What is going on with me lately? Ever since my milk supply dried up and I stopped nursing Lola I’ve been feeling just sort of off. Maybe it’s the shift in hormones, maybe it’s the constant pace of life with 3 little ones, or maybe it’s the constant stories I’ve been hearing about sickness (childhood cancers from 2 clients in as many weeks) or death- the dr who delivered Lola died this week after a horrible tragic event. I just feel this sense of dread and worry like something bad is about to happen all the time. Sorry. I’m know I’m not fun right now, just real.
On a brighter note, I did take a few much needed days to at least look like I have my shit together starting with my hair. I call in unintentional ombrè but you probably know it better as white trash outgrowth which I’m tired of seeing 3 weeks after I pay a fortune to pretend I’m blonde. I had my girl Carrie tone it way down to a medium beige blonde that isn’t as fun, but it’s honest. Like me.
On to the Botox.
If you follow me on Snap (HOBCarissa) then you saw what it looks like to shoot roughly 10 syringes of Botox into a face. Spoiler alert: It’s not for the faint of heart. A little bloody, with raised dots that first swell then relax while botulinum toxin runs all through my body. This is cool with me, but try to serve me an apple that isn’t organic and I’ll cut a bitch. I didn’t see my usual doc who I love and still recommend, it was a new one who also did my yearly skin check where I always expect to discover a melanoma diagnosis because I’m morbid like that. (Looks like I’m fine. For now…)
I’ve said before that having 3 kids in 4 years took a toll on my everything skin so I think I’m a Dermapen procedure or two away from some normalcy. It’s the medical version of a dermaroller where a zillion pin pricks are quickly poked into your skin like tenderizing meat, then perfect and new angel skin will grow in its place soon after those first 3 days where you literally can’t have even a sliver of light pointed your way. I guess I’ll play hide and seek with the girls in the basement under the stairs all day and eat snacks by the dim light of my phone. They may or may not be permanently traumatized my Freddy Krueger appearance and weeping wounds, but we’ll lump this in with the rest of the therapy tab which I’m guessing will be a sizable one down the road.
After all the cancer references and talk of bloody facial procedures, there’s really only one line that I can reasonably introduce and that’s the beautifully mystic Rituel de Fille.
I had no idea I was buying such a buzz-worthy brand when I picked up their Ash and Ember Eye Soot a few weeks ago at Vert, I was just taken by the look and feel of the line which stood out in a sea of the usual fluffy and sweet. This was Jeffry Star meets M.A.C, a brand whose identity I ‘got’ right away and wanted to learn more. Had I not been standing in a clean beauty retailer, I never would’ve guessed that it’s a natural line free from synthetics, parabens, phthalates, and talc. Of the 3 sisters who together founded the line, 2 are big time Hollywood Makeup Artists which is most interesting to me because that means performance and pigment are just as important as ingredients.
The mystic theme comes into play because they use what they call the ‘magical side’ of natural ingredients selecting each pigment, wax, and oil for its effectiveness and safety. And while the line isn’t totally vegan (they use beeswax, lanolin, and carmine), it is PETA certified cruelty-free so even their suppliers don’t test on animals.
I’ve been striking out on natural eye primers lately which is why I got the Eye Soot (in Half Light) and it has been working pretty well so far. It’s a cream to powder that’s easy to blend and sets quickly, and while it creases somewhat- it’s the best clean formula I’ve tried so far. For $27 though, it should be bulletproof. The strange shape of the container is a little odd- slender and deep – so I wonder how difficult it will be to get the product out when it’s mostly gone. Ugh, that’s such a ‘glass half empty’ thing to say. So perfectly me.