Beauty: Recent Purchases.

 I've been pretty boring with my makeup lately but I have managed to buy a couple of new things I'm happy with, after doing a thorough makeup bag clean-out in which I tossed a lot of old crap. Marianne would be proud of me! She's always horrified at my using makeup that's more than, like, four days old. ANYWAY. I wanted a new cream blush and had heard great things about Rare Beauty Soft Pinch so I trotted over to Sephora and checked it out. I wanted a color that would give me a really natural flush and ended up with this:

This stuff is kind of amazing, y'all. The color is super natural, little goes a long way and it STAYS PUT. I am really impressed! It's also not crazy expensive, which I appreciate. I'll definitely be checking out more from this brand. (What can't Selena Gomez do?)

I should also mention that I got a deluxe sample of the Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm and I really like it. It does an amazing job of removing makeup and sunscreen and felt really good. I don't know that I'll rush to replace the balm I'm currently using, but this one is a contender. 

I threw away my old makeup sponge and bought a new one by Real Techniques, a brand Marianne told me about. They're way less expensive than Beauty Blender and they work exactly the same. Before this I'd been using a sponge from Wander Beauty, maker of my favorite mascara, and it's quite good too. I mean, they're all just lil sponges. I do find that Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap works wonderfully when cleaning makeup brushes and sponges, which I think I've mentioned before. 

I recently impulse-purchased this set of metal face thingies and I am not sure this was something I truly needed in my life, but they're kind of fun? The big ball roller thing feels really nice and I use the smaller one to apply eye cream - it feels soothing and seem to help de-puff a bit. It was mostly a stupid purchase for things I didn't really need, but if you want a frivolous treat, you could do worse. Oh, also! I use the spoony ends to scoop out products that come in tub form - my eye cream and Jones Road foundation, specifically. It's much nicer than dipping my fingers in and getting crap under my fingernails. Bleh.

And finally! I ordered a sample kit from Riddle Oil and I've been having a great time with it. You get a little rollerball bottle of all seven of their scents in a very fancy little box and I honestly like most of them a lot. The Original and the Sphinx are a little confusing because they're only base notes - this means they don't smell like anything until you put them on your skin and wait a bit for them to activate. (They explain it with too many words here.) Anyway, they're all very subtle and wearable. Also, you can get $10 off your first order through my link! (full disclosure: I also get $10 credit.) I can't test to see if this discount works on the sample sets, so let me know if you try it!