May 14, 2020

These Are All The Things I Love at the Moment

What’s the story morning glory? How’s your day treating you? Is it Monday? Or is it Thursday? I’ve taken to calling everyday “DAY”. There is no Monday, there is no Tuesday, it’s just Day. But today I probably should put a little effort in as it’s Thursday and on Thursday we eat Tacos. Thank god there’s two days with T in them am I right? I am attempting to not burn the house today as I prepare Carne Asada and lime rice because I miss Chipotle like Oliver misses Elio. It’s that “my heart hurts I miss you so bad” feeling. Wish me luck because last week I tried making the rice and well, I had to throw out the pot after because that was one sticky ass mess. You know I can’t cook worth a damn. I’m going to try to do this it again tonight because I’ve looked up recipes and I really feel confident I can do it without killing myself or any more pots. Wish me luck.

I thought I’d share my current loves with you beauty and otherwise. Sound good? Feel free to jump in with your list this week!

I currently love…….

Zoflora
I stock pile it like the Zoflora factory is going to burn to the ground. I got lucky because my last trip to London I stocked up on a ton of the smaller bottles and I shipped them back home. In a world where Lysol no longer exists I am now forever in love with my little stash of Zoflora. I feel really grown up using it too and quite like Mrs Hinch! I’m WINNING the disinfect game over here people.

Dr. Denese Firming Facial Microdermabrasion Cream
I dunno what it is maybe it’s because I’ve been stuck up in this house for so long but my dry skin is extra dry lately. I’ve always loved it but I am REALLY loving and appreciating Dr. Denese Firming Facial Microdermabrasion Cream at the moment. It’s really great at exfoliating all the dry bits and reveals super smooth baby skin! Thank you for making me look 20 again Dr Denese.

Mrs Meyer’s Mint Collection
Two cleaning products in one post? Someone hand me my “I’m an Adult Now” certificate! I’m so glad that the Mrs Meyers brought back the Mint scent for Spring. I’m in love with the room spray and yeah, I may or may not like the counter spray and dish soap too. Yup, the signs are all there! I’m an adult now. When you start obsessing over cleaning supplies you’re doing adulting right.

Victoria’s Secret Bare Vanilla
Apparently I am obsessed with smelling like I did in the 8th grade. I see you, I know you were that girl (or guy) wearing Victoria’s Secret Body Mists (or Bath and Body Works Freesia) in Junior High School. I remember in the 7th grade my friend Christina got Angel Perfume for Christmas. This was like a big deal because I was so a late bloomer and I wasn’t really thinking fragrance at that age quite yet. I was still a bit of a bookworm. I just newly rediscovered the Bare Vanilla Body Mist from Victoria’s Secret and people, it feels like 8th grade all over again. It’s such a great vanilla scent and reminds me of vanilla cake! I might not be going out right now but I smell yummy!

Itazura na Kiss
I told myself I WOULD not re-watch It Started with a Kiss during this quarantine! Why? Because I’ve seen it so many times my eyes are about to bleed. Joe Cheng swoon! My promise to myself did not include re-reading it though! I hit my manga shelf and pulled out the complete set of Itazura na Kiss to re-read because I have a type and it’s obviously indifferent guys. I’m talking to you Mr Darcy and you too, Naoki Irie.

TikTok
I am too old for Tiktok. But it has turned into the biggest waste of my time during isolation! I am constantly amazed, amused, and on occasion shocked by the content people put up. When Instagram started becoming a popular social media pick for the beauty and makeup world I begrudgingly signed up for it. It’s not really my favorite place in the world. It can be a negative experience at times not to mention I find the whole let’s post a selfie every five minutes really tiring. I don’t like to take photos of myself and I really don’t like posting them on Insta. We get enough of my mugging on Musings of a Muse no need to do more of it on another site. It’s still a platform that I resent a little bit because it feels like beauty lovers migrated away from blogs to get their info about the latest makeup releases, swatches, etc…from it. It makes me a bit sad. Oddly, enough I sort of embraced Tiktok wholeheartedly unlike Instagram. It’s just pure dumb fun. I’ve made a slew of new friends and arranged to meet up with two of them (after all this is over) that I met over our mutual crush on a fellow Tiktoker. It’s weird how new friends and people enter your life isn’t it?

Heretic Dirty Lemon Eau de Parfum
Heretic recently popped up at Sephora and it reminded me how much I love their Dirty Lemon Fragrance. I think Heretic is convinced that Dirty Lemon is as smooth and naughty as John Wozniak’s crooning “I smell sex and candy”. Sadly, it isn’t. There’s no sex to be had here. There is candy though…! Lemon candy to be exact. Dirty Lemon is a zesty, tart, and slightly cheeky fragrance that I’m currently loving. It brightens up my dull isolated day to wear it.

