One Brand Project Pan: Wet n Wild Update #1

Hello lovelies, I had taken these photos a couple of weeks ago but have been so busy with student teaching and babysitting that I haven't really been able to update on this project or anything else really. More about that will probably come in an update soon. For now, let's get to the update!

Contour Palette - Highlight Shade - My pan has gotten bigger and there is another teeny tiny fleck of pan that has started. This is taking me longer to see progress than I thought though.

Contour Palette - Contour Shade -You can definitely see the pan on this growing. I feel like I will go through this faster than the highlight side because it kicks up so much powder when I stick my brush in there and I definitely use this on more of my face than the highlight color.

Lipstick in Bare it All - Love this lipstick for a quick everyday matte, but I really don't think I am going to get through this whole lipstick in this project no matter how much I use it.

Coverall Powder - I have definitely expanded the pan on this powder since I started this project. Like the contour powder it kicks up a lot of powder so I don't think it will be too much longer to get through this.

Coverall Foundation - I have been enjoying this foundation. It has medium to full coverage. It gets a little oily throughout the day, but holds up pretty well for someone who puts on their makeup at 6:30 am and doesn't touch up at all for the next 10 hours. I have only had a couple days of this breaking down and that was from the primer that I used.

So that is the progress I have so far. There will be a more timely update for the next one so it will probably be around the 5th of February. I am excited to see how much progress I can make by then. I think that if I have finished everything and have just the lipstick left that is when I will call the project done.

A/N - These photos are of 2, maybe 3 weeks worth of progress since the intro.

Current Reads January 2017

Hello lovely readers, I haven't updated everyone on what I am reaching for in a while, so here goes!

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks - This is the second book in the Weeks's Lightbringer series. I am really enjoying this series so far. I am listening to it on audible and I have found that for Weeks's writing specifically, I enjoy listening to them. On an unrelated note to the actual writing I don't know how much I enjoy the guy reading this book compared to guy who read the first one. I feel like I don't authors should make sure there is some consistency with that because they are creating a voice for their characters. It is especially annoying when there is an accent change.

Shadow's Edge by Brent Weeks - Can you tell I am a fan yet? This is the second book in the Night Angel Trilogy. I am still just starting this one so I don't have any opinions yet. It will probably take me forever and a day to read this one because I am actually reading it and because I made the mistake of reading some reviews. They weren't the greatest, but I am going to pull through and read this because I want to know what is going to happen with the characters.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks - This is a reread because it has been a while since I have read anything by Sparks and once upon a time he was my favorite writer. I figure I need something a little lighter and more contemporary to read and this is what I reached for off of my shelf. I look forward to seeing how I react to the characters in this book because I have tried to reread books that I have once loved before and my college brain doesn't feel the same way that my high school brain does about books.

So these are the three books that I am actively reaching for right now. I have others that I am in the process of reading, but have set aside for now. I don't have much time for reading at the moment, but I listen to that first book every morning while I get ready to go to the school. I feel like I am a little behind on my reading goals already for the year, but I will just push through and read a little more once I graduate.

Declutter: I Let My Sister Go Through My Makeup

Hello lovelies, I recently was retyping up my inventory list and like my last declutter, I was overwhelmed a bit by how much makeup I actually have. So I let my sister go through and pick out what she wanted, within reason of course. So I will just do a little overview of the products that no longer belong to me.

The Balm - Balm Jovi palette - While I love this palette, it is not something that I found myself reaching for often enough. The highlight and blush in here are the real reasons I was holding onto this because I wasn't so crazy about the shadows. The formula is the same one I love from the Balm, but the colors didn't speak to me. 

Profusion - Elevation Multi-tier Palette - This is a great multi layered palette, but I have so many shadows, blushes, and lipsticks that I just wasn't using this at all. With the right primer profusion shadows are actually pretty good.

Maybelline - Single Shadow in Nude Glow - This is a really gorgeous peachy champagne shadow, and I really enjoy these Maybelline shadows, but she wanted it and I have so many dupes for this shade in palettes. I reach for palettes more than I do singles.

