being sick is the worst
Oct. 12th, 2016 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Ugh. All the public transportation and new-to-me germs in New York got the better of me, and now I have a cold. Or the flu. I don't know, I can never tell the difference. UGH. I haven't been sick in so long that I'd forgotten how miserable it is. Now I have to carry tissues around with me everywhere and my nose is reddish and swallowing feels funny. Ugh ugh ugh. I also got the flu shot yesterday, which might be too little too late, but the pharmacist said that as long as I don't have a fever it should be fine.
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Really frustrated by fantasy football. As usual. I totally had a shot with Monday night's game. He had two players in the game and so did I; I had Greg Olsen and Graham Gano, and he had Cameron Artis-Payne and Mike Evans. Guess who were the only two players who scored TDs? That's right, HIS players. Artis-Payne hadn't had a single TD until tonight, and then he got two! WTF, seriously. And Greg Olsen caught like a zillion passes, but none for TDs. (I've now dropped Graham Gano for Steven Hauschka. With kickers it's a total crapshoot, so might as well go with a Seahawks player whose bye is behind him.) In my ESPN league, I did get high score of the week again though, because it turns out I had Mike Evans there. LOL. Sigh. But there, I was going to win my matchup no matter what, so I didn't need Evans to ball out. ><
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Sooooooooooo I am now subscribed to THREE beauty boxes. >.> I'm kind of stuck with Birchbox and Ipsy for the year, but now I'm also subscribing to Sephora Play. I had joined their waiting list, kind of relieved that their subscriptions were closed, but then while on one of my trips I got a notice saying that I was able to join... so I did. They don't have an annual option, so we'll see how it goes. I can and might cancel that one after a few months, depending on how good their boxes are, because I really don't need to be on three. Even I recognize that. Sephora seems to be on a different schedule than the others, though, so I'm not sure when I'll get that one.
I do, however, have October's Birchbox and Ipsy bag in hand.
Birchbox
This month, I opted for their curated box.
- GLAMGLOW POWERMUD Dualcleanse Treatment: A mud mask, basically. Very highly rated. I'm not opposed to masks, so I'm curious to try this one. And with the full-size being $69 for 1.7oz, I have to say, this 0.5oz sample is pretty generous.
- Avène Hydrance Optimale Hydrating Cream RICH: A really rich moisturizer, meaning I can probably only use it at night. Again the full size is only 1.35oz (for $32), so the sample size of 0.5oz is pretty generous.
- MAKE Silk Cream Lipstick in Magnolia: The sample size is really cute, but the color is a bit too fuschia for me. If it's not matte it has more of a chance, but this was the one weak item when I was trying to decide between the mystery box and the curated box this month.
- Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo: Dry shampoos have never really worked for me, but I have confidence that if one's going to work, it'll be Oribe. So we'll see! It seems to be highly rated, so hopefully that means it'll work for me, too.
- This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray: I've never heard of a pillow spray, and I don't have trouble falling asleep, but something about this really appealed to me. I really like the idea of a pillow spray! This one seems pretty popular, since it's actually sold out right now. If you've never heard of a pillow spray either, here's the skinny: "It’s packed with 100% pure essential oils, including calming lavender, patchouli, and chamomile—all of which work together to lull us to sleep faster and help us wake up feeling more refreshed. The proof is in the stats: 89% of users in an independent study fell asleep faster and 92% felt more alert the next morning." Sounds great, right? I probably won't use it until I'm feeling well again, though. Given my current state of congestion, it would be a waste.
Ipsy
- theBalm Cosmetics CabanaBoy Blush: I'm not really much of a blush user, so I'm feeling pretty meh about this. The color seems okay, though it's kind of weird that it's just apparently a one-color-fits-all thing.
- Trust Fund Beauty Gimme Good Face Face Primer: A primer is something you usually use underneath something else, so I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of this, since I don't wear foundation or anything. But it seems like maybe (?) the primer can be used on its own, so I'll give that a shot. This must be a totally new product, because you can't even find it on TFB's website, and doing a general online search yields nothing about this product.
