Just For Fun

Hi, friend. Happy Saturday! I’m taking extra time to spend with the fam-bam this weekend before the rhythm of regular life returns, so short-and-sweet Saturday Surfing today.

That top pic, by the way, is how we spent our first day of 2021. In the great outdoors! We hiked up to the Fairway Waterfall in Novato along Buck Gulch Trail. It’s a family-friendly, easy hike about 2 miles there and back, so just purrfect for a leisurely stroll.

On this journey, we encountered a fairy garden (moss-covered rocks), an enclave of rock giants (big boulders), a raging river (dry creek bed) and an enchanted waterfall. ?

• Pat McGrath is the first makeup artist in history to be awarded a damehood from the Queen!
• A brief look at the history of makeup used as a means of protest and power.
• Fifteen products from indigenous-owned beauty brands.
• Keep an eye out for these five small-batch Bay Area beauty brands!
• The inventor of the Clarisonic has come out with a new skin care gadget.
• Here are the skin care products one clinical chemist, who formerly worked for SkinCeuticals, swears by.
• What happens when you fall in love with “a cheating cat”? Inquiring minds want to know…
• This cafeteria in Taipei feeds stray kitties.

How was your New Years, by the way?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Happy new year, my friend. You made it! I’m starting 2021 with love in my heart and hope for good times to come.

Sending you hugs and hope on this beautiful day!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

How to play

Pick one or the other for each of the questions below, and copy/paste your answers in the comments. Can’t wait to see your picks! Mine are listed below. ?

This or That: The New Year’s Edition ?

• Your NYE celebration outfit for this year — pajama pants or leggings?
• You decide to do a NYE makeup look this week (just for the heck of it!). Between the following two options, do you go with colorful smokey eyes or duo-chrome glittery lids?
• How about graphic liner or pink eyeshadow?
• Which would you rather have for a NYE hairdo — a big, bangin’ blowout or a sleek high pony?
• Go to sleep early or stay up all night long?
• You and your quarantine crew decide to have a Zoom “beauty night” in for NYE. What DIY treatments do you choose (pick two)?
  • Facial with the works
  • Spa-style Mani/Pedi
  • Deep-conditioning hair mask and an at-home gloss
• Who’s making your NYE meal — you or someone else?
• How do you show up to your Zoom NYE party with your friends — full-on glam with hair, nails, makeup and a feather boa, OR barefaced in your jammies?

Your NYE celebration outfit for this year — pajama pants or leggings?

Leggings, y’all. High-waisted in a warm, soft cotton material. Matte black, baby. As you can see, I’m a leggings aficionado, HAHAHA! Plus, with leggings, I don’t have to deal with the hem of my pants dragging along the ground, which is otherwise known as “petite lady pajama problems.”

You decide to do a NYE makeup look this week (just for the heck of it!). Between the following two options, do you go with colorful smokey eyes or duo-chrome glittery lids?

I’ll go with duo-chrome glittery lids because 1) there’s more room for error, and 2) they require less blending.

How about graphic liner or pink eyeshadow?

Pink eyeshadow.

Again, more room for error. ?

Which would you rather have for a NYE hairdo — a big, bangin’ blowout or a sleek high pony?

So, in theory, I would love a sleek high pony because it would get my hair out of my face and probably be faster to do. Plus — bonus! — I swear, a high and tight ponytail takes 10 years off my face! Unfortunately, two hours in I’d have take it out because sleek ponytails always give me a headache.

So, this is my long-winded way of saying that I’d go with the blowout!

Go to sleep early or stay up all night long?

I would try to stay up all night…but I’d still falling asleep on the couch at 9:30 (because 9:30 is the new 12); however, knowing this about myself, I’d set my alarm for 11:45PM and wake up just in time to do all of my Filipino old lady NYE’s rituals, like opening the front door at midnight to welcome the good luck in, and jumping up and down at midnight while banging pots and pans to invite the good spirits into the house, etc., etc.).

Then I’d promptly fall back asleep at approximately 12:05…

You and your quarantine crew decide to have a Zoom “beauty night” on NYE. What DIY treatments do you choose (pick two)?

• Facial with the works
• Spa-style mani/pedi
• Deep-conditioning hair mask and an at-home gloss

The facial and the mani/pedi!
[Continue reading…]

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?

1. What’s your definition of “no makeup” makeup?

Well…it’s all an illusion as you know. Mine starts with sunscreen, followed by a quick curl with a lash curler and a coat of mascara. Then, brows filled in with a pencil, followed by the daintiest kitten flick done with either liquid liner or eyeshadow applied with a wet angled brush.

Voila!

2. Would you rather cut your own bangs or dye your own hair?

It’s been two years since the last time I colored my hair(!), so at this point, I’ll reluctantly opt to cut my own bangs… I’ve done it before, although it was in high school, so I’m fairly sure I could do it again…but I’ll cut slooooOOOooowly and carefully, and I’ll do something like side-swept bangs that I could easily pin back if disaster struck and I made a major boo-boo.

3. Something you’ve been wearing a lot since March?

High waisted Zella black leggings! At this point they may be permanently glued to my body.

4. What kind of tea would you like today?

Earl Grey please, with a splash of half-and-half. No sugar.

5. Would you rather have to apply your makeup solely with your fingers, or solely with sponges? (It’s either/or in this scenario.)

Fingers! — although I know you can do a lot with a Beauty Blender, I feel like I have more control when I use fingers. Plus, it’s faster for me to pile on a more concentrated application of eyeshadow and blush with my fingers!

6. What’s the weather like today where you live?

It’s overcast in the mid-50s with some drizzle. Nice winter day for us. I may take Connor out in her rain boots and rain coat to splash around in some puddles.

7. Say something nice to the person above you in the comments.

Since there’s nobody in the comments yet, here’s a nice thing for everyone reading this: you’re doing SO good. Hang in there, and keep it up!

8. One of your go-to beauty products as of late?

Oooh, Odele Leave-In Conditioner! It does a little bit of everything (tames frizz, moisturizes dry hair and adds a light hold), and it does it all without my hair feeling heavy or weighed down with product. A big 8-oz. bottle with a pump is pretty affordable, too, at $11.99.

9. Something you want to do today?

I got a Cuisineart Bread Maker for Christmas as a gift from my niece (thank you, Rachel!), and I want to bake my first French bread loaf in it today.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. What’s your definition of “no makeup” makeup?
2. Would you rather cut your own bangs or dye your own hair?
3. Something you’ve been wearing a lot since March?
4. What kind of tea would you like today?
5. Would you rather have to apply your makeup solely with your fingers, or solely with sponges? (It’s either/or in this scenario.)
6. What’s the weather like today where you live?
7. Say something nice to the person above you in the comments.
8. One of your go-to beauty products as of late?
9. Something you want to do today?

P.P.S. Hello, my friend! ? Last Monday Poll of 2020. Deep breath in, deep breath out…and remember, we’ve totally got this!

Good morning and happy Boxing Day! Please say hello to our newest boarder, Grogu, otherwise known as “The Kid,” otherwise know as Baby Yoda.

(Side note: both El Hub and Connor are obsessed with The Mandalorian, and they’ve re-watched the season 2 finale too many times to count.)

Grogu was chillin’ in front of the tree yesterday, and his eyes told me that he desperately needed a fuzzy pastel headband and bracelets!

Rosie has already started showing him the ropes around here, although I don’t think it’s out of the goodness of her kitty heart. I’m pretty sure she believes Grogu is now her personal assistant… You know cats.

Onto today’s reading…

• Liquid, cream and powder blushes makeup artists swear by
• All about Peter Philips, a.k.a. the former creative director for Chanel and the current creative and image director of Christian Dior makeup
• This 10-year-old entrepreneur launched her own nail line for kids.
• Hmm… Does perfume expire?
• How lipstick ? is going to be different in 2021…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the day after Christmas, it’s that if you’ve been lucky enough to receive a gift, you better take it out of its box and find a place for it to live in your house ASAP; otherwise, it could end up sitting in a corner somewhere for years, so that’s what we’re doing today. I’m looking forward to this task because now I have an excuse to start organizing and tidying up before the new year.

I know, I’m a weirdo…

Hang in there. We’re in the 2020 home stretch now.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Have a good rest of your day, OK? Oh, and let me know if you received any beauty gifts!

Merry Christmas, my sweet friend. I feel like a broken record because I say this every year, but I still don’t feel like I say it enough — THANK YOU. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being here, for being my makeup sister-from-another-mister, for sharing your life with me. All the highs and lows. Thank you from the bottom of my glittery painted toes to the tips of my lashes, and from the deepest part of my being.

The universe seems to have had fun messing with all our plans in 2020 (so rude!), and while it’s been a year of many good moments and unexpected blessings (like all the extra time spent with El Hub and Connor), it’s also been…well…super weird. Difficult, too. Like, that once-in-a-lifetime kinda hard that changes you forever. The optimism that I could once find so easily has been shaken to the core and challenged in so many ways.

Somehow, though, I’ve still managed to hold onto hope.

I’m feeling it today.

When things feel insurmountable, I look to that sense of hope. It reminds me that we’re still moving forward, and that soon enough, better days will come. Hope steadies me, and it keeps me going.

This Christmas has been vastly different for many of us, but I hope you find a way to enjoy this very unusual take on the holiday season. Love you so, so much. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift of all — the gift of your time and your friendship.

Merry Christmas.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen