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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Food & Fit Diary: April 22, 2015

Breakfast: French toast, banana, and a latte





Lunch: Oatmeal, apple, and a latte



Snack: Sliced strawberries with a little sugar





Dinner: Chicken and dumplings, and a salad




Water: Only 3 cups today...pitiful...need to work on that...

Total calories for the day was 1,362. Not bad.

Workouts: rest day

Monday, April 6, 2015

#manimonday : Purple Glitter Fade

For this look I used Julep polishes in Tyra, Queen Anne, and Danica. Danica is more violet in person, but it has a lot of blue micro-fine shimmer throughout so my camera picks it up blue. I just used the basic "ombre" nail polish technique using a cosmetic sponge. There are tons of tutorials on YouTube for this method if you aren't familiar with it. Very beginner friendly nail art!

If you want to check out Julep polishes for yourself, click here!

What are you guys rocking on your nails this week?



Saturday, April 4, 2015

Swatch & Review: Avon Ultra Color Indulgence Lip Color

Ultra Color Indulgence lip color is the latest and greatest in Avon lipsticks! These lip colors are creamy, moisturizing, lightweight(thanks to no heavy waxes), and leave a beautiful dewy finish on the lips. Most shades have medium to full coverage, with the exception of just a few that I will get to down below. They also have a light fruity fragrance to them that smells yummy and not at all overwhelming.

So, here are some swatches for you! The top lip swatches are with a flash, the bottom for each color is normal indoor light.

First up is In Bloom. This shade is a very pale pinky nude. Normally, shades like this would leave me looking very pasty and washed out but this shade applies with light/medium coverage so enough of my natural lip color comes through to prevent that from happening. It is easily built up though if you want it lighter and more opaque. There is the tiniest hint of  golden champagne like super fine shimmer to this color.

Honey Flower is a little more my speed when it comes to "nude" lip colors. It has a warm peachy-pink  undertone to it. Applies full coverage with no detectable shimmer.

Petal Pink is one of those light, cool toned Nicki Minaj-esque pinks. Doesn't look that great on me, but it applied well. Full coverage and no shimmer.

Pink Blossom has about the same depth as Petal Pink, but is definitely a warmer pink and looks much better on me. This is one of my favorites out of the bunch. Applies full coverage with no shimmer.

Peach Petunia is my absolute favorite of all of them! The perfect pinky-peach for Spring and Summer. Applies full coverage with no shimmer.

Rose Bouquet is a muted berry shade. This is another favorite! Applied like a dream, full coverage and no shimmer. This shade is perfect for anyone who really wants to rock a red lip but is nervous to go full-on red. It suits all skin tones and will work in all seasons.

Day Lily is a plum-y mauve. This is another shade that will suit pretty much any skin tone and work year round. It applies full coverage and doesn't have any shimmer.

Poppy Pink is a vibrant hot pink. Another favorite! It applies full coverage and has no detectable shimmer.

Orchid Petal is a bright pinkish purple. Love this color! It applies full coverage, and has the very faintest hint of violet shimmer in it. You really don't notice it at all unless the light hits it just right.

Red Tulip is a true red. Not too orange, not too blue, not too brown...just true red. It applies full coverage and has no shimmer. This one's another favorite of mine.

Plum Verbena is a deep reddish plum. It applies pretty sheer(and looks pretty that way), but if you build it up for more coverage it does get a little streaky and color settles into the lines of the lip.

Chocolate Rose is the deepest of the bunch, a dark reddish brown. This one also applies sheer(again, I like it that way) and gets streaky when built up for more coverage.

For the most part I love this line. The only color that I really can't wear is Petal Pink, it is just too cool for me. I personally am happy that the two darkest shades apply sheer because colors like that that are opaque have a tendency to look a little too Lorde-ish on me, and, well, I'm not Lorde.

What do you guys think of these new lipsticks? Which colors do you like the best?

If you would like to check out this new line of lipsticks for yourself, click here













Monday, March 23, 2015

Book Review | Snacktastic!

Cooking Light Snacktastic!: 150-Calorie Snacks That Keep You SatisfiedCooking Light Snacktastic!: 150-Calorie Snacks That Keep You Satisfied by Editors of Cooking Light

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I like the variety in this book! There are recipes for dips, spreads, smoothies, snack mixes, spiced nuts, cookies, granola, you name it. A few of the recipes are repeats from other Cooking Light cookbooks that I own, I really don't mind though because it's just convenient to have all of these snack recipes together in one book instead of flipping back and forth between the other cookbooks. You will need a food processor for some recipes, but other than that no special equipment is needed for these snacks.

Most of the recipes are pretty simple and use ingredients that you probably already have on hand.

Nutritional information for macro-nutrients is listed with each recipe, nice for anyone counting calories or doing Weight Watchers, etc.



View all my reviews

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Book Review | The Empathy Exams

The Empathy Exams: EssaysThe Empathy Exams: Essays by Leslie Jamison

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


"I want to show off my knowledge of something.Anything."

That one sentence pretty much sums up the whole book. Every essay felt like an attempt to show off how smart she is. She's much better at writing about feelings than actually feeling them. Which would have been fine if her thoughts weren't so vague and scattered. She uses a lot of words in such a circular way that by the time you've finished the 218 pages you've read only a tiny bit of actual information on a lot of different subjects.

Most essays have a pretty easy to figure out formula:

1. Pick a hot button issue/little known fact to grab the readers attention.

2. Use a lot of flowery language(to sound super smart) or an excess of profanity(to make sure everyone knows she's also edgy and cool)in a circular way so that by the end of the essay the reader forgets what the topic of the essay even was.

3. Uses the circular language as a segue into a story about herself that only vaguely relates to the original topic of the essay.

She goes out of her way to tell the reader personal information about herself(i.e. getting an abortion, having an eating disorder, addiction, cutting, promiscuity...) but stops at that. No additional information, no history, just here's my problem. It's like she's fishing for empathy for herself from the reader. Which, I wouldn't have minded at all if she had given some insight into why she had those behaviors. It's hard to feel empathy about a situation when you have NO idea why it's taking place. Was she abused, bullied, neglected? Or is she experiencing some sort of unprovoked psychotic break that requires medication to control her self-harming behaviors? I don't know.

When you get to the end of the book it all just feels like a major let down. No insight into empathy, humanity, her...anything.

There were so many missed opportunities within the subjects of each essay to have really meaningful conversations about empathy that the book became just plain aggravating to read.



View all my reviews

Book Review | The Invention of Wings

The Invention of WingsThe Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book was just okay to me. I think given the political climate during the time period this story was written in, both for slavery and women's rights issues, and the fact that it's based on a REAL person's life...who was a woman...and owned a slave...that was a woman...it just fell short.

Every essay just kind of skimmed the surface of emotions that the characters would have been feeling in the situations they were dealing with. It actually took me months to finish this book because there wasn't anything really gripping my attention or making me feel the need to keep reading.

It was alright but could have been so much better.



View all my reviews

Monday, January 26, 2015

Swatch & Review: Julep Orbital Eyshadow in Borealis

If you saw my swatch &review post last month for Julep's Orbital shadow in Supernova, you already know I