Feed the Addiction, But Hopefully Spend Less Doing So:

This is just going to be a quick list of places I've found on the internet that can help you get a good deal on various beauty related items. Some of them are good for finding deals on non-beauty items as well. 

Ebates:  Warning: This is an affiliate link, because why not? If you're not comfortable with that, no prob, click HERE instead! Ebates is Free and easy to use! When you sign up, you get a $10 gift card of choice (usually, this may not always be the case), and you get a certain percent back on almost anything you order online if you go to their site first. The percentage of money back changes but averages around 4% cash back or less. There are times (such as their recent anniversary sale; it was 16% back) when the percent is higher. It's not always a lot of money that you are saving, but it does add up. You get money back on a quarterly basis, either by check in the mail or through paypal. You have to make sure that you set up everything for your 'Big Check' or you won't receive the money back, this was honestly the trickiest part about signing up, because you're not immediately directed how to do it. There are a ton of websites through Ebates, but not everything is there. For example, Amazon might be on ebates at times, but it may only have certain departments where you can get money back. Still, this is a really great resource for saving some money if you shop online, especially for beauty products because sites like Sephora, Ulta, and Beauty.com are all on there. Totally worth signing up for, just remember to go to this site BEFORE shopping, and going to your chosen page through their link. There are also bonus coupon codes similar to retailmenot provided right on the page, so you can get even more out of your shopping!

• There is also the site Mr. Rebates but I have not used this site and do not know how it compares. If you have used it and prefer it to Ebates, or vice versa, let me know why!

Hautelook (affiliated with Nordstrom Rack): You have to sign up to use this site, and honestly it is not the BEST. This is mainly due to my grudge against paying for shipping. They give free shipping if you spend over $100. That is ridiculous by today's standards. I can understand free shipping after $25. But $100 is just craziness. So anyway keep that in mind with anything you buy from here. This site IS good for something though. They occasionally have really great sales on great brands, and sometimes on limited edition things that you can't find anymore. Shipping takes kind of forever, so that is another not so great thing about this. If you keep that stuff in mind and work out if what you want is worth it price wise, it can definitely still be a great way to get super deals on high end makeup. The really nice brands do tend to sell out quickly though so you have to keep an eye on it.

Target Sample Page: I forget how I came across this, but it is pretty great! They don't have samples all the time and they can sell out as well. Basically you just sign up and choose to receive whatever sample they are promoting, take a short survey, and they will send it to you if you qualify. It is Free! I recently signed up to receive a sample of Frizz Eaze serum, and am still waiting on that. I don't know how often they do this, or exactly what happens after you receive it, so I will update on that once I get further in.

RetailMeNot: You probably already know about this, but I'm including it anyway! Before you check out from any website, do a quick search on here to see if there is some kind of discount code that will work for you! Simple!

Nouveau Cheap: This is a Beauty Blog I found and check regularly because the author posts lots of deals for both online and IRL shopping. There is usually some kind of weekly roundup for all the drugstore deals broken down by store, and there are random updates when she hears about a sale online somewhere.

Cheapasfuck: This blog seems a little more geared toward beauty reviews, but there is an occasional post about a great sale or something that Nouveau Cheap hasn't posted about, so I like to check this one too.

Budgetbeautyblog: Same as above, beauty blog with reviews, but with an occasional highlight on a special sale of some kind.

Temptalia: Also a beauty blog, with a VERY comprehensive review list, and also a great place to find dupes for higher end stuff. It is on this list because it also has beauty deal roundups, for both online and IRL stores.

Additionally: Sign up for rewards programs at any sites you frequent! It may seem like a hassle at first but it is definitely worth it. Make your money work for you, don't miss out on points. Sephora has the Beauty Insider program, Ulta has... Ultamate Rewards? I think it is called? Beauty.com is also partnered with Drugstore.com, and you get 5% back in points toward future purchases from both sites.


Well that is all I have for now, I may update this list more as I discover new things. I'm sure there are a lot of other great beauty blogs out there, feel free to share them or any other tips for deals that you might have!

The Importance of Self Care

TL;DR:

This is all really difficult to write, but I am doing my best to express this shit:

If I lived in the Divergent book world, I probably would have been Abnegation (not that any of us would be in just one group, part of the point of the books was that we are all more than one thing). I don't mean that I am entirely selfless, but I do tend to try and take myself out of the equation, and I'm generally happy as long as everyone else is happy. This is perhaps not the healthiest attitude. I will always feel that you should indeed care for others, but in my case this has also resulted in a lack of self care. Taking care of yourself does not in any way impede your ability to care for others, but sometimes you get so focused on that, you forget about YOU.

