The Target Beauty Bag

About a month ago, Target Style ran an ad for their Summer Beauty Bag giveaway which had samples of "must have" products for the summer. Like anyone else who likes free stuff, I logged in through Facebook, gave them my information and they confirmed that my beauty bag would be here in 6-8 weeks. Fast forward to June 12th and this is what comes in. Was there anything that I could use in here? Well, let's find out.

Experimenting with: The Curly Girl Method

It's funny how two people can have a good, long chit chat over curly hair. The story is that me and my internship supervisor had a good, long discussion about curly hair-we talked about how to take care of curly hair, products and the eternal struggles of taking care of curly hair and the eternal enemy humidity. Well, one thing led to another and then she let me borrow her copy of the ever so famous, much discussed Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey and Michele Bender. So now that I've read this book several times, here's my takeaway:

A letter to my skin condition

Dear eczema,

I don't use the word hate, but I know this for sure, I don't like you. I don't want anything to do with you as a matter of fact. You make things very awkward, and the worst part is-I didn't even do anything to you!

Do you remember that time in the 8th grade when we first met? I remember it so well-a friend of mine complimented my eye make up. As I tried to process this for five seconds, I realized that you're so visible that you made one of my eyelids a different color. The only way I could save myself from embarrassment was to thank her for the compliment as I slumped into my seat in the lunchroom. After that, I did everything possible to get rid of you and it worked...for a while because you were gone and I thought I never had to worry about you again.

Well, I got out of the shower today and I see that after a seven year hiatus, you have reappeared on the eyelid where we first met. My eyelid isn't enough for you for some reason because now, I see that you have found the area behind my ears and perhaps my scalp because I see more snow on my shoulders than a blizzard in the Colorado Rockies (my homemade still-being-tested peppermint oil hair spray is after you. AFTER YOU I SAY!). This will not do. THIS WILL NOT DO AT ALL! I can't wear make-up for a while [I'm expecting my little black box from MAC by Wednesday, can't try it out until it goes away >:( ] and it's making me more self-conscious than I already am. THANKS FOR THAT!

I guess what I'm trying to say is-you suck. Once I get rid of you, I hope you we never cross paths again.

Yours (with a Q-Tip of anti-fungal cream in hand),
Jess x

--Do you have a skin condition that sucks? Go ahead, write a letter to it, tell it about itself!

I don't like this conditioner anymore...now what?

Meh.

So after a few uses, I decided that I'm not a fan of the Queen Helene conditioner that I talked about many moons ago. For me, it didn't give me the slip that I really wanted and I kind of fell out of love with the smell of the conditioner. Oh well, that happens.

Usually, it would be another product for the product junk basket. As it would sit there and collect dust, many may look at what at one time held so much hope and promise and be a bit sad. Well don't be sad anymore, here are some things you can do with that abandoned conditioner!

A tale of a reforming make-up snob

Hi, my name is Jessica and I am a reforming make-up snob.

My make-up snobbery started when I was very young. My mother used to work at a pharmacy and as I looked around in the beauty aisles, I was often told that the products in the drugstore aisles were often of poor quality. I had no idea whether or not this was true, but since this was the opinion of many beauty purchasers in mid-to-late 90's, it would impact my purchases for years to come.

So when I got back into make-up at 14, my first department store exposure to make-up was MAC. I fell in love with their shadows initially-the broad range of colors, the fact that you could blend colors together to make a statement all drew me in to the world of beauty. Then the lipglasses, lipsticks and lipgelees- different colors, and different finishes like sheer, matte, opaque, translucent-I had so many options and it was so amazing to me! At the end of that day, I walked out of the store with Coppering and a tube of Moistly lipgelee, two pieces that started my beauty love affair. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Sephora and it was just OVER from there!

A small representation of my make-up purchases. Missing: several large black boxes...and black bags...and Macy's bags 

 As I become more involved in beauty, I started hearing that drugstore brands are finally making better quality products. A part of me is really excited about this because I can finally get beauty for less. On the other hand, the apprehension of past stigmas still hold me back plus, the fact that you can't swatch products like you can at Sephora. My first drugstore beauty purchase was a Revlon lipgloss. I liked it, but I was still drawn to my lipglasses and lipgelees. Small steps right?

So are you a reforming or a reformed make-up snob? What's your story?

A newbie's guide to skin care: The basics

One thing that I've always struggled with is skin care. I know there's a science behind skin care, but then again, science was never my best subject either!

As a teenager, I had a lot of pimples and acne as I turned 13-14 which then immediately stopped as soon as I turned 15. In that time, I've tried a whole multitude of products. Now I've come to the point where I can simplify which products I need and which I don't and protect my skin from aging and wrinkles (a.k.a not depend on "black don't crack")