Just For Fun

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past 10 (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. Have you ever been bitten by an animal?

If we’re including human beings, then yes, because my brother and I used to fight like cats and dogs when we were little, and there were several biting exchanges with really, REALLY sharp teeth! Oh, and Tabs has recently taken to biting me, but they aren’t real bites. Just gentle nips here and there.

I think it’s ’cause he’s older now and doesn’t have as much patience as he used to. I think of them as love ? bites.

2. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being off-the-charts fabulous, what’s your skill with liquid liner?

If my trusty Tom Ford liquid liner or Clinique Pretty Easy Pen are in my paw, I give myself a solid 8; otherwise, it’s kind of questionable. A 5 or 5.5 at the most.

3. What’s your current no-makeup makeup routine?

OH. GIRL. My favorite makeup style at the moment! I fill in my brows with MAC Brow Sculpt Pencil in Spiked because I ran out of it in Brun, but also because I wanted to try something different…

Spiked is good for brunettes, but I still prefer Brun.

Anyway, then I apply a little MAC Matchmaster Concealer under my eyes if I’m looking really tired. If, on the other paw, I’m looking semi-rested, then I skip it.

Next, I curl my lashes, add a layer or two of COVERGIRL Total Tease Mascara to my bottom and top lashes, some Pixi Gel Blush on my cheeks and a lip tint or gloss.

I’ve been alternating between the Pixi duos with the lip tint and gloss, and a Cremesheen Glass from MAC called Cha-Cha-Cha from the Fruity Juicy collection.

4. What purse are you carrying at the moment?

It’s an old Michael Kors tote that my mom got me as a present years ago, and I love it! It’s dark brown, so it goes with everything, and it’s very lightweight.

I can fit all of my usual suspects in there, like my wallet, giant key ring, my phone, my makeup bag, snacks (protein bars, Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies), water bottle… It’s also roomy enough to fit baby girl’s things, which I usually keep in a Ziploc gallon bag. One diaper, travel packs of diaper wipes and Wet Ones Wipes, a travel diaper changing blanket, an emergency toy (usually a tiny plastic Elmo) and an extra binky. #momlife

5. A color you wear well?

I like the way I look in coral, and I also seem to do well in bright yellows and pale mints…but I haven’t been wearing any of those shades lately. Lately, I’ve been wearing lots of neutrals — white, black, gray.

Note to self: wear more color!

6. Can you recommend a good book to take to the beach or pool?

I read Big Little Lies a couple months ago, and I couldn’t put it down! It’s well-written and perfect for the beach because it’s suspenseful, but it isn’t too mentally demanding.

It’s SO good.

Have a marvelous Monday

Every morning when Connor wakes up — and I mostly do this as a reminder to myself — I say, “It’s morning times! We have a new day before us, and it’s filled with so many possibilities. We’re going to fall every once in a while, be when we do, we’re going to pick ourselves up and keep trying.”

Have a great one, sweet friend. We have a new day before us, and it’s filled with so many possibilities. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I’m single-handedly cleaning out the cat lady mug section at Marshalls! I found another cute one at the cash wrap secretly hidden behind a wall of non-cat-themed mugs. It’s by 10 Strawberry Street and was like 5 bucks! I couldn’t say no… On that note, happy Caturday! ?

Today’s adventure for me is going to involve this pair of sparkly pink roller skates and my driveway… Hopefully I don’t tweet later from the emergency room.

Back in the day, I was pretty good on wheeled shoes, and…UGH! Sorry. Tabs just put his butt up in my grill. I guess that was his way of wishing you a happy Caturday too.

Anyway, I used to spend a lot of time on roller skates and roller blades back in the day. At one point I was so committed to my rollerblading that I kept them in my car, and sometimes, while driving around, if I saw a random spot that looked particularly good for blading I’d pull over and bust them out!

But I haven’t been on a pair in almost 20 years…and I’m simultaneously excited and scared to try these skates on. I’m wondering, “What if I break a leg? Or a hip? Then I wouldn’t be able to carry the baby or the cat up and down the stairs!”

Can you remember the last time you were on skates? I’m hoping you’ll say “five minutes ago” or “yesterday” so I can live vicariously through you. 🙂

In the event that you now feel inspired to dig your skates out of the closet and zip around the block, before you go, here are some beauty stories that piqued my interest this week…

• HomeGoods is opening a spin-off chain called HomeSense…because they want to take all my lunch money, obviously.
• The new Luminizer X Quad from RMS Beauty looks so dreamy!
• I mean…how could you possibly NOT know you had 27 pairs of contact lenses in your eye? I only wear one, and I’m ready to rip it out by the end of the day.
• I’ve been on a Pixi kick, and I really want to try their Peel & Polish.
• Here’s the story of Myeong Jo Lee, the matriarch of the K-Beauty biz and one of the greatest female entrepreneurs of our time.
• New lip products from cruelty-free Pop Beauty!
• “I was not a very quiet boy,” says Manolo Blahnik at the beginning of the trailer for Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards, a new fashion documentary. “Never was, never will be.”
• What’s it like to wear the new Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Gel Touch Foundation?
• A look inside the world of Chanel Haute Couture…
• Benefit recently repackaged their Boiing Concealers.
• I’m making these Watermelon Popsicles this weekend. YUMMY!
• Here are the most influential fashion trends, decade by decade. And P.S., the S-Corset from the 1900s looks really, REALLY uncomfortable.
• When you name your daughter after one of the greatest science fiction heroines of all time, you take note of lists like 14 Recent Sci-Fi Films That Didn’t Need Big Budgets to Be Amazing.
• A San Francisco boutique owner/criminologist runs her own sting operations to catch shoplifters… Say what?!
• 15 ways to become a better person
• Bobbi Brown: “I Don’t Focus, That’s Why I’m Successful.”
• I just discovered this poem by Anne Sexton called Courage, and it’s one of my favorite things at the moment because it celebrates little acts of courage in everyday life.

OK, sweetheart. ? Tabs would like me to remind you that if you’re lucky enough to have a cat butt in your face at any time today…cherish it.

At least that’s what I tell myself whenever I’m faced with a certain plus-sized tabby’s rear end.

Have a great day!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past 10 (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. Your gut feelings about red eyeshadow? Yes/no/maybe/sometimes/not a chance?

I like it! I know it’s been trending for a while. I think it can look hella cool, and there are some things that can also make it more wearable, like coupling it with black liner on your lash and water lines, or adding a warm brown eyeshadow, like a reddish brown or an orange-brown, into the crease.

2. Introvert or extrovert?

I’m pretty extroverted most of the time, but I withdraw and quietly seethe when I’m tired or hangry.

3. What products did you use in your hair today?

I’m all about that R+Co life! I’m wearing High Dive, which I put on last night after my shower, Sail, which I put on my roots and midshaft today, and a minuscule amount of Trophy sprayed all over the top layer.

4. Big earrings or dainty earrings?

Dainty earrings, all the way!

I do love big earrings (especially hoops) too, but I can’t wear them right now because Connor Claire can’t resist anything sparkly.

5. ____ is a girl’s best friend.

I wanna say concealer, because, let’s face it, we are tight! — but I feel like my responsible side wants me to say “financial independence.”

Financial independence is a girl’s best friend…but concealer is her closest, most beloved cousin, haha!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy and paste.

1. Your gut feelings about red eyeshadow? Yes/no/maybe/sometimes/not a chance?
2. Introvert or extrovert?
3. What products did you use in your hair today?
4. Big earrings or dainty earrings?
5. ____ is a girl’s best friend.

P.P.S. Just a quick reminder. You might not be where you want to be right now, but if you take a step you’ll be that much closer. Doesn’t even have to be a big step, either. Even tiny steps move you forward.

My new favorite thing to do when I’m on the couch watching American Ninja Warrior (which, by the way, I’m weirdly obsessed with): texting the SF MOMA for art.

Yes, this is a thing!

Apparently, the SF MOMA has sooooo much art in their archives — more than they have physical space in the museum to display — that they created a way for people to experience all of this excess art that would be otherwise tucked away in a basement by text message. You can now text the SF MOMA at 572-51, and ask them to send you a pic of a piece of art related to any subject that interests you.

For instance, I asked them to send me cats, because hello! Priorities. 🙂 Then they sent me the above piece by Hungarian-born photographer André Kertész of a man and his Siamese.

Cool, right? I could LITERALLY do this all day long.

I get to find out about new artists and see art that I probably never would’ve otherwise seen.

And now for an awkward transition…American Ninja Warrior! I love the show, and I particularly love seeing women compete so well and do such superhuman physical feats!

