Collective Summer Swag Haul

It's not often that I go completely crazy and spend a ton of money on just beauty products...but this summer I have been doing that quite a bit. I'm blaming it on all the amazing beauty bloggers/youtubers that I binge watch everyday. I have to be honest though, it doesn't take a lot to get me to want to go shopping for clothes and makeup as it is, so seeing people use products that I can't seem to live without is not a good influence on my spending habits.

Anyway, over the last month I got several things at Ulta, Sephora, and drugstores that I've been wanting to try and I'm very pleased with.

This is a crazy amount of things!

  

I love, love, love the bins by the registers of Sephora with all of the mini and trial size products. They get me every time. One of the things I saw and wanted to try was Hourglass' lip gloss in Iconic. It is a really beautiful, matte red. I love it. I was also really excited to see a mini compact of Stila's Convertible Color blush in Peony, I had to grab the little duo.                  

Revlon's lip products are all so very near and dear to my heart. I picked up two really fun, bright shades of the Just Bitten Kissable balms, two lipsticks in darker, fall shades, and a really fun, bright sheer red for everyday.                                         

I'm absolutely in love with The Balm's Mary Lou-Manizer, which I actually got for only $15 on Amazon, with free shipping. That was really exciting.

Walgreen's was having a massive sale on all makeup lines, so I got a lot of products from Wet n Wild and Maybelline. I love the blush and shadows from Wet n Wild, I'm so pleased with the quality and price. Sadly, I honestly regret purchasing both shades of the Maybelline concealer, I really should have only bought one, or none. I'm planning on giving the lighter shade to a friend since I haven't used it at all. 

I purchased the L'Oreal pressed shadow pigments in Amber Rush and I absolutely love it! It is a beautiful shade of rose gold. I purchased that and the NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk from Target. 

Here are swatches of all the Revlon lip products I purchased...
From top to bottom: Lovesick, Rendezvous, Candy Apple, Choco-licious, Raisin Rage
I love all of these shades, I think they're really beautiful.

I purchased some trial sizes of Mario Badescu skin care products to try out. I really enjoy the cleanser so far, though I haven't seen much of a change in my breakouts. I'm going to give it more time. I have really been enjoying the facial spray with rose water, and have been using it to set my makeup. It feels really refreshing and light on my skin.

I was using a trial size of the Lavanila deodorant and I decided to get the full size of it because I really love the way that smells and feels.

Lastly, but not least, this pleasant roller ball perfume by Pacifica in Island Vanilla. This smells so beautiful and lasts for a really long time. I have been using it as a base before applying my Marc Jacobs Dot.

While this is certainly a boatload of purchases, I didn't get everything all at once, so I don't feel as bad about having spent the money over a period of a few weeks.

Love, Little Mouse

Shorty Styles File 02

My hair is fairly thin, very fine, and stick straight. There's not a whole lot of body and texture to it, so I have to use a lot of product and a touch of backcombing at my crown to achieve the fluffy, textured, piece-y hair styles I prefer. 

These are the products I've been using lately. It may seem like a lot, but the combination doesn't weigh down my hair or make it stiff. The Argan oil spray protects my hair from heat and keeps my ends from splitting. I use it whenever I'm going to use any heating tools, and it leaves my hair really soft and shiny. The Rusk thick spray combined with the Sexy Hair root pump mousse gives my roots more body and lift. The Sexy Hair spray clay and Bed Head manipulator pomade adds texture to my ends, and I LOVE a lot of texture. I quite like the final result.

Love, Little Mouse

The Struggle

Due to a family medical crisis, obnoxious neighbors, and working late nights, these last few weeks have been overwhelmed with stress and anxiety. I feel like my routine has been completely torn apart and I can't seem to pull myself back in to order. I haven't been able to upload any photos to my computer either because the USB jacks aren't working properly for some reason. Oh the struggle. 

Things are starting to improve: the family medical crisis has calmed and will be over soon, the neighbors will always be jerks and there's not much I can do about that, and my work schedule will be stabilized in two weeks or so. I'm working on keeping my sanity together until this monstrous storm of emotions passes through, then I can get to work on piecing everything back together again. 

It's hard for me to admit when I have no control over a situation, to resign to the fact that I can't fix all my problems and everyone else's issues. I become overly anxious and insistent on making things work the way I believe they should, when really, I have to let go of the illusion of control. The only control any of us really have is over ourselves. We can't control anyone's actions or situations that are bigger than ourselves. It feels as if that's one of the more difficult realizations to come to as an adult. Maybe one day I'll be able to let go without difficulty. In the meantime, I'm quite a work in progress. 

Wise words from a dear friend.

Love, Little Mouse