firmoo eyewear [sponsored]

here's a fun fact about me:  i'm legally blind without corrective lenses.  the world is murky when you're very myopic.  the "how many fingers am i holding up" test?  nada.  those aren't fingers, that is a fleshy colored mass at the end of what context dictates must be your arm.

so imagine my excitement when firmoo.com contacted me last month and asked me to showcase a pair of their prescription eyewear for my readers.

sometimes when you think something is too good to be true, you're completely correct in your skepticism.  this is not the case with firmoo.  color me blunt:  this website rules.  they have an amazing style selection of glasses, sunglasses, and specialty eyewear and everything is unbelievably priced.  these bad boys i'm wearing?  $39.

i remember when i was in middle school i had an art teacher who rotated between three different pairs of completely adorable glasses.  i remember thinking how much i wanted to be able to change my glasses to fit my style and now the means actually exist to make this happen.  firmoo:  realizing middle school fashion fantasies across the globe.

ok, seriously though.  i'm probably not buying glasses anywhere else from here on out.  the lenses are perfect, the glasses come in the cutest map-printed case, and they ship in no time!  yes, this is blind-person accessory heaven.

like the pair i picked?  you can grab them here, or browse the rest of firmoo's spectacal-ular variety *wink knudge.*

products for life

i'm not much of one to experiment with beauty products anymore.  i think it's a combination of preferring slightly more expensive brands, not making a ton of money, and preferring to spend it on something other than the wrong color of bronzer.

as a result i have developed some real loyalty to the products i've chosen.  enough trial and error has me sticking to one solid product routine: they are the basic staples necessary for me to feel like i'm putting my best face forward.  if you are the experimental type, or if you are just looking for a solid replacement for a product you don't love here are the most important items in my bathroom bag:

l'oreal sulfate free shampoo and conditioner

i am not kind to my hair.  i haven't cut it or even trimmed it in over 3 years... excluding the funky things i do with my bangs.  i have been known to at-home dye it upwards of three times in a single day (and oftentimes it involves blonde and bleach).  so for the longest time i was a moisturizing shampoo addict trying desperately to keep a handle on my split ends.  suave professional was the best thing i found, but it just wasn't quite doing the trick.

eventually i read on some pinterested source that sulfates are terrible for your hair.  i have never been one to care for my hair like it is my child the way i've known some women to do, so i was skeptical that going sulfate free was just some holistic attempt to purify your beauty products by minimizing chemicals.  not that i have any problem with people who DO like to minimize their chemicals, but if i'm being honest, i straight up don't care.  it's hair.  hack it off it grows back whatever.  now i'm not saying my hair is like the undyed baby soft locks i was born with, but the visual difference, the difference in feel, and the difference in how easy my hair became to manage is not up for debate.  i've tried just about every moisturizing shampoo/conditioner combo in the drugstore and a whole lot of salon brands too.  once i tried the sulfate free stuff i had better hair than any other product i'd ever tried.   plain and simple.

clinique quick corrector concealer

this was the concealer i would sneak from my mom's bathroom when i was in high school.  drugstore brands just couldn't compete.  the bags i get under my eyes when i'm tired are big enough you could take them shopping.  i've never even bothered with other high end concealers because i'm pretty sure my mom was right about this one.  this stuff rules.

lancome teint idole ultra 24H foundation

l'oreal true match foundation had been my brand for a while, and even though it left my face shinier than the hope diamond, i put up with it until my skin had enough pimples to pass for a 15 year old.  i tried switching to clinique, but wasn't wowed, and when i tried makeup forever's foundation i felt like i had just flushed $55 down the toilet.

i walked in to sephora and decided to actually take advantage of one of their overly aggressive salespeople.  "what is the best long-wearing foundation for mixed skin?" i asked.

the salesgirl, without so much as a half second pause, pointed to the bottles of lancome tient idole directly next to her.  i was worried her hasty prognosis was just an attempt to get me to buy the most expensive bottle in the store, but when i saw the bottle cost less than some of the garbage i'd already tried i gave it a shot.

that woman knew what she was talking about.  the day i switch foundations will be the day this stuff is discontinued, or the day i get a totally new face of skin.  i have never recommended a product so often or to so many people.  i'm seriously in love.

covergirl lip perfection lip color

i did a post about this stuff a few months back when i was first learning how to pull off bright lipstick in daily life.  i was so excited that i had finally found a color that didn't make the rest of my complexion look like death. i didn't anticipate that this lipstick was going to totally change my life a little.

anyone who knew me very well between the ages of 12 and 22 would be able to tell you that i was a chapstick addict.  that might sound like i'm just speaking in cutesy makeup lingo, but i'm not kidding.  i had used blistex medicated lip balm so frequently and for so long that my lips literally ceased making their own moisture at all.  if i went so much as an hour without chapstick my lips were red, raw, and ON FIRE if not bleeding.  i once put butter on my lips when my chapstick was confiscated by TSA around one of the post-9/11 bomb scares.  it was ridiculous.

about a month ago i mentioned to steve, "you know, i haven't really been so dependent on chapstick anymore."

"i noticed that too," he said.

after a bit of investigation i discovered that something about the recipe for this lipstick actually balances the moisture levels of your lips.  if i hadn't been experiencing it in real time i would have called BS, but honestly this product has all but eliminated my dependence on chapstick and it is one of the most mind-blowing things any makeup has ever accomplished.  plus it's super pretty and every single one of the five shades i've bought so far has looked awesome.

so there you have it!  i also use bronzer eyeliner and mascara on a daily basis, but i'm less loyal to the products i'm using there.  i like them, but as the great ron swanson once said, "I won't publicly endorse a product unless I use it exclusively and I really believe in it."

instagram dump and a little extra

yesterday was officially steve's last day of college, which means we are now going head first into a whole new chapter... and we couldn't be more excited!!

the weather has FINALLY been warming up around here too (though the day i wore that shirtdress it ended up snowing and i had to change into something warmer on my lunch break... you can't really trust the weather around here until mid to late june).

right now we are playing chicken with this move to chicago because steve is currently competing in a staring contest with another company and we're daring them to make him an offer he can't refuse.  if they do we'll be stuck in michigan for at least another year (boo) but there would be some pretty excellent factors that would definitely make it worth our while (some logistical details i'll tell you about later and y'know top notch health insurance and dollah dollah bills).

suffice it to say we're totally looking forward to whatever we're doing... even though we STILL aren't positive what exactly that is.

 for now i'm just going to soak up the longest stretch of sunlight we've had since october, the very temporary free time steve actually has for the first time in years, and keep rocking out to this song because, frankly, it makes me feel like a total badass.

p.s. if anyone knew how many selfies i take at work i would get made fun of so much.

lip-sticky situations

one of my self-indulgent new years resolutions was to experiment more with bright lipstick.  in my opinion, bright lipstick acts more as an accessory than makeup.  beyond wearing enormous earrings i have never been much of an accessorizer until more recently, but looking put together in the professional world involves a few more finishing touches than i have been used to.  i'd been on the hunt for a good product for a long time, but i'd really been struggling to find something that didn't make me look like a clown, or a small child who has gotten into her mother's makeup case.  

a few weeks ago i discovered covergirl LipPerfection lipstick and i am hooked.  it is a matte lipstick that acts more like a stain, but since it's a lipstick you don't need balm to keep your lips from drying out.  i'm not normally the product review type, but if you've ever been the type to say "i can't pull off bright lipstick," this stuff really might change your mind.  my favorite shades which i'm wearing above are tempt (deep pinkish red), spellbound (hot pink), and hot (fire engine red).  give them a try and tell me what you think!