Can you believe we're already in 2023? Well, call me Ripley because it's here whether you believe it or not!
With the end of 2022 also comes the end of my first-ever beauty and clothing low buy. I started this in February as a way to intentionally curb my spending and be more intentional about what I buy. I posted my plans/intro post in February, and my midpoint check-in came in July. As of July, I was doing really well within my criteria, and I was actually way below my set purchasing limits. Now that we're here at the year-end (actually 11-month) finale, let's see how my makeup, skincare, nail polish, and clothing low buy actually went!
0 Comments
Another year has passed, and it's time for a yearly favorites post! Both in my general life and my beauty consumption, 2022 brought some old, some new. Read on to see what stood out for me in the worlds of makeup, skincare, and nail polish this past year.
10/16/2022 0 Comments Saving My Dry, Flaky SkinI’ve always had a dry skin type throughout my entire life, but this year, I’ve especially struggled with my dry skin. For the span of several months, through this past winter and spring, my forehead was consistently dry no matter what I did to it. I had a brief month of repose, then in the summer, which ironically is usually the best time for my skin, swaths of my face were incredibly -- and frankly disgustingly -- flaky, the worst it's ever been in my memory.
Now, after implementing some tweaks to my skincare routine, I was finally able to see improvement in my skin! It has been an absolute journey, so here are those skincare products and habits that have been helping me out. Hopefully, they'll help you too if you’re struggling with dry, flaky skin. 7/14/2022 0 Comments Mutually Creative: @ellessentially_ -- Playfulness in Beauty, Content Creator vs. Influencer, and (Content Creators’) Workers’ RightsIn this new series, I interview one of my internet mutuals about their makeup, fashion, or whatever cool, creative thing it is that they do. While some of them may consider themselves to be "influencers," many of them are everyday people who happen to have a skill and a hobby with a platform. However they self-identify, let's dig a little deeper into their creativity and style in "Mutually Creative."
Out of all my Instagram mutuals, Elle of @ellesentially_ is one of the most "professional" as a content creator. With an impressive resume of beauty brand partnerships including Glow Recipe (skincare), Cirque Colors (nail polish), and L.A. Girl Cosmetics (makeup), she has built up a portfolio of work which she was actually paid real, American dollars to produce -- because exposure does not pay Sallie Mae.
Elle is probably best recognized for her macro shots and satisfying texture close-ups, but I also know her as someone who advocates for fair treatment of creators from beauty brands. Every so often, she will post on her IG story the exact rate information she sends to brands, putting on for public display the exact dollar amount she charges for content. From across the country via Zoom, we talked about being playful with beauty and beauty content, the role of content creators in marketing and consumerism, and her efforts in trying to get paid fairly by brands for her work. Back in early February, I posted my beauty (makeup, skincare, nail polish) and clothing low buy plans for 2022. A "low buy" is an intention that some people set out -- particularly in the minimalism and project panning beauty communities, at least from what I've seen -- to try and regain control of their purchasing habits. For me, my two goals were 1) to reduce spending and 2) to be more conscious about my purchasing habits.
A reason why I published a post detailing my low buy criteria, other than for ContentTM, was to try to hold myself accountable by publicly documenting/averring my plans. Now that we are halfway through the year, I am here to check back in and let you all know how I've been doing with my low buy! Through the years, I've noticed something about myself: as I naturally flip from hobby to hobby, I don't necessarily spend less money or become more of a conscious consumer. When I drift from and subsequently spend less money on one particular hobby, I simply divert those funds to a different hobby. For the past several years, this has happened when bobbing between makeup, nail polish, and fashion. I really hope to break this habit. First of all, I'm a college student who is fortunate enough at the present moment to not need to worry about paying too my own living expenses, but that's not going to last for too much longer. Before I have too many Real Adult Responsibilities, I want to create healthy financial/consumer habits for myself that I can carry into my Real Adult Life. Second, it's just not environmentally or socially responsible. Consumerism inherently generates waste, and there will always be social repercussions because we ~live in a society~. I want to be a "conscious consumer" (whatever that actually means), and I hope to promote that on the internet and in life in general, but it's hypocritical if I myself don't necessarily do the best with intentional consumption. Yes, I find joy in my hobbies and all of the pretty things that come with those hobbies, but consumerism shouldn't be an essential aspect of that joy. My two general goals for my low buy are: In being "public" with my low buy plans, I hope that this will help me hold myself more accountable throughout the year!
1/29/2022 0 Comments 2021 Best in Beauty: My Favorite Makeup, Skincare, and Nail Products from the Past Year
Hey, it's been a while, beauty people! Turns out I do indeed have a life outside of my small corner of the internet. Nonetheless, let's go on to my 2021 best in beauty: my makeup, skincare, and nail favorites from the last year!
Just as I did with last year's favorites, I won't be listing a product for every single category, and this won't be a "most used" list. Instead, I'll only be including the products that truly ~sparked joy~. As such, I'll be omitting many categories from this compilation, and some categories will have multiple products. For each product, I will be indicating what year I bought it and if it was a repeat favorite from 2020. I think this is always interesting to see when I read/watch other people's yearly favorites. The online beauty space -- consumers, brands, and our consumerist culture as a whole -- has a tendency to latch onto new releases and immediately discard older products: with what's considered "old" becoming younger and younger with each no release. I'm no minimalist by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope to combat that crow brain, "ooh new shiny thing" mentality just a little bit. Click here for my 2020 favorites All prices listed are in USD at the time of writing. They are not affiliate links, only for your own convenience, because I am but a common man. 2/23/2021 0 Comments Morning & Nighttime Skincare Routine for Dry Skin 2021 (Mostly Cruelty-free & Affordable)I'm sure that many of you out there are deciding to get started with a skincare routine (or maybe just want some ~inspiration~ on new products to try). However, with the wealth of information (including pseudoscience misinformation!), it can be incredibly overwhelming to try to figure out what you do and don't "need" to include in your own skincare routine.
