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Monday, April 30, 2012

Samples Samples Samples - April 2012 Eco-Emi Box

I know what you're thinking - I just posted!  Well, I'm trying to figure out a good update schedule for this, and I'm thinking at least Monday / Friday for me unless life gets in the way (which we know it will).  But I got home from work on Saturday, and what was there waiting for me?  Only one of my favorite bits of post!  Let's move right into it.

As always, Christine outdid herself with the packaging.  The dried flower petals were lovely, and after I fought my cats for them, a really nice thought.  In the pretty little mesh bag were all sorts of treats and there were three wrapped surprises.  Also, this box smelled fucking fantastic, and I could not figure out why at first.  Then I dived into the goodies, and figured out what it was.


This is a bag of three samples of Chai treats from Catalyst Gourmet.  Chai is basically my favorite scent/flavour in the whole wide world, so I spent about a half hour just with my face in this bag.  The chai enhancer is going in my coffee, the sugar in my oatmeal, and the chocolate bark into some warm milk - all of this very soon.



Seaweed Bath Wash (in Eucalyptus and Peppermint) by Seaweed Bath Company.  I have no clue how it smells besides the description due to the packaging, but I'll give it a go sometime.


I friggin' love tea, you guys, but ... lime?  Lime tea?  really?  Sorry, Mate Factor, you're going in the garbage because nobody I know will want you.  (My roommate looked horrified, and my mother thinks tea is the devil's drink.)


Ooooh.  Alabu Baby Me Ultra Moisturizing Soap.  I've needed some moisture in my life; for some reason, summers in Texas just suck it right out of my skin.  Even though I'm sweating and it's like a jock strap outside, because the AC is bumping full blast everywhere, my body is upset.  This is getting used tonight.



Dr. Collins' Natural Toothpaste.  Vanilla Mint toothpaste?  I wonder if my veneers will like you!  I will find out!


Whipped Shea Butter with Kalahari Melon by Shea Radiance.  I SEE WHAT YOU DID THAR 'SHEA' RADIANCE.  It's not that funny, but I appreciate a good pun.  What I don't appreciate is whatever this scent is.  Dear god, it's like it's burning the hair in my nose.  My roommate claims she can't smell anything, but she's got the worst sense of smell of anyone I've ever met, bless her heart.



Organic Raw Fair Trade Honey by Wholesome Sweeteners.  The term "raw honey" confuses me.  What the hell have I been eating all this time?  What have I been putting in my tea?  On my nuggets?  On my peanut butter toast?  WAS IT ALL A LIE?  ... this smells pretty good, but I'm kind of scared of it.  I'll probably put it on some toast at some point.


Bronzer in "Golden" by Lauren Brooke Cosmetics.  I'm half Mexican, so bronzer is not something I generally use in my makeup.  When I want bronzer, I just sort of lay outside in the sun for half an hour and I'm good to go for a year.


Here's that bronzer swatched.  Yeah, I don't really notice it either.  I'm sure on a fair person this would be lovely.  (You're welcome, roommate!)


This is Mr. Ellie Pooh paper, and like it sounds, it's paper made out of elephant poop.  Cute idea, and kind of makes me wish I needed paper.  But like any good typist born in the electronic age, I don't remember how to write very well.  (I use a Moleskine for random thoughts, and I can't read many of them.)


And last but not least, a Burts Bees Lip Shimmer in Plum.  This color is way darker than I'd ever buy for myself, so I was stoked to get it in my box.  I'm a Burts addict; I love the tingle and the way it makes my mouth feel.  Glee!


Burt's Bees and the bronzer side by side, swatched on my hand.  And - check this shiiiit oooout - my new phone has a front facing camera.


BAM!  MOUTH SWATCH!  I actually don't hate this color on me, but I'll have to do a boring eye since it's pretty dark.

So, that was my April Eco-Emi box.  How I love them so.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Nail MADNESS - Butter London Lazy Day Mani

I am so deeply sorry, my loves, that I have not posted in a while.  Loads happened - I had surgery, I got a cold (those two are unrelated but happened pretty close to each other), and I ended up having to ditch one cell phone carrier in favor of another (I used to get my celly service for free because of a family hookup, but said hookup was lost and I now pay for it like a normal American).  That meant that my camera was gone.  Yes, Virginia, I use my cell phone camera to take my blog photos.  In the spirit of all things ghetto fantastic, I refuse to spend 500 bucks I don't have on a camera just to take photos of makeup and my cats.  Ye olde cellphone works just fine.  And now on with the pretties!

