Buy This Not That: Apricot Scrub Edition

Let me start by saying I love a good exfoliant for my body. I prefer exfoliators that do not disintegrate with warm water, ie: salt or sugar scrubs. I want an exfoliator that will stick around with me until I am done scrubbing. And I also prefer an exfoliator that is pretty intense. I use my scrubs before shaving, before getting spray tan, and any time my skin just feels dull.

I have tried a lot of different brands of exfoliators, but for the last three years I have used Walgreens brand Apricot Scrub.

This scrub is thick, coarse, and the perfect consistency. It is an absolute dupe for the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub. And the price is about .50 cents less! One tube of this scrub would be enough for three whole body scrubs. 

A few months ago I went to Walgreens to repurchase this scrub and I saw they had changed the packaging to a solid green tube with white and yellow text on it. I bought it, got it home, and found out it was NOT what their exfoliator once had been. After the initial frustration left me I decided to buy the original St. Ives brand and while at Target I got the Up & Up version, too.

I might add that this comparison is strictly based on the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub and it's competing store brands. Not their similar product the St. Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub.

Having all four products in my hands I was sure which product I would repurchase. Here is a quick comparison...

// The Up & Up scrub was not thick like the St. Ives is. It's creamy like a lotion and it has very finely ground exfoliants in it. Much less coarse than the St. Ives. This would make a great facial scrub but it is not coarse enough for me to use on my body.

// The St. Ives scrub is very thick and has a lot of coarse exfoliants in it. The ratio of exfoliants to the binder is perfect, in my opinion.

// The new Walgreens formula is the right consistency but the exfoliants are finely ground and the ratio of exfoliants to the binder is much less than the St. Ives brand.

// The old Walgreens formula was almost exactly the same as the St. Ives brand but almost a dollar less in cost. (If purchased on sale.)

Here are the prices for my area.

Walgreens Apricot Scrub (new formula)- $3.39

Walgreens Apricot Scrub (old formula)- $3.19

St. Ives Apricot Scrub- From Wal-Mart $3.87

Up & Up Apricot Scrub- From Target $2.69

After using all four products I can easily say that if Walgreens would bring back their old formula I would absolutely continue buying their store brand. Until that happens, I will be purchasing the St. Ives brand.

The Up & Up and the new Walgreens formula just do not stand up to the St. Ives consistency, texture, and end result. I will probably use them on my face until they are gone then not repurchase them.

This post was not sponsored. All opinions are my own and the products were purchased with my own money.

Buy This Not That!

I've been wanting to write this post for quite some time now! Just now getting around to it but that's alright! Let's get to it!

A little back story on this... I LOVE Jaclyn Hill. She is a makeup artist that has a channel on YouTube. She is more than a makeup artist, she is a makeup GENIUS. I have been a huge fan of hers since she started making tutorials on YouTube. I have learned soooo much from this girl. One of the biggest things I have learned from her is how to highlight.

Let's talk about her highlight here... she is GLOWING underneath her eyes. It looks amazing so I bought the powder she uses to set her under-eye concealer... Mac Shaping Powder in "Emphasize". This powder is off-white with very fine pearl.

She uses the Sigma F35 Tapered Highlighter brush to apply this powder. This brush is $24.00 dollars. WHAT!? I am not paying $24.00 for a brush that only does one thing on 1/8th of my face.

Well much to my surprise (not) Jaclyn and Sigma are affiliated and she created her own "expert box" with all of her favorite Sigma brushes... for $90.

I justified purchasing this in that I didn't have any brushes that were similar in shape or use and buying the set saved me a little money instead of buying individuals. And these brushes have great reviews and are very high quality. So I got this set and I love all of the brushes!!

Now with that being said... The F35 is not my favorite brush to set my under-eye concealer. My old ELF Studio Blush Brush is my favorite.

The brush head is a bit larger and the ferrel is pinched so it is flatter on two sides unlike the F35 which has a round ferrel. I feel like the ELF brush sets the powder better because it presses the powder in to the skin thanks to its flatter sides. It also covers a larger area and gets the job done quicker.

