Color Tattoo - Precious Pearl, Waves of White, Lavish Lavender Swatches

Nothing to disclose, I purchased the products shown.

 I wasn't too sure whether I was going to pick up any of the light summery shades from the Summer 2013 collection. This includes Precious Pearl, Waves of White, Icy Mint, Sandy Shores, Seashore Frost, Blue Paradise, Cool Crush, and Lavish Lavender - and I only mention them because so many of us found only one or two of these in the displays within a day or two of hearing of them. They're not on Maybelline's website, which I find sort of odd.

 Shadows are swatched on bare skin using a wet/dry brush. Photos taken inside, no flash.

Close ups


 

Precious Pearl is much more pinkish white on me, but it doesn't really photograph well on my skin - I think partly because my arm is all red again. Silly me, trying to take advantage of a few hours of sunlight and do a bunch of swatches! When I wash product off my arm (using mild soap), it gets all red and blotchy looking. I haven't been using tape to make nice clean edges because that always gets red. But it is a really nice shade!

 

Waves of White has a lot of blue/green shimmer to it. Some ladies in a makeup group said it had a lot of pink in it, but it doesn't on my skin. I had to move my arm to get a tiny hint of pink along the edge. It's a bit too blue/green for my taste, since you all know how limited I am in my shades.

 

Lavish Lavender is a greyish lavender. I had also purchased the L'oreal Infallible purple shade With a Twist, and by comparison it's much darker and a more heather-ed purple. With a Twist is much brighter, with more blue to it.

 

I hope you've found the swatches helpful, and thanks for looking!

Silk Naturals Neutral Swatches

Nothing to disclose, I purchased the product.  I received "Race" as a gift with my purchase.  Link is not an affiliate link.

I purchased a handful of Silk Naturals shadows a while back, but just haven't had the time to swatch them until now!

Shadows are applied on bare skin using a dampened wet/dry brush.  All photos taken inside, no flash.





Normally I take close ups of each shade, but for some strange reason all but this one turned out looking strange.  My arm was a little red but in the pics it looked extremely red, and not usable.  Sorry!   These are the two shades that made me want to place the order in the first place, aside from the cream shadows.



Here's Silk Naturals' color descriptions of each shade:

Vanilla - shimmery cream
Frenchie - vanilla velvet
Miss You - light tan matte
Tru Luv - brown rose semi matte
Platinum - neutral silver shimmer
Race -  not listed on the site.  It's one of those colors I can't quite figure out what it is.  It's sort of a gunmetal shade on me.

While Miss You and Tru Luv aren't really dupes for the UD Naked Basics - they do have shades that are dupes for many of the colors - these are colors that I felt would work for me as similar shades, but not dead on dupes.  I wore Miss You paired with Frenchie today, and really liked he Miss You.  Frenchie is a bit too shimmery unless I put on the barest dusting, but a very pretty color.  It's much more pink tinged on me as well!   There's a few other colors that I'd like to try, so another order isn't far off.




I hope you've found the pictures helpful, and thanks for looking!

EWG's 2013 Sunscreen Guide

Environmental Working Group's 2013 sunscreen guide is here!   They release a new guide annually.  Simply click the link below.

EWG 2013 Sunscreen Guide

You can use the Advanced Search tab, type in your brand or select from the drop down box.  You can also click on the "Beach & Sports Sunscreens" tab, which will show you a list, and you can select from there.  The sunscreens that will appear in the Beach & Sports Sunscreen tab are ONLY those which "meet EWG's criteria" - in other words, they must be rated a 2 or lower.  If you click that tab and don't see your brand, try the Advanced Search option. 

Brands can have many different sunscreen options, and some may receive better ratings than others, so check to make sure you're looking at the right one, if you're checking a particular sunscreen.

WalMart has sunscreen on the shelves all year, but seem to carry a lot more options during the warmer months.   While I have a few tubes of my usual sunscreens - California Baby, Mustela, and Lavanila, I'm always up to trying something new.....especially if it receives good marks from EWG.   I checked through WalMart's shelves and found two new ones to try.

I purchased Cera Ve Face Lotion Broad Spectrum Sunscreen (SPF 50), which was not on the guide when I purchased it.  I've been waiting for it to show up.    It's rated a 4, which is not awful, but I'd prefer something with a lower rating.   Some of Cera Ve's other products received better ratings, so I'll try one of those instead.

I also purchased Sunology Natural Sunscreen Creme for Face (SPF 50), which I was pleased to see scored a 1 on EWG's guide.  

And I'm sure you all know this by now, but just in case you've been under a rock for the last few years, remember don't place too much importance on the SPF rating.  Quite a few sources claim that anything over an SPF of 40 is questionable.  The best way to protect yourself is frequent reapplications.  Instead of putting on a high SPF once, use a more reasonable number (that's likely more accurate) and reapply it.  Often.  I don't spend much time outdoors, but when I am out there, I reapply hourly.

I'll have some more on the Cera Ve and Sunology sunscreens for you soon.  Thanks for reading!

Destashing Again

Another destash?  Yup, but this time a much smaller one.  Although I try to stick to my rule of "bring one in, take one out" it seems I've been so short on time lately that I haven't been able to do this.  I have quite a few new products that I haven't had time to swatch, or use! 

I found this little organizer at Home Goods for $6.99.

14.5" by 12" x 2" 


It also means not everything is going to fit, hence the destash.  I don't have any current pics but will be sure to snap a few before I start.  My binder will remain, because most of my shadows are in that, and it's just easier for me to use than having a bunch of little 5g jars.

Periodic destashing is good. Yes, I know how hard it is!   I went through an enormous destash last year, which I talked about in a 7 part post (part 7 is here, which includes links to parts 1 through 6) and it was tough.  I did it slowly, and would be happy to pass on any tips to anyone facing this process!  Collections can quickly become overwhelming, which mine did, and it made me very unhappy.  Although I've added a bit here and there, I won't allow it to get back to even half of what it used to be. 

I'd like to get to this sooner rather than later, but also need a nice sunny day so I can swatch the new products and see if they'll replace anything that's currently in my collection.   More to follow!

Thanks for reading.

Wild Wednesday

The garlic has been growing the last few months, and the rabbits seem to leave it alone.  The green stakes will help hold up the fence, which will keep the rabbits and deer out so the other plants that are now in the ground will not be devoured.



The natural meadow planting in the front yard is also doing nicely, despite every crow within a 20 mile radius deciding to try and eat as much of the seed as possible.  It will take a few more weeks before it really takes off.




We're also having a small issue with a raccoon.  He pooped on the deck in the back yard a few days ago.  After doing a careful and thorough cleaning involving bleach, the raccoon did not return to poop on the deck.  Instead he decided to poop right at the bottom of the front porch steps.  That's now cleaned up as well, and I need to stop by the store and pick up a little something to discourage any further pooping.  (sorry, no pics.  I did take some but they're kinda gross!)

Fox, coyote, or wolf urine will all work.  And no, I'm not gonna catch a fox, force feed him water, and make him pee.  Bottles of urine are available at farm supply stores, sporting goods stores (usually for hunters to mask their scent), or online; a small bottle of fox urine is under $10.  I've used small amounts both fox and coyote urine in the past to keep the deer away and it does work.  Now I need it to let this raccoon know it's not ok to use my walkways as the toilet!   The scent of a predator should be enough to make him decide to go elsewhere.   We do have all of the above mentioned predators as well as a few others, so I'll use it sparingly as to not have to worry about foxes deciding to come and investigate the scent.  No need for them to think there's a new fox in town!