this is only a test: part three

so now that you've all taken my advice on eye shadow, let's talk a little bit about skin care.

this story should sound pretty typical: i am obsessed with having perfect skin, or at least with tricking my body into thinking that i should have perfect skin. i was not blessed with great skin and was constantly reminded of this for most of my adult life. i went through a series of drugstore facial cleansers (neutrogena, etc.) before finally settling on a 10% benzoyl peroxide cleanser. the big pro of this wash was that it made my skin relatively blemish-free. the big downside was that it bleached my towels. just in case you're not following, something that bleaches your towels should probably stay away from your face. but nothing else had the same results, so i stuck with it.

in our sample expedition, we happened across the body shop. first of all, the body shop is the best place for samples ever of all time. my bathroom is covered in little tubs with green lids because they love to make you samples of things. on our trip, they made me a samples from a whole skin care regiment: seaweed facial cleanser, seaweed toner, seaweed moisturizer with spf 15, vitamin c boost, seaweed clay mask, vitamin c microderm abrasion, and a tea tree oil blemish fighter.

this may seem like a high-maintenance regiment, but only the first four are to be used on a daily basis.

it's been over a month and i've been using this line every day. to make a long story short, my skin has never looked better! it's just as clear as it was with the benzoyl peroxide, but it's brighter, smoother, and pretty much just better. also the seaweed stuff smells really good and the vitamin c skin booster feels amazing.

i ended up going to body shop and getting the cleanser, toner, and moisturizer. it would normally cost more than the drugstore stuff, however body shop has sales very often, and so i got a buy-two-get-one-free deal and it all together ended up being $21. i'm planning on getting the vitamin c boost and the blemish fade soon.

the moral of this story is that body shop is great. they make you lots of samples, their products are nice, and they are a solid company. big recommend!

until next time...!

this is only a test: part two

finally, a review!

so first of all, the sample project continues to be a huge success. currently, i have 60 product samples taking over my room and bathroom. i've divided them into skin care, lotions, hair products, foundations/tinted moisturizers, primers, eye makeup, perfumes, and miscellaneous (mascaras, blushes, lip color, etc). it's overwhelming kind of.

the first thing i'd like to review is eye makeup!
i've tried a lot of eye things. my favorite eye things include:

urban decay deluxe eyeshadow in freakshow...

image courtesy of amazon.com

i have darker features and i really like this color - it's noticeable, but not insane. i can wear it to work and not feel like, well, a freakshow.

i especially liked this eyeshadow when paired with bare escentuals eye color in true gold:

image courtesy of google

in fact, of the five bare escentuals eye colors i am sampling, i like this one the best. it layers beautifully on top of other eyeshadows. for the record, i also tried queen phyllis, trophy wife, desire, chameleon. all were awesome. but this wins the most.

lastly, the hunt for the elusive eye primer! working outside all day means that my eyeshadow usually disappears by 10 in the AM. i sampled three different eye primers and the winner is...*drumroll*...bare escentuals prime time eyelid primer!

image courtesy of amazon.com

not only does this primer make it so my eyeshadow lasts through camp, it also lasted through a day in chicago humidity and - get this - a 5.5 mile run. that's right. i went running yesterday in 80 degree heat for 5.5 miles and i still had eyeshadow on at the end (with no creasing!). CRAZY.

in the end, i probably won't get the urban decay shadow because it's not a color i can wear all the time. but i am planning on getting the b.e. eye color and definitely the primer. 

next time, i'll talk about my whole new chemical-free skin care regiment. it's really exciting, i promise.

also, a few of our readers started their own sample-sprees so we'll be posting their reviews as they come!

bisoux!