Happy Saturday! YouTube Favs of the Week

Happy Saturday!

I have been thinking about posts that I would like to make and considering the amount of (mainly beauty) YouTube videos I watch regularly, I figured why not talk a bit about a couple of my favorite videos of the week (well month or two, but details). In no particular order, here we go!

1) Atleeeey's "Sugar Plum Fairy Inspired Look" from her Christmas-inspired series.

I absolutely love this look and this particular YouTuber. Ashley is so creative and chill, and inspires me to play more with color in my own makeup looks. I don't believe she has done any collaborations yet.

2) Jackie Aina's "2016 Beauty Favorites & Tutorial + La Bronze Restock"

Jackie's channel was a recent re-discovery for me after seeing her on Sugarpill's channel doing swatches of their new Pumpkin Spice Metallic Shadow and Liquid Lipstick (here's the video) with Autumn (who has fair skin). Her 2016 Favorites are my absolute favorite because she makes it into a tutorial using only those products. Jackie collaborated with Artist Couture to make the La Bronze highlighter. 

3) Thataylaa's "Favorite Makeup of 2016 - Most Reached For Products"

Taylor's channel is in my top three YouTube channels ever. She does pale foundation testing, GRWM videos that she calls Shadow & Schmooze, vlogs, and other beauty things. I really like seeing her pale foundation testings in her Foundation Fridays and 15 Days of Foundation series since she compares lots of different products, tries them out with different setting powders and such, and shows the coverage and wear over her cystic acne. If you have combination skin, cystic acne, and or a fair complexion then you would love her. She collaborated with BHue Beauty to make a dark red lipstick.

4) Thrift Thick's "Tarte Tartelette in Bloom Clay Palette - Review, Swatches, & Mini-Tutorials"

Thrift Thick is also a new discovery for me and I love her product reviews. She is absolutely adorable and always is completely honest. I especially like this particular video because she does three different looks with the same palette as opposed to the usual one look that other beauty vloggers do.

5) NikkieTutorials' "Kylie Jenner Lip Kits - First Impressions and Swatches" 

Nikkie is one of those YouTubers that really got me back into playing with makeup and was one of the ones who introduced me to the online beauty community. She does some product testing, but mainly makeup tutorials and has collaborated with Too Faced Cosmetics to make The Power of Makeup Palette. I feel like Nikkie and Taylor are the awesome best friends who love playing with makeup.

6) KathleenLights' "Best of COLOURPOP"

Kathleen is so down to earth and sweet. I love watching her videos because it seems like she's actually talking to you as opposed to rambling about life (which I also enjoy). She has done collaborations with Morphe (Eyeshadow Palette), Colourpop (Liquid Lipsticks), Ofra (Liquid Lipsticks), and MakeupGeek (Highlighter Palette), and even recently started her own nail polish company called KL Polish.

7) MannyMUA's "New Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette Tutorial" 

First of all, super congrats to Manny for his recent part of the Maybelline Big Shot Mascara campaign! Manny is one of the other artists who has really inspired me to play with makeup and color again. He's really chill and funny. Manny has done a collaboration with MakeupGeek to make an eyeshadow palette. He is one of my favorite YouTubers to watch. 

8) Jessica Braun's "Eyeshadow Palette Declutter 2016"

Jessica, Taylor, and Katrin (below) were the ones who inspired me to go through my makeup and decide what I truly want and use. I still havent had the chance to donate my decluttered makeup, but it's on my To Do List. Jessica is also a teacher and does lots of videos on affordable makeup products. Thank goodness.

9) Nikita Dragun's "MannyMUA × Makeup Geek Palette Makeup Tutorial"

Speaking of MannyMUA's palette, Nikita did a makeup tutorial using it. Nikita is adorable and just fun to watch. I love seeing the looks she does and it's interesting to hear about her transition and life as a transgender woman. She was also recently in Jeffree Star's campaign for his holiday collection. 

10) Jeffree Star's "No Tea, No Shade Makeup Tutorial" 

Jeffree is definitely an artist. He started his own cosmetics line called Jeffree Star Cosmetics that started with only liquid lipsticks and has since branched out to include lip scrubs, highlighters, lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes,and fashion. His liquid lipsticks make up a huge portion of my lipstick collection and the shade Mannequin is one of the things I keep in my purse.

11) JKissa's 'Chatty GRWM - Maroon Smokey Eye and Messy Bun Tutorial" 

I couldn't not put JKissa in this list. She is one of my favorite beauty vloggers and it's awesome that she doesn't wear foundation, is vegetarian, and always mentions colors not only for her fair skin, but also for the deeper skin tones. Jessica does tons of first impressions and my favorites are when she does a GRWM with a new palette.

12) Shaaanxo's "Ariana Grande 'Side to Side' Makeup Tutorial" 

Shannon has quickly risen to one of my favorite beauty vloggers. I love watching her lipstick swatch videos, celebrity-inspired tutorials, and GRWM vidoes. She collaborated with BH Cosmetics to make an eye and lip palette. Definitely a must watch channel.

