Madison, you may have noticed, is a fitness town. We host the Crossfit Games. We host Ironman. We even make it on to national “fittest cities” lists. And Madison loves to run- look at how many races are coming up around here!! So it’s easy to feel like running is the thing to do- a few years ago, Lyn and I used to run together all the time!
Crossing the finish line of the very first race we ever ran together, circa 2011
It was a great thing we had going- we would meet once a week or so, early in the morning, at one of the two Willy Street Co-ops (Lyn lives near the east side one, I’m on the west side) and check the box off on our fitness for the day. Then, the best part and likely 90% of the motivation for even getting out of bed, we would sit at the Co-op and drink a delicious juice and have breakfast and catch up on, wait for it, Everything and Nothing.
We weren’t particularly fast or trying to win, but we kept on the grind and ran a bunch of local races to keep us motivated. Then, tragedy struck:
It took a month for this stress fracture to get diagnosed.
While running the Zoo Run Run 10k, a race we had not really trained for well (that summer was sooooo hhhhoooottttt!!), my foot/ankle started to feel very wrong. Lyn was ok with walking, because she realized she forgot to eat for, like, the past 24 hours. We slogged to the finish line, Lyn almost stole a banana straight out of the hand of a random passerby, and we declared defeat over our post-race brunch.
Turns out I had a stress fracture in my 4th metatarsal. I was benched from pretty much everything for 3 months. It worked out, though, because Lyn was also needing to take some time off running, and we were heading into winter anyway. Fast forward to the next spring: we started running again, and had a redemption Zoo Run (just the 5k this time), and I realized something crazy important: I HATE RUNNING, AND THAT’S OK. I hung up my running shoes for good.
While I was rehabbing my foot, I discovered kettlebell training, and fell in love with strength sports. Lyn still runs pretty regularly- it’s fast, she can do it wherever work happens to take her, and she gets an excuse to listen to music (she wouldn’t do it silently, and I concur!!)- but admits she only “tolerates it” and she isn’t planning to run any races or hit PRs, just happy to get it done.
This past winter was rough, for a lot of reasons, and it seems the whole city hid under the covers and ate cheese from December through March, including us. Lyn sent me a message mid-March, and echoed what I had also had on my mind: we need to get back to doing something exercise-y together, and more importantly, we need our weekly-ish breakfast chats back in our lives. I really don’t want to run, and Lyn isn’t particularly jazzed to lift. So what can we do? Well, thanks to Madison being such a fit town, we have options. SO MANY OPTIONS.
Here’s the plan: we are going to cast a wide net and grab any Groupons and introductory offers we can to try all kinds of fitness! We’ve just finished our first class, and we’ll let you know how that went in an upcoming post (along with our opinions on breakfast options). But!! We need your help! What should we call this project? And also, what fitness do you want to see us try?? We are game to try almost everything. Almost. đ
I haven’t bought much at Sephora lately. It’s not that I haven’t been picking up new products–let’s be real–but I’ve been really digging a lot of drugstore makeup or cheaper lines like Essence, Flower Beauty and Wet N Wild. I’ve actually returned quite things at Sephora (which I’ll mention below.)
Additionally–I haven’t had much time to watch YouTubers to even see what’s good out there. So there’s been little product FOMO in my life.
But with the 20% off discount code in my inbox–that was all about to change.
Here’s what I got in three categories: Restock, Give a Shot, Legit Wishlist with recommendations built-in. At the end, I included two bonus sections: Things I Returned and Things I Recommend:
Restock: I am obsessed with Drunk Elephant products. My skin just has never looked better and I’m using primarily this line, especially with my nighttime routine. Since DE products are on the pricey side, getting a discount seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, some of the items have a short shelf-life, so it’s not ideal to let them sit in a drawer. Without being able to see inside the packaging to know how much I have left–I had to just make a guess based on the weight of the bottle to see if it felt full or empty. Using that scientific determination, I decided to get a few items I think I’ll need in the next month or so. (sadly–i had JUST repurchased the Protini cream two weeks ago without the discount and it feels weird to return it and repurchase it on sale. but i still might…)
I credit my skin turnaround to the T.L.C. Framboos⢠Glycolic Resurfacing Night Serum. I love it completely. So I grabbed one of those since mine feels light. I mix it with the A-Passioni⢠Retinol Cream, but I’ve purchased that fairly recently and I will definitely have enough to get me to November’s sale. But if you’re looking for a really gentle, but high performing Retinol cream–this is for you! I’m also completely in the tank for the Lala Retro⢠Whipped Moisturizer and cannot go without it. So I grabbed one. I use the La La and Protini together often–or when I’m lazy–I’ll grab whichever is handiest. But they are very different creams, the La La being heavy and Protini is a serum/moisturizer hybrid. However, with summer coming (it is coming, right?) I decided to try the B-Hydra⢠Intensive Hydration Serum again as my day cream moving into warmer months. I’ve tried it before and didn’t LOVE it, but I’ve been having such success with DE lately, I’m going give it another shot. I’ll just return it if it’s not what I really want.
