Wedding Blog: Otherwise Engaged

Hi Everyone! Taking a break from makeup here to tell you about the launch of a new blog... Otherwise Engaged, a blog where I'll track my wedding planning experience. I know I haven't been the best at updating this blog regularly, so no promises as to where Otherwise Engaged will go, but I wanted to have some place to record the experience and voice some opinions. I expect there to be opinion pieces, how-to's, as well as general posts about the latest wedding-related decisions we've been making.

The last wedding I went to left me scarred... No, really. I cut my lip on a wine glass. Will I survive my own?

I know I may be biased, but I expect it to have a different tone than a lot of blogs charting wedding planning. For one, I work in the industry, so my view of things may be a bit different. Secondly, I am really ambivalent about a lot of the wedding industry and I'm not having a super typical OR super off-beat wedding. I'm not having a $60k, 200 guest wedding, I'm not getting married in a rustic-chic-DIY barn, but I am pretty detail oriented and neurotic. There are definitely moments where I feel like I am at war with myself during wedding planning for a number of reasons; the feminist in me is appalled that a dress can be so important, the broke grad student in me is upset that cake costs so much, and I really do take issue with the idea that once you get engaged, it's ok for people to define you by your relationship, and to define your relationship by the dollar value of your engagement ring. I talk to a lot of brides in my line of work, and I know that my ideas, while not radical by my standards, aren't exactly mainstream, either. There have got to be more people who think like me when it comes to weddings and the planning process, and I really do think you amazing ladies might comprised at least a few of them. If you're at all interested, I'd be really flattered if you stopped by and checked it out-- and even more pumped if you decided to follow me over there, too! So, come watch as I spend way too much time analyzing invitations and whether or not to change my last name...

http://otherwiseengagedblog.blogspot.com/

E.L.F. Mineral Infused Face Primer

Hi guys, today I'm going to write just a little bit about my primer du jour, E.L.F.'s Mineral Infused Face Primer. I'm on my third bottle, but I don't know if it's something I'll repurchase again. I like it well enough, and at $6 for .49 ounces, it's pretty economical. That being said, I run through it SO quickly! I usually don't have to repurchase face staples more than a few times a year (for foundation- powder and concealer typically last me even longer!), so I don't like that every six weeks or so I'm coming up dry on primer. Another issue I have with this is that because of the type of packaging, I don't know when I'm out until I only have about three days left of use! However, the packaging is really nice for the price; it's a pretty solid feeling pump bottle, and one pump is the right amount of product to cover my face; I always hate having to do half-pumps or having excess product that ends up being wasted.

The primer itself is a smooth, clear gel that feels comparable to Smashbox's primer, but perhaps a bit "moister". It's definitely not a lotion-type primer, though; it has that velvety silicone feel that people tend to either love or hate. I don't find it emphasizes dry patches on me, nor does it pill on my face like I have seen Smashbox's primer do. It is more effective than a few higher-end primers I have tried, and keeps my makeup looking intact for my entire work day. That being said, I don't see it improve application of my foundation quite as much as, say Make Up For Ever's primer does. But it also isn't priced like MUFE's face primer.

I may try more drugstore-level primers before I decide to stick with E.L.F. indefinitely, but it's a really decent primer for a really decent price, and it plays nice with the other make up products I've used on top of it. A primer would have to be really exceptional for me to want to spend the money on a high end primer after finding such an adequate product for $12/ounce, less than half of what I had been spending on primer.

What primer are you guys using right now? Do you love it?