The Sephora Sale/Clearance section is doing pretty well right now – go check it out for some fab deals on Bourjois and Napoleon Perdis. Free shipping over $50 within the US!
- Use a setting powder on your t-zone and along your hairline to absorb oil – a good translucent shouldn’t interfere with your makeup! I love Estee Lauder’s Lucidity, but a lot of cheaper brands exist as well! I like loose powders (look for finely milled ones, without chunking), but a pressed powder travels better. “Oil absorbing” or a reference to oil (or acne) in it’s name would definitely be something to look for as well!
- Use products made for oily, combination, very oily, or acne-prone skin, obviously!
- Look for oil-free, non-comedogenic, and possibly hypoallergenic moisturisers – oily skin sometimes needs a little help breathing!
- A weekly exfoliant, weather physical or chemical, would definitely work in your favour, as would a mask (I recommended clay-based ones for oily skin, as they are more drying. If you have combination skin like me, just to your oily spots, like your t-zone!)
- Look for clear, foaming cleansers – gels, bar soaps, and liquids work well for oily skin. Cream cleansers, or cleansers with a milky appearance, are made for dryer skin types!
- Toner and astringents were practically made for oily-skinned gals!
- Lastly, look up your products on sites like Makeup Alley! I cannot stress enough how important it is to read reviews first, especially before buying high-end skincare. How else will you know if the mattifier actually mattes, or if the “lightweight” moisturiser will clog your pores? Unless you know a store with a brilliant exchange policy, looking up products is essential.
- (And if you do know a store with a brilliant exchange policy…please tell me!! :P )
- If you want some more glamorous blotting tissue, though, here are some ideas. Generally, this stuff doesn’t break the bank, but as always, there is a high and low end. (*note: I’ve never tried them!):
- The Body Shop’s range, which come in many varieties, (powdered, tea tree, natural…)
- MAC blot film – if you’re into names, this is the one for you. It’s $15 for 30 sheets, though – that’s $.50/sheet!
- Too Faced sells Re-Fresh Oil Blotting Papers (these are cute!!)
- More expensive but definitely less obvious are Shu Uemura and Shiseido‘s versions. (The Shu papers are a normal price, but you only get 40 sheets, making each one pricier)
- Boscia Fresh Blotting Linens, which are a good deal at 100 for $10. And they come in three varieties – original, green tea, and lavender!
- Clinique’s Pore Minimizer Oil Blotting Sheets – ooh, purple!! Surprisingly, these are a bit more expensive – $13.50, but you only get 50 sheets!
- Try a matting product, or matting primer/moisturiser, like:
- The Body Shop’s Matte It Face & Lips (gel)
- Philosophy’s Never Let Them See You Shine primer (gel)
- DERMAdoctor’s Tease Zone, which I believe is a lotion?
- Clinique Pore Minimizer T-Zone Shine Control, another gel.
- Try keeping a pack of blotting tissue at hand – my favourite (and the only brand I’ve ever used!) is Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets. They’re the drugstore-cheap, and work well!
- Apply mineral makeup where you get greasy – semi-matte Everyday Minerals foundation keeps my face dry all day long, without looking cake-like.
*Preceded by Tried & True and Other Alternatives, this is the last instalment to Keeping Matte. Have a great afternoon, ladies!!
Tips & Tricks
Hope you liked this mini-series!! Does anyone else have any tips and tricks to share??
*This is a follow-up to Tried and True, and will be followed by Tips & Tricks! Check back in a few hours for the last instalment!
Other Alternatives
Does anyone have any other products to suggest? Any favourites to try? Tell us in comments!
So FB commented yesterday on my sunscreen post that it made her face greasy – and it got me thinking. Now that it’s summer, a lot of us will need a little extra help to stay grease-free – so, I wanted to help out a bit. As usual, the solutions that I will super-endorse are all fairly cheap!!
Starting with this post, there are three matte posts scheduled to go up today! The next one up is: Other Alternatives.
Tried and true
See you at ten for the next instalment!
The title is not a mistake.
Well, it’s totally a mistake. But it’s not a spelling error.
Read on. (Links to Fabulously Broke’s ah-mazing article, where she makes a ton of great points, and where a lot of the commenters make great points as well. I’m waiting for an angry feminist to comment, though, because that could get amusing, to say the least…)
These are on our way to Vancouver/Seattle and these are in Seattle. Hopefully, there will be a litter when we’re there, with available kittens, or in the case of the first, when we pass through.
What makes these breeds special? Both from Russia, they’re hypoallergenic-ish: for 90% of allergy sufferers, they’re, erm, un-allergic-ed. (I have no idea how to phrase that.) Basically, they have a lot less of the chemical that is in dander that people are allergic to. Also, they’re very dog-like: intelligent and playful, you can take the Siberian for a walk or teach it to fetch! Russian Blues are known to do the same, and to be able to open door handles and so fourth as well.
(Mom has fabulous memories of her mutt kitten, NutNut, from her childhood – they used to play hide-and-go-seek he was so smart!!)
My sister’s allergic to cats (also, dogs, hamsters, and anything else with fur, including my stuffed animals) but I’ve always wanted one so badly, and she’d like one as well.
We don’t know if she’ll be allergic, or if Dad will (or if he’ll be okay with getting a cat, he’s out of the country right now), or if anyone will have kittens up for adoption.
Most likely, she’ll be allergic.
But I can hope, right? This, a cat, is as close as it’s going to come to happiness for me.
Product in question? Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen SPF 55 with Helioplex. This stuff is seriously amazing!
Smell: They say it smells “light and fresh”. Um, okay, so it definitely don’t smell fresh – I can smell the typical sunblock-y scent. However, it is light! Meaning, though it’s there, it’s not as obvious as it usually is with a drugstore sunscreen.
Look: I think it leaves a bit of a whitish cast, but this was no problem for me – I’m not into tans anyways, obviously!
Price: For a drugstore sunblock, this is probably on the high end. However, I got two tubes (regular size) for $20-ish at Costco, so it was a steal for me! I can definitely see mom and I using them, or at least most of them, by the end of the summer, so it’s not like I bought two and will only use one.
Finish: Satiny smooth. Like, actually. Once rubbed in and allowed to sit (five minutes or so), the only evidences of sunscreen were a) the smell, and b)the unusually soft, smooth, dry, and satiny skin on my body. I put some of this on my face, too, and it was fine! Didn’t feel too heavy or sticky, and after a two-hour hard bike ride with mom, I still had to use cleanser to get this all off! Great finish, great staying power.
Taste: Just kidding. I would never eat this stuff :P
The verdict: Buy buy buy! If you’re looking for a great drugstore sunscreen, this is it! Keep in mind, though, that you should probably just buy one and see if you like it first – my sister had a bad allergic reaction when we spot tested her, the patch got all red and hive-y! We have yet to find her a sunscreen that she’s not allergic to, though, and when we do, I’ll post :)
After chatting with mom, there was somehow a conclusion that I should do stuff this summer. Erm, seeing as I don’t have a job and I’m not going to summer school – both, for the record, mom’s fault! Why the hell are we taking a vacation in the middle of the summer, and why do I have to stay home for the first week of July to look after cousins? Also, why do I have to get the ablation mid-summer?! No one wants to hire you if you can never work. *grumpy*
Anyhow, I might be making keyboard necklaces and magnets and shit. I think it’ll be fun!! I considered getting an Etsy store, but those have overheads – will probably just follow FB’s suit and open up another blog. If I do well enough, I’ll branch out – I always have fun making necklaces and stuff, the little loser that I am :P
Name suggestions, anyone? And when I finally get around to doing this, will you bump me? :)
These are cute. Yay for punctuation!
I actually have not had caffeine today.
Created by OnePlusYou
Ha. Would I be admitted?
OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets
Because I’m awesome. And prepared for ANYTHING. I could survive a fucking plague. Or an earthquake/tornado combination! I’m FABULOUS! (And crazy.)
OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets
OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets
That’s all for now :) Have fun!
Found the BEST French tip polish the other day. Super-nice polish; thin but not too thin and really easy to apply. It’s got a bit of a pearl and makes an AMAZING and versatile base for nail art (which, FTR, I got 100 on – will post photos later if I remember).
The catch? It’s been discontinued :(
Found two links for it: here and here. It’s China Glazes “Ooh La La White Pearl” from their French Bliss collection. Just white enough, but not shockingly so – you know how sometimes white tips are super-white, and they just look fake and gross? Not this stuff! It’s amazing, amazing, amazing. Run, don’t walk, to get some, because this stuff is amazing. Seriously, people.
(They should pay me to endorse them, don’t you think? I think so. But that’s totally not happening, dammit!)
In other nail news, these are cool: Nailtini’s darkening base coat and their lightening one. (Named espresso and cream, how cute is that!!)
Their lip stains, though? Not so much. I took a look at the trade show – the packaging feels cheap, the price is high for their staying power ($16.50 and I rubbed off the stain from the back of my hand with a touch of generic soap and a whole ten seconds under cold public washroom water), and they’re all variations of red-based colours. Come on, people, is is THAT hard to make me a blue-based stain?!
I’m off to go have breakfast now. Ciao!