Well, I haven’t been subscribing to beauty boxes. I’m still trying to use up all of my samples. So that’s part of why I haven’t been beauty blogging.
The other part is that I’ve been painting dogs.
Lots and lots of dogs.
Just, all dogs all the time.
With the occasional cat.
Catch me over at andpaints.art or on instagram as andpaints if you would also like to make the pivot from me putting things on my face to me painting pets. Hope you’re all doing well!
As part of my commitment to the planet (both the ecosystem and ethics), I’ve decided to start thrifting for all of my thrift-able clothing needs. There has been a lot of talk recently about how fast fashion is bad. The clothes are largely polyester (though, so are expensive brands these days). Those plastic fibers wash off of our clothes and into the ocean. They use a lot of water for production. And then there’s the bit where we have children working in the factories.
Thrifting doesn’t solve all of these problems. The clothes are still polyester a lot of the time. I’ve bought a Cora Ball to try to help mitigate that. And while I’m not personally doing a lot of damage to sweatshops by not buying their clothes directly, it does make me feel better.
And then there’s the bit where thrifting can be a lot cheaper. That certainly helps.
I visit a lot of thrift stores in person, but used a friend’s referral code for $10 off to try thredUP. Then I went down the thredUP rabbit hole for a bit. I’ve got a code that you can use here. I get $10 and you get $10 when you make your first order.
Pros:
– Huge selection of items. You can sort by brand, size, color, and price, which is a nice advantage over in person thrifting.
– Nearly always have an additional percent off deal, and you can start with $10 off from a referral.
– Discounts are good. They aren’t what you’d get from my local thrift stores, but this will depend on your area and how good your thrift stores are. Shoe prices have been the same as eBay for me.
Cons:
– Listings are often inaccurate. I sold items that all fit me correctly but were listed with bust sizes that I can’t fit into.
– Returns aren’t worth it. Most items are subject to a $0.99 restocking fee, and then return shipping is inexplicably $8.99. Shipping TO you is like $5.
Here’s my favorite find so far: a pair of pointy, dark burgundy work shoes. New with tags and packaging intact.
Guys, I was warned. I saw a lot of people talking about how low their payouts were. I thought that they must not be sending in the appropriate brands or were being picky. Of course the payout isn’t going to be the same as personally selling your items on eBay or Poshmark. I steeled myself. I was prepared.
I was not quite prepared.
I was in the midst of a hardcore spring clean while we were working on getting our house. I wasn’t about to move a bunch of clothes that I wasn’t going to wear. That’s a waste of my time. So I purged.
Then I waited a week, because that was exhausting. Then I spent another hour of my life sorting through these clothes and pulling out the thredUP approved brands.
I had twenty items that all fit their guidelines. I figured that the lowest I would hope for is $20. A dollar an item is super low, but they were all in good condition. I had a $200 pair of jeans in there that I was hoping would go for something decent. Don’t worry, I got the jeans for $6 at Goodwill and they were just a little bit too stretchy for me. This was a pretty safe experiment for me. The second bag went off to Savers. I got zero dollars for my Savers donation, for context. Anything above that was a gain.
They accepted four items. The jeans weren’t one of them. I was given a flat $5.51 total for three of the items. The fourth item was sold as consignment. I got an additional $2.47 for that one.
$7.98 for the whole bag. So, that’s the con there.
In the future, I think that I would add an additional step if I were trying to get any sort of return in value on my clothes. I’d try eBay or Poshmark before I sent to thredUP. And in the future, I might not take the time to separate my clothes out based on their brands. The payout is so low that it wasn’t worth the effort that I put in.
The difficulty & charge on returns means that thredUP isn’t going to be my default thrift option. I’ll continue relying primarily on in person stores. I do think thredUP is good for buying items that I already know will fit me well at a discount.
I also don’t recommend trying to make any sort of money by selling your clothes through them. If you have the time to make your own listings, that’s the way to go. If you don’t, maybe you’ll get $5.
