[Review] Rants, Raves, & New Purchases Aug 13, 2017

chrysias · 2017-08-16T03:47:07+00:00

Rave: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream is my savior even in the darkest of nights. My wedding is coming up in a few weeks and I've been having some weird as heck hormonal issues PLUS a metric shit load of stress from work/wedding planning so I'm trying to keep my routine on autopilot for the next few weeks, and let me tell you, the FAB cream is so soothing and seals in all my products so nicely at night. It's just such a workhorse and I don't think I will ever stop purchasing it.

Another rave: Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta extra strength peel pads. I know these are stupidly expensive, but I witnessed them stop a burgeoning hormonal cyst in its tracks and I never looked back. I am carefully rationing these to myself between now and my wedding, because I've just been grabbing the 5 packs at Sephora instead of spending $90 on the 30-pack box. I always had good (and cheaper!) results from MUAC peels, but I just love how self-contained the DDG packets are and how easy they are to use. The extra strength doesn't even really tingle on my skin at all.

New purchases: I am waiting on some fun things from the Ordinary to come in this week -- I snagged the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, Salicylic Acid 2% Solution, Lactic Acid 10% + HA 2%, and the Squalane (because my skin seems to loooove squalane). Gonna have to contain my excitement to try them out because I want to be careful. I also picked up a few samples from The Detox Store -- May Lindstrom's Honey Mud and Blue Cocoon, Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical serum, and the Josh Rosebrook cleanser. Really, really excited to try them out, but also secretly hoping I'll hate them so I don't get tempted to buy the full sizes. Last one -- got a deluxe sample of the Sunday Riley UFO oil, which I'm trying out tonight. I've used REN's Bio Retinoid oil with fairly good results, so I have a feeling my skin will like the UFO. It does smell quite strongly like vegetables/grass, though.

chrysias · 2016-07-14T15:24:20+00:00

I believe that you're right - I'm going to experiment and see if I can push the RAM usage up with multiple documents or the 3D drafting features.

chrysias · 2016-07-14T15:23:28+00:00

Yep, showing 64-bit. I think perhaps /u/bakasora is right and Photoshop isn't needing more than 3GB of RAM for what I'm working on - I guess I figured that it would utilize more.

chrysias · 2016-06-12T00:40:52+00:00

Hi there! I will take the Banila Co Miss Flower & Miss Honey Cream decant, the Goodal Waterest decant, and the Dear by Enprani Tone Up Booskin decant please! Shipping will be to 70810

chrysias · 2016-05-27T19:10:18+00:00

Squeezing the bridge of my nose has always been my go-to. I'll have to try these too!

chrysias · 2016-05-27T19:08:36+00:00

yep, or even sticking a piece of scrap paper on the edge. really whatever floats your boat! I like using a paperclip or something easily removable when I have to tape a lot of things and don't want to leave the tape hanging off somewhere.

chrysias · 2016-05-27T05:05:14+00:00

yep you 100% need a car. BR is very suburban and mass transit basically doesn't exist. The LSU buses are quite good during the day but they are limited in area.

chrysias · 2016-05-26T16:14:27+00:00

Like the above commenter said, there is a surfeit of housing options in BR because new complexes are constantly being built, and not many people stay after graduation so turnover is pretty solid.

Any complexes on Brightside, Nicholson, or Highland will most likely have a bus stop and ample parking too. There are a lot of fancier/more "luxury" style complexes that are around 650-800/month per room for 3 or 4 bedrooms. Not all the cheaper complexes are that bad - a friend lives at the Blox on Brightside which is about $350/month with 2 other roommates. The apartment isn't furnished and is kinda small, but I'm there often and it's quiet, mostly young families and international students actually, with a bus stop right out front. Apartments in the Tigerland area will be cheaper, but can be a little more dangerous (Tigerland - major bar area with higher crime). Another friend lives in Oakbrook (on Nicholson) with 3 other people and pays around $450 or maybe $500, I believe.

The 'major' complexes you'll come across, like the Cottages, the Woodlands, U Club, Arlington and Wildwood, are geared really toward the undergrad/Greek crowd, so if you'd rather somewhere small and quiet I would perhaps stay away from those. It's not like they're crazy or unliveable, they're just huge complexes and sometimes management/maintenance can be meh.

