Maybelline Fit Me Foundation: Initial Thoughts

When I first put on this foundation, I didn't like it at all.  It doesn't offer the level of coverage I'm looking for, but still somehow managed to look caked up with a pretty light application.  I probably could have built it up until I had more coverage, but I didn't want to risk it. It was also a little too "dewy" looking for my taste.  I already have a naturally oily t-zone so I don't want anything adding unnecessary shine in that area.  

By the way, I did prime my face with some primer by Revlon that I can't remember the name of right now, so the foundation had something to stick to and my skin was supposed to be more evened out and whatnot.  I've never had a problem with that primer so we're not going to focus on that. After applying the foundation I concealed with Maybelline Dream Mousse concealer, and finished with Loreal Hydra Perfect translucent setting powder.  For my eyes, I did a simple winged eyeliner with black gel liner by Pixi, and applied Hard Candy's Lash Call lengthening mascara to my upper and lower lashes.

After all that, I had to stop and look at my face to decide if I really liked how it looked.  I decided, this foundation isn't absolutely terrible, but if you have any issues with your skin, whether it be oily, dry, broken out, or anything more severe than slight discoloration, this foundation will probably be a disappointment.  The coverage and blendability just isn't there.  I don't buy department store makeup, so I know there are plenty of drug store foundations that have this one completely beat.  I just really think Maybelline could have done a lot better.

I don't think I would ever be able to wear this foundation by itself so I don't see myself reaching for this very often.  I may end up just selling it on the blog or something.  I'll post pictures in a little while, so check back and don't forget to click follow at the top left corner of the page, next to the search box. :)

Shea Butter + Twist Out + Greenhouse Effect = Fail... Sort Of

Ok, so it might not be a complete and total fail, but my hair isn't exactly how I would have liked it to be today.  But that's my own fault.  I used a little too much of my whipped shea butter to seal my hair when I did my twists last night, and all the condensation created from the greenhouse effect left my hair damp when I unwrapped it this morning.  I didn't have enough time to let my hair fully dry before I unraveled the twists, so it's really puffy from that and the fact that there's too much shea butter in my hair.  But it's SUPER soft, so my hands keep finding their way up to my head to play with my hair. Lol

I think I'm going to spritz my hair with some water and then add a little gel to it tonight when I re-twist it to see if that takes away some of the uber frizziness.  As always, I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, here are some pics of my hair today.  Thoughts?

How I Did My Hair Today

Ok, so yesterday I was in my kitchen mixing up a few different things and ended up creating a very fluffy whipped shea butter.  It spreads very easily and can be used on both hair and body.  What I like most about it is that it only takes a few minutes to fully absorb into my skin and doesn't leave me feeling greasy afterward.  Once I finished making it, I decided that I wanted to try using just the shea butter whip and some of my favorite conditioner as a leave in to style my hair.  I've been wearing twist outs for the past few days and decided to do one again today.

So, last night, after detangling and conditioner-washing my hair, I divided my hair into four sections and added Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Conditioner followed by the shea butter for each.  Then I just started twisting.  I put anywhere from 15 to 18 medium size twists in my hair (I wasn't counting) and let them air dry during the night.  This morning, I took the twists out and separated and fluffed the curls.  Voila!  I'm really liking my hair today and I'll definitely be using my whipped shea butter more often.  What do you guys think??

I Want A New E-Reader!!!

Some of you may not know what an e-reader is, although they're becoming increasingly popular so that number is probably very small.  But here's a quick overview just in case.  An e-reader, e-book reader, or e-book is an electronic device made to read books on.  Typically these devices use E Ink technology for the screens, which means there is actual ink on the inside of the device with no back lighting to reduce eye strain and evoke a real reading experience.  These are different from tablets in that they are meant to be reading devices, not little computers.

The e-book reader pictured above is the Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch reader.  Or, more simply, the Nook 2.  Barnes and Noble has two different Nooks on the market right now, one being the one pictured and the other being the Nook Color, which is closer to being a tablet than an e-book, in my opinion.  The screen on the Nook Color is not E Ink, just a regular LCD instead.  It's got a lot of nice features, not necessarily centered around reading.

My First Generation Nook, with a pretty multicolored leopard print skin.

I actually own the first generation Nook, the predecessor to the Nook Simple Touch, which sported both an E Ink screen and an LCD touch screen.  The touch screen was used to control the device and the E Ink screen was where you viewed all the content.  I really liked my e-reader for about the first year that I owned it but now the new kid is on the block and it's catching my eye.  Barnes and Noble made some great improvements to the Nook with the Simple Touch and it's making me give mine a side eye.  Even though mine is so cute!!  Now I just want to newer, slimmer, faster, lighter version of the device I have.  Anyone wanna drop $139 to get me one?? :-D

Don't You Hate It When...

So, I just walked into my bathroom and noticed that my paddle brush was out of place.  I noticed the same thing yesterday but I figured my sister just needed to get to something behind it or something.  So, I moved it back to where it belonged, but it's out of place again today.  I'm someone who doesn't like to have my things touched by others without giving my permission because I don't want to find something of mine in a place it doesn't belong.  I just think it speaks to how much respect you have for other people's property when you can't even do the simple thing of putting it back in its proper place once you are done using it.

But I take a whole other issue when it comes to beauty products.  Unless it's a gel or cream or something like that, I don't share my hair tools.  Especially something like my brush.  When I gave it a close inspection today, I saw that a bunch of my sister's hair was in my brush intermingled with my own... >__<  Needless to say, I was not happy.  It was obvious she had used my brush because her hair is bleached and heat damaged, whereas mine is virgin and still has its original curl pattern.  Why on earth would I want someone else's hair sitting in my brush, adding to the amount of hair I have to clean, and making it more difficult to discern how much hair I'm losing??  That's just disgusting to me.  Not to mention rude!

