My Current Skincare Routine - Cerave, Mizon, and LUSH!

Monday, January 23, 2017
Hello! I figured I could share what my current skincare routine is for those who also obsess over knowing others skincare routines.

My skin is combo/oily and fairly acne prone. I used to have severe acne, but it has gone down after starting birth control and changing my routine. I like to use a mix of Western and Korean beauty products.

For my double cleanse I use LUSH Ultrabland to wipe away all my makeup. It works really well with removing everything, and this is my third tub of it. While it seems pretty pricey for a cleanser, one of the large tubs lasts me around two years. Buying from LUSH also makes me feel good just because they're so ethical in their business practices.

Following my makeup I use one of two foaming cleansers: Cerave Foaming Cleanser or Cosrx Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser. I've used the Cerave one for years (this is probably my fifth or sixth bottle) and I love it. It works great for making my skin clean and clear. The only problem is that it's a bit too strong during the winter, and because of that I've been testing out the Cosrx cleanser.


The Cosrx cleanser is extremely popular in the Kbeauty world, but I've found it to be pretty average. I do appreciate the gentle ingredients and that it doesn't completely strip my face dry.

Once my face is cleaned I follow up with moisturizers! I used to use the St. Ives Exfoliating Pads, but they've discontinued them. I still haven't found a good replacement for them that is as budget friendly.

My moisturizers are both Korean and both Mizon! I love this brand because it's so affordable and easy to get here in the USA. It's available on Amazon with Prime shipping.

Originally I only used the Snail Recovery Gel Cream for my oily skin, but once winter hit I added the All in One Snail Repair Cream. I normally use the cream all over my face and layer the gel over my drier areas. I love these products as they don't break me out and moisturize without making me feel greasy. I've also found my pigmentation and acne fades a bit faster than before.

The only potential downside for these is, yes, they're almost completely snail goo! I personally love the strange ingredients that Korean beauty products have to offer, but I know others may not. 

Overall I am very pleased with my current routine. I am still on the hunt for a great sunscreen though because Shiseido just isn't in the budget for me lately.
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Project Ten Pan 2016/2017

Friday, December 16, 2016
Hey y'all! So this is my first post regarding my Project 10 Pan for 2016 going into 2017. For those who don't know, project pans are ways to challenge yourself to use a certain number of products (usually) in a certain time frame. This can just be a way to use up old makeup, challenge yourself to go out of your comfort zone, or curb spending. I'm using it as a way to go through some of my collection and promise myself I won't buy anything new until I use up these products.

Without further rambling here are the ten products I hope to use up within two months.

First product is MAC blush in Pink Swoon. I know, I know, there's no way I can use it up in two months. I just hope to pan it! I got this blush after seeing it in a Youtube tutorial and like it well enough. I love the formula for MAC blushes, but I'm trying to step away from using their products. I also have too many pinks and want more neutral or peach blushes.

The next product I hope to use up is Benefit's Hoola bronzer. I actually hit pan on it because for a while it was my only bronzer. I now have two others and just want to use this one up as it was my first. Sadly as I'm using it up I realize that I REALLY like this bronzer! It stays all day. Too bad my rule is not to purchase any more bronzers until I use mine up. :(

This product is well-loved by so many people, but it's just not for me! It's Rimmel's Stay Matte powder in Transparent. I bought it years ago to try, but it turned me orange. I ended up buying it again to try out and it doesn't make me orange, but it does nothing else. My DIY setting powder controls oil far better throughout the day. I've seen some people pan this super fast, so I hope I can too!

Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip in 1C. (Why oh why can't you use names instead of numbers for lip products?) This was my first lip liner and I really like it! The formula is more creamy than MAC and less waxy than NYX and Revlon. It's just getting old and I want to make room for other lip liners. By the way, Temptalia did a price per gram for lip liners and this one ended up being something ridiculous like $600 per gram. Yikes.

I'm almost done with it already! This is MAC's lip primer and I used to think it worked wonders for lipstick. Now I think a balm could work just as well for a quarter of the price.

I'm starting to realize how much makeup I've bought just because of Youtube. I bought this after being unsatisfied with my MAC Prolongwear concealer and liked it at first, but hate it now. This is Maybelline Age Rewind concealer. I got it in the shade Light and it's extremely orange. It also creases so much and rubs off when I try to blend it in. Awful, but I want to get my money's worth and use it up.

Rimmel's Scandaleyes eyeliner! It's just the black one. (I believe there is also a brown and nude one.) I don't like this that much. My eyelids have a lot of extra skin and this just tugs and looks uneven every time. It stays on the waterline alright though.