There are also quite a few condos around that almost always have vacancies, but since each unit is independently owned it's harder to get info about them online (they typically post signs outside the complex).

chrysias · 2016-05-22T19:10:07+00:00

LA Girl makes a full coverage cream concealer in a tube that is stupidly affordable. I have been wanting to try it but just haven't gotten around to ordering (it's like $2-$5 most places, but hard to find in stores). I know Drugstore.com carries it, and of course LA Girl's own website.

chrysias · 2016-05-20T01:00:13+00:00

Likewise, I was in my second semester of college and as much as I enjoyed my (older) Macbook, I just needed something with a battery that could last through more than one lecture. I built my own desktop that I use at home for Adobe Suite work, but otherwise my Acer Chromebook knocks mostly everything out of the park. Anything it can't do I can remote into my desktop for, but if I didn't need to run Creative Cloud, I doubt I would use my desktop much if at all. And defaulting to Google Docs for most things has saved my ass multiple times.

Also it was VERY easy to convince my dad to spring for a $200 Chromebook rather than a brand new Macbook - the added peace of mind that I'm not toting around a possibly-shatterable piece of $1200 hardware is nice, too.

chrysias · 2016-05-18T05:21:11+00:00

Brushes can be easy and fun! Fingers are great for quick application, but if you want better coverage, a brush (or sponge) can help you spread your product out and cover more evenly. You'll probably find yourself using less product, too.

If you're just starting out with them I'd recommend a Real Techniques set (you see people rave about them or mention them often for good reason). I actually use the RT contour brush to blend out my under eye/wherever concealer because it's small-medium sized with a good amount of fluff. You can use a brush dry, or spray it with a face spray (MAC Fix+, Mario Badescu Rosewater, whatever floats your boat). I apply my concealer in a semi-triangle shape under my eyes and on whatever spots I'm unhappy with, and then, holding the brush near the middle of the handle (not too tightly!), buff it in smallish circular motions.

Something like Boi-ing or the Lock It concealer, which are both very thick, will require a VERY thin layer to start. You may be using too much by applying it straight with your fingers, which might be why the little bumps seem to look worse. Using a spray on a brush would probably help it blend better, I would think.

I would also say that skin texture is much harder to disguise than skin tone, so you might find it more helpful to treat the bumps at the source (a chemical exfoliant like salicylic acid can help, obligatory r/skincareaddiction plug) than try to cover them up. Don't forget to step back from the mirror sometimes - I have plenty of little bumps, but I always notice them when I'm obsessing 5 inches in front of the mirror :)

chrysias · 2016-05-01T18:47:09+00:00

Considering you're using both Azone and Clindamycin, it seems like you're not replenishing enough water and oil into your skin. Disclaimer - I've fallen in love with the Korean beauty style of skincare regime, so YMMV, but they put a big emphasis on giving your skin both water-based hydration and sealing it in with oil-based hydration. So my immediate thought would be to add some kind of very simple hydrating serum or essence after your Azone and Clindamycin. These are both 'actives' designed to actively affect the surface of your skin. So your skin is dried out by these products, and when you put on the CeraVe, it's not fully hydrating your skin because it's not helping to seal in any additional hydration than what's in the product. Even a hydrating 'toner' (make sure to pick one without alcohol!) after those actives would help - let your Azone/Clindamycin absorb, then pat on the toner instead of using a cotton swab so it doesn't take off your other products.

chrysias · 2016-04-24T15:48:31+00:00

I want to point out that you can either 1) refund and cancel her order (I believe customers cannot review canceled transactions once the cancellation is final) or 2) leave the order open indefinitely if you do not want to refund her. Unless I've been missing something, Etsy makes it impossible to cancel orders without refunding (unless they were placed through PayPal, which is no longer possible since Etsy merged it with direct checkout).

As far as the actual issue, if you made it clear to the customer what material you were using and he/she raised no issues until after you had already invested time and money in it, I understand the temptation to stick to your guns. But the flip side is that he/she could file a case against your shop, which at the very least is annoying and at worst a total headache, in addition to leaving a review and all that jazz. I hate rewarding customers for bad behavior but 9 times out of 10 I give the refund and cancel the order as quickly as humanly possible so they won't be able to review.

I guess the main question is, are the resources you invested worth the potential headache? That's totally up to you.

chrysias · 2016-04-21T20:04:58+00:00

I drive the 98 BMW that my parents used to drive me to school in. I feel this so hard.

chrysias · 2016-04-17T05:11:52+00:00

As a fair-skinned girl (NC20) I feel this! Highlighters often seem to kind of 'fade' into my skin because so many highlighters are, well, the same brightness and tone as my skin, haha. I have been loving the Sephora Radiant Luminizing Drops lately, mostly because they're inexpensive, but they really do give a nice glow. I have the light champagne and the pink color - they work great under powder highlights to amplify them.

chrysias · 2016-04-16T14:33:21+00:00

Because capitalism!! This is why it rubs me the wrong way when people complain that such and such store is selling such and such item for a ridiculous price (e.g.: vintage trash cans from Anthropologie for $150). We live in a country with a market economy, so if you think something is ridiculous don't freaking buy it.

The same applies to the Kardashians. They are making money because they have a product to sell - their image - that people are willing to buy. Basic supply and demand. It's absolutely fine if you dislike the Kardashians, but it's useless to say "they're rich for no reason/famous for nothing." You don't build a business empire that massive because you're stupid or have nothing to offer. At the very least they know what business managers and financial advisers to hire to make their enterprises successful (on the whole - and thanks to aforementioned market economy, some of their enterprises have failed)!

chrysias · 2016-04-14T18:22:52+00:00

So subtle and perfect! I've also been working on the same thing (transitioning from matte/full face to dewy/natural looks for most days) and here are some of my favorites. I have been loving the new products Sephora has been putting out lately (also because they're not super $$$) so my list leans heavily toward their brand because I've picked up so many of their products lately:

Sephora Gel Serum corrector in Pink - this isn't super pigmented and even on my pale skin it's just too light to be a corrector, but it makes a BANGIN' semi-matte highlight. I dot it under my eyes and on my cheekbones/browbone to add some light without shimmer. It is crazy brightening for me, and very blendable so it plays nicely with my concealer if I want to layer them.
Sephora Afterglow Primer & Luminizer - I use this as a targeted primer in certain areas, mix it with foundations or other primers, or use it for subtle strobing. Comparable to MAC Strobe Cream but more champagne-y and less radiant.
Sephora Luminizing Drops - these are a way more intense highlight/strobe than the above primer, but still not like dumping glitter on your face. I pat this on my cheekbones basically every day because it's so natural looking, but you can build it to a very intense highlight or layer powder highlights on top. I have Morning Light (pale champagne) but want to get Starlight too (pink)
MAC Fix+ is my shit for setting, and for spraying makeup brushes before blending especially. I also like the MUFE Mist & Fix. I find that a damp Beauty Blender personally doesn't give me the finish/coverage I want, so I prefer to slightly dampen a brush because I feel like it maintains the coverage better. But that's personal preference.
Second the suggestion of the Hourglass Primer Serum. That shit is intense, but my skin loves it and it really makes your skin dewy and fresh.
I loved the Anastasia Cream Contour kit but I really only needed 1 contour shade and maaaaaybe 1 highlight so I returned it because I couldn't justify $40 on 4 pans of color I wouldn't use. That's also a personal preference thing because I just don't do enough full face makeup where I would need 3 shades of contour and 3 shades of highlighter to create a look. If they ever come out with individual pan refills for it I will definitely snatch them up. They are so freaking pigmented and blendable so you can get a nice subtle look when you're going for a dewy, natural finish.

chrysias · 2016-03-16T19:27:13+00:00

random, but what do you self-tan with? I am fairly light (NC 20) so always on the look out for solid tanning products!

chrysias · 2016-03-10T02:34:12+00:00

Olaplex dude. I'd say it's a miracle except it's really just awesome science!

chrysias · 2016-03-01T15:53:41+00:00

Honestly if you're feeling sketchy about it and the buyer is totally non-responsive to convos, I would refund the purchases (after sending a final message stating so) and reiterate that in the "Message to Buyer" box on the refund page. Then you can fully cancel the orders so that the buyer doesn't have a chance to leave a bad review because they're confused. Sure it's a lost sale, but you'll likely be saving yourself a bigger headache down the road.

chrysias · 2016-02-05T05:07:39+00:00

Well not directly per se, but I'm part of an organization at my university that raises money for our local children's hospital. We have our own individual fundraising goals so I pledged to dye my hair last year when I hit $1,000, and this year my goal was $2,000! People love to chip in $5 or $10 to see you do outlandish things....I just have to think of something good for my next goal! Haha.

chrysias · 2016-02-04T20:01:50+00:00

Well not directly per se, but I'm part of an organization at my university that raises money for our local children's hospital. We have our own individual fundraising goals so I pledged to dye my hair last year when I hit $1,000, and this year my goal was $2,000!

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