Travel makeup

I went away for my first work trip and it was a COMPLETE packing fail. This is what happens when you wait until the last minute to pack. I ended up with four mascaras and zero eyeliner. How does that happen? I know for a fact that eyeliner is way more important for my Asian eyes than mascara. I didn't use at least 80% of the stuff I packed. I had to make an impromptu trip to Wal-Mart for my "essentials." I bought the L'oreal Voluminous Smoldering eyeliner and the much blogged hyped Milani Liquif'eye eyeliner. I also bought a Rimmel eyebrow pencil but the color match is a bust.

I have a week long work conference in July and an out-of-town wedding in September and I don't want to be in the same bind with my poor packing skills. I really need to work on improving and editing my travel bags so that the first thing I do when I get some place isn't finding the nearest drugstore.

The flip side of my travel debacle is that I am excited to try out the Milani liquif'eye pencil and I'm actually liking the L'oreal eyeliner. It smudges but not if I powder. Still working out the kinks to make it work. Lord knows I don't need more eyeliners. I will be back to "shopping my stash" and trying to use up the stuff I have.

Going au natural

I'm trying to make some healthy life choices at the moment. I think the last six months have been a huge transition period for my skin - moving to hot Texas and the stress of getting settled down with a new job and apartment has taken its toll on my skin. I've never had "terrible" skin but I definitely noticed my skin breaking out a lot more. More clogged pores and those pesky little bumps on the skin. Really gross. I need to see a dermatologist when I get the chance. That's kind of on the back burner at the moment. I need to find a dentist first.

I definitely wear makeup everyday when I go to work. I'm sure I could get by with less but I enjoy "putting on my face" and playing around with pretty things. It's not like I paint it on or anything but I like that makeup makes me feel more put together.

On the weekends though, I'm trying to take up the no-makeup routine and just give my skin a little room to breathe. I actually think it's made a difference! Also, I'm really trying to drink more water. It's hard to do but I just have to make myself do it. Besides, I really do feel better when I'm properly hydrated. So here's to a drink of water.

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

Sheesh. I've been wanting to just write on my blog using my iPad but apparently, blogger is not going to make that easy for me. Blogger fail for sure! Anyways, I've been in the lookout for a decent cleanser. Something that is comparable with my Philosophy Purity cleanser. But something that's more reasonable price wise. I'm on a self-imposed buying ban until I get my debt under control / sell our house so we're not paying for two places type of thing. Although I did sign up for the Beautybar's Sample Society when I finally received an invite. I'll have to write about that later.

I didn't repurchase the Purity cleanser because I got bored with it and wanted a change. What I really want to try is the Liz Earle cleanser that every beauty blogger has raved about. But, I can't justify spending that kind of money ordering face cleanser from the U.K. while I'm trying to desperately get my finances in order. Look at me trying to be responsible!

Well, I've been using the Cetaphil cleanser for about two weeks or so and I didn't really know what to expect. I know that it's such a cult favorite and loads of people rave about it. Well, unfortunately for me, I'm not impressed. It's okay. It's not as drying as the Clarins cleanser which left my skin feeling ridiculously stripped and tight. It does leave the skin feeling hydrated but I'm not sure how "cleansing" it is. It does not remove makeup. At. All. I tried "lathering" up for at least 60 seconds for a proper cleanse and then went over with my Bioderma and there was still loads of makeup left on the cotton pad. You definitely have to double cleanse with this one. Forget removing eye makeup. Of course, I can't really fault the cleanser for it since it doesn't claim to remove makeup. But still though, it's a cleanser. You would think it would actually cleanse. But I'm not going to hold it against the cleanser for not doing something that it doesn't claim to do. On the plus side, it is a very affordable cleanser. It hasn't broken me out so that's another plus. It does contain a lot of chemicals though. Based on what little research I've done on the ingredients, it's certainly not "natural" and contains lots of parabens.

Ingredients: Water, cetyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben.

