Sunday Summary

First off, I want to thank everyone for your kind comments on my most recent post. I really, really appreciate them, even if I'm putting off replying to them because I don't know how to express my gratitude (also, social anxiety). I'm still feeling a little blue, and more than a little overwhelmed, but I'm trying to just keep myself in the relative present. Here are some things that have helped:

Tea! I ordered a bunch of loose tea samples from Adagio, since there's not really anyplace in Eugene that sells a wide variety, and have slowly been sipping my way through them. I'm drinking the Spiced Maté right now (also pictured to the right), but I've also really enjoyed the Rooibos Lemon Cloud, Rooibos Earl Grey, Rooibos Chai (I like rooibos tea, clearly!), and black Earl Grey Lavender. I've placed another order with some more flavors, particularly more black teas because I've realized that tea provides some much-needed caffeine on early mornings and upsets my stomach much less than does coffee. I really like the Adagio website––it's sensibly organized, has pretty visuals, provides lots of information, and the tea is so affordable! Sample bags are $2 for enough tea to make 10 cups, and even with my 12 oz tea mug that's still nearly 7 cups' worth. Relatedly, I am also enjoying lactose-free milk. Thanks, world.

Sunday Summary

Tomorrow is the first day of school, which is pretty much always preceded by a massive freakout on my part. Sure, I've been doing it for 17 years, but every year (actually just about every term) I become convinced that I'm going to fail and be thrown out of school in disgrace. Knowing how absurdly illogical that is has not yet been sufficient to keep the panic from appearing, but maybe this is the year that will change! I plan to try and finish tidying my rooms and do lots of blog stuff to keep my mind off of it, so you can probably look forward to a slew of posts this next week as a result of my productivity!

Here are some pictures of the past few days for your entertainment.

The first Tibalu delivery! (Tibalu is my mother's new business; she makes seasoned nuts and granola clusters that are out of this world delicious, and I get to eat all the leftovers, whoooo!) 48 bags each of Jamaican Jerk mild hot, Dark Chocolate, Thai Green Curry, and Blueberry, and 24 bags of Jamaican Jerk Extra Spicy, headed for the UO to be sold in 6 of the cafes on campus. I'm so proud of her! And excited to buy my very first retail Tibalu bag. If you're not in the Eugene area but want to try some, let me know and we'll see what we can arrange (she also makes baller granola which is not currently available for sale to anyone, but I anticipate that will change sometime soon as everyone absolutely loves it). You should also like the Tibalu Facebook page and Twitter! Especially because I'm the administrator behind the Twitter account, and will therefore probably throw in random shit completely unrelated to the business. And also I am currently the only person following Tibalu, which is just sad.

Sunday Summary

Next week is my last week of class! It's hard to believe I've known my students for 8 weeks now. I'm going to miss them when the class is over––I'm just hoping I can keep from crying on the last day (I have overactive tear glands, in both sad and gleefully happy times). The first four days of the week are going to be workworkwork (and I need to finalize lesson plans and figure out some ideas for activities after I finish writing this post!), but Friday I told them we would have a party. I'm still going to make them learn English, but there will be food and prizes and no quizzes! Should be a fun time.

That's really all I've got, y'all. That, and the observation that I have gone so far over my monthly beauty budget it is not even funny. Oh and also that I'm going to a wedding back east with the boy in a couple of weeks, and I have my dress! Still waiting on lipstick, though (and yes, lipstick is at least as important as the dress, c'mon folks). And, of course, a watermelon update. I took the most recent picture yesterday, again after a 5 day interval:

Baby!

Eegads

Grown some more

Barely fits in my hand anymore!

It's not been nearly as warm the past week as it was 2 weeks ago, so its growth has slowed considerably, but it is definitely still getting bigger. Another update in a few days!

What new, interesting, or exciting things have you been doing lately?

Monday Summary

Well, this is a day late, but at least Monday rhymes with Sunday, right? WHATEVER. Here's some pictures of my weekend.

Saturday: Went to Bite of Benton with my mother. $5 to get in, loads of free food samples and (relatively) cheap wine samples. Got rather overstimulated because me + big crowds = stress, but the food was great (thank God for lactase), and I'm always happy to spend some time with my mother! Stopped by my brother's on our way there, since the festival was in Corvallis, where he lives. Took a nap on his couch. Good times.

