January/February Purchase Reviews

I hope everyone’s year has been going well so far! I can’t believe we’re already nearing the end of February. This year Brandon and I have been reading a lot, as you’ll probably see by the number of books in this post. I try to do my best to use my library app Libby, but there were a handful that I couldn’t find and had to purchase myself. I’ve also been trying to find the makeup products that I’ll use for my wedding.

Let’s jump right into it!

Books

Know Yourself Know Your Money by Rachel Cruze – Liked it

This book was ok, and I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads. I think this book would be most interesting to someone who has identified a problem area they want to improve on with their money goals or are desperate to reel themselves in. I really like Rachel’s content (she’s Dave Ramsey’s daughter if you weren’t aware), so I was mainly just looking to read her books.

Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze – Loved it, would recommend

I really liked this book, and I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads. This book talks a lot about contentment and knowing your intentions with your money and your purchases. It’s easy to look at Rachel and think she can buy whatever she wants, but she talked about one experience that really reminded me that people with good money habits have to make sacrifices. Rachel and her husband had a goal to max out their retirement savings one year, so any extra income they made needed to go towards that. When she got a nice sized commission check, she was so excited to put that money towards the nursery they were setting up for their baby. Her husband had to remind her that they set a financial goal and unfortunately that meant there would be no Pottery Barn Kids shopping spree.

Another thing constantly talked about in the book is how young adults nowadays enter adulthood thinking they should be able to afford the same vacations, houses, and opportunities as their parents or someone who has been in the workforce for decades. She talked about how when her and her husband Winston bought their first house, their friends (who were older and more established) came over for dinner. Rachel felt pressure to instead suggest a restaurant (even though they’d already used up all their restaurant budget) because they didn’t yet have the finances to have furnished their house. The pressure to keep up with the Joneses (both in real life and through social media) is intense! But the overall theme in most financial books we’ve been reading is that the Joneses may be broke. Not everything you see is what it is, so you need to make sure you’re saving, spending, giving, and being for the right reasons!

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley – Liked it

This book was dry to me, but pretty insightful. It went over the various qualities that the majority of America’s wealthy share and provides the survey results to back it up. The top mentions are living below your means, not trying to keep up with the Joneses, and staying out of debt. It had a lot of good information, but I feel like it wasn’t as narrative as I tend to prefer (which is personal taste, nothing bad about this book). Overall it was a good book, and I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan – It was ok

I wasn’t a big fan of this book. Especially reading it after The Millionaire Next Door, it felt like a lot of repetition in concepts, which is good because it means there is consistency in what helps you build wealth. However I felt like there was a lot of repetition within the book itself. Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?

Smart Money Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze – Loved it, would recommend

This book was a great read. There’s so much to say about it, that it’s hard to say anything at all! If you have kids or want to mentor money smart kids, read this book. We plan on putting some of the practices into motion soon as it was very impactful.

Beauty

Hair detangler – Liked it

My hair was really suffering after getting a blonde balayage and using a special shampoo from the dermatologist. This stuff smells great and really helps with detangling. I wouldn’t say it was life changing, but I’ve come to a point in my life where something can do it’s job and doesn’t have to change my life too! I’m tired of wasting money trying to find the holy grail product for every hair/beauty category!

Hair toning mask – It’s ok

I bought this purple hair mask at the same time as the detangler in hopes that it would help with my hair’s dryness. It does a pretty good job at toning, but I wasn’t necessarily blown away with the quality. I think when this runs out, I would just get another purple shampoo. Having a hair toner as a hair mask is kind of inconvenient for me personally.

Sephora lip stain in Daydreaming – it was ok

I bought this lip stain in hopes of it being my wedding lip look. My friend and I stood in Sephora holding up different colors to see what they would look like (we didn’t know how to test lip products) and this is the one we landed on. The formula was good, but I can’t speak to the lasting power because I wiped it off shortly after applying due to it being too dark. I’m not sure when I’ll wear this because it’s definitely not a casual color for my lifestyle!

Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk – Liked it

This was my second attempt at finding a wedding lip look. The color is good, I love how natural it is, and it glides well. When I bought it, I wore it immediately with a lip balm on top. Brandon said it could definitely be a wedding day look, so I was feeling pretty good about it! Especially since it looked natural enough to wear everyday. However, I developed a cold sore within a couple hours, but my immune system may have been weakened by my cold. I’m going to give it another fair shot when my cold sore is healed, so fingers crossed I don’t have another reaction! If it doesn’t bother me next time, I think I would upgrade this product to an ‘I love it’ rating.

Urban Decay Mini Allnighter Setting Spray – it was ok

This is another product I bought specifically for my upcoming wedding. I don’t typically use a setting spray, but I wanted to make sure I tried one for my wedding. BTW – I’m doing my own makeup and going for an ‘elevated’ (that word is so overused) version of my everyday makeup. I mainly just want to look put together! As far as the review of this product, I’ve only used it once. So far, it’s just ok. I feel like the morphe setting spray had more of a mist than this one.

Physician’s Formula Blush in Butter Believe It – waste of money

I wanted to try out a lighter blush for my wedding that wasn’t so bright. I have the butter bronzer from Physician’s Formula, but this butter blush is just trash. There’s almost no color payoff, and I wish I would’ve gone with a blush I could test out/swatch. I feel like I should just throw this away. Don’t waste your money on it!

Smashbox Mini Original Photo Finish Primer – it was ok

I wish I liked this!! I mainly bought it because Rachel Cruze listed it in her life changing products video. It was honestly just ok. I felt like it didn’t apply that well and didn’t really sit well with my BareMinerals powder. I also got a free mini primer from Smashbox because of a promotion they were running, so maybe that is better. However, I feel like I would just go with a specific BareMinerals primer in the future.

BeautyCounter Counter Control Regimen – Love it

This regimen was expensive, but for me it was worth it. I doubt my skin will ever be as clear as someone with good skin genetics, but for me this keeps my skin a bit clearer than it is on Curology (despite indulging here and there in my acne trigger – peanut butter), and also keeps my skin hydrated. I mainly wanted to switch to prepare for not being able to use tretinoin (my Curology active) in the future when I want to get pregnant. This regimen is pregnancy safe since its main acne ingredient is salicylic acid and it’s not above the recommended amount. I liked these products so well that I’ve been itching to try other BeautyCounter products, but they’re very expensive.

If you want to borrow any of the books mentioned in this post, let me know! I’d be happy to loan them out.

Thanks for reading!

Davien