Almay One Coat Mega Volume Mascara

For about the last month I have been trying out the new Almay One Coat Mega Volume Mascara.

You know the one with the megaphone wand that is supposed to give you crazy volume to your lashes.

So I personally was interested in this mascara because of the wand. Plus I don't ever remember trying a Almay mascara. Well let me give you some information about this mascara. The formula of the mascara is great. I don't think it is to wet or dry. I don't seem to personally have issues with smudging or flaking. My only issue with this mascara is the gimmicky wand. The thing that made me wanna try it was also the biggest issues, for me at least. 

The megaphone design made it hard to use on both eyes, because I use the same hand to apply mascara to both eyes. I use my right hand so my left eye is super easy to apply the mascara to and use the wand design to my advantage. Then I do my right eye and the wand design just gets in the way. I can still apply it but it just is a pain. I really wanna try this formula out with just a standard brush that is one size all around.

Over all I would give this mascara a 3 out of 5. I would defiantly say try it but know the wand is a hassle.

I was provided this mascara from Crowdtap and Almay to try. I am not being paid for this post. All thoughts are my own and not influenced by anything other than my personal experience with the mascara. 

Let's talk about skincare basics.

Skincare, one of the most important things; in my opinion the most important thing; when it comes to makeup. So many times when I talk with people they are upset that their makeup doesn't look the way they want and they don't know why. I hear "I do everything <insert beauty influenser here> did and I don't think my makeup looks as good as theirs." "I'm young I don't need to worry about skincare." "I have good skin, I don't need to use anything."

Skincare is for everyone. The young, old, good skin, bad skin, skin with no concerns, skin with lots of concerns, people who wear "tons" (this is a relative term since tons to everyone is different), and people who wear no make.

Everyone person I would say who has reached puberty in my opinion needs to have a basic skincare regime. When you are younger you need to be washing, toning, and moisturizing, along with SPF everyday, morning and night, with the exception of SPF you don't need it at night. If you suffer from dry skin or dry patches, at in a face scrub every 3 days. No need to do it more or you can cause more "issues" and skin concerns. If you use a device like the Clinique Sonic brush, you don't want to use this on days you use your face scrub. 

Then when you start wearing makeup, or feel like at the end of the day you need a little extra help having your face feeling clean, you can add in a pre-cleansing step. This will help breakdown all your makeup, SPF, pollution, daily oils, moisturizer you put on in the morning. Taking this step will actually help you cleanser work better at cleaning your skin because it doesn't have to work through all the extra stuff on your skin from the day.

To me these are the basics of skincare. There is plenty more that can be add to any skincare regime and we will talk about those later.

Thanks for reading.

BYE!

Update from a Small Town

Well it has been one long time since I have written anything on this blog. 

I had originally started this blog when I had quit a job to become a stay at home wife. The being a stay at home wife lifestyle just was not for me so within 2 weeks I began looking for work again. Luckily for me I was able to find work quickly and this blog kind of went on the back burner because I was focused on doing well at my job.

Then I applied for a job at a new store in my town, HELLO ULTA BEAUTY, and got a job as their Clinique Counter Manager. I was so excited, 2 weeks later I found out that I was finally going to become a Mommy (something that we honestly didn't think was ever going to happen).

Then as a couple we experienced some trials and downs. We attempted a move, that didn't work out, I had left my job at Ulta Beauty and became a stay at home Mommy.

Now that my baby is a bit more independent, and I wanna play around with makeup and start talking about it again. I remembered I had this blog.

Basically I'm hoping that I have an outlet for my want to talk about all things makeup, that I'm still trying out.

So here is to a fresh start and hopefully I successful blog run.  

June Julep Maven Box

Yay for much better luck with my Julep box this month.

I have everything I ordered already.

This months theme is Sail into Summer, Nantucket Nostalgia Collection.

~ Photo from julep.com~

This month I decided to upgrade and get the whole collection. I really wanted the whole thing because of the DD Cream and DD Concealer. I also had to add on Bunny because it is part of the set and I needed it.

I'm in love with the look of the colors. I would swatch them but I'm having nail issues and I don't have any swatch sticks at the moment. So I will be using the stock photos from julep.com.

This is Bess ~ a baby blue creme~

This is Bunny ~ crisp white with micro gold glitter (you can't see the gold in the picture but you can in person) ~

 This is Char ~ nautical navy blue creme ~

This is Dianna ~ muted green creme ~

This is Kennedy ~ khaki creme ~

This is Lexie ~ dandelion yellow creme ~

This is Martha ~ polo pink creme ~

This is Nan ~ Nantucket red creme ~

This is Raegan ~ electric dark pink creme ~ 

This is Payton ~ kelly green creme ~

These are the DD Creme and DD Concealer ~ shade light ~

Over all I am very happy with this months collection with the exception of the DD products. I have fair skin. I'm not the lightest out there but I'm still fair. I like many went to the Julep Facebook page and was saw that they were saying that the color was blendable and would work with some blending. In my personally opinion that is not the case. When I opened up both the creme and concealer my first impression was that it looked much more like a light/medium but more of a medium shade that you would find in any BB/CC cream at your local drug store. I liked the packaging of both products and I'm looking forward to maybe getting tan enough that I might be able to use both of these products.

If you would like to try Julep nail polish or beauty products out all you need to do is go to the Julep website here. If you would like to use my referral link it is here. If you use my referral link I would get Jules that I can use towards the purchase of future monthly Maven boxes.

FTC disclaimer: I purchased the June 2013 Julep Maven Box with my own money. All opinions are my own. Referral link is given to all customers who sign up to be a Julep Maven for referral purposes.

Slow Month in the Makeup World Here

Well I haven't posted in quite sometime. This simply has to do with the fact I really haven't had anything to say about anything this month. 

My ipsy bag fell very short in my opinion this month, as I didn't get a single thing I was really excited about. My bag was stuffed with nothing that screamed me, my concealer was much to dark for my ivory skin, I don't do dark lip colors, I don't fake tan, while the nail polish was awesome I can't even remember what color is was that I got, and the perfume was nice but not something I will wear because I'm not a fan of the smell.

My Birchbox was a tiny bit better but it wasn't that exciting. While I'm excited to try a few things out I didn't get anything I hadn't seen others get in boxes already minus the perfume sample that was new this box but I have so many perfume samples this one may never be used. The only thing that was very exciting was the pen but I don't really need another one of those.

My Julep box was a disaster. It look 4 shipments by the time I finally got everything that I had ordered. By the time I received everything most of the month was over and we were about a week away from selecting the next box.

My Popsugar box while I was excited to receive the beauty blender (I was going to buy one the pay day after I received my box) that was the only thing I was super happy and excited about. While the value of everything made the box worth it, I just don't have a use for a lot of what was in it.

I also have been going through my makeup stash and realizing that I have quite a large amount of makeup and I don't really need to keep buying more and more. I need to be using more and more. I need to take what I have a use it before I get more. Not meaning that I haven't purchased a few things that I have had my eye on ( LE Maybelline Color Tattoos and a few Flower eye shadow pallets). 

Hoping this next month is much better for posts and that I have something exciting to share. Still trying to figure out what all is share worthy and what is something I can keep to myself.

Julep Sea Salt Mystery Box

This month Julep was offering a mystery box with some limited edition polishes (from what I understand, I hope it is not true because I would love to get one of the other colors I didn't receive). 

They call them their Sea Salt Finish (they are a matte textured polish). Julep was offering 3 colors, a pink, a taupe, and a black. You pay $24.99 (if you are a Julep Maven you get free shipping) and get a box that is valued from $70 to $200. This time you where guaranteed at least one of the Sea Salt Finish polishes, so you knew before that you would get one of three polishes.

Of course I had (okay I didn't have to but limited edition polishes and the chance to win a $1000 Visa gift card I just didn't want to pass up.)

I received my mystery box in the mail and I love it.

I received box 7 (Julep had 11 different boxes with different options in each box). In my box I received Parker, Madeline (Sea Salt Finish), Sarah, and Melissa. I also got their Glow On Age Defying Hand Brightener, toe separators (not pictured), and a basic nail file (not pictured).

They also had the option to add on as many as 3 extras. I looked at everything and decided to add-on Julianne.

 Polishes swatches are from left to right: Parker is a lovely orange creme color, Madeline (Sea Salt Finish) is a baby pink, Sarah is a pink with glitter, and Melissa is sheer opalescent shimmer (it reminds me of like watches with the Mother of Pearl faces). My add-on Julianne is a grey blue color.

