Category: That’s My Opinion

That's My Opinion

5 Things To Get From Amazon If You’re Having A Mastectomy!

Queen of the Girl Geeks

So as many of you know I am recovering from a unilateral mastectomy with no reconstruction. I found out I had DCIS which is Stage 0 breast cancer in April and I made the choice to have my right breast removed so that I could avoid radiation and further biopsies as I also have intraductal papillomas too. What a ride! I had my surgery was on April 24th and I thought I was pretty well educated going in but there are a few tings I wish I had known in advance.

Here is my Top 5 list of Amazon “must-haves” that I really appreciated while recovering from my mastectomy. FYI – I did add Amazon affiliate links here. Amazon Prime was my best friend as I could get things pretty much the next day.

The Drain Jacket – I really balked at buying this sucker as it was $59.99 and not exactly fashionable. I chose black because I thought it looked cooler and you can’t see the blood on black. The Breast Cancer Recovery Tee with Internal Drain Management Pockets comes with drain pockets which made it possible to sleep without ripping out my dreaded JP drain. I literally wore this jacket for 8 days. My husband would wash and dry it at night while I took a shower. I had a love/hate relationship with this jacket. Yes, those are frozen peas on my chest!

A Pillow Nest with a Wedge! Oh my gosh, that first night I was a huge mess. It’s hard to lay down and impossible to lay on your side after a mastectomy so I bought an Abco Tech Bed Wedge Pillow with Memory Foam Top. The wedge allowed me to lay on my back and be propped up enough that my incision didn’t pull. I then surrounded myself with regular pillows — under my arms, heads and legs for further comfort. I had a nice pillow nest going on for 2 weeks!

A Front Close Bra – Fruit of the Loom is now on my BFF list for these Front Close Racerback Bras. There is no way to get a sports bra on without a front closure after a mastectomy. This bra is so comfortable and easy to put on. It was gave me some compression which I need to feel secure. It’s weird having a tighter bra made me feel so much better. I did not have reconstruction and I think the light pressure helped with swelling. I have since ordered 6 more of these bras as they are so inexpensive.

Dial Soap – It’s been years since I bought a bar of Dial Soap! You all know that I love Bath & Body Works and Lush but having a huge incision inspired me to get some good old fashioned Dial Antibacterial Deodorant Soap. You can’t shave or wear deodorant after a mastectomy and the smell of this soap made me feel really clean and I didn’t stink which is a real moral builder.

The Super Pack of Sterile Pads – After I had my JP Drain (I really hated this thing) removed it was super irritated and the hole leaked for about a week after it was pulled. Hence the Curad Sterile Non-Adherent Pads were a miracle for me. Band-Aids didn’t do the trick and these pads fit under my compression bra to soak up the excessive fluid (yes, I know — yuck).

Needless to say when that blue Amazon truck pulled up each day I was pretty darn excited. I utilized Prime Pantry quite a bit too. Having fruit snacks and Doritos delivered to my door gave me hope of recovery!

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That's My Opinion

My YouTube story continues (I’m back part-time)

Queen of the Girl Geeks

LOL…after only 7 days without a YouTube channel I’m beginning to miss it a bit. I don’t miss the filming, lights, editing, twice daily uploads and my house being a disaster so I decided to start over and scale back. I wasn’t making enough revenue that it matters that I lost my monetization. YouTube revenue is really, really low these days. So I started fresh and it feels good!

I do really, really love Bath & Body Works and Lush, plus Easter is coming up which means that I’m going to be wanting to do some sink demos of those gorgeous bath bombs. The sink demos were actually my favorite part of YouTube! So I’m back in a much more part-time role. I’ll have time to finish my laundry, relax, play with the dog in addition to my day job and not get burned out.

I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words and appreciate all the comments.

So if you’d like to follow along I’m at: https://www.youtube.com/queenofthegirlgeeks

Just at a slower pace!

That's My Opinion

Welcome To My Make-Up Table (here’s how I organize my beauty products)

Queen of the Girl Geeks

I’ve been wanting to do this post for a long time. I love seeing how everyone organizes their make-up and beauty products so I thought I’d share my set-up.

I have a nice table in my bedroom that holds most of my cosmetics. I have a lot of acrylic holders and bins to store things. I also found a nice light-up mirror on Amazon that has a base that holds more stuff. The palettes on the left are the ones I use everyday, I switch these out every few weeks.

The large boxes on the right hold my Ipsy bags and flat samples.

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This month I am using the IT Cosmetics Superhero Luxe Anti-Aging Eyeshadow Palette, the New It Girl Palette, Urban Decay Afterdark Eyeshadow Palette and the Laura Geller Best Of Baked Palette. The rest of my palettes are stored on the right in the polka-dot bin.

I then organize my products by type…brow liners, eye liners, lipstick, etc. I try to watch expiration dates too so that I can toss old products.

As a beauty blogger who gets a lot of beauty boxes I tend to get loaded up on samples so I sort those into bins. One bin is for things I keep (which is way too much) and they other bin is for donating to my friends and family. I share a lot of products with my Aunt, MIL and mom. They are over 60 and have so much fun grabbing up my samples.

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I also have an embarrassingly large collection of Julep nail polish that I sort on a stand by shades. It’s taken me about 2 years to collect this much and most of it was from the Mystery Boxes which was a great deal.

