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Dry Skin & Dark Spots, and Skin Care Hits and Misses From The Ordinary, First Aid Beauty and Biossance

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skin care may 2021 ordinary first aid beauty biossance

I will not add another step to my skin care routine.

Nope.

Not gonna do it. I WILL NOT!

I figure, if I keep up with this mantra, it’ll eventually come to pass…but so far, no dice.

These are the latest additions to my skin care routine — what I’ve been liking, and what I’d characterize as just “eh.”

Just to add a little background, in case you don’t know me from a slice of watermelon, I have combo skin and tend to break out around my mouth, chin and forehead, and I’m in my mid-40s (about to turn 46, as a matter fact). Right now I’m fighting the good fight against the occasional hormone-related breakout, along with, ugh…hyperpigmentation. SUNSCREEN IS MY HOMEGIRL.

With that said, let’s go…

The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5

I recently picked up this hydrating product from Ulta, and I’m lurving it. I’ve read that incorporating a hyaluronic acid serum into your skin care regimen can be great for dry skin, but, apparently, there’s a trick to making this tip truly worth your time, which is that you have to apply the product when your skin is damp, then immediately follow up with a moisturizer to seal in said hydrating yumminess.

the ordinary hyaluronic acid

What’s the deal with hyaluronic acid? Well, it’s a sugar found naturally in our bodies, and its job in the skin is to hold onto water, so it keeps things plump and hydrated. Hyaluronic acid is also found in our joints and eyes as well.

As a skin care ingredient, it’s believed to act as a humectant because of its ability to draw and hold water, keeping your skin hydrated throughout the day!

There are lots of different hyaluronic acid serums at various price points (I’ll link some down below), but I picked up this one because it was only $7 for a 1-oz. bottle, and I’ve been steadily using it for the past month. I’m about a quarter of the way through it now, and my usual dry spots don’t feel as tight as they did before I started, so I’ll happily buy another bottle.

Yes, it’s an extra step…but if your skin’s been feeling parched, it’s totally worth it, IMO.

A few hyaluronic serums

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Niacinamide Dark Spot Serum

This serum for fading dark spots and hyperpigmentation, among other things, is from First Aid Beauty.

Niacinamide, a.k.a. water-soluble Vitamin B3 is a heroic ingredient that gets mega-love in skin care circles because of how well many people think it works for various skin types (even sensitive), and it seems to do everything and then some, from minimizing large pores, moisturizing and, yes, evening out skin tone. Its rock star status is also due to how well it layers with other active skin care ingredients, like peptides, hyaluronic acid, antioxidants, retinols and acids.

first aid beauty niacinamide serum

This particular serum is lovely. It works well with all of the other things I’ve had in the mix, and also works great under copious layers of sunscreen (you gotta reapply all throughout the day, my love) and makeup.

I’ve been using it for a couple weeks now, and it seems to help with fading post-acne dark spots. It’s pricey, though, at $42 for a 1-oz. bottle, so I’m going to wait a few more weeks to determine whether or not I’m going to keep it in the mix… I do like it so far.

Biossance Squalane + BHA Pore-Minimizing Toner

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND A GOOD BHA TONER?

I know, I know. Everyone loves the Paula’s Choice BHA Toner and talks about it like it’s the one BHA toner to rule them all, but even though I’ve gone through a bunch of bottles and have been desperately wanting to drink the Kool-Aid, I don’t think it does all that much for me.

I recently started exploring other options and stumbled onto the Biossance Squalane + BHA Pore-Minimizing Toner.

With this one, you really have to dig into the ingredient list because it actually doesn’t contain salicylic acid.

biossance bha toner

Instead, it has willow bark extract, which contains salicin, which is where salicylic acid comes from. Biossance says that it’s a natural BHA and acts more as an “anti-inflammatory” ingredient, while also gently exfoliating, tightening pores and balancing oil.

I do feel like it’s very gentle, and it does a decent job of not irritating my skin. It also seems to help calm it down… I had some angry red bumpy patches from overdoing the retinol, and this toner really helped my skin chill-the-eff out.

I like it, but don’t love it. Yes, it’s not super aggro, which I appreciate, but I don’t feel like it’s moving fast enough.

I do have to say, though, that it seems like this bottle will last a long time. I’ve been using three or four drops every morning for a month, and I’ve barely made a dent in it.

Bottom line? If you want a gentle version of a salicylic acid toner, this might be your jam.

I’m going to keep looking for a BHA toner that rocks my socks off… If you have one you love, I’m all ears! So far, these are on my “look into it” list:

  • Typology Purifying Toner 1% Salicylic Acid: This is $24 for 7.2-oz, so it seems like you get a lot of bang for your buck. I like that it contains actual salicylic acid, along with aloe vera (which my skin likes). OMG, DID I JUST HIT “add to cart”! How did that happen? LOL!
  • Naturium BHA Liquid Exfoliant 2%: There’s YouTube drama surrounding this line and its founder. I dunno, but the word “shady” has been thrown around. Anyway, I’m not super enthusiastic about this product, but the ingredient list seems decent, and I could easily pick it up at Target. It’s $20 for a 4-oz bottle. *shrugs*
  • SkinCeuticals LHA Toner: Effin’ SkinCeuticals. Why you gotta be so good? I’ve had more than my share of euphoric moments with their Vitamin C serum, which is the main reason I’m curious about this toner, which is on the pricier end at $40 for 6.8 oz. It contains a blend of lipo hydroxy acid (LHA, which is a derivative of salicylic acid), glycolic acid and salicylic acid. UGH, want!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S.

Makeup Musings: I Think I Want to Scale Down My Makeup Collection, But I Don’t Know Where or How to Start

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#hoarders

I may have mentioned this to you already, but I recently culled my closet. No joke, I Kon-Mari-ed the living crap out of it! I donated all the pre-Connor clothes that no longer fit me (which was most of my wardrobe, to be brutally honest) and only kept what 1) fit me perfectly, 2) didn’t look hella raggedy, and 3) made me feel AMAZING.

Goodbye and thanks for the memories…

I did keep a few items that have sentimental value, including a $15 dress I found at Marshall’s, which I wore to a fancy party 1999. I got numerous compliments on it, and several people assumed it was Versace. It very much was not, ha ha ha!

Anyway, I basically rebuilt my closet from scratch using a checklist of wardrobe basics I found through Erin Busbee, a stylist who caters specifically to fashion for women over 40, and for first time in a really long time, I feel like I can get dressed in the morning without feeling stressed out or bad about my body.

Another first: each piece in my closet absolutely works for me, and there is no dead weight. NONE. Each item has a purpose, and everything gets worn.

IT FEELS GREAT!

banana republic black pants
Smiling ’cause I’m wearing pants that actually, ya know, fit!

What’s been especially great is the feeling of freedom. It feels good to finally say goodbye to all of the clothes that didn’t fit me, and while it was hard at times (like saying goodbye to the brand new black Kate Spade dress I never lost enough enough weight to get into), letting it go has given me 1) more physical space in my home and 2) more mental space in my mind.

This has got me thinking a lot about how scaling down my wardrobe could be applied to other parts of my life, including (WAIT FOR IT) my makeup collection.

I love and have loved and will always love makeup so, so much, and right now, I have a lot of it.

If I’m completely honest with myself, only a small percentage of it still gets worn.

I think it might be time to let some things go.

To all the brown shadows I’ve loved before…

But yet, it’s hard, since it’s still very fun for me to try new things and collect fun pieces.

I don’t see myself as ever being the person who has just, like, one makeup bag of tightly edited down products, because I love having options!

Still, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a way to narrow down the scale and scope of it so I feel the same way about makeup that I do about my closet. I wonder if it would just as feel good to have NO. DEAD. WEIGHT. in my makeup collection.

Would it be freeing to have a succinct group of eyeshadows that I truly and deeply love? Or a small group of nude lipsticks, all of which get worn and used frequently?

