Why I Broke Up With Green Beauty - Part Two: Budget

Okay, so I don't know about you guys, but I live on a pretty strict budget and I'm no stranger to being broke when unexpected expenses rear their ugly heads. Also, in case you weren't aware, sending my inconsequential thoughts into the blog-o-sphere (do people still use that word? Am I still relevant?) doesn't really pay the bills. Actually, it doesn't really pay anything. I occasionally will get a couple of free or discounted samples, but that's about it. I don't mind, though, because I do this for fun! It also helps me keep track of the products I'm using and how they work for me, and I can always hope that I'm helping out some misguided soul looking for a new product out there.

Which brings me to the second reason I "broke up" with green beauty...

Budget

Look, I know that quality skincare costs money. Quality ingredients cost money. Testing, packaging, certification, advertising... it all costs money. But I've gotten to the point where I both want to care for my skin and also still have some cash left over for things like food, traveling, and more food.

AM I JUST CRAZY FOR WANTING IT ALL?! 

Well, maybe. Or maybe I'm just tired of "luxury" products that break the bank while offering nothing of substance as far as skin improvement and product enjoyment goes.

Why I Broke Up With Green Beauty - Part One: Effectiveness

So... Maybe "broke up" is a bit harsh. I didn't really break up with green beauty, but we are seeing other people, and that's okay! I still use a lot a green beauty products (particularly makeup), but I've expanded my skincare routine to include AB products as well. If you're wondering why, here are some of my thoughts.

This is by far the number one reason I switched from an all green beauty routine full of rainbows and plant oils to an AB routine. 

Effectiveness.

Simply put, my green beauty products were simply not cutting it in this department. When I was in college, switching to green beauty products and crafting a thoughtful skincare routine made HUGE improvements to my skin, particularly in getting my adolescent acne under control. It also encouraged me to think about makeup in a healthier way -- as something I wanted to wear, something I chose to wear, not something I had to wear. For me, ever since entering the green beauty scene, beauty and skincare has been equivalent to self-care, which is something I desperately need every single damn day. As I entered my late 20s, however, my skin started to go a little wacky and demanded more and more care. I'm sure this is due to a number of different factors, including aging, genetics, stress, and starting hormonal birth control again. Then my nemesis appeared... ADULT ACNE.

Cue horror movie screaming.

A New Leaf

Hey look, leaves! We don't get this in Texas. This is from Vermont.

So, I don't know exactly how to begin this post, but I figured... Hey, it's September! The very beginning of autumn! Turning over a new leaf! That all works together in a clever way, right? Right. Sure.

As you may have noticed, the last time I posted in this blog was June 2014. I don't know that there was really one particular event that made me stop blogging about green beauty, it just sort of... happened. Life got busy. Then life got busier. I still have a huge stack of drafts that I started, but never finished. In fact, I still have product samples that I intended to review, but never did. (Note to self: I should throw those away.) Long story short, life got in the way, and then I started transitioning away from green beauty. There are a number of reasons for that, and it's a trend I've seen in many other blogs, so I figured I might as well address it here.

The good news: I hope to pick up blogging again soon, though with a slightly different focus!

W3LL People Mascara Launch!

 Oh my gosh, you guys! Did you know that one of my absolute favorite green beauty brands, W3LL People, just launched a new mascara? Be still my heart!

It seems like all sorts of wonderful green brands are putting out mascara these days -- RMS Beauty, ILIA Beauty, Juice Beauty, Kjaer Weis, just to name a few -- and I couldn't be happier! Mascara is a notoriously difficult product to transition to "clean." I've heard complaints from even the greenest beauty mavens, and it's one of those dirty products that many people just can't give up.

I've been lucky enough to find several green mascaras that work fairly well for me, but they're far from perfect. One thing that I would love is a bolder, more voluminous look from my mascara. I have long-ish, medium thickness lashes that are lighter in color, so without mascara, there's really nothing to make my eyes pop. I'm constantly jealous of my wife, who has beautiful lashes that are naturally crazy long, thick, and gorgeous! Of course, she couldn't care less about makeup. Such is life.

While I haven't gotten my hands on this new W3LL People mascara (or any of the aforementioned mascaras... a little out of my price range at the moment), I was gifted a green mascara that I've heard good things about from Honeybee Gardens. I'm looking forward to trying that one out and passing the info on to you fine folks.

