I feel pretty--NOT! THE COSMETICS THREAD

when I asked mr veg he just stared quietly at my face for a while and said 'I dunno'

hahaha this makes me laugh so much

ok it's only been two days which isn't really enough time to gauge but: no breakouts! my face looks kinda nice with this CC cream/nanoo nanoo stuff.

it goes on so light, I'm kind of blown away by how good the coverage is. I feel like a normal girl almost. I get a bit shiny with daywear, but nothing a little bit of powder won't fix.

only downside is this shit costs $48! but they've kinda got me over a barrell..it's the first stuff I've found that works, and I don't need to use very much it seems... so I'll probably pony up and get it anyway, assuming I don't have any horrific breakouts or reactions in the next week.

VG does the CC cream have chemical sunscreen? I am curious! PTR sunscreen always worked like a dream for me but the chemical sunscreen is a concern

it has physical sunscreen (mineral?), not chemical. which I think might be another reason I'm not breaking out...

oh and when I said last night to Mr Veg that I think the cc cream is working, he said 'Yeah! Your face doesn't look all blotchy and weird now'

<3

L. OL. OL. OL.

not to harp on about this but i'm now 4 days in, no breakouts, no itching, no nothing and every time I look in the mirror I just grin because my face looks so nice again!

the powder I had isn't working well though, seems to make me more oily -- will maybe try some bare minerals sheer powder over top, and maybe look into one of their foundations powders for more fancy-face coverage.

huge confidence booster though, lemme tell ya. and I'm not constantly scratching my face!

whoa, I am impressed and gleeful that it has no chemical sunscreens in it! i am going to go buy this after work. PTR sunscreen always made my skin look awesome but I ditched it because of the octisalate.

I would recommend getting a sample first --- it only comes in 3 shades and the lightest, light/medium does have a slightly orangey cast to it. It hasn't been a problem with my skin tone but I've seen a lot of reviews to that effect, so def test it before dropping any $$

oh yeah that might be an issue. I am the most pale person alive.

I thought I was too! But I guess my undertones are yellower than I thought. WTF. Who knows.

Now have a Lorac wet/dry powder foundation to wear over this CC cream for a bit of extra coverage at nighttimes/special occasions...and this weird 'HD' powder by Makeup For Ever, which is just powdered silica from what I can figure out, which I am using over the CC cream during the day just to soak up oilness without any extra color.

It soaks up the oiliness really well, it's weird to apply though. Feels like cornflour sort of? and when you tap it off the brush it flies everywhere because it's so light. Application-wise, using a tiny bit and buffing it on with a kabuki brush seems to work - using a regular powder brush I think you would end up looking like you floured your face...but I think my buffing technique needs practice, need to use a lighter touch so I don't buff off the cc cream underneath.

exciting times re my face zzz I'm sure you're all tired of my updates now haha

im srsly loving it. haha

like, its showing me that makeup can work and make people happy

i feel so neg about makeup lately, its nice to see it

idk, i still feel a little bit conflicted by the whole snakeoil angle of all this stuff, and why am I spending $$ to look 'normal' ... but if the only person I'm doing it for is me, then maybe it's not as big of a conflict of interest? idk.

it's just nice to find something that fucking works for a goddamn change

i mean its not snakeoil if it works and makes you feel good. obv you dont *need* it tho

true

agree

im loving the updates for roxy's reasons too. ive kind of ditched makeup for now but you seem so thrilled by it veg that im getting some hope back.

well then yay! <3

Keep it up, VG! I love reading this stuff. And I think that some day I will again be interested in makeup and hairs. A day when it is less than 100 degrees.

^^^interested in doing my own makeup and hairs, is what I meant there. For now I live vicariously through people in more favorable climes.

My interest in makeup wanes significantly in the summer anyway, and now that I work from home more often than not, I find myself really resenting mascara on the days I go into the office. Why bother??!?! I'm just going to have to wash it off again!

yeah summer is the worst for makeup

cheers to that

Also terrible for hairs, at least my hairs. I don't even know what they look like anymore, because I can't stand to have them touching me in the heat, and they stay in a ponytail bun thing 94/7

yeah until I got my hair cut off on thurs, I had been wearing it in a knot-thing/sad ponytail for at least 3 months becuase it was too fucking hot to deal with it near my face or neck or anywhere

OTM

I'm even letting the layers grow out because that makes it easier to cram into a non-stop ponytail (or butterfly clip when I'm going to work why? because I'm suuuuper professional).

welp, I'm not quite out of the woods yet.

