The last month was a nice breather for a lot of the things going on in my life -- I had decided to take a slight break not only from blogging (well, seriously blogging -- I was still having fun over at Etceteros), reading (120 books for the year), knitting, and crocheting. I was idle and it was awesome but now I've got to pick back up on something. During the month of August, I really didn't experiment much but I did notice a few things that I wanted to touch upon. It's time for Product Updates!
Eyes
I went easy on the eye makeup and only used mascara here and there, the one stand up champion that I loved was Physicians Formula Organic Wear Jumbo Lash Mascara. I have long lashes and generally when I'm wearing mascara, the only thing I'm looking for is a slight pick me up to widen my eyes and darken my lashes a bit. A lot of formulas I've used have been on the clumpy side but this one does the trick without looking like it's too much.
Part of the reason why I haven't been using too much eye makeup is because my eyelids have been a bit dry (whereas the rest of my face has been acting oily). As a result, every night I put on some eye cream and I've been using Avon's Anew Retroactive+ Repair Eye Serum. I've had this bottle for quite some time now and it refuses to finish but overall, I do love the results that I get with it. This particular product is discontinued though but once I finish it out, I'll be switching back to 100% Pure eye cream.
Hair Care
I've been switching back to my standard hair care routine -- no parabens, no silicones, and low sulfates (or no sulfates). During the month I finished out the last of my Renpure Organics then realized that the other bottles I had picked up had either parabens or silicones. I ended up returning them and I've been sticking with Garnier Pure Clean (which is not sulfate free, but it free of parabens and silicones -- my hair does not like silicones so it was a compromise I was willing to make).
Items I ended up getting rid of are the Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme and the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo. These items are not inherently bad but as my hair has gotten longer, they really aren't working the way that they should The Bumble and Bumble Creme was actually weighing down my waves (or wurls) and wasn't giving me the lift I desired. My hair is thick and fine though so I imagine that it would still works for others, just not me. As for the NYM's Dry Shampoo, I prefer the cornstarch method now that my hair a little bit longer since it felt like it was weighing my hair down.
Foundation
As I mentioned, I'm trying to go natural (again. A quick note about this, I had gone natural but stopped for a bit in order to incorporate SPF into my routine. As a result, I ended up drifting away but then realized, I had drifted away from SPF makeup as well which meant that I should probably just go all natural again). I've also been experimenting a bit more with different foundations as well.
Although I love and adore CoverFX, I finally did get my hands on the right Everyday Minerals foundation that matches me. So as a result for the last month I've been using the EDM foundations in lieu of the CoverFX. (And please note that CoverFX has SPF 10 and is paraben free, oil free, fragrance free, wax free). Anyhow I found that two of the EDM foundations works and I ended up ordering a bunch of foundation samples from Meow Cosmetics. I still think that CoverFX is the best so far but we'll see what happens when I start experimenting again.
I did end up giving up my Illamasqua blush -- I was very happy with it's overall performance and pigmentation however I decided that I really wanted to stick to my goals and ended up getting a Tarte blush instead. I'll be working on a review for the Tarte item(s) later on.
Well, I think that's it. My Guest Bloggers are missing in action but I do know that a lot of them are getting into the busy season so I can offer them a little bit of leeway. ;)
I went easy on the eye makeup and only used mascara here and there, the one stand up champion that I loved was Physicians Formula Organic Wear Jumbo Lash Mascara. I have long lashes and generally when I'm wearing mascara, the only thing I'm looking for is a slight pick me up to widen my eyes and darken my lashes a bit. A lot of formulas I've used have been on the clumpy side but this one does the trick without looking like it's too much.
Part of the reason why I haven't been using too much eye makeup is because my eyelids have been a bit dry (whereas the rest of my face has been acting oily). As a result, every night I put on some eye cream and I've been using Avon's Anew Retroactive+ Repair Eye Serum. I've had this bottle for quite some time now and it refuses to finish but overall, I do love the results that I get with it. This particular product is discontinued though but once I finish it out, I'll be switching back to 100% Pure eye cream.
Hair Care
I've been switching back to my standard hair care routine -- no parabens, no silicones, and low sulfates (or no sulfates). During the month I finished out the last of my Renpure Organics then realized that the other bottles I had picked up had either parabens or silicones. I ended up returning them and I've been sticking with Garnier Pure Clean (which is not sulfate free, but it free of parabens and silicones -- my hair does not like silicones so it was a compromise I was willing to make).
Items I ended up getting rid of are the Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme and the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo. These items are not inherently bad but as my hair has gotten longer, they really aren't working the way that they should The Bumble and Bumble Creme was actually weighing down my waves (or wurls) and wasn't giving me the lift I desired. My hair is thick and fine though so I imagine that it would still works for others, just not me. As for the NYM's Dry Shampoo, I prefer the cornstarch method now that my hair a little bit longer since it felt like it was weighing my hair down.
Foundation
As I mentioned, I'm trying to go natural (again. A quick note about this, I had gone natural but stopped for a bit in order to incorporate SPF into my routine. As a result, I ended up drifting away but then realized, I had drifted away from SPF makeup as well which meant that I should probably just go all natural again). I've also been experimenting a bit more with different foundations as well.
Although I love and adore CoverFX, I finally did get my hands on the right Everyday Minerals foundation that matches me. So as a result for the last month I've been using the EDM foundations in lieu of the CoverFX. (And please note that CoverFX has SPF 10 and is paraben free, oil free, fragrance free, wax free). Anyhow I found that two of the EDM foundations works and I ended up ordering a bunch of foundation samples from Meow Cosmetics. I still think that CoverFX is the best so far but we'll see what happens when I start experimenting again.
I did end up giving up my Illamasqua blush -- I was very happy with it's overall performance and pigmentation however I decided that I really wanted to stick to my goals and ended up getting a Tarte blush instead. I'll be working on a review for the Tarte item(s) later on.
Well, I think that's it. My Guest Bloggers are missing in action but I do know that a lot of them are getting into the busy season so I can offer them a little bit of leeway. ;)