Everyone I know who's into polish, who hates leaving the house with naked nails has a go to "I'm too lazy to be arsed to be creative and awesome today" mani.  This is mine.  (THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT - okay, sorry, Full Metal Jacket moment there.)  What I do when I can't be arsed to come up with cute color combos or whip out the Konad plates is this: I put on Butter London's Hen Party, then top it with Tart With a Heart.  I know what you're thinking - that sounds boring, even for layering.  But really, it's prettier than you think!



So, these are the girls in their bottles (photos from Butter London's website).  They look kind of boring in the bottle, and separately, yeah, they are kinda boring.  These ladies were meant to be layered.  They can be layered over other polishes sure, but I really fancy them together - they look just like champagne bubbles.






With flash

with flash
Not bad for something I did while half asleep in ten minutes, yeah?  Especially since I type for a living, I just do not always have the time during my four or so polish changes a week for brilliance.  This mani makes it easy for me to look down at my nails and smile.  What's your go-to lazy day mani?

Friday, April 13, 2012

Josie Maran Argan Oil Hair Serum

I don't like to do my hair.  If you've been reading this blog, then I'm sure you're getting the gist in terms of what makeup I enjoy (nailpolish and eyeshadow), what kind of colors I like (bright!), and what kind of effort I'm willing to put in (minimal at best).  So as such, I don't really "do" my hair, and I never have.  In the past, I've just washed it, conditioned it, let it air dry, and worn it back in a ponytail or that messy knot thing that's not really a chingon that every girl learns how to do in junior high.

I'd like to say that Josie Maran's argan oil hair serum has changed all that.  But no, I'm not flat ironing every day or using hot rollers, or really doing anything besides brushing it.  But that's where the magic of this glorious, delicious smelling bottle comes in - I don't need to.  My hair care routine now consists of washing my hair with T-Gel (yeah, fabulous bitches get dandruff too, what) and then my beloved Garnier Fructis for normal hair.  That's it.  I don't condition it anymore.  I don't need to - this hair serum is that fantastic.  So I just wash it, towel dry once I'm out of the shower, and pop two pumps of this stuff in and let my hair air dry.

You might be thinking that I don't really have frizzy hair, or maybe I don't really need to condition my hair.  Well, you'd be wrong.  I actually took a photo back in 2002 to illustrate for a friend just how terrifying my hair is if I don't condition.  Here is my hair, air dryed per usual, with just a shampoo and no additional product.



If that isn't some Sideshow Bob level frizz, I don't know what is.  If only this product had come out sooner, then I might have been saved a lot of effort.  Hell, I didn't wear my hair short for a very long time, if only because of the allmighty frizzbomb that you see above.

Now I'm going to show you what my hair looks like, post shampooing and then airdrying, with my beloved argan oil hair serum.  I'm also not wearing any makeup, so if you shriek, that's why.  This picture is about two weeks old.


Bam.  Look at how smooth that is!  I used to only be able to get that much smoothness with a flat iron or a blowout.  Sure, there's still some natural curl, but hell, I don't mind.  Plus, when I consider how much shorter my hair is in the second picture, it's damn near miraculous how frizzless it is.  Plus?  I live in Houston, Texas - a hot, swampy, disgusting part of the country where 10 months out of the year walking outside is very much like walking around in a sauna. 

This stuff moisturizes my hair enough where I don't need conditioner, did I mention that?  That helps justify the 30.00 USD pricetag.  Plus it smells good, it saves me time - I'd marry this product if I could.  I'm thinking of sacrificing a goat to the mighty Argan Oil gods, won't you join me?

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Nail MADNESS - Sumer Skittles Mani

So, I really wanted to do an ombre manicure, but I didn't have any colors that I wanted to do it with.  Or cosmetic sponges.  Or will.  (I had surgery last week, so I've been riding the Vicodin pony all this week.)  So I decided to do a skittles manicure with bright, happy colors.  Summer's back in Texas.  You may be asking what happened to Spring; we had that in February.  That's over now.  The high was in the nineties today, I'm running the AC nonstop, my tanktops are in full rotation - it's summertime, bitches.  So I slapped on some polish - Chanel Midori on my thumb, Hard Candy Yellow on my index, Chanel June on my middle finger, Julep Gloria on my ring finger, and Julep Parker on my pinkie.  On top of that, because I always like to up the ante, I put on some Essie Shine of the Times.  But I still didn't like that, so I matted it out with my favorite matte topcoate, ManGlaze Matte-Astrophe. Here's how it looks, and the colors by their lonesomes.









This is the other hand, with the colors just opposite - Gloria, Parker, June, Midori, Yellow.


And this is my cat, who isn't as yellow or orange as my nails, but handsomer than anything else in the world.  He's also more photogenic, don't you think?