The Best of #myvibrantlife & 5 Favorite Things (+ 1 fail) January
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It’s a new year, which means a fresh start and a bit of cleaning up/changing things up here at Hey There, Chelsie. I’m planning on introducing some new series, changing a few up, and getting rid of others. I decided I wanted to revive my Favs & Fails posts from a year ago, but wanted to change them up a little! So, instead of just listing out my favorite beauty products from the month (and the fails) I’m going to expand on it. I’ll be sharing my favorite photos from the #myvibrantlife feed, 5 favorite things in general (some beauty, some fashion, some random) and 1 fail. Just a little bit of everything for an old-fashioned girl chat!
Sound like a plan?
As I was looking through the #myvibrantlife feed today, I couldn’t believe what I saw! Holy. Cow. The #myvibrantlife hashtag has been used just over 1500 times on Instagram!! I can’t believe it! When I first launched and started promoting that hashtag, I decided I would be happy if there were 50 photos other than mine that used it. So, a BIG thank you to those who have been using that hashtag – it’s been amazing to be inspired by all the people out there pursuing vibrant lives!
Also, a big thank you to those who participated in the #myvibrantholiday challenge! I loved scrolling through the feed and seeing so many festive photos. There were over 200 photos tagged with that hashtag, so after having a random number picked, and counting through the feed, I was delighted to see that Kiara from Blissfully Brunette won the $20.00 gift card! Kiara has been so supportive of the #myvibrantlife community from the get-go, so I’m delighted the prize is going to her!
Five Favorite Things:
I feel like I’ve been sitting on so many favorite things for the last few months, so it was hard for me to pick just five to share today! But, these are definitely things that I’ve been using ALL THE TIME for months and are definitely products I can recommend with all my heart.
Kathleen Lights x Morphe Palette – I’m a HUGE fan of Kathleen Lights on Youtube (she’s so cute and SO genuine) and a huge fan of Morphe Brushes and their makeup palettes, so when I saw that she was releasing a palette with them, I was ALL over ordering one. I have several of Morphe’s big eyeshadow palettes but loved that the Kathleen Lights one was a lot smaller and travel-friendly. And, she picked several of her favorite shades from a variety of Morphe’s palettes and formulated 6 original colors on her own, so it definitely is unique to the Morphe line.
Guys, I LOVE this palette. I kid you not when I say that I haven’t used ANYTHING else since I got it. It has the perfect mixture of transition shades, warm shades, a few cool shades, and beautiful foiled shades. The variety of looks I can get out of it is unreal, and the pigmentation and bendability of the shadows are just as good as any other Morphe shadow palette. I love that there is a foiled emerald green shadow in this palette, too. I’ve been trying to wear more greens because it changes my eye color, and the greens in this palette are perfect for experimenting with!
The best part about this palette, though, is the price point. It’s under 15 dollars! This palette is great for anyone who wants to own higher-quality eyeshadow without dropping 50 bucks on a Naked palette, and it’s great for makeup lovers like me who want a good travel palette without feeling too limited.
I seriously cannot get enough of this palette! If you want to get more information on the palette or see some swatches, you can watch Kathleen’s video introducing and explaining it here.
BLANKNYC ‘Easy Rider’ Faux Leather Jacket – I have been drooling over this jacket ever since Jenn from Hello Rigby styled her’s here. It went on sale during Nordstrom’s End of Year sale for under 60 dollars, and I decided to get ya’ll’s opinion over on my FB page before pulling the trigger. Within an hour, it was clear that everyone else agreed that I definitely needed this jacket in my life, so I bought it! And I am NOT SORRY ONE BIT!
I can’t express how high of quality this jacket is. It’s heavy in all the right ways, but it’s not stiff. It already feels well worn without looking like it. It’s not only fully lined, but lined well with such silky fabric. I’m just so impressed with the quality of this jacket and would easily pay the full price for it, now having it in my possession. It’s going to last me for years and I’ve already worn it 2-3 times a week.
Med-X Knee Pillow – Even though the winter weather in Utah is 10x more tolerable than Idaho, I’ve still been feeling a lot of the “winter-stiffs” during the last month. Whenever a cold front comes through, my left knee and hip get very achy and stiff due to the scar tissue and arthritis/tendonitis I’ve got going on in there. I was having a really hard time getting comfortable in the bed and couldn’t sleep through the night without my leg waking me up. I decided to order one of these knee pillows to stick between my legs during the night to relieve some of the pressure I was feeling and oh. my. lanta. It’s a game changer. This memory foam pillow has given me so much relief during the night and keeps the pressure off my hips and knees. Even if you don’t have hip or knee pain, I would still recommend sleeping with one!
e.l.f. Makeup Remover Pen – My friends from e.l.f. sent me this little gem a month ago and I am SO grateful to have it. Since getting my eyelash extensions, I’ve had a hard time finding a makeup remover that will take my eye makeup off without snagging on my extensions. This pen has a fine tip that gets in along my lash line to remove any eyeliner without dissolving my extension glue and I’m able to wipe all my eye makeup off right away. Since using this, my eyelash extensions have lasted even longer and I can go 3-4 weeks without a fill. Hooray!
Nip + Fab Glycolic Scrub Fix & Dragon’s Blood Fix Plumping Mask – These two products were also sent to me in a PR package about 3 months ago but I can PROMISE you that as soon as I run out, I will be going out to buy them with my own money. The Glycolic Scrub is super gritty and really exfoliates my skin, but at the same time, it doesn’t irritate it. The difference is SO noticeable every time I use it on my face (I only use it 2X a week at night because it is so effective) and my skin looks clean and feels so smooth. Plus, I always follow it up with the Dragon’s Blood Fix Plumping Mask overnight, which literally turns my skin into butter. I wake up in the morning and my skin is SO soft. I haven’t used skin care products with such immediate noticeable results in a looooong time, and I recommend these 100%. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the price point on both products is super budget friendly (under 10 bucks!)
January Fail
Sympony Beauty Makeup Cleansing Wipes with Colagen & Vitamin C-It’s always a hit or miss when I snag a beauty product from Ross, and this one was unfortunately a miss. I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to drive all the way to Walmart to pick up more makeup wipes, so I decided to grab these while at Ross. I was really excited that they had Vitamin C, hoping that would help my skin brighten and even up. But, alas, these makeup wipes do NOT remove makeup at all. And, they are extremely fibery, so they would get snagged on my eyelash extensions which was NOT a fun time. Do not recommend. Will not repurchase.
Thanks for hanging out and chatting today. I’d love to know what products caught your eye from my favorite list (or what products were your favorites this month) and I hope to see you around the #myvibrantlife Insta community!