Us, Our Community
I love us! We make such a great family and community here on Musings of a Muse. I know my comments are crazy and I sometimes take a LONGGGG time to reply to them but I read EVERY single one of them and do my best to get to them all! Thank you for keeping me sane during an insane time. Thank you for making this your home for a few minutes or hours a day!

So, that’s what I’m currently loving.

How about you?

Make your list, post it, discuss!

Looking forward to reading your replies.

43 Comments

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • MDW

    Anything pink grapefruit. African architecture. Speaking of, there are some online websites and software to design a home. So. Much. Fun!

    • Isabella Muse

      You have the best interest list there ;D Speaking of software to design a home it’s called the Sims, go fourth and play! LOL! 😀

  • Jules

    I’m also obsessed with cleaning products! Just discovered Seventh Generation disinfecting cleaner, and I’m in love! It uses a thyme derivative to disinfect, so it smells great and isn’t loaded up with possibly harmful chemicals. I also have become obsessed w fresh, “clean”� scents after 15 years of gourmands. I think it’s psychological, but I crave herbal and aquatic notes like it’s the early aughts. Anybody seen my old bottle of Oxygene?

    And my dad taught me how to cook rice when I was a kid! Pour about a tablespoon of olive or canola oil in the pot, heat it on high, add the rice and quickly stir it around to slightly toast it. Then add double the amount of water as whatever amount of rice you used (1 cup rice means 2 cups water), add any salt or herbs, cover and bring to a rapid boil, then turn the stove down to low, and cook for 20 minutes, and don’t uncover at all. After 20 min, turn off the burner and let it sit covered for another 5 minutes, then fluff w a fork. Voila!

    • Isabella Muse

      Oh oh! I was going to try that! But I wasn’t sure how well it disinfected! I saw it at Target too which surprised me as I was surprised everyone didn’t grab it up! I wish I can say the same! It could be a seasonal thing 😀 It’s Spring and herbal and aquatic scents just feel right for the warm weather! Oh my god Oxygene! ;-D I had to face time my mother to figure this one out lol! She explained that exact method but sadly, I still managed to burn it lol!

  • Christina

    Muse, one day we’ll hang out in person! LOL! Prior to all this, I was planning on going to New York this spring to visit my brother in law. Sigh, I’ll just be content with online chats for now.

    Skincare, I’ve really been loving my Krave Beauty Great Barrier Relief serum/lotion. I already use a heavier moisturizer (Skinceuticals Triple Lipid), but adding this prior really helps soothe my dry skin and evens it out better than all my other serums. If you use retin-a, it helps significantly.

    I also love my Zipp beauty device. I bought it for my mom, but she’s too lazy and pretty low maintenance to use it, so I use it! I don’t have wrinkles or sagging skin yet, but it just gives the face an overall glow and lift. Expensive, but so far, worth it!

    Manga, I just finished reading Way of the Househusband. It’s so stupid, I don’t know why I read it, but I read it and love it! I recommend for just good ol’ silliness fun that actually has useful life lessons.

    Oh, I hardly ever eat bread, but oh my gosh, I’ve fallen in love with Ozery Morning Rounds. If you can find them at your grocery stores, they’re so good! I might try to make my own, even though I can’t bake for the life of me.

    • Isabella Muse

      IT’s ON MY DAMN BUCKET LIST! Every single time I get to the West Coast It’s me “I have to text Christina!” Every single time we end up missing each other. NO MORE! After Corona, we are hugging, eating lots of foods, and shopping for makeup! No excuses! 😀 Come for the Summer (hopefully this will be gone by that point). I just used it yesterday and who came to my mind as soon as I started slathering Triple Lipid on my face? YOU! ;-D I do not but I was thinking of injecting it into my routine! I’ve been using all my Mount Lai rollers are a lot more lately! When you have bleeding time all the rollers come out to play on your face lol ;-D I was considering Way of the Househusband as it was recommended on a reddit group but I ended up skipping out on it. If you like it I probably will too! I tend to lean towards the weird supernatural ones or the mushy romantic ones. Those are like little crumpets it right? I’ve seen them somewhere, maybe whole foods? Mmm bread. Carbs. May the food gods bless you for being so good to stay away from it!

      • Christina

        No, no, they’re not like crumpets at all! They’re more like a cross between bread and a flatbread, but they’re filled with fruits and/or nuts like apple cinnamon or muesli. They’re just so good to snack on and grab on the run for breakfast, especially when you toast them.

        Yes, I love my rollers, too! They’re so good for depuffing and for any jaw tightness. I rotate between my rollers, my microcurrent device, my LED device, and pro peels and microneedling. Need to try them all!!

        Way of Househusband is so not sappy. LOL! It’s a pretty easy and short read, though, because it’s more like little snippets in the guy’s life. Good fun!

