Sunday, September 11, 2016

TUTORIAL || Autumn Plums

This is a great smokey look that I think could easily work for daytime in many cases because its still light and pretty as well.

I really love how this plum-y look came out, and I hope it inspires some different fall looks for some people. I love warm fall tones like browns and oranges, but berries and plums are fun and so fall too!

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

Thanks for watching!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Real Talk || My Septum Piercing & Healing Experience

Hi guys! Today's post isn't going to be a review or makeup video, instead, as the title has probably tipped you off, I'm going to talk about my experience getting my septum pierced a couple months ago, and how it has healed up. I'll try to do this as logically as possible, and feel free to leave me any questions you might have in the comments.

Just as a disclaimer, I am not a piercer or an expert. Aside from my lobe piercings which were done when I was maybe 2 years old, my septum is the only thing I have ever gotten pierced, so I won't have all the answers, but I wanted to share my experiences. Your piercing journey may very well be different, harder, or easier than mine, as everyone's body is different.

first picture

Why I Chose & Got My Septum Pierced

Before I start talking about the actual piercing, I wanted to quickly mention why I got this one done. First off, for me, this wasn't something I'd been wanting for a long time, which is many people's reason. But my sister had gotten the piercing a couple months ago, about the same time that Karissa Pukas (YouTuber, if you don't know) also got hers done, and while I thought they were pretty weird at first, the look grew on me pretty quickly. You may also have noticed more people wearing (often fake) septum jewellery on Instagram and in magazines and such, so its really not as stigmatized as it once was. There are lots of jewellery options, whether you want something very out-there, bling-y, punky, or dainty.

It's extremely easy to hide by flipping up a circular barbell (like the one in the picture above), or by putting in and flipping up a retainer (which is a small, usually staple-shaped piece). While I love the piercing, and don't want to hide it, there may be jobs I'd want in the future that wouldn't like my piercing, so that hide-ability is a huge bonus. Similarly, should I ever decide I'm done with it, I can take it out, and it will heal up, but even if here is a scar, it will be up inside my nose and no one would ever know I had the piercing! (Though at this point, I don't see that happening. I really do love it)

Finally, I'd both read and been told by my sister that it wasn't very painful (no piercing is going to be truly painless... they punch a hole in your body with a sharp needle. You're going to experience at least some very real discomfort at best!) This is because it doesn't go through your nose cartilage, but in the very front area of the septum is the "sweet spot" which is just skin, and very few nerves. It even heals pretty quickly, though there seems some debate on the internet about healing time. My piercer, along with many places online, say that the healing time is about 6 weeks. That's not even 2 months!

I'll get to when mine felt healed a little later, but all in all (unless you believe the people who say its actually 6-8 months, not weeks), it's a very friendly piercing with low levels of commitment for everything: pain, healing time, ease of hiding, and a lack of scarring.

This is also how I—unintentionally—convinced Brit she should get the piercing as well! She also loved the idea of the "inconsequential rebellion." We were never a rebellious pair.

close up

The Tattoo/Piercing Studio and the Piercing exprience

Anyways, for me, choosing a studio to get pierced at was easy because my sister already had 2 piercings from Sinister Skin and was really happy with the place and piercers, so I just took her recommendation. I'd never been in a tattoo place before, so it looked a little scary when we went in and I think Brit almost backed out, but the piercer (Justin) was really friendly and professional, we signed the required forms, and went into one of the piercing rooms together.

We'd gone back and forth about who should go first, and up until the last minute Brit wanted to go first so she wouldn't be freaked out by seeing what was going to happen. That was fine for me, since I am better off knowing the procedure beforehand, which is why I had googled it the night before. But, as I just alluded to, I ended up going first because I'm clearly more Gryffindor than Brit (Slytherins can be brave too, at least compared to RavenPuffs =P).

Sinister is a pretty small studio, and they don't have piercing options, everyone gets a basic, sterile, surgical steel circular barbell for their new septum piercing, which is fine. The piece is really small, and while it wasn't a favourite at first, it's currently my favourite ring I own! It definitely grew on me. After showing us the jewellery, I lay down in something like a dentist chair, Justin put on gloves, and then started by sanitizing the area just inside my nose with alcohol. This is pretty gross, alcohol is a strong scent at the best of times, never mind IN YOUR NOSE, and you will want your mouth open to breath now, and really for the rest of the procedure.

