Introduction post!

[telesilla]

I figured we might get this going with an introduction post. So, if you feel like it, why not introduce yourselves in the comments and tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're into, product-wise.

Me? I'm currently going through a genderplayful stage where I like pairing girly things like painted nails, perfume and makeup with my butch hair and clothing.

Right now, the products I couldn't live without are, the Poo Bar solid shampoo from Oyin, my Poshe rapid dry top coat, HD nail polish (silver holo) by Milani, Scheherazade perfume from BPAL, Nag Champa perfume from Good Judy and Sinner perfume by Kat Von D.

I'm about to take the mineral make up plunge, so that will be quite the adventure.

I'm also, with sorchar, one of your mods, so if you have any questions feel free to send them my way.

Your turn!

Comments

[eleanorjane]

Hi! I'm eleanorjane, aka Elle, and I recently discovered the world of nail polish. That is, all the lovely specialist polish out there, not the bland mainstream stuff sold in pharmacies. Someone got me hooked on Chanel Blue Satin (not my site/pics) and then I found OPI and it was all downhill from there. :)

I've not been bothering too much with makeup lately, as I've had some skin allergy and conjunctivitis issues in the past few years, but I'm finding that I really love nailpolish - it's a part of me that I can primp and preen and feel beautiful about, without all the other body image hangups getting in the way.

My big obstacle is that I don't live in the US, and Australian vendors of non-mainstream nail polish a) have very limited ranges, and b) charge an arm and a leg. For instance, although our dollar's pretty much at parity with the US dollar, a bottle that would be 6-8 dollars in the USA costs 12-20 here. I've been shopping at transdesign.com, but they don't stock Zoya, RBL, Seche, or various other popular brands.

Right now, I'm currently wearing OPI's Yodel Me On My Cell, which is a lovely dark teal shimmer. My current favourite polish is China Glaze's Sea Spray, which is a really interesting light blue-grey with a faint shimmer, and it wears like you wouldn't believe. I have a painful weakness for dark vampy berry/bronze/browns and I own waaaay too many of them. :)

[erika]

I am so jealous you're in Australia right now. I just found this incredible australian nail polish site with so many colors I want so bad.

[eleanorjane]

O

M

G

...there goes my bank balance!

Thankyou so much for the link... I think. :D

[erika]

But now you don't have to be sad that you live in Australia!

[eleanorjane]

This is true!

I think I shall buy a few and test their formulations. :) I'll post reviews on here when I do.

[erika]

DOOO EET.

By then I might have enough money to pay their outrageous shipping costs to the US. I MUST HAVE THAT HEAVY METAL.

[telesilla]

Wow, those are some nice looking colors! I like their multichromes.

[erika]

I personally am dying for their heavy metal.

[erika]

Hi, I'm Erika, & I'm addicted to dressing up and girly jewelry, makeup, perfume, and NAIL POLISH.

(Chorus: Hi Erika!)

I use burt's bees for skincare, random drugstore crap for makeup (because I live in Iowa and I'm Latina, practically nothing sold in stores matches my skin tone even the slightest), and I love Oyin too!

Expect much more of my "Goddamn, I love nailpolish" series as I paint my nails every 3 - 4 days on average.

[majoline]

As a fellow Latina, do the drug stores not carry Milani face powder near you? I can get that to match me pretty well.

[erika]

Not that I've ever heard of, but thanks for the recommendation!

Apparently they're carried at Walgreen's, CVS, and Target, all of which have stores around here, so I might go check it out.

[majoline]

It's a pretty good price too usually; the color is pretty strong so prepare to need a blush if you don't want to look like you lost your cheekbones.

[majoline]

The one product I couldn't live without right now is Mario Badescu's Special Cucumber Lotion. I am so oily, and it's the only thing I can put on my face that doesn't end up making me overproduce later.

Everything else is up in the air right now. :D

[vorvolaka]

I'm Ali, mainly into hair and skincare. I have acne prone skin (woo, dodgy hormones!) and I'm also trying to grow my hair super long for no other reason than because I can. Like the OP, I'm somewhat genderplayful, mixing butch and girly.

[rydra_wong]

Hi! I don't do make-up, but I'm a perfume obsessive, and I occasionally wear nail varnish (for about a day, before it gets chipped off rock-climbing) -- usually stuff from StrangeBeautiful or NARS Mash at the moment.

I would love to find something that worked to deal with my acne and whatever strange things my meds and the weather are currently doing to my skin, but I haven't found anything that works 100% yet.

[stewardess]

Ask me about mineral makeup!

My product junkie areas of obsession:

skincare
makeup
scents (soaps and lotions, perfumes, scented candles)

I don't have the manual dexterity to paint my own nails, so I have to pay for it. But I'm doing too much manual labor right now to make it sensible, anyway. When I do paint them, I go for dark neutrals or brights.

I'm devoted to Paula's Choice skin care products, though I don't share her dislike of fragrant plant extracts. Too much lavender (for example) *can* irritate skin, but the tiny amounts that appear in most products do not. I use the beautypedia web site to keep up on new products, and find new things to try: 45,000 reviews!

Going back to scent: how things smell hugely affects my mood and energy levels. I started wearing Chanel no. 5 when I was in elementary school, and still enjoy the scent, though I no longer wear it. Because I want to surround myself with scent, I rely on candles more than perfumes. If I had to pick one candle to use forever? I wouldn't. Archipelago's tobacco flower and bergamot candle is way up there, though. BPAL's Santo Domingo is a close match.

When I don't want everything to smell like Santo Domingo, I want everything to smell like fruit, vanilla-berries with a touch of citrus.

I've recently started to use the 100% Pure Beauty brand of soaps/shower gels/lotions, and their fruity smells are the best in the universe! And organic! The Blood Orange makes me weep with joy.

I adore vanilla, but most vanilla scented products smell like something else entirely. This makes me sad. I hope to hear from fellow vanilla lovers here.

[sorchar]

(psst, it's sorchar.)

[scheherezhad]

I'm scheherezhad, but I usually go by sche or L.

I have a serious love of eyeshadow and brushes, and I am continually having to talk myself out of buying more of either. Instead, I got back into nail polish and have almost doubled my stash over the last few months. I'm also tentatively gravitating toward blushes.

Things I can't live without right now are my e.l.f. brights 32 shadow palette, Neutrogena Naturals fresh cleansing + makeup remover, and China Glaze crackle polishes. I also adore solid shampoo and liquid castile soap.

My style is going through a bit of a change right now, as I noticed one morning last week when I opened the closet and hated every shirt I own. :P