Sadly I didn't get the $1000 Visa gift card. I wished I would have gotten it but hey it is like playing the lottery so I hoped I would be the lucky winner but it wasn't my turn this time, someday I will get it. :)

I was so stocked when I opened my box to see what polishes I received because out of the 3 Sea Salt Textured polishes I really wanted the pink one (shocker) so when I saw that it was the one I received I was so happy.

Over all I am overall happy with everything that I received and I will more than likely be picking up the next one because I have a nail polish addiction and I can't pass up a chance at getting a good amount of polish for a amazing price.

If you would like to try out Julep for yourself you can try your first box for a penny $.01 (my first box cost my $4.00 total with shipping and handling) just use the coupon code PENNY.

You will take a quick survey so they can fit you with a style of nail polish that fits your style, if you would like  you can use my referral link here.

FTC disclaimer  I purchased all the items shown with my own money. I am not affiliated with Julep. My referral link if you choose to use it will give me Jules (points) that I can use towards the purchase of more nail polish, or future maven boxes. If you would like to not have to use a referral link you can go to the Julep website here.

First Time in a Sally Beauty Supply

Big News!!!

My small town just got its first dedicated beauty store. I have been waiting for the day that Sally Beauty Supply opened here. About a month and a half ago it was confirmed (I say confirmed because rumors of new stores run rampant in this town) that Sally Beauty Supply was opening and I was beyond excited. I began to stalk the Sally Beauty Supply website (which you can visit here) to see what was going to be possibly sold in this store and if it was going to be some place I would want to shop at.

First thing I saw was China Glaze and Orly nail polish. Now I don't really need any more nail polish but I have never been able to look at China Glaze or Orly nail polishes. I mean I can look them up online or watch YouTube videos but that very rarely gives you a true life color. I have had my eye on a few that might work but I just don't want to take the plunge and buy them online and be disappointed when they show up. Also all the options for nail art. Here all that I can get my hands on you can find at Walmart, Kmart, and Walgreens, which means limited selection and not much more than nail art stickers that really don't last.

So finally the store opens. I get my Mom to go with me since they might have something she wants. I'm so excited, kind of like a kid in a candy store, I get to the store and huge let down. First thing when you walk in is false eyelashes, only thing they don't sell the ones I like. They have some I might try however. They don't have any of the Orly nail polish in and the China Glaze that they did have was not the colors I have been wanting. So I walked around looking at a little of everything. I did like the fact that I can get all the stuff to do great artificial nails, meaning that I have more choice than just the nail kits at the drug store. I have always preferred to do my own because I can do them for much cheaper than at a salon and if I can do them why not save some money, most of the time I end up ripping them off a week later (yes I know that isn't good for your nails but I have very crappy nails anyway).

So we walk around a bit more and really they don't sell much of anything I would use. Not saying that they have bad stuff I just don't need hair extensions and I don't know how to use salon strength hair dye (I do plan to see if I can figure this out because I have just become obsessed with ombre hair and it would be nice if I could get closer to the color I want) and I just don't need most of what they sell.

I did pick up a few things that I think fit my needs:

Yep nail polish thinner. I have so much nail polish and some of them are on the older side. I figure they are still good just a little thick. This way I can try to save some of my limited edition polishes.

I decided to get these because I have read and heard good things about the Nail Tek line. My nails never seem to grow no matter what I do to them. Once I get a little length they seem to break right off. Hoping this helps with that and if not helps keep my polish from chipping.

The Spornette Big Wonder Tease Brush. A few years back when Birchbox first came on the scene they had a YouTube video about the Spornette Little Tease Brush. Of course I wanted that because I have flat no volume hair. That little guy never really worked for me. When I saw this I though maybe a bigger brush will work. I will have to wait and see.

So these lovely seem like something I could easily fall in love with. Whenever I'm doing my makeup I take a makeup wipe and use that to clean off my brushes as I go along. I just don't like leave a lot of extra left over makeup on my brushes after I'm done. So I figured these might work better than a makeup wipe. I will have to wait and see how these work. Maybe it will be my next holy grail item.

Now just to wait until they get the nail polish in so I can go wild.

(Side note: I went into my local Kmart a few days later and they have decided that my local store is going to start carrying a selected China Glaze and Orly polishes. Not any of the colors that I want but it is nice to see store stepping it up in what they will carry. Even if it is just because they don't want to lose business.)