Loot! - The Face Shop

I love finding out about other cultures.  I love eating other cultures' foods and watching their movies.  I adore reading their books and listening to their music.  Since I'm a Culture Sponge (it seriously is a thing - I'm listening to French kids' music right now while I'm typing this, and the book next to me is a gender studies textbook about Japanese hostessing clubs and I'm eating some random peanuts that I couldn't tell you what they are because I don't speak Spanish), I also love - and might love the most - sampling other cultures' beauty products.

I work in a part of Houston they call the International District; there's a lot of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and Mexican places all within a few miles of each other.  I love it; where else can I get good butter chicken and pho without having to drive too far from each other?  I also just like signage that's not in English or romanized lettering.  It just makes me happy for some reason.  But now I have another reason to love it here: FACE SHOP STORE FIVE MINUTES FROM WORK ERRRMAHGEERD.  I'm not even kidding, I nearly skipped into the joint on my lunch today at work (and very nearly stole one of the posters of the gorgeous Kim Hyun-joong they have plastered all over).  Here's what I got (which isn't nearly half of what I want, but at some point I think I might need food again).

TREASURES.

I got this BB cream for 14.00 USD.  I've been looking for something to replace my beloved SKIN79 hot pink, and this feels (on my hand at least, I used the sample) much lighter.  I'll review it later!  It's kind of a smallish bottle, so I'm not sure if it's the same bang for the buck as hot pink.  I'll keep you posted.

Herb Day cleansing wipes for 8.00 USD.  I use wipes to take off my makeup at night, and also when I'm lazy.  Since the voyage from the car to the store and then back again in 107 F heat left me feeling not so fresh, I tried one of these at my work desk.  It left me feeling clean, left no weird residue behind, and tingled.  Mama likey, and that's pretty cheap for 70 wipes.

Nature Garden Cleansing Bar in sebum controlling.  I got this for 5.00 USD.  I'll use it and let you guys know how it does on controlling my sebum.  Sebum sucks.

Speaking of sebum, I love me these sheet masks.  They're a teeny bit expensive (3.00 USD each, and they're one use each), but they work so well I try to get them once a month.  Now I don't have to pay for international shipping when I do that.  Kermit arms, y'all.

And y'all know I couldn't leave without some nail polish.  The top one ran me just 2.00 USD (I know, right?)  That color is GR501 (I know, unfortunately no cute names here).  The bottom one was 5.00 USD and is BR801.

After work tonight, I'm going to go home, shower, fight some sebum, and do my nails.  ... and try not to think about next week when I get paid and probably go back to spend/waste more money.

Nail MADNESS - Random Fly Super Bass Dancing

So, I know I've shown you Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection before, and I know I've shown you Dollish Polish's Random Dancing - but I didn't show them to you together.  I did an 'organized chaos' mani with those two on some nails and Fly and Super Bass shatter on the others.  All of these are in natural light.

Okay, so I know I jacked up that middle nail, but dude, I don't even care.  How pretty is that?  I prefer OPI's shatters to China Glaze's, as they crackle a bit more.  What pairings are you rocking?

Nail MADNESS: Julep "Kyllie" and A-England "Princess Tears"

I suck at those 30 day challenges - I painted my nails.  I couldn't help it.  They were so bare and boring and after a week or so of constant cuticle care, they were looking a lot better.  So I figured - hell, nobody cares but me, so why not?

The dark purple is the magnetic polish Julep offered a few months ago, Kylie.  The shimmery lilac holo  is A-England's Princess Tears.  I like how they look together, and I was kind of sick of summer colors.

And because she insisted on butting her nose and fur into the picture, have a picture of my own little princess, my youngest kitty Isolde.

Nail MADNESS - No Polish July

It’s no huge shock to anyone who’s read more than three entries in this blog that I love nail polish.  I love the conquest – the stalking various beauty supply stores and websites to find that one elusive shade.  I love the thrill of the kill – finally purchasing that perfect color that will complete my life (for at least ten minutes).  And I love the thrill of the trophy – finally putting that beauty, that honey of a color onto my nails and flaunting it.  In fact, the only part of me that seems to hate my love of nail polish is my nails.  Not only do I type for a living (I talk while I do it, it’s not like that’s the only thing I do, stfu), but I change my polish out anywhere from two to four times a week depending on my mood and my free time.  All of that has equaled out to this hot mess here.

Cue screaming.  I also recently broke the crap out of one of my nails doing laundry (I managed to wedge the nail into an overhanging metal bit on the dryer door, don’t ask me how, all I know is I bent over, went to grab some clean clothes, and all of a sudden I was bleeding.)  I’m a hands-on kind of person: I cook with them, I like to punch things, I don’t ever wear latex gloves when I clean – you get the idea.  So I’m doing something fairly revolutionary for me.  No Polish July.  (I tried to think of a cute acronym, but yeah, I’m stumped.)  I’m just going to do nail treatments and let my little stumps recover from today, 6/27 until 7/26.  No base coats unless they’re healthy and filled with good for my nails nutrients.  This will also give me a chance to review nail care treatments.  We’ll see A) how long I last, and B) if it helps at all.  I’ll keep you posted!

Nail MADNESS: The New Black - "Walrus"

So, I've been away for forever - work has its busiest month between early May and early June, and what with the tripled workload, I wanted to die.  But never fear: I am back and going to tell you stuff about makeup and crap.  (I know, nobody's life was empty without me, it's fine.)

