Long Hair Do Care

I should not be allowed to have long hair. I’m not ready for the responsibility of caring for this hair *SMH*

I’m on vacation and forgot to bring conditioner even though I’m fully aware 85% of the time the hotels will not provide this (why?????). As soon as I saw the “conditioning shampoo” I knew I was in trouble.

Typically I wash my hair once or twice a week with some co-washing in between (I use Curlsmith Curl Quenching Conditioning Wash which I highly recommend). I have the satin pillows, do the braiding before bed, that kind of…care. On vacation though? I may have forgotten to try to tame my hair before bed.

I can’t explain how I washed my hair the next morning. I kept hoping that as I applied and scrubbed the knots would just go away.

They didn’t.

When I say I wanted to cry and take the butter knife to my hair (note to self: leaving scissors at home was a good idea) I meant it. I had noooo clue how I was going to get through this rat’s nest. It was the same story on BOTH sides *insert cry emoji*.

Thankfully I grabbed random sample products I keep specifically for traveling and miraculously I had packed It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-in and Virtue Split End Serum

I have experience with the It’s a 10 product and the one issue I have with it is that at some point early on in the product’s life, it becomes impossible to spray out. Given my dire situation, I added a bit of hot water, shook and hoped for the best.

I had not previously used the Virtue product but I definitely have split ends so, perfect! I probably used half of this sample in my hair today. Which means, I can confidently say it doesn’t not leave your hair sticky or greasy and it doesn’t feel heavy. This helped me untangle my hair enough to separate it in smaller sections to deal with the knots.

Once I got my hair separated into smaller sections I started spraying the It’s a 10 and used a comb to brush through the remaining tiny knots.

After what felt like a lifetime, but was only 20 minutes, I was able to comb through my hair completely. Try not to recoil in horror, I know I need a cut and color touchup. Working from home has made it a low priority. After this though, I may need to reevaluate.

So my hair goes back to it’s standard side braid until it and I learn how to act right.

All lazy hair tips are welcomed 🙂

NYX Butter Gloss

I received this NYX Butter Gloss in Sugar Glass in an Ulta sample pack.

It comes in sleek packaging with a soft doe foot applicator.

I haven’t used this formula because I don’t usually go for glosses but this one is really comfortable. It’s not sticky at all and feels moisturizing. It also has a wonderful vanilla-y icing scent that you can smell as you’re applying the gloss but not once it’s on so if you’re sensitive to scents this shouldn’t be an issue.

I’m not going to run out and buy more but I’m glad I was able to try this out and will continue to use it.

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Colourpop Hot Chocolate and Cream Soda look

I recently decided to do, and post, eye looks even if I don’t do an entire face of makeup.

This gives me the opportunity to share looks, and have them for future reference for myself, without the commitment of doing a full face then removing all that makeup. Which, let’s face it, is what I feel most lazy to do.

This also makes me feel better about the amount of making I have because I’m actually using it instead of having it sit around waiting until I have an excuse to use it.

For this look I reached for the Colourpop Good For Hue collection. My goal is always to maximize the products used but you can definitely achieve beautiful looks by using only one quad/palette.

I used the Hot Chocolate and Cream Soda quads and for extra spice I used a shade, Token, from the Lucky Penny palette too.

Cream Soda is perfect for very subtle and shimmery looks, while Hot Chocolate makes for great smokey eye looks. I used both for something in between.

I started with Milkshake in the crease, added Token to slightly darken the crease and built up the depth with Choc Full and Ur Hot.

I could have stuck to the Hot Chocolate quad and used Fun Factory with a fluffy brush and light hand in place of Token.

For the lid I placed Half Sweet on the center of my lid, going over the out edge a little to blend it, and Malted in the inner corner portion, going over Half Sweet a little to blend the shades. I applied both using my fingers.

I quickly did my brows and went in with Soda Shop between my brow and crease.

Puerto Vallarta, MX

It’s been so long since I’ve been able to regularly post vacation photos..

A quick run through of the hotel I stayed at this trip.

