Emily Johnson

Do you have a lot of makeup? What’s the worst part about having a huge collection of makeup? Do you struggle to store it all or have you simplified your makeup life since the pandemic? I wanna say I cut back a lot because I realized I was overconsuming way too much and simply not using the items I already had. Sure, I still buy makeup but not nearly the way I used to buy it. I refuse most PR as well because I feel like it can be wasteful. Rather than have a company send me shades I might not use I’ll purchase the one or perhaps two shades I will.

I still have A LOT of makeup. I can’t deny that. A lot of which is older and I just refer back to from time to time for the blog or just because I can easily admit some items I’m not willing to part with. At some point in my life I can see myself downsizing all of it but I haven’t yet reached that stage of my life yet. But I can tell you I come closer and closer to it daily. I’d like to live a life where I have one shade of coral blush I love, one pink blush, a handful of colorful eyeshadows, and a few silky mattes.

How about you? Do you have a huge makeup collection? If so, what the worst part of owning that collection? I can tell you my biggest issue.

So yes, I readily admit I have A LOT of makeup. I have an embarrassing amount of it which is all stored in my makeup room. Yeah, a room, filled with makeup. I hate even saying that out loud but when you’ve blogged nearly 18 years you accumulate a lot of stuff to say the least. Like most makeup hoarders, ahem, I mean makeup collectors I store my makeup in a variety of different storage options from Ikea like the popular Alex Drawers.

I’m a type A Personality and I need everything to be perfectly organized, clean, and tidy. This obviously extends to my makeup collection. I have everything organized to perfection BUT…! I still can’t find stuff when I need it LOL! Well, technically I can but sometimes I’ll wake up and think, “Oh I want to do a pink eye look today!” and suddenly, I can’t find the exact shade of pink I want to use or I’m overwhelmed by how many pink eyeshadows I have. It’s the worst part about having a huge makeup collection! I just can’t find what I need or I feel overwhelmed with the items I have. I dream of a day I can have like one pink eyeshadow and think to myself, hey, I want to do pink today and pull that single shade out and call it a day. No fuss, no endless options, no looking for that particular shade I love, no drama at all! Just a single shade, swipe, and go.

This my friends is part of the trial and tribulation of overconsumption and simply owning too much of something that I really don’t need unless it was part of my career as say a makeup artist which I am not. I’ll get older, I already am older, but one day I’ll get even more older and I can see myself just pulling out a few shades, storing them somewhere for daily use, and just letting the rest of my collection go. That day isn’t today, nor tomorrow, it might not even be in five years, but one day I’ll downsize.

Do you have a big makeup collection? What’s the worst part of owning a huge makeup collection? Do share!

Eyeshadow Palettes were all the rage a few years ago. Who remembers the endless release of mega eyeshadow palettes that was happening every other week? Who remembers how excited we got over these massive eyeshadow palettes that contained dozens and dozens nudes that all looked the same? Who remembers how we quickly tired of them and began to feel overwhelmed that we had one too many of them hanging out in our stash?

The enchantment of having 500 shades in one place wore off fairly fast when a new version was dropping every five to ten minutes. The eyeshadow palette era is over to some extent. Sure, we have newer releases that drop like the recent round of Charlotte Tilbury Beautifying Eye Trends Palettes but these palettes aren’t nearly as big as the ones from a few years ago. This trend died and along with it single eyeshadows died too. Palettes pushed away from single shade launches and embraced larger palettes and so did we. Brands rarely release single shades of eyeshadows anymore and I miss that so much. I miss seasonal collections with three or four eyeshadows. I miss brands that would have an entire line up of single shades. Sure, some brands still do have a range of singles but palettes are still something that’s very heavily pushed. And I get it. Who wants one color when you can have a four or more shades.

I remember the exact moment I started yearning for the return of single shadows. I ran across a photo of DontCallMeJesse on Instagram and she’s such an Autumn! Subtle peachy beige blush, copper or nude shadows of shadow, nude lips, she’s just the epitome of my favorite season! Well, anyway, she did a look using Diorshow Mono Couleur Eyeshadows and instantly I felt such a sense of nostalgia for the days gone when single eyeshadows were all the rage.

