Tag Archives: Stuff I Love

Superficial Favorites

I am almost embarrassingly low-maintenance when it comes to my physical appearance. Luck and genes are the main reason: my hair is strictly wash, dry and go and, aside from a few months of horrible acne when I was 26 — yes, 26, WTF! — I haven’t had any issues with my skin. I don’t need any fancy or expensive products to keep my skin or hair healthy. I don’t even comb my hair anymore.

It’s only been in the past few months that I have started wearing makeup almost everyday. Why only recently, you ask? To begin with, I always felt too young to wear makeup. I’m in my 30s now (shudder), so that reasoning doesn’t really fly. Secondly, I’m lazy. I just am. Between peeing, brushing my teeth, showering, and dressing myself, who has extra time to put makeup on? Finally, makeup? Really? Unless there’s a special occasion or something… why wear makeup? I always felt kind of fake when I wore makeup. I would rub most of it off of my face before walking out the door.

Cut to today: Makeup has become part of my daily get-ready-for-work routine. I finally reached that point where I was wearing the makeup for me instead of to impress other people. As you’ll see if you continue reading, I don’t exactly go nuts with it, and I let my skin breathe on the weekends unless I’m going someplace special.

Here are some of the products I use:

The foaming cleansing liquid from the Shiseido Pureness line has been my face cleanser for a few years now. It’s gentle and leaves my skin feeling fresh and soft. I’m panicking a bit because it was discontinued. Thankfully, I can still stock up by buying on eBay. In addition, the deep cleansing foam from the same line is a suitable alternative.

I moisturize with Ultra Repair Cream by First Aid Beauty. This stuff is so totally gentle and keeps my face nice and moisturized. It’s also great for any dry patches I may get anywhere else on my body. I have found that moisturizers with sunscreen in them leave my skin feeling greasy and cause breakouts. I’ve had no trouble, however, when I put on Aveeno’s face sunblock after applying my moisturizer. It’s good stuff. Wear sunscreen!!!

I have to thank my friend Christie for suggesting the Sin shade by NARS to use on my cheeks. It’s a great everyday blush that works great with my skin tone. I sometimes use NARS The Multiple on my cheeks in either Malibu or Maui, depending on the season. When I want flush cheeks, I use the tarte for True Blood limited edition cheek stain.

My must-have for lips is a tube of Carmex, which never lets me down. For color, though, I like Stila’s Long Wear Lip Color in Rendezvous. If I’m going for something glossy and fun, I use Zuzu’s lip gloss in Mischief, which was a gift from Janesse. For something bold, I like Sephora’s cream lip stain in Endless Purple. Sephora isn’t messing around with their lip stain, people. All I need is a drop! It’s as if I am painting my lips. It stays on long and is meant to be noticed.

I don’t do much in the way of eye makeup. I put on mascara maybe once a week. Blinc makes a great mascara — this was another recommendation by Christie. Once it’s dry, it doesn’t smudge no matter how much you rub your eyes (I speak from experience) and rubs off cleanly with warm water. I have also tried Blinc’s liquid eyeliner… ‘tried’ meaning that I managed to get it everywhere near my eye except where it’s supposed to go. Thank goodness it comes off with water. I need to practice my liquid liner skills. P.S. I had some trauma last week when I mascaraed my eyeball. All is good!

I finish off my face with a loose powder by Estee Lauder. It’s a nice translucent finish and works well on its own when I’m in a hurry or just want to wake up my face a bit before I go out.

Allow me to end this post by saying that I LOVE SEPHORA. I can easily spend an hour or two there trying products. A visit there can lift your spirits if you’re having a bad day, or can be a fun girls activity if you’re at the mall with a good girlfriend or a bored niece. I remember being totally intimidated by Sephora when it first appeared in the Chicago area. Have no fear: no one will bother you if you don’t want to be bothered but they will be really helpful if you want advice. (Okay, now give me free stuff for plugging your store, Sephora. Thanks.)

First Aid Beauty

One of my pet peeves about winter is that my skin gets dry and flaky. Certain areas of my body get hit worse than the rest – the back of my legs, shoulders, and my cheeks and neck.