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I keep Bath & Body Works products I use everyday on my dresser. I’m really love the French Collection from last Spring right now.

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I keep my Lush craft boxes on the table behind my computer. You can see these in most of my YouTube videos! PS – Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube Channel, I do lots of beauty unboxings and hauls!

Finally I have a large bin that holds my newest beauty box products on my desk. These are the things that I need to review for this blog!

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So there you have it! I have plans to get even more organized. Please do share your tips with me too.

That's My Opinion

Blogging In The Dark!

Queen of the Girl Geeks

We had an ice storm yesterday and our power has been out for 24+ hours and I realized how dependent I am on the internet. For the first 17 hours  I had NO internet access and to say I was fidgety was an understatement! No less than 8 times I moved my mouse on a dark computer just out of habit!

I’m now blogging in the dark on the last of my laptop battery (my wonderful husband charged it at work) and my backup Wi-Fi battery is on it’s last legs.

So while I don’t have a beauty update today, I do feel fortunate that I’m at least able to blog.

Fingers crossed that tomorrow I’m back up and running! Is anyone else out there in the dark?

That's My Opinion

Spread The Love For Thanksgiving!

Queen of the Girl Geeks

I wanted to do a special post for Thanksgiving so I came up with the idea of sharing a fellow blogger and I thought it would be neat if other bloggers tried it too.

The blogger I want to share is my good friend Robin. She is a blogger, crocheter, writer, a huge fan of David Bowie and an all around great person.

She blogs under the name Imperial Crochet right here on WordPress so do give her follow if you like crochet.

She has an Etsy store too so take a look around if you’re looking for handmade Christmas gifts: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ImperialCrochet

You can also follow her on…

AND she also has a really neat blog called Retro Invites: http://www.retroinvites.com/ if you’re a fan of decades past so do take a gander!

Who is YOUR favorite blogger?

Beauty Reviews, That's My Opinion

Ever wonder what you should do with expired lipstick?

Queen of the Girl Geeks

I was about to throw out 3 tubes of lipstick then decided to do this! Just for fun. One second DIY : )

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Beauty Reviews, That's My Opinion

Thank You — My 1 Year Beauty Blogging Anniversary and a few cool milestones!

Queen of the Girl Geeks

Last year I was looking and feeling quite awful. I had just gotten over pneumonia, my hair was falling out and my skin was a wreck. By chance I caught a Grav3yardgirl video about the Lush Shampoo Bars and decided to try one.

My first 3 Lush Shampoo Bars were Seanik, Honey I Washed My Hair and Brazilliant.

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Over the next few months my hair improved and I started to get interested in make-up again and thought it would be fun to write about it. I’ve blogged every single day since last June and I love it!

So I thought I’d list my 1 year milestones as a fun record…

I’ve met some really fun and amazing people. I love seeing what other beauty bloggers are up to and really appreciate all of your comments, suggestions and ideas.

1,679 Followers on WordPress – I never thought I’d get that high!

I started a YouTube Channel – I never in a million years thought I’d be brave enough to try YouTube but 86 videos later I have 435 subscribers and I LOVE doing it. Feel free to subscribe if you’d like: https://www.youtube.com/c/QueenoftheGirlGeeks

My hair and skin look so much better! I’m no longer losing my hair and my skin looks so much better. It’s not always easy being over 45 but having a good skin care routine helps.

I’ve learned a lot. I know all the beauty buzz words and have expanded my brand knowledge way past Clinique (which I still love) but my new favorites include: Lush, Tarte, It Cosmetics, Too Faced, Realher, Julep, Your Best Friend, Urban Decay and so, so many more.

So I just wanted to give a huge

THANK YOU

To all of you for being here with me in this beauty journey. Here’s to another fun year!

 

 

 

 

 

That's My Opinion

Wear It Like Boy George!

Queen of the Girl Geeks

This is a little deviation from my normal posts but lately I’ve been taking notice of over 40 celebrities and what they’re doing with their make-up.

One of my favorite singers (from the 80’s and now) is Boy George and I finally got around to watching Celebrity Apprentice (yes, I’m really, really late) because I wanted to see Boy in action in the business world (he’s amazing).

As I started watching I was more than pleasantly surprised by how great his make-up looked and being that we’re both over 45 (err…and a little more) it made me smile seeing how he wasn’t afraid to go bold, especially with the purple eyeshadow. He looks amazing!

So lately I’ve been turning up Karma Chameleon and trying to improve my skills with a brush to make my eyes a little more creative and daring.

My new make-up motto. Wear It Like Boy George! Who is YOUR Celebrity Make-Up Muse?

 

That's My Opinion

Soap For Your Yarn? I Had No Idea. Kristin Omdahl also has beauty products!

Queen of the Girl Geeks

I don’t usually “Press” blog posts but my best friend just started a crocheting blog (check her out if you love to crochet at Imperial Crochet) and she just ordered the Be So Sporty yarn from Kristin Omdahl and it came with Yarn Soap! How cool is that? She got a sample packet of Jasmine Wrapture which is a no-rinse delicate soap that you use when hand-washing your finished item. You can read Robin’s blog post here.

Kristin Omdahlh also has a line of organic beauty products including an organic sugar scrub that I want to try.

Source: Kristin Omdahl – KO – Be So Sporty Yarn Review