Vanilla Birthday Cake

I have a massive backlog of Drafts from before I bailed on my Blog previously. Since I don't have the original images intended for them, I will find images online and use those instead. So if you see the tag #backlog in any post, you know that I had it all lined up in the past but either had some light (or very heavy) editing depending on the content I had already written. With all that said, onward to the post!

It's no secret I love Philosophy body washes. I love anything that allows me to smell like delicious edible baked goods. That and my skin is too sensitive for perfumes and I generally don't like the smell of 99% of perfume out there.

What I love about the birthday cake is that it smells just like b-day cake. The smell seems overwhelming sometimes in the shower, but it's not as strong once you dry off. That's not to say you can't smell it at all but it isn't as intense as a perfume would be. And it wears off as the day goes on.

The bodywash isn't particularly moisturizing, so use it every-other day in the winter or if you have very dry skin in general. It also might be too much for someone even more sensitive to fragrances. But I'm one of those people who get yeast infections from laundry detergent that has scent and I do just fine with it. Just don't use this directly on your genitals, and I think you will be fine.

I also don't recommend this for shampoo or bubble bath. It sucked for shampoo because I get dandruff easily and this made it worse. Also, it stripped my hair color out. In regards to bubble bath, I've still yet to find a bubble bath or bath bomb that doesn't give me a massive yeast infection. So I avoid soaking in strong smells or chemicals in any way.

You can buy it from Philosophy directly here: http://www.philosophy.com/vanilla-birthday-cake-shower-gel.html

St Ives

Random time to review a bodywash, I know. But I've been using this stuff at the gym instead of the antibacterial stuff provided for free at the gym. The free stuff, although tempting because of FREE, is no good for me. It dries my skin so much, I get flaky and itchy in the summer. No bueno. Also, I'm showering twice a day usually now because: once after working out in the morning & again when I get home from work. I hate going to bed dirty.

I found out about this St. Ives Oatmeal and Shea Butter bodywash over the winter when my skin was so itchy and dry it was like it was made of chalk and poison ivy. This stuff is amazingly soothing and calming. I figured if it has oatmeal (which is what I used as a kid when I had poison ivy/oak/sumac and YES I've had them all, augh) so it can't be bad. And Shea Butter isn't going to hurt my poor dry skin. If anything, I thought it'd smell like the wet-cardboard smell of oatmeal. But nope. Smells good too!

I originally got this in the full size version (which is great, you should too!) but I found out CVS has it in the travel section too. Which is doubly nice. That means I can refill my little bottle to take with me to the gym or travelling or conventions. So convenient! I'm pretty sure anyone can use this body wash and love it. It seems like it'd be fantastic for sensitive skin (like me), dry skin, skin you're overwashing, winter skin, black skin, anyone who needs a break. I'm not sure about oily skin, but it doesn't leave any residue so I don't see why not. I wouldn't use it to wash my face, but that's more because I like my acne wash and moisturizer separate and this both washes and moisturizes.

My Stash: Lips, Body, Special effects

So every crazy makeup fiend like me has some stash somewhere. I have a ridiculous cart next to my office desk (my bathroom is too tiny) filled with Beauty products. This is the first drawer:

This drawer holds:
Clear Hershey's Vanilla Creme Bag - top section - Extra tools (brushes, applicators, sponges, tweezers, etc)
Black Bag - in the the bottom right - Lipstick, chapstick, lipgloss
Tasty Body Shimmer by Urban Decay - top to bottom new Marshmallow, old Marshmallow, Cocoa, Honey
Blue Pencil Box - right center - Extra basic makeup (foundations, powders, concealers, mascaras)
Ziplock bags - very top right - Glitter, zombie makeup, special effects make up, fake blood


I don't actually use this drawer much since I only do Zombie makeup for Zombie Walk and/or Halloween. I only use the body shimmers only when I go out to the bar. Lipstick is not a daily thing for me, only when I feel fancy. I probably get in this drawer the most for the lipstick. I like keeping at least one backup of basic makeup just in case I'm running low & don't have time to go to the store.