Doesn't look very "natural." It definitely doesn't have any extra antioxidant or skin benefiting ingredients. But hey, it hasn't broken me out or dried me out. I just have to make extra sure that my makeup is completely taken off separately. I'm not on some kind of tree-hugging anti-paraben bandwagon or anything but I suppose it doesn't really hurt to try to steer toward better ingredients.

Would I repurchase? Probably not. I'm not wowed. It's a decent cleanser. Cheap. Of course, I will finish the bottle and make a final decision then. Maybe it'll grow on me. But I still have my eye on the Liz Earle cleanser. Also, the Philosophy Purity definitely smells better. That kind of stuff is pretty important in skincare. Cetaphil has no scent, which might be good for some but I would prefer something that has more aromatherapy qualities.

My beauty wish list

I am putting myself on a strict project pan. I have returned way too many things to Sephora in the past month. If I didn't spend a lot of money from Sephora to begin with, I would feel kind of bad about all the returns. I feel guilty returning things. In reality, I really do want those things to work out but if they don't, then I feel bad about spending money on something that I don't completely love. I have returned the following items in the past month:

• Edward Bess Back to Basics Palette - I really, really wanted to like this. I had read so many reviews absolutely raving about it. And I gave it a proper go at it - used it for a full week. At the end, I couldn't justify the price due the gritty highlighter and the lip and cheek cream blush - it was just too muddy on me. I did love the eyeshadows though. But couldn't justify the high price tag for just the shadows. I may look into just getting his shadows separately in the future. Still on the fence about the fig scent that all of his products have. It's not a bad scent but I'm just not a fan of strong fragrances in my makeup. 
• Edward Bess Platinum Concealer - Again, I really, really wanted to like this. I had read reviews on Cafe Makeup that raved about the concealer. I read that it was better than the Cle de Peau. And way cheaper. Well, at $40, it's not a cheap concealer by any means but compared to the Cle de Peau - definitely more reasonable. But, it wasn't the HG concealer that I was looking for my under eye area. It was okay. So I couldn't justify keeping it at $40. 
• Then I also returned two Sephora brushes - the foundation airbrush 55 and the concealer brush in the same line. I had my eye on the Sephora Airbrush 55 for ages. I thought it would be just what the doctor ordered for my Chanel Bronze Universal. But it wasn't the HG brush that I was hoping it to be. It was okay. Not bad - the synthetic taklon bristles were super soft. But my Real Techniques brushes were just as good. So again, I couldn't justify the high cost for those items. 

Obviously, I need to be more discerning when I purchase items. But I had done tons of "research" before I bought any of these items. Thank goodness for Sephora's fantastic return policy. 

So, I am going to work on downsizing my makeup collection. I have some serious debt that I need to get under control and that's not going to happen with me willy nilly buying everything I see. But I thought it would be a good idea to create a wish list - so that I keep my focus on these items. Items that I have carefully thought about. A very well edited list of products that I would love to have in my collection. Quality over quantity - my motto.

1. Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturizer
2. By Terry Touche Veloutee
3. Estee Lauder Advance Night Repair 
4. NARS Laguna bronzer
5. Burberry Pale Barley eyeshadow
6. Suqqu brushes - face, cheek, and eyes. Basically all of them. Thank you Lisa Eldridge. 
7. Phyto volumizing shampoo and conditioner
8. Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo
9. Laura Mercier Second Skin blush - lush nectarine

Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser

I've been using a deluxe sample of the Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser for little more than a week and I'm sorry to say that I won't be purchasing the full sized version. I'm trying to go through all of my samples in my sample collection and I had high hopes for this one since I love Clarins. I liked the "foaming" action but I didn't find it to be so "gentle" as it claims to be. It left my skin feeling stripped and tight. I didn't have that feeling with the Philosophy Purity cleanser. I don't think I have any other cleansers in my sample collection so I'm going to try the Cetaphil cleanser next. I feel like I have to at least give that one a try since it's such a cult favorite. Besides, I don't want to spend $30 for the Philosophy one right now.