FOTD: March 2018 Subscription Box Edition

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I tried to be proactive this month and do a FOTD using items I received in my March subscription boxes, plus a couple of supplemented items to fill in any gaps. I'm not sure if this is going to be a recurring theme. I just happen to have time and daylight to work with now, huzzah maternity leave!

I just realized I have more "dots" than Morgan Freeman's ass...

I realize I look like a grease ball and my face doesn't match my body. That's a constant issue I have. The shades are so different that if I were to try to match my face to my body I would look more anemic than I already am. If I try to match my body to my face that would... well I've never considered self tanners, let's be honest. I have like 3 single oz samples but I'm not sure if I want to commit to buying a mitt and risking the awkward discoloration for a few weeks. Perhaps a future post?

Texture, mismatched skin tone, mustache and brows aside, here was my FOTD for doing absolutely nothing around the house but wrangle a 3 year old and two 2 year olds for a day (I was watching a nephew as well).


Face: I washed my face with BRTC Jasmine Waterful Foaming Cleanser (which was incredibly drying) from my March Ipsy bag (referral link here) and exfoliated with the Real Chemistry 3-Minute Peel from Birchbox (referral link here) which seemed to do not very much. The resulting dryness left the perfect canvas to try out the Bobbi Brown Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm from the Sephora box. This balm turned out to be a bit too oily. My solution to this was to follow up with Dr. Brandt's Pores No More from an Ipsy points redemption from... I want to say August 2017. Please don't judge me.  For my base I used Maybelline Fit Me foundation stick in the shade Toffee 330. I usually avoid this thing like the plague because even though it says it's formulated for a shine-free finish for combination skin, it looks horrifically oily on me after a couple of hours. This shade matches my face perfectly but you can see the difference between my face and body. Sorry, world.I tried spot concealing with the Kat Von D Lock-It Concealer in D33 Warm from a past Sephora box (August 2017?) but it was so dark compared to Maybelline that I had to basically fix my face afterward. I attempted highlighting and bronzing with the City Color Glow Duo from Ipsy. As you can see, that didn't go over so well. My bronzing game is pretty weak and I didn't go hard enough with the highlighter because I was able to see myself in person. For blush I used the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Fiesty (November 2017 Ipsy) which appears to have been muddied out by my poor bronzer application. I finished everything off with Supergoop! SPF 50 Setting Mist from the March Sephora box. This was a regrettable decision that left me blindly groping around for a minute as the "mist" shot me in the brow/lid area (after I had applied my eye makeup) and caused temporary irritation from the SPF. The easiest way to apply this is by spraying it onto my hands and patting it onto my face, but then there's the concern of messing up my makeup.

Lips: I tried prepping with Glossier Balm Dotcom in Rose and line my lips with the Contour Cosmetics lip pencil in Juju from March's Ipsy bag. I followed this with on top of Wet n Wild Silk Finish in Cashmere and topped that with Smashbox Insta-Matte Lipstick Transformer that I got in Birchbox.When applying Cashmere I had to apply and blot twice just to get the right texture. I'm not positive if this is because of the quality of the lipstick, the nature of bullet formulae that I'm very unfamiliar with, or the fact that I've had this lipstick for 2 years now. My lips have been crazy dry so I had some issues with flaking and texture in this pic.

Eyes:  I started with my Smashbox 24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer and followed it up with Meech & Mia Loose Shadow in Beige (yet another Ipsy reward). Steve Laurant Beauty Blush in I'm Blushing from my April Ipsy bag. This has become my new favorite shadow for the (eventually) warmer weather and a lighter look. It's the perfect shadow because I'm pretty lazy and my basic look usually only involves one shadow like this. The shimmer helps add a little depth to an otherwise one dimensional look. I smudged Tarte Sex Kitten Eyelienr (Ipsy) along my upper and lower lash line and also used it to tightline. It was serviceable at tightlining smudged amazingly well along my lower lash line; I'm just realizing I love that almost bruised under eye look. What really pulled the look together was the Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner (Sephora) paired with the Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara (bonus December 2016 Birchbox). I'm not proficient at the cat eye so I didn't even bother. The liquid liner provided a nice, crisp, super black line and the mascara added beautiful volume to my lashes. My biggest complaint about the mascara is that it flakes pretty awfully.

If anybody is interested, I have 5 free Ipsy bags to give away with subscription. It is limited to one per person and Ipsy states "Your invite is valid for first-time subscribers only. Your friends will have 3 days to claim one free personalized Glam Bag when they sign up." To my understanding I will not receive any compensation for people subscribing via this method, but I do benefit in that it will remove the bright pink "5" alert notifying me that I do have the bags to give away. If you're interested at all just leave a comment or email me and I will touch base with you.