The Importance of Throwing Away and NOT Using Old Foundation

As a lazy, low-maintenance girl I don’t often pay attention to how old my makeup products are. I just keep using them until I run out and then I get new ones. However, with some products that don’t get used up very quickly, I’ve learned that they can and do get bad with time!

I keep e.l.f.’s Mattifying Cream Foundation in my purse at all times as a just-in-case, backup foundation, since it’s easier to carry around and use on the go than the liquid foundation I normally use. As it happens, I didn’t need to use my cream foundation very often, and after a few months of carrying it around, I finally had an opportunity to use it again. To my horror, not only did it apply cakey and oily, it was very hard to wash it off later since it seemed to stick my skin extra well.

I got a new e.l.f. cream foundation and was amazed by how smoothly it came on, especially compared to my old foundation. I really love this product, but I will be paying attention to its expiration date next time.

e.l.f. Mattifying Cream Foundation – $6.00

Survival Strategy #17 – Maintaining Self-Awareness

Possibly one of biggest challenges I’ve encountered in getting through life so far is maintaining self-awareness. It can get really difficult not to take criticisms personally, or to remember that our failures don’t define us, or to know what steps are necessary in getting out of a rut. Something that makes these challenges a little more manageable for me is maintaining a broader point of view of the world and how someone with my individual limitations, skills, and perspective can navigate through and be awesome.

An important step is to recognize that although we are all individuals that are unique and perfect in our own ways, we are no better or worse than other people in the world in terms of our abilities and what we present with ourselves. We still need to practice our various skills to get better at them, and what we expect from other people we need to provide towards them ourselves – such as respect and patience.

Another important step is to listen to what information you can gather from other people’s feedback on you or your behavior, directly or indirectly. Criticism from others can be very debilitating, especially if those people are close to us and we trust their opinions. However, it is important to remember that most people are not actively trying to destroy us – in fact, their criticisms towards us might even be overflowing from their extremely harsh self-evaluations and self-criticisms. Taking this knowledge as well as their feedback, whether positive or negative, can help us maintain self-awareness and help determine what might be a wiser course of action rather than if we get confined in defending ourselves or trying to prove that what was said is wrong or why we can’t do it.

What I personally find most helpful in keeping a steadier and calmer view of what I encounter is to think of myself as a good friend rather than to take things personally to myself. The reason this approach works for me is because I know all of my own limitations, hurts, experiences, positive traits, insecurities, and all the details of my life history. With a good friend, I might know a lot of these but not all, but with the information I do have, I will do my best to be kind and fair and helpful with whatever they’re going through. I will also try to encourage them to grow if I see them struggling with something that I can see is actively hurting them, rather than give up on that aspect. With myself, I may not be so strictly supportive but be inclined to allow some slack because of all the challenges I deal with that only I know about.

It’s important to be fair to yourself – be kind, but also be firm. Life is short and there’s only so much we can fit in with our time here  – let’s be awesome where we can!

Survival Strategy #16 – Travel Wardrobe Basics

Roadtrips, work trips, and vacations all have one thing in common – you are leaving behind your entire wardrobe full of the choices and options accumulated over many, many years to fit your unique style and needs. It is sometimes very challenging to know exactly what to bring with you on your trip, and you run a substantially high risk of over/underpacking.

To help me make sure I bring only what I need from my wardrobe on my trips, I try to make sure I pack very generic and easy to match clothes. To make sure I hit the basics I usually try to make at least a mental list of what I will probably wish I brought.

Depending on the trip, the basics will differ but for the most part you want to have something to wear for a 50-90 degree Fahrenheit temperature range. You also need to consider how long your trip will be and how many outfit changes you might have to make. Then you can start thinking about how many outfits you can create from a minimum number of pieces

For example, this is a sample list I made before my last business trip to another state for a week’s training, Monday through Friday. I knew I would be indoors for the majority of the time, but that it would be chilly in the mornings and evenings when I would be going between the hotel and office. I also knew I might be going out to dinner with coworkers after work at some point. And I also knew I didn’t want to check in any baggage, to reduce my overall stress levels.

1. Black cardigan.

2. Three camis – black, blue, and beige.

3. Black blazer.

4. Four business casual shirts – blue, beige, purple, and white.

5. Two pairs of slacks – black and gray.

6. Jeans.

7. Three pairs of shoes – flats, boots, and flip-flops.

What’s great is with the limited number of items I brought, I could cover a wide range of outfits appropriate from chilly to hot weather, and professional to casual appearance for a week’s worth of clothing changes. The drawback was that I would have to show up to dinner after work in pretty much the same clothes I wore during the day (swapping my jeans for slacks and maybe leaving the blazer off), and my outfits had shared pieces most of the time in between the days.

But I was able to fit everything in one carry-on with room for all my toiletries, so I was thrilled and happy. I’m still fine-tuning my over/underpacking ratios so check back for improved strategies in the future!

Perfect Multi-Outfit, Inexpensive Flip-Flops!

During the awesomely warm and relaxed summer season, flip-flops are a great way to make any outfit look more breezy and casual. A challenge I run into when it comes to flip-flops is that they tend to look pretty cheap and single-toned, which makes it difficult to match to less casual outfits.

This reason is why I love, love, love these flip-flops. They look sophisticated enough to pass for a much higher price than they actually are, they are incredibly comfortable, and they are very durable for their cost. They also add some subtle standards to any outfit they are worn with, giving an actual shoe vibe rather than a flip-flop feel.