I think the silica powder is causing some kind of irritation? ever since I've been using it over the cc cream, I get a slow itch in the morning building to a prickly itch by the late afternoon. I changed brushes (and I keep them super-clean), and I'm using a sparing amount and tapping off...I used the cc cream on its own last week with no breakouts or itching so I'm thinking it has to be the powder that's doing it. maybe it's *too* drying. I dunno. It controls the oil pretty well but god, wanting to claw my face off is not really the result I had in mind

I discovered that the CC cream works best if I use it in place of moisturizer. Applying it over top of my moisturizer in the mornign seemed to be the cause of a lot of the irritation I had. And then putting the silica over top was just adding crazy-dryness to parts of my face that didn't need it.

So balance has been restored. All I really need is the cc cream during the day and to blot a little here and there -- but the oilyness is not really that much of a factor now with that small change. And if I do use the silica powder, I only use it on my T-zone, not on my cheeks at all.

I never go outside, so this summer thing doesn't affect my makeup or hair very much at all. bathing in luxuriant A/C!

"COVERGIRL is proud to be the official beauty partner of the NFL."

Naturally.

Easy.
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Covergirl

Ha!

I have been doing the acv and baking soda hair thing for awhile and it's not working for me. It really makes my hair look and feel shitty. It becomes a rough, frizzy, mess and blehk. If I alternate days, on the days I use shampoo, my hair is super luxurious but not sure if that is just because it was so super shitty the day before or if doing acv and baking soda makes it great when I shampoo. But acv and baking soda alone, day after day...mess.

I have made a rosemary and lemon rind infusion. I rinsed my hair with that daily then every other day use acv and have had awesome results. Just haven't had the time to keep that up.

Any success with really all natural shampoos?

iirc you gotta fully commit to the acv/bs thing to get the full benefits - the idea is that shampoo messes with your hair's natural oil and ph level, so if you're alternating to the two methods, the acv/bs can't really do its job of getting those levels back to normal. BUT from what i've read the acv/bs method doesn't work for everyone.

Baking soda only worked for me once I had considerable oiliness built up, and even then it left my hair in a not-great state; it got crispy actually. The no-poo routine I ended up with was 1) rinse really well with warm water every day 2) use only a few drops of argan oil after towel drying but no other products 3) lather scalp with theraneem shampoo once every 4-6 weeks.

Now that my hair is short again and I'm using various styling products, I had to go back to lathering up once or twice a week.

I only alternated after 4 weeks of straight acv and baking soda. Still alternating but ready to just stop using baking soda.

Yes, Jaq, crispy is the perfect word.

was starting to have a lot of breakouts again and my face was feeling really rough...but I didn't want to shell out for more products so i've started using a facecloth each night to remove my makeup and wash my face and voila! no breakouts

feels like a 'well duh' thing to write I know but I was feeling v proud of myself

That's what I think when ppl go on about the 'hot cloth method'
I'm like IT'S CALLED WASHING YOUR FACE!
but good on yer!

Anyone tried the new Nars Cream Compact Foundation? I just got it and love it. The texture is smooth, it's buildable, and it doesn't crumble when I use a foundation brush.

p.s. hardcore devotée of Nars orgasm blush here. A++

I have not but that look interesting. I think that cream/stick foundation is where it's at for me.

I bought a tube of that Maybelline Fit Me foundation stick on a whim and I am surprised at how much I like it. The coverage is really light, so ymmv.

It's one of the most lightweight cream foundations I've tried.

Carl, I've become a devotee of covergirl's simply ageless which is the same sort of thing I guess. Used sparingly its seriously awesome coverage and I don't even need to used concealer with it.

Ah I will check that out. Thanks!

Picked up Simply Ageless at Target the other day. I'm not positive I bought the right color (I swear I am beige color blind because all of the different shades look the same to me and when I elicit help from the pros, they always pick a color that I never would have considered) and when I first put it on, I did not like it. But then I went to teach my class and while I was washing my hands during break I looked in the mirror and was like holy shit! My face looks amazing! Like, I didn't believe it was my face for a second.

I'm still not totally convinced the color is right, but I'm preliminarily sold on the product. I'm maybe going into the office tomorrow, and definitely on Thursday so I'll get to test it out under sunlight and gross, sallow florescents.