Ultimately, every single person's skin is different, so everybody's "perfect" skincare routine will be different. Plus, your skin's needs naturally vary with the changing weather, your surrounding environment, alterations to your lifestyle, etc., so even your "perfect" skincare routine won't always be "perfect" for you. Nonetheless, as someone with dry skin as my primary skin concern (and acne as my secondary concern), I hope to give you a place to start by sharing my personal skincare routine of mostly cruelty-free and drugstore products. I do these routines each morning and evening. EXTRA DISCLAIMER: A true basic skincare routine is cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen (in the mornings). I have a pretty extensive routine, but I've been on this ~skincare journey~ for several years now. So, I know my skin's needs, and I know my willingness to spend a lot of time on my routine every morning and night. This amount of product really isn't "necessary" for everybody. Ultimately, the best skincare routine is the one that you'll do every day! 1/12/2021 0 Comments 2020 Best in Beauty: My Favorite Makeup, Skincare, and Nail Products from the Year
Hello, everyone, and welcome to 2021!
As we enter this brand new year, I wanted to reflect on the previous one and all of the makeup, skincare, and nail Stuff that I used -- specifically my favorites of this Stuff. You may notice that several categories are missing, and some categories have multiple products. To choose these products, I didn't go category to category -- primer to foundation to concealer, etc. -- but rather chose the products from my collection that truly sparked joy for me in 2020. As such, I didn't select from categories where I didn't have a product that truly wowed me like the rest of the things on this list do, even for categories that I use almost every single day like brow gel. Consequently, this is a "beauty favorites of 2020" and not a "most used products of 2020." I also included what year I first got the product. A majority of these 2020 favorites weren't purchased in 2020; 2020 purchases make up 30% (7/23) of this list, 2019 makes up 43% (10/23), and 2018 -- the first year I got into makeup -- makes up 26% (6/23)*. One could argue that this means the 2020 additions to my collection were not wise investments, but I like to see it as my past purchases standing up to the test of time -- and not treating my beauty products as disposables, only fun while they're still shiny and new. Unless otherwise specified, all of these products are cruelty free! *These percentages are all rounded to the nearest whole number, which is why they don't add up to 100%, haha. |
about @glowyminoI have dry skin and very dry and textured lips. I also have a medium-light skintone (somewhere in the realm of NC25-30) with strong warm yellow/olive undertones. I have a tendency to prefer a glowy, lightweight base and color cosmetics in shades of a warm undertone. Read more about me in the about page! Archives
July 2023
CategoriesPost TagsAll 40s Fashion 50s Fashion 60s Fashion 70s Fashion 90s Fashion Academia Fashion Accessories Acure Adept Cosmetics Adventure Style Ana Luisa @ap_archives BAIT Footwear Beauty Industry Becca Cosmetics Blazers Blend Bunny Cosmetics Blouses Blush Bottoms Brow Gel Brow Pencil Brows Burt's Bees Button-ups Catkin Cirque Colors "clean Beauty" Clionadh Cocokind Collectif Colourpop Concealer Content Creation Corduroy Pants Cosrx Cottagecore Cruelty Free Beauty Cuticula Dandy Lion Cosmetics @deerestdiary.makeup @definitely_not_kayleeeeee Depop Devinah Cosmetics Different Dimension Dresses Edwardian Fashion Elf Cosmetics @ellessentially_ Em Cosmetics @ethanmwong Ethereal Lacquer Eyeliner Eyeshadow Face Primer Fashion Fashion Sustainability Favorites Femme Fatale Flower Beauty Foundation Fourth Ray Beauty Goodwill Guides Hair Highlighter Hobbitcore Indie Makeup Indie Nail Polish INNBeauty Jumpsuits KBShimmer Kotn KVD Beauty @lil_jo__ Lip Gloss Lipstick Looxi Beauty Low Buy Lumen Nails Mainstream Nail Polish Makeup Makeup And Feminism Makeup Brushes Mascara Mehron Meta @mgetsdressed Milani Mutually Creative Nailcare Nail Polish NBM @noopur_makeup Not Perfect Linen NYX Cosmetics One/Size Organization Orly Outerwear Pahlish Peach & Lily Penelope Luz Personal Style Phytosurgence Polish Pickup Poshmark Powder Princesscore Pur Cosmetics Quixotic Polish Rael Beauty Range Beauty @ratboar Real Techniques Reviews Secondhand Fashion Shine By SD Cosmetics Shoes Shorts Simply Posh Cosmetics Skincare Skirts Storybook Summer Fridays Swatches Sweaters Sydney Grace @tastefulcringe Terra Moons Cosmetics @tesschung The Inkey List The Ordinary Thrifted Fashion Top Coat Tops Tower28 Trousers Unique Vintage Urban Decay Victorian Fashion Vintage Fashion Vivien Of Holloway Vixen By Micheline Pitt @watermelonflesh Youth To The People |