Cool Flip-Flops – $5.00

Choosing Outfit Colors

Picking colors that go well together has been one of my greatest styling weaknesses. In order to do good job, it is important to understand the color wheel – which is fantastic, but it seems like you still need a pretty good personal basis for what’s ok/outlandish/drab/tasteless/extravagant/or whatever other description possible. A basis which I do not possess, unfortunately.

To get past this great challenge, I’ve researched numerous venues on the internet in order to figure out some simple and fast outfit color matching that I can rely on even in my least adventurous moods. In summary of my findings, the following are rules that I currently abide by:

1. Neutrals are my best friends – blacks, beiges, whites, and grays.

2. Any one bright color piece can go with a full-neutral outfit (for example, a pink blazer with black pants and white shirt).

3. No more than three miscellaneous bright colors can go together.

4. Patterns are scary and confusing to me because of how easy they are to mismatch, so I stick with solid colors as much as possible.

5. Jewelry to be used sparingly.

Survival Strategy #15 – 3 Easy Opportunities for Personal Growth

As independent, functional human beings, we are responsible for achieving certain personal growth levels in order to survive more effectively. There are a number of ways to accomplish this task, and each method has it’s own unique benefits. So far I’ve come across 3 pretty straightforward ways that help me gain a broader perspective on the world and grow in many ways. Please note these are purely for personal development, not so much for professional or other types of survival methods.

1. Volunteering

This is a great way to help out the completions of some big picture in a small way, whether it’s helping register runners at a 10k, or cleaning up a park, or sorting through food bank donations. You will gain insight into your own interests, preferences, as well as pet peeves, all while doing something that is beneficial in to some greater purpose.

2. Learning Various World/History Facts

Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it – and those who do tend to be more interesting and thoughtful people. These facts and knowledge are to be used like salt though – sparingly for fantastic and poignant effect, because if there’s too much, it’ll be counterproductive and you may be avoided.

3. Keeping Up-To-Date on Pop Culture

Arguably the most fun and easy opportunity, this one is almost automatic since we are exposed to pop culture from multiple sources on an everyday basis. It provides a common ground and a springboard for conversations and relationships between other human beings in your vicinity, whether physical or virtual.

Survival Strategy #14 – Compassion

Compassion for others helps you learn how to best care for the one human being you are required to care for as best you can at all times – yourself.

Survival Strategy #13 – Tip on Looking Good/Normal on Pictures

I am a seasonsed sufferer from the “looking weird on pictures” syndrome. For years I have struggled with freezing up and feeling incredibly self-conscious whenever something even slightly resembling a camera showed up.

Part of the reason for my great fear was knowing that the way I looked in that instant of time would be how I would be forever remembered by posterity, but apart from that terrifying thought – I would have to see that picture too and shudder at the extreme weirdness of my visage. Why can’t I look on pictures the way I look in the mirror? Clearly the camera is my worst enemy and out to make me look ugly no matter how hard I try.

Something that I found helpful in getting myself to look better on pictures is to pretend that the camera (not the person with the camera, but that scary, unforgiving, cold, time-preserving machine itself) is your bestest friend of all time. It’s the one thing in the universe that truly understands you and all your problems and even if it doesn’t look like it, the camera is actually really, really happy to see you no matter how ugly you feel you look. Getting this kind of positive attitude towards the camera helps you relax and get those natural smiling muscles going and getting you to look and feel better, which makes you feel even more relaxed, which makes your smile even more natural and better, and so on.

Survival Strategy #12 – Patience

Surviving the sometimes extreme fluidity of life, the disappointments, and the challenges that come with it often requires a great deal of patience. This quality is something that many of us struggle with, and it is often different aspects of life that test our limits.

The only way to become patient is to practice it, over and over and over. Failures in this endeavor are an expected and normal reaction. Children are usually known for their extreme impatience and lack of understanding of why things are the way they are, their questioning and their hurt about these events being a normal and expected reaction. As they grow into adults, they learn that being patient is actually a much easier long-term solution to a lot of problems than being upset over them will be. Life is unpredictable and although it may not seem like it always, this is one of the qualities that makes it worth living. The potential to learn and journey through is one of many unique human capabilities.

Being impatient takes a lot of work – a very heavy toll is taken on the psychological and physical systems, leading to exhaustion, frustration, and physical stress symptoms like headaches. In contrast, being patient just takes deep breaths and the ability to distance yourself from the immediate situation and not take it personally. It’s important to keep the big picture in mind, and if you find that your big picture expectation or analysis is part of what is adding to your impatience and stress, it might be important to reconsider if this might be a sign that your big picture isn’t the optimum scenario for you personally.

Life is short and it is important to enjoy and learn from it as much as possible, patience included. Either way, it will make life more enjoyable.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Color – Almost Instant…

Smudging drying nail polish is one of the greatest inconveniences that comes with doing my nails. Not only do I get the surface I smudge against covered in a hard-to-remove coating of polish, it is now necessary to redo that nail because as hard as I may try, getting it to pre-smudge perfection is pretty impossible. If only there was a way to get the polish to dry quicker!

With this mindset, I was understandably very excited to find out about Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polish. I got myself a nice pink color from Target and was ready to check out its promise of fast drying powers.

I applied a coat to all my nails and feeling very hopeful, went to close and put away the bottle. During this process I somehow managed to get one of my nails smudged on the lid. I was clearly disappointed, but in my subsequent experiments, I was still happy to find that the polish dries faster than normal polishes, just not as instantly as I thought. I am looking forward to greater instantaneousness in their future products!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri – $4.09