        And finally, isn’t New York crazy hot and humid in the summer? LOL! I’ve only ever been in April, but my husband has nightmare stories of his tripe in July.

        • Christina

          Wait, what’s a crumpet? LOL! Is that an English Muffin?

        • Isabella Muse

          They sound yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually did a big order for new rollers EEP! like I need more ;-D But I rotate too! Is it in English anywhere online as the complete series isn’t available in the US yet! It is. July and August can be pretty hot/humid! I suspect June will be nice but it’s a bit too early for travel yet imho! Still scary for that!

          • Christina

            Maybe the fall or winter! Winter in New York looks kind of magical, if it’s like what we see on TV.

            Here’s the live action commercial that made me read the manga:
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktztBx-8onk
            And for the manga, it’s still ongoing, I believe, but you can read it on Kissmanga and Mangadex.org. (shhh!)

  • Lisa I

    On a whim I put Yes to Coconuts hand cream in my amazon cart and I love it. Put it on my hands and feet every nite. I’ve developed adult asthma and scents trigger me now. I know it was real when I had to box up all of my beautiful perfume bottles and put in cool storage. Heartbreaking. But I gotta breathe, right?! Also loving TJ pink grapefruit hand soap and realized Kiehls creme de elegance repairateur is just the best for my aging, sensitive skin. Finding fragrance free products or ones I can tolerate is my new normal.

    • Isabella Muse

      last year, I was really ill with a bad cough that didn’t want to leave and it really triggered issues with fragrance for me too! Thankfully I’m good now but man, tat was hard! I’m glad you found something you can use that doesn’t bother your asthma! and I’m sorry! Fragrance is life for me and when I couldn’t use my many, many different scents it just broke my heart! Hopefully at some point you’ll be able to use them again!

  • Julie

    I love Asian soap operas! I’ll have to check out the one you named. Is it anime or a soap?I started with Strong Girl Bong Soon a couple of years ago, though I haven’t seen any great ones recently. I keep starting them on Netflix but then lose interest after a few episodes.

    • Isabella Muse

      I’m a KDrama lover too! Well, an addict actually lol! 🙂 Welcome to the club! There’s a manga, an anime, and several live action versions. My favorite is It Started with a Kiss starting Joe Cheng but there’s also two other versions on Netflix one is called Miss In Kiss (not really a fan of this one), and Mischievous Kiss (both season 1 and season 2 are on netflix) which starts my husband Yuki Furukawa haha! There’s a Japanese version well and a movie but honestly I always recommend it Started with a kiss and they kissed again! It’s Taiwanese and one of my fav versions!

      • Aya

        Umm you can’t be married to Yuki Furukawa because that’s MY husband!

        • Isabella Muse

          LOL! We can share! Can you believe he’s 32!? Talk about aging beautifully!

    • Christina

      Ooh, if you like Asian dramas, definitely watch Crash Landing on You. It’s Korean and available on Netflix. It’s funny and romantic. There are a lot of really fun Kdramas out on Netflix right now, and if you want to venture into Chinese ones, Skate into Love is so good! You can find that out YouTube and Viki.

      • Julie

        I watched Miss in Kiss. It was cute. I started Crash Land on You but lost interest when I was waiting for new episodes to start. There’s something called The King which just popped up, and the trailer looks pretty good. It sounds weird, but when I’m tired from work reading subtitles can be even more tiring.

  • Jane

    Greenleaf – it’s amazing and it’s on Netflix. Hardanger Lefse – I’m trying not to make it to much because it’s easy and tastes like god’s love. Just a dot of Estée Lauder Pavilion and Parfum Nicolai Cap Neroli are (separately) giving me the swoons. Louis Sherry candy.

    And my garden – the peonies are budding, the lilacs are blooming, I’m about to transplant out my first straw bale garden veggies, and soon I’ll get to put in the dahlia tubers.

    Oh and Method’s spearmint toilet cleaner is AMAZING.

    • Isabella Muse

      I added that to my watch list! Looks good! Haha you’re an official viking now! I’m a Naan girl myself. Is it true Hardanger Lefse is like apocalypse food? If so you’re prepared ;-D I planted strawberries last week but the weather has been really odd and my garden is sort of wilting! Even the daffodils are dropping off 🙁 The evenings are unusually cold for May! 🙁 I KNOW! right!? LOL! OOOO toilet cleaner ;-D the excitement! LOL but I totally agree it is!

      • Isabella Muse

        oh ps the method degreaser is freaking amazing on stoves!

  • Amy

    I wanted to buy Dirty Fig, but goofed around too long and missed out (Sephora sale). Have you ever smelled it?

    • Isabella Muse

      I actually never smelled Dirty Fig! I do have dirty mango which I like! Strangely enough Fig never appealed to me and you mentioned it and now I’m like oooo Geranium!