Loneliness can be a driving factor in lack of self care, because you start to believe that you aren't worth bothering with. I think this has been my problem for a long time. It's this feeling of not being good enough for other people, even though there can be many other legit reasons for that current lonely feeling. The problem is that you get stuck in a thought loop of, "Why am I so alone? Where are my friends? Why don't I have more friends? Am I going to die alone?" etc etc forever. That's when you start to get depressed and decide you are the problem after all (or at least this is how I get, I can't actually speak for anyone else when I say 'you').  I have always been fairly independent, I am good just being on my own, and I honestly do not care what other people think of me, most of the time. I know I don't care because if I cared, I would probably try to change to fit in better. But I don't care, and even though I may always be on the journey to discover who I really am, I do know who and what I am NOT. As far as I'm concerned, self discovery is all a process of elimination. That doesn't mean that I am not occasionally effected by what other people think. Here's the thing, though: This is almost ENTIRELY how I am perceiving what I think they are thinking about me (does that make sense at all?). With the exceptions of a few incidents in my childhood, there have been almost no interactions where anyone has ever said anything about me that actually effected how I see myself. I am far more effected by what I think others are thinking than by what others are ACTUALLY thinking (is that more clear?). What's that quote, about people not being against you, they're just FOR themselves? It's totally true. ANYWAY MOVING ON! Before getting sidetracked down one of those tangent wormholes I am always finding, my point was that even though loneliness can make you feel left out and worthless, it does not make it so. I have friends that I love and speak to fairly regularly, and they live all across the country. I have family that I love and they live all over too. Even though I may go through periods of loneliness, I know and appreciate that I have people there for me if I really need them. It can be hard to recognize on a day to day basis when you live alone and don't see anyone you care about for long stretches of time. I think that self care and taking time to relax can really help improve your attitude toward yourself and the world around you.

In a somewhat opposite note, being around people for too long can be draining as well. This is especially true for me since I am very introverted, but even extroverts need to remember to take time out from everything and recharge. For me personally, I can get very overwhelmed if I don't get some alone time every once in awhile. It is not usually much of an issue for me, but if I ever do find myself in a situation where I am asked to do something/make plans/hang out for several nights in a row, I have to remind myself that it is ok to turn things down because I know that I will need a break. This can be difficult because I don't like to let people down, and I don't want to be left out in any future endeavors. You just have to figure out a way to balance it all, and that is some incredibly generic and vague advice for sure, but in a way that's kind of half of what life IS; finding a way to balance it all. I find that what works best for me is if I need to turn something down, I try to make another plan for some other time in the not too distant future (e.g. "I can't this week, but I can hang out next week if you're available?"). Don't push yourself into doing something you know you don't want. If you do, it will most likely end up making everyone miserable anyway. Or maybe not, I certainly can't say how everyone will act in every situation, I just know that for me, I usually end up making things sucky if I am not happy to be there in the first place. So don't feel bad about taking time to take care of yourself. The world will understand.

So if you read through all of that, you should probably understand by now that it is perfectly fine and even encouraged, to friggin TREAT YO SELF sometimes. Self care is important. The happier you are, the happier you will make others. It isn't going to cure depression. The more I think about my life the past few years the more I am starting to realize that I was probably in a fairly deep well of depression, and NO, I do not think that I could have 'cured' myself with some self care. I do not really know if depression is something you even CAN cure. But I will say that I probably would have had a lot better individual days if I had taken better care of myself. I'm starting to feel somewhat better about myself even though I have a long way to go. I still feel like there is a lot more I want to say about this but I can't quite articulate all the thoughts in my head. I am going to link a couple of older xovain articles that I have been getting the feels from lately (as I seem to be stalking the archives), and if you're interested, you should check out the comments sections too because there is almost always something helpful from the community down there.

Article by beauty guru ALLE

Not specifically related but gives me the 'I can relate' feels, by Marci

So basically, this is all to justify the small fortune I spent at Lush, buying bath products to luxuriate in. You're welcome.

Update: took a nice bubble bath in the dark with candles, real legit style, and listened to this the whole time: Click here to listen to a French guy whisper to you about history

THE WORST

Hidden under the skin zits are the worst. THE WORST. I have yet to find a reasonable way of getting rid of them. My unreasonable way is to dig them out of my skin until I'm a raw bloody mess and that is really NOT a good option. They hurt, and drive me crazy, even though I'm really the only person who knows it is there. I don't have a lot to say on this subject. I just have one today and it is bothering me so here is this post. Whoopdy doo.

Basically, this is me today.

UPDATE: I couldn't take it anymore. Kids, don't try this at home. (Warning: incoming gross closeup nose picture...)



I know, GROSS.