Next, he put the piercing clamp in my nose which looks a little like a pair of scissors, but with a tube at the end that lines up where the piercing is going. This is super uncomfortable clamped in your nose, and is possibly the worst part, not the actual piercing, as this stays clamped in your nose for a few minutes. Justin explained that he tries to pierce as high in the nose as possible, which I'm happy about, because the piercing doesn't hang out of my nose too far, which I love. That said, even by the same piercer, a piercing will look a little different on everyone because of their unique shape. For example, both my and Brit's piercings are placed high in the nose, but mine hides away a lot more than her's, as you can see below.

two examples same piercing

Finally, the needle goes through the guides on the clamp, and apart from a sting or a pinch when it came through the other side, I didn't really feel the piercing itself. I did, however, have a weird tight feeling that there was something in my skin. I felt some weird tugging when he threaded the jewellery through the new hole, and I could still feel the new weight and some tightness on my nose, which was a bit uncomfortable, but not painful. I asked if it would go away soon, and he assured me it would. I think the last step was to resanitize, but this time with "green soap," because alcohol would have burned like crazy and aggrevated my new wound.

I got up, and at this point, after getting to check out my new piercing in the mirror, I got really light-headed. This turned to dizziness, nausea, and sweating. Luckily, David was there to lean on, and the piercer said it was pretty normal for some people and offered me a lollipop, which did help. I'm sad I didn't really get to watch Brit's piercing, since I was feeling so shit, but I think hers hurt a little more than mine and definitely bled a bit more, but she had way less weird aftershocks than I did, so I think we both did pretty well. I felt much better by the time she was done as well, and we paid and left after Justin went over cleaning and care instructions. Of us were done in less than an hour, including at least 10 minutes of waiting when we first arrived!

Where the piercing sits in my nose. I apologize for blurriness and also if the inside of noses freaks you out.

where the piercing goes

Pain & Healing

I feel like I had a really good run at healing. I didn't get an infection, even though I stopped using the sea salt solution pretty early on. I probably should have talked to the piercer about this, but it was making my nose seriously dry and flaky and really really itchy, so it seemed for the best to just use warm water to clean it, since the dry itchiness was just making it touch my nose more than I should! Besides, lots of people on the internet including the r/piercing subreddit swear by the LITHA method... which stands for "Leave It The Hell Alone."

Weird flaky nose skin, which healed up pretty quickly after I stopped with the salt:

dry nose skin

For the first little while, it was a bit painful or annoying to move my mouth much (eating, talking, laughing, smiling, sneezing, etc.) because my nose moves a lot with my mouth, and that caused some tugging on the jewellery as my septum skin got used to accommodating the new steel bar I had had inserted into it. This got better quite quickly, though it started to seem like forever before it got better. I'd say I had full range of motion with my face back after 2 weeks, though I was almost there at 1.

At 2 weeks, I had also developed the (probably bad) habit of playing with the jewellery with my upper lip. And by 5 weeks I was able to touch, poke, wiggle, and grab my nose without pain or discomfort... which isn't something you realize you will miss until it is taken from you! At 5.5 weeks, I managed to widen the gap in my ring enough to flip the jewellery up, if I want (Justin told us at the start that the rings are a bit bendy, and we could open or tighten them as desired, but our noses were way too tender to try right away).

clicker

Changing the Jewellery

I waited the full 6 weeks before changing the jewellery for the first time, and I'm so glad I did, because it was harder than anticipated, and I did irritate my nose a little the first time. I had wanted to try my new clicker first (Seen above; Brit and I went and got new jewellery in advance of 6 weeks), but I just couldn't get the tricky bitch closed, so I ended up opting for a larger, rose gold circular barbell. (picture below).

These can be a little tough to get the balls screwed back on, but lucky for me, I wear the same rings as earrings (same gauge and everything), so I have practise and mostly do it thourgh feel. Brit had a slightly tougher time, but ultimately the barbells are the easiest jewellery to change in and out of that we've found thus far.

gold barbell

I know this is a pretty divisive piercing, as most piercings are, but I love it! Feel free to let me know in the comments if you have any questions about anything I said, or anything you think I missed. I'll be happy to answer any questions I can. If you are interested in piercings in general, I'd recommend checking out r/piercing on Reddit, as well. There's a large, active community there, and you can ask questions, look at other people's piercings, and share your own!

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this slightly different (possibly slightly off-topic) post!

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Summer Favourites || June - August 2016 || Beauty, Skincare, Games, TV, Books

In which I share with you my favourite products and entertainment things from June, July, and August!

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

Thanks for watching!

Sunday, September 4, 2016

REVIEW || Palmer's "It Couple" Skin Therapy Cleansing Oil & Face Oil || + a Blog Birthday Giveaway =)

Hey guys! Welcome back to the blog. Today is a special day, because it is My Glittery Obsessions's 5th Birthday! That's right, I've been Keeping up this blog for the past 5 years, not always as proficiently or as regularly as I might hope, but it hasn't died yet, and that's always something to celebrate! So to celebrate, at the bottom of this review you will find a small giveaway: thanks to Palmer's, I'm giving away a prize pack featuring both the Skin Therapy Cleansing Oil FACE and Skin Therapy Oil FACE to three lucky winners! Rules and all the contest info will be down there. For now, let's get into the review.