- essence cosmetics superfine eyeliner pen waterproof: At least eyeliner is something I use, so I may find this useful. I really like my Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner, though, so I wasn't really looking for something to replace it.
- Pure Brazilian Leave In Miracle: This seems promising... except the instructions say to shampoo and condition your hair before using it. So this is like... EXTRA conditioner. I was kind of hoping it could serve as, you know, the ONLY conditioner, since sometimes to save myself a few minutes in the morning I skip conditioner.
- MeMeMe Blush Brush: Another brush I don't need. :/ Though part of me respects the fact that they gave blush as a sample, so a blush brush might be useful to those who don't already have one.
Winner: Birchbox. Granted, I chose their curated box, so it was already full of stuff I wanted or I wouldn't have chosen it, but there's also the fact that with Birchbox, you can choose at all. There is something liberating about not being able to choose, but when it's a good box, it's pretty cool to be able to just pick it and know you're going to get stuff you want.
Ipsy did really win with their bag this month, though. It's super cute, and apropos for the month of October! I like that. Birchbox's box seems too spring-y, and as is the problem with all the boxes, there's really nothing I can do with it except recycle it. (Though... I think I could actually use them as soap molds. Hmm, that bears considering!) Anyway, I love this month's Ipsy bag and can see myself using it. Even the zipper tag is the shape of a ghost! So cute.
So far, everything I've heard about the differences between the two subscriptions have been absolutely true:
- Ipsy gives more makeup, while Birchbox gives more skincare.
- Birchbox brands are more higher end than Ipsy's.
- Ipsy's samples tend to be full size more often.
For me, I generally prefer skincare to makeup, so that could account for my reactions to the two subscriptions so far, while someone who likes makeup might feel the opposite. And yeah, while full-size samples are nice, they're also a lot cheaper. That doesn't necessarily translate to inferior, but it does account for why Ipsy is able to do it more often. (I mean, you can tell, right? If you put the two pics side by side, it is so obvious that Birchbox's is much nicer stuff.)
I'm also not impressed with the fact that I've only gotten two Ispy bags, but they've both included brushes and they've both included the Trust Fund Beauty brand. Surely there are enough beauty products out there to not be so repetitive?
I'm not displeased enough to cancel and try and get a prorated amount of $ back, but so far, once my annual subscription is up, I'm not going to be torn about dropping Ipsy.
=========
Really frustrated by fantasy football. As usual. I totally had a shot with Monday night's game. He had two players in the game and so did I; I had Greg Olsen and Graham Gano, and he had Cameron Artis-Payne and Mike Evans. Guess who were the only two players who scored TDs? That's right, HIS players. Artis-Payne hadn't had a single TD until tonight, and then he got two! WTF, seriously. And Greg Olsen caught like a zillion passes, but none for TDs. (I've now dropped Graham Gano for Steven Hauschka. With kickers it's a total crapshoot, so might as well go with a Seahawks player whose bye is behind him.) In my ESPN league, I did get high score of the week again though, because it turns out I had Mike Evans there. LOL. Sigh. But there, I was going to win my matchup no matter what, so I didn't need Evans to ball out. ><
=========
Sooooooooooo I am now subscribed to THREE beauty boxes. >.> I'm kind of stuck with Birchbox and Ipsy for the year, but now I'm also subscribing to Sephora Play. I had joined their waiting list, kind of relieved that their subscriptions were closed, but then while on one of my trips I got a notice saying that I was able to join... so I did. They don't have an annual option, so we'll see how it goes. I can and might cancel that one after a few months, depending on how good their boxes are, because I really don't need to be on three. Even I recognize that. Sephora seems to be on a different schedule than the others, though, so I'm not sure when I'll get that one.
I do, however, have October's Birchbox and Ipsy bag in hand.
Birchbox
This month, I opted for their curated box.
- GLAMGLOW POWERMUD Dualcleanse Treatment: A mud mask, basically. Very highly rated. I'm not opposed to masks, so I'm curious to try this one. And with the full-size being $69 for 1.7oz, I have to say, this 0.5oz sample is pretty generous.