Elizabeth Mott - Single Shadow in Champagne - This shadow in like butter how smooth it is. I kind of miss this, but like the Maybelline shadow, I have many dupes for it in other palettes.

Wet n Wild - 903C Just Peachy lip stick - She asked for a peachy lipstick and I have so many that I thought I would share. We have different undertones and this actually looks better on her than it does on me so I am not too sad about the loss.

Tarte - Blush in Enthused - This doesn't really show up as a blush, more a highlighter in my opinion. That is why it was in my highlighter drawer, however I never reached for it because I don't like to apply glitter on my face and this has glitter. 

Peek - Brow Powder - I had recently added Anastasia's Brow Powder duo to my collection, so I don't really need another brow powder. Happily passed this along.

Benefit - Blush in Dandelion - This is a beautiful blush, but I have others that I would reach for over this one and well she asked for it and I am occasionally a good sister. 

So these are the products that I passed along out of my collection and into my sisters. I miss some of them, but she lives down the hall from me and it won't be too big of a deal if I go over and ask her to use any of these. It was time to do a little bit of decluttering and I feel better about letting go of makeup if I know where it is going. 

Swisspers Blending Mini Sponges Review

Hello lovelies, today I have a review of the Swisspers blending Mini Sponges. As a quick disclaimer, I have not tried the Beauty Blender brand mini sponges that I believe these are a knock-off of. That means this will not be a comparison, just a review.

Each pack comes with 2 mini sponges. At my local Walmart where I bought these the cost is $2.98.

The pink one on the left is the sponge dry, and the purple one on the right is after I wet the sponge with water. It almost doubled in size. These are the perfect consistency of spongy-ness in my opinion. I assume most people would use this for their concealer under their eyes or in harder to get crevices of the face.

Overall I think this is obviously worth the money. I mean you aren't really spending that much on them. I can't speak to how long they take to wear down, but I replace my beauty sponges fairly regularly. There is some dye that comes out of it when you wash them, which is to be expected from their bright colors. I used this for a cream blush the other day and I thought it worked really well for that. 

Personally I will probably use this for cream blush purposes more than under the eye concealer because I am more comfortable holding a bigger sponge. I also use concealer to highlight my face and I cover too much surface area to want to use something this small to blend it all out. If this brand decided to put out larger ones, I would definitely buy them. 

If you are interested in trying something like this, I think this is obviously more of an option if, like me, you don't want to spend the 20 or so dollars on some from Sephora. If you have tried these, let me know what you think of them.

First Day of Student Teaching

Hey everyone, sorry that today's post is coming so late in the evening, but I didn't want to just not post, so here it is. I started my first day of student teaching today! I have already worked with the teacher and students, so that was comforting for me. The students were excited for me to be there, and being accepted by the students is obviously important.

Overall it was a good day and I am excited to be a part of their classroom for the next few weeks. I will probably check back in on the subject from time to time. Hopefully I will be able to get something up a little earlier in the day the rest of the week that isn't just a little blurb of nonsense that probably doesn't make sense because I am a little tired right now.

My Last Empties of 2016

Hello lovelies, here are the things that I finished up with 2016. I don't want to keep carrying this trash around so it is about time that I got this up. Also there are a lot of products here and I have really been meaning to get to it. 

NYC City Proof 24Hr. - This is a really great eye primer. I am definitely going to repurchase once I get through some other things in my collection. Very inexpensive and actually works.

Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara - This is a bit too natural for how I like my lashes, but it was amazing for my lower lashes. I would consider repurchasing this.

Wet n Wild MegaSlicks Balm Stain in Rico Mauve - I used to really enjoy this product, however it has gone seriously bad. I have never had that happen to a lip product before. I didn't have this for that long so I wouldn't repurchase for that reason.

Avene Hydration Serum - This didn't hydrate my skin all that well and it broke me out so badly. I didn''t even finish this despite how small this is.

Ulta Makeup Sponge - Really enjoy these sponges, but this one has been around for a while so I had to replace it.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - It is kind of ridiculous how fast I actually went through this powder. I do like it though and would repurchase it again.