Free food from Market of Choice! So many choices! So
much deliciousness.

Buffalo jerky is delicious, y'all. So moist. So flavorful.
So expensive.

Bacon cheeseburger sliders! Which my mother had to
wait in line foreverrr to get. But so nommy...

Other things I ate but didn't photograph: Cafe Yumm, mini churros, marionberry cider, pinot gris, and syrah. And lots of water.

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday! Here's some pictures I've snapped recently.

Baby watermelon! I love that they have their characteristic stripes even when they're so tiny. Isn't it just adorable?! This is one of the bigger ones we have, but it's still super cute.

Sunday Non-Summary

Remember back when I said I would have more time for blogging after school got out? That may have been a lie. I'm teaching English at the university this summer (Oral Skills level 5), which is every day, though fortunately only for 50 minutes (110 on Friday). Unfortunately, I have absolutely no experience with teaching English, so I get to spend lots of time prepping. Classes start Monday, though we have the 4th off (whee!), and I'll undoubtedly ramble on about my students and class on here. I've also been spending a lot of my free time with the boy, which really cuts into my blogging time! Not that I mind it, of course, but I do feel a bit bad for neglecting y'all. I have a new camera (simple point-and-shoot, Canon ELPH 100 HS), but it's been blechy and rainy here so I haven't really had the chance to have lots of fun with it yet. But I will! It's about half the size of my old camera (a Canon Powershot from 5 years ago), which means I can actually carry it around in my purse without feeling like I'm lugging a brick with me, so hopefully I'll get better about taking pictures of pretty things (food, flowers, cute shoes, weird bugs, etc.).

Instead of doing a normal Sunday Summary post (which I do realize I haven't done in months and I am so sorry and I promise I will get better about it!), I'm just going to chatter about random things.

1) Objects of Desire
Chanel's released their fall and Bombay Express collections, and hot damn, there are some gorgeous pieces.

Troublant (left) and Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in some random shade (right), via Chanel

I'm really tempted by the Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Troublant, reviewed on Pink Sith here. I'm such a sucker for plummy MLBB shades. $28.50 isn't that bad, right? Right? It's going on my serious wishlist. Maybe I'll buy it for my birthday...

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday, lovelies! It's been awhile since I've done one of these, but with the long weekend I feel like I have a bit more breathing room work-wise (rightly or not, ha!) so I actually feel like I have the time! I went winetasting with my mother today; it was sadly overcast, but not too cold, and it didn't rain, so all in all a weather semi-win. We went to Sarven Winery and did their flight and got cheese and bread to go with it; I neglected to take a picture until I had already decimated quite a lot of the cheese, but here it is:

Olives, apple, and manchego cheese

Still-warm baguette, yum

Sunday Summary

Hello, lovelies. I hope you've had a pleasant weekend! As usual, I spent mine doing work, though this weekend focused on recording and synthesizing some stimuli for an experiment I'm running, so I spent a lot of time in the lab. Such will be my life for the next few weeks! That, and grading 80 midterms and dialect projects. Lovely. On the upside, at least it's sunny! Though that really just makes being cooped up in a sound booth even more frustrating, ha!

Out in a Pout wrote a great post on parabens and how important it is to be aware of the scientific research and not just succumb to the marketing hype. Very well written and insightful!

Nails and Noms has some swatches of Nerd Lacquer polishes, which I am still coveting. Now I want Cold and Calculating and Event Horizon, sigh.

Lucy's Stash always posts the most awesome nail art manis, and the ones that I found particularly enchanting include a tape manicure, thin draggy mani (no idea what to call the style, but it's super awesome), and two gradient manicures. Some people are so talented!

Pink Sith has the low-down on the new sunscreen regulations. Very informative!

Delicate Hummingbird's review of YSL's Glossy Stain 15 has furthered my resolve to add one to my collection. I so wish there were someplace nearby to swatch!

Now Smell This, Perfume Posse, Grain de Musc, Bois de Jasmin, and Perfume Smellin' Things have posted their Top 10 of Spring 2012. Read it, and then go back in the archives and read all their other Top 10 lists, though only if you want to add a bunch to your "need to sniff" list.

