I cancelled Ipsy

Sigh. You read the title, its true. After being a subscriber of Ipsy's $10 monthly "glam bags" since September of 2014 I recieved my last bag last week after deciding to cancel.  When I first signed up for Ipsy I lived in the middle of nowhere, was on a seriously tight budget, and wanted some monthly mail to keep me from splurging on crappy drugstore makeup that I didn't even like.  For that purpose it worked well.  Now, I live in a big city with an Ulta about 5 minutes from my apartment.  My Ipsy bag was no longer keeping me from spending money on makeup once I moved to an area with more options to buy things.

I think that if you're really into trying new products and you don't like spending a lot of money to test things, Ipsy and similar bags are a great options.  I was excited to receive my package every month and I know I'll miss getting them.  I had to finally admit to myself that I just wasn't that into the products I was receiving anymore.  I had retaken the test on the website, switched preferences, rated things, etc and there were several months in a row when I was just "meh" about what I had recieved.  I started keeping a separate drawer of sample products that I needed to try out in order to keep myself accountable for using stuff I actually received instead of just throwing it somewhere until the next bag came. The bags are always cute too and fun to collect but now I have like 20 and nothing to put in them, haha.  I think the last kicker was the fact that even though there were a few products I really liked, the chances of me actually repurchasing stuff was really slim as most full size products were out of my price range and I'm a cheapskate. Sooo...

That all being said, I DO have a post planned where I talk about the samples I got through Ipsy over the past year or so that I would (and will) repurchase.

School has been kicking my but lately, but I have lots and lots of posts planned including an Etsy soap haul, all my ulta goodies, a foundation review (or two!), and my ebay haul that I've been collecting for for ages.

That's it for this post today, I mostly just wanted to chat with y'all since I hadn't posted in a bit. :)

Hope everyone's enjoying their February!

Leave a Comment ipsy, random

Share:

In the Nude: Being Confident in Your Own Skin

When I was in 7th grade, I started putting on foundation every day before school.  About 13 is when I became aware of other girls being skinnier, prettier and having better skin that me and I wanted to fix that.  Over the course of several years I went from just foundation, to discovering eyeliner and eyeshadow, and then going all out with a full face routine. Every. Single. Day. I was so self conscious about my appearance that I refused to go to school, or anywhere that anyone other than my parents would see me, without wearing makeup.  When I turned 18, I developed moderate acne from having relatively clear skin before so the makeup use only got worse.

One day I was out with a friend to get foundation and she picked out a tinted moisturizer for me.  I was skeptical when I used it, and my self esteem issues sky rocketed when I applied it only to realize it didn't cover acne at all.  My friend made the harsh suggestion that maybe if I didn't cover my face with so much makeup it would go away.  At first I was horrified at the thought. I'd never been able to let anyone see me without makeup, not even long term boyfriends. But as the weeks went by,  I decided to try it out.

I now only wear makeup when going out or other special type events.  I'm comfortable enough to go barefaced to school, work, and my boyfriends house.  I cannot possibly express what a huge accomplishment this is for me.  My acne is hormonal, so going au natural didn't improve that much but the confidence I have gained from this experiment was a monumental achievement.  I no longer feel like I have to wear mass amounts of makeup for people to want to talk to me or take me seriously.

The How-to:

Making this life adjustment is not easy, especially if you're someone like me who wears makeup for confidence-boosting reasons.  I've been doing this for a month and even though I never used to take makeup-less selfies, I still wasn't quite comfortable going filterless for the blog's photo.  It takes a bit of time to get used to seeing your face without it on and you might feel sloppy or unattractive at first.  I think a great first step is to use a lighter foundation before you stop wearing makeup completely.  This way you get used to how your skin looks when blemishes, or other things you're bothered by, are more visible.  I went from full coverage foundation to tinted moisturizer and it was a shock to say the least.  However, after a couple weeks of using just such a light coverage foundation every day, I realized that going bare faced wouldn't look much different.

When you finally decide to make the brave move of going completely barefaced, its okay to only start with a few days on and a few days off. Even just going makeup-less once in awhile is so much better for your skin than 24/7 face paste. Along with proper cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing and drinking plenty of water the condition of your skin can greatly improve.  Its so easy to forget to take off your makeup and night, or to use the wrong products for your skin type, things that can cause your skin to break out or become dull/dry.  You'll love how much better your skin looks and feels after a few days of going makeup-less and you'll love that extra 15 minutes you can sleep in the morning that you would have otherwise spent time staring at your self in the mirror.

All this being said,  I still love makeup and I like how I look while wearing it. I love be able to accent my eyes and wear different colors for different occasions. But I also love that now I can look in the mirror and think my eyes are just as beautiful without makeup and they are while wearing it. I love that I can see the "family heirloom" birthmark on my forehead that I would never see before because it was covered up with foundation. I needed to learn how to be more confident in my own skin and I love that after 10 years I was finally able to achieve that.

So if this is something that you're interested in because you want more confidence in yourself or you think it might improve your skin then I encourage you to give it a shot! Don't be afraid to take small steps and don't be afraid of what others might think or say. You. Are. Beautiful.

Leave a Comment beauty resolutions, no makeup, random, tips

Share:

Updates and College jabber

Hey all! First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of activity.  I was posting every day there for a little bit then kinda dropped out.  I just wanted to let you all know that I did not in fact, fall off the face of the earth, I just transferred from a community college to a university.  What's the big deal? You ask. Well, I lived at home when I started this blog and now I'm two hours away working ten hours a week and spending most of that to go home on the weekends because I'm literally the lamest college kid ever.  Basically, this just means that I don't really have any moo-lah to get anything beauty related and I don't have tons of time to post stuff. No thats a lie, I really do have a lot of extra time because I'm really shy here and pretty unsociable I just wasn't sure on what to post.

I'm still going to be doing wishlists every now and again and I actually have my desk organized all prettily so I can do a makeup and brush collection/storage post.  Probably by the time I get all that settled I will have gotten some bills paid off so I can start buying things I don't need again. (:

Okay, that's all I've got to say at the moment and if you find that this post doesn't make any sense at all that's because I'm currently blasting "Jai Ho" from Slumdog millionaire because my choir is doing this song and I absolutely friggin love it.  The choir version is better than the one on the movie but it's just really catchy and makes you want to dance.

More from me soon.
xo

Leave a Comment random

Share: