Sensitive Nose: Chanel "Jersey"

Some people have been saying that Chanel's new fragrance, Jersey, is named after the state.  As someone who has dated someone who lived in the Garden State, I'm going to have to go on record and say that this is not what this perfume smells like.  No, the copy from the Chanel website says that it was named for the fabric because Coco Chanel was one of the first to start using the fabric in women's clothing.

Chanel also states that the main note in this perfume is lavender, followed by vanilla and musk.  To my nose, it does smell like lavender is the top note, but that Chanel No. 5 is the base.  It's got that clean, feminine Chanel smell that I associate with all of their products, but just enough lavender to be considered an "old lady" perfume.  I've been interviewing for jobs, so this is light enough to be smelled but not so strong that I'm going to offend anyone.  It smells clean and fresh and how I'd imagine all of Provence to smell.  Insta love.

Review: Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel (Sensitive)

So, I am now one of America's Unemployed.  You may think this means that I'm having non-stop fun, that I'm vacationing and sleeping in late and having a lot of trysts with other fabulously unemployed singles.  That's completely not the case.  I am living in a constant state of panic like a tiny, twitchy dog. Adding to this stress is the fact that I'm pulling two or three face-to-face interviews per week.  And since I'm in a constant state of AUGH WTF NO, my skin is reacting in kind.  I'm breaking the fuck out.  My skin needs help.

A couple of months ago in my Conscious Box I got a sample of Juice Beauty's Green Apple Peel in the sensitive formulation.  It's not a peel-off mask; instead, it's a smooth, slightly sticky formulation that you smear on your face and leave on for twenty to thirty minutes.  The "peel" isn't what you do, it's what the mask does for you.  It exfoliates, it tightens, it brightens.  At least that's what it says it does.

from juicebeauty.com

This stuff works for me, so well.  I love this stuff.  I smear it on when my skin gets to Crisis Levels, and it always makes me look as dewy and glowy as I did when I was fourteen and the world was shiny and new.  It really does luminize.  I think buying a full price bottle of this would be worth it for me when I eventually get the money; since it's a once or twice per week item, the small amount per jar would be all right.  I love this mask, and it loves me.  I hope my interviewers love me tomorrow too.

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".