Hacienda Buenaventura Hotel is a quaint hotel that offers an authentic Mexican atmosphere. It’s an all inclusive that has one pool, a beach club area and two restaurants
The buffet style restaurant opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner while the a la cart restaurant is only available for dinner and reservations must be made the morning if. It’s a very small and intimate restaurant so spots are limited but the food is 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
All inclusive means food and drinks and I had no issues getting anything from local beers to food liquor.
The staff was very friendly and accommodating and the room were nice.
It’s definitely an older hotel but everyone I talked to mentioned the “homey” or “authentic” feel and there were many people who have been visiting the hotel for DECADES.
As with every hotel there are some downsides: only one bar open through out the day. The beach club hours are only 10a-6p and if you can’t walk the two blocks you risk having to wait 30+ minutes. In general the guests were also friendly and willing to get to know strangers or stick to themselves. Saturday there was a “Mexican night” celebrating authentic Mexican cuisine and music. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the night.
You can catch an Uber ride, taxi or bus ride at the hotel.
I can’t wait to come back and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to visit and stay away from the typical touristic hotels.

Colourpop Thought Bubble SSS

Thought Bubble is a gorgeous tie dye super shock shadow described as a “moderately warm-toned, medium-dark taupe with a metallic finish”

It has that beautiful metallic finish and flecks of glitter throughout. It was still a very smooth and blendable SSS in my collection without needing to add anything to bring it back to life.

Morphe 25C look

Morphe continues to hold a special place in my heart as the first eyeshadow brand I used.

I’ve only kept four eyeshadow palettes, which is still probably three too many, and I try to make it a point to take these out every now and then.

Tonight I decided to dip into 35C to play with some colors

The mattes in this palette are amazing. They blend well, wear well and have nice pigmentation. Some of the shimmers/metallics are also gorgeous. They’re super buttery and have great pigmentation. Some of the shimmer/metallic are a little powdery and lackluster.

Here is an example of both:

In the left I used Harper, a nice, chocolatey, bronze metallic that goes on smoothly with great opacity in one swipe.

On the right side, I used Sydney. This is a firetruck red with a sheen finish. It’s probably not actually “firetruck” red but for some reason it reminds me of firetrucks from childhood books so, that’s what I’m calling it.

Which look do you prefer?

Who else sits around randomly using makeup just to play with it? Its my favorite thing to do late at night when I should be sleeping, lol.

2023 Goals and Natasha Denona 28 Green-Brown palette look

This is hands down my most expensive eyeshadow palette. I purchased it a couple of years ago when ND had a 50% off sale for Black Friday, still making it a costly palette.

I already had a few of her palettes when I bought this one and was familiar with the formula. I was excited to have the palette but since then I haven’t used it much – not surprising given the amount of eyeshadow palettes I have!

In 2022 I really focused on not purchasing as many palettes as I previously did, in fact, I haven’t even purchased the latest ND palette, Retro Glam Palette.

For 2023 I want to refocus on panning my existing palettes so between now and the end of the year I’ll be choosing a few palettes to focus on and the ND Green Brown palette is the first one in the list.

I used it for a few days last week to start it going and I’ve really been enjoying the looks.

As you can see, I paired it with the new Colourpop Muppet Christmas palette to make a more colorful look.

I love the blue green shift of Cloudy Blue and I think it went perfect with th blue in the Colourpop palette

What do you think of this look and what are some of your beauty 2023 goals?

I will try to get this look posted today but here’s a sneak peak

I will try to get this look posted today but here’s a sneak peak

Colourpop SSS Cookies n’ Cream

Colourpop Cookies n’ Cream is part of their new Feels Like Magic SSS vault (November 2022).

It has a black base with green-gold glitter and is the ultra-glitter formula.

I didn’t use a base or glitter primer to apply this and you can see there are some patchy spots. I went over the area three or four times. I waited a few seconds between the last and second to last layer which I should have done between the first and second layer.

I think it is possible to wear this without a base but it would probably pop more with a dark base.

I found it a little difficult to remove just using a makeup wipe which I would normally not use other than in between these swatches. I didn’t get any glitter fall out but I only wore it for a few minutes.

It doesn’t look like this shade is available outside of the vault.

Colourpop SSS Monstera

I would like to start off by tipping my hats off to Colourpop for naming this beautiful green shadow after a popular house plant. I don’t know if that’s true but I’d like to think it is, haha.

This is a gorgeous dark olive green with green-gold glitter. The formula is ultra-glitter.

I love this green/gold color. It did take a few layers to build up to an even application but I think it could be worn on its own. I think this would benefit from being used over a glitter glue but as it is, I found it a little difficult to remove using only a makeup wipe.

As of December, 2022 it is not available outside the Feels Like Magic SSS vault.