Macadamia Nourishing Moisture Masque - Love this stuff, but the price tag isn't really worth it to me. I wouldn't purchase a full size of this, but deluxe samples are always welcome.

Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels - I have never had an eye patch actually firm my skin. It wasn't long term by any means, but it did work when I needed it to. I would consider purchasing some of these if I needed them.

Pure Silk Shaving Cream - Not really worth it. I prefer using conditioner.

Aveeno Daily Moisturizer - I would consider purchasing a full size of this. Hydrated my skin and has SPF in it.

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream - This worked pretty well. It helped with y dehydrated skin. I would consider purchasing a full size of it.

Sephora Shea Lip Mask - This is pretty gimmicky if you ask me. I didn't see or feel a difference. I think lip balm would suffice honestly.

St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Scrub - Love St. Ives products and this was another win. It claims to help with redness (something I struggle with) and I always noticed my skin didn't have nearly as much redness after using this. I would purchase a full size once I get through some other scrubs.

Dial 7 Day Moisturizer - Nothing revolutionary. Worked well enough, but I have used better lotions.

Glam Glow Supermud Clearing Treatment - This was used as a spot treatment for me. I wouldn't purchase a full size because it is ridiculously expensive, but I would gladly take samples from sephora whenever I need it.

So, like I said, that was a lot of empties. I am glad to have gone through these before the year ended. Kind of like a mini clearing so I have less to take into the new year. 

Project Ipsy 2.0 Intro

Hello lovelies, I decided that I enjoyed doing project ipsy and that it went pretty well for me last year, so I am doing it again this year. This year however, I am going to be adding products every month regardless of if I have finished any from the previous month. This intro will start with 10 and each month I will add 5. I have already created the list so that I can help keep track of where I am going with it all each month. I am hoping to end the year having finished 50 products. There are products that I will be using that are not on this list that will count towards the goal so long as they are ipsy products. 

Sexy Hair Spray Clay - I have no idea where I am at with this product since I can't see through it. I do hope to actually get this done this year. Really great for giving y hair texture when I curl my hair.

Zoya Nail Polish in Mason - This is a purple magenta color. It has a bit of shimmer in it. I am more of a fan of neutrals for my nails, so this is going to be a bit of challenge for me. 

Bella Pierre Mineral Shimmer in Navy - as the name suggests, this is a mineral eyeshadow that is navy blue. There is a sheen to it when it is blended out, but no glitter which I appreciate. I doubt I will even make it to the half way point this year since loose pigments are so hard to use, but I am looking forward to using this and experimenting with it.

Starlooks Gem eye pencil in Amethyst - Love this eyeliner and look forward to using it some more this year. Another that I don't think will actually get done though since this has a lot of glitter in it and I can't wear it every day.

J Cat Beauty Big Lip Pencil in Caramel Mocha - Love this color and I think if I really try that I will actually get through it this year! 

Be a Bombshell the One Stick in Sunset - Gorgeous color, I just wish there was less glitter in here. Cream blushes take forever, but whatever I don't finish of this by the end of the year will be decluttered so I really want to get some more use out of it.

Mally eyeliner in Starshine - Another eye liner that I probably won't get completely through by the end of the year.

Zoya nail polish in Odette - this polish is definitely more up my ally in terms of color. It is a very toned down neutral purple. Have it on my nails now and I can see getting a lot of use out of this polish this year,

Ofra Universal Eye brow Pencil - Brow products take a bit of time to get through, but I know I can finish this by the end of the year.

NYX butter gloss in Creme Brulee - Nice lip gloss, not that into glosses, but I can get through this one. I won't be taking out the stopper. I can't see through the packaging so I don't know where I am at. I am pretty sure that this is basically full though.

