Oo this is fun! I’ll have to check out the elf recommendation. I need something “cheap” for my purse/whatever days

I was a 00’s super thin eyebrow and successfully spent most of college growing them back out.

Foundation: I love love love Nars natural radiant. Very light although full coverage

Concealer: I’ll use nars but lately the maybelline instant rewind erasure.. also Clinique makes a great liquid concealer.

Bronzer/contour: smashbox contour kit

Blush and highlighter: nars hot sand/orgasm.

Eyebrows: I’ve used benefit stuff in the past, but honestly the PiXI brand at target has a great gel/liner combo.

Mascara: also used to use the orange tube from cover girl, but it ruined my contacts. So now I use maybelline lash sensation. The dior stuff is great but just not worth it.

Eyeliner: I have a wAterproof nars pencil, but typically use smashbox in Aubergine

Eyeshadow:love the tarte palettes too! Nars has some good ones as well

Oooh, has SIL decided yet? Or is she too busy crying and complaining to make a decision. I don’t think she’d get married locally — Disney or bust — but no feelings about whether she’d deal with the restrictions or push the wedding out another year or longer.

I went to a pretty informal virtual baby shower over the weekend. It was nice to “see” people but man am I over virtual hangouts. I don’t think I can do as many virtual hangouts as I did last year even though my winter blues are kicking in hard.

So out of curiosity, to those who moved in together pre-marriage but didn’t combine finances, how did you handle bills? Right now we’re saving receipts and settling up at the end of every month, but feels like there’s gotta be an easier, more efficient way. We’ve been talking about opening a joint checking account where we both deposit an agreed upon amounts of money once or maybe twice/month and then we can use the card to pay for the things we split equally, like groceries, but we haven’t done that yet. Even if we get married, I don’t know that we’d fully combine finances… I could see us having yours, mine, and ours accounts still. But trying to think if there’s anything I’m overlooking that would make a joint account too risky pre-marriage.

We moved in together post-engagement. We still don’t have a joint anything. I’m probably not a good example because we’re not an “evens stevens” kind of couple. I do give him a set amount every month. Some goes towards bills/mortgage. A good portion of it goes towards our kitchen/fireplace remodel, which we’re budgeting $80k.

So, besides what I send monthly, he pays for most of our vacations and dinners out. I pay for all of our groceries and our household items like cleaning supplies, soap, etc. After I buy that stuff, whatever I have leftover is what I have for the month to spend or save. For instance, I sent more $ to the local food bank yesterday.

He manages our finances. His parent’s finances. And his uncle’s finances. He’s good with money. I was not. I let him do his thing and we check in every couple of months to see if I need to add more to what I send monthly or change something up. Oh, he also makes, well it isn’t double, but quite a bit more than me.

It works for us.

I will say, because we’re not traveling or going out at all right now, we’ve been able to save quite this last year.

EDT: Oh, we also never fight about money.

We moved in well before engagement, the house and bills were in my husband’s name as he’d already been living there so we’ve kept it that way because it’s easier to transfer than set up a new account. With that in mind I give him a set amount each month to cover rent and recurring set expenses like insurance and car leasing then we split bills like electricity when they come in. It’s set up as an automatic deduction so I don’t have to think about it. We have always played pretty fast and loose with things like groceries though, we just kind of work on a ‘you got it last time I’ll get it this time’ or ‘I’m a bit short today can you get it?’ rather than spend ages dickering over who owes for what. We’ve never had a joint account but we’re very transparent about spending and savings and we’re both happy with where we’re at with it.

For me the most important thing is a joint attitude to finances, if you have that it tends to matter less which account the money is coming from.

That’s awful. You guys are too young for this shit. My husband turned 50 this year, and so many of his friends have died recently. 3 from heart attacks. And his good friend’s wife just passed a couple of weeks ago from cancer. My husband is on a telehealth appointment right now with a cardiologist. He has no known issues but neither did the (seemingly fit and healthy) guys who died. Ugh. I’m sorry.