I’ve had this idea floating around in my mind for the last week or so, to perhaps narrow my collection down using a manageable number like 10. For example, only keeping 10 nude lipsticks that I absolutely adore. I could also do, I dunno, 10 red lipsticks that I love, or maybe 10 bright lipsticks? I dunno, that still seems like a lot of lipstick! Yet, at the same time, it also doesn’t seem like nearly enough, HA! I can easily see myself going down the road of “Why have 10 nude lipsticks I love when I could easily have 20?”

mac nicki minaj nude lipsticks liners lipglass
I love nude lips and I cannot lie.

And, seriously, how would eyeshadow work? Would I keep 10 neutral eyeshadows? (OMG, IMAGINE HOW HARD THAT WOULD BE) Or would it be 10 browns? Maybe I could even do 10 warm browns, 10 cool browns…

In typical Karen fashion, I’m 100% over-complicating this, but I think you get the gist of it. There’s got to be a way to have a makeup collection that feels robust and complete, but not redonkulously overwhelming.

I’d love to hear how you handle your current collection. Do you keep it small and manageable, or do you just go for it and hold onto ALL OF THE THINGS. I’m curious to know how you keep things in check and from getting too out of control.

From one makeup lover to another…the struggle is real. Talk to you soon, ‘k?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Beauty Products I’m Excited About: The Jan Marini Skin Care Management System, OPI and a Target Gem!

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Greatest Of All Time ?

We’ve been back home in Novato since Sunday night, and even though I’m OH, SO HAPPY to be back in my own bed, I like a lot about the town of Sonoma, like there being so many animals around! We saw wildlife and ranch animals every single day. It’s rural up there with miles and miles of farms, and I’ve never lived anywhere with so many sheep! Or cows! Or horses! Or goats! It was cool to just turn my head and see animals at any given moment.

I’ve only lived in the suburbs and once in a big city (San Francisco) in my life, so to look out my car window and see gangs of goats roaming the hillsides to the left and right of me as I drove down the road was…shocking, in a good way.

Anyway, nerd moment, but every time I see a goat now I simultaneously think of the acronym ‘GOAT’ — greatest of all time, HAHAHA! ? Oh, I make myself laugh…

Goat selfies should be a thing.

Being home again, I’m back on my regularly scheduled beauty jam, and these are what I’m excited about right meow…

jan marini skin care management system
The Jan Marini Skin Care Management System Starter Kit for Normal/Combination Skin

For months now I’ve been chomping at the bit to try Jan Marini skin care, as you know. I guess the beauty gods intervened to align ye olde planets and stars, because El Hub actually *paid attention* (GASP) and hooked this mama up with the Jan Marini Starter Skin Care Management System for Mother’s Day.

It comes with five items designed to be used in the following order…

Step 1: Bioglycolic Facial Cleanser

A creamy cleanser with exfoliating glycolic acid for dry, combo and oily skin. It’s also supposed to eliminate the need for a post-cleansing toner.

jan marini bioglycolic face cleanser step 1
Step 1, Bioglycolic Face Cleanser

Step 2: C-Esta Face Serum

This is Jan Marini’s Vitamin C antixoidant serum, and the two key ingredients are DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol, which is supposed to help with fine lines and wrinkles), and ascorbyl palmitate, which is one form of Vitamin C (there are several).

jan marin c esta face serum step 2
Step 2, C-Esta Face Serum

FYI, if you’re a SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic fan like I am, C-Esta’s Vitamin C is different than the variety used in CE Ferulic. CE Ferulic has L-ascorbic acid, which is considered in many skin care circles as the gold standard for Vitamin C. It seems like ascorbyl palmitate is often pooh-poohed as being inferior to L-ascorbic acid, but we shall see.

