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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. Where do you usually put on your makeup?

It really depends on the light and what time of day it is, but I usually do it in the same place I write, which is my office at home upstairs. The light from my office window is nice and bright until about 4. Then it gets a little too dark. Any time after that, and I’m probably doing my makeup on the floor in my bedroom.

Oh, and my car! (In the passenger seat, of course.) I am forever putting on makeup in a moving vehicle, it seems!

2. Which would you rather do — an eyelash perm (a.k.a. a lash lift), eyelash extensions or eyelash tint?

Eyelash perm in a heartbeat, because even though I love the idea of extensions, I just know that having that little bit of extra weight on my lashes would drive me crazy.

3. Do you have any psychic abilities?

Other than the ability to psychically predict precisely when my cat gets up to no good? Nope.

But before my tabby sense goes off…the house gets eerily quiet — like the calm before a storm — and then, BOOM. A tiny tabby paw comes out of nowhere and pulls your sandwich off the living room table!

4. Something you’d like to eat today?

I’d love a chopped salad with a hunk of fresh bread and a tall glass of unsweetened iced tea to wash it down.

5. Have you ever taken in a stray?

So many times! All of my animal companions and I have found each other through the randomness of the universe, but the biggest love, the greatest love, will always be Tabs. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime cat.

Thoughts on books: e-books or the old-fashioned kind?

Last night before bed I started a new book I checked out from the library, and as I was flipping through the pages to look for pictures or maps (does anyone else do this?!) I got to thinking about whether people still like reading “old-fashioned books” — ya know, the ones with pages! I have a Kindle and even though I’ve used it and liked it just fine, there’s something about feeling the weight of a book in my hand and the pages as I flip through them that I like so much more than scrolling with my finger on a screen. I might be old school that way though. Which do you prefer?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here are they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to you soon.

1. Where do you usually put on your makeup?
2. Which would you rather do: an eyelash perm (AKA lash lift), eyelash extensions, or eyelash tint?
3. Do you have any psychic abilities?
4. Something you’d like to eat today?
5. Have you ever taken in a stray?

So, I’m reading a book about sourdough.

It’s fiction, and no, the main character isn’t a loaf of bread (in case you were wondering). Bread does, however, play a silent but omnipresent supporting role as a very tasty cast member, ha ha!

The book’s called Sourdough, by Robin Sloan, and it’s about a young woman who moonlights as a sourdough bread baker by night, while she works as a programmer for a robotics company in San Francisco by day.

No, really, I’m serious! You can’t make this stuff up!

Well, I mean, you can…

Anyway, the glutinous puns are glorious! — although I recognize that it might be a Karen thing to enjoy passages about feeding live yeast starters and building backyard brick ovens this much. I stayed up late reading it last night and dreamed about rising dough and proofing baskets into the early morning.

Oh, and check this out…

Don’t you love books that have maps in them?? I do. This one has a map from right around here because it takes place in the Bay Area. As we speak, I’m typing this from Novato, which is slightly northwest of the little drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the town I grew up in, Union City, is just south of Alameda.

If you need me today, I’ll be reading this. I’ll have my nose between the pages, and if it’s warm enough, I may even read a chapter by the pool.

Ah… ??️

Jumping into the weekend like… ☀️? #pooltime #fridaymood

A post shared by Karen | Makeup and Beauty Blog (@karenmbb) on Jul 13, 2018 at 4:04pm PDT

For a little light reading, here are some of the stories from around the Interwebs that caught my eye this week…

• The only Kylie I keep up with is Kylie Minogue, but kudos to Kylie Jenner for making it onto the cover of Forbes. Her makeup line is worth an estimated $800 million, and she’s only 20 (!).
• Have you seen these in your Facebook feed yet?? Because I haven’t. Using Augmented Reality (AR), you can virtually try on clothes and makeup before you buy. It looks a lot like a Snapchat or Instagram filter, so it’s not like going into a dressing room and trying something on, but still… Kinda cool. Makes me wonder how kids today will be shopping when they’re my age.
• I can’t be the only person who’s always looking for more makeup artists to low-key stalk, so here’s a list of the 2018 Emmy nominees in the makeup and hairstyling categories. See anyone you know? I’m happy to see Glow on the list!

• GO, JACKIE, GO! I’ve been a huge fan of vlogger Jackie Aina for years now, and I’ve been happy to see her beautiful face all over the beauty world lately, even recently teaming up with Too Faced to formulate darker shades for the Born This Way Foundation line.

Here are a few of her favorite beauty products for women of color.

• These six gadgets are supposed to contour and sculpt your face without makeup.
• Why are some scents more expensive than others? This very detailed piece walks through the differences between pure perfumes, eau fraiche, and everything in between.
• Fave read of the week.
• Is Lady Gaga launching her own beauty brand a la Fenty? She’s quietly working on a new beauty startup, and it already has Silicon Valley investors.

• As someone with a kid who occasionally appears on Instagram doing (what I think are) cute things, and as someone who loves seeing other people’s kids on the ‘gram doing cute things, I have mixed feelings about “spawn con,” also known as sponsored content featuring children.

  On the one hand, kids born today can’t escape technology, and it ain’t cheap to raise a child, or maybe build a college fund.

  But on the other hand…would it be better to wait until a kid is old enough to make his/her own decisions? With cameras, and wearable devices and the Internet everywhere, does it even matter?? Will anyone be able to avoid having their pictures online 10 years from now? I don’t know.

• Go, science! And goooooooo women in plant science! Alice Tangerini is the first and only botanical illustrator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, where she has been making her mark for 46 years.

I feel totally weird if I don’t read enough during the week. For me, it’s like working out, and the more I read, the better I feel.

Which reminds me…Saturday HIIT class. Soon. (Like in 15 minutes, whoops!)

You wanna go do some burpies with me? NO!?

Alright, alright. You have fun reading, then. 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your day, OK?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen