Taking On the World of Disney

For my birthday, my boyfriend and I decided to take on Disney World which was an epic adventure and a lot of fun. It had been 13 years since I had been there and I was excited to experience it all again. I'm generally not big on celebrating my birthday but I figured that in the sea of people, it was easy to go unnoticed, even if you are wearing a large pin that says "Happy Birthday."

It was early but I was ready
for Magic Kingdom. 

Anyhow, let's talk about makeup since Florida is different both temperature wise and climate wise. It's wonderfully warm down there during December and humidity was around the high 50's. So what does this translate to? Well, first, let's consider what was in my makeup bag.

The things I brought along with me: My entire makeup bag which included included the CVS Illuminating Moisturizer with SPF and my Cover FX makeup (the pressed mineral powder and the setting powder). I also walked with all of my eyeliners, mascara, makeup brushes, and makeup sponges.

I did leave behind a lot of my eye shadows, but truth be told, I didn't have any intention of wearing them anyway. The Disney World parks are intense and the one thing you probably don't want to do is wear too much makeup if you have oily skin. I walked with copious amounts of blotting sheets in the event that my makeup would run.

As it turns out, the weather was quite amicable toward my makeup so I had no problem keeping it on. A word of caution though, as you might have noticed with my picture on the right, I went light with my makeup.

I have no news to really report about makeup, but as always, there was something new that I tried on my trip. This time it was a body lotion and a shampoo.

New Items: Dial NutriSkin Replenishing Body Lotion Sensitive Skin and Seventh Generation Baby Shampoo & Wash.

Dial NutriSkin isn't new to me -- a few months ago I tried out the Extra Dry Skin version (and conveniently forgot to write a review about it) and found that I liked it a lot. The only thing I wasn't thrilled with was that I just couldn't find it everywhere which is a problem when it comes time to buy a new bottle.

This time round during a trip to Publix to stock up, the Extra Dry Skin version wasn't anywhere to be found but the Sensitive Skin was. It was also the smallest bottle I could find that would be the best option for our vacation for the week.

I don't know if anyone else ever has this problem but the soaps that you get when vacation can be incredibly drying. When I was done washing my hands or taking a shower my skin would appear ashy white. Thankfully I had this lotion to revive my skin and every single time it made me so happy we sprang for it. They generally go for about ~$5 so at that price, it's not a huge risk to take either. It feels great on the skin, especially one that has been stripped of moisture so I would most definitely recommend this to anyone who has particularly dry skin.

Moving on to the shampoo, I've been keeping to shampoos that are free of parabens, sulfates, silicones, and dyes as best I can. After scouring the selection of normal shampoos without much luck, I headed on over to the infant's section and quickly found a close alternative for the trip. The Seventh Generation Baby Shampoo & Wash does have sulfates, but it doesn't contain parabens or silicones which was a trade I was willing to make fore a short amount of time. I kind of wish I had a loofah so that I could make use of the wash instead of suffering with the bar of soap. The bottle ranges from $6-$8 depending on the location.

My hair was wonderful during the trip which I attribute to the climate of Florida. It constantly appeared bouncy and wurly without ever seeming drab. I think the key item on this trip would have been the lotion because I didn't need the other products nearly as much. As for my hair, I noticed the difference after washing my hair the first day and upon our return to home, my hair return to it's lifeless state again. I think with the previous trips I learned that my skin and hair aren't always going to act the way I expect them to so it's best to be on your toes about visiting a new area that hasn't a different climate.

And now for some quick Disney tips! LeFou's Brew at Gaston's Tavern is an interesting blend and quite sugary. The souvenir cups are wonderfully cute too! For those of you with Disney World in your future, I will strongly recommend Undercover Tourist, not just for the discounted tickets (they are an authorized seller of discount tickets for Disney and Universal Studios, along with some other attractions in the Orlando area)  but also for their blog which is loaded with great tips. 

On Travelling: Lite Camping

I'm actually kind of surprised that I haven't broken down and done the ultimate "travel" post. Well, I'm not that surprised, truth be told I'm wordy and sometimes lazy about taking photographs (especially since I can't edit them and my camera is quite unrully). During my hiatus, I went on a short camping trip and thought to myself that I really ought to write about the experience (especially since it was a lite camping trip) but I wanted to go over some basics that I took with me.

Well, for starters, let me give you a quick run down of the "camping" trip -- it was actually for a Beer and BBQ Festival (I'm setting a tone here), and we camped out for two nights. The campsite came equipped with showers, bathrooms (well, portable toilets), and firewood. Basically this meant that we didn't have to do much heavy lifting -- but because we do share the space with a lot of other people, that did mean that there were certain things that we had to walk with, I'm not going to get into the long list of it, but the items that are worth taking a gander at are below.

Warning: I didn't wear any makeup on this trip because that just would have been silly on my behalf. I did walk with my usual stuff (like deodorant, a toothbrush, and toothpaste).

First things first is the nesting wine glass ($7.50). You can judge me all you want but if you're the only one on the campsite with one, then no one is going to try to take your drink. (This holds especially true when the other wine drinker has a GoVino glass ($3) so there's no confusing the two.)

Jokes aside though, soap, bug spray, and sunscreen are essentials. For the trip I grabbed a tube of the Banana Boat Natural Reflect with SPF 50 (~$10) that was oil and paraben free. I'm not a huge sunscreen fan in general but it's something you've got to do when you're exposed to the sun for a long period of time. I found that I had to reapply it twice (which I was supposed to do) and while I didn't quite like the feel of it, I did like the comfort of knowing it was doing it's job.

I didn't use the bug spray much since insects tend to flee from me but the other campers that I was with found the Cutter Skinsations Insect Repellent to be wonderfully helpful. I always walk with a bottle when I go camping for my friends and so far, no complaints about this one.

Soap is soap and generally I'd toss in a bar of Ivory and call it a day. I did figure though that I should walk with a bar that offered some type of exfoliation though. I grabbed this bar of Yardley of London Scrub & Smooth Bath Bar Sea Minerals which smells like bergamot and lime and is 100% vegetable soap. The bar of soap retails for ~$3 and if you've got several campers and a shower, this will come in handy.

Time to break down what's in that handy makeup bag though. That bag is my camping "makeup" bag and I use that term lightly because there's no actual makeup in there but it is a bag of necessary items. A lot of these items were actually samples, which makes it easy to pull them together and toss into another bag.

• Hand Sanitizer (while we did have a lot of water and wet wipes available, we also ended up doing a lot of cooking. This is great if you're handling meats or just any kind of food.) I grabbed a generic brand that cost about a dollar. 
• Floss and/or flossers. I keep a small spool of floss in the bag but in my other makeup bag (that's in my purse) I keep flossers. Flossers are great for on the go and keep a small spool as a backup (or to share) is just nifty and very useful. 
• Extra elastic hair bands -- I admit, that with short hair, I don't use these much and even last year when I had this bag with long hair, I ended up just putting my hair in a bun and keeping it steady with a pencil. Nonetheless, it's good to have them around.
• Small bottle of lotion. Now I did walk with my purse's makeup bag and in there I keep two other small bottles of lotion as well. I tossed in this one in as extra in case anyone needed it. You should definitely have on around especially if you suffer from dry skin (which is why I keep at least two bottles around).
• Shampoo and/or conditioner. You may not really need this but if you end up with a lot of haircare samples, it doesn't hurt to toss or two of them into a makeup bag especially since they don't take up much space.
• Toothpaste (not pictured is the travel toothbrush). Here's where my makeup bags combine to form a super hygienic pack. My everyday bag has a travel toothbrush (so as long as I have my purse, I can brush my teeth anywhere) but I tend to not carry toothpaste in that one since I'm usually at a friend's place where I'd have to use it. 
• Lancome Bienfait Multi-Vital with SPF 30. Well, this was tossed in by my mother (yep, seriously) who is a huge fan of Lancome and demands that I travel with the face cream because it has SPF in it (and in that way, I don't have to slather sunscreen on my face). Admittedly, this is one thing I really love travelling with especially since the other face creams I have either don't have SPF or it's very low. 
• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer SPF 70. Another sample and I'm not sure that this is something I'd actively seek it (because I walk with two items that pretty much cover this area). 

