Esqido Lashes – A Lash Named Desire

First things first: I received a free pair of lashes courtesy of Esqido for the purpose of a review and a before-and-after photo. Otherwise, I did not receive any compensation or incentive to write this content, and as always, all opinions are my own.


I’ve only worn false lashes once, ever. This time-ish last year, in fact. That’s right – I didn’t even bother for my wedding. I don’t have anything against lashes; they just don’t fit into my day-to-day, and my life isn’t rife with special occasions, either. As a result, I haven’t tried many – so when Esqido reached out, I figured, “What the hell, let’s do it!”

I had the opportunity to select my pair of lashes. I decided to go with a medium volume pair and ultimately landed on Lash Named Desire:

Esqido Lashes - A Lash Named DesireEsqido Lashes – Lash Named Desire, $29

Along with it, they sent a tube of their lash glue:

Esqido Lashes - Lash GlueEsqido Companion Lash Glue, $10

First Impressions

Esqido Lashes come in a pretty damn nice magnetic-closure box. I popped that open and gingerly retrieved the lashes to see how they compare to my actual eye. Given my limited experience, I had never worked with mink lashes before and was surprised how soft they were. I’ve seen a thousand-and-one YouTubers gush about their luxurious, fluffy mink lashes (from Esqido and other brands), but I assumed they were just putting one on. So, no – they’re surprisingly plush.

Giving ‘Em a Go

“Whoa, this band is huge,” was my first thought upon removing them from their packaging. I’m not sure whose eyes these are made for, but they were drastically longer than my upper lashline. I started by trimming off the innermost section on each lash, then retested; nope. I then trimmed the outer-most section – viola, a passable length.

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Bi-Weekly WTF :: Vol 12 – Sunless Tanner Smell

Sunless Tanning Myths

This is a legacy post that was given a facelift. Here’s why: With a gift card, I recently purchased a facial sunless tanning serum that I can mix in with my normal moisturizer (yes, it is awesome, yes more is coming on that). While researching which one to purchase, I came across a few rather acrimonious reviews on one such product (not the one I purchased). The reviewers were somewhat-justifiably upset because the product claimed to be free of smells. Well, sure – the product is fragrance free. That doesn’t mean it won’t cause a smell, however.

It really blows my mind that SO MANY people, including self-described self-tan aficionados, have no idea what actually causes the telltale sunless tanner smell.


I’ve talked about sunless tanners (my favorite is Million Dollar Tan) quite a bit before. Many posts mention, but do not focus on sunless tanner smell, however; the occasionally annoying odor that follow sunless tanning product usage. It isn’t limited to lotions: spray tans and even tanning bed (boo, do not use these) products are affected.

How Do Sunless Tanners Work?

There are three kinds of sunless tanners. Some products only temporarily deposit color that is washed away in 1-3 showers. Other products are intended to develop color over time; in those, the main, active ingredient in sunless tanners is DHA (dihydroxyacetone). The third type does a bit of both.

DHA & Melanin

When applied, DHA prompts your skin to produce melanin. Melanin is what gives our skin its color; people with darker skin tones naturally have more of it regardless of sun or DHA exposure. For lighter skin tones, stimulating melanin production causes us to appear tan.

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Coping with Hard Water

HotelSpa Hard Water Filter

Have you ever moved to a new home and found that you skin or hair started behaving totally differently from how you understood them to before? I had that happen when I moved from my home state to my current one and for the longest time I couldn’t fathom why.

I ended up completely changing products for my skin and hair since what I was using before just wasn’t cutting it. Eventually, I figured it out what changed:

The Damn Water

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Chapstick Duo: Novel, but Not Good

Chapstick DuoChapstick Duo, $4

A few weeks ago, my lips were dry ALL. DAMN. DAY. Miraculously, I somehow had no lip balm in my purse OR desk at work.

How?!

After work, my husband and I had an appointment and couldn’t stop home for me to restock from my stash there. My lips were DYING, so we stopped at a CVS so I could run in and get some balm. I just went up to the register, expecting regular ol’ standby Chapstick to be there. NOPE.

Instead, I’m greeted with Chapstick Duo, a silly-looking double-ended EOS wannabe. The appeal of Chapstick Duo is that you get two balm flavors; mine was a sophisticated pairing of Cotton Candy and Pink Cupcake. There was no time; I grabbed it, paid, and went on my way.

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Worth it? Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade

This is a legacy post that has been given a facelift. Content is the same but may have been edited for clarity and readability. Any additional commentary is noted in line.


Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade hasn’t been new in a while, but I didn’t bite when it first came out. Although I love the idea of creme and gel products for eyeliner, I wanted to observe the market and opinions for taking the plunge. Despite not being the first product of its kind, it quickly achieved cult favorite status.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade pot and boxAnastasia Dipbrow Pomade

I eventually decided I would go for it, but hadn’t gotten around to buying it. Then, I won a contest in a community I am a member of – and won Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe. Taupe is the, “safe,” shade that, if you aren’t sure or can’t go get color-matched, you should pick (it will work on the widest variety of brows). That was six months ago (from the original 4/24/2015 posting).

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Monday Musings: TIFU – Salvaging Botched Eyeshadow

Salvaging Botched eyeshadow - Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells TrioWet n Wild Walking on Eggshells trio, discontinued

As a lover of sleep, I am often not awake in time to do the whole nine yards in the morning. I frequently cut corners and keep my daily makeup minimal and simple. There’s not a lot of room for error, which is great – because as someone who used to wear winged liner a lot, ain’t nobody got time for salvaging botched eyeshadow and eyeliner because you twitched or sneezed while applying a wing.

Lately, I’ve made a little more time for myself in the morning because starting the day with an application of warpaint can be fun too.

Last week, I got my complexion evened out and went about my eyes with a two-shade application from Walking on Eggshells. I slapped the lid color on my lid fairly generously. Then, with a Sonia Kashuk no. 116 (cheap! versatile! accessible! also loved by Sam), I picked up the crease shade (a bronze-y tone), tapped off the excess, and slapped it where it belonged with sweeping windshield-wiper motions.

…on the right eye, anyway.

End result? Subtle, pretty crease definition that isn’t obvious; you can’t see where the lid shade ends and the crease begins. You can’t see where the crease shade ends and skin begins.

It wasn’t until I applied the left side that I achieved the, “TIFU,” part of the post. I neglected that critical, “tap off the excess,” step. It wasn’t until I set my brush down and LOOKED at myself that I realized I had made a grave mistake. So much, too much, bronze. When you achieve a cut crease without intending to achieve a cut crease – ow. I looked like a child who had gotten into their mom’s makeup bag. Not a great feeling at 5:50AM, let me tell you.

My reaction? Panic! How the hell do I fix this?! I don’t have time to start over! Maaaan…

Breathe.

Fortunately, problem solving is basically how I earn a living. What’s a little facepaint? Here’s how I went about salvaging my botched eyeshadow.

  • First, tissue. Blot off the hyper excess. Better already, but still a bit like a bronze panda.
  • Second, q-tip, micellar water. Dab, dab, dab away the remaining harsh areas and lines of demarcation.
  • Tap with tissue again.
  • With a clean blending brush, blend out any weird bits.
  • With the proper method, reapply a mixture of the lid and crease shades.

Better. Presentable. As far as I could tell, no one noticed. Success!

The Bottom Line

Correcting my mistake took no more than thirty seconds once I calmed down and assessed the situation. Granted, it helps that the crease shade and the lid shade were not worlds away, but still. Don’t panic – unless you have eyeliner or mascara everywhere, you can probably succeed at salvaging botched eyeshadow.