Melanoma Monday – Skin Cancer & Melanoma Awareness

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This legacy post has been given a facelift but content remains the same. I will be a broken record on this topic until forever and a day.

Melanoma Awareness Ribbon - Melanoma Monday

I’ve talked about my pursuit of a good facial sunscreen before (I’m liking it, btw!) and have mentioned here and there that my Mom received a (super early) Melanoma diagnosis.

Given today, specifically, is Melanoma Monday (first Monday in May), designated by the American Academy of Dermatology, I’m sharing my mom’s melanoma story to help raise awareness.

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Mom

Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, few people gave a damn about sunscreen and fewer people made their children wear it. Kids played outside not only more frequently than they do now, but more often (which, in itself, is not a bad thing). During her youth, she managed to get some fairly intense sunburns – to the point of agonizing sun poisoning. I even recall her telling a story about using baby oil while tanning; she burned, of course, and learned her lesson about that much, but still didn’t really employ sunscreen. As an adult, her skin would still burn when we’d spend any considerable amount of time outside, but I recall her being red for just a day or two, then peeling and having a decent tan. She thought, “Eh, no big deal. I’ve had worse.”

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MAC Lover Loyalty Program

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MAC Lover

Back in 2016, I shared MAC’s then-new loyalty program, MAC Select. I went to their site to order a birthday gift last week and found that I was unable to access the MAC Select detail. Upon login, I was informed that I was enrolled into MAC Lover – their new-new loyalty program.

Well, I missed that memo. I blame my extended no/low-buy.

The 411 on MAC Lover

Really, MAC Lover seems to be mighty similar to MAC Select. The new program has some cutesier marketing, but there are a ton of similarities. Let’s jump into the tiers:

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Manicure Monday: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

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Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

It has come to my attention that I have erred egregiously. Somehow, in spite of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat being my main top coat squeeze for a decade, I have never written about it specifically.

Here’s the skinny.

Simply put, Seche Vite is my holy grail top coat. It has been forever, even back in my nail art and paint my nails every-other-day years. I don’t often paint my nails with classic polish formulas (preferring gel for manicures instead), but I use this for pedicures and the rare regular polish manicure.

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Spin Pins are Great

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Spin Pins

I have no idea when Spin Pins became a thing. Since then, other companies have come out with their own versions of the product. Each brand has its own specific name because of the obvious, but the product is essentially the same – an oversized, badass, corkscrew bobby pin. And really, just like the Turbie Twist, I don’t know why I took so long to adopt their usage.

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Billie Razor Review

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Billie RazorsBillie Razor

Shaving. Many of us do it, most of us aren’t particularly in love with the process for one reason or another. Be it time, cost, irritation – whatever. Let’s face it; the drugstore heavy-hitters when it comes to razors are expensive AF. Even favoring men’s razors in an attempt to eschew the Pink Tax doesn’t always give you the results you’re looking for.

At the end of January, I placed an order for a Billie razor. They arrived promptly, and within a couple days I tried my new razor.

Assembly

My Billie razor came pre-assembled. That is, the head was attached to the handle already. For fun, I popped it off to get a sense for how it behaves. Like many razors, the head detatch/disengage mechanism is a slide-latch at the neck. The head pops off relatively easily. Placing a new one on the handle, however, was a little fussier of a process than removal was. There are little lanes or tracks on the head that make it a little difficult to attach a new one without closely scrutinizing the attachment mechanism.

Basically, I can pop a new head on a Venus or Mach3 without looking. I have to look at the Billie to do it. I initially thought this was just because I was less-familiar with the hardware, but its also just that the mechanism is a little less elegant.

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Skinfix Ultra Rich Hand Cream

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Skinfix Ultra Hand CreamSkinfix Ultra Rich Hand Cream

Looking for the One Hand Cream to Rule Them All? For me, it was Skinfix Ultra Rich Hand Cream.

Thankfully, it is now (technically) Spring. Dry winter air made drier by home heat was already too kind to our skin. Add in increased hand-washing to stave off the ravages of cold and flu season and you’re doing a number on your hands. Even diligent home manicurists find themselves struggling to maintain comfortable, healthy skin on our hands.

A few years ago, I received a tiny little baby of a sample tube in one of those free gift with purchase pouches from Ulta. I haven’t looked back. Since then, I’ve purchased and repurchased this hand cream four times. Now, why do I love it so?

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