The lipstick I chose was Maybelline's Clay Crush. It's one of their matte shades and it's really beautiful for fall. I think the color payoff and longevity is great for a drugstore lipstick, and I'll definitely buy more from Maybelline in the future.

I'm cheating a bit and putting some non-makeup items in! I added the perfume because I've had it for years and never used it. (Worse thing is I have an even bigger size to finish up after this one!) I'd wear more of it, but my nose is so sensitive to perfumes. :(

My lotion of choice for winter has been St. Ives. It says shea butter but shea butter itself is so far down the ingredients list it can't even be relevant. I hope to repurchase my Nivea one once I run out of this!

There it is! My ten things to use up (to some extent) for the next two months. Hopefully this helps me whittle my collection down to things I truly enjoy. Not just impulse buys or aging products. I hope I don't sound too negative! I love beauty products! Just some of these are so... not my thing.

Have you ever done a project pan? Have you ever panned anything in general?

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Declutter December 2016 - Naked 2, Nudetude, NARS, etc.

Monday, December 12, 2016
Something new I've tried out this year is meaningfully decluttering my make up stash. In the past I've thrown things out because I didn't like the color or I bought something better. While that has mostly stopped due to me getting my shopping addiction under control, my collection is by no means ideal. I found that while I could get rid of certain products easily, I had a hard time getting rid of certain brands or types of product.

After watching a ton of inspirational declutter videos I took the plunge! Check out my tiny declutter.

The first item may come as a surprise to some, but not to me. The Naked palettes were are some of the most hyped up eyeshadows palettes. Naked 2 was one of my first palettes, and I loved it when I was newer to makeup. I've hit pan on Half Baked and was pretty close on a few shades.

I'm decluttering this because it just doesn't blend well. All the shadows turn into one ugly brown after blending. They also just do not last even with primer. I decided to pull the trigger on decluttering when I realized the only reason I was keeping this was just because it was a Naked palette.

The next palette I'm decluttering is The Balm Nudetude (Nude'tude?). I got it for pretty cheap off Hautelook and still regret it. Besides the fact that I'm... very over the packaging, it suffers from the same issues the Naked 2 did for me. Once you get to blending everything just kinda looks the same on the eye for the darker shades. The lighter shades also look very frosty which I personally don't like at all. Too 90s/early 2000s for me.

Yikes! Can you say blast from the past?! For those of you who weren't around when this came out, this was Urban Decay's Glenda palette to tie into the Oz movie. (Did anyone even see that movie?) Now I really loved this when it came out. The orange looking shade is a really pretty satin champagne color and the upper split pan has some unique colors. The problem lies with the fact that as pretty as the gold and silver look... glitter everywhere. And not some flattering pixie dust looking glitter. For some reason the gold shadow has black glitter that just makes you look dirty after wearing it.

I decided to declutter this when I realized I was never reaching for it anymore. Also I'm trying to get rid of limited edition stuff and abstain from buying it in the future too.

Here come the products I was only keeping for the brand name. This is NARS blush in Gaiety and eyeshadow duo in Violetta. I kind of went through a NARS phase when I was younger and these are some of the leftover items I finally convinced myself to drop.

I think I'm one of the only people who hates NARS blushes. I don't think they're pigmented at all and I'm not as impressed with the naming as I was when I was in high school. I also have far too many cool-toned pinks, so I'm getting rid of the least pigmented one.

The eyeshadow duo might be pretty for someone with a darker skintone than me, but on me it barely shows up. The leftmost shade looks almost the same as my skintone and the right shade seems like more of a topper than a standalone shadow.

One of three lip products is Make Up For Ever Artist Plexi-Gloss in #206 Pop Pink. This is the one product in this declutter that was just an awful epitome of impulse buy. It's an embarrassing reminder of me of how irresponsible I can be with my money. Basically I hate this for reasons other than the formula. But the formula sucks too. It's incredibly sticky and gummy. I also needed this as my wakeup call that hot pink (especially cool-toned) looks awful on my lips.
Look at this terrible little applicator too. I hate you!


And there it is! My first ever planned declutter! The products as followed are Urban Decay Naked 2, Urban Decay Glenda, The Balm Nude Tude, NARS Gaiety, NARS Violetta, Make Up For Ever (??? an old Sephora Bday gift), The Balm Mai Billsbepaid, and Make Up For Ever #206 lipgloss.

I didn't have a clear photo of the lipsticks as the lighting was awful, but they're just nudes with finishes I'm not a fan of.

All the makeup will be passed along to friends and family where it'll get some use instead of sitting in my drawer.

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