Did I mention it's only $3.00 DOLLARS!? I have had the ELF brush for about 3 years and it is still good as new. The quality is great and it has a plastic handle vs the Sigma's wooden handle so it should technically last longer and look new for longer.

One thing the Sigma F35 does well is highlight your cheekbones. But if you are like me and your cheekbones highlight themselves after a few hours, this brush is unnecessary.

All-in-all, get the ELF Blush Brush if you are looking to set under-eye concealer. It's $3.00 and does the job better than the Sigma F35 which is $24.00.

Have you found any products that are less expensive but do the job better? Please share!

Recent Chanel Makeup Purchases

Recently I purchased a few Chanel makeup items that I wanted to share with you. I had some gift cards for Macy's and I have been eyeing a few items on their website for the past few months. I knew I wanted to spend the money on something fabulous that I would never spend my real money on. (I get Macy's gift cards for doing online surveys.) I decided I wanted some Chanel items because the packaging is beautiful, and well, I wanted to treat myself! I have never bought any Chanel makeup, although I used to have an eye shadow quad that my aunt gave me a long time ago but I lost it. Sad face.

After watching a girl on YouTube who uses eBates, I signed up and saw that Macy's was giving double cash back. 6% to be exact. So that night, I bit the bullet and bought the products. What's great about eBates is that they give you cash back on your total purchase, as long as you click the link through their website. I got $6.03 back from my Macy's purchase. I also got a free $10.00 gift card for Target! If you do a lot of online shopping, I definitely recommend signing up for eBates. It is seriously cash back in your pocket for a lot of stores that rarely have sales such as Ugg, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Sephora, Nordstrom, etc. Just wait until they send you the email for the store you want to shop at, click the link through their website, and then make your purchase. It is so easy and secure. I wish I would have known about this before! If you are interested in signing up just click this link to get started!

Check it out quick because right now they are offering 15% off to some great stores for their 15th birthday. Most offers are between 2-6% so this is a really great time to shop!

So after a lot of online research deciding on which products and which colors would work for me. I decided to get the Chanel Double Perfection Lumiere compact powder and the Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel bronzing makeup base.

I got the Chanel Double Perfection Lumiere in Beige Rose 22. I could not get matched in a store so I had to search online to see which color would be right for me. I ultimately went with this color based on what a Nordstrom representative suggested for me. This color is just a little bit too dark for me right now. I'm in between my winter and summer color but this will be perfect for summer. As a reference, I am a MAC NW20 Studio Fix Fluid in the winter and in the summer I wear Loreal True Match in W3 or N3.

The bronzer is a perfect color from all over bronzing and contouring. I use my Real Techniques blush brush and swirl it around in the product and then place it underneath my cheek bones, by my ear, and on my forehead by my hairline. I use a powder bronzer for my neck. It is not muddy or orange. It transfers beautifully and actually provides a little bit of coverage.

If you are concerned about trying a cream bronzer, don't be! This bronzer is so easy to work with and is a beautiful, natural color. It doesn't melt off my face in the heat and never looks cakey. Also, a lot of people compare this Chanel powder to the Mac Studio Fix Powder + Foundation. I was going to purchase that until I read so many reviews about how people say it looks cakey on the skin and starts to feel heavy after a few hours. The Chanel powder does not do either. It looks so natural and gives a light to medium coverage depending on how you apply it. (With a powder brush or with the sponge.) I have very oily skin and both products work very will. I do have to blot in the afternoon in my T-zone but that is normal for me.

All-in-all I am very  happy with both products considering I had never seen them in person. I based my purchases solely off what I found on the internet so it was basically a shot in the dark but it worked out great!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Photo An Hour

A link up with Stephanie at Southern Mess blog and Meg at Meg O. on the Go blog.

I have been so utterly excited for this link up since last week when Steph did her post. I was so excited I didn't even know what I was supposed to do!

Thank you, Steph, for clarifying.

So I totally should have done this last Saturday on Tyson's birthday because that would have been way more exciting. Oh well. You get yesterday. Wednesday. A good ole Wednesday. Let's begin!

Just sat down at my desk to catch up on my blogs and go over the daily computer stuff. (Reading Style Me Swanky here.) Which if you are wondering is:

Check my five different email accounts.

Facebook.

Blogger.

