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.
“I want to be unhealthy,” said no one ever. There is a reasonable intersection between health and beauty. Healthy bodies with healthy skin, hair, and nails all feel and look better. It just makes sense to start with a foundation of health. Neglecting the former in favor of the latter is counter-productive.
What I do not buy into, however, is beauty retailers and resources pushing wellness products. Sure – you might want to take a biotin supplement for your hair and nails (but be careful). Do you really need to source that from Sephora, though? Sephora’s Inner Beauty section just makes me cringe, frankly.
Earlier in the Bi-Weekly WTF series I expressed my dismay over beauty gurus, “developing,” and peddling their own vitamins/supplements. This is along those very same lines! Just like how I’m not asking a beauty guru or haircare company for advice on car maintenance, I’m not asking them for health advice or products.
I simply don’t find it appropriate to buy wellness products from a company that makes hairspray. While our health and wellness impacts both our innate beauty and the resultant efficacy of products we use, Sephora isn’t the place for me to buy it.
Details on my October 2018 Favorites after the jump.
Manicure Monday – 11/5 – China Glaze Gelaze RecycleAnyone watching V for Vendetta today? I will be! Does anyone actually paint their nails on Mani Monday? I don’t! I don’t tend to do much exciting nail art these days, but my nails are almost always painted. I usually paint over the weekend so they’re fresh for the work week. It follows that I’d start a Manicure Monday series; the content basically creates itself!
The Friday before Halloween, I did a simple black set with Sensationail Midnight Rendezvous (which I used in my glitter gel nail tutorial) On my ring fingers, I slapped a coat of Essie Matte About You topcoat for a nearly-no-effort accent nail. I don’t wear black often, and was initially like, “Ah! This is so stark,” but by the end of the ninth day, I found myself rather fond. Yesterday, though, I decided it was time for a different color.
Surprisingly had a devil of a time removing that set. Usually, I can pop my gel polish off fairly easily, but this took coaxing and inspired a bit of swearing. Anyway, after I removed the black gel, I slapped on some Solar Oil and let my nails rest for a while, lacquer-free, while I got some stuff done around the house.
I found myself torn between the new-to-me nude shade I wore before Midnight Rendezvous (posted on Insta on 10/14), China Glaze Gelaze Awakening, and what I ultimately chose, China Glaze Gelaze Recycle.
I’ve written about my love of Recycle before. Grey is fantastic for Autumn, absolutely counts as a neutral, and isn’t as harsh as black but is still on the edgy side.
Each year, my Halloween effort has waned a little more. It is fantastic occasion to play with makeup and wear looks that you might not otherwise wear (even sans costume), I just can’t bring myself to exert the effort this year.
It’s fun to see the Halloween-centric creativity that has cropped up in the Reddit and YouTube beauty communities over the years. In the past, I executed a couple Reddit-inspired cat looks that were fun enough.
More than ever, this year, I can’t be bothered! The extent of my festiveness is a simple black gel manicure – like this, but without the fabulous glitter.
Are you doing anything fun for Halloween or did you do anything fun for the holiday season (parties, etc)?
I had a different topic planned for this week’s post, but then shit hit the fan with Sunday Riley.
On Monday, October 15 a throwaway account identifying herself as an ex-Sunday Riley employee posted on Reddit’s SkincareAddition sub. Her post described and disclosed some of what can only be described as heinous and unethical review practices on behalf of Sunday Riley.
I happened to find out via Twitter, which was agog with justifiable rage at this revelation. This isn’t just sketchy, it is going-to-ridiculous-lengths sketchy with extensive instruction, false Beauty Insider profile creation, and VPN usage. Check it out:
I won’t waste your time pontificating on the matter, but have a few calmer points to add now that I am far enough away from discovering this.
This is why you cannot purely trust reviews on merchant sites. If you are going to research product feedback, you should consult a diverse pool of sources. Period.