And lastly, xkcd discusses the importance of periodically clearing one's browsing history. Right now, mine's got a lot on volcanoes, earthquakes, Stonehenge, prehistoric societies, genetics, and perfume ingredients. Not necessarily viewed in that order.

What links have you enjoyed this week?

Sunday Summary

Hey, all. I've been sick this weekend so haven't felt like doing much of anything (which has been unfortunate, since I have two 40-page math-heavy ling articles that I have to lead discussion for tomorrow, oh goody), so this Summary is going to be short and sweet:

Delicate Hummingbird is back! And she did some major hauling while she was on her blog break. I'm glad there are people out there like her who like trying and having so many different products, since it makes them a great resource for the rest of us! She's the one who alerted me to the awesomeness of CARGO blush, so I'm glad she's back :)

Cafe Makeup featured several Le Métier de Beauté lipsticks (not sure if they're new for the season or not), and created a new lemming for me, Dubai. Doesn't it look so lovely? Major MLBB potential. I'm hoping it's not LE so that I can buy it someday down the road when I'm wanting a luxe lipstick.

Christine's been reviewing all 16 of the new MAC Fashion Sets (coordinating lipstick, lip gloss, and nail polish, and OMG her poor lips!), and while most of the sets hold less than no appeal for me, I'm really digging Girl About Town. Probably not enough to buy any of the items, since I already have a happy pink lipstick and think the stickiness of MAC's Lipglasses sounds just terrible, but golly, I do love looking at the pictures!

And The Bloggess is on tour and is posting from her archives; this one is from 2008, on how she got cross-dressing legos. Her daughter's response: priceless.

And that's all, folks! What links have you been loving this week? When was the last time you were sick?

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday! It was gloriously sunny here this weekend, and I got to hang out some in the sunshine. Unfortunately, I've still got a lot of syntax problem set and probabilistic grammar reading to do, but I'm still glad I could spend some time in the warmth!

Scrangie has swatches of the new Deborah Lippmann chrome polish collection. I don't love any of them enough to warrant the $18, but I'm hoping other brands will put out dupes...she also has swatches of the upcoming NARS for Thakoon collection, full of bright and beautiful cremes. Kutki is calling my name, which is weird, because pale blue + creme finish is the antithesis of everything I value, but it's so pretty!
naturalNchicmakeup has a great review of Laura Mercier Oil-Free Foundation, and it makes me want to try it! Maybe I can snag a sample the next time I'm near a LM counter (which will be who knows when, since there isn't one in Eugene!)
Let Them Have Polish shares a gorgeous layering combo, which she deems "Coal Digger" (yesss, Modern Family reference!)
Lucy's Stash has pictures of her Easter egg mani, which is just too cute for words.
The PolishAholic weighs in on the whole Ciaté Caviar Manicure debacle. If you haven't heard about it, check out her post (or one of the many, many others linked in hers!), and even if you have, take a look to see her pretty interpretation of the trend!
Scents of Self writes up her recent sniffing adventures
Café Makeup shares her new labeling system

And, for non-beauty links:
Abstruse Goose has a random comic about fighting evil with a broom
The Bloggess has a characteristically hilarious tale of her husband's bafflement in the face of bedecked mice
Cute Overload catches the Easter Bunny prepping for the big day

What links have you been loving?

Sunday Summary

Happy Easter! We don't really celebrate 'round these parts, though when I was growing up we always had a big Easter egg hunt (I insisted that we evenly divide the loot after, even though I always got the most, mostly because I didn't want to risk not getting my fair share!). My brother and his girlfriend were going to come down for dinner, but apparently decided they were too busy––they're moving into a new apartment, so I guess that's understandable. So it's just me, my mom, my grandparents, and my aunt, and a whole lotta ham. Yum!

Instead of posting links from the past week, I thought I should change it up and share some of my favorite bunny pictures. Enjoy!

Clapping bunny!

Flying bunny!

Pancake bunny!

Actual name, Oolong. Check out his Wikipedia page here.

 The bunny I befriended in Sweden:

He visited me while I was sleeping...

And hippity hopped all around

And foraged for food

While showing off his wicked hair.

