u/TheOrderOfWhiteLotus

I own a set of still life packing cubes, both large and regular from a few years ago.

But I’ve been eying up the Crescent. I have a toddler and I work from home so I don’t need fancy…. Y’all I bought so much. I bought my first order the day before the sale. So I reordered some other pieces. I may return the wild fig depending on the color IRL. THEN I decided I needed a SCCO since I’m flying in 2 weeks. I didn’t like the current colors so I grabbed the steel blue on Mercari. And some still life go pouches.

How did I do?

Had my first successful blind buy! Saw a creator posting about this constantly and she kept saying it was “soft”. I’ve been burned by so many beast mode middle eastern perfumes that I just assumed all are… which is dumb in retrospect.

Anyways, it’s a fantastic lemon dessert gourmand. Like Kayali’s Capri in a Bottle could only dream of.. but yet it doesn’t SCREAM. It’s just a gentle pastry cloud around you.

Any other softer middle eastern recs? I can’t do much projection. I like all of Rosie Jane and Dedcool. Big fan of Glossier You and Fleur, Kilian Princess, Commodity Milk Orchid and Nearly Noon by Define Me for reference.

Thanks!

(If it isn’t clear, this is Gigglepuff by Hekayat Attar)

I am extremely pale (Dior 00N). I often use contours as bronzers. My only true contour is the Haus Labs in profile.

Liquids:
- Rare Beauty Contour in Gentle
- Covergirl Sun &Sculpt Bronzing serum in very light

Creams:
- Patrick Ta in She’s Statuesque
- Makeup Mario Skin Enhancer in Light Medium (trust me)
- Westman Atelier Contour in Au Lait

Powders:
- Patrick Ta in She’s Statuesque
- Givency Prisme Libre powder in 001
- Hourglass in Diffused Bronze Light

I just got the Patrick Ta and I’ve been enjoying it so far. It’s a subtle look. I don’t see it mentioned here much.

Unpictured, but also excellent formulas: Saie Dew Bronze in Fair, Sephora powder bronzer in 00, and Dior stick contour in 01.

Any one else like these? Swatches are posted in the comments!

Not pictured: Ellis Brooklyn Vanilla Rice because it smelled like vanilla baby powder in a cloying bad way. I returned it within a day.

Lil Softie by Lore: I reviewed this one in more depth but it’s absolutely addicting. Day 1 is very citrusy but it eventually mellows into the smell of cereal milk after you ate all the fruit loops out of it. So light and soft. Daily wear. 4-6 hour longevity

Isla Sirena by Ellis Brooklyn: the best summer perfume EB has ever done. It’s well above Guava Granita imo. It’s the smell of a salty margarita without the alcohol smell. Smells like a cruise ship in the Bahamas. I don’t like regular EB but their summer scents are divine. 6-8 hour longevity

True Love’s Cake by Skylar: what the fuck is this sorcery? Smells like a battenburg cake from the UK (iykyk). Like almond cake. I am a slut for almond scents and this rocketed up to #1 for me on first spritz. It’s not overly cloying and heavy though. Like a light cakey almond. I barely get any pistachio but I like that note too. 6 hour longevity for me. It gives similar vibes to Lalawoo by Define me.

We added Angels last to our community tank. We just added them yesterday, but we’ve noticed the rummy nose tetra have been nipping their fins and bullying them so bad they’re huddled in this tiny corner of our 75 gallon. Should we remove the tetra? Any advice?

We added an additional 6 sterbai corydora to our previous batch of 6 in our 75 gal tank. It's been like a non stop frat party ever since. They roam the tank in a massive biker gang and bounce all over my angels. It's hilarious.

I have an existing male Koi Angelfish in a 29 tall and we upgraded his tank (and his Cory, rummy nose and dwarf rainbow fish friends) to a 75 gallon. I want to add more angels because I absolutely love his personality but I’m not sure how many. My LFS recommended 2 more males (they have some sexed). Included is a pic of the new tank. Any thoughts?

It came in the mail this morning!

I’m a little disappointed because I don’t get any cereal notes or even lactonic, but I do still really enjoy it. I get the bergamot. Smells like crisp fresh citrus. And then I get the cashmeran and pink pepper. It’s like a warm citrus if that’s possible. I assumed the bergamot would fade but it’s still clinging on hours later. The pink pepper is fading but the cashmeran is just getting warmer. It’s lovely and soft. I think it will have a 6 hour longevity based on other similar scents.

It’s like if Glossier You made a citrus version. As a big fan of the OG You and You Fleur, I like this. But it’s also a little cozier than You. The bergamot also makes me think of Nest Indigo or Father Figure by Phlur. It’s definitely an easy daily reach kind of perfume. Definitely a skin scent but it has more body than like, Dedcool. I think it’s competitively priced with what I compared it with too.

I also like the bumpy bottle, it’s easy for me to grip and the lid is very disability friendly with its big metal top.

Overall 9/10, I’ll definitely wear it in my daily rotation.

We added some, need to add more. We have Cory’s and we want lots of sand for them to explore so we like the bare foreground. We don’t want it to look heavily planted though.

So far we added hygrophilia stricta in 2 places. I think we like that placement for them. And we added 2 Amazon swords next to the Xwing and behind the driftwood at the back (it’s too short to see right now). Plus the red lotus at the front so it will hopefully cup over the xwing.

For the rest, kind of stumped. Maybe some java fern stuck to rocks? Also debating just a crap ton of little Anubias nana since they don’t grow too big.

We’re finishing up a tank build, and we do plan to add a few more Ferns and Anubias. I’m just liking the more austere look with less greenery. I don’t want to make my life harder though. Any thoughts?

We currently have:
- Hygrophilia Stricta (5)
- Red Lotus (1)
- Amazon Swords (2)

Pale girl approved and budget friendly. For reference I am 35+, 00N in Dior, Alabaster in Estée Lauder, 110C in Refy, 10c in TirTir, etc. very desaturated.

It’s an obvious dupe of the Makeup by Mario but I like it better. The MbM is kind of glimmery. I can’t directly compare because I don’t own the MbM, I’ve only swatched it.

This is super sheer. The bottom dot is how it appears when I use the doe foot. And above is with one dot swiped ONCE. If you blend it even more it can absolutely blend away into nothing.

If you’re desaturated like me this is a godsend as everything is far too pigmented. I use this as a bronzer in the liquid/cream step of my makeup.

Y’all, it’s hotter than Satan’s ballsack outside and I’ve been working through my back stash of tubing mascara to find one that can hold up to the humidity.

This is the ONLY ONE that doesn’t smear on my oily eyelids or crumble away under my eyes. I have intensely oily eyelids. And I am SWEATING. I’ve got sunscreen dripping down my face. My toddler makes me stay outside with him in 90% humidity and 90 degrees.

I loved this last summer and stupidly decided to try other brands and had none once the humidity hit again. I tried my Urban Decay’s Tube Job. It smeared on my eyelids and made me look like my great aunt Edna. Too Faced Ribbon Lash? Smeared AND crumbled under my eyes. Maybelline Sky Tubes? Did nothing and smeared. Ilia? Is it on? It smeared. Tartelette XL? No volume and it smeared.

Just get this if you live in hell right now. I broke down and bought more. Last summer, I stood under a waterfall in the Virgin Islands and this withstood it. It’s so good.

I love watching these goobers do their synchronized swimming routine.

These are Sterbai. Way way way more active than the false Juliis I’ve had in the past.

My Albus. Love his blue eyes.