June Wrap-Up

After last month’s broken camera hiatus, I challenged myself to blog every day in June, and I’m really happy to say that I did it! I also posted my first in depth comparison of all my eyeshadows in a color family and it was really well received, so I want to keep doing more!

Reviews: I reviewed two collections, Always With Me from Baroque, which I did five looks for, and Brilliant Deductions from Aromaleigh, which was so big it needed eight looks. I also swatched and compared ten of my gold eyeshadows.

Looks: I posted a ton of looks this month, 33 total. 13 from the two reviews I did, one for the IMAM planet collaboration and 19 regular face of the days. My favorite looks this month were:

• My peachy coral look, with Hello Waffle Fey, Notoriously Morbid Shoes to Kill For and Shiro’s Gelato Beach and It’s Called Love. I love anything that makes my eyelids look like a peachy.
• Both of my birthday looks! The gold eyes and pinky purple lips I did in the morning and the turquoise and champagne winged liner look I did in the evening.
• The grey and red look I did a tutorial for, using shadows from Aromaleigh’s Brilliant Deductions collection.
• The surprisingly wearable Nickelodeon slime green look, look number 1 from my review of Baroque’s Always With Me collection, which the first time I used Kae Q’s Sapodilla to lighten a too-bright lip color, a trick I love.
• Gold eyeshadow! Not only did I compare all my golds this month, I used them as the centerpiece in three different looks.

Empties: I’m getting ready to move next month, so I have a lot of things that got finished up all at once, and a few that are just barely hanging on. I finished 9 full sizes, 4 minis and 12 foils. 25 empties is definitely a record for me!

