Belated Halloween Pedicure

Bats and black cats as you can see!  My little toes were done in black with streaky white in an attempt at spiderwebs.  I really like how the bats came out though :D  Maybe next year I'll have my holiday nails up in time :P

Product Review: Neutrogena Light Night Cream

So I've been using this lovely product for about two weeks now.  I didn't want to review it right off because I wouldn't know what effects it would have then, would I?
Neutrogena's Product Description:
Light Night Cream is a light yet effective overnight cream.This non-greasy, dermatologist-tested formula absorbs quickly into skin. It provides an immediate surge of moisture, doubling skin's moisture level for eight hours.

The appearance of fine lines and wrinkles is minimized. Skin is left feeling softer and smoother.
-Hypoallergenic
-Absorbs quickly

Now I've been skimping on my skin routine for financial/time issues, but I finally got around to replacing my old night cream.  I had been experimenting with Olay's Regenerist line, but gave it to my mom instead because my skin is sensitive and weak, and my mother is the actual target age group for the product.
In the mean time, my skin had been feeling a bit drier and just less...elastic than usual.  This product fixed that.
It claims to be non-greasy but I'll never know since my face is a bit oily naturally.  On nights when my AC is working right, I wake up to significantly less greasy skin than usual, but a warm night will render the magic of this cream a bit useless in that regard.
I know that it does definitely hydrate my skin much more than my hypoallergenic off-brand lotion that I'd been using, so my skin is much nicer now overall.  Some people complained that it gave them acne, but I've had no trouble with it in that regard - whatever acne I have currently can be completely blamed on stress.

Overall, I'd buy this again.  I'm a sucker for simple, tried-and-true products that just work, and I've read reviews of people using this product for decades who still rave about it. Good job Neutrogena, I'll probably be one of those rave reviewers in another couple decades :)

Daily Grind

Finally, a semi-decent picture of my bangs!  I'd tried to style my hair a bit today, but it really just ended up a slightly curlier mass than usual.  At least I tried I suppose :)
So this is my go-to look; Lancome's 2Sexy duo and the single Constellation for shading in a sparkly black.  I wet down my eyeliner brush and dabbed some Constellation and it came out to be a surprisingly dark but not too sharp line.  Usually I'll smudge my Coffee pencil or dry-swipe a black eyeshadow for a softer look, but this ended up pretty well overall :)
Am still working on getting more blush onto my cheeks.  It always seems like so much when I put it on that I have to stop or else I'm worried throughout the day that I look like some cartoon character.  And yet it's barely showing in this non-flash picture.  *SIGH*  I'm never going to get through any of my damn blushes.
I'm also wearing the same lipstick as yesterday, Revlon's Pink in the Morning.  Its warmer than Primrose, which seems almost too light for my skin.


And here you can just barely see the shimmer from where I'd packed some of ELF's eye transformer on the ball of my eye, a little blue shimmer for funsies.

Smoky Blue FOTD

So I've been wearing a full face of makeup pretty regularly for the past couple of weeks.  This may change in the next few days as my LSAT scores are released - no sense in wearing makeup if I'm going to stress it all off anyway D:
But this smoky blue eye was my fun look for the week since I'd been diligently applying my Lancome neutral duo all week earlier.  I used a light taupe all over my eyelids from an ELF quad, then packed on some color with Lancome's single eyeshadow Strobe and toned the vividness down a bit with a sparkly black in the outer corners.  This is also one of the few times I've worn liquid eyeliner in ages since we just don't seem to get along, but it looks pretty good with the blue, if I say so myself.
I used a bunch of ELF on my face, from the Complexion Perfection pallet for my dark circles to the extremely affordable pressed powder I dusted all over my face.  I'm so glad they broadened their color ranges because now I do not look the least bit orange, which is what used to (unfortunately) happen with their early beginnings.

I'm also wearing Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink in the Morning here, which I thoroughly love.  The formula is moisturizing, which always seems to be a problem with the lipsticks I buy, and I love the color.  It holds up pretty well under regular use too, and doesn't transfer too much.

Dead Products

Since I've realized exactly how long I've had some of these products, it's occurred to me that maybe some of them need to be retired.  No matter how much I love that shade of lipstick, it didn't get it's worth in my makeup bag and it needs to be retired before I poison myself or something. 
Times like this make me wish my first foray into the world of makeup had not been at the makeup counter in Macy's.  I was a teenager and had little experience applying makeup - I really should not have splurged on the good stuff when I had no idea what I was doing.  My only excuse is that I'd begged my parents to take me to the drugstore to finally pass that milestone of girlhood and buy some makeup, and they decided that I should get the expensive stuff.  While thoughtful, not the most practical idea.  I did appreciate that the woman who was helping us at the Lancome counter (Bridget, I still remember you being so nice) carefully explained how to apply each product and let me try on my own.  She's probably the only reason I knew how to apply eyeshadow at all. 
Ah, memories.
In any case, I can no longer pretend those nostalgic items are still good to apply.  While I've always used the guidelines for tossing beauty products as something to generally scoff at, I really can't pretend that 6 year old lipstick is still good. 
But I still love some of the shades so I really just wanted to record this passing of my beauty closet.
Lancome products: Rouge Absolue Creme - Creme de Marron, Color Design - En Vogue, Rouge Sensation - Henne, Juicy Rouge - Pink Candy and Sugar Rose
Also ELF: Waterproof Eyeliner Pens in Coffee and Plum, lip-plumping duo gloss in Fire Coral, and Brightening Eyeliner in Gilded.

I absolutely loved the Lancom Juicy Rouge lipstick/glosses, especially Sugar Rose - a pretty pink with golden shimmers.  Unfortunately it was discontinued after the lip gloss craze hit - but now that lipsticks are coming back in, perhaps they'll revive the product?  I can only hope :D
I also really liked Creme de Marron, which I could pretty easily replace.  It was a soft creme nude that was perfect for everyday wear.  But until I make a dent in all my lip products, I don't see myself replacing it anytime soon. 
And under pressure from my impending LSAT exam, I impulsively bought replacement lipsticks - two Revlon tubes and  an eco- lip shimmer that is easily a dupe for Burts Bees lip shimmers at a fraction of the price.  I foresee my BB shimmers being retired soon in favor of the Wet n Wild dupes - creamier and less peely (on my lips at least) than BB's. 
The ELF products though, I could easily do without.  The new formula for eyeliner isn't bad, but the "waterproof eyeliner" is terrible.  I do not recommend buying that.
Hopefully I'll get to reviewing my beauty haul sometime soon.  :D

Taupe!

So this is my minimal look for today...as you can see I also have some apparently lopsided bangs going on - that's been around since midsummer....and that's how long it's been since I've posted a look.  Bummer.
But anywaaaays.  I just did a layer of taupe-ish over the entire lid with some black liquid eyeliner and a nude lip.  I still feel dressy with just this much on :)

Summer of Silence

Since I've been prepping for the LSAT, I've become deplorably lax in my beauty routine.  All summer was empty of makeup, with the exception of visits with the boyfriend (eyeliner and lippy which he hates anyway, I think I might be doin it wrong there :P). 
And now that I'm comfortably ensconced back here at school, I still can't be bothered to apply more than a bit of eyeliner and lip color.  I've long been trying to deny the fact that makeup melts off me in this heat - I have no idea how other girls traipse about with a full face of foundation and spiky mascara without wanting to scrub their faces within the hour. 
Once I acclimate to the heat again perhaps I'll try more. 
I've also cut myself some bangs though, so I'm worried the combination of hair on my forehead and makeup will not be a good one for my complexion. 
Despite the lack of makeup though, I'm still doing a weekly manicure and whatnot.  I've FINALLY figured out why my konad set wasn't working for me - apparently it needed to be filed a bit with my nailfile to actually pick up the images.  That seriously drove me nuts for ages.  So now I've got a nice, slightly chipped coral nail with little black flowers on that I now want to change to something fancier and non-konady.  Funny how once you get what you want, you change your mind :P
Actually, now I just really want to get some konad plates that have a full nail stamp instead of just a teeny stencil :X  However, my financial situation isn't such that I can splurge on nonessential beauty items anymore, so I'll just satisfy myself with the many polishes I've got and get creative :)