Step 3: Bioclear Face Lotion

EXFOLIATE ME, PLEASE! This lotion has three types of acids — glycolic, salicylic and azelaic. I love me some salicylic and azelaic acids, so I’m very excited about this, which is made for normal, combo and oily skin types.

jan marini bioclear face lotion step 3
Step 3, Bioclear Face Lotion

Step 4: Transformation Face Cream

A hydrating cream with peptides, hyaluronic acid and an ingredient exclusive to Jan Marini called Thymosin beta 4.

jan marini transformation face cream step 4
Step 4, Jan Marini Transformation Face Cream

Step 5: Antioxidant Daily Face Protectant SPF33

A water-resistant (up to 80 minutes) chemical sunscreen.

jan marini antioxidant daily face protectant spf 33 step 5
Step 5, Antioxidant Daily Face Protectant

The kit also comes with a card to walk you through the order the products should be used and whether they’re for mornings or evenings or both.

jan marini skin care management system card
Step-by-step, ooh baby!

I’ve read that the full-size skin care management system is supposed to last about eight weeks, which, truth be told, doesn’t seem very long to me, but I get the sense I can stretch the products out to four or five weeks if I use them sparingly — with the exception of the sunscreen, of course, because homegirl is not shy about applying and reapplying sunscreen!

jan marini skin care management system back
Ingredients
jan marini skin care management system back
More ingredients

I’m really excited to use it, but I think I’m going to wait until after we go camping to start. We’re heading up to Casini Ranch on the Russian River for a few days so Rosie can have quality time with her favorite pet sitter (LOL!).

casini ranch

casini ranch

When we went camping last summer, the most I could handle while we lived in the tent was to use a face wash and sunscreen… Five steps would probably be a few too many steps for me out in the woods, but if you are the girl who camps with a multi-step skincare regimen, I salute you. You are officially my hero!

On the nail front, I haven’t worn OPI in years (ya know, I’m more of an Essie Gel Couture kind of girl), but I’m very excited about this purple glitter called Leonardo’s Model Color because it was a Mother’s Day gift from Connor.

opi leonardos model color
Two layers of OPI Leonardo’s Model Color

El Hub took her to Ulta, gave her a basket, and let her pick out whatever she wanted to get for mama (within reason). Apparently, the sales associates asked her on several occasions if she needed any help after seeing her linger in the fragrance section for a really long time, LOL! She told everyone “no thank you” because she had it under control, and she choose this polish, along with some sparkly butterfly clips and a pink travel laundry bag.

opi leonardos model color swatch

miamica travel laundry bag

scuni butterfly clips

It’s purple and sparkly, and I will forever keep it in my polish collection from now until the end of time because she gave it to me. 🙂

One last thing before I head on out for now, I randomly picked up this box of Advanced Nail Polish Remover Pads last week from Tar-ghay, and they don’t play! So, so good.

A single pad removes even the most stubborn glitter mani or pedi, and it works fast! It works in less time than it takes you to convince yourself to buy another creamy pastel mint green polish, ha ha ha! If you want an easy, quick no-drama nail polish remover, grab thee a box ASAP.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

This or That: The Beauty Grab Bag Edition

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You never know what you’re going to get!

How to play

Pick one or the other for each of the questions below, and copy/paste your answers in the comments. Can’t wait to see your picks! Mine are listed below. ?

This or That: The Beauty Grab Bag Edition

  • Foundation, BB cream or CC cream?
  • Set with powder or set with a setting spray?
  • High beam highlights or a contour that could cut glass?
  • Color corrector — green, purple, blue or orange?
  • Touch-up time — do you use blotting paper or pressed powder?
  • Eyelash serum or eyebrow serum?
  • Neutral eyeshadow palette: Urban Decay Naked2 Basics Palette or Tarte Tartelette In Bloom Palette?
  • Liquid liner — flexible felt tip or stiff felt tip?
  • Brows — natural and defined OR full and bold?
  • Fragrance — floral or fresh?
  • More fragrance — warm and spicy OR earthy and woody?

Foundation, BB cream or CC cream?

BB cream, because it’s the sheerest option.

Set with powder or set with a setting spray?

Setting spray, please! I really love the one by Urban Decay.

High beam highlights or a contour that could cut glass?

Honestly, neither. But if forced to choose…I’d go with the highlights.

Color corrector — green, purple, blue, orange or peach?

Peach, please! I’d use just a touch on the inner corner of my eyes and on my upper lip.

Touch-up time — do you use blotting paper or pressed powder?

Blotting paper for the win. Shiseido makes a great one that I used to use back in the day!

Eyelash serum or eyebrow serum?

Eyelash serum, please and thank you.

Neutral eyeshadow palette — Urban Decay Naked2 Basics Palette or Tarte Tartelette In Bloom Palette?

I love both, but I like having the variety of finishes in the Tarte palette. A girl’s gotta have choices, ya know? ?

Liquid liner — flexible felt tip or stiff felt tip?

Flexible felt tip. It’s just so much easier for me to control.

Brows — natural and defined OR full and bold?

Natural and defined all the way!

Fragrance — floral or fresh?

I could use a floral right now, got any recs?

More fragrance — warm and spicy OR earthy and woody?

Earthy and woody; however, I don’t want to smell like dirt, LOL! Give me some mossy notes any day.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy Tuesday! ?

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 678

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perfect-rose-you are going to make it
I think you’re wonderful.

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?

    1. Brow pencil or brow gel?

    Pencil, please.

    2. Something you’d like to learn?

    I really want to learn how to golf! There are a few gals from the mother’s club in town who are taking group lessons this summer, and I think I’m going to join them. Well…if I can find a set of used or cheap golf clubs, that is. I had NO IDEA clubs were so expensive. OMG.

    I figured it would be a good way to exercise ye olde social skills (it’s been a while, and I’m sorely out of practice). Plus, I would get to be outside!

    3. One thing you look for in hair products?

    The scent, for sure. And I’m getting pickier! I really have to like how something smells, and it has to get the intensity of the fragrance juuuust right for me to like it now. I like a scent to be present, so you know it’s there, but it can’t pervade my every thought, if you know what I mean.

    4. What’s the best thing you can do for your skin, IYHO?

    Reapply that sunscreen, girlfriend! Do it every single day, and don’t be chintzy with it either. I do my first coat in the morning, then reapply at lunch. and then again in the late afternoon. When I’m good about it, I don’t tan — not one single bit (and I pick up color really easily). It took me years to figure this out. YEARS.

    Wish I had started doing it sooner!

    5. I’ve never met a (FILL IN THE BLANK) I didn’t like.

    I’ve never met a chonky tabby cat I didn’t like.

    I love me a tubby tabby!

    6. A nail polish you’d recommend to a friend?

    I recently picked up a mint green shade by Olive & June called KMC, and I like it a lot. Definitely give it a go!

    7. A special treat you only have every once in a while?

    Halo-halo, which is like the Filipino version of Hawaiian shave ice, but with many more ingredients and accoutrements up in the mix. It’s not the easiest thing to throw together at home because there are so many items involved, so I only get it every once in a blue moon when I visit my parents in the East Bay.

    I do love it, though, especially on hot days. It totally takes me back to my childhood!

    8. What’s the earliest you can wake up and still feel good?

    Under normal circumstances — that is, if I’m not waking up to catch an early flight to someplace awesome and tropical — assuming I went to bed at a decent time, then 6:30 a.m. is a good time for me.

    Technically, I can do 5:30 if I went to bed early the night before, but my body DOES NOT like to do that naturally.

    9. Have you ever gone on a cruise?

    Nah. I get seasick easily, so I’m not really into being on boats!

    Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

    Karen

    P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

    1. Brow pencil or brow gel?
    2. Something you’d like to learn?
    3. One thing you look for in hair products?
    4. What’s the best thing you can do for your skin, IYHO?
    5. I’ve never met a (FILL IN THE BLANK) I didn’t like.
    6. A nail polish you’d recommend to a friend?
    7. A special treat you only have every once in a while?
    8. What’s the earliest you can wake up and still feel good?
    9. Have you ever gone on a cruise?

    P.P.S. Hello, my beautiful friend. ? Because one can never say it enough to their gal pals, I think you’re the bee’s knees. Keep doing what you’re doing!

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 659

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“Late Arrival: A Tabs the Cat Adventure”

© COPYRIGHT 2021

To be blunt, Tabs was dog tired. His fur was uncharacteristically dull, his eyes slightly less glistening than usual, and the gravy on the flight was — less than inspired. Tabs planned to read his assistant the riot act for not arranging a better in-flight meal.

A bellman held the door open as Tabs strolled through into the lavish hotel lobby. Tabs silently noted that the bellman’s dress shirt was wrinkled and partially untucked. Hrmpf, he thought.

Without slowing, Tabs scanned the lobby as he entered the center of the large room and made eye contact with the one front desk associate behind the desk. Tabs veered on an intercept course.

“Hello, Mr. Tabs!” the man called enthusiastically. Tabs thought he saw the man’s eye twitch. “We weren’t expecting you, uh, to arrive so late.”

Tabs was immediately suspicious. His flight from Milan was delayed, so he didn’t land in San Francisco until almost midnight. By the time the limo dropped him off at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, it was 1:30.

“Yes, uh, sir,” the man at the front desk continued. Tabs narrowed his gaze. “I…we…it’s just that…we thought you weren’t going to make it tonight, so we, uh…”

Tabs felt his pulse quicken, and his whiskers tensed. Oh, don’t you even, he thought. A single word escaped from his lips. “Meow,” he said, letting the seriousness of his tone linger in the large empty room.

The front desk man visibly cowered. “Yes, sir, I understand, sir. Right away, sir, we will figure this out.”

The man picked up a telephone handset from the desk in front of him and emphatically pressed some buttons. “Yes, this is Michel at the front desk. Please ready the Chartreux Suite immediately. Mr. Tabs has arrived.”

There was a pause as the front desk man listened to someone on the other end of the line.

“I don’t care what you have to do,” the man turned his head to the side and forcefully whispered, “get the room ready now!”

Tabs sighed. His assistant, a woman with long black hair and black-framed glasses, stood behind him with a bellman’s cart, upon which sat a set of six large Luis Vuitton luggage bags. The woman looked down at Tabs, who met her eyes, and returned a gaze that said, “What!? Not my fault. Don’t look at me like that.”

Tabs looked away and growled under his breath. Good help is so hard to find.

“Sir?” the man at the front desk interrupted, calling toward Tabs. Tabs directed his attention toward the man. “Yes, your room is ready now, sir. I apologize on behalf of the Fairmont family of hotels. I’m not sure how this happened. It was a tragic mistake on someone’s part, but I assure you…it wasn’t mine. I would never…”

Tabs groaned, uninterested in the man’s excuses, and looked away.

“Here are your room keys,” the front desk man said and gestured toward a bank of elevators. Tabs’s assistant stepped forward and took the envelope containing the keys. “I’m sure you’ll find the room to your liking,” the front desk man said, smiling nervously.

“He better,” Tabs’s assistant said, echoing Tabs’s thoughts, as the two of them headed away toward the elevators. “He better.”

— THE END —

Rosie in Sonoma!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, May 15, 2021

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olive june kmc swatch
I’m wearing two layers of Olive & June Nail Polish in KMC, along with one layer of the Olive & June Top Coat

Hiya, happy Caturday from me and my freshly painted paws. ? Turns out that Olive & June Nail Polish in KMC is more of a mint green than a jade green, but I’m not mad at it, because I did this mani without wearing my glasses, so I was as blind as a bat (living on the edge!), and it still turned out OK. Good on you, Olive & June!

You can see the polish again in this pic, along with what will forever be known as “the baguette that crushed my cool French girl dreams…”

baker cook baguette
I love you, bread.

Case in point:

Yesterday I went to a local Sonoma spot called Baker & Cook and ordered a baguette, a lemon bar and a banana muffin. This loaf was in my possession for three whole minutes before I greedily gobbled down the exposed end.

IT WAS SO SOFT!

And so, so fresh… I couldn’t help myself.

