Monday, September 30, 2013

Sorry!

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I'm not listening to anything because it will distract me from my work. But guys. 20/20 Part 2 is out. It's my reward for getting all this crap done.
    Sorry, I know I'm a terrible person. You don't get a new post today (aside from this, which really doesn't count). The four of you who read this can punish me later. Too busy now. I had to close at work today so I was there until seven, and now I have two papers and three Catullus poems to write and translate by tomorrow... And I don't have time for a post.
    But Thursday! Get excited. I did some cool stuff this weekend, and I'll tell you about it then. I promise!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Five Faves and a Flop: September

 Listening to Groove is in the Heart by Dee Lite. (I highly encourage you to check out the vid. It's like a five-minute trip to the seventies, accompanied by some rad dance moves.)Dreading my midterm in 19th Century American Literature at 3:30 today.
    Last Thursday in September and look at me! I'm so on top of things. Except, you know, school things. Probably going to lose it during my midterm today. But I've got my blog post up!
    Not gonna lie, this month has been highly beauty-centered as far as my favorites go.




  • Caress Tahitian Renewal - I have weirdly sensitive skin. I have to be careful what makeup, cleanser, and lotion I use, as well as what products I use in the shower. Everything has to be as natural as possible. The problem is that a lot of all-natural products really don't smell awesome, or make my skin as soft as it could be. I'd been using a Method soap for a while, but I've gotten tired of the smell. Before I went all-natural-everything, I'd been using Caress, and it didn't give me hives too badly. So what I've been doing is alternating every other day, Caress-Method-Caress-Method, etc. That way I smell and feel yummy, but the next day I really cleanse my skin and get all the chemicals that irritate my skin off completely. Tahitian Renewal feels like a trip to a private island villa with an outdoor bathtub and shower and bamboo flooring. Minus the likely jellyfish stings.
  • Black Moccasins - I honestly don't remember where I got these since it was about three years ago, but I remember my grandmother buying them for me. She actually bought me two pair - one in tan, and these black ones because we liked them both and couldn't choose. The tan ones unfortunately broke a few years back, but these babies have held up! They are super comfortable - perfect for booking it around campus (get it? 'cause I'm running around, and hitting the books. Ha. Haha. Return of the Puns). Plus I think they're just super cute for fall.
  • L'Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder Foundation in Creamy Natural - What with fall looks being all matte, I figured it's time to retire the BB cream (since the only one I like/can use has a very dewy finish), and opt for something a bit more mattifying. Unfortunately, alone, Magic Nude isn't quite what I wanted - although I guessed my color perfectly! In order to achieve that truly matte finish, I have to wear a primer underneath, and set at least the center of my face, if not all of it, with a mattifying powder. Which I don't mind, I would just appreciate less steps in the morning. It really does go on nicely, though I would recommend using your fingers rather than a brush or a sponge. And for goodness sake, shake before use. I made that mistake.
  • EOS in Summer Fruit - It smells like peaches, tastes like Pez, and the cap is fun to twist on and off. I'm sold.
  • L'Oreal Infallible 24-Hour Eyeshadow in Amber Rush - I really just love this color. It screams fall. Some have called it a rose-gold, some copper. I think Amber Rush is just fine. It looks like fall leaves against bright blue skies and pumpkins and brisk air and toe socks* and I love it. It's so beautiful, sometimes I wear just that one shadow as a wash over my whole lid with no crease color, no highlighter, and just a smidge of brown eyeliner. It's perfect. Infallible. Oh yes, I did.
  • FLOP: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Shine in Plum Velour - It's not really the lipstick's fault. It can't change what color it is. I just really wanted and oxblood color, and as dark as this color looks, it still looks like a berry color on my lips. And not even that dark. I was torn between this one and Black Cherry at CVS, so I guess I'll go exchange it tomorrow. (I literally just bought it today, too.)
*I associate toe socks with fall, mostly because I used to buy a pair of Halloween toe socks every Halloween during middle and high school.

What have you been loving this month? Any disappointments? Let me know!
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Product List

Monday, September 23, 2013

LifeScouts: Ballet!

Listening to Justin Timberlake TKO - not sure how I feel about it yet. I want to like it, but I'm just not sure. Plus I'm pretty sure I can hear a guinea pig in the background.
Overwhelmed with homework.
    Normally, I write these posts when I don't have anything else to write about. Today, I just felt like giving myself a prompt and going with it.
    Ballet was a huge part of my life. I danced for nine years in two different ballet studios. I quit just before auditioning for company, and part of me regrets that so much. See, my feet naturally turn out. I walk like a duck, or a penguin, or some other absurd animal. And you don't even wanna see me run. If you didn't already know I danced, you'd figure it out pretty quick, even though I'm an absolute klutz. When I was a baby, my parents worried something was wrong and took me to get my feet checked out. The doctor said, "Oh, she's fine, just put her in ballet." So in kindergarten, that's what happened.
    I did everything but hip-hop and tap, really. Ballet, jazz, pointe, modern - I would've done tap and hip-hop if given the option. I learned Thriller when I was eight, danced to Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend from Moulin Rouge and A Hard Knock Life from Annie. I got to be a fairy in two different performances (I was fairy-obsessed as a child, and still want to own anything Tinker-Bell related). I was in the Nutcracker almost every single year. I was a Christmas Tree Doll, one of Mother Ginger's Children (twice), a Little Angel (twice), a Toy Soldier, a Big Angel. I quit the year I would've been one of the Party Girls, which is the one thing I regret most.
    Before you get excited, I don't mean the current definition of party girl - I would not have been playing beer pong in a tutu. The story of the Nutcracker is that a little girl named Clara receives a nutcracker doll for Christmas, and on Christmas Eve he comes to life, battles the Rat King and his minions, and takes her to the magical land he comes from where a bunch of different countries dance for her (girls on pointe from China, a belly dancer from Arabia, Mother Ginger and her Children, The Sugar Plum Fairy). Before all this occurs, she is given the Nutcracker at a Christmas party that all of her friends and their parents attend. I would have been one of the friends. They had beautiful Victorian-style dresses, got to wear their hair down in bouncing ringlets (not buns like everyone else), and got to do a little play-acting on stage while other people danced. It was every little girl's dream, just short of getting to be Clara herself, or the Sugar Plum Fairy. Personally, I wanted to be a Party Girl, then dance in Tea (the Chinese dance), then Coffee (the Arabian dance), then the Russian dance, and lastly the Sugar Plum Fairy, so I could get a chance to do all my favorites. But I never got to do any of them, because I quit to be in colorguard, which as I've previously stated really wasn't worth it. What sucks is even if I got back into ballet, I'm so out of practice and out of shape, I'd never be good enough to do any of those parts I loved. So I've missed my narrow window of opportunity.
    But I know if I'd kept doing ballet, it would have taken over my life - we're talking practicing like twenty hours a week - and I never would have met Corey. In missing my first goal in life, I met the one I never knew I wanted, until I did. So I guess I really don't regret anything.
    Except maybe not transferring to UNCW while I still could. ha ha.
 
What's something that was once a big part of your life? Something you thought would shape your future, or maybe something that has? Tell me below!