I hope your day has bunnies and chocolate :-)

Sunday Summary

Okay, I'm taking a little break from my finals-slaying to post a few links that I found particularly enjoyable this past week. Because yes, even when I'm drowning in work, I still find (make?) time to stalk my favorite blogs!

Beauty Reductionista (who is awesome, and whose inventory posts I plan to imitate) requests that bloggers stop using word verification for their comments. It's well-written, nice, and so true. I hate those things. (Not well-written or nice, so obviously, go read hers!)

Sarah from Chalkboard Nails (also awesome) does a guest post for Fashion Polish (ditto) on her splatter mani. So pretty! Sometime when the weather's nice and I've got the time, I will have to try it.

Out in a Pout gives the three things that a skincare "expert" says that show the contrary. Very interesting!

Scrangie posts a NOTD of Nfu Oh 51 over Spa Ritual Blue Moon. It is beautiful. I want the Nfu Oh.

Temptalia shares a video on her makeup storage system. Confession: I haven't watched the whole thing (it's half an hour long), but if you're looking for tips on organizing your stash, who better than the queen of beauty blogging to turn to?

Lipglossiping writes a hilarious post on the new Tweezerman "cheetah" tweezers. It includes advice on whether to climb a tree to escape from a hungry cat or not. Read it.

And, as usual, a couple of Dinosaur Comics that made me giggle: one on opera as drug (including bonus Batman!) and the dramz that divorce will one day wreak. Giggle snort.

Now, off to finish my syntax final! Any links that have caught your eye? (Since, c'mon, there's only so much finaling I can take without a break.)

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday! I hope the lost hour isn't affecting you too terribly, though I know I'm certainly feeling grouchy about it. I've spent the weekend doing lots of work, as always, but I've also gone out and been social every night (which is extremely rare for me!), plus I have a date this evening. I'd be able to enjoy it more if I didn't have a presentation tomorrow! Ah well, at least I'm not bored :-)

There were a lot of great posts this week (I feel like I say that every week, but by golly, it's true!).
Getting Cheeky reviews Illamasqua's Panic blush, an intensely saturated red. It's gorgeous and pigmented, though I wonder if there's any way I could apply it and not end up looking like a crazed clown!
Messy Wands continues to make me want to buy all the things with her post on Guerlain's Rouge G in Garçonne. I don't even wear red lipstick often enough to justify having more than one (two tops), but it's just so freakin' beautiful! And $48, so...it will just have to hang out on my wishlist for the next decade or so.
Scrangie has a great comparison post of Max Factor Fantasy Fire and Clarins 230, Urban Decay Toxin, and Nfu Oh 51. So gorgeous! And so hard to find! If you're in Great Britain and want to do a swap, let me know, because I would just love to get my hands on that pretty. She also has swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Prismatic Chroma glitter polishes. Some of them are cool, but I'm still not sold...I hope I can find the Wet N Wild ones that are supposed to be popping up soon so that I can only have to pay $3 instead of $8!

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday! It was gloriously sunny and warm here this weekend, which made it extra painful that I had to stay inside doing work. Only 2 weeks left of classes, and the work is steadily piling up. I was able to be pretty productive this weekend, though, which has helped alleviate some of the panic!

nailXchange did a lovely tutorial on gradient nails. Maybe once I have time to do things like paint my nails I'll give it a try!
Cute and Mundane reviewed the new (LE?) NARS shadow, 413 BLKR, named after their flagship store at 413 Bleecker in New York. It's a lavender grey, and I think I want it even more than Lhasa! Depending on how much else I buy in New York, I may have to go by the store and get one for myself. So pretty!
The Swatchaholic has gorgeous swatches of a new Essence Colour & Go mini nail polish, called A Lovely Secret. I'm madly hoping that it's available in the US! Periwinkle with unusual shimmer? That's, like, amazing.
Almost as amazing as the new LE Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream. This is a seafoam green glitter, and seeing Nails and Nom's and the Beauty Reductionista's swatches of it convinced me to buy it. Seafoam green is my favorite color (and has been since, like, middle school––I love the ocean), and it's such a gorgeous, unique polish that I decided I would regret it forever if I didn't get it. At least, that's what I'm telling myself, to help soften the $18 price tag (ouch). But seriously: check out those swatches (and bottle pics), and this awesome macro. Can you resist?
KarlaSugar, blogger extraordinaire, has swatches of the new Cle De Peau Enriched Lip Luminizers, which are replacing their cult classic Extra Silky Lipstick (Temptalia's fave!). An updated formula accompanies the new case-and-refill model; the case is $25, and the refills are $35, making the initial price steeper than the Extra Silkys ($60 vs. $52), but it's definitely a better value if you'll be purchasing more than once! I can almost justify $35 for a lipstick, but $60 is just so far beyond my comprehension...maybe someday!
Messy Wands has lip swatches of the new Le Métier de Beauté Aurora Lip Kaleidoscope. It does make for a lovely pink lip, and I do love the Lip Crème formula, but for $95, it would have to be something really phenomenal before I would consider buying. If they ever put out one that has all plums, berries, and pinky-neutrals, I am screwed.

And, for non-beauty links:
This isn't from the last week, but I only read it recently, so I'm including it anyways! The one titled "Math" is the one to read (and laugh about).
Also, tupperware.
And, SO ADORABLE (as long as we ignore the name)! Maybe I should get a porcupine instead of a bunny (in my hypothetical world where I can afford a pet/have the patience to pet-proof my living space).
Most importantly, I only just discovered The Bloggess. How did I not know about her before?!?! My God, she is wonderful. I laughed, I cried, I procrastinated like crazy. Go now.

How has your weekend been? What links have caught your eye this week? 

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday, lovelies! I hope you've had a nice weekend. I had a date last night (!!!) with a super cute guy, and it was quite wonderful. We've got lunch planned for this Thursday, so I'll let y'all know how that goes :-) It's definitely nice to have someone to squeal about, haha. Also, tonight is the Oscars, so I'm looking forward to all the pretty dresses (and being able to judge all the not-pretty ones!).

A very quick rundown of some of the posts I enjoyed this week:
Jeweled Thumb reviews the new YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain in #5; she finds it to be glossy, but not staining.

Nihrida gives her step-by-step instructions for the perfect at-home manicure. Very helpful!

Getting Cheeky reviews Lipstick Queen's Medieval, a product I've been interested in for years. May not be all that exciting, though!

Goose's Glitter does an awesome colorblind test-inspired mani. Super cool.

Nails and Noms reviews Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Big Money, a champagne-gold and lavender glitter. I think it may be cool-toned enough to work on my skin, score! Now I just have to wait for it to go on sale...

Messy Wands (and the rest of the Lipstick Bandits) posts a perfect "starter" lipstick, for those just getting into makeup, Chanel's Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle. Needless to say, it's been added to my wishlist!

And, because I just can't help myself, a Dinosaur Comic on what makes people special (hint: "I think, therefore I am" is replaced by something rather more cynical and hilarious.)

What links have you been loving?

Sunday Summary

Another week has come and gone! I have, as expected, spent the weekend working on my syntax midterm (and grading some socio midterms!), but I'm taking a brief break from the annotating to give y'all some highlights from the past week.

Nailstah reviews an ingenious little contraption designed to hold polish bottles at an angle to get product from the bottom of the bottle. Plus, it looks like a ladybug! I want one!

Scrangie has some gorgeous pictures and swatches of Lorac's new Lips with Benefits lip gloss. Talk about works of art! I'm almost tempted to pick one up just to look at, since I don't actually like lip gloss, but my frugality will probably restrict me to just stalking Scrangie's post.

Temptalia reviews Tom Ford's $55 blush in Lovelust. So pretty, and jaw-droppingly expensive.

Let Them Have Polish did a gorgeous Hunger Games-inspired mani with one of Jordana's new glitters. Darn pretty!

Makeup Magpie posted another beautifully-photographed post on fragrance. If you don't follow her blog, you really should––her posts are always so impeccably crafted.

Getting Cheeky reviews Laura Mercier's Gel Lip Color in Clementine. Sounds divine! I may have to hunt them down when I'm in New York...

Messy Wands has swatches of Le Métier de Beauté's new (LE, I fear) Lip Crème in Red Velvet, a GWP with a $125 LMdB purchase from Neiman Marcus during their Beauty Event. She compares it to Chanel Dragon, and even though I already have that one (lucky me!), I am having to actively talk myself out of spending enough to get it.

Speaking of possible replacements for Chanel Dragon, Karen of MBB reviews the new gorgeous YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains in Fuchsia Dore; in 20 colors, perhaps one of them could suffice as the New Red!

theNotice did a characteristically-spastic post on Valentine's Day, just proving how much I love her.

And, because no Sunday Summary is complete without some randomness: Bunnies out for an adventure, and the most adorable picture of a mouse I have ever seen.

What links have caught your eye this week?

Sunday Summary

Whee, it's Sunday! I've spent my weekend doing lots of work and not much play. I have to write a paper on the alignment patterns of Lango, a Nilotic (African) language, so I've spent too many hours getting far too well-acquainted with the Lango grammar, and then I have ~30 essays to grade, not to mention a ton of articles to read and annotate. Thank heavens for Swat Guilt––at least I'm used to having too much work! I hope your weekend has been productive, relaxing, and/or fun!
What's the last TV show you watched?
Arrested Development! I recently discovered it on Netflix and have been watching it while I do my nails. I'm almost done with it, though :'-( What about you?

Links of the Week
Goose's Glitter tried out the $50 SensatioNail at-home gel manicure set and has an awesome review. $50 for LED lamp, polish, and various other accoutrements is a heck of a deal (though still outside my price range), and definitely worth checking out if you want a manicure that lasts up to 2 weeks!

The goddess Scrangie, nail and beauty blogger extraordinaire, has a truly fantastic post on magnetic nail polish tips and how-tos (and how-not-tos!). I cannot recommend it heartily enough if you're considering trying out magnetic polishes, or if you've tried them and not had complete succes (speaking!).

More China Glaze Magnetix swatches! This week, both Vampy Varnish and Scrangie shared their opinions of the collection. Basically, I really want them to arrive at my Sally's, goldarnit!

Temptalia featured another new/upcoming China Glaze collection this week: Hunger Games! Her swatches make me think I may need Luxe and Lush after all...oh dears.

Nihrida got some gorgeous Brazilian polishes and featured her favorite Ludurana, Emocionante. I want. And clearly I need to befriend a Brazilian who can send me all the pretties available there...

The Beauty Brains answers the question of what SPF to use, and why. The sun's been more present here than usual lately, and I should really pick up some sunscreen myself––thanks to them, I know to get at least SPF 30!

Makeup and Beauty Blog wrote about the magical brush-cleansing properties of Burt's Bees Mango Orange Energizing Bar, now added to my shopping list! She also posted a wonderful series of notes to herself. If you need a pick-me-up, this is the place to go!

theNotice wrote a characteristically spastic and hysterical review of Calvin Klein forbidden euphoria. So written should all fragrance reviews be!

Lipglossiping has a hilarious guide to treating yourself for Valentine's Day. Methinks she may be on to something!

Sunday Summary

Greetings, lovelies! I hope you've had a relaxing and/or productive weekend. I've spent mine doing a lot of reading and research, which is just...more fun than I can say. There's been a lot of great posts this week from the blogosphere, of which I have just a handful to share (since I am only one person and cannot keep track of the entire internet, especially with all the syntax reading I have to do!).

a england, a British polish brand owned by creator Adina, is releasing a new collection of holos, and I am loving them. I may seriously need to buy some of them, even though they're $14+, because, just, wow. Scrangie has swatches of 5 of the 7 colors, and thanks to her, I now know I need Dragon and St. George. Can you even believe those?! Vampy Varnish and Glitta Gloves' swatches confirm the necessity of my procuring those polishes. They're not yet available on the a england website, but they should be soon, and you can email the creator if you need them now. Awesomely, there's free worldwide shipping, which makes the per-bottle price pretty reasonable! They're also available from Llarowe for $12, though both Dragon and St. George are out of stock currently.
ETA: The Legends has arrived at the a england website! They're not limited edition, as far as I know, so you don't have to freak out about getting them now, but that's not stopping me from picking up Dragon!

In other polish news, swatches of China Glaze's Hunger Games collection are starting to pop up online. They're not supposed to be released until March (though some sources say sometime in February), which gives me plenty of time to giddily anticipate their arrival. Some of the shades fall flat for me, but Fast Track, Riveting, and Smoke and Ashes will be mine, damnit. Ahem. For pictures of those and the others from the collection, check out Scrangie, Makeup and Beauty Blog, and All Lacquered Up. Which shades are you loving?