Product Review: Tata Harper Regenerating Cleanser + thoughts on the brand

Hellooo rent money

After a somewhat underwhelming experience with Tata Harper's Resurfacing Mask, I was honestly not expecting much from this cleanser. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. This product is a lot of what I look for in a cleanser - non-drying, soap-free, packed with powerful botanical ingredients, and designed to help clear up skin congestion and reduce the appearance of pores.

It's a fluffy, lightly pink cream cleanser with a subtle grittiness from apricot seed powder. I'm a big fan of exfoliation, but it's easy to go overboard in that category. This cleanser provides a gentler form of exfoliation that I feel is more beneficial to the skin. It removed my makeup well and buffed away the bit of flaky dryness that I have right now thanks to wintry winds. It also has a light fruity sort of scent, probably thanks to the neroli water and other various fruit-based ingredients. Like the Resurfacing Mask, a little bit of this goes a long way, as well. A tablespoon-sized sample got me a good 3-4 uses. All in all, I have no real complaints about this cleanser. If I saw it on a shelf at the grocery store, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat.

Product Review: Bunny Butt Apothecary Complexion Zen

I'm taking a little break from reviewing my FreshFaced samples to chat about a product that I've been using quite a while now, but completely forgot to review!

Picture from their website

I first came across Bunny Butt Apothecary on Etsy and was intrigued by their Complexion Zen cream. When I visited their booth at the Austin Renegade Craft Fair, I couldn't help but snap up a jar of the stuff.

Product Review: Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask

As mentioned before, I have quite oily skin. This means I'm usually protected from things like dryness. Alas, this cold winter weather is breaking through even my thick layer of protective juices (did I just write that line?). This, paired with the fact that I was sick for two weeks over the holidays and therefore neglected my usual skincare regimen, means that my skin has been in need of some serious assistance. Luckily, it hasn't been terribly broken out, but there's definitely something to be desired. It's been dull, congested, lacking a certain vitality, and peppered with strange flaky dry spots. Ew.

I've been wanting to try Tata Harper for a while, specifically this mask, so it was the perfect time to break out one of my FreshFaced samples! I'm trying to do this whole product trial thing right for a change, i.e., only trying out one new product at once rather than all of them at the same time like some kind of crazy junkie. This means that I took the time to try this mask twice (with several agonizingly boring days in between) before making the final call. And what is that final call? Success! But... not overwhelmingly so. Let's discuss.

Product Review + SWATCHES!: ILIA Beauty Lip Conditioner in Bang Bang

My first product review of the new year! How exciting! This review is thanks to a sample I received from FreshFaced. (Received as in I bought it and then received it in the mail, not as in received for free. For free would be much preferred. Please send me free things.)

Oh hi didn't see you there

Howdy, dear readers!

I just wanted to drop a quick note to apologize for the unscheduled hiatus. Life's been kicking me in the face recently, so I just haven't had the time to update. In between packing up all of my belongings, holding a last-minute garage sale, celebrating a bunch of birthdays (including my own!), keeping myself busy at work, brushing up on my long-neglected art skills (or lack thereof), and fighting the patriarchy, it's difficult to make time for obsessing over stuff I put on my face.

But fear not! There will be much updating in the future. In fact, here's a few things you have to look forward to:

• Lots of new product reviews, including Morrocco Method and Bunny Butt Apothecary!
• Arguing with myself over exfoliation!
• Exciting new eyeshadows from Star Crushed Minerals! So many colors!
• Other stuff I've just forgotten!

In the meantime, check out some of these other rad clean beauty blogs:

http://nomoredirtylooks.com
http://www.humblebeeandme.com
http://www.glamorganicgoddess.com
http://www.seedtoserum.com
http://beautybybritanie.com


This is how excited I am to see you again

Adventures in Hair, Part I: Or, How I Learned That Maybe My Hair Isn't Completely Crap

Okay, so here's the thing: I'm just not that into my hair. This isn't to say that I don't like it -- I happen to like it quite a lot these days -- it's just that I'm not gonna do much with it. I'm not going to blow dry it. I'm not going to curl it. I'm not going to use volumizing mousse on my roots and some other stuff on the ends. I'm not going to use a round brush in one hand and juggle a chainsaw and a flat iron in the other. I'm not going to take it out for a fancy dinner. There, I said it. This is something I have to explain every time I want a hair cut.

Not to say I haven't tried. It seems like every time I get a hair cut, the stylist somehow talks me into buying some new stuff that's soooo simple and easy and you can totally do it it'll take like five minutes. I'll try it for a few days, using the product, blow drying, attempting the bit with the brush and the blow dryer together... But eventually I just stop. Because here's the thing: no matter what fancy business I try with my hair at first, it basically ends up looking the same at the end.

Here's what I'm actually going to do to my hair: Step 1, wash. Step 2, towel dry. Step 3, comb and maybe arrange with my fingers a bit so I don't look like a homeless person. Step 4, occasionally brush throughout the day. If you're lucky, maybe I'll smoosh some product into it every now and then. And you know what? I'm finally getting to the point where I'm okay with this. Do you know why?

Because my hair has become (unbeknownst to me and without too much work on my part)... wait for it... fabulous. I will now regale you with the story of my hair. It's not that long and it has a happy ending, I promise.

Product Review: Jane Iredale Eyeliner Pencil

I dropped by the Beauty Store Salon & Spa the other day because it's the only place you can find Jane Iredale products here in Austin (that I know of). I've heard about this brand many times before, but I always seem to confuse it with Josie Maran. Note: they are not the same thing. I learned this the hard way.

I was actually on the look out for something similar to this little do-dad that was recently featured in an awesome Beauty by Britanie video. However, per usual, I forgot what I'd come for and got distracted by eyeliner. I've been somewhat underwhelmed by the natural eyeliner I've purchased before, which is sad because if I'm wearing makeup, eyeliner is a must. The liner I most recently tried out basically snapped in half and I'd been awkwardly attempting to keep using it, but was getting pretty fed up. That's when I met the Jane Iredale Eyeliner Pencil. Here's a picture from their website:

Pretty standard-looking pencil, am I right? But no my friends, this pencil is magical. Like I mentioned before, I've often been disappointed with eyeliners -- natural or conventional. I've tried using dark eyeshadow as a liner, but I can't get the definition I like. Even when I used conventional, chemical-filled eyeliner pencils (before I knew better), it was hard to find one I liked. I was committed to a drugstore brand called Prestige before I switched to clean products and nothing so far had lived up to that precedent... until now.

To Tone or Not to Tone?

I have a confession to make.

I am addicting to toning.

Growing up, I never really understood the purpose of toners or astringents. To be perfectly honest, I still don't completely understand their purpose. I think it has something to do balancing pH levels or the skin's acid mantle.

Once I started actually caring about the state of my skin in my teen and preteen years, I happily scrubbed, polished, cleansed, oil-free moisturized, mattefied, and Biore pore-stripped, but never, ever "toned." The only toners I knew of seemed to made primarily of Listerine and flesh-eating bacteria. They smelled like alcohol, tasted like alcohol, and -- shockingly -- were mostly alcohol. No wonder I didn't like them. What sane person would want to slather artificially colored rubbing alcohol on their face? However, sometime around the same time I started reading labels, washing my hair with a lumpy soap bar, and using apple cider vinegar for absolutely everything, I reexamined my relationship with toners.

Oh, how wrong I was. Toning is awesome! Whether they call it toner or not (synonyms include astringent, mist, hydrating spray, clarifying lotion, etc.), it's a great way to refresh your skin, improve the absorption of your moisturizer, and add some great, skin-loving ingredients to your routine.

A Tribute to Soap

So I know that I've completely neglected this blog and I am truly, deeply sorry. It pains me at night to think of the countless anonymous internet users who may have missed out on my wisdom regarding grapeseed oil or exfoliation techniques. But have no fear! I plan on revving things up in earnest here. Partially because I need an outlet for my obsession with all natural health and beauty, but mostly because I have too much free time on my hands right now. Plus, whenever I try to talk to my wife about this sort of stuff, she gets this odd glazed expression on her face. I'm not sure it's healthy.

To really kick things off with a bang, I am composing a tribute to soap. Soap is amazing. It's simple, effective, and altogether incredible. Don't listen to those stupid Dove commercials.