Progress lines:

I look forward to another year of panning all the products I get from Ipsy every month. As of right now, I am still subscribed to their services. If you would like to sign up as well you can use the following link: https://www.ipsy.com/new?cid=ppage_ref&sid=link&refer=6iih

2017 Makeup Use Up Goals

Hello lovelies, it is a new year which means a new start on using up some more makeup! Last year I did the Makeup Use Up challenge and I had some specific products outlined that I wanted to use for each category. I have opted to not go the same route this year. I have made it more of a general outline that I will fill in as I use the products up. I used far more than was on the list last year and it was disappointing that the products that I had given myself as goals were not as successful as I would have wanted them to be. I am still going to be doing quarterly updates. I also added some more categories of things that I feel I have too many of in my collection. So, without further ado, here is the list of how many products I want to have used up by the end of 2017!

Foundations/BB Creams = 4 + 1 Stretch
Powder = 3 + 1
Blush = Pan on 1, Use up 1 cream
Bronzer = Pan on 1, Use up 1 cream, + 1 stretch
Highlighter = 2
Lipstick = 4 + 1
Chapstick = 3
Lip gloss = 3
Eye liner = 4 + 1
Cream shadow = 2 + 1
Brow products = 2 + 1
Concealer = 3
Lotions = 3 + 1
Deluxe Samples = 15 + 5

So it is a goal of 52 products and 13 stretch or extra products if I finish the initial amount. I believe that this is doable for me with where some of my products are at. I look forward to filling this in and getting a lot of good use from my products.

I would like to add that as usual, I am not putting myself on a low or no buy. Something about putting myself on restrictions like this freaks me out and makes me want to buy even more products. I have become more conscious about the products that I have and how many that I have, so I know when to hold back without having to set myself up for failure.

What are some goals that you have made for yourself this year in beauty?

16 Things from 2016

Hello lovelies, I did this last year and I thought I should do it again this year. So, I have come up with 16 things that I have happened over the last year that I want to share with you all. These are in no particular order because that would put far too much pressure on myself.

1. I took my last semester of actual classes on campus.

2. I used up a lot of my makeup.

3. I've learned to control my spending habits.

4. I passed an impossible professor or two.

5. I started my 101 in 1,001 journey and was able to cross some things off. See the list here!

6. I made some really amazing friends.

7. I have begun bullet journaling.

8. I went on a trip to Florida for the first time in 5 years. I want to live on the beach.

9. I didn't keep up with the daily posting that I wanted to do, but overall I posted more this year than I have in all of my previous blogging years combined.

10. I met my reading goal of 26 books! It had started as 16, but my sister thankfully challenged me to 26.

11. I found a love for fantasy novels. New worlds and magic are currently my obsession.

12. I did eye surgery and no longer need glasses. I have exceeded 20/20 vision in my stronger eye.

13. My beauty inventory numbers have gone really well with an actual decrease in some categories.

14. I fed a giraffe.

15. I left my job.

16. I combined my blog about life and books with my beauty blog. It was one of the better decisions that I've made this past year.

Project Ipsy Finale

Hello lovelies! It is finally time to bring this first round of Project Ipsy to a close. I will be doing this again for 2017, hopefully with a little more success and structure now that I have had a one year trial run with it. I have finished a lot of products, not necessarily my goal number, but a lot more than I would have otherwise I believe. As with the past updates, I am going to only write about the products that have progress and the ones I have finished because otherwise we will be here for a while.

I have finished 5 more products to end off the year! 

Skinn - Sugar Lips Scrub - I am decluttering this because the last time I used it, my lips were burning more than they had previously when I used this. I did get about half way through it though. I would probably stick to homemade scrubs though because I can make it in smaller batches and it won't go bad so quickly.

Not Soap Radio - Liquid Freud - I liked the smell of this lotion and the message that it sends, however there wasn't that much going for it in terms of actual moisturization.

Trestique - Mini Lip Crayon in Nantucket Nude - So happy to have moved out another lip product from my collection.

LaVanilla - Rollerball in Pure Vanilla - I really enjoyed the scent of this. 

Vasanti - Brighten Up Exfoliator - Such a great scrub. 

Absolute - Lip Balm in Green Apple - I think there is a little more progress than last month. I lost this for about 2 weeks though. 

Marc Anthony - Conditioning Treatment - I have maybe 2 uses left in this. I really enjoy the smell and I think it does a decent job moisturizing my hair.

Chella - Highlighting crayon in Ivory Lace - I am so proud of how much of this I managed to use up this year. I think it will last me about another month.

J Cat - Big Lip Pencil in Caramel Mocha - I panned a lot of lip products this year and this one definitely was on the back burner for a lot of the time, but that considered, I did use a lot of this up.

Trestique - Eye crayon in Aspen Pine - hardly used this. I think the most use cam from swatching it and trying to find what I can wear with it.

Pacifica - Lipstick in Nudie Red - Pretty everyday color.

Products also in the project but did not have any progress worth mentioning:

Sexy Hair - Spray Clay

Starlooks - eyeliner in Amethyst

Pixi - Flawless Beauty Primer 

It Cosmetics - Brow Pencil 

NYX - eyeliner in silver

Mary Kay - eye crayon in turquoise 

Be a Bombshell - lipbalm (I have no idea where this is)

Mitchel and Peach - Face Oil

Marc Anthony - Argon Oil

So by the end of the year I was able to finish 46 products from my list. Not just through this project by the way. My goal was 91 initially, so I made it to the half way point. Considering I have been panning products outside of these, I think I did pretty darn good! Really proud of myself and how this project went, but like I said there will be some changes. I am excited for another year of this! 

Makeup Use Up 2016 Finale

Hello Lovelies, here is the final update on my Makeup Use Up for 2016. You can see where I started here! It has been a long year of working on these items and I am proud of how much I have been able to use up, not just what is on this list, but other products as well. Anyway, I'll get right into it. Like the previous updates, I will only update briefly on the products that I have actually gotten use out of.

Powders - 3 Goal Met!

NYC Smooth Skin Loose Powder 

Wet n Wild Coverall

Rimmel Stay Matte 

Wet n Wild Reserve your Cabana - stretch - Since the beginning of the year I have made a lot of progress on this product. There is some pan in it, however, I forgot to include it in the pictures.

Blushes - 2

Hit pan on 1 powder blush - I can't stick to one blush. 

Use up 1 cream blush - Evelyn Iona in Ash - I was so close to finishing this. I have about a week or two's worth of product left with this blush.

Eye Liner - 4

Rimmel Nude - steady progress

Rimmel Black 

Revlon Charcoal - tiniest bit of progress.

Pacifica Fringe -So close to finishing this. Maybe one or two more sharpens left.

Rimmel Turquoise - stretch

Sephora Chloraphyll - stretch

Eyelid Primers/Bases - 3

Be a Bombshell Submissive 

Maybelline Barely Branded - I have used so much of this since the beginning of the year.

NYC City Proof 24 hr. 

Trestique Aspen Pine - stretch

Brow Products - 4

Loreal Brow Stylist Plumper

It Cosmetics Brow Power - some progress. 

CVS Sample Brown 

CVS Sample Taupe

Lip Liners - 3

Rimmel East End Snob

Jordana Rock n Rose

Essence In the Nude - another that I am so close to finishing

Lipsticks - 4

Bare Minerals Get Ready

Kat Von D Love Craft

Covergirl Rush 

Covergirl Sultry

Wet n Wild 902C - stretch

Lip Gloss - 3

Artistry Champagne 

Mary Kay au Naturel

BBW Watermelon Sorbet

NYX Creme Brulee - sretch

Lip Balms - 3

Maybelline Babylips Yummy Plummy 

Maybelline Babylips Peach Kiss

Maybelline Babylips Strike a Rose - I finished half of this, which is better than nothing I guess!

NYC Apple Plum Pie - stretch

Foundation/BB Cream - 4 - Even Met my stretch goal!

Rimmel Stay Matte

Urban Decay Naked Skin BB Cream 

Garnier BB Cream

Revlon Nearly Naked

Loreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder - stretch 

Bronzer - 2

NYC Smooth Skin Sunny  

ELF Blushed/Bronzed duo

Concealers - 3

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind 

It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye

Mac Studio Finish - So close to finishing this as well. 