OF COURSE I got in on the weird peeling foot trend. My friend in South Korea maybe got drunk and picked me up some more presents.
Look at that little foot sparkle. We’re going to be SO SHINY. And yes, I took gnarly flaky feet pictures for you guys. I’m delivering the content the people crave. And probably opening myself up to a really strange subset of foot fetishists. Oh well. Stick a dollar in my ko-fi if this is your kink. Thanks.
I had been wanting to try these, but will admit that I never looked too far into them. I heard about people doing foot peels without knowing the delivery mechanism. Opening all of the layers of packaging was an experience. I thought maybe it was just a lotion, but no. That’s too easy. They put it in little foot baggies that you tape around your ankles to keep from making a mess.
This is a time that I’d really like to be able to read Korean. The English instructions don’t have a real ingredients list, but they do mention that it’s using AHAs and BHAs. These are types of acids that are used as chemical exfoliants. They aren’t the specific acids. Are we using glycolic? Lactic? What concentrations? Who knows? If this were a face thing I would be uncomfortable using it. Luckily for all of us here, I don’t really care about the aesthetics of the bottoms of my feet.
You see those bags? They aren’t perforated. You have to cut them. I left some of the ankle closed to get a tighter seal. I’m small and wasn’t about to wrestle with weird acid percentages.
Application went surprisingly smooth. I brought out a towel for application, but didn’t end up needing it. The only problem is that I realized that I needed to let these sit for half an hour. I didn’t want to chill for half an hour on my bathroom floor. Luckily, this was when we were still in the apartment. I only needed to stumble about six feet into our living room and to my computer.
I almost died. It is very difficult to walk around with your feet encased in bags of liquid. I do not recommend trying it. Put these on where you plan on staying. Do it in front of the tv. Do not travel.
The instructions say that after 4-6 days, the skin starts to peel off. You’re supposed to leave it alone and let it peel off. I tried very hard to let it do its thing so I would have nice pictures for you. I’m a peeler. It was hard.
This was day three:
I’m a little flaky around the edges of my heels and in the lines of the balls of my feet. My heels in particular have been pretty rough because of my work shoes. I was hoping this would help soften them up. That and my pinky toe calluses were my target areas.
Day four got DISGUSTING, right on schedule. Look at what I documented for you:
Unfortunately, the peeling never really reached my heel edges. It was pretty localized to the bottom of my foot. I thought that was interesting. I guess there’s just more dead skin there and that the acids work better on dead skin. My pinky toes never peeled.
I don’t have more pictures because day four was when I caved and started peeling it off. The heel didn’t come off in one piece, which I was pretty bummed about.
We’re here for the honesty, right?
On day 5 I gave my feet a good once over with a pumice stone. They seemed to be in the exact state that they were before I used the peel. So it was a fun, disgusting thing to do, but ultimately had no effect.
It’s not something I would buy. I am curious if using glycolic acid or something similar on my feet a few times a week will help keep them soft.
Tell me the weirdest thing you’ve done to your feet in the comments. Mine is making them flake really badly and then uploading the photos online.
This one isn’t so late because I’ve been busy! This one is late because Birchbox is maybe the most boring subscription I’ve ever had. Actually, I’ve had two because I’m a reasonable person. Birchbox is definitely the most boring. Proof: I haven’t even opened my October box yet. It’s here. I have it. I just don’t care enough to open it.
I didn’t select anything special for this month. I think I looked. For October I didn’t even look at the email. November is my last box. I’m really glad that I’m not locked into a full year. I’ll probably take two or three months off from subscriptions to use up some products, then try Sephora play. I might be a masochist.
This month I took my pictures on my art table under my nice drawing lamp. I didn’t need to white balance anything. I think they came out better, considering I’m still using my cell phone for them. Unfortunately, Baker can’t get up on this table. I’ll find a way to sneak you guys some more pictures of him in another post.
Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish™ Hot Cloth Cleanser
Guys, we’re fancy. This came with it’s own cloth! Your washrags at home are too impure for your face, okay? You need this special 100% pure cotton cloth.
Oh, and the “Hot Cloth” part? It’s not a warming face wash. You use hot water to remove it. I’m glad it’s not warming, because that sounds awful for your face. I think some people were surprised about that, though.
The border matches the bottle! It was more crisp when I first got it, but it bunched up after I washed it. You’re getting the reality pictures here.
I actually really like the product. It’s moisturizing and doesn’t feel like it strips my skin. I like the eucalyptus smell. It doesn’t irritate my eyes and removes my scary waterproof mascara very well. And it makes my skin feel so soft!
I don’t like how many times Birchbox used the word “pure” for them. That kind of skeeves me out. Usually excessive claims of purity have a tinge of “chemicals are scary!” or racism. I’m not here for either of those things. And they recommend throwing away each rag I mean, cloth after each bottle of cleanser. That’s wasteful. It’s a cloth. If you wash it, it’s fine.
Purchase or pass: I have to use up my current cleanser stash. Then I think I’ll try Pond’s cold cream. This is a fancy 5x the price version of that. If Pond’s isn’t as good, I would consider buying this.
Chella Eyebrow Pencil in Tantalizing Taupe
TANTALIZING TAUPE. Taupe is never tantalizing, but okay. I’ve been using this pencil every day. I think at the beginning it was giving me more crisp lines, but I’ve worn the edge down. It’s hard to get it back because it’s such a small area. Oh well. My usual problem with brow pencils is that black is too dark for my hair, but the browns are orange. This one isn’t! I swatched for you, but don’t have a picture of it it in my brows. I need to shape them. Apparently that’s where my line for dignity is right now.
Purchase or pass: It has microplastics in it. That’s a pass.
Number 4™ Jour d’automne Smoothing Balm
Birchbox sent me a leave in conditioner type thing from Number 4 last month. This is technically a different product and works a little better for my hair. I’m still mad. I didn’t have my husband buy me a subscription (lol) to get repeats.
Purchase or pass: It’s so boring. I use it once a week and can only say that it doesn’t do anything detrimental. Pass.
M·A·C Cosmetics In Extreme Dimension 3D Black Lash Mascara
This is my first MAC product! I was so excited! It’s another mascara that barely shows up on my lashes. Oh well. Here’s a brush picture because I know some of you are Very Into that.
I’m assuming it’s the same as the real product even though the sample packaging is that terrible pouch form that I hate.
Purchase or pass: Nah.
[ comfort zone ] Hydramemory Cream Gel
![[ comfort zone ] Hydramemory cream gel. Yes, they insist on those awful brackets. This tube boasts 24 hr "double hydration", whatever that is. The color of the tube is great, though. A light purple that isn't lavender. I've been really into the millennial pastels trending lately.](https://aprilspeaks.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/20181021_181618-01.jpeg?w=863)
I’ve kept this empty tube around for three weeks so that I could take faux unboxing pictures for you. Please compliment my blogging dedication.
The moisturizer was fine. I needed to use it twice a day, so the 24 hour claim on the bottle is a lie. My favorite part of it was the smell. It’s HEAVILY scented, but I was into it. It reminded me of a lot of k-beauty things I’ve tried.
Purchase or pass: I was fine with this as a mediocre entry level moisturizer, but this is $64. That’s hilarious. I am absolutely never buying it.
I mean..at least Birchbox isn’t making me angry, right? It’s a little weird to have mediocre products sent to your door every month, though. Is anyone else having this experience with Birchbox?
I noticed when writing my year of ipsy post that I hadn’t reviewed these eye mask from February. I found the pictures that I took for that review! I’m not sure why I didn’t write it up until now. February/March was the peak of finishing my class and looking for a new job, so maybe that’s why it fell through the cracks.