All bank accounts (company and mine).

eBay.

YouTube.

Instagram.

And lastly check on the four forum sites I frequent.

This leads me to my 10:30am picture...

Still sitting here... Riveting, I know. But now I am writing my own blog post and eating yogurt instead of drinking coffee.

At 11:30am I had just got out of the shower and finished my makeup. Here I am picking out which lipgloss to wear and watching some YouTube.

Come 12:30 I was waiting for the guys to finish testing the engine so we could go to lunch. This is an engine that my boyfriend Tyson completely designed and engineered on his own. There is not another engine like this in the world.

FINALLY! Lunch time and MEXICAN FOOD!

Just brushing my teeth and putting my Invisalign back in. After every meal I have to floss, brush my teeth, and clean my aligners. That means three times a day! You were bound to see one of them.

Come 3:30pm I was back at the ole desk. Doing paperwork, making phone calls, perusing Pinterest and watching PinkSoFoxy on YouTube.

Pulling in to Walmart here. Yay for buying household items!

Bustttteeeddd. I got the 20% off coupon for Ulta so I had to do a little makeup shopping. I finally got the Naked 2 palette! I bought the Lorac Pro last year when the Naked's were so popular and bought the Naked Basics last year but I just could not decide which big Naked palette to get. I thought I had my mind made up until the Naked 3 came out. GAME CHANGER. But alas, I decided it was too rose toned for me. Naked 2 it is!

At 6:30 I had literally just got to the gym and jumped on the treadmill. (Hence why I had only made it nine-tenths of a mile.)

Me after a little sweat-sesh. No shame in my gym bathroom selfie!

Dinner and post-workout meal. An apple with peanut butter, celery, some pretzels, and some apple cinnamon Fig Newtons.

Winding down and getting ready for bed here. I picked up these Peter Thomas Roth peel pads at Ulta earlier so I was pumped to try them.

So that was my day! Not all that exciting but pretty typical for a weekday.

If you like, head over and read other's Photo a Day posts. I really hope this turns in to a weekly or monthly link-up. I love seeing what people do each day.

Thanks for reading!

Let's Play Catch Up!

I feel like I've totally deserted ya'll. It's been nearly a month since I've written anything, so let's catch up!

• Right after I got back from Key West we celebrated Sam's 2nd birthday. It was a monster theme which I thoroughly enjoyed!

• Then the following weekend Tyson's family and I went to Branson. We stayed at the Suites at Falls Creek which was lovely and we saw the Dixie Stampede!

We also did a lot of shopping and on the last day we had brunch at the Worman House. This restaurant is amazing and has a huge brunch buffet. This is what I had for breakfast...

Yes that's a bloody mary, coffee, champagne, oysters, and pastries.

• The next week was Thanksgiving which was great! My mom came down to Joplin and we had dinner at Neely's. This was the first time my mom had met anyone in Tyson's family. Everyone got along so well and my mom was very sad to leave!

• After enjoying the entire day with family, I saw everyone on Facebook was out shopping for Black Friday. Although I had been eyeing a great deal on a DSLR camera at Best Buy, I opted out of going out after Thanksgiving dinner or waking up early to hit the stores. I slept in on Friday and got up and decided Tyson and I would go to Best Buy to see "what was left". Fortunately, the camera I wanted was still in stock! I scored this bundle for a great price and have been taking beautiful pictures with it daily!

• I visited an allergy doctor to see if we could pin-point what exactly it is I'm allergic to. I have terrible "seasonal" allergies but come to find out I'm allergic to just about everything... pollen, trees, grass, cats, dust, mold... you get the idea.

This is the allergy skin test they did. It was probably the strangest experience I've ever had at a doctor's office.

• Remember a while back when I told you all that I was going to be a calendar model? Well here I am! Miss May 2014 in the Offshore Only Boater Girl calendar!

• I also found a fabulous red lipstick! You likey? I've never worn red lipstick. I bought a red Rimmel lipstick last winter and it was wretched. It made me believe I couldn't pull off a red lip. Come to find out, it was just a terrible color that didn't go with my skin tone. This color is by Revlon called "Certainly Red".

Well that pretty much catches us up! I sure missed ya'll. Talk to you soon!