13) Grav3yardgirl's Battle of the Peach Palettes"

Bunny is adorable, quirky, and someone who has a good amount and variety in her content. She does makeup tutorials, First Impression Fridays, Does This Really Work?, and more. She collaborated with Tarte to make the Swamp Queen Palette. 

14) Katrin Berndt 's "Changing My Appearance Doesn't Mean I Hate Myself" 

I actually discovered Katrin through her minimalism journey and decultter videos. She also does vlogs, makeup tutorials, GRWM videos, and talks about various topics. She cracks me up, is down to earth, and makes me want to get my life together.

15) Caito Potatoe's "Abused & Onyx Ice Tutorial"

Caito Potatoe is absolutely adorable and does mostly makeup tutorials inspired by a Jeffree Star product (usually a liquid lipstick). I love how bubbly she is and it's fun to watch her play with makeup and chat about random stuff.

16) Glam&Gore's "The Hooked little Mermaid Makeup Tutorial"

Mykie is another artist with interesting content since she is not only a makeup artist, but an fx artist also. My favorite series she has done about the Disney Princesses combined both of those talents into two separate and connected tutorials. Her puppy named Ripley is also adorable and sometimes cameos in her videos.

PS.

I just discovered Sarah Hawkinson and I love her already. Katrin Berndt mentioned Sarah while talking about bullet journals. This is her current featured video which is "Grunge GRWM". I'm definitely going to watch more of her videos.

Creating for the Sake of Creating

"Be an Artist, Right Now!"

Young-ha Kim

Happy Sunday!

This morning, just like the last couple mornings, I have watched a couple TED Talks while drinking my morning coffee. Folgers Hazelnut is the best coffee ever created, by the way.

Young-ha Kim talked about how ashe children we were artists all the time and as adults we give more reasons as to why we don't do art as opposed to just doing it.

Exciting News: New Fur Baby

I'm not sure how I convinced my husband that we should go to the animal shelter, but that's where we found ourselves this afternoon. Its been bothering him that my cats are so scared of him. At first it was only Merlin, but now Maggie Mae has gotten skittish around him also.

El Paso Animal Services is right next door to the Humane Society, so we went through each respectively. Mike was pretty quickly drawn to a boxer mix and I liked a dark colored German Shepard. The volunteers let us walk them around the building and go into the run, which is a fenced in grassy area where they can run and play. The boxer mix peed on the facing a lot, but was really sweet. The German Shepard was sweet, but wasn't dog friendly, so we decided he wouldn't be a good fit.

I regret not taking a picture of him, but we should be bringing home the boxer mix in a couple days! I hope it all works out. We have absolutely nothing prepared for him yet, so we will have to get some stuff and pay for another pet deposit if he gets along with the cats. Cross your fingers for us!

I'm just so excited.

UPDATE:

My Thoughts On: Decluttering

You know how in the movies when there is a group of people sitting in a circle of plastic chairs for a therapy session? I imagine how uncomfortable most everyone is and those very few that have gone so many times that they feel way to comfortable there. Each person takes their turn to introduce themselves and "admit that they have a problem," and everyone else drones out a bored sounding greeting back.

"Hello everyone. My name is Rachel and I'm a packrat."
"Hiiii Raaaacheeeel."

Too bad there is not a mainstream Hoarders Anonymous. It is obvious to me that I will never be someone who lives a minimalist lifestyle. Kudos to those who do as it seems so modern and less stressful. I personally love have knick knacks around the house, most with sentimental value or are used daily, as it seems more homey. I come from a family of packrats, so parking my car in a garage is an experience I have yet to have.

A couple months ago when I first started the plans for moving to the city where my husband works (and long before that), I noticed (again) how much clothes I have. I do wear most of it, but the sheer volume of clothes in my closet, in drawers, and in purposefully placed piles seemed like too much. My husband, who is definitely a minimalist, backed me up on that observation. The last time I purged my wardrobe I donated five or six full trash bags of clothing. The purge before that it was two or three bags of clothes.

It had never even crossed my mind to go through my makeup collection until I watched makeup declutter videos from beauty YouTubers, @thataylaa and @katrinberndt. It took way longer than I anticipated, but I gathered up a good chunk of products that I don't reach for or have never actually touched. @thataylaa had the awesome idea to donate her gently used makeup to an organization called Project Beauty Share, who provides women in need with cosmetics and feminine products to get them back on their feet and help them regain their dignity. Regardless, I plan on donating whatever makeup I can and giving away or tossing what I can't.

What I actually kept included primers, foundations that actually match my skin tone, face/setting powders, blushes, highlighters, a bronzer (that I'm still playing with), eyeshadow palettes and singles, several eyeliner pens, a gel eyeliner pot, several lip liners, several eyebrow pencils, an eyebrow powder, and a dip brow pomade. I'm obviously super indecisive on how to fill in my eyebrows at the moment. If I ever get down a real routine, I will likely donate the other products.