Maybelline Fit Me - stretch  

Highlighters - 2

Benefit Watts

Temptu Pink Pearl

ELF Pink Tastic - stretch

Face Primers - 3

Smashbox Photo Finish 

Pixi Flawless Beauty - made some progress.

dr. brandt Pores No More 

Benefit Porefessional - stretch

Total: 43

Stretch: 11

All Together: 54

Used Q1 : 6

Used Q2: 9

Used Q3: 6

Used Q4: 9

Used to Date : 30

Highlighted in pink indicates I have met my goal for this category.

It was quite the year for this project. 30 out of the 43 goal is more than I had expected. I would have loved to have actually finished everything, but more than half is amazing for me. There is also the fact that I have met the goals for some of these categories just with products not listed. That is the reason that I am not going to list the specific products for my 2017 makeup use up. I will just do a master list with nothing specific listed. I look forward to another year of using up makeup with you all! 

Sweet on Project Panning Intro

Hello lovelies. The first project pan of the new year is here! This new project has been spreading over youtube and I thought I would join right on in. The only rule is to choose 5 products that are candy related. This could be in smell, flavor, or name. The project will run from January 1st to February 28th. Here are the 5 products that I have chosen.

Bite Beauty lipstick in Date - Dates are really sweet and bite lipsticks have a bit of a sweet smell so this was a no brainer to choose.

Rimmel Exaggerate eyeliner in Sable - This eyeliner color is the definition of chocolate. It is such a rich brown. I don't think I will finish this in 2 months, but it will be nice to work on it.

Maybelline Color Whisper in Pin Up Peach - Peaches are sweet right. Plus the color of this reminds me of a candy that I can't for the life of me remember the name of.

Tarte cheek stain in Dazed - this has a really tart smell to it so it makes me think of tart candies. This is basically brand new, so I hope it works out for me. It is always semi-dangerous territory to add something that you haven't tried out into a project pan.

Nyx Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee - I wanted to work on this last year but it never happened. It is basically brand new. I don't know exactly where I am because I can't see through the packaging.

So there are my 5 sweets related choices for this project pan. I will do my first update whenever I start to see them floating around youtube. 2 months is a pretty short time, but I am hoping that I won't do too bad. 

9 by New Years Finale

Hello lovelies and Happy New Year! I have a pretty sad finale for my Finish 9 by New Years project. There were some products that I thought I would have finished, but alas, getting sick and not leaving the house much made me take a hit on progress. Regardless I am happy to have gotten some larger items out of my collection. 

Previously finished:

Update 1: Hit pan on Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette shadow in Faint

Update 2: Hit pan on Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette shadow in WOS

Final Update: I managed  to finish 2 more products

Revlon Nearly Naked foundation - I knew that I would be able to get through this one. I was really happy that I was able to get another foundation scratched off my inventory list before the end of the year.

Covergirl lipstick in Rush - It got to the point where I was wearing this and nothing else while I was at home because I was so determined to get rid of it. I needed to get rid of one more off my inventory list because I acquired a little more lip products than I should have in the last 2 months.

As for the rest of the products...

Essence Lip Liner in In the Nude - So close to finishing this. Pretty mad at myself because it was a matter of the fact that I was skipping this step most days when I was wearing the lipstick because I was lazy. 

Maybelline Babylips in Strike a Rose - I worked really hard on this and then realized that there is no way that I was going to be able to finish this by the end of the year so I stopped wearing it and focused mainly on the covergirl lipstick instead.

Bite Beauty lipstick in Pepper - I didn't even touch this because I wanted to finish the covergirl one more.

Revlon eyeliner in Charcoal - I didn't use this because there was an eyeliner that I was working on for my makeup use up challenge and I was much closer to finishing it that this one.

Evelyn Iona Cream blush in Ash - This was another thing that if I put my mind more to it I probably could have finished it. There is probably another weeks worth of product in there left. 

I'm dissapointed that there were items like the lip liner and cream blush that I thought I would actually finish, but a total of 4 out of 9 isn't too bad. I hope this year of panning is even better though! Here's to another year of panning and using up makeup!