I'd seen The New Black around Sephora as I shopped in the last few months, and I always thought to myself "oh, hey, that's really cute!" but never bought it.  But my thirty-second birthday passed recently and I needed to buy something so I could get my free birthday gift (this year it was two free mini Sugar Lip Treatments by Fresh in their clear and Rosé colors).  Yes, I already own the big ones of both of those.  No, I will never turn down free lip balm.  Yes, I get it's not free if I buy things to go with it.  Shut the hecks up, Judgey McJudgerson.  I figured it was time to just grab one of The New Black kits and be done with it.  I got Walrus, the ombre nude kit.

Isn't it cute?  I like the idea of this - making ombre kits so that you don't have to go buy other colors or think too much about what you're doing.  Making ombre accessible to people when they're drunk and/or lazy?  I'm in.  Now, this kit was USD 22.00.  The bottles are hella tiny, but there are five of them.

See?  Iiiiitty bitty.  But, like I said, every mani you're only using each color for 2 nails, so they should last a decent amount of time.

I think it's kinda cute!  I think I need to invest more in nudes - I have literally zero, and they're adorable on me.  The formula on these is kinda goopy, and not my favorite, but I think it's a fun set and I'll trot it out whenever work makes me dress more "professionally".

Majolica Majorca "Blood On"

(It should be noted that I first read about this blusher in Musings of a Muse's blog, which you should follow if you don't already.) 

I've never really had a relationship with blusher.  My mother uses it religiously, using three different colors to bring her pale skin to life.  If she doesn't, she tends to look like a zombie statue that someone made out of clay and hasn't yet fired in a kiln.  However, I'm half Mexican (and for some of you, I know the title of my blog is just now making some semblance of sense!), and as such, am not nearly as pale as my pure Irish mother.  I never really saw the point in blush.  And when I did put it on, I looked like a circus clown going to her other job as a streetwalker - camp and ridiculous.

But when I read Muse write about this blush, the color looked natural.  I love how I look when I blush, and when I get gussied up for Special Occasions, I pull out a super old school beauty trick and pinch my cheeks until I look flushed.  I get why blushes make sense for most people, but I wanted a natural looking flush.  And oh my god, I think I've found it.  Majolica Majorca, ilu.  Never leave.  ... wait, this is a LE?  KAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN.

It's a pretty generous size for what it is.  I got it off of eBay for ten bucks with three dollar shipping, which is pretty decent.

 Here's what it looks like in the container.  It looks hella red, I know, but give this girl a chance - she applies wicked sheer, so the color is totally buildable (you can put on layers and get your cheeks as blushy as you want them to be).

See what I mean?  And here's what it looks like on me.

These are in natural light, let me show you flash.

And why yes, I'm wearing it on my lips!  You can do that!  It looks okay!  I just look like I've been running around the block (which I haven't, stop laughing, you asshole)!  The wear time for me seems to be about six hours or so, but I usually wear BB cream underneath it.  Maybe that makes some sort of magical adhesion power, I don't know.

I'm probably going to have to buy another five of these and secret them around in my apartment like a squirrel, or an old woman with her costume jewelry, just so I never run out.  It's become a staple in my workday makeup routine.  Madly in love with this one.

Nail MADNESS - Nail-Venturous Floam

I have a love/hate relationship with indie polishes.  I love the unique, different, and fantastically varied colors they offer.  No boring Essie polishes if you don't want them?  Yes please!  Supporting people and not huge companies?  If you know how much of a hippie I am, I'd much rather help out the little guy, the mom next door, as opposed to huge companies.  (Yeah, I know they're buying their stuff from The Man to make my polish, but I hope more profit ends up in their pocket.)

But oh, god, the quest to find the indie polish.  The sleepless nights, the email alerts, the shaking my tiny fist at the sky when that polish I wanted sold out in three seconds - that sucks.  I can just go on QVC and get me some Lippmanns, but if I want a specific indie polish?  I have to stalk it like a creepy dude from Hollywood.  And that's just what I did to get Floam by Nail-Venturous.  Amy at I'm feeling Nail-Venturous made this gorgeous thing, and I stalked NinjaPolish for a hot month to get it.  But it's mine, all mine, and I'm happy to say I love it just as much as I'd hoped I would.  Here's what it looks like about three minutes after application, no topcoat - because I got that excited about taking pictures of it and showing y'all.  (Though admittedly I got this about a week ago and didn't take photos because I'm a ditz, but shhh.)

I didn't even clean up my nails, and I don't care.  You can see the really dense glittering in here - basically this polish is a clear base with hella dense yellow, blue, and green matte microglitter.  And honestly, it really does end up looking like Floam!

The pros?  It's fucking gorgeous.  It makes me smile every time I look down at my hands.  I've gotten more compliments on this than any other polish I've ever owned, ever.  The first time I put it on, I got a solid eight days of wear before I noticed any sort of chipping, and that was with China Glaze basecoat / two coats of Floam / two coats of Seche Vite.  Eight days.  Eight!  The cons?  It's a bitch and a half to put on.  I had to wrestle a bit with it, but that's mostly something I expected.  With that much glitter in it, how could I not have to move it around?

I regret nothing in my goal to this polish, except maybe the bandwidth I sucked from NinjaPolish.  Indie polishes are really where my heart is, and will probably stay that way until major polish companies that aren't Chanel start to make colors like this.