Anastasia Dipbrow Tutorial

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Dipbrow Tutorial - Social

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade

Last week, I rambled about liking Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade. Check out my review here. This time, I’m going to share how I use it. Brace yourself, as the majority of this post contains lower-quality photos than I normally try to secure (I didn’t use my DSLR, this was unplanned). It might be a good thing, my brows are unruly (for me).

Start by sweeping your ungroomed brows into a semi-respectable shape with a spoolie. Ignore the fact that they are terribly ungroomed because you’re growing them in anticipation for a brow wax soon.

Anastasia Dipbrow Tutorial - Brush Brows

Crack the Dipbrow pot open and try to keep it open for as little time as possible to prevent the Dipbrow pomade from drying out – just like you should with any creme/gel brow, liner, or shadow products. The best way to do this (and to apply) is to scoop a tiny bit (get less than you think you need – this was too much!) from the pot with the bristles of your brush (I’m using my LAB2 Brow Brush) and either

  1. Swipe it onto the back of your hand (what I do) and cap the pot or
  2. Swipe it into the underside of your cap and then invert the pot onto a flat surface to reduce air exposure.

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NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams

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While matte lips aren’t usually my thing, they’re fun sometimes. My first matte lip products (and my first nontraditional lipstick) were the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams.

For around $6 a piece and frequently on sale at Ulta, they’re an easy way to try the trend without investing a ludicrous amount of money into something you aren’t familiar with and aren’t sure if you’d like.

NYX Soft Matte Lip CreamsNYX Soft Matte Lip Cream Swatches
Amsterdam, Antwerp, Stockholm

I own three of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream colors – Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Stockholm. The above picture shows them just swiped-on; the mousse-like cream (which, texture-wise is similar to Stila’s Stay All Day lipsticks) looks wet at first but does dry down to a matte finish. They have a unique smell to them – I have great difficulty describing it, so I’m just going to hope you’ve either smelled them or the Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipsticks.

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Worth it? Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

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I’ve never shared a proper review, but I have mentioned my holy grail makeup wipes countless times – they’re the Pond’s Original Wet Cleansing Towelettes if you haven’t been around long. I love them – one gets the job done, they’re effective even on stubborn eye makeup, and they don’t leave a gross film like some wipes do.


 Pond's Original Fresh Facial Wipes

One thing that I would change, though, is the scent. Although my skin isn’t sensitive, I don’t want scented skincare. The Ponds wipes’ fragrance isn’t offensive, but it is a little potent at first, and it lingers. On top of my own preference for scent-free facial products, I tend to use these to remove makeup and clean my face before bed and the smell, unfortunately can be an irritant to my fragrance-sensitive husband (and to me if I’m having a migraine).

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

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MAC Creme in Your Coffee Swatches

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I’ll never have too many MLBB colors. I only have one at the moment, really…but I won’t be able to have too many, either.

Think about it – you look polished, but it is subtle and not terribly obvious that you’re made up. As they wear away you have a little more grace when it comes to touching up than you would with say, a magenta or red.

But really, now that my tube of MAC Cosmo has been decommissioned, since I’m still not purchasing Revlon (they still haven’t addressed the shady safety issues, let alone the hateful remarks), and the smell of Rimmel’s Apocalips annoys me, I’m actually down three MLBB shades! Woe betide me. That means I had, well, one. Two if you count balm. Sky, falling, etc.

The same nice person who gifted me MAC Flamingo also gifted me MAC Creme in Your Coffee.

MAC Creme in Your CoffeeMAC Creme in your Coffee

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Sunscreen Saga – Finding Biore Aqua Rich

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Although facial sunscreen is very important, I don’t talk about my whole sunscreen saga often. Two reasons:

  1. I haven’t found one I actually care for which leads to…
  2. Being a lazy jerk about application despite it needing to be a priority for me.

