Things I Haven't Changed My Mind About

I started this blog on Tumblr in late May 2012, so I guess I am coming up on a three-year anniversary. Seems longer! My original idea for this post was to go back through opinions I've shared here and see what I've changed my mind about. I mean, when I started, I had a handful of mostly drugstore products, and I had no idea I was supposed to be excited to get GOOD BRANDS like a Tarte lip crayon or a Benefit primer in my Birchbox. (I gave them away and now and then I think back and kick myself for some reason, maybe because I don't get cool stuff like that from Birchbox these days.) Surely now that I am a sophisticated and discerning makeup and skincare hoarder, my tastes have become refined and I can see the value in products that baffled me years ago?

Not so much, apparently, because when I revisited my old posts, it turns out that the main thing Old Me and New Me differ on is the amount of crap New Me owns, and the waning desire that New Me has to ever buy another bottle of nail polish (it's not gone, but it's slowly dissipating).

For instance:

• I still think Monistat Anti-chafing gel works about as well as any siliconey makeup primer I've tried.
• I still use Cetaphil lotion as eye makeup remover.
• I still love Wet N Wild Comfort Zone as much as any of my fancier eyeshadows (though now that I'm gone from grad student to whatever the hell I am now, it's a bit shimmery for daily use).

  

  SHIMMER

• I still think those knotted hair elastics are stupid.
• The red Sally Hansen topcoat is still my favorite (but I am trying to use up some bottle of inferior products before I buy any more).
• I still think e.l.f. is worth it if you approach it the right way.
• I still rely on tea tree oil for treating acne.
• I still use my Avon eyebrow pencil almost every day because it's my favorite, and it's down to a stub now, but I still haven't used up the first one. I bought 2 backups 2 years ago. That was not necessary.
• This Freeman Avocado clay mask is still the shit. Also those tubes last forfuckingever.
• I still have never got a setting spray to work, though I got some mini Bare Minerals foundations to play with, so maybe it will work with those?
• I still can't wear eyeshadow without primer, and I've have the best luck with the cheaper options. I just threw out half a tube of LORAC primer because I hated it. What a waste. Right now I'm using e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, which doesn't seem to exist anymore, but it's working pretty well.
• SCIENCE.
• My posts are still full of typos. Sorry, I try, but there's probably at least one mistake in this post. (This isn't my job, so I usually have to put posts together in brief periods of free time.)

Things that are slightly more complicated now:

• I still don't think that expensive finishing powders are going to change your life. In my post on them, however, I did sort of conflate finishing and setting powders, which is obviously makeup blasphemy. I'm slowly working my way through this Nars powder (below), which I use almost every day mostly out of habit. I honestly don't see much difference on my skin. Maybe for photos? I do still prefer the Maybelline powder I mentioned in that post linked above to all the more expensive loose powders I've tried.

Nars powder: a little grimy, but PAN!

• I do have some NYX products that I like now, but I guess I'm still not super excited about any of them.
• I guess if I were to write my highlighting and contouring on the cheap post again, I might include more options for contouring/shading. Like if you have really cool coloring, maybe you don't want to use bronzer, because it could look too orange. I own NYX blush in Taupe, and I would likely mention that - though I almost never use it myself, because I still use highlighter much more than shading contouring products (if I'm going to do anything at all). These days there are way more products out there specifically designed for contouring, and I would still say fuck those, because you can just use crap you already own, like eyeshadow or concealer.

Things that have changed:

• I guess I got back together with lipstick, but I'm still not very good at wearing it, especially if it's very dark/bright and opaque. Maybe for an hour at home, but not if I am out somewhere where I have to talk or eat.
• A lot of the newer stuff I've acquired has been "higher end," but it's not because I necessarily think it's better. It's mainly because I'm trying to save money, which sounds like nonsense, but hear me out. I've bought very little makeup in the last 9 months or so, and what I have bought I've mainly picked up using my Birchbox points. So that means that even though I would really prefer a L'Oreal Lineur Intense liquid liner, I got the Stila liquid liner, because it was $0 with a few months worth of points instead of $9 at CVS. Other things I've picked up have been with gift cards I got for participating in consumer trials, etc. (I'm going to write a post about how to do that some time in the next couple of months). So the more expensive things have oddly enough been more affordable for me due to circumstances.
• All of the blue glass mugs that I had for many year broke. Fuck.
• I tend to include more of my own photos when I review something now, even though my camera is still shit. I just like reading posts on other blogs that include some photos, so I figure I ought to do it myself too.
• I'm not using any affiliate links anymore, even though some of my old posts still say they have them. They don't - I just don't have time to edit every single one. I'm not ruling out using them again in the near future, though.
• My hair isn't this pretty anymore. I should probably do something about it.
• Instagram.

So that was admittedly pretty self indulgent, but then so is this whole blogging thing, isn't it? It's nice to know that New Me is still Old Me, for the most part. I still haven't sold out to The Man or whatever (though if The Man has a job to offer me, he should definitely get in touch).