  • Hollie

    Pro tip: for nonsticky rice, toast it first in a bit of olive oil before adding the water! That was life altering for me.

    Also obsessed with Mrs. Meyer’s seasonal scents! Currently on Rose with an eye to move toward Grass or Honeysuckle toward the end of the month lol

    • Isabella Muse

      I facedtimed my mom and she told me to do that too but still managed to screw it up! But I still managed to freak it up! Me too! I love when the Falls stuff releases!

  • Lara / The Glossarie.

    US = the best! Thank you for always being a bright spot in the beauty interwebs xx

    • Isabella Muse

      YES! We are the best aren’t we? Together we make a great family! Aw thank you <3!

  • Maxine

    I love this post and the community. Thank you Muse!

    Current Loves:
    -Candles in really lovely glass jars
    -Eating loads of cantaloupe
    -Playing the ukulele
    -Learning to perfect my blush & bronzer application

    • Isabella Muse

      awww I love us too! We are a great community here 🙂 <3!

  • Tammie

    New tiktok user as well! I started following Primal Darkness because of you!

  • Carol

    I need that Dirty Lemon. Just for the name alone.
    I’m loving yoga pants. If I have to stay home all day, may as well be comfortable.

  • Rita Romney

    I love Zoflora as well. I bought mine off of Amazon, but didn’t get a huge selection of scents to choose from. I learned about Zoflora from British You Tube Beauty gurus.

    “Nicki Positano” (her channel name) is an English woman, who lives in Positano, Italy. I am eating up all of her videos. They are delightful.

    Also, The Chateau Diaries are interesting to watch. I am keen on all these things right now.

    • Isabella Muse

      Amazon is a good place to snag it but it’s really overpriced 🙁 Does she do beauty or something else? The Chateau Diaries is amazing! I don’t really love watching youTube vids tbh but that’s a fav of mine ;-D

  • Kay

    I’m with you on Instagram, and also YouTube for that matter! I’ve been a regular visitor to your blog since I started university in 2009, your opinion counts for a lot with me and I love the detail you go into for makeup reviews. Insta or videos don’t do it for me at all, I still need a blog for my info!

    As for stuff I love at the moment! REN Clearcalm Clay Cleanser – absolute game changer for me. Even on makeup free days when my the only products on my face were moisturiser and SPF (which let’s face it is nearly every day atm!) I would be oily by 10 a.m. – no more!

    Method wood floor cleaner – smells amazing and makes me want to clean my floors 10x more frequently than ever before.

    Escada Flor del Sol – I actually don’t love it as much as Miami Blossom but I still love it a lot and wear it every day because it makes me feel like I’m on the beach holiday my husband and I were finally going to go on this year – doh!

    Finall, BH Cosmetics Chocolate Orange Truffle blush palette – light peach shades which are perfect for spring/summer, super flattering and really nicely pigmented – and reasonably priced! Amazing cute packaging too which makes me want to buy them all.

    Oof sorry for the big comment! Stay safe and happy Muse!

    • Isabella Muse

      oh my god thank you Kay this means the WORLD to me! I feel like blogs are just obsolete sometimes! I love them personally but nowadays a lot of people just want insta-info! And they don’t want to spend time reading a full post! YES on method wood cleaner! They make a spray version for wood furtinute too! Same scent ;-D I’m loving Flor del Sol too! Great Summer scent! I need to try those truffle blush palettes they are so cute! Not at all! loved reading it! Be safe my dear!

      • Kay

        You are so welcome, your blog is open pretty much all the time on my devices! I appreciate all the time you put in on top of your regular job to bring us your reviews and all the latest news. I would never have discovered some of my favourite beauty and fragrance products without you! I sometimes read back to reviews of products I bought back in the day for the good time nostalgia factor too.

        Oh man, that furniture cleaner is on my shopping list! My wood furniture will be so clean it won’t know what’s going on I already have the brighter pink blush palette in my Beauty Bay basket for my next haul, if they did a full collection with the same truffle/sweet theme I would be all over it!

        ❤️

  • Emily

    Ohh I loved reading this, I think it is really refreshing to hear what everyone’s been loving 🙂 My skin has also been really dry whilst I’ve been stuck in the house, and nothing seems to be helping! I’ll defo have to look into that Dr Denese cream. Thanks for sharing that little gem!

    I’m personally loving a lot of skincare at the minute. Taking the time to look after your skin whilst you’ve got a bit of extra self-love time is just perfect! I’m obsessed with all things Pixi, with their glow tonic being a favourite! I’m also loving the Glossier Moon mask too – it is perfect for dry skin! The mask sinks into the face during the 20 minutes that you’re wearing it and the skin feels gorgeous afterwards. Definitely one to try if your skin is dry like mine:)