Just a Girl Wearing a Single Shade of Eyeshadow

If you’re still a single eyeshadow kind of makeup love here’s a few worth looking into!

MAC has changed over the years but one thing that we always remains the same is Pro Longwear Paint Pot Cream Eyeshadow. May the odds be forever in my favor and may the makeup gods look down upon me and always ensure I have a pot of Pro Longwear Paint Pot Cream Eyeshadow in Soft Ochre in my stash to prep my eyes with or to just wear on its own for a nude and natural look. And hey, even if you don’t love that shade there are dozens of others you can use under powder eyeshadows to boost shades or just alone for a quick blend and go eye look!

Another tried and true are the Charlotte Tilbury Hypnotising Pop Shots Eyeshadows. Yes, I know I don’t need another shimmery eyeshadow but these are divine! I think I own almost all the shades at this point and each one is a treasured part of my collection! I think the joy in these singles is the sparkle but also, these are very pigmented for a shadow that has such a divine diamond finish. When you get a sparkly shade of shadow you can sometimes forsake pigment for sparkle but this formula is incredibly pigmented. I saw a makeup artist apply a matte taupe eyeshadow on a model and immediately used the Hypnotising Pop Shots Eyeshadow in Smoky Quartz on top. It was such an easy yet show stopping look that had me going from, “I really don’t need another sparkle eyeshadow” to “Ok, take all my money right now!” If sparkle is your thing you’ll adore these!

Single shadows are great especially if they come in a cream-based formula. Swiping, blending, and going makes cream shadows a favorite of mine. Some people say they can never get the method of application with a cream shadow down right but I promise it’s as easy as swiping it cross your lid, blending with your finger tip, and getting your day started. If you want to be technical I guess cream shadows don’t really count as single shades but hey, they do in my book and the ones you really need are Lancome Idôle Tint Long Wear Liquid Eyeshadows, Stila Glisten & Glow Liquid Eyeshadow, and RMS Beauty Eyelights Cream Eyeshadow.

The matte shades in the Lancome Idole Tint Collection are truly some of the most beautiful I’ve run across. They apply so smooth and look like I airbrushed them on my lids! For the sparkly lovers you can’t go wrong with Stila’s Glitter & Glow or Glisten & Glow shades. I recall a time Stila was dropping a shade every other week and I truly miss those days as it’s one of their best formulas. These are so sparkly, so gorgeous, and work well alone or over your favorite powders. And RMS Beauty Eyelights are the equally amazing for either a soft or dramatic look with a quick to apply formula that blends super easily.

Thank you to Nordstrom for sponsoring this post. All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me but I did use affiliate links which earn me a small commission that goes directly back into maintaining this website. If you do use a link to purchase thank you as it helps the blog so much!

Where to buy

Nordstrom

I can’t lie the Bath and Body Works x Disney Princess Collection was tempting but I had this funny feeling I wouldn’t like any of the scents. I really wanted some gourmands but I guess it just wasn’t in the cards for this collection. I’ve been out of the country so I never got a store to see the collection but I felt pretty much at peace with the fact I wasn’t missing out and I highly doubted I’d have FOMO over this collection. It simply wasn’t exciting enough to get that worked up over.

But just because I didn’t have access to the collection didn’t mean I wasn’t around and reading what people were saying about it. Reddit seemed to be fairly excited over it and Tiktok was of course, hyping it up to the max. But overall, I don’t think it created as much buzz as one would think a collection like this would. Some items did sell out and I don’t think Bath and Body Works will restock those items.

What did I actually buy from the collection? Do you think you can guess?

I’m away from home but I still have a working Internet connection and the day the Bath and Body Works Cinderella Light-up Castle Cloche dropped I ran to order it. Am I still on a candle ban? Absolutely. Did I want this anyway? Absolutely. Someone on Reddit had the amazing idea of placing the crown candle holder from the Bridgerton Collection on top of the cloche and I was enthralled with the idea of doing the same thing and putting this on top of our fireplaced in the bedroom. I sort of wish it had a timer as it would be adorable to have it light up and go on at the same time everyday. I’m not going to use it for a candle holder I’m just going to place the cute crown on top and use it as decor.