In case you haven’t seen the show before, it’s a competitive obstacle course of increasing difficulty where hundreds of competitors try to make it all the way through to hit the buzzer at the end, and then to go on to the national finals in Las Vegas. In nine seasons, only two people have made it all the way and finished the very final event, because it’s THAT hard. Whoever makes it through the final course, I think, wins a million dollars.

For years and years and years, it was a bunch of dudes, but finally, over the past few years, women started competing and doing well in it. Anyway, last year four ladies got through a qualifying round to hit a buzzer, which was a big deal.

Jesse Labreck doing her thang. GET IT, GIRL!

A few of them came back this year and competed in the most recent show, but it was weird… Most of the time before the athletes do their run through the obstacle course, the show does a little video montage of things they’ve been up to in their life, things they’ve achieved over the past year, that kind of thing. Well, this year they did two videos on two of the women who hit a buzzer last year, Allyssa Beird and Jesse Labreck.

In both cases, the videos didn’t focus on what I’ve come to expect from the male competitors on the show — accomplishments at work, finishing school, or how their ninja warrior training is going. Instead, they were mostly about their new relationships. In other words, boyfriends.

BOYFRIENDS.

I mean, I’m all for love. ? I think love is great! But it still irked me. El Hub even noticed it, and I was like, “What if Connor Claire made it on the show, made Ninja Warrior history, and then instead of getting a montage about how she trained like a beast over the last year, it was about how she GOT A BOYFRIEND, wouldn’t that kinda grind your gears?”

Anyway, I’m just sayin’. American Ninja Warrior crew, please get your sh*t together. There’s so much more to a woman’s story than how she met her boyfriend.

OK, mini rant over! 🙂

On that note, don’t miss the post below about Disney princesses as engineers.

• Erin of Scandalous Beauty speaks with makeup artist and educator Nicky Posley about creating realistic makeup looks, favorite products and more.
• This $6 tool just might help you finally master winged liner.
• What if Disney princesses were engineers?
• A man gets trapped inside a Texas ATM for three hours, HOLY CRAP!
• Gel manis — are they linked to skin cancer?
• A 100-year-old woman shares her secret to a long life! Hint: it involves copious amounts of vino.
• 11 beauty startups to watch
• Getting to know Poppy King, a.k.a. the force behind Lipstick Queen.
• This Shiseido ad shows that there’s space for everyone who wants to to be pretty.
• 17 things you should do to every blog post before and after you hit publish.
• Get ready to plan your next vacation, because there’s an island where you can play with rescued puppies.
• Two drugstore dupes for the Urban Decay Naked Heat palette
• Rae’s take on the new Maybelline Color Sensational Lipsticks
• So many beautiful brights in the Zoya Wanderlust Collection…
• On my wish list: the $5 Fiona Stiles Light Illusion Perfecting & Brightening Stylo
• Brooke has the skinny on Natasha Denona’s Foundation X.
• The best beauty buys from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Have a great weekend, my friend. I think we’re gonna grill today for the first time this year. Wish me luck, haha!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

You know when you’re freaking out but trying not to freak out, but then trying not to freak out makes you freak out even more?

I’m doing that right now.

It’s because of these missing lashes! A big chunk of lashes are missing from my right eye.

My natural lashes aren’t “all that” to begin with, OK, and ever since I had Connor, they’ve gotten even thinner and shorter than they were before, to give you an idea of the baseline.

Basically, I’m not working with a lot in terms of lashes, which is why you’ll find random tubes of mascara everywhere in my house. EVERYWHERE.

So how did this happen? I don’t know. Last weekend I was curling my lashes, and after I finished my right eye I noticed that gap smack dab in the center of my upper lash line.

Nooooooooo! Dude. You don’t realize how important those center lashes are until they’re freaking gone!

I don’t know when it happened, but I’m guessing that it happened last week when I was wearing false lashes that I couldn’t wait to remove. They looked great in pics, but they were super long, so I could see them out of the corner of my eye, which was driving me nuts. So, instead of doing what I usually do, which is soak a cotton pad with waterproof eye makeup remover and hold it over the falsies until they gently slip off, I just ripped those bad boys off (perhaps a little too enthusiastically). In the process, I probably ripped out that chunk of lashes on the right side, too.

Hopefully this lash enhancing product I just started using called LASHFOOD (it’s at Sephora) helps them grow back.

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