First Quarter Reflections

We are solidly into April now, so it seems appropriate to look back at the first quarter of 2019 now.


Purchases

Just over a month ago, I posted about my current wishlist, and in the last few weeks I have bought two of the four products on it. In late March, Clinique had a friends and family sale online with a 25% off code. Because of this, I ended up buying both Clinique items on my wishlist: the Chubby Stick Sculpting Highlight and the Moisture Surge 72-Hour Replenishing Hydrator. I also received a free full-size bottle of the Moisture Surge Face Spray due to combining purchases with my mom and reaching a certain threshold.

I have mixed feelings about the chubby stick. I wanted it for so long, and I first became interested in it because of how subtle it is. But then when I put it on my face it feels like it disappears, and I have to remind myself that that's what I was going for. (Within reason, of course.) I'm still learning to work with it, especially pairing it with my illuminating primers, but I feel like I'm almost there. I haven't opened the moisturizer yet because I want to finish the Glow Recipe Watermelon Sleeping Mask first. The face spray is something I never would've bought, but it was intriguing enough to select as my free product. I've never used a spray product on my face before, be it makeup or skincare, so it's a new experience. I find myself spraying it randomly throughout the day: when I come home from work, when I come inside from playing with my toddler... I generally just feel like I'm using it to use it.

Those are not the only products I bought though. For the first time in two or three years I actually purchased some things during Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty event. I have been thoroughly enjoying using the Becca Backlight Priming Filter and am stoked that I was able to try it for half the price. For the last three years I've used the Burberry Fresh Glow Fluid Luminous Base. I always considered it expensive, but I loved so much about it: the formula, the luxuriousness of the packaging, the fact that the perfume my husband bought me was from Burberry... A bottle lasted me a little more than a year, and I would buy one with Sephora's December coupon to discount it a bit. But then this last year, Sephora raised the coupon threshold to $75, and I just could not justify that price tag anymore. I had been looking for a replacement product for a few months and am quite pleased with this Becca one. I remember having a deluxe sample of it before and enjoying it, but thinking it was pointless to purchase when I already had the Burberry one. The packaging of the Becca one is growing on me too; I like the size, the sleekness, and the frosted glass. During the event, I also purchased two Urban Decay eyeshadows for 50% off: Scratch and Rockstar. I bought Scratch as I was missing a shade similar to Unbelievable from my (former) Lorac Unzipped palette. I bought Rockstar because I had been passively wanting a purple eyeshadow for at least two years. I am excited that it will be replacing Mac's Indian Ink in my custom palette, since that shade was such a disappointment to me.


Random Thoughts

In pasts posts, I've mentioned wanting to test out the Anatomy eyeliner with Petite Heat, and I can now say that they make a beautiful pair. It doesn't matter whether or not I use the orange shade from the palette (Wild Thing), the orange eyeliner seems to just pick up the orange tones from the palette as a whole. Interestingly, Rockstar also pairs nicely with Petite Heat. I feel like there's some sort of color theory happening there since purple and orange are both secondary colors. I've been using the Rockstar eyeliner a lot lately because of this and am now curious to try out the Rockstar eyeshadow with the palette as well.

My focus lately has been on solidifying my base makeup and having fun with my eyes. I haven't been wearing as much lipstick as I had thought I would. Until recently, I didn't keep my lip products with the rest of my makeup (because toddler) and always told myself I would apply it later, like after I brushed my teeth or as we were leaving the house. But I rarely did. I think now that I changed up my organization system I'll be more likely to add in lipstick again, and I look forward to basing looks around lipsticks again in the next few months.

Finally, Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm feels amazing. I had ever used this type of remover before this past month. Before I had just used a foaming cleanser (which I loved until I realized it broke me out) and face wipes. I received the Clinique balm from my mom a few months ago but didn't start using it until recently. I want to find a cheaper alternative when I finish it though because I am fairly certain it's more of the format I like than the actual product.