• Ten Three Labs Salve Stick in Holiday Spirits: My first indie empty! I really like Ten Three’s salve stick formula. It’s an in-between formula that works for me during the day if I apply a thin layer or overnight if I slather it on. This one was supposed to smell like spiked eggnog, but the scent didn’t quite hit it for me. It was like a minty bubblegum version of eggnog, which was a little weird. But my other salve sticks have better scents, so I’ll keep using them in different scents.
• Benefit Silky Finish Lipstick in Rocketpop: This was the first lipstick I really was into. It’s a rosy cinnamon color, but the formula is very, very slippery, in a way that makes it move around on your lips. It was discontinued a while ago, and I picked up a back up then, but now that I have more experience with make up, I don’t think it’s that special. I do have a soft spot for it though, cuz it was the first nice make up I bought myself, back when I was in college.
• Lush Honey Trap: I really liked this lip balm. It’s my favorite for sticking eyeshadow to my lips, since it’s thicker and waxy, but it still moisturizes well, so I liked it as a nighttime balm. It has a nice not too strong honey scent too. I would definitely repurchase this.
• Lush Eau Roma Water: This is my all time favorite toner. I spray it on after I wash my face before my lotion, and it makes my skin feels nice and my lotion apply more evenly. I’m not 100% sure what exactly it does, but my skin feels better with it than without it, so I’ll keep using it. Its smell is slightly rosy, but less strong than rosewater. The big bottle last approximately forever too. I will definitely replace this. It’s my HG toner. (I also really like spraying it on my body before putting on sunscreen. It helps it spread and absorb better.)
• Kiehl’s Blue Herbal Spot Treatment: I love this stuff. I think I’ve bought three or four tubes over the years. It’s effective at making my pimple clear up faster.
• Burt’s Bees Sensitive Night Cream: I like this, but it’s a little thin for an overnight cream for me. It’s absolutely perfect for layering over a serum or face oil, though. If I ever find a serum I love, I will definitely buy this again to layer on top. It also comes in a surprisingly weighty glass jar for something I bought at Target.
• Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser: I first used this in middle school, I think, and I still like it. It’s not an every day cleanser for me, but I like using it for a deep clean once a week or so or if I’m really dirty, like after a dusty run. It’s also great to use before putting on a mask. It’s got a nice tingly cooling sensation, but doesn’t irritate my skin at all. When I use it regularly I definitely get fewer blackheads on my nose
• The Body Shop Satsuma Body Butter: If you’ve been paying attention to my empties, you know I love Satsuma. However, it doesn’t translate super well into the body butter format. It takes on a weird plasticky quality. This is one of the normal skin body butters and I really like the texture for my hands and feet before bed, but it works for the rest of my body too. But I wouldn’t buy this scent again.
• The Body Shop Mango Body Butter: I also love the Body Shop’s Mango scent. It very tropical and fruity with a hint of floral. This one is for very dry skin, so it’s richer than the Satsuma. It leaves a slight sheen to my skin after I apply it, so I usually stick to using it as a before bed hand and foot cream, or for extra dry elbows when it’s cold. This is one I have repurchased.
• The Body Shop Satsuma Hand Cream: More Satsuma! I love the scent in this, but the cream is not creamy enough for me. I like a thick hand cream, and this one is thin, with a slightly gel-like texture.
• L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream: This was a nice, thick texture, but the smell reminded me of diaper cream and old ladies. I like L’Occitane’s hand cream formula, but now I know I need to be careful about what scents I choose.
• L’Occitane Verbena Body Lotion: I love the scent of this. It’s very zesty and lemony, but it’s almost like there’s a hint of lime. Unfortunately, the formula doesn’t do much in terms of actual moisturizing.
• Greenwich Bay Trading Co. Lemon Verbena Shea Butter Soap: This is the third soap from this company I’ve used now, and my least favorite. The formula still makes a good hand soap, but I like my lemon verbena scents to be sharper and more citrusy. This was definitely more floral than lemon.
• Bliss Triple Oxygen +  C Energizing Cream: This is a very thin, runny lotion with a slight orange scent. It was prone to separating. It felt nice on my face, but it was very, very light.
• Bumble and Bumble Surf Foam Wash and Creme Rinse: I used these together, so I can’t isolate what came from which product. The both have a nice, slightly generic aquatic smell, like I would expect from a nice quality ocean candle. They cleaned and conditioned my hair just fine. Afterwards, my hair was tanglier than usual the first day, but once I combed it out and let it dry, it looked really nice for several days afterwards, longer than with my usual shampoo and conditioner. So overall I liked it, but I don’t really buy expensive hair stuff, so I wouldn’t purchase it myself.
• Soap and Glory The Righteous Body Butter: I hated this. It smelled very strong and floral in a gross way and it didn’t moisturize well. I did not even finish my sample.
• Caudalie Vinosource Overnight Recovery Oil: I think might be too much for my skin. It smelled enough, in a gentle floral way, but it didn’t really help my skin. It didn’t break it out, exactly, but it brought a few tiny bumps to the sruface and made my forehead seem less smooth. Not for me.
• Caudalie Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet: Like the overnight oil, it wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t the right fit for my skin. I wouldn’t use it again, but I didn’t hate it. There’s just a lot out there that works better for me.
• Caudalie Premier Cru The Eye Cream: Yet another eye cream that I liked fine, but which was nothing special. I din’t look up how much it was, but I’m sure it’s more than I would be willing to pay for it.
• Sunday Riley Good Genes Treatment: I tried using this as a serum and it itched so much I washed it off. As a mask it fared slightly better, but was still a little bit stingy/unpleasant feeling to wear, and didn’t do anything to visibly improve my skin, so I wouldn’t use it again.
• Formula X Quench Cuticle Oil: This was my first time using a cuticle oil, and I think I like it better than cuticle cream or butter. This has a delicious cherry candy scent that made me want to smell my fingers after using it. But it’s kind of expensive, so I’ll probably try out an indie cuticle oil instead of buying this.
• MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation in NC20: I got a sample of this from a MAC counter when I went to get matched. It’s yellower than I prefer my foundation to be, so I need to use only a tiny bit of it on a clean brush to get it to blend into my skin nicely. The formula is very dewy, with slightly more coverage than my usual Face and Body. It’s also the same price for a quarter of the amount, so there’s no way I’m buying this.
• Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original: This has become my go to eyeshadow primer. It’s a thicker formula, but it doesn’t show up on my lids, which I like. I’ve already bought a full size.
• Diamond Wipes Cleansing and Makeup Remover Towelette: I have no idea where my mom got these, but I actually like them. I almost never use makeup remover wipes, but these removed most of my makeup and didn’t feel scratchy or irritate my skin.

Orders: I kind of bought all the things in June. It was my birthday month and I’m finishing up the end of my time abroad, so I was feeling generous with myself. I ordered from seven new-to-me brands (including being one of the very first orders for a new-to-everyone shop), and several shops that I already know I like. I also picked up my first indie pressed palette, from Baroque, and I’m really excited to play with it. But because of my prodigious ordering in June, I’m officially declaring it Low Buy July. I have two planned purchases I’m going to make and a small LE contingency fund, for if something limited edition that I really want is released. But beyond that no purchases, unless I finish up a staple product and need to replace it (which is a possibility for powder and concealer, which I’m running low on, but I think they’ll be able to hold out til August), or if the one polish brand I’ve been waiting for a sale from has a sale (and even then, I only want two bottles).

Goals: Next month I’m going to be traveling a bunch, so I’ll be on the road for three weeks straight. I want to keep wearing make up at least some of the time, and I’m going to try to still update the blog at least a couple times a week. I’ve got a few posts saved up and ready to go which should make that easier. And I’m sticking to my low buy!

How was June of you? Do you have any beauty goals for July?