Gecko Monitoring



I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using <a href="http://www.tomoson.com/?code=BOTTOM184342d3e86c0fd088597ef46ed38f41" rel="nofollow">Tomoson.com</a>. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Soooo, when should I change my makeup?

I don't know about you, but before I actually started caring about makeup I never thought about it expiring or replacing it.  But makeup definitely has a shelf life and you definitely want to pay attention to when it should be replaced!

First things first, if you ever use your make up while you have ANY type of infection (ex. using mascara on your eyes while you have an eye infection) you MUST get rid of your make up after using it on the infected area. Makes sense?  If you are using mascara near an infection that bacteria is going to get onto the wand and it's going to breed there.  And the last thing you want after one eye infection is a second eye infection!

Second thing, if any of your make up seems to have a strange smell, it's texture is off, it's clumpy when it shouldn't be, or something seems off about it just toss it.  It's better to be safe than sorry!

Now let's say you buy your entire make up line at one time... BOOM... you lots of pretty make up that you are going to use every day, here's the time frame in which you should change all of those products

After 3-6 months

• Mascara - The maximum you want to keep your mascara for is 6 months.  Once you hit the 3 month mark you want to think about tossing it.  Tip to keep it longer - don't push your brush in and out like you see everyone do (yes, I am guilty too).  You don't want to do this because it pushes more air than necessary into the tube which will promote bacterial growth.
• Looking for a good mascara to buy next time? Why not buy Avon's Mega Effects Mascara.  You can get this sweat-proof, non-flaking, and non-smudging mascara to help give you panoramic volume!
• Liquid Foundation - Now if you are using a pump you can get an extra 2 months and get rid of it after 8 months.  The reason for that is pretty simple, no outside products are touching the foundation that may be staying in the bottle which can lead to bacterial growth.  Now, you usually want to change it every 6 months anyways just because it's good to change your color every 2 months.
• Looking for a good liquid foundation to buy next time?  You should try out Avon's Invisible coverage liquid foundation.  You get full coverage and luminous finish!
• Liquid Eyeliner - typically the same rules apply to liquid eyeliner as it does to mascara.

After one year

• Face powder - you can make face powder last for around the one year mark and plus.  If you are applying your powder to a shiny face more often than not you may want to toss at the year mark instead of going for the plus.  You may have some unwanted bacterial growth.  Eck!
• Looking for a few face powder to buy?  Avon has a wide variety of shades of loose face powder.  It's blends well and won't settle in lines.
• Pencil eyeliner - Usually these are gone way before the year mark but as long as they don't dry out then you can keep them for a year plus.  If you want to keep them for up to TWO years then sharpen it after every use.  This will keep the pencil clean and decrease the chance of bacterial growth.
• Looking for a few pencil eyeliner to buy?  Avon has plenty of glimmersticks for your eyes, brows, and lips!

Two years +

• Blush, bronzer, and eye shadow - OK, are you guys ready for this?  You expect your blush, bronzer, and eye shadow to last for up to four years!  Yup, you can keep that same baby blue, sparkly eye shadow for four years.  This is of course, if you do not use it on infected skin.  Yup, bacterial growth will happen in that case (do you guys sense a reoccurring theme here...
• Looking for some new eye shadow for the next time you buy?  Let me tell you, Avon has a wide variety of "bright eye" eye shadows.  They come in True color eyeshadow quads.  They are even crease-proof!

• Lipstick, lip liner - As long as you store these properly and they do not dry out, you can get these to last up to two years.
• Looking for a new lipstick shade to try next time you buy?  One word for you... "shine attract lipstick"  OK, maybe that's three.  But it's the new lightweight color from Avon.  It's lipstick surrounded by a gloss.  So it's two in one!

• Nail polish -  Your nail polish should stick with you for two years.  As long as the color still mixes when you shake it up then you are good.  If it doesn't mix at any point and time before that frame, just toss it.  Two helpful hints - yes, I said when you shake it up but you shouldn't shake it you should just roll the bottle between your two hands.  Shaking is bad, shaking leads to air bubbles... and air bubbles lead to ba.... you know what I am going to say here!  Helpful hint two - if you nail polish dries out try apply small amounts of nail polish remover and mixing it in to see if you can regain the liquidy consistency so you use it :)
• Looking for a new shade of nail polish??  Avon has a high-shine gel finish polish that you do not need a UV light!  It's even your base coat and top coat AND a strengthener!
• Make up brushes - You can keep your make up brushes for years WITH PROPER CARE.  You must wash them.  I repeat, you must wash them!  These little buggers are a breeding ground for bacteria and gross stuff!  You should clean your foundation brush every day (or after every use) and the rest of your brushes once a week.  They do sell brush cleaner or you can use baby soap, just something mild. 
• Avon has a wide variety of make up brushes.  They have natural and nylon bristles to suit the need as well as retractable and angled.