It was then that I realized I would never be a chic French gal riding around on a bike with a baguette tucked neatly under her arm, because I would eat the bread before even getting on the damn bike, ha ha ha.

I hope you have some really delicious fresh bread this weekend, because let me tell ya, good bread is a revelation.

This week’s reading


Justine Bateman is a rock star.


This was very insightful.


Why am I not in a parking garage dancing with these guys?!


Yum.


Teach me your ways!


Let’s get organized.


Shake your groove thang.


Note to self…


More to add to the list

What’s the plan for the rest of the weekend?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Magic That Is the Samnyte Hair Finishing Stick, and a Friday Face of the Day With Bliss Block Star Sunscreen

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samnyte hair finishing stick
The thing I never realized I desperately needed! Also, please excuse my nails!

First of all, I took these pics in the garden of the place we’re staying at in Sonoma just as a bunch of dudes in man buns walked by…so if I’m looking slightly amused, that’s why. 🙂

Second, what sorcery IS this? Meet the best dang product ever to tame your cray-cray flyaways — the Samnyte Finishing Stick.

I’ve always struggled to tame those tiny baby hairs around my face. I’ve clipped ’em down, coated them with flexible paste, and sprayed the living sh*t outta them with hairspray, but all of those would-be solutions left me wanting; my hair still always ended up sticking up and out every which way. Plus, adding more product usually made my bangs and roots look greasier, heavier or flakier…

NOT A CUTE LOOK!

The Samnyte Finishing stick is a magic wand! It’s a clear, quick drying, extra strong hair gel in a tube with a curved mascara wand. Just a few quick strokes through my baby hairs, and each and every wayward flyaway lines up neatly in place.

samnyte finishing stick before
The before shot, with some stray hairs shooting through
samnyte hair stick review
Put a bit on the bangs…
samnyte hair stick review
And a touch here on the top of my head
samntye finishing stick after
And here is the after. So smooth!

Here’s the kicker: even though those baby hairs still get tossed around by wind and the occasional Legally Blonde bend and snap, they’ll eventually, more or less, fall back into place. I just pat them down with my finger or a little more of the gel if I have it around (since it’s shaped like a mascara wand, it’s portable).

The gel also dries to a matte finish, so your hair doesn’t end up looking all shiny and crunchy like those ‘80s hair bears. Added bonus? Two tubes are just $8 on Amazon. Me and my baby hairs are forever changed.

While we’re at it, I actually put on makeup!

Item #12 on the list of “All the Ga-Jillion Ways the Pandemic Changed Me” is that days (weeks?) would pass without me putting on any makeup. One unexpected bonus, though, to not wearing as much face paint was that I got so much better about wearing sunscreen.

In these pics I’m wearing two layers of Bliss Block Star, a tinted physical mineral sunscreen as my base! I used the “two finger rule,” which is when you squeeze two strips of sunscreen from the tip to the base of the index and middle fingers, to apply the first layer to my face and neck, waited 15 minutes for it to set, then applied a second layer, again using the two finger rule.

todays fotd products

The before shot!

honest beauty fotd may 14

Once the second layer set (I waited about 5 minutes), I applied eyeshadow, liner, blush, sheer under-eye concealer, brow pencil and liquid lipstick.

I haven’t worn this much makeup regularly in a while, and even though I know it wasn’t a lot compared to what I used to wear back in the day (like, 2019, HAHAHA), it still felt like a lot. Craziness.

BTW, I’m falling more and more in love with Bliss Block Star every day. If you’re looking for a super sheer base that leaves your skin smooth and matte, I think you’ll love it. All kinds of makeup seems to layer well on top of it, too — powder, gel, cream, liquid, you name it.

Like foundation or tinted moisturizer, though, you have to be careful about it getting on your clothes because it does have a tint. If I reapply it during the day (usually at lunch, and then again in the late afternoon), I use a different sunscreen on my neck and chest.

Right now my go-to of choice is Sun Bum SPF 70 Sunscreen Spray because it’s clear, so it doesn’t stain my shirts, and it feels light on my skin.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!!! 🙂

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