Does nail polish go bad? (from Pretty Girl Science)

No.

Big Too Faced Sale

Up to 70% off. For example, a set of 5 travel size products ("Beauty Editor Darlings") for $9 or the "Bonjour Beautiful" set with matte eyeshadow palette, lip palette, and eyeliner for $18. You can also get free shipping over $25 with code PRETTYPACKAGE (I think? worth a shot at least) and an extra 4% off from Ebates (invite link).

The only thing I've ever used from Two Faced is the lip primer, which I love. Anything else look good?

Birchbox vs. Ipsy

Disclosure: Affiliate/referral links.
I recently decided to cancel my Ipsy subscription, which I've had since 2012, when it was still called My Glam. Instead, I've decided to start getting Birchbox again. Because I am sure that this is as exciting a development for everyone else as it is for me (ha), I thought I'd write up a little post about why.

I really preferred Ipsy for a long time. When I quit Birchbox in January 2013, it was because I was getting fed up with getting tons of little foil packets of things and perfume vials all the time. It looks like the samples they are sending now are more interesting, and they also have an option to only get a maximum of 6 perfume samples a year. Nice! Another reason I quit Birchbox in favor of Ipsy at the time that I did was that I was really into makeup and not particularly interested in other things like skin or hair care products. Ipsy seemed to be much heavier on the makeup/nail polish, while I kept getting moisturizers I didn't want from BB ("I'm plenty moist already!"). These days, though, Ipsy has been including more non-makeup items, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm finding myself more interested in skin care than I used to be, and my skin has been getting drier, so I am even fine with moisturizer samples.

Ipsy was also great for me when I had a smaller makeup hoard, because it sort of forced me to try out products I might not have considered. Like I probably wouldn't have picked out a bright red lip gloss for myself at that point, but it turned out to work really well (and got me hooked). Plenty of those products were full sized, and so they really made up a useful part of my collection. I think it this point part of the problem is that I own so much shit that most of the makeup they send me is either going to be a duplicate of something I already have or something I am really, really not interested in. I am rarely getting unusual and unique products from Ipsy anymore - or at least that's how it feels. Instead, I'm getting more black eyeliner and mascara or neutral lip glosses from brands I am already familiar with, etc. This month's bag was kind of the last straw for me, because there was absolutely nothing of particular interest to me. The only full size product included was a cheap green apple scented lip balm that I probably would have turned my nose up at in middle school. I think it might have glitter in it. Fuck no. (Snob.)

Here are the other things I got this month in my Ipsy bag:

(GlamGlow YouthMud TingleExfoliate Treatment, Absolute You're the Balm, Urban Decay Pervesion mascara (you can buy this sample for $10 from Sephora), Lord & Berry eyeliner, Manna Kadar Sheer Glo highlighter)

Benefit sale + free shipping on all orders

Benefit has a bunch of stuff on sale. If you use the code SALEMEAWAY you'll also get free US shipping, no minimum purchase required. Sale ends Aug. 19. Anything look good?

CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara: My Thoughts

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
By now you've probably read a bunch of reviews of CoverGirl Clump Crusher, because it's not exactly new any more. But there are a few things about it that I've found interesting, and that I didn't see mentioned anywhere before I bought my own, so I thought I'd share them here.

I was interested in trying out this particular mascara since I am a huge fan of CoverGirl LastBlast mascaras. I've probably tried out more than a dozen other mascaras in the last year or two, but LashBlast is still my favorite, and I was using it before I ever started makeup hoarding blogging. I find the LashBlast brush really user friendly - easy to get down to the roots of my stubby lashes - and the formula lengthens and volumizes without getting all spidery. It's not overly dramatic, but it looks great. It also never splatters or smears or flakes, which I think is at least partly because it has a drier formula (and I actually prefer it after it's been open for a couple of weeks and dried out even more).

Most of the information I read about Clump Crusher suggested to me that it would be similar to LashBlast but even less clumpy. I mean, there are a bunch of tests people have done in which they apply 48 layers of mascara or whatever and it never clumps. That's not particularly useful, but good to know, I guess.

I don't have a tube of LashBlast available right now to compare directly, since I am still using up the handfuls of other mascaras I decided somewhere along the way I needed to try. But here are my thoughts about Clump Crusher. I got it in brown, because all my other mascaras were black, and I like to have a brown option on hand. Since my coloring is so light, it's nice for creating a more natural look.

It definitely does not clump. Surprise, surprise. It also has a fairly dry formula, comparable to LashBlast. One thing that I love about the non-clumpiness is that it means that this stuff works better on my lower lashes than any other mascara I've tried, because non-clumpy also means non-globby. I basically have seven short eyelashes below each eye, and trying to apply mascara to them is usually a semi-disaster. I tend to end up with a blob on each lash, and then I have to wipe the blobs away and sometimes the blobs transfer to my lower lid. It's annoying and doesn't look too pretty, so half the time I skip my bottom lashes completely. But this stuff just coats each individual last evenly, and that's it! It's a fucking miracle. I'm going to keep one of these on hand just for doing bottom lashes even when I'm using something else on the top. Here are some photos of what it looks like on my eyelashes:

Invisible eyelashes with no mascara.

Three coats of Clump Crusher on upper lashes; one coat on lower lashes.

Three coats of Clump Crusher.

Four coats of Clump Crusher on upper lashes.