I am an independent representative for Avon.  If you need any help buying products or picking out products that work for you please let me know and I'd be happy to help!  You can contact me or visit http://abern.avonrepresentative.com/

My first attempt at... beauty stuff??

OK, so this is going to be my first attempt at a beauty... tutorial I guess you can call it?  Kind of a product review at the same time...

So by now you all know that I love Influenster.  So recently I received the UniVoxBox and it had a bunch of fun things in it including Rimmel London Stay Matte in Ivory.

I am not this big beauty guru... I have only recently started looking up beauty tutorials myself.  Some of the things people do is just amazing!  I have been practicing but I guess I need some better tools.  Let me tell you guys... you need to invest in the many different brushes if you just don't have the beauty knack... it will make life much easier.  Well... that's just me... the beauty stupid person.  

Alright, enough of the randomness I will just get to it.  I was going for something subtle that you could wear every day, but it's nice enough that if you are going on a date or something you can wear it.  (Now this is not a club date look, like a dinner/movie thing)  Here's my results...

Without the Glasses, no flash

With the glasses, no flash

Realizing now this is a little blurry... but it's with the glasses and with a flash.

So this was very much meant to be something that anybody can do, not too much skill required and it still looks nice and polished.

I didn't start with a moisturizer or primer but I strongly encourage you to!  At least one or the other depending on your skin type.  Dry skin?  Moisturizer helps to make your foundation not look all flaky and what not.  Primer helps every stick to your face better.  Here's a picture of all of my products:

Rimmel London Stay Matte in Ivory, Ulta lip gloss, NYC Expert Last Lip Color, E.L.F all over face brush, and NYC Sky Rise mascara

These two pictures are of my Ulta Starry Lights 76 Piece collection.

So first I applied Rimmel London Stay Matte in Ivory first, all over my face and down to my neck.  You really should use a makeup sponge or brush, I used my finger.  Most days I just dab it on under my eyes, across my cheekbones, and then around my nostrils.  I get the under eye circles and the other areas are prone to excessive redness.

Next I put on my bronzer and blush.  I used "Glow" from my Ulta box for my highlighter that I used on the apples of my cheeks.  Then I used "Sweet Cheeks" from the Ulta box to go underneath that.  I did the fishy face, suck in your cheeks, face and put the blush on the part that was sucked in.  I know that seems kind of strange... I use a foundation to cover up the color on my face and the reapply color... but this color is planned and looks better!  So there's a method to the madness, I promise.

Next I moved onto eyes.  I forgot to put it in my supplies picture but I use an E.L.F Eye Brightening eye liner in black.  This is my absolute every day item.  I need my eyeliner on before I leave the house or I feel naked.  I apply this to my waterline.  Yup, another thing you shouldn't do.  I got yelled at by an optometrist last time I went because it's bad for your eyes for one reason or another.  I can't remember why... but anywho...  Next I used Ulta Glitter Eye liner in "Night Sky" to line the top of my lashes and extended it out slighty past to give that slight winged look.  Not too much but just slightly. I used Ulta "Lustre" eye shadow on top of all of that just to give my lid a little more color.  Then below my brow line I used Ulta "In the Buff".  Then I used Ulta Brow Pencil in "Golden Blonde" to color in my eye brows.  I tried "Warm Brown" and it was WAY too dark to go with my face and hair color.  I even felt like "Golden Blonde" was a bit on the dark side, but it worked.  Next I used NYC Sky Rise mascara.  Two coats.  I actually have a CoverGirl mascara in brown and I strongly prefer the NYC one... half the price... go figure.

Last was the lips... now... I already said I am not a beauty guru and it really shows when it comes to the lips.  I am horrible at picking out colors that go... or making them work.  So 9 times outta 10 I go for a clear gloss.  I am trying to be more daring but I have such a hard time trying to find something that works for me.  In this picture I am wearing NYC Expert Last Lip Color (another product I received complimentary from Influenster) in Forever Fuchsia (which doesn't seem very fuchsia-y... it's very pink) so I toned it down a bit with a brownish glittery Ulta lip gloss (there's no name on it... just says Ulta).

So from start to finish it took me about 12 minutes.  And that includes washing off the first round of brow pencil.  I did both brows before I really looked at them and realized how hideous they looked on me.  Like I said, pretty simple... pretty easy.  A beginner should have no problem doing this.  The hardest thing I see is lining the top of the lashes.  It can be kind of difficult to do a straight line.  But if you have a pretty steady hand you should be ok.  If you don't have a steady hand then I would say try to have something that you can rest your elbow on and pull your eye lid taut and really try to keep one fluid motion going.

Hopefully you guys found this to be helpful and you learned something!  

<a href="http://www.influenster.com/profile/alydbern"><img src="http://widget.influenster.com/53a52a16f65b999b55217f42efd7d482.png"></a>

Uni VoxBox - Yup... Influenster time :)

Helvetica today... yay!  Uni VoxBox time... double yay!!

Alright let's get down to business people...

BTW, right now I am listening to Joshua Radin - What if you, amazing song!


Alright, so you open the box and you the information paper which gives you prices and all of that jazz.  Under that you have a coupon (I will reveal for which one later) and then you get to the first item...

Pilot Acroball Pure White

Well I didn't know there was such a thing as a hybrid pen, so that was pretty intriguing.
I love pens... and I love a good smooth pen. It has the smoothness of a gel pen but it's less liquid-y so you don't have to worry about it smudging. It has the best of both worlds!!! This is my purse pen so I always know that I have it with me :)
So I only received one... its white with a yellow grip but when you get the 5 pack they have turquoise, orange, purple, yellow, blue... nice spring colors.  Now did I mention that the pack also came with a coupon for $1.50 off the pack, which is good considering the 5 pack is $11.99.  Bit steep for me but if I find them on sale and with the coupon... I may have to pick up more.

Red Rose Real Tea

So these are drops that is a water enhancer.  It comes in one of those small bottles like those Mio drops.  So it says on the side of the bottle where you can grip it that you just need a drop.  Let me tell you... you can squeeze it from there and then when I squeezed the middle of the bottle it doesn't drop out, it squirts out!  Surprised me a bit the first time and that resulted in a mess.  Mainly because I was also trying to record myself doing it.  Brilliant, I know.  Anyways, so I choose to do a pretty big "drop" because I like my tea strong.  And it swirls into your drink but kind of settles at the bottom so you definitely want to stir it in.  Soooo I love this stuff!!!  I received blackcurrant raspberry.  It is definitely sweet, but I like my tea sweet so it works for me.  If you don't like it as sweet I'd suggest to do smaller "drops" or water it down. . You learn quickly how much actually works for you.   They also have black tea and earl gray.  I say this would definitely be the flavor I'd go for.

ImPRESS Press-on Manicure

So I haven't actually used these yet... I've researched a bit and it seems like they are your typical press on manicures that last a day or two.  So I will give you first impressions.  The "container" it comes in looks like a nail polish bottle, so I thought that was a cute idea.  And they give you a lot of sizes so you can find the best fit for your nail.   That's really all I have on that.  If I feel like I should rave on them then I will update you. :)

NYC Expert Last Lip Color

Holy pink!  Pink is not my color let me start off... mine was called forever fuchsia.  I haven't actually worn it for any amount of time.  Basically I put it on and went holy pink, showed my SO (who is color blind and surprisingly he couldn't even tell it was on) and then I took a few pictures and took it off.  I may try it one day when I am feeling daring just see how long it actually lasts.  It feels pretty smooth on your lips and doesn't taste bad (yes I give a small lick with my chapsticks and lipsticks bc I don't want something that may leave a bad taste in my mouth!)

Rimmel London Stay Matte

This is one of my top favs in the box.  Now I am newer to the whole foundation thing so I have tried a liquid foundation and have only used it a few times.  I feel like it left my skin looking slightly greasy and didn't give me the coverage I was looking for.  So this was my second foundation experience.  A little goes a long way here!  I just felt the texture and it feels a bit heavy on your fingers so that worried me but I went for it.  It doesn't feel heavy on your skin which is great.  You may have trouble in the summer because it may make you sweat a bit more but the coverage is pretty good!  The corners of my nose are pretty red so I haven't found anything that actually fully covers up those red spots... this does a fairly good job at doing that!  It's easy to apply and lasts for quite a bit of time, I didn't really pay attention the first time which was the longer of the two, so I will have to update you guys on that.

Playtex Sport

OK, these are tampons, not really much to say.  They are Playtex so they aren't going to give you Toxic Shock.  They have the plastic applicator so they apply smoothly.  They also have a nice scent to them.  It can keep you smelling fresh during a rather... icky time.  They are also comfy to wear.  I honestly forgot that it was there... which I guess I usually do but these moreso than others I guess.

Overall, this was a pretty awesome VoxBox!  

So I did receive all of these items complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.  If anyone is interested in joining me let know and I will send you an invite :)

Before foundation.  Yup shiny face.. yuck

After foundation.  This think made me look REALLY white in the picture BUT it doesn't look like that in person.

Holy pink... yup... pink lipstick.  And the foundation

Final product ONE, did my hair really cute and you can't really see it 

Final product TWO, same comment as the first :)

Colgate optic white

First impressions
Prefer medium bristled toothbrushes but I do like this one
toothpaste works well
good grip on toothbrush
tastless paste
leaves teeth feeling a bit gritty at first
after an hour or so teeth feel smooth


After two days
Teeth have brightened
not a wow that's bright but definite whiter


something to watch...
after drinking soda it stained my teeth? could have been lighting in the room.
i have whiter spots at the bottom of my teeth and those were white but the rest of my teeth had a slight tint to them.


downsides
take out the gel stick before brushing... can be bulky.