Body sunscreens are fine and I have zero issue with them. I have two Hawaiian Tropic favorites (this SPF 50 one glides on and moisturizes beautifully, and this SPF 20 one is shimmery). For a while, I pursued moisturizers with at least SPF 15 sunscreen in them and hated every.single.one. They smelled weird. They left a white cast. Regardless of being oil-free, they left my skin with an awkwardly shiny sheen and worst of all? They broke me out.

And what do we say to the product that’s causing breakouts?
Not today.

So, like an ass, I had forsaken the effort for a while and relied on my foundations and whatnot for protection, and the sunscreen saga was at a halt. Then, my mom received a melanoma diagnosis (she’s OK! – she paid attention to her skin and saw a dermatologist when she noticed a change in some moles she had [for the love of cats please go if you notice such a thing]). They caught it early enough that a couple relatively simple excisions were all that were necessary, though she does have to go back every so often because sufferers are at increased risk in the future. I stopped tanning (but I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t miss it), and I got serious about sunscreen. After all, a few blemishes and effed up, scaly-textured skin between your eyes, even if you have them perpetually, are far better than having to contend with melanoma.

Sunscreen Saga - Walgreens Dry-Touch Sheer

For a long time, I was using an SPF 50 Walgreens-branded (oh snap, yes, generic!) variant of a popular Neutrogena sunscreen (I am unsure of which one, but I think it is a Dry Touch one, maybe this one?) – but the reviews were fantastic, the price was nice, and it was accessible. I actually mentioned it in my old Skincare Basics and in an old Favorites. It didn’t keep me in a perpetual state of blemish-dom, but my skin wasn’t happy with it – and it wasn’t my own overt scrutiny; my husband noticed the change in how the skin on my face appeared.

The sunscreen itself is GOOD – it absolutely does its job. No sunburn, even out all day, including through peak sun at an amusement park in July. It took me all this time, and this product, to realize that I have some kind of sensitivity to many readily available sunscreens. Honestly, I’m not sure which component doesn’t play nice with my skin, but after doing some research about my complaints and situation, I came across several recommendations for a Biore sunscreen.

Sunscreen Saga - Biore AQUA Rich Watery Essence

While I used to be a pore strip loyal, my mind hasn’t been blown by Biore for years. Or, more specifically, Biore US. You see, Biore is owned by the KAO Corporation and originated in Japan. They are actively doing business in Japan and enjoy success there – and they don’t indulge in shenanigans the way their US counterpart does. Sunscreen is serious business in Asia, and I learned that many formulations over there differ significantly from our thick, smelly, stark-white pastes…and in fact tend to be kinder to skin. Dozens of testimony lead me to stray from the beaten path of western sunscreen and down the rabbit hole that is asian items.

First stop? Biore AQUA Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++. It just came in the mail from Amazon and I’ve never been so excited about a sunscreen – I so hope it’s the right one for me, I’m really looking forward to discontinuing use of stuff that makes my skin unhappy. What protection efforts are you making for your skin?

First Look: Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Line

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If you’ve been reading for a while, you may already know that I’m still hunting for the shampoo and conditioner.

I used to have an obsession with Pantene Ice Shine (before it was discontinued and brought back with a different formula); but more recently, I’ve tried tried two flavors of Tigi products, tried a Suave option, tried Nexxus, tried a Neutrogena option. Most-recently been using a 39oz each duo of Tresemme’s Moisture Rich Shampoo and Conditioner.

I don’t hate the Tresemme products I was using. They aren’t really causing my hair to act up…but they aren’t really doing anything nice for it, either. I’ve also been seeing some light dandruff on occasion, something I never used to deal with – I’m not sure whether or not to attribute this to the Tresemme, but it certainly isn’t making me eager to repurchase.

I am now nearing the end of those monstrous bottles, so I decided to take advantage of a coupon for Dove haircare and give it a shot since it has been many, many years since I’ve used Dove hair products (love the classic bar soap, though).

Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Shampoo & Conditioner

Holly Ann AeRee routinely raves about Dove’s Advanced Hair Series Pure Care Dry Oil on YouTube – since I didn’t have anything in mind, I decided to give it a shot.

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