Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Product Find

I'm almost out of cleanser (this is my current favorite), so, despite the fact that Big Lots almost never has cleanser in stock, I went there in search of some good stuff cheap. As usual, they had almost nothing, but I did find these, Epielle Cucumber Cleansing Tissues. I've never heard of Epielle products, but at $1.00 a pack, I couldn't pass them up. I decided to splurge, and I bought two packs. I know! Living on the edge, I am.

The good stuff: They're pretty great. They're not flimsy, they remove grime and make-up, and they smell nice and fresh. My face feels clean after I use one, and my skin stays damp long enough to apply moisturizer, so they sort of double as a toner. They're not messy, which beats the hell out of having water running down your arms while you're trying to wash your face at a too-small sink.

The downside: They're a one-shot and throw-out product, so they're not environmentally friendly. They're also a little rough, which is good for mild exfoliation, but I don't think anyone needs to exfoliate every day. And, at the full price of $15.85 for a pack of 30, they're not cheap. I usually buy 2-3 bottles of the Aveeno cleanser a year, at around &7.50/bottle. Big difference in yearly cost, don't you think?

Other uses: They're very nice for cooling off when it's hot. Use one on your neck and you'll feel better for a little while.

They're also good if you don't want to take a shower but do want to reapply deodorant. Again, they clean nicely, but it takes forever for your skin to dry. After using one, I tweezed my eyebrows and brushed my teeth, and my underarms were still a bit damp. It's a good feature if you want to moisturize your face, but bad if you want to apply deodorant.

The Verdict: When I have a few minutes, I'll go back to Big Lots to get more. They're great for occasional use, and a god send for travel. I would never pay full price for them, but they're definitely worth a $1.00 a pack. For regular cleansing, I'm going back to Aveeno Positively Radiant Cleanser.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

TLo, The Arbiters of Fashion

Speaking of TLo, I started reading that blog about a month ago. Originally started by Tom and Lorenzo to do hilarious, catty commentary on Project Runway (and formerly named Project Rungay), it's morphed into one of the go-to blogs about all things fashion and beauty. Like Go Fug Yourself, once you start reading, you can't stop.

So I love The Boys. They're funny and they love fashion. They actually recognize every woman featured in this post, which is more than I can say for myself. I mean, who the hell is Jenna Dewan and why is she dressed like a space girl from the original Star Trek series? "Brain? Brain? What is brain?"

Because I like to comment on the blogs I visit, the attitudes of other commenters matter to me. Most of them are almost as smart and funny as The Boys. There's a real camaraderie among them, and, unlike some of the food blogs I go to (Michael Ruhlman sycophants, I'm looking right at you), TLo's followers aren't desperate to impress their leaders. Like Tom and Lorenzo, and girls everywhere, they just want to have fun.

My only complaint is Tom and Lorenzo seem to think that "bitch" and "woman" are synonyms. If you read the post I linked to my last entry, you saw that they think it's OK to refer to someone as awesome as Cate Blanchett as "bitch". Yeah, not so much. Call her girl, dame, broad, skirt, chick, tomato. I don't care. Just stop with the "bitch", please.

You have to care a lot about fashion to care about TLo. (I'm sure Joe will be mesmerized.) And you need a high "catty queen" tolerance. The readers are called "ladies", except when we're called "poodles" or "kittens", the last being my favorite. But if you love fashion, kittens, you must check out The Boys. They're faaabulous.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Cate Blanchett

If anything can get me back here, it's this layout of Cate for In Style Australia. (I'm linking to TLo's [formerly Project Rungay] post because it's easier than figuring out how to post the photos. I'm still a techno-idiot.)

Look at her. She's perfect, isn't she? If I were a mean girl, I would hate her. But I'm not so I don't.

She's exquisite, fabulous, heavenly.... Screw it. There are no words.