Hey everyone, it’s time for my Beauty Favorites this July! I made a point to pay attention and actually take note of the things I’ve been loving this month (at least for half of it), and these are the items that came to mind.
— NARS Sheer Glow (Punjab): I bought a primer with a high SPF so I could keep using this (I hadn’t been since it is SPF-less) and I reminded of why I loved it so much.
— MAC Paint Pot (Groundwork): This is probably the eye base/primer that I reached for the most in July, switching out Painterly, since it looked really pale and ashy against my summer tan~
— shu uemura Eyeshadow (ME medium brown 885): One of my top 5 eyeshadow singles, this is a great all over the lid color if you truly can’t be bothered.
— Urban Decay Primer Potion: A rediscovery as I’ve been using paint pots and using up my NARS eye primer (yech). This stuff is amaaaazing, my absolute favorite eye primer.
— Le Métier de Beauté Daily Refresh Tonic: This is a recent addition to my skin care routine, displacing all my toners currently. It’s refreshing (as the name would imply) and it takes off so much more dirt and residue than my initial cleansing leaves behind.
— K-Palette 24H Real Lasting 2-Way Eyebrow Liner (G101 Grayish Brown)*: This is my favorite brow product right now. I love natural-looking brows and very rarely do I go out with a full, defined dark brow, so this is kind of perfect.
— NARS Semi-Matte Lipstick (Heat Wave): A new and awesome discovery that you are all probably tired of hearing about… Heat Wave. It is so gorgeous and really comfortable to wear. You don’t even have to reapply it as it stays put pretty much all day.
July Goals Update
✔ Wear lip liner long enough to tell if it makes a difference or not. It does.
✔ Use up as much lip gloss as you can without looking like you ate porkchops.
✖ Do another makeup purge for August Blog Sale + give away everything that doesn’t sell. Not to you, lol, that would be weird. ???
✔ Makeup Spend Sheet. For shame and posterity. Just kidding! For responsible financial uh… monitoring. CHECK, it was an eye-opener.
✔ Make more videos! Yes, kinda.
✔ Clean your brushes regularly. You filthy animal!
✔/✖ Streamline nail polish stash. Get rid of colors you don’t like wearing. Change your nail color at least 3 times this month. I haven’t decided what to part with, but in July I wore Le Métier de Beauté Cocoa Cabana, Butter London Fash Pack, Butter London Slapper and Butter London Dahling, Butter London Bossy Boots and Le Métier de Beauté Wango Tango, Butter London Blagger and Barry M Blood Orange.
✔ Change up your eye look. Use up indie samples.
August Beauty Goals:
— Pay attention to ingredients. DO NOT BUY if it contains squalene, polyethylene or palm oil.
Why? Squalene is code for shark liver oil and is usually derived from poached endangered sharks. Polyethylene is found in exfoliators and is essentially plastic microbeads that harm the environment. Palm oil is used in many cosmetics, and its extraction has caused many problems including ecological, environmental, and livelihood. Basically, it is not a sustainable industry that impacts so many factors in the areas that produce palm oil.
— Read more about ingredients and clean(er) beauty. Thinking of getting No More Dirty Looks
— Make a shopping list for upcoming trip. (I’ll be away for about a month!) Try to be thorough, ruthless (in editing), and stick to it.
— Wear more colors. At least 5 times this month.
— Clean brushes (make it a habit)
— Try to streamline skin care
Yay! I think these are… um, doable. What are your beauty favorites this month and beauty goals for next month? 🙂
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Softly Sometimes 
OOH! I like the monthly goals! I think I’m going to start a lipstick everyday goal like you did last month (?), month before (?). So cool!
Go for it! It was totally a great challenge, fun, and easy enough to do. 😀
Gusto ko na talaga nung nars primer. Hahaha.
Anyway, I think deriving squalene oil from sharks is now illegal. They can also source it from olive oil and other vegetable oils but it’s x times more expensive. That said, manufacturer’s may be blind as to the sourcing practices of their suppliers.