We have a million different brushes in this house.  Why is it that you feel the need to take mine and use it as if it's your own without a second thought?  Is it just because it's in the bathroom we share?  If that's the case, let me make it very clear that I do not share hair brushes.  It's unsanitary and makes it difficult to determine if I'm losing my normal amount of hair or not.  I don't want to have to account for your hair along with mine.  It didn't come from my head, so it shouldn't be in my brush.  Use your own!!!

That is all.

I've Found A New Love

Ok, so I seriously never thought I would say anything like this... But I have found a gel that I like even more than the Eco Stylers!  I know, I know, that shouldn't be possible.  Everyone pretty much raves about the Eco Styler gels and how they provide excellent hold and never fail them, blah blah blah.  You might get an occasional negative or just not so great review every now and then, but the Eco Styler gels have a pretty solid reputation.  And my thoughts on them were no exception to the rule.  So no one is more surprised than me that there's a gel I prefer over them now.

I first heard about La Bella styling gel on the forums of naturallycurly.com.  As might be expected, I was a little skeptical of the rave review given to the gel.  I thought, "Well I've already found my Holy Grail gel, so I don't really need to try anything else."  But then I was browsing through the beauty aisles in Target and I happened upon a huge tub of the stuff.  40 ounces for under $3.  When I realized it was the gel I'd heard about on the forum, I thought "Why not try it?  The worst that can happen is I won't like it and then I wasted less than three dollars."

So I took it home and used it just like I use Eco Styler, over Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and under extra virgin olive oil...  Loves, when I say this is the best gel I have ever used, hands down I am not exaggerating.  First, let me start with the smell.  This gel has a watery, fresh smell that isn't offensive in the least.  It can be mixed with probably any product and do just fine.  The texture is also kind of watery to me. It isn't the thinnest gel on the market by any means, but when you're used to the rather thick, sticky consistency of Eco Styler gels, almost any other gel is kind of watery by comparison.

As for definition, this gel gives me definition - dare I say it - even better than that of the Eco Stylers.  Now, I should be fair and mention that since I first tried La Bella gel, I haven't reached for either of my Eco Stylers once.  But that wasn't just because of the great definition this gel gives.  This gel also leaves my hair very soft, even though it claims to have a hold of 10.  I can use a hole bunch of this stuff on my hair, and with the Curl Enhancing Smoothie, and the extra virgin olive oil, my hair is never crunchy with this.  I can't always say the same for the Eco Stylers.  There have been plenty of times that my hair felt like a bunch of hard, curly noodles after using them if I accidentally over did it.  But with La Bella, my hair has consistently been soft to the touch.

The only area this gel doesn't do so well with is slicking my hair back.  If I want to wear a ponytail or all of my hair to one side, Eco Styler is the gel I'm going to reach for every time.  The sticky-ish consistency of this gel works really well for holding all of the hair down as it dries.  With La Bella, when I tried to slick my hair back, all of my shorter hairs would pop up and give me flyaways. If I wanted to use La Bella to slick my hair, I would have to wrap it with a scarf or something until it dried to keep all of the shorter hairs from popping up.

This review might have come off like an Eco Styler bashing, but that's really not what it was at all. I still love my Eco Stylers and think they do their job very well.  La Bella has become my preference because it's: 1. Cheaper (<$3 for 40 oz). 2. Easily accessible (Can be found in most drug stores). 3. Leaves my hair very soft.  I hope some of you try it out. If you do, share your thoughts too. :)

Next Week's Episode of The Vampire Diaries

I seriously think the writers for this show have some kind of secret power, because this season just keeps getting better and better! I can't wait for next week's episode! :-D

NaNoWriMo 2011

Normally I talk bout hair, but that's not what I'm bringing to you guys today.  Ever since I was a little girl I have had a love affair with reading and writing. I could read and write before entering kindergarten and my love for them just continued to grow from there.  When I was younger I could spend hours upon hours doing nothing more than reading a new book.  Dragons and witches and warlocks and mermaids would captivate my imagination and have me so enthralled I would sometimes forget to eat.  Have you ever started reading a book and felt like only a few minutes had passed only to realize you've been sitting in the same spot for hours and totally missed lunchtime?  I have.  Too many times to count.

And now I've decided I'd like to venture even deeper into the world of literature and attempt to write my first novel.  But here's the kicker, I'm going to write it in 30 days!  Yep, that's right.  I've committed myself to tackling the insane task of completing a 50,000+ page manuscript from start to finish in the month of November.  But I won't be doing it alone.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is hosted by www.nanowrimo.org.  This year I will be an official participant.  There are plenty of forums and meetups for fellow NaNo's to help support you on this journey.  Any and everyone is encouraged to sign up any time before November 1st, 2011 and join this year's group of amateur and veteran novel writers alike.  The only rules are that you must not have any written prose before the first of November and you must upload your novel for word count verification by 11:59 PM on November 30th.  If you reach 50,000 words or more you are a winner!  While there are no tangible prizes sent out to winners, I think walking away from the experience knowing you have written a full length novel in just one month is prize enough.

If anyone is interesting in joining NaNoWriMo, I seriously encourage you to do so.  Writing is a creative release like no other and everyone can be a writer.  You just have to have to drive and dedication to reach your goals.  I hope you guys consider joining me on this novel writing journey!  Let me know if you decide to do so. :)