Be yourself. Love yourself. Take care of each other.

Hello, world! Shelly here! Time for another edition of Take Care, a weekly-ish bit of tips and updates to help you be yourself, love yourself, and take care of each other (and yourself!) I’m Shelly of Geek Out of Water.

In this edition:

• An 8-year anniversary thank you
• The TirTir foundation
• New sugar scrub & whipped soap in my shop
• Skin care formulation school updates
• Tie dye updates

THANK YOU! You're the best!

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone that entered my YouTube 8th Anniversary/40K Subscriber Giveaway! I just finished packing up the last of the prizes and tracking numbers should be in winners' email inboxes! There were nearly 2,300 entries which blows my mind 🤯

When I started my YouTube channel in 2016, it was because I'd started seeing signs of sun damage on my skin and wanted to start wearing foundation. But all of the reviews I was seeing were either for combo or oily skin (think: Angie Hot & Flashy or ThaTaylaa back in the day) or by creators much younger than me with skin that basically had none of the issues I was seeing on my dry-skinned, fine-lined, textured face. I thought, there MUST be others out there like me who are not 23 years old anymore and want to know how products will work on everyday people. I started the channel with that in mind, and I was right. There are LOTS of us out there! And here we are, 8 years later. I still can't believe it. Thank you for making Geek Out of Water one of my favorite places to hang out. The community you've all built around the "take care of each other" mantra is the kindest and most fun place I've ever known to chat beauty and skin care. I am so lucky to have you all!

The TirTir Foundation...

Soooooo many people requested this foundation review, and (spoiler alert) it did not disappoint! This video went up Friday over on the ol' YouTube.

I am catching up from a crazy couple of weeks, so I'll be filming and editing this week's videos on-the-fly, but the plan for Monday is to do a full demo of the Science Serum Tight Eye product, since it's been a couple years (or more!) since I've done a step-by-step on that, and if you missed the news - THEY'RE BACK!!

I'll probably film the new Urban Decay foundation for Friday (though I also just got the new Elf - actually maybe I'll do the Elf first. Which would you like to see first? Reply and let me know!) And I have no idea what I'll film for Wednesday! 🤣

The craziness has been the wrap-up of the super-fast 4-week condensed summer school class I was teaching. I submitted final grades tonight, so I am done teaching until August! I got a grant to re-design some curriculum around AI integration, so I've still got plenty of work to do, but it's so much easier for me to work on my own schedule than on someone else's. I'm way more efficient and productive on my own timetable (which usually means working at night instead of in the morning!)

I also had a fun weekend as a vendor at a Bigfoot convention this weekend! I've got a few leftover t-shirts that I didn't sell at the event... do we have any Bigfoot fans here? Should I put those tees up on my web site? Reply if you'd like to see them!

New in the shop - foaming sugar scrub & whipped soap!

I've got 2 new skin care products up on my web site - a luxurious foaming sugar scrub that is like a cleanser, exfoliator, and moisturizer all in one:

And a limited edition rainbow whipped soap (because whipped soap is WAY more fun than any other soap!) I've only got 4 jars left of the whipped soap after my weekend event (and I will not be piping SIX different colors in a single product again any time soon!) 😜

You'd have all gotten a kick out of the disaster I made making that whipped soap.

Skin Care Formulation School Updates

I am deep into the second course in my 5-course skin care formulation program from Formula Botanica! This one is to earn the Advanced Diploma in Organic Cosmetic Science. I am currently working on 5 different custom formulas for homework. One is a reverse formulation of an existing natural product (which is SO much harder than writing an original formula, as we are not allowed to substitute ingredients and have to get as close to the original product's qualities as possible). The other 4 are original formulas; I must formulate an anti-aging product, a vegan product, a raw product (no ingredients heated over a certain temperature), and a halal product. I'll keep you posted as I start experimenting! I've got my initial recipes written. Next I need to make them and try them out and tweak the recipes. If I hit on anything awesome, it just might become a GOOW product. 🤞

Tie Dye Updates

Another question I keep getting is - when will my tie dyes be available on the shop?! I know - I keep saying they're coming, but I promise - it's one of my top priority to-do items this week, second only to getting YouTube videos recorded and edited and posted! Here's a preview - the photography is underway! Just have to edit these, take a few more of the new ones I made, and get the listings up!

That's about all of the excitement (chaos?!) on this end!

I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend, and here's to a fantastic week ahead!

Thanks and remember: be yourself. Love yourself. Take care of each other,

💜 Shelly

Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goow

Shop my designs & handmade skin care: https://shopgoow.com

Who's Shelly?

I’m a beauty enthusiast, entrepreneur, and professor of media arts and design. I send out emails about once a week on beauty, self-care, and lifestyle with a geeky twist - plus, of course, updates on any tools I’m building for the love of beauty (like my Roll-A-Look eyeshadow color generator and upcoming foundation tools). 

What's this email about?

If you love makeup and skin care and self-care too, this newsletter is made for you! Besides life and work updates, I’ll share science-based tips and easy techniques to help you look and feel your best. Stick around for the fun. 

Let's keep in touch!

This is a collaborative space, too. Feel free to hit reply if: 

- You care about a topic you’d like to see covered here. 

- You found a useful resource or a must-have product that would help others and want to share it.

- You just want to say hi!