Anyway, Issho Genki’s squalene oil supplement is plant-based, but it’s crazy that they keep the shark logo.
I heard that 90% of the squalene in Japan is still derived from sharks. 😦 It’s so sad… Some of them are from whale sharks pa.
Oh no, did a quick googling for Issho Genki. They do still source it from sharks:
“WHY GET IT FROM SHARKS?
Although a rich amount of squalene can also be found in olive oil, it has been found that shark livers are a more abundant source.”
It’s so sad, no? 😦 Especially when there are alternatives.
I had noticed some ingredient lists listing the squalene/ane as being derived from olives, but didn’t realise that sharks liver was an alternative source! I hope that is illegal now.
An interesting resource for ingredient chemistry and regulations (but funny and very readable) is colinsbeautypages.co.uk if you wanted to read more before/without splurging on the No More Dirty Looks book. It’s written by a chemist and cosmetic product formulator.
Have fun making that holiday shopping list 🙂 Keeping and updated beauty shopping/wish list makes me happy even when I can’t afford to buy most of it….one day it could all be mine!?!
That’s good to know! I’ve been checking my lipstick ingredients and so far, among the ones I checked, only one has squalene (cough Tom Ford cough). Rae mentioned up there that some of it is plant-derived, and maybe it’s banned in the US or the EU, but I’m pretty sure Asian companies don’t care about that shit. 😦
Thanks for the link! 😀 So far, very helpfullll.
Oh my gosh! I had just been about to share a comment suggesting Colin’s Beauty Pages. Married to someone who was a health care worker for many years, I was impressed by Colin getting a rare spousal seal of approval for being grounded in sound, lucid science.
Thank you for thinking about recommending him! Definitely a great resource. 🙂
Thank you for the info about squalene! I am not aware of that, and I think it’s pretty important! (especially since I took a CF pledge)
No problem! I think it’s mostly Asian companies who use squalene derived from shark liver oil, as two commenters (incl. Rae!) have mentioned that there are some alternatives to it like olive oil. However, I’ve also read that 90% of Japanese squalene are the shark liver kind… If you take fish oil, and the fish is not specified or it has “fish liver oil” listed as an ingredient (instead of standard “fish oil,” I guess), it’s probably from a shark.
Wait, what?!?! I think I might just be taking shark liver oil everyday. Self-medicating my sadness affliction with omega-3 supplements, and sun, and, physical activity before I go to the doctor as a last resort (TMI). But, WTH!
Medyo nalula ako sa size nung Le Métier de Beauté. Hehe. Anyway, I really really want to try the Sheer Glow Foundation and Rae’s being a complete enabler lol
And squalene, omg. Why get it from sharks 😦
HAHAHA ang laki no?? Nagulat ako ng konti e, hahaha. Omg pls. Sobrang ganda ng Sheer Glow. They have a Matte version rin yata if you’re afraid to look oily. 🙂
IDK man. The kicker is squalene is present in olives, too. D:
I tried a MAC paint pot for a bit but at that point I wasn’t entirely into makeup (appreciated it, but everything I had fit in about 1/2 a shoe box so I had no idea what I was doing) so I didn’t know really how to use it…or I’m sure didn’t appreciate what it could do for me at the time. I’m thinking I need to try again! Love to see all your beauty goals and updates! It’s funny bc I’ve wondered if it would be weird to do giveaways or something with purged makeup that was barely used or still new (or maybe just say hey first person to email me gets it)…I mean people pay for it, why wouldn’t they want it for free?? IDK. It still seems weird in a way but makes total sense LOL! I recently did that with my samples and had a couple of people email me right away, so maybe?
I love Paint Pots! They’re one of my earlier makeup discoveries that I STILL love today. 😀 Which is great because I am of a fickle, fickle disposition.
HAHAHA that’s true! I think it would be OK if it were like a really casual thing, like “Hey I got this, don’t really like it and can’t/feel bad about returning it, maybe you would want to have it?” lol and let it not be one of those over the top follow me everywhere for an entry kind of deal.