Minimal Summer Makeup

Here in the Northeast U.S., we have had some scorching hot days. For a while, it was also very dry, but the humidity has picked up and everything is droopy (plants and people included). I usually stick to light makeup, but that's especially true when it's so hot.

Note: The matte bronzer from Tarte is vegan, but the regular 

one is not. I have the non-vegan one pictured in the travel size, 

given to me as a gift. It is not vegan because it is made in 

China, and therefore required by law to be tested on animals.

I have normal to dry skin, with a few breakouts still, so I have a tough time finding the right balance of moisturizing products that don't leave me feeling sweaty or greasy on my face. I'm still working on a good skincare routine, but lately I make sure to wash and tone my face in the morning, and then apply a moisturizer with SPF. I like the Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisture SPF 47 because it uses titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, both physical SPFs, instead of chemicals. It is very greasy, though, so powder is a must (and I NEVER use powder).

For base, I've only been using concealer around my t-zone to even out redness and dark under-eye circles. I currently use the BareMinerals BareSkin Complete Coverage Serum in Fair. If I had the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, I'd probably use that instead, since it's a little less greasy, but setting the serum concealer with powder works fine for me. I use an EcoTools Buffing Brush to blend in the concealer under my eyes, around my nostrils, and on any blemishes (usually around my chin). It does seem to settle into my pores around my nose, so when I remember, I try to use the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer first.

The secret to my minimal summer makeup is the Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Dim Light. I picked up a mini size at Sephora this spring, and could NOT figure out what to do with it. I thought it was just a setting powder, but it was way too dark for me. However, since I'm so pale, it looks really nice on my cheeks as a sort of mix between blush and bronzer. It's so subtle that I don't have to worry about going too heavy or blending to long. I've also used it as an eye shadow, and it's really subtle and pretty as well. If I feel like adding a bit more bronze, I will brush some of the Tarte Amazonian Clay Matte Waterproof bronzer to the top outside part of my cheekbones, near my hairline. And I'll brush some on my neck if I seem to pale/contrasting there.

For eyes, I'm trying out different nude/natural shades, but today I grabbed my HAN Skin Care Cosmetics 100% Natural Eye Shadow in Taupey Plum, and it's perfect for this bronzed but minimal makeup look. I put a small amount on the EcoTools Full Eye Shadow Brush, and applied focusing on the lash line and then blending out towards the crease. You could use a liner as well, but I kept it simple by just curling my lashes and applying a single coat of the Pacifica Aquarian Gaze Water-Resistant Long Lash Mineral Mascara in Abyss. As I mentioned, I used a setting powder because my face looked way too shiny. I have the Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Loose Powder, but it's really too dark for my skin tone.

I finish off the look by brushing through my eyebrows with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel in Brunette and adding some lip moisCrazy Rumors 100% Natural Lip Balm in Hot Cocoa. I should really find a lip balm with SPF--any suggestions? I don't care for the scent of the Hurraw Sun Balm, or I would use that. Let's be honest, though, I really don't like most SPF scents--they're too citrusy for me. If I could just wear a hat all the time, I totally would!
ture with the

How are you staying cool in the heat? Make sure to drink lots of water! xoxo

My Skincare Routine

I have been on a beauty and skincare kick for...a while now. It started last fall with a couple of subscriptions to some vegan beauty boxes (Petit Vour and Vegan Cuts Beauty Box). I was so excited with the boxes because, after six years of being vegan, I was still having a tough time figuring out what personal care products were vegan. Food is easy--makeup and skincare are not always so straightforward.

The beauty boxes helped me discover and fall in love with many products, and it turns out that there are SO many options! I mostly try to stick to natural, non-toxic products that are vegan and cruelty-free. For information about ingredients, I recommend the Environmental Working Groups Skin Deep database. For lists of vegan and cruelty free products, check out Tashina Combs' amazing blog full of resources.