I am not a TV star (Review of e.l.f. Essential Lip Stain in Crimson Crush + sassy GIFs)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Every time I've watched New Girl or Don't Trust the B (RIP), I end up trying to figure out how to get my lips to look like Zooey Deschanel's or Krysten Ritter's. What is particularly appealing are the scenes when these women are just sort of hanging around the house casually, probably when we are supposed to assume that they are not wearing makeup (ha!) - yet they still have crimson lips. They don't really look like they have lipstick on; it's as if their lips are just naturally cherry red. Here are a couple of examples of what I mean:

These are perhaps not the best illustrations, because they look pretty lipsticky, but apparently people aren't screencapping or GIFing these ladies bumming around in their PJs.

I got it in my head that I needed a lip stain to replicate this look. I am fully aware that the product used on the actual TV shows was probably not a stain. More likely it's just blotted matte lipstick or something. If it wears off or gets messed up, they have a makeup artist standing by. Nevertheless, I wanted a stain! I am stubborn.

Stila on HauteLook + Blog Sale update

I figured that I would combine these two topics, in case anyone is sick of hearing about the blog sale (skip to the next paragraph in that case). Rest assured, this will be my last post about it. I'm moving in a week, so anything not sold by then will be packed up and dealt with some time in the distant(ish) future. I'll take the blog sale down at that point. But I just wanted to mention that I reduced the prices of a lot of stuff today, and I also added a few new things (check at the end of the makeup section under "Not Pictured"). As usual, no bargaining please, but do feel free to stock up on the free stuff.

I also thought I'd point out that Stila is on HauteLook again (invite link). It pops up fairly regularly but not always with the same items. This time there are some nice looking lip and cheek palettes for $8, and a 4-piece Kitten collection for $12. Not bad! The Laura Geller sale (invite link) is still there too, in case you want to maximize your ~$6 shipping charge.

I'm going to write up a quick e.l.f. lip stain review later this afternoon, so stay tuned.

Programming Notice (no more affiliate links)

I'm trying to streamline things around here, because I have many very hectic months ahead of me, and I'd like to be able to continue posting 2-3 times a week. I quit the Amazon affiliate program today, so that means no more affiliate links of any kind on this blog. I have nothing against affiliate links - I just don't want to bother with them anymore. I believe that the links I have added to previous posts will still be functional (i.e. you can still click on them and get to a product page), but I will no longer get any revenue if you buy anything through them. I'm not going to go through all my old posts and remove all the disclosure notices, because that would take forever, so consider this a mega disclosure that there is nothing to disclose. I.e. there are now no affiliate links in any old or new posts.

I still might include the occasional invite/referral link from time to time, but those will be clearly labeled.

I'm also going to try to move to a MWF posting schedule. Some weeks it might only be MW or WF or MF. I want to be able to keep doing this, because I enjoy it, but I have to prioritize other things.

Anyway, I just like to try to be transparent about how things work on my blog, so I thought I would update. Let me know if there are any questions.

What I Packed (and what I tried to empty)

No, I'm not dead. I just went on vacation for a few days. Yes, vacation from the part time job I just got. Vacation where I barely had to spend any money and other people cooked for me. (Checking my vacation privilege here.) I went with my boyfriend to his family's cabin on Lake Michigan. The weather was lovely, though not quite warm enough to do much swimming. The greatest miracle of all was that I managed to avoid a sunburn, despite being in the sun for hours on end, several days in a row. That's almost unheard of for me. Actually, I did burn my scalp a little the first day, but then I bought an awesome linen hat (surely designed for elderly gardeners) and wore it constantly. I even wore the hat swimming. That, and diligent sunscreen application, protected me very well.

Sometimes it's fun to see what kind of things people pack when they travel, so I thought I'd post my version here. This was in no way a fancy trip, so I brought very minimal supplies. The bulk of what I brought was sun protection and skin care shit. I didn't even bring concealer. I just walked around with ghoulish dark circles under my eyes. Gasp.

My general guidelines when deciding what to bring were: (1) small things that didn't take up much space; and (2) products that I wanted to use up and throw away, either because they would expire soon or because they were almost finished already. I only succeeding in finishing a couple of products, unfortunately. I was hoping to come home with several more empties! (I've linked to any reviews I've written for products listed below.)

Bath/Hair/Cleansers

Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo
ULTA Ultimate Clean Foaming Face Wash
Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturizing Shampoo
Aveda Dry Remedy Daily Moisturizing Oil
Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

Everything here, with the exception of the pack of face wipes, is a mini/travel size. I gambled and decided not to take conditioner, for some reason. The Aveda oil, which is amazing stuff, made my hair soft enough and easy to comb through without conditioning in the shower. You only need to use a few drops (3-5), so this teeny sample has lasted me ages. I can't bring myself to spend $27 on 1 ounce of it, though, when there are so many other hair oils out there that might (?) work just as well. I do like this stuff much better than any of the argan oil and its ilk I've tried out in the past, so maybe I should just do it. By the last day for the trip, my hair was getting a little dry, but I found a bottle of Pantene conditioner in the cabin's other shower (the one I hadn't been using). That made my hair a little happier. There was also body wash already at the cabin, so I didn't bring any along with me.

The only thing I managed to use up here were the two cloths left in the Simple pack. The dry shampoo probably has one use left in it.