What really helped me be ruthless was the idea that everything has a home, even if it is not yours.

Now to purge the wardrobe again.

My Yoga Resolution

After a week that has not gone anywhere near how I planned or imagined, I have decided to get back on top of exercising regularly by mainly doing yoga and going running. Today was my first day and it was definitely a challenge. My alarm went off at 5:30am and even though I didn't get up as soon as I planned or make it as far as I hoped, I did something. Starting is a challenge and sticking with it is even harder.

The time when I was doing yoga regularly was when I felt the best (since high school when I took belly dance classes regularly). I feel like this is a step towards lasting health and happiness.

I have used this app a couple times since I can't afford a yoga studio membership and I actually like it. I still prefer practicing in a studio because I feel more compelled to go since its at set times and usually push myself a lot more when there are other people around. I like that in the Down Dog app you can select the length of time you want to spend in a session, change the style of yoga, and change the background music selection. It's actually not a prerecorded video like other versions, but changing pictures with a voiceover explaining what to do in a soothing voice.

FYI the Down Dog app is available for Apple and Android and it's FREE!

This morning I set up a 60 minute session, which is how long the classes were back at my old studio, and only made it about 35 minutes before I was rather worn out and stayed in Childs Pose another 5 minutes before stopping it all together. I probably should have laid down longer and relaxed, but instead I got up and took a hot shower. I'm a bit disappointed in how badly I did, especially at anything that required balancing on doing a lunge.

Today is Day#1 though, so I do have to start somewhere. I will do better and better if I stick to it. Self-discipline has never been one of my strongest qualities, but I'm determined to change this and get my priorities in order.

Retail Therapy Target Haul

Today sucked, so I had a lazy day after some retail therapy at Target. I will probably try out the elf face powder, the Milani lipsticks, and the baby backpack out tomorrow. I have already tried out the non-foaming cleanser and a currently wearing the rose mask from Shea Moisture. It's more tingly than I expected considered it's supposed to be for sensitive skin. I had to put back some of the stuff I was wanting as I started to ring up everything I had so far. Retail therapy shouldn't bankrupt you... I am super happy I grabbed these 2 super soft, long-sleeved shirts though. It's cold here in El Paso, Texas at the moment.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my slightly early New Years Resolution to get back on top of my life. It's time for a priority change because what I have been doing is obviously not working, no matter how hard I try. My alarm clock is set for 5:30am, so hopefully it will go off this time and hopefully I can drag my butt out of bed that early.

Loreal Pure-Clay Detox & Brighten Mask

Made with 3 Pure Clays + Charcoal

1.7oz / 48g

Green = Purify & Mattify

Black = Detox & Brighten

Red = Exfoliate & Refine

Yesterday

My very first impression of the new Loreal clay mask was that it looked like it was being advertised as being made with natural ingredients due to the pale green and white box. The actual jar feels nice and heavy, but has a light weight plastic lid that is the same pale green color as the box. I super love that there is a sort of seal on the jar to keep the air out and keep it from drying out quickly.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they clay was smooth onto my skin and it dried pretty quickly. It has a natural smell that I couldn't quite place, but it didn't smell like charcoal like I expected. My husband says it smells like tea and I'm inclined to agree. I originally thought it was black, but it's actually a dark gray color that dries down to a light gray with all the darker spots from the absorbed oil.

☆ Friendly Advice: Don't laugh or smile when it's almost dry. My husband is really funny and it was borderline painful when the mask cracked.

Today

Immediately after applying the mask it felt tingly all over and again it dried quickly. Thankfully Mike was too distracted by video games to notice me wearing a face mask, so I could keep a straight face and keep it from cracking. My skin felt clean and smooth and looked like it sucked up some of the impurities (if the black spots everywhere are anything to go by).

Final Thoughts vs. Claims:

All skin types? I don't think I can speak for any of the skin types, but I would recommend this to my fellow people with oily skin.

Doesn't dry out skin? Nope! It just felt nice and clean.

Goes on and rinses off easily? It went on surprisingly easily and evenly, but was harder to wipe off.

Completely draws out built up impurities, dirt, & pollution? Maybe? I still have blackheads after 2 days of use, so I doubt it has gotten everything.

Skin feels refreshed and can breathe? Clean-feeling doesn't necessarily mean completely clear of nasty stuff, but maybe it breathes a bit better?

Look brighter with a healthy glow? Actually, yes. It's subtle, but was noticeable for me.

Skin tone is more even? My skin was a little less red after Day#1, but I picked at my face on Day#2 so it was a bit red again (hence the lack of a second picture).

Skin looks smoother? I didn't notice any difference visually in my texture. I will update y'all later if this changes.


☆☆☆☆
Would I repurchase this product? Yes.

Want to try this for yourself? Click Here!