You'll notice these products are focused on detoxing and anti-aging. I don't have particularly sensitive skin, but I've been prone to breakouts lately and I just like having more natural products on my skin. Grad school has not been kind to my skin, so I'm hoping that with time these products will help restore my skin and reduce some frowning wrinkles on my forehead.

One of the brands I was especially pleased to find was Derma E, and now I use their Hydrating Night Cream and Day Cream, as well as their Purifying Daily Detox Scrub and their Firming DMAE Eye Lift Cream. All of their products are vegan and cruelty-free, and they have great formulas that I find super effective. I've used their Hydrating Serum, but I just picked up their Purifying Youth Serum yesterday, so I'm trying that one out now. My mom, who is also vegan, has enjoyed using their products as well. I love that they look and feel high end, but they're actually really affordable.

Another affordable brand I've known about, but have recently been interested in more, is Pacifica Beauty. They're also all vegan and cruelty free. I think for a while they were mostly making perfumes and really smelly lotions, but lately they are upping their skincare game and it's amazing! I was so happy to see a few weeks ago that they launched a Cactus Water Micellar Cleansing Tonic. Micellar water is all the rave with the beauty bloggers, but all the brands I've heard them mention are tested on animals, so I could not have been happier to find a product I feel good about. Not only is this product both vegan and cruelty-free, it also smells great and the bottle looks so lovely.  I also picked up their Pore Refine Deep Detox Mask, which I think is helping to help reduce my blackheads, and I'm trying out their Cactus & Kale Oil-Free Stress Recovery Lotion. The lotion feels so nice, and unlike their earlier products, the scent is so subtle and soothing. I will say that I was also tempted to buy their Sea Change Future Youth Serum, but I got the Derma E serum instead, because it was on sale!  Next time! (EDIT: I picked it up in June, and like it just the same as the Derma E, so I just switch back and forth.)

Finally, I just discovered a local Rochester skin care company and have really enjoyed the products I picked up from them during Anthropologie's Pop Up Market in Eastview Mall. Red Moon Apothecary is located about half a mile from my house, and they make lovely botanical skin care products. Some of their products have milk or honey in them, but I found a few that are vegan. The Activated Charcoal Cleansing Cream is SO luxurious. It is like an oil cleanser, but it is so refreshing because of the activated charcoal. Like I said, my skin has been breaking out so much, and this feels like the perfect balance for my skin. Ob-sessed. I also picked up their Lavender and Citrus Cleanser, which is bright and fresh as well. The other product I picked out from them is their Hydrating Facial Serum, which is a lovely and light combination of 5 different oils plus essential oils. The jury is still out whether it's a keeper, but I think it will work well for an evening when I really want my skin to soak up hydrating and natural oils.

I seriously have so many more products that I have been loving, but I'll save those for next time! What vegan products do you have in your skincare routine? Any local, handmade brands you're proud to have discovered? Let me know!

everything's the same. everything's changed.

This Monday, I received some fantastic news. After a full three months of searching for a job here in Rochester, I finally found one. And was offered the position!

Starting February 8th, I will be the health project coordinator for a study on smoking cessation in the Dominican Republic. HOorAy!

I can't describe the surreal feeling I have at this point, knowing that I *finally* have a grown-up job. I have an 8-5, Monday through Friday, salaried with benefits, job. It's ridiculous. I have to get work clothes. I have to wake up early. I have to commute. This is a whole new ball of yarn. (I don't know if that's a real idiom, but I'd rather talk knitting than sports...) Aside from being a great opportunity to travel and to speak Spanish, this is an excellent chance for me to get into a serious academic study and get some first-hand experience working with international development. Oh man, business trips to the Caribbean. Can't beat that...

