what I listened to: august

Here are five songs that were part of the soundtrack of my month.

diy: turning questionable thrift store jeans into cute shorts

I hate spending money. But I also love clothes, which is...unfortunate.

One of the ways I try to satisfy both my rational, save-money side and my buy-everything side is thrift stores. They're great places to find cute vintage stuff, but more often than not you have to dig through mountains of sequin sweaters and stained t-shirts to find anything good. And if you can't find things that are cute as-is, sometimes you just need a little creativity.

When I was last at Goodwill, I picked up a pair of black jeans. They were stained on the legs and I hated the cut, but I liked the rise and the feel of the fabric. So I decided I'd try to make them into shorts.

This is a pretty simple diy - even I managed to do it without messing it up. All you need are a pair of jeans, scissors, a ruler, and some chalk.

the great shampoo debate! how to wash your hair less

Washing your hair has kinda recently become a topic of debate among ~beauty experts~. Condition before or after shampoo? How much washing is too much washing?

Confession: For most of my life I've been one of those people who washes their hair every single day. Shocked gasp. But that had to change when I started dyeing my hair, because hair dye and shampoo are not friends.

Now I condition my hair every day and shampoo it about every other day. Sometimes a little more or less often depending on how my hair's doing. I know that's not that crazy. There are plenty of people who wash their hair like twice a week, and good for them. But my hair is just not quite ready for that.

So, how do you start washing your hair less without looking like a greasy mess?

dealing with oily eyelids: too faced's shadow insurance primer

My skin is super oily. And that includes my eyelids. My eye shadow creases within a couple hours and fades away a few hours later. The only eye primer I'd ever tried was some cream stick from e.l.f, which didn't work at all.

When I was shopping on Too Faced's website for a setting powder and maybe a bronzer, I saw how highly rated their Shadow Insurance Primer is and thought I'd give it a try.

review: too faced primed & poreless pressed powder

I really needed a new setting powder. I ran out of blotting sheets, and all I had to combat my (unfortunately) extreme oiliness was some e.l.f. pressed powder. Which, yikes. Aside from not being all that effective, this stuff was super orangey on me and had a strange texture. So I, of course, turned to the internet.

Too Faced's Primed & Poreless powder kept popping up with great reviews from bloggers, so I figured I'd check it out. Take a look at Too Faced's claims about what this powder does:

Primed & Poreless Powder turns any foundation into high definition makeup. Our high-resolution, reflective, powder technology transforms skin by visually minimizing pores, fine line and imperfections for an airbrushed looking finish. Our weightless powder can be worn alone, or under and over foundation to prep skin, lock down makeup and control shine for a complexion smoothing, flawless finish.

Honestly, it better do all that for the price ($30!).