Monthly beauty subscriptions are all the rage, and there's several players on the scene, including the new Beauty Army, reviewed by Pink Sith. If I had endless funds, I would love to try out all the options and see which ones are the best, but barring that, I'll continue enjoying reading about others' experiences!

Sunday Summary

I've decided to reinstate Sunday Summary, as much for my own benefit as for yours, dear readers. It's so much fun to get to go back through the posts from the past week and be reminded of what's new and interesting! Since I've started Currently Coveting, I won't include a section on products I'm interested in, but I will keep at least a question or two for the survey. And, as is true for all my features, don't count on this being reliably weekly!

There's been a load of posts on magnetic polishes this week, which thrills me no end. I'm still trying to find some cheap ones near me, but until then, I love looking at the swatches! China Glaze is coming out with a collection, Magnetix, that should hit Sally stores in February or March (I haven't been able to find any solid info on the US release, but it's coming out in the Netherlands in March, so...yeah), but some stores have gotten it in already, and they've sent the collection out to some bloggers. The PolishAholic and Nailstah both have swatches and reviews of the entire collection. ICING (and perhaps Claire's, though I haven't checked there myself) has also released a magnetic collection, and Let Them Have Polish has reviews of the blue-purple and gold-green options (and, while it wasn't technically posted in the past week, The PolishAholic has swatches of all four colors!). Lastly, Nouveau Cheap came across magnetic polishes at Rite Aid and posted her review and swatches. I picked one up yesterday and will do a post on it as soon as I have the chance to play with it some more.

Christine's added a couple of Rouge Automatique reviews to the Temptalia collection, Vega and Chamade. Vega is so gorgeous, wantwantwant.

Shannon of Lipstick Musings has recently embarked on a quest to make her beauty routine more natural and organic, and wrote a gorgeous post on a natural perfume from Aftelier. I am dying to try some samples myself!

Steph of Imperfectly Painted shares her bad experience with butter LONDON––I always find negative reviews to be refreshing (in part because then I don't feel like I'm the only one!), since it's great as a consumer to get as wide a range of experiences as possible. I imagine companies don't feel the same, but that's the beauty of the blogosphere!

And, because no Sunday Summary is complete without completely unrelated links, see here (and watch the video, zomg so cute). If you don't follow Cute Overload, your life is not complete. I hope you have some free time to catch up on all the cuteness.


And now, the questions (answer in the comments!):

What book are you reading?
Confession: I don't really have time to do pleasure reading at this point. I'm currently "reading" A Grammar of Modern Telugu for my syntax class, as well as Givón's Syntax I textbook, and a couple of sociolinguistics books for the class I'm GTFing, but I would love to hear what you're reading on the off-chance I have the time (and inclination) to do some of my own!

What's the last thing you ate?
Pistachios, still in the shell. It's amazing how much better they taste when you have to work to eat them!

Have you voted in the blog poll?
No, because I already know what I think (namely, find out what the readers want!). But if you haven't contributed your opinions yet, please do! I will be forever indebted to you :-)

Sunday Summary

Happy Sunday!  I hope you've had a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend.  Today is apparently National Food Day, so I hope you have plans to eat especially well today :-)  My mother is making lamb korma for dinner tonight, so I'm pretty excited about that!

Some of the many posts from this week that caught my eye:
Getting Cheeky explains how to be ecologically-conscious in your disposal of old nail polish
Ebrushka's Makeup Bag shows us a great storage solution for lipsticks from the Container Store
Scrangie has swatches of the new Nails Inc magnetic polish in Houses of Parliament; it is so freakin' cool, you simply must go check out her post
Let Them Have Polish is doing the 31 day challenge for nail polish, and her day 5 blue nails are absolutely unbelievable––I don't know how anyone can be that precise on their nails, since I can't even manage to keep the polish from getting all over my fingers!
And then, a couple of non-beauty related posts:
The Doghouse Diaries captures how we all feel about coffee, and
Toothpaste for Dinner expresses how we all feel about Netflix raising their prices (while poking fun at us all, too!)