I can’t wait to get home to see it for myself as the photos I’ve seen online look amazing. It was $60 which considering the price of things currently didn’t seem too bad as we all know how Bath and Body Works likes trying to sell us $275 Candle Luminaries. I also, had a coupon (and a gift card which made it a much better deal.

So yeah, I didn’t run to buy the Bath and Body Works x Disney Princess Collection but I did have a melt down with this candle holder. Did you love the collection? Hauled a lot of it? None of it? Do share!

Where to buy

Bath and Body Works

Juliette Has a Gun, take my money! Take it all! Have you heard? Juliette Has a Gun Miami Shake is about to drop and it’s a gourmand perfume with notes of strawberry and vanilla. Yes, please! Everyone seems to be inspired by Kayali Yum Boujee Marshmallow lately with it’s sweet strawberry note but Miami Shake is taking things into a whole other level. I’m thinking it sounds like a strawberry ice cream cone scent with notes of wild strawberry, vanilla absolute, and ice cream cone notes! Has anyone tried Imaginary Authors A Whiff of Waffle Cone? I’m sort of hoping this is that but with a sweet strawberry note.

But you can never really tell with Juliette Has a Gun as sometimes I THINK I know what they’re newest launches are going to smell like and it ends up not smelling anything like I imagined it would. But the way they describe Miami Shake it sounds amazing! A warm, sweet gourmand with notes of wild strawberry, silky, musky whipped cream and vanilla, and sugar. And can we talk about how gorgeous the bottle is? It’s a beautiful aqua and pink ombre with a tiny bit of white in the middle giving it a bi-phase appearance. I’m getting Escada vibes from it and I don’t hate that.

Juliette Has a Gun Miami Shake Eau de Parfum will be available the first week of March and comes in a travel-spray for $34 or 1.7 oz for $115, and the larger 3.4 oz for $150. Seems like it’ll release just in time for us to save our pennies for Sephora’s Spring Savings Event 2025 (if it happens this year). Will you be purchasing Miami Shake? I know I was surprised by Yum Boujee Marshmallow and absolutely loved it so I’m pretty curious how Miami Shake measures up!

Where to buy

Sephora

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Hi there! Remember me? Sorry, I’ve been MIA for a bit. I’ve been traveling and didn’t have time to blog. I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there. And hopefully, you aren’t frozen wherever you are. It’s a cloudy but lovely 50 degrees in England today and my mom tells me New York is having some of the same back home. Last week we were in Sweden and they had pretty much the same crazy weather we left at home. But it was rather nice with all the ice and chilliness. But I don’t trust this first bit of Spring at all. I just know March is going to be brutal.

Did you hear Joanna’s is going out of business? I’m so sad! During the pandemic I started getting into weird crap like Diamond Art kits and places like Joann’s were my sanctuary and safe place when the world felt chaotic. Not to mention, I love going there to pick over their seasonal collections! They always have the best Halloween stuff like my massive mortuary sign that I used in my haunted hotel Halloween theme a few years ago. My boyfriend had to struggle with me to take it down when Halloween was over as I just wanted to leave it hanging in the foyer looking all spooky cool.

Like most stores lately Joann has been struggling hard and due to sluggish sales and inventory shortages they filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in a year. But now it’s time to say goodbye sadly. Joanna’s is closing 500 of their stores which is more than half of their locations and will close the rest very shortly. Stores will immediately start offering inventory discounts starting at 20% off and up to 70% off select seasonal items.

In a statement on their website the store posted the following, “Joann leadership, our board, advisers and legal partners made every possible effort to pursue a more favorable outcome that would keep the company in business, we are committed to working constructively with the winning bidder to ensure an orderly wind-down of operations that minimizes the impact on all our stakeholders.”

I realize this isn’t beauty but I thought I’d say anyway as we do occasional talk home goods on the blog. I was pretty sad to hear about their closing! Christmas Tree Stores, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Macy’s, more and more stores are closing. It feels like we won’t have many brick and mortar locations in the years ahead. I fear this trend will continue as online sales remain strong.

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