If you haven’t tried Drunk Elephant before, they have a new trial box out called Get Even⢠Kit with pretty good sized samples of the Night Serum, Retinol, Protini, the C-Firma⢠Day Serum–which I use and like enough for something I do because I feel I should but not really sure I notice a difference because of it–and their sunscreen which I haven’t tried. These are some heavy hitters and you’ll definitely get enough uses to know if it’s for you or not. There’s also still The Littles⢠Set which gives you more products to try but no Retinol. Neither of these sets have the La La cream and it’s seriously my favorite–but these are nice ways to try the line–especially with the discount on top of it. I would also strongly recommend the T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial⢠Mask Mini which is a very impactful mask and a quantity that is realistic and more reasonably priced.
i got to use this photo again–i repurchased during the summer 20% off sale last year!
The other restocks I grabbed were my Milk Makeup Matcha Toner and Watermelon Brightening Serum which are both a couple weeks away from being cashed out. So the sale was good timing. I thought about not getting the Brightening Serum–but I really like it–so I’m keeping it as part of my morning routine.
Finally–and I can’t believe I’m admitting this–I’m obsessed with the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner in Pillow Talk. I have spent a stupid amount of time trying to find the right dupe for it and I just can’t. I love it so much. It’s just perfect for me so I got the full size one. UGH.
me using all the new products including the pillow talk pencil and sugar sugar marc jacobs beauty gloss that is my go-to combo and my new giannis mean mug t-shirt!
Give a shot: I have no problem returning products I don’t like, so I use the sale as an opportunity to try out products I’m curious about–they could be amazing or terrible–and I’m for finding out.
When it comes to high end products, my favorite line recently has been Marc Jacobs Beauty. The Enamored Hydrating Lip Gloss Stick was one of my top finds of 2018 and I now have them in several colors although Sugar Sugar is my favorite. I got a Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner during the November 20% off sale and have already picked up a few more in matte, shimmer and glitter finishes. I love them all and they have replaced UD as my favorite eyeliners. I got a couple of the Le Marc Liquid Lip Crème liquid lipsticks during a Wow sale but the colors I grabbed are sold out online–they were available at the West Towne Sephora when I was there over the weekend. These are very nice liquid lipsticks–not drying at all. And then on a Facebook recommendation during the November 20% off sale–from Rachel I think–I got the Shameless Youthful-Look 24H Foundation SPF 25 in Light R250 and I’ve really liked it a lot! It’s been my go-to non-drugstore foundation option ever since.
Thanks to a Kathleen Lights video on what to grab during the sale, I got the Velvet Primer – Epic Lash Primer and the See-quins Glam Glitter Eyeshadow in COPPERAZI 86. I’m wearing both for the first time today. I don’t have an eyelash primer at the moment and I like this. I’m going to try it a little longer. But I can already tell the shadow is going back. It’s toooooo glittery for me but also doesn’t really pack much more punch than some of my more shimmery copper shadows I already have. So nope.
Legit Wishlist: These are items I’ve had in my “Loves” and have been waiting for an excuse to purchase. I have a friend who is desperately searching for a good pore filler and I really haven’t been much help in finding something I like. The Tatcha, The Silk Canvas Protective Primer Mini always comes up–including in that Kathleen Lights video–so I decided to get it. I’m wearing it today and I think it may be a winner! My skin is looking pretty legit so fingers crossed this might we the one!
I love face oils and tinted moisturizers so I noticed the KOSAS, Tinted Face Oil Foundation in Tone 3 the second it showed on on the “Just Arrived” page. Tati did a review of it that was positive but it’s expensive so it’s just been waiting. I got it and tried today. It’s HELLA watery. So much so it may be a deal breaker. BUT! My skin looks really good. I think I’ll give it a week and see how I feel. I’ll keep you updated on Instagram if it goes or stays.
And then I use the world’s smallest mirror at my desk at work, so I ordered a small but WAY bigger than what I’ve been using mirror which I already love! Sephora Collection, Seeing Double Compact Mirror is perfect!
Things I Returned: Perhaps you need to be talked out of some items or minimizing your order a bit. Here are some things I tried recently but returned.
Sol De Janeiro, Coco Cabana Cream made me understand the people who couldn’t get over the scent of the Brazilian Bum Bum Cream which I love. This scent was an immediate NO! for me. And I also started to feel a little icky about spending $45 on lotion, so I bought a lotion from The Body Shop at Ulta during a discount and it was less than $20 and I really like it.
Milk Makeup, Lip Color in OG Red is messy and slides easily and just no. Way too many fantastic and cheap lipsticks out there–and I’m not hurting for red lipsticks. It went back.
Nudestix, Nude Gloss Balm Founder Set: Ugh. This was a in-line impulse purchase I immediately regretted. These glosses are nudes and are basically all the same color and all too light for me. This wasn’t event close.
Tata Harper, Volumizing Lip & Cheek Tint: Please don’t even look at the price. My lips were super chapped. I was feeling low and made a bad decision. Luckily, Sephora has a generous return policy when I came to my senses.
Things I Recommend: I bought an RMS Beauty Wild With Desire Lipstick sampler during the November sale and really love the formula and would recommend the set. I’m crazy about Temptation in particular and got the full size this winter. It’s AMAZING!
I still really miss my Laneige Sleep Mask, but I got this Farmacy, Honey Butter Beeswax Lip Balm at some point and it’s very nice. And at $10, it’s more than a drugstore lip balm but nicer by a lot with really good ingredients.
So yeah–that’s a lot! But I hope it gives you some ideas before the sale ends on May 6th. What’s on your list? We’ve all got a few days to do a little more damage! What do you recommend? What do should be avoided? Let us know in the comments below!
All my money. Which makes that stupid Tatcha Harper even more embarrassing.