- Avène Hydrance Optimale Hydrating Cream RICH: A really rich moisturizer, meaning I can probably only use it at night. Again the full size is only 1.35oz (for $32), so the sample size of 0.5oz is pretty generous.
- MAKE Silk Cream Lipstick in Magnolia: The sample size is really cute, but the color is a bit too fuschia for me. If it's not matte it has more of a chance, but this was the one weak item when I was trying to decide between the mystery box and the curated box this month.
- Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo: Dry shampoos have never really worked for me, but I have confidence that if one's going to work, it'll be Oribe. So we'll see! It seems to be highly rated, so hopefully that means it'll work for me, too.
- This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray: I've never heard of a pillow spray, and I don't have trouble falling asleep, but something about this really appealed to me. I really like the idea of a pillow spray! This one seems pretty popular, since it's actually sold out right now. If you've never heard of a pillow spray either, here's the skinny: "It’s packed with 100% pure essential oils, including calming lavender, patchouli, and chamomile—all of which work together to lull us to sleep faster and help us wake up feeling more refreshed. The proof is in the stats: 89% of users in an independent study fell asleep faster and 92% felt more alert the next morning." Sounds great, right? I probably won't use it until I'm feeling well again, though. Given my current state of congestion, it would be a waste.
Ipsy
- theBalm Cosmetics CabanaBoy Blush: I'm not really much of a blush user, so I'm feeling pretty meh about this. The color seems okay, though it's kind of weird that it's just apparently a one-color-fits-all thing.
- Trust Fund Beauty Gimme Good Face Face Primer: A primer is something you usually use underneath something else, so I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of this, since I don't wear foundation or anything. But it seems like maybe (?) the primer can be used on its own, so I'll give that a shot. This must be a totally new product, because you can't even find it on TFB's website, and doing a general online search yields nothing about this product.
- essence cosmetics superfine eyeliner pen waterproof: At least eyeliner is something I use, so I may find this useful. I really like my Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner, though, so I wasn't really looking for something to replace it.
- Pure Brazilian Leave In Miracle: This seems promising... except the instructions say to shampoo and condition your hair before using it. So this is like... EXTRA conditioner. I was kind of hoping it could serve as, you know, the ONLY conditioner, since sometimes to save myself a few minutes in the morning I skip conditioner.
- MeMeMe Blush Brush: Another brush I don't need. :/ Though part of me respects the fact that they gave blush as a sample, so a blush brush might be useful to those who don't already have one.
Winner: Birchbox. Granted, I chose their curated box, so it was already full of stuff I wanted or I wouldn't have chosen it, but there's also the fact that with Birchbox, you can choose at all. There is something liberating about not being able to choose, but when it's a good box, it's pretty cool to be able to just pick it and know you're going to get stuff you want.
Ipsy did really win with their bag this month, though. It's super cute, and apropos for the month of October! I like that. Birchbox's box seems too spring-y, and as is the problem with all the boxes, there's really nothing I can do with it except recycle it. (Though... I think I could actually use them as soap molds. Hmm, that bears considering!) Anyway, I love this month's Ipsy bag and can see myself using it. Even the zipper tag is the shape of a ghost! So cute.
So far, everything I've heard about the differences between the two subscriptions have been absolutely true:
- Ipsy gives more makeup, while Birchbox gives more skincare.
- Birchbox brands are more higher end than Ipsy's.
- Ipsy's samples tend to be full size more often.
For me, I generally prefer skincare to makeup, so that could account for my reactions to the two subscriptions so far, while someone who likes makeup might feel the opposite. And yeah, while full-size samples are nice, they're also a lot cheaper. That doesn't necessarily translate to inferior, but it does account for why Ipsy is able to do it more often. (I mean, you can tell, right? If you put the two pics side by side, it is so obvious that Birchbox's is much nicer stuff.)
I'm also not impressed with the fact that I've only gotten two Ispy bags, but they've both included brushes and they've both included the Trust Fund Beauty brand. Surely there are enough beauty products out there to not be so repetitive?
I'm not displeased enough to cancel and try and get a prorated amount of $ back, but so far, once my annual subscription is up, I'm not going to be torn about dropping Ipsy.