My photo editing app refused to open or save these guys, so read this review knowing that both past me AND my current phone do not want this review to see the light of day. The universe must think this is particularly controversial.
It’s not, really. Eye masks barely work. We’ve established this fact, right? If they do anything its plumping up the area around the edge of your eye bag so there’s a less prominent crease. This is also how current plastic surgery (fillers) options go. They don’t suck things out, they plump the rest up.
Anyway. The product:
I picked it as a points sample because I like masks and The BioRepublic ones I previously got from ipsy didn’t feel like rubbing battery acid on my face.
I looked up Syn-Tacks(TM) because I genuinely love figuring out what these weird proprietary things are. I love that it has the word “tack” in it. Doesn’t the word “tack” just make you want to put this on the delicate area under your eye? Please hire a naming consultant.
The official science word on Syn-Tacks is that after two months of use, skin is 23% more compact. There’s a cool electron microscope image from a study on my link in the above paragraph.
I didn’t wear these eye masks for two months, so they didn’t do anything.
Weird* that the packaging doesn’t tell you that their star ingredient only works after two months.
*Not weird at all.
Here’s my before face. Note that I’ve clearly slept more since the last time I tried eye masks for the blog.
And wearing the BioRepublic masks:
I’m pulling a face because they’re very slippery. I had to move them back up for this photo.
Or is the face because I’ve just noticed this?
Each mask is actually a little stack of individual sheets. Maybe this keeps them so moist? If I had known that before I was using them, I would have tried to pull them apart and get more uses out of them. Unfortunately, the thinner eye didn’t do a much better job of staying up.
I took them off and gave up after this. They wouldn’t stay put for much longer than 30 seconds.
I would only recommend masks like this for the relaxation factor, and these don’t even manage that.
This is only a week late! I’d apologize for neglecting my blog, but traffic was actually up in September for the first time since I’ve started my new job.
I guess I’m doing fine blogging, then. I’ve got a September Birchbox post in the works, as well. I’ve used up some of the samples but am keeping the empty bottles around so that I can take pictures of them in a faux unboxing photo set. Now you know the secret.
We’re moved in, unpacked, and I’ve started to hang up some art. I bought and assembled an office chair. Things haven’t quite calmed down, though. We’re working on getting our heat set up for the winter. The house currently has a decrepit oil system in the basement. It’s converted from COAL. It has little door to shovel the coal into and everything. There’s no way that it’s going to last for as long as we want to live here.
I’ve done a wee bit of painting. You guys like the watercolors, right?
I’m still working on how to digitize them. I think that photographs (below) look better than scans (above).
I need to play with my scanner settings some more, but I think that I’ll end up pulling out my good camera going forward. Anyone have any tips?
Stuff I liked July 2018/August 2018
Funkless Deodorant Tangerine & Lime Review My holy grail, eco-friendlier deodorant. I’d post this in the summer if I was more savvy about my clicks. What’s up Southern Hemisphere?
Birchbox August 2018
Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator Review
Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush in Give Me a Cuddle Review
Tomoson Review
Valjean Labs Facial Serum in Hydrate
Grumpy Skin has a facebook page! I’m not being irritating with it, WordPress just wont push to private pages anymore. Give it a like, if that’s your thing.
Heathen by Natasha Alterici and Rachel Deering
I am HERE for some modernized Norse mythology. I’m also very deceived by the library categorizing this as teen. There are a ton of boobs. I tried to read it on my break at work.
I did not get fired, so we’re good.
Ms Marvel Volume 7 by G. Willow Wilson and Takeshi Miyazawa
I’m still SUPER INTO Ms. Marvel. It’s all ages, but somehow more political and current than a lot of the “adult” comics I read.
Fruits Basket Volume 4 by Natsuki Takaya
Getting this from the library has been an ordeal. Someone entered the original volumes and the collected volumes as the same book into the catalog. I’ve been having to request three or four books before I get the right one. Worth it. Furuba is holding up.
I’ve been desperately trying to play through my Steam sale haul before Fallout 76 comes out. I haven’t decided if I want to play it or not, but I want to be ready if I do. I’ve opened the pre-order page a few times and keep deciding that I don’t want to spend $60 on maybe liking a multiplayer game yet. We’ll see.
Fallout 4 Another great game with a subpar ending from Bethesda. And bugged, oh man. I’m so glad the internet exists to tell me how to get around game breaking bugs. It was fun, though. I’ll probably do what I did with Skyrim and spend a year replaying it while mostly ignoring the plot.
Final Fantasy 7 I desperately wanted this game in high school. I couldn’t find a copy of it to save my life. I’m glad I’m finally getting the chance to play through it. Though it has aged HORRIBLY. There’s a particularly bad part of the story where you crossdress to save one of your party members from potential sex work. Man. I’m really curious how faithful the remake will be. It needs some updates.
How was your October? More importantly, do you also stan Captain Marvel?
I’m reviewing another part of my TJ Maxx impulse buy. The (fake) frosted glass of the Valjean Labs bottles got me, okay? If you missed it, I also picked up a facial mist. I like it despite not wanting to repurchase.
This, on the other hand..
It seems like it would be straightforward. Hyaluronic acid helps your skin retain moisture and vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) is supposed to be good for acne. I don’t have issues with acne, but I’m always looking for ways to up my skin’s hydration.
Full disclosure: I thought that vitamin B5 was niacinamide. It’s not. That’s vitamin B3. Maybe that’s why I don’t think this is working as well? I expected to flush like I do with niacinamide and I don’t get that..because that’s not what it is. We’re all learning here.
Shout out to Valjean labs for saying that their serum is super concentrated without giving ingredients percentages! Those are useless, empty words. The lack of transparency inactive ingredients is actually why I wont shell out for Glossier’s serums despite desperately, desperately wanting to believe in their effortless beauty marketing.
I used this serum correctly the first few times I tried it. A few drops into my hand, rub it on my face, wait and then moisturize. I actually felt like it was drying my skin out. I think it smells like alcohol. I’m not sure where that’s coming from.
All I know is that I now essentially dump it on my face, don’t wait for it to dry, and slather my moisturizer on top of it. I think it works a little better this way. I’m mostly trying to get through it at this point. I don’t think it’s doing much for me. Since it’s not breaking me out I’m having trouble making myself throw it away.
I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to stand using it, though. The little dropper doesn’t have great suction and will only fill to the product level in the bottle.
Edit: The dropper did give out on me! I ended up pouring it on my face. Since my goal was to get through the bottle as quickly as possible, I was fine with it.
Does anyone have a good serum I should try?
We’re going a little meta today. Blogging about blogging.
Tomoson is a platform that many bloggers use to get free stuff. Uh, I mean, it’s a platform that bloggers use to receive items for “testing and review”. I understand why it exists on both sides. Bloggers spend a lot of time, effort and their own money to grow their blog. New businesses have trouble getting the word out about their products. I don’t have a problem with the idea of these kinds of platforms.
I’m on a few of them. I’ve been a member of Influenster since before I had a blog. I’ve received items from Brand Backer. I tried Tomoson.
I’m not above wanting free stuff. The problem with these platforms is that you’re often incentivized to leave positive reviews to keep receiving things. With Tomoson in particular, “influencers”/bloggers are rated by the company they work with, with the more legit companies seeking out people that have done more campaigns and have a higher rating.
What ends up happening is that people request a lot of the easy items to review (ebooks, weird supplements) in hopes that one day they can get nice products. A lot of these campaigns request Amazon reviews. Amazon has a HUGE problem with fake reviews at the moment. I wasn’t planning to be part of the problem.
I did one campaign for a menstrual cup, Cali Cup, which was great. It’s a genuinely good product that I was happy to put the word out about. I did a facebook and instagram post for them. And then nothing. I realized that I needed to play the game and do some ebook reviews.
