Certain Things I Won't Be Doing Anymore (Or Won't Do) In The Name of Beauty #realbeautytalk

Never say never. But see, I have pretty much made up my mind that there are certain things that I am willing to forego despite the raging impulse, numerous raves and overrated beauty trends diluting our society. I know it sounds like a complete antithesis from a blogger obsessed with all things beauty. But it's my opinion, my life. If you find absolute delight and satisfaction from the following procedures or routines, you do you. Today's post is about me, not about you, oki?

1. Eyelash extension. Back in October, this late bloomer discovered the instant gratification of lash extension. You know, waking up feeling oh-so-glamorous with long and voluminous lashes vis-a-vis significantly reducing my makeup routine because the lashes speak for themselves. But the fascination was rather short-lived because I decided not to continue after two months of going to the lash bar near me. Reason being,

• I'm not going to shell out $130 every 3 weeks to sustain this new vanity (add $20 for tip)
• I don't have extra time to come for retouch every two weeks (starts at $40). I work 10 hours a day and my weekend is sacred. Each session runs 1.5 hrs at the most
• Most important of all, my natural lashes did fell (as to be expected) but mine did at a faster rate, leaving me with short ones that don't even curl! So while they are in the process of re-growing, here I am adjusting my morning wake up time so I can strategically place faux lashes with precision. Trivial to some but not to me! On my default photo above: Ardell Studio Effects Demi Wispies

2. Microblading. This is one beauty procedure that's all the rage recently. I have seen magnificent brows on Instagram and other social media enough to convince me to try it. But I held back and decided not to pursue because

• My brows are pretty much low maintenance, they're still kind of full for my age (hello 42) except for a millimeter or two of sparseness on the left side which can be filled in with few strokes of brow product
• With that said, it takes me one minute at the most to fix my brows in the morning and that includes plucking of stray hairs every now and then. One minute if both brows aren't playing tricks with me, haha!
• neuBrow works! I am astounded to see some hairs starting to appear on the sparse area I mentioned above. I was hesitant to use this at first because I don't find any groundbreaking component in the list of ingredients except for keratin which is used by some companies to either repair hair, fight frizz and the like. I will do a full review once I have achieved the fullness I am going for, stay tuned for that!
• As health care professional (RN), I am very wary of procedures which require strict aseptic technique and sterile environment. Since microblading involves sharps, there's always the risk of exposure to bloodborne diseases such as Hep B and C including HIV if the person doing it isn't very careful and particular with asepsis

3. Highlight, bake and contour all the things. Since when did highlight, bake and contour become part of daily makeup? Going to church, going to gym, going to Walmart... guys, can we give this overrated technique a break and once, and just once, apply makeup the way it used to be? I am not Kim Kardashian with a battalion of makeup artists and while I love a glam look, I am not going to highlight, bake and contour every part of my face every single day just because I saw it on Youtube and Instagram. I'm talking about going the extreme like contouring even the side of the nose then highlighting the bridge and tip including cupid's bow. Real talk: just because it looks good on someone doesn't mean it will look good on me. 

Yeah, it's a short list  because I'm keeping my mind open for the rest. Never say never. On a side note, I am back to blogging but we're shifting gear ladies, more on that later!