***

I will state that the bottles in the pictures in today's post were sent to me by Palmer's for review, but this is not the first time I've used or even mentioned these products. I received a couple of Palmer's Skin Therapy oil products in a contest on someone else's blog, and have mentioned the face cleansing oil in my 2015 favourites post and my skincare routine video... so you know I already love that product! That said, as always, my opinions are 100% honest and my own, and not biased by the fact that I was sent these products for free.

The It Couple

Palmer's Skin Therapy Cleansing Oil FACE

This is one of my favourite face cleansers that I have ever used! It claims to be good for all skin types (dry, oily, sensitive, and aging), remove dirt and makeup, help regulate natural oil production and balance skin with great ingredients like grapeseed, jojoba, and rosehip oils, cocoa butter, and vitamin C. It's free of mineral oil, parabens, and pore-clogging ingredients, and only costs $8 at Walmart!

I don't love the scent, and would disagree that more sensitive people can use it... at least if you have a rose allergy, I would certainly stay away from this one. I know the scent bothers my mom, who is pretty allergic to rose fragrances, at least. I wish they would come out with a non-scented variety, if not better scents as well, as I really do love the product itself, and wish I could say I didn't have any complaints!

Other than that, though, it's great! It removes makeup super easily (just don't rub too much around the eyes, and don't open your eyes until you wash it off... it can sting the eyes a bit.) I usually just use a eye makeup remover first, so I'm not tempted to use this on my mascara! It doesn't stay greasy on the skin, it rinses clean and fresh, and my skin always feels great, so clean but not tight or dry!

I know any oil can be scary to oily-skin peeps, but honestly, it really does help to balance. When you wash and moisturize with good oils for your skin, instead of drying your skin out with harsh, astringent products, your skin feels more balanced and is less likely to try to overcompensate and produce excess oils itself! And it's pretty much a no-brainer that oils are great for dry skin! I really do recommend this cleanser to anyone interested in cleansing oils, because I love it and it's so affordable. Plus, it's great for the colder months coming up when our skins often need even more moisture.

Palmer's Skin Therapy Oil FACE

Face Oil

While I admit that I can't love this moisturizer as much as it's face cleansing sister, it is still great! I don't often use intensive moisturizers, because my skin has pretty good balance, except when it's being oily. But this is still a nice skin treat, especially in the colder months.

This moisturizing oil contains even more great for your skin oils than the cleanser, such as: sweet almond oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, macadamia oil, apricot oil, grapeseed oil, camelina oil, sunflower oil, rosehip oil, and argan oil. It's packs a very moisturizing and powerful punch, plus it also has vitamins C and E and cocoa butter.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this stuff to someone with oily skin, but it could probably be used in small quantities, or mixed in small doses into your regular moisturizer as a treat. It is meant to be great for anti-aging, though, and would be great for dry skin as well. Also, just because it's super hydrating doesn't mean it's heavy! It absorbs into the skin quite quickly and doesn't leave a weird, heavy film on top. Just make sure to use sparingly... you can always add more if your skin is dry, but it is going to be very hard to take it off if you use too much! I small drop or two is usually good for my whole face! This product retails for $10 at Walmart.

***

The Giveaway:

So if you want to win these two great products and try them for yourself, you may be in luck! All you have to do is complete the tasks in the rafflecopter form below.

Unfortunately, as Palmer's is sending out the prizes, I can only open this up to Canadian residents. Also, make sure you have permission to enter if you aren't of legal age, as you will need to provide me and Palmer's your home address to get your prize!

The only mandatory entry requirement is to leave a comment with a suggestion for a future blog post or video, but if you follow me on twitter, instagram, youtube, or bloglovin' you can get extra entries, and you care share the giveaway tweet once a day for even more entries!

The giveaway closes September 17th at 12 am, and I will pick three winners who will have 48 hours to reply. If you don't reply, I'll choose a new winner.

NO GIVEAWAY ACCOUNTS PLEASE!! I want this prize to go to followers, not just someone who enters all the giveaways. I will be checking.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for reading and Good luck! =)

Friday, September 2, 2016

REVIEW + SWATCHES || NYX Strobe of Genius Illuminating Palette

In which I briefly share my thoughts on and swatch the new NYX Strobe of Genius Illuminating palette. Spoilers: its gorgeous! See below the embedded video player for up close pictures of the palette, and my hand swatches.

Click here to watch in HD, or watch below:

The palette:

NYX Strobe of Genius Palette

The highlighters:

NYX Strobe of Genius colours

Swatches:

NYX Strobe of Genius swatches

Thanks for watching!

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