Now, I like books. I just thought that the ebooks on Tomoson seemed like garbage. I bit the bullet and requested a kind of self-help/time management/personal success book. Right up my alley. I love planning stuff. I thought FOR SURE I could find something nice to say about this book.
Guys. Entire pages were missing from it. Short lists of tips had duplicates. There were weird condescending bits about kids these days. The author photo was a stock photo. This was a clear scam product.
I had no way to report the listing on Amazon for being a sham book. There was no option to contact Tomoson directly about my issues with the product. I emailed the company through the platform and told them about the missing pages and poor editing, asking if I had received a draft. They just emailed me the same book in a different format.
So my options were to give the book a nice Amazon review, or to not submit anything and let my account be shut down for not completing a campaign. I didn’t complete the campaign.
And now I’m SUPER suspicious of any disclaimer that says the item they received was from Tomoson. There’s absolutely no product oversight on that platform. I don’t want free stuff that badly. Neither should you.
(Edit: Side note, pretty sure that leaving Amazon reviews in exchange for products is against their ToS and people are having their accounts shut down for that. Fun and good ethics all around!)
I’m still working my way through my lip color collection one week at a time. This week I tried to wear Rimmel’s Lasting Finish Colour Rush lip balm in Give Me A Cuddle for a solid week.
I mean, I succeeded. It just wasn’t the most fun.
This is where I confess to you that I bought this lip balm three years ago. That’s why the label looks so godawful. You can still purchase it, so I could have pretended that I bought it last week.
This blog isn’t about my dignity.
Three years ago I knew that I wanted to wear lipstick, but was having some trouble easing into it. This lip balm looked like a nice tame pink. At least on me. Some reviewers said it was too candy pink for them.
There is no flash in the image on the left. The image on the right has flash.
I can see the candy pink complaints. I do think this balm applies pretty thin, so you can adjust it to be less bright.
It looks fine, right? Barely even there. That’s what I was going for three years ago. The problem is that this balm isn’t particularly hydrating. And while it’s not an in your face color, it does dry my lips out and the resulting flakes are BRIGHT PINK. I don’t have an at the end of the workday picture for you because I wiped this off at lunch every day. It didn’t matter that I used my lip mask the night before. It didn’t matter if I exfoliated and hydrated in the morning before the application.
In the trash it goes. It’s not a good track record for Rimmel’s lip products. I also trashed some of their glosses for drying me out.
This lotion has a NAME. Surge! Intense! It’s making some claims. And it should for $40.
I didn’t pay $40 for a lotion, don’t worry. I got a sample using ipsy points back in May.
You might remember that I wasn’t initially impressed with it. I didn’t think that it was moisturizing nearly as well as my CeraVe. A bunch of you yelled at me to really give it a chance because you love it.
And you were right. I just wasn’t using enough.
I had to hurry to take pictures before I used it all.
A 7 mL sample lasted me for a month of once daily use. I still used my CeraVe at night. Why only once a day? This lotion doesn’t make my sunscreen pill up. I was rationing it. The pill life is real, but I refuse to try new sunscreen when I have so much left of what I’m using.
It hydrates well when you slather it on and dries pretty quickly. It doesn’t have any added fragrance, but does smell faintly of alcohol. Butylene glycol (an alcohol) is the fourth ingredient. My organic chemistry classes didn’t teach me to identify alcohols based on smell, but I think that might be it.
So, am I going to start budgeting for an annual fund of $80 on morning moisturizer alone? I was pretty tempted. It’s good. BUT it contains some of the micro-plastics that I’m trying to avoid in my skincare. Environmentalism has saved my wallet.
I think that the major ingredient my daily CeraVe doesn’t have is squalane. I’m going to try adding a squalane serum to my routine and continue to pray for a sunscreen that doesn’t pill with my current set up.
Any squalane recommendations for me?
Grumpy Skin 