I know I have a Lancome primer in the picture but that shouldn't have been in the bag. I've removed it so no need to put it on the list.

I'm prepping for another trip soon so there shall be more in the series to come!

The Wonders of Kauai

Last week my boyfriend and I went to Kauai for a week -- it was a great week filled with a lot of sunshine, warm weather, and relaxation. Naturally during this vacation makeup was something that was kind of important to me, but not really. Especially since I forgot that what works here in San Francisco, does not work in the humid and warm climate of Kauai. While reminiscent of a New York City summer, it reminded me that my choice of makeup did not bode well. So here's the breakdown.

The things I brought along with me: My entire makeup bag which included my Alba Hawaiian Jasmine and Vitamin E moisturizer and new Cover FX makeup (the pressed mineral powder and the setting powder). I also tossed in a few of my e.l.f. Studio brushes.

The one thing left behind: Milk of Magnesia.

New Items: Garnier Fructis Pure Clean (Shampoo and Conditioner) and lots of generic rice paper (oil-blotting tissues).

We arrived early Sunday morning and since I wasn't particularly in the mood to worry about makeup when we checked in, I decided to go natural for the rest of the day. The next day however I did wear makeup and thus paid dearly for that. My face became quite the oil slick and I had to rely heavily on my e.l.f. Shine Erasers throughout the day. I was averaging about 3 sheets every hour between 11 AM to 3 PM so we had to stop into Longs Drugs to get me some more oil blotting sheets. 

Needless to say that the following day (Tuesday) and for the rest of the week I decided to go completely makeup free. I do suspect that the culprit was the moisturizing cream because as I mentioned, the weather and humidity was very similar to NYC during the summer. Which meant that I was supposed to switch moisturizers. The Jasmine and Vitamin E blend is fantastic for the winter however during the summer the Aloe and Green Tea Oil is actually much better and assists in controlling the oils. Since moving to SF I haven't had the need to switch moisturizers between the seasons so I didn't have the appropriate moisturizer for Hawaii. 

But to be honest, I actually did enjoy having the chance to go completely makeup free for my vacation. I did rely very heavily on the oil-blotting tissues but overall my skin held up well considering the factors. There was a point in time where I almost bought another bottle of Milk of Magnesia, but I figured that with the high temperatures, I didn't really want to be bothered with makeup. I bought two more packs of oil-blotting tissues instead and hoped for the best. Sure I grumbled a bit given the maximum shine that was added to my face but it was a nice change. It was kind of sad though that the makeup I bought specifically for this trip did not hold up. But I am happy to say that it does hold up well here in SF.

While I'm on topic about the Wonders of Kauai, let's touch upon hair care. I did walk with a small bottle of Argan Oil which I amazingly didn't have to use (not even once!). One of the first stops that we made was at Walmart so that we could pick up some essentials -- such as, but not limited to, hair care. We grabbed a bottle of the Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Fortifying Shampoo and the Fortifying Conditioner. I don't think I can properly convey how happy my curls were. This particular line (Pure Clean) has no parabens, no silicones, and no dyes, which meant that my hair was not weighed down. And given the climate, my hair was even curlier than normal and there wasn't a build up. At no point did my hair feel oily and/or greasy which is amazing for my hair. I have no idea what the change in climate will mean for how it holds up in the long-term but that is definitely something that I will touch upon in the future.

Makeup aside, do remember to get yourself
awesome souvenirs.

So if you're traveling, don't forget that weather and humidity are going to factor into your makeup and haircare. Be prepared for some sudden changes, especially if the destination you're going to doesn't have a Sephora or similar makeup store.