I was lucky to get a sample of Ultra Repair Cream by First Aid Beauty, and it has quickly become my new winter-dry-skin solution. It’s not too heavy, it smells good, and it comes in a tub which is a major plus. (I have used Aveeno in the past, but so much goes to waste because of the packaging.) The other major plus is that I can use the cream on both my face and my body.

First Aid Beauty products are available exclusively at Sephora. Finally… one of the many samples I have gotten from them have led me to discover a new product that I will actually use. It’s not cheap, but the price isn’t ludicrous, either. So, stop by Sephora, try it out, and let me know if you like it as much as I do.

I Officially Love Kris Allen

Pic from www.krisallenofficial.com

Sorry, Blake Lewis. Sorry, David Cook. I still love you guys, but Kris Allen is my new favorite American Idol contestant. I didn’t watch–no, I refused to watch American Idol the season that Kris was on. It was hard to not know what was happening, though. It was the season of the enigma that is Adam Lambert, that dude with the hat, the girl with the red hair, and Kris’s rendition of Kanye’s “Heartless”.

I probably wouldn’t have heard anything about Kris Allen post-Idol if it weren’t for the fact that I follow @rickey of Rickey.org on Twitter. It was through Rickey’s site that I heard “Live Like We’re Dying,” the first single off Kris Allen’s record. My only issue with the song is that Kris didn’t write it, but it’s a good poppy song with lyrics that make you think, he sounds good in it, and it indicated to me that the rest of the record would be filled with songs that are listenable and meaningful (to him, not necessarily to me, but you know what I mean).

Okay. So the truth is that I liked Kris Allen’s album because it was something I could listen to without really listening to it. It’s benign, has slow and fast stuff, it won’t ruin your day, it won’t rile you up, and you can bop your head and sing along to it if you want to. It’s the epitome of “catchy.” The more I listened to it… the more I listened to it. And then I started to really like it. And then I started to really think about it. Some songs make me smile. Some songs make me sad. Some songs even make my eyes water sometimes, if I’m PMSing or whatever.

Thanks, Kris Allen. You’ve made me feel better on bad days. And for that, you made it on my list of things I love.

Kris Allen Official Site
Follow Kris Allen on Twitter – he’s a fun guy to follow regardless of what you think about his music.

Friction Jewelry

Friction Jewelry is one of my favorites right now. Here’s how I discovered them: I was visiting a friend, we went to a bar, the bartender had on a fantastic necklace, we asked where she got it, she said she got it at a Shecky’s event, I did some digging on Shecky’s Web site and figured out the vendor that she got the necklace from. I friended Friction Jewelry on Facebook and then finally bought stuff from them at Shecky’s Girls Night Out that took place in Chicago this past September. I’m glad to say that my experience with the jewelry makers and sellers both online and in person has been very pleasant.

Their True Leaf necklaces (pictured above) are cute and unique, which I absolutely love. They are made from real leaves that are dipped in gold, copper, or silver. I’m so glad to have a silver birch leave of my very own.

Leaves aren’t their only thing. There are a lot of great pendants to choose from and any girl (or guy, let’s not discriminate) is bound to find something they like from the collection. I picked a silver hummingbird for myself.

Friction Jewelry also makes leather cuffs and tons of pretty earrings. See for yourself at their Web site (www.frictionjewelry.com). You can purchase their stuff online. Also be sure to friend them on Facebook and read their blog to find out when they might be setting up near you. I’ve already got my eye on some more earrings and necklaces for myself!

All pics are from frictionjewelry.com.

Medium, 3 creams, 2 sugars

It’s tasty, it’s hot, you get it right when you ask for it, sometimes you don’t even have to leave your car to get it, and it costs $1 (plus 9 cents tax in Cook County). My friends, I am of course talking about a medium coffee at McDonalds.

Another perk is that it’s less calories than the soy vanilla lattes that I usually get from another popular place. Delicious.

I also absolutely love the iced coffee at McDonalds. Yummy!!! But it’s more calorific and more pricey. Thus, iced coffees are enjoyed in moderation.