little white truths

I've decided to do my monthly positives post a little early this month: the main reason being that these take less time than other posts (partly because there's no research or testing involved), and I've got some work on at the moment so it's harder than usual to find time to post.

So without further ado, here are my positives for May.

I have some 'normal person' work to do

I'm self-employed, so it's not as easy to return to work as it is for many others because there's no job waiting for me at the end of my maternity leave, nor is there a specified end to my leave that's visible in the distance.

What this means in practice is that I've been accepting work here and there ever since I had my first child, and now that my second child is seven months old, I've felt able to accept more.

So I've got a bit on at the moment, which isn't easy because I'm still the primary carer of a baby and a toddler, but at least the toddler is in childcare for three mornings a week and my mum is able to help out a bit more until the project is finished.

I must say, it feels nice to do some 'real' work, as opposed to household and blogging duties only. Yes I've done work before this project, but this is larger and more involved - so it's nice to feel like I'm working 'properly' again.

We're on the other side of a bad bug (fingers crossed)

The bad thing about taking on new work is that it just happened to arrive when myself and both the kids were very sick with what's proved to be a bad bug that's taken a while to calm down. But at least we're on the mend now, so everyone's feeling much better.

If there's one thing worse than looking after young kids 24/7, it's having to do it when you're sick. Ain't no sick leave when you're a primary carer. Yes that sucks, but there it is.

Sephora's 20 per cent off from today...

I was expecting a Sephora sale at some point because there's normally the Black Friday one in November and then another one earlier in the year, so when the email was sent around last week I got pretty excited.

Do I need anything? Absolutely not. What about my makeup inventory? Well look, there's a bit of room...

The good news about having a makeup inventory and also being a project panner is that, when sales do arrive that don't come around often, you know what you have too many of, what you're going to finish before November and therefore what any 'valid' purchases may be. Plus I am owed a blush purchase, going by my 'two out, one in' rule...

Looking forward.

It's my birthday next month

Some people don't like getting older but, so far, I personally don't mind it. It's just one of those things that happens to us all and there's no point getting caught up in it. That's what I think anyway.

Since having kids, birthdays have taken on a new excitement for me: for no other reason than that our purse strings are so tight that I can't just buy something for myself when I want to. We have to budget for it. So for me, birthdays mean Mecca and Sephora giftcards, and perhaps a new item of clothing or two - needed, because half my wardrobe is falling apart - so that's something to look forward to.

Our request for white lines was approved

This might sound ridiculous to those who haven't been in our situation, but ever since we moved into our new house, we've had issues with people parking either in front of our driveway or the driveway across the road (which we use to reverse our car out, since we live on a narrow street). I don't know what it is about this street, but for some reason people think it's ok to park wherever they bloody want to. I've never lived anywhere where this has been such a problem, or indeed a problem at all.

This is obviously not a good thing for anyone, but if you have young kids, it's even worse. What if I urgently need to take one of them to the hospital (touch wood) and can't get my car out? This has already happened once when some idiot parked across our driveway and I had to delay a doctor's appointment for my daughter because I couldn't get her there. I was so upset and stressed that I had to call the council. The person got a ticket, but I still couldn't get out of course so my next step was to call the police to have the car removed. Fortunately I didn't need to do that because the person returned to their car after few hours, but the whole thing was a hassle I just didn't need.

Anyway. Long story short, the council fast-tracked our request for white lines outside our own driveway (I think they took pity on me, hearing two screaming kids in the background) so those have now been drawn, and we're waiting to see whether they'll do the rest of the street because it's a problem for our neighbours too.

You've no idea what a stress it is to never know whether you'll actually be able to leave your house on any given day, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to walk to pick up my daughter from childcare in the rain (and with a baby to boot) because I can't move the car.

Rant over. Watch where you park, people.

In sum

That's all from me! I hope you enjoyed this little post and that you found something in here to relate to.

Do let me know what your positives for the month are: I'd love to hear.

Speak soon x

Hello all and welcome to my next round of Project Dent!

If you've been with me for a while, you may remember that I have in fact already dented this product: my Urban Decay Beached Bronzer in Bronzed.

While I would normally pick something I haven't yet dented for this project, I've decided to go with this for two reasons: first, I didn't review it last time so I need to make sure I do so this time; and second, I promised myself I would finish one bronzer this year and hit pan on another. Since I've already finished one via Pan that Palette 2017, it's time to get some pan happening!

So, I did in fact buy both of these Urban Decay bronzers because I was obsessed with the packaging and I thought this one would work well on my colouring for bronzing, while the other one (in Sun-kissed) would make a beautiful blush.

I'm happy to say that they both work well for those purposes, and I actually prefer Sun-kissed because it's my perfect nude blush and I have nothing else like it. This one in Bronzed, however, isn't particularly 'special' so I don't mind getting through it: yes it's a nice formula and the colour suits me, but it's not a unique shade and there's not a spot for it in my permanent collection. So expect to see it show up in Project Pan 2018.

Anyhoo. If you would like to see how my bronzer looked at the start and end of the denting period last time, my update post is here.

In that post you will also see photographs of this product in natural light and direct sunlight. I'm mentioning this because I tend to enhance the photos in these Project Dent posts so you can better-see progress, but the photos in that update post include shots of this bronzer that haven't been touched (other than cropped).

So, I'll include a few shots from different angles so we can see what the bronzer looks like as of today, 23 May 2017.

Under artificial lighting:

 Bird's eye (enhanced): 

From the side (enhanced):  

As you can see, there's a slight dip happening in the centre and I don't think I'm that far away from seeing rings. Mind you, there's still lots of work to be done before I get anywhere near pan, which is why I'll be working on the bronzer from a few angles: first, I'll use it for bronzing my face; second, I'll use it for bronzing my neck and upper chest; and third, I'll use it daily on the eyes.

I mention using it for both neck and chest because I often have a 'top half, bottom half' thing going with my bronzers - I use whatever I want on my face and I'm mixing a few powders from my Pan that Palette challenge to get a similar colour for my neck and body. So for the next while, I'll only use this product.

My aim for this round of Project Dent is to keep going until I hit pan. Even if it's a tiny fleck of pan, I'll call that done and then put this bronzer away to be panned completely at a later date.

If this ends up taking a while, I'll introduce another 'dent' product in a few weeks but will keep going with this until I hit my goal.

That's all from me! Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x