Makeup Favorites

I rarely wear makeup because certain conditions have to be met so I can.  In order to put make up on for the day I have to be staying at home and not planning to do a whole lot that's productive.  I have very little energy on a daily basis and most of it gets used wheeling myself around the house throughout the day in my wheelchair.  Most days I save the extra energy for working on my Etsy shop.  On the rare day that I have to leave the house I save my extra energy for riding the bus and interacting with people.  But on a day where I have nothing to do but relax and watch Netflix I like to play with makeup.  I don't have a whole lot of makeup.  I don't have any blush or bronzer, but I do what I can with what I have.  On those low-energy days it's always nice to look in the mirror and see my made up face and not feel quite so worn out.  Since I don't have a lot of makeup I don't have a lot of favorites but I do have a few, so here they are.

Brija Cosmetics:  a small business where all of the makeup and skincare products are made by one hardworking lady; everything is 100% vegan, gluten free, cruelty free, and dye free

The first thing I purchased from Brija Cosmetics was the blogger pack, which included four mystery products and one full-size eyeshadow of my choice.  I was immediately in love with the products.  They are so pigmented and wear wonderfully.  They never make my skin break out worse which is super important to me.  I purchased the Halloween Heroes(ish) Eyeshadow collection next and it is amazing.  First of all, the products are all based on characters from some of my favorite movies like Coraline, Hocus Pocus, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Second, the shadows are super unique shades but very versatile.

If I had to choose my favorite products from Brija Cosmetics that I've tried so far I would have to pick Lace Dresses eyeshadow, Glorious Morning Magic eyeshadow, and ESPN highlight.  I highly recommend all of three of these.  They're the ones I reach for just about every time I wear makeup.  Brianna is always coming out with new collections and her new Glamour to Go 2 collection is definitely on my wishlist.  I'll definitely blog about any products I buy from her in the future.

Glorious Morning Magic

Moon Glimmer Cosmetics: This is a cruelty-free makeup brand on Etsy.  Jordan's mom bought me a really pretty highlight from this shop and I love it.  It's the Persephone shade from this listing.  They also have it as a pressed highlighter if you like that better than a loose powder.  It is an absolutely gorgeous color.  It's super pigmented with great reflect and lasts all day.  I love swiping a little bit on my cheeks and feeling just a little bit magical when I see my reflection.  This shop has so many gorgeous shades of eyeshadow and highlighter and I definitely want to try more.  I am all about a good color reflect.  There's even a shadow that reminds me of my favorite stone, labradorite, with a grey base and stunning blue reflect.  That one is definitely on my wishlist.  Seriously, is it not stunning?

So those are really my only makeup favorites at the moment.  Some of the things on my wishlist include a good liquid foundation, the Real Techniques diamond makeup sponge, and Tarte lipstick, as well as pretty much any blush and bronzer.  I just signed up for Glambot so I have my eye on a few products there.  If you don't know about Glambot it's a site where you can sell certain kinds of makeup as well as buy makeup.  The makeup they receive is thoroughly sanitized before they sell it and it's a great way to get some cash if you clean out the makeup you don't use.  You can use my referral link to get $10 to use when you sign up.

Online Shopping for Special Diets

I was going to talk about Vitacost in my post about my favorite discoveries of 2016, but it really needed its own post, so here it is!  I actually learned about the amazingness that is Vitacost.com through the Youtube channel of the girl who makes Brija Cosmetics.  She had a video with a gluten free Vitacost haul of some really yummy looking foods and I had to check out the site.  I had heard of Vitacost before, but I thought it was an online drugstore type of site and it is that but so much more.  If you have any kind of specialty diet you can sort their groceries by those, and even more than one at a time!  For a few months I went without dairy entirely because it seemed to be upsetting my stomach, but then I learned that it's really just everything upsetting my stomach again (but that's not really important here).  During those months I loved being able to go to Vitacost.com and filter the food so I was only seeing things that were gluten free and dairy free.  They have the most specialty diet filters I have ever seen on a website, including Chemical Free, Soy Free, and Yeast Free.  There are so many products and they're always a lower price than anywhere else.  They also have sales all of the time, and every time you order you get a 10% off discount code for your next order.  I am not sponsored by them in any way; I just seriously love their site and know others can benefit from it too.

I think I've ordered boxes of food from them six times since discovering the site halfway through last year and I have also ordered my vitamins from them.  If you're gluten free these are my must-try products from Vitacost:

Vana Life Foods legume bowls, Pamela's Whenever bars, Seapoint Farms edamame snacks, St. Dalfour French Bistro beans and corn, and Daiya dairy free mac and cheese.

if I had to choose just one favorite this would be it

How I Spent My Christmas

Jordan and I had a nice little relaxed Christmas.  I had been sick and in bed with a cold for the previous two weeks and my parents' house had tons of snow so we didn't travel.  We didn't really do anything for Christmas other than opening presents.  We didn't have a tree either but did hang the few ornaments we had on our coat rack.  I got some amazing Christmas presents from my parents and from Jordan's parents.  Jordan and I exchanged gifts way before Christmas because we just can't wait when it comes to giving each other presents.  He got me season 1-6 of Adventure Time and I got him some chapsticks, including pizza flavor which he adores.  They're from Etsy and the scents on these are seriously so spot on, it's amazing!  Check out all of their chapsticks in their shop.  The peanut butter and marshmallow fluff and the strawberries and champagne are also amazing scents.  Besides that I only had enough money to get my little cousins handmade blanket scarves and none of the adults in my family presents, because I am forever broke.

I got a lot of presents and only photographed a few but here they are:

the cutest fleece lined leggings from my mom, love them so much!

an aragonite crystal for my collection from Jordan's mom, so pretty!

These adorable buttons from Etsy; they didn't open and close properly but after some fiddling with my jewelry pliers they do.  They are honestly so cute and maybe this was just a bad batch but I'm not going to link to the shop because of that fact.

My 25th Birthday and Etsy Sale

Yesterday I turned 25.  For my birthday I got dressed up and did my hair and makeup and then I stayed home and relaxed.  I was going to watch Tim Burton movies because that's pretty much my birthday tradition/favorite special day activity but Jordan and I got about halfway through Ed Wood, which we had never seen, and then fell asleep.  I just wasn't feeling movies a whole lot yesterday.  After our nap I watched a whole bunch of 2 Broke Girls and finished season 1.

My mom sent me a bag full of Christmas (haha, I mean birthday) presents and I opened them all yesterday morning.  She got me some jewelry supplies, 2 king size Pay Day candy bars, and an amazing adult coloring book (by this great artist lady, it's the Lost Ocean coloring book) with a pack of twist up colored pencils.  Jordan got me the new Dropkick Murphy's CD for my birthday but I got it the day it came out as a great surprise from him, because he pre-ordered it for me.

I intended to have pork chops and dairy free gluten free Daiya mac and cheese for dinner, but the pork chops hadn't thawed so I'll cook them today instead.  I had mac and cheese for dinner and treated myself to a Toblerone bar.

All in all, it was a pretty laid back birthday but it was great and exactly the sort of birthday I like to have.  Here are my pictures from the day:

I had Jordan take photos of my hair since this hairpin is a new item I'm making to list in my shop.

The thing that I was most excited about my birthday for is my annual birthday sale in my Etsy shop.  Every year I have a sale for the percent off of the age I'm turning, so this year for five more days everything in my Etsy shop is 25% off.  Here are some of the things on sale, all handmade by myself: