Just For Fun

Wow. Well, I know what El Hub would say. “Build up nothing and trim down EVERYTHING.” LOL! 🙂 To his credit, the poor man has been drowning in an ocean of eyeshadow palettes for years.

Seriously though, I’d like to build up my Chanel Stylo Yeux eyeliner collection, because they’re my favorite liners, and I want all teh pretty colors. ?

I’d also love some Chanel blushes from the permanent line! — ooh, and some more cream eyeshadows. And a small army of purplish taupe cream shadows would be nice. And I’d love to flesh out my drugstore makeup collection until I had affordable versions of every single one of the basics — under-eye concealer, mascara, a black pencil liner, etc.

As for things I could definitely push the “Pause” button on…I have enough neutral eyeshadow palettes (ALL OF THE BROWNS!), nude lipsticks, face tints (BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH), coral gloss and olive eyeshadow. Oh, and brushes, because even though I always feel like I need the weirdly shaped ones, I don’t. I always end up using the same group of standby brushes over and over, haha!

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So…what is the Monday Poll?

Good question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll. 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 gazillion years (more than 10!). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a great start. ?

1. Are you OK today?

Yeah, I’m OK today. I feel good. I could have used a three-day weekend, but we have one coming up, so I just have to hang on till then…

Yes, I realize that it’s only Monday, haha. 🙂

Oh, and this question cracks me up because whenever Connor meets another kid, she gently places her hand on their back, leans over and quietly asks, “Are you OK?”

It’s her version of “Aloha.” It means a number of things at the same time. “Hello,” “Goodbye,” “Can we be friends?” “Can we hang out?” and “Can I play with you?”

2. A family member you wish you could hang out with this week?

My bro! We have so much fun when we hang out. I wish we could go for an easy hike, then grab lunch and a movie.

3. Dramatic or subtle?

GUUUURL, I only want drama in my makeup! I do not want drama in real life.

4. Something you’re currently working on?

Seriously, I’m always a work in progress, but there is one thing… (It’s just the one that comes to mind first.) I’m working on finding some new clothes that’ll fit my fabulous post-baby body, and it IS a fabulous body! 🙂 There was an online sale at J. Crew last week, and I finally sprung for a pair of shorts and some pants I’ve been eyeing.

5. What liner are you wearing?

It’s all about that MAC Coffee life, son. ☕

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I hope you feel like chiming in today! Here are the questions to copy and paste:

1. Are you OK today?
2. A family member you wish you could hang out with this week?
3. Dramatic or subtle?
4. Something you’re currently working on?
5. What liner are you wearing?

DUDE…there’s a lot of sunscreen action happening on my body right now. I’ve got Clinique on my left arm, Supergoop on my right, a little Neutrogena on my neck, some Babyganics on my left cheek (the cheek on my face, in case you’re wondering, haha!).

No, I’m not going to the pool. Still too cold for that. But May is moving at light speed, and summer is quickly approaching, so I’m testing some “new to me” things.

This makes me cringe to admit, but I haven’t been very good about wearing sunscreen lately…

I know, I know. 🙁 Just been too lazy. Even though I religiously applied it from the age of 19 onward, I sort of fell off the wagon about a year ago, and I’ve been off and on ever since.

Long story short, though, I’m back into it. In fact, I jumped into the sunscreen swimming pool at the deep end, but I’ve been much more careful about what I put on my face since I broke out in January. Now when I’m testing something new on my skin, I apply it to small test patches, instead of slathering it all over with reckless abandon.

Which leads me to Saturday Surfing. I read a lot this week, and it felt REALLY good. I found some great pieces about sunscreen, perfume and mascara.

So let’s get to it! 🙂

• Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to understand how sunscreen works. This article can help.
• According to dermatologists, these are the best sunscreens for your face, and these are the best sunscreens that won’t break the bank.
• I’m very curious about this one for women of color: Black Girl Sunscreen, which claims to not leave behind a gray or white cast on darker skin.
• IMO, Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen is one of THE BEST sunscreens to wear under makeup.
• Hawaii recently banned the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone or octinoxate.

• Let’s talk lashes, because the gap in my upper right lash line is taking forever to grow back (WHY THO?).

  This $125 DIY Lash Extension Kit looks cool because you apply them underneath — not on top of — your lashes, so they’re supposed to look really natural.

• If that’s out of your budget, these two drugstore mascaras are less than $10, and both are supposed to be bomb.
• Speaking of drugstore gems, Serena Williams uses this L’Oréal mascara to shape her brows.
• For some women over 40, wearing mascara is a battle.
• Oh, and even though I appreciate products that target very specific issues, do women actually *need* lash shampoo, a.k.a. makeup remover made specifically for lashes? I mean, what’s wrong with regular eye makeup remover?
• In perfume news, vintage powdery notes — found in scents like Chanel Misia, Prada Infusion d’Iris (one of my faves) and Kenzo Flower — are making a comeback.

• I enjoyed learning about French line Eight & Bob Perfume, which traces its history back to the Fouquets, a Parisian aristocratic family.

  The line presents their bottles in books, because as “WWII was beginning, Philippe (the family butler and close confidante) wanted to protect the fragrances’ secrets from the Nazis. He made hidden compartments inside books to hide the bottles and perfume formulas. Decades later, he was able to recover the perfumes that he had helped create in the attic of Fouquet’s family home all those years ago and make them available again.”

• Also: Target’s launching a Disney-themed beauty line.
• Indy green/clean beauty lines like Kosas (which I’m a huge fan of, BTW) are getting big $$$ from investors.
• And this is what it’s like to groom the Queer Eye guys.

In non-beauty reading news, I just started a mystery called Faithful Place by author Tana French about a teenage girl who disappears without a trace. It takes place in Dublin, Ireland.

Tana has a gift for dialects, which I’ve always had a hard time conveying in print. When I read her stuff, I feel like I can hear the characters in my head.

I’m about a quarter of the way through and loving it so far.

What are you reading ? this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope it’s rad. ?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Most of the time for me, yes, makeup does make me generally happier.

Not to say that my happiness hinges on wearing makeup, because if I don’t fill in my brows on any given Friday, the world does not fall apart, nor do I have a meltdown, although that partly depends on where I am in my cycle. I have been known to launch into a full-on Kim K. ugly cry when I can’t find my tube of MAC In Extra Dimension.

Just sayin’…

Generally, though, yes, I think it makes me a happier person. I like the process. I feel artistic and creative. Plus, I feel more comfortable and capable when I’m wearing at least a little makeup. It doesn’t have to be a full face.

A few years ago, I went through a phase where putting on makeup started to feel a bit like a burden. Almost? I was spending a lot of time looking at makeup on Instagram at the time, and you know how it is… There are lots of peeps who do full-on super intricate makeup on IG, and it’s complicated and takes a long time (at least for me), and I was trying to get better at makeup myself, so I was spending a lot of time on my makeup — like two hours per day.

It was great at first. I learned some new things, but it got to feeling like an obligation. My perspective started changing to where I was feeling like I had to go through all that effort just to leave the house. Like, I had to spend two hours getting ready so that I could go to Target to buy bread.

Yeah, that phase is over now! 🙂

So there’s my long-winded answer. Yes, wearing makeup does make me a happier person, but it’s not a miracle cure for a bad day, of course.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF. ???