac Motif

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Lately – who am I kidding, for the last several years – I have been craving simplicity when I wear makeup. Full faces are very rare. Most of the time, I’m doing 1-2 shade eye looks that I can do with next-to-no effort. I’ve been keeping the eyes light and neutral – I want to look awake and well-groomed, not made-up.

And, wow – I’ve been sleeping on Mac Motif.

Perusing and Purging

I recently did a purge of makeup that is well past its acceptable use date. As I went through ancient pieces, I came cross my old pan of Mac Motif in my Z-Palette (note: I wouldn’t buy a Z-Palette today; I’d buy this double-sided magnetic palette from Adept Cosmetics instead. I just don’t need to replace it). This pan was ancient; I got it back when I had that whole Glambot fiasco! That was SO long ago! (Don’t worry; I have not used it in ages.)

Missing Mac Motif

I did swatch it, though – and I had completely forgotten how gorgeous it is! Mac Motif is described as a champagne gold that reflects pink. I tend to avoid champagne shadows at this point because they often come across too frosty for my taste. Motif has a sheen, but isn’t frosty at all. The reflect is subtle, not loud, but enough to be interesting and fun for me to see without being distracting or compromising my professional image.

So, I took advantage of a Mac sale to get a new refill pan ($11 retail; prefer a shadow compact?). I’ve used it every time I’ve had to be on camera. I throw Painterly on underneath it, throw it on, make my crease evident again, line with a dark brown eyeliner because I’ve reached that point where black is often too much.

I look awake without looking harsh; mission accomplished.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve been collecting for a long time, look back through your stash!

You might rediscover something you either loved in the past or had but didn’t use much! While it might mean you want to buy a fresh version of it, that’s a wiser spending choice than getting lost in the latest 7235239523 hot new whatever, whoever is shilling.

I Dew Care Tap Secret Dry Shampoo

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I Dew Care Tap Secret Non-Aerosol Dry Shampoo

I’ve been harping about aerosol dry shampoos being a problem for a while now. I’ve switched to tapioca starch. But maybe you aren’t as much of a DIY-sort or just don’t want to mess with all of that, and I hear you.

Sometimes, you just aren’t up for a project (though it is low effort, I swear). Sometimes, we just need something that’s ready-to-use without the potential for a mess.

I Dew Care has a great little non-foam, non-aerosol dry shampoo for you – Tap Secret ($10-16). It’s most cost-effective to buy 3 (to get it to $10 ea), so if you have friends or family members who might appreciate it as a holiday gift or want to try it, I recommend that route!

I loved the idea of it so much that I bought I Dew Care Tap Secret to try despite having a solution that works for me. And I haven’t been just buying things to try them!

As an added bonus – the container is reusable! I figured even if the contents aren’t for me, I’d get a super-convenient tapioca starch dispenser.

How to Use I Dew Care Tap Secret Dry Shampoo

To use it, you uncap it and tap the foam puff along your hairline. I tend to do my part, make another part/section, and tap again. Then, just like you’d use any other powdery dry shampoo (even aerosol), massage it in and shake it out, done.

I haven’t traveled in a long time, now, but I really love the idea of this dispenser for travel. No tiny aerosol to jam in your quart bag. No benzene.

Happily, there was no discernable fragrance which is a big win for me. Likewise, it did a nice job of absorbing oil without leaving a white cast or greyishness once it was massaged in. It definitely got me through another day without shampooing.

What I Didn’t Like (but You May)

One thing that was a drawback for me personally is that this dry shampoo has clay as an ingredient. You may enjoy depending on your preferences! It’s great as an oil absorbing agent, and it means a little goes a long way. For me, though, using enough to get the job done gave my hair some hair some, “teeth,” or grip. This is great for volume, but can come at the cost of the ability to run your fingers through it.

The downside of this quality, though, is that it feels awful to run your fingers through. It isn’t unique; if you’re used to using texturizing powders like this one from Big Sexy Hair (oh, cool – they now have a lighter option, Lite, that I haven’t tried) or this one from Kristen Ess, it’s a similar feeling.

I think those products have their place (indeed; I own the Kristen Ess one and have used the original Big Sexy Hair one), but by themselves, they aren’t dry shampoos. That quality isn’t what I’m looking for in a regular dry shampoo product. I still want my hair to mostly feel like hair.

On the upside, it washes out easily so no problems there. I’ll use it, but I’d definitely use it when I planned to shampoo the next day. It may also be one of those products that is best used before your hair seems oily – so I will need to report back on that.

What I’m Unsure Of Regarding Tap Secret.

Since the applicator sponge is integrated with the packaging, I don’t know if you can take it off to clean it. Given the nature of the product, I’d think you’d want to eventually if you’re reusing the container. Despite my critique of the contents, I’m not ready to swap them for tapioca starch yet (maybe I’ll find a use for those properties), so I haven’t disassembled it to find out.

The Bottom Line

Finally, I would recommend I Dew Care Tap Secret dry shampoo despite not being completely satisfied with the texture aspect. Having a thorough understanding of the texture will help you use it effectively and work around what I consider its only critical point.

Cutover Complete

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We’re on our new host now with pretty minimal downtime as the site’s address resolved to its new location. Yay!

Not too much to say on that; I ended up having to go with a different hosting provider than I was working on originally when I made the previous announcement, but it worked out well.

Upcoming Changes / Future of the Blog

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July was a strange month with personal developments that required my focus. This bled into August. I reached a decision, but only now have capacity to communicate it and start executing.

Future of Beauty Skeptic

I reached a decision about what to do with the blog.

I am working on relocating where it is hosted – but the process to do so is going to mean there will be down-time associated with it. Between now and Labor Day, BeautySkeptic.com may be periodically unavailable as I migrate hosts.

Why is This Time Different?

Last time I did this, the provider I moved to offered fully automated, turnkey service, I need to do a great deal of this manually – and some of it is learn-as-I go, because while I do work in tech, I am not a Systems Administrator.

What Does This Mean?

All said and done, it means that after the migration is done, you will still be able to access the site and contents a you did before.

For me, it means I have significantly less financial overhead to keep this site live. It isn’t that I want to wash my hands of the project, but the combination of where it was as a priority + how much it was costing just to keep it online + the administration of keeping it online + content creation combined made me consider shuttering it.

Since I’m defraying cost, I think the other elements will be much easier to digest. :)

Fixed, I Think?

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Evidently most of the site was broken for nearly a month. I think I have it mostly fixed based on spot checks I’ve done.

Please let me know if a resource you’re trying to reference gives you a weird error!

Thanks for bearing with me.

Brands Going Out of Business Since 2020

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Since I’ve been more-or-less off the beauty reservation for a while, I missed a LOT of news about brands going out of business since 2020. As in, I had no idea that as many brands closed down in the past two years.

Here’s a summary of companies that have closed since the start of the pandemic. We’ll address the timing, too – because there’s a myth that the pandemic caused these closures.

Clarisonic

During the lockdowns of 2020, I wrote about Clarisonic’s sudden shutter because, well, I was a customer. Although my opinion of how it was handled remains the same, I’ve come to think that the end-result isn’t a bad thing. After all, even if I really liked the product, it’s now not as easy to spend money on disposable plastic and e-waste, right? Net positive for the planet.

But it isn’t just Clarisonic.

Coastal Scents

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