march favorites

hi guys! not many things to share this month... but alas, here ya go! ~Lin-chan ^.~
favorites:

1. nyc metro girl unscented makeup brush cleanser -- omg you guys! this is a really nice brush cleanser! only issues with it are that it takes a bit more effort for liquid foundation brushes, and the packaging is a bit small for larger powder brushes, but this works great!
2. ecotools brush cleanser -- this works surprisingly well. i don't like the $8 price tag though. i'm also not a huge fan of the bottle design either, some of the excess when you stop pouring and squeezing drips down the side pretty easily. this worked well with foundation brushes containing liquid as well as brushes containing powder.
3. tony moly my little pet eye patches -- omg can we get stock in these? this was such a great and relaxing product. these are a gel-type eye patch, and came in their own hard case, so they didn't get messed up inside of the package or anything. these felt super relaxing and the under eye area felt much better. can't wait to get more of these!
4. not pictured: nails inc nailkale superfood base coat -- this is actually a pretty good product. it might be a little gimmicky because of the kale trend, but i do think that this says what it does. it's supposed to help with nails that split and stuff, and i feel like after using this alone for a couple weeks, it started working out. the first week or so, i was still getting splits, but now it's not too bad. and it goes on a nice glossy clear, so i sometimes wear 1-2 coats of this alone.

random favorites:

1. tokidoki 2016 calendar, march -- unicorno is like my favorite tokidoki character, and more specifically i love sakura! so it's super exciting that my favorite character is featured on my birthday month!
2. ski queen gjetost cheese -- this is norwegian goat cheese. and this is not a recent favorite--i may have mentioned this on here before. growing up, my norwegian great-aunt would always buy literally brick sized blocks of this stuff from the norwegian church and would give us some. now, the $8 we spend at whole foods on this stuff will add up, so i don't get it very often. but this cheese is my absolute favorite for snacking. usually, i only eat this as is, or on some buttered toast. i'm not going to bother trying to explain the taste of this..because i'm not really sure how to do so..but i'll just say that anyone who we've offered this to (other family or friends) did not like this cheese. so i do not advise you to spend money on this without trying it beforehand, and be sure to use a cheese plane to cut it!

meh's:

1. real techniques brush cleanser -- this stuff sucks and is not advisable. this brush cleaning palette came with two of these packettes and the first one barely got a foundation-filled brush clean. the scent is another thing, while nice, this formula did not work so well.
2. real techniques brush cleaning palette -- this is an interesting one. it's got its pro's and con's relative to the sigma oven mitt, but i think i'd rather keep a hold of this than the spa glove. i like how easily it can hold water or soap inside of it, as well as the different textured sections to agitate your brushes. i don't like that it takes over your entire hand, so you basically have to remove the thing before you can wring out your brushes, because it feels awkward to do so. but otherwise, it works well and i liked using the ecotools cleanser with it.
3. etude house my beauty tool -- first off, the sponge piece kind of weirds me out, and i don't want to use it for acne and bacteria reasons. second, i wish that the bristles and sponge were not interchangeable because water gets caught up in there whenever i go to wash the bristles. now, i wanted this brush as a test to see if i liked this style of brush--since the artis brushes look and sound amazing. and at the end of the day, i really like using this but i do have some issues. the bristles are nice and soft and product glides on the face pretty smoothly. i don't like that i have to consciously not use too much pressure for fear that the neck will snap off the handle. i do like the $14 price tag vs. $50+ for an artis brush. i don't like that it's so tiny--but it does get the job done. overall, i will continue to use this until i accidentally break it or the bristles begin falling out, but i think it was a great trial run before committing to an artis brush.
1. also, if you want a discount toward an artis brush (not sponsored!), my work has a coupon for beautybar.com: $15 off $60 plus free shipping, i believe it is for new customers only (you could still try otherwise), BENEPLACEBB. you're welcome! ^_^