So anyway, I get two weeks to finish off my funemployment, and what a gift that is! I've been knitting like crazy for the last 24 hours. And as a result, I now have three hats and a partial scarf. I'm looking forward to selling some items at the Craft/Zine fair at the Flying Squirrel Community Space in a little over a week. I think with some effort (and occasional breaks for my poor hands) I can have a good supply of finished items to sell. Now that I don't have to worry about an extensive job search (read: stint in financial uncertainty) I can invest in some more yarn to really bust out some nice work. It will be nice to know that I can make money back instead of giving everything away. I love making gifts, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to have some return so that I can invest in even more projects.

I'm also looking forward to doing some design projects in the house. Most of all I can't wait to paint. I'm thinking a dark mustard in the dining room, and soft gold in the living room, and white with pale green, taupe and chocolate in the bathroom. I want to go antiquing and hopefully rescue some great pieces for our living space. It's so fun to have such a BEAUTIFUL house to grow into and develop. I almost wish I could just spend all my time decorating, baking bread, and gardening. And knitting. Oh well, the work will make all those things possible, as time allows.

Off to my sister's house to hang out for a few hours. Hopefully I'll stop by the yarn shop, too.

returning

hello blog, oh how i've missed you.

i can measure how long i've been dating adam by how long i've been absent on the internet. it's crazy how unappealing the internet seems when you've got a cute boy around. as much as i've enjoyed my hiatus from the addiction that is an online presence, i have to say i've missed my journaling.

it's not just adam that has taken me away from writing. i've remained horrendously busy working a full-time and a part-time job, bike commuting, and trying to maintain some sense of order in my home and a sufficient level of personal hygiene. all that and going on adventures with my amazing partner...it's no wonder i haven't had time to write about all that's going on!

so today, different from any other day, i happen to have the whole day off from both jobs and adam went home early to take care of things with his kitties, while i stayed to finish some housecleaning and organizing. this means i've putzed around long enough to feel like settling in to write before claire joins me on skype so we can catch up.

i've had a great day so far. i woke up and cleaned up the warzone in the kitchen from last night's indian dinner. i started some laundry, ate a bowl of soyogurt, and read a bit of my book about trees. eventually adam woke up and i made him oatmeal and he tinkered with iPhoney while i made some bulk food for the week. i'm going to be busy all day everyday until next monday, so i have to make sure i can feed myself on the run. some weeks i'm not so good about doing this on my days off, so i end up eating at dogtown three days a week and binge-eating vegan cookies fromt the co-op. i'm pleased with my foresight this time.

this is a bit of my routine since adam has come into my life. aside from the wild adventures we have together, which more often than not involve long bike rides and lots of vegan food. we split the week at my house and his, depending on my morning schedule at starbucks. he is good about letting out honey, my enormous white bunny rabbit, to hop around and nibble on the wood trim of just about everything in my bedroom. i clean her cage, give her a handful of food, make sure her water is full, and count on adam to make sure she's entertained when i'm not around. it's really hard to work so many hours and then spend every other hour (waking and sleeping) with adam, but it's all worth it.

we've been dating for about three months now, and i much prefer this life to my life before i met him. i had more time to think and reflect then, but all i had to think about was how unhappy i was and how much i wanted to go on adventures, here or anywhere else. those who know me know i love to write about how unhappy i am, but rarely how content i am with life. contentment is uninspiring, i suppose. there's nothing to work out.

i expect claire's call any minute, so i'm going to prepare to be on the phone for at least an hour. then i'm off to the women's group meeting at teen city before i meet adam and his friends at an asian restaurant for dinner. maybe i can come back here in about a week. it'd be nice to get back in the habit again...

i finished desert solitaire today, and i'm happy and sad, feeling empty and full, all at once. it was wonderful, albeit tough for me to get through. mostly because i didn't want it to end. i didn't want him to have to leave arches, to go home and wonder, when he goes back, if he goes back, will it be the same? will he be the same?

i sat in a cafe for an hour, eating a croissant and sipping on delicious coffee with lots of cream, and i pondered these questions. of course, i don't plan to return to the backcountry to do all the same things, to be with the same people and see the same sights. i know it would be different, just as i would be different. but in some ways, the wilderness that i left behind is more dependable than anything i could hope to find here in civilization. and the girl that left the mountains was more confident, more energetic, more alive than the one sitting here now. if i did return, i would be older, wiser. i would look at the time i have there in a different light, knowing how precious it really is. if i returned, i would know better than to ever leave again...

if only...

my saving grace (which is also the bane of my existance) is my routine commute by foot around the city of rochester. today, i tried to catch the bus home from teen city, but, realizing i was really early for the bus, i decided to walk part of the way. that turned into ALL of the way. it was just easier, faster, and cheaper than waiting 20 minutes in the cold for a bus that would take 2 minutes and cost me a dollar. my hands weren't numb, so i continued on. i'm proud that i walk everywhere. it's actually not as cold as riding my bike, i've found, since the wind blows so cold on my face. and it gives me time to think. too much, maybe.

i, like ed abbey, like to be alone. my sister is gone with charlie to seattle until next week, and i'm starting to savor my solitude, and the silence it brings me. in silence, in solitude, i have room to stretch my brain. to think long and hard, and sometimes to think of nothing at all. mostly to daydream, a skill i honed from needing something to distract me from 2000 ft climbs up a mountain with tools on my back. i had lovely daydreams while hiking. when it got REALLY bad, i would just think of those damn sheep that surrounded gage and me and woke us up on the morning of the summer solstice. the thought of those sheep would make me smile and even laugh, even on the most grueling hike to work. now, i think of a lot of memories of the backcountry, and dreams of returning to the sierras. i plan wild escapes in winter to warm places with no people, just me and the sky. i can almost smell the sagebrush and juniper and cedar, hear the wind blow through the canyons and taste the dust from the trail in my mouth. i can feel the mountain air. i also think a lot about trails we worked for weeks at a time. i go over in my head every turn in the trail, every incline, switchback, obstacle and view, picturing each step as if i had taken slides of the whole way up the mountain. i don't think i could ever get lost in that part of the stanislaus. i probably know it better than the back of my hand (who ever studies the back of their hand, anyway?)

i started out just wanting to mention that i finished desert solitaire, and that i wished ed abbey had offered me a better handhold out of this hole i find myself. "a hole as deep as my regret." i wish he hadn't left me hanging on the hope that he would return, so that i might return, and find things not necessarily the same, but more familiar than this strange world in which i find myself now. i wish i didn't have to read about all those beautiful arches and rivers and sunsets, and then return to this icy white jungle. i wish i didn't have to wake up at 4:00 in the morning tomorrow. peace...

let there be peace and peace and peace

have i mentioned that i love sunday mornings? i really love them. today i'm thinking about a lot of things. i'm listening to andy mckee, a favorite from this summer. one sunday morning, one of our last at our relief reservoir camp, and the last time that we saw peter, we all sat around eating breakfast in near silence, drinking tea or coffee and listening to andy mckee's happy acoustic guitar instrumentals bouncing off rock faces and enormous pines. the fire was down to a low crackling and clouds drifted slowly across the sky. we hardly EVER had clouds, and it would eventually rain that day. but at that moment, in the clear july sun, we were completely at peace.

i sit here this morning with my coffee (made in a french press, not cowboy coffee) and listen to andy mckee stream through my laptop. i am alone, and indoors. but i am still happy. i'm about to go to church, and i can't wait. kaaren is preaching today and it's sure to be inspiring. the theme for this month is "think", and i'm looking forward to this challenge. i'm glad that spending time with this church is turning out to be everything i hoped it would be, and more. i love the ministers, and feel inspired in everything i hear and see in my beautiful little church across the street. i couldn't be more blessed to have found these people at this point in my life.

i'm going to finish my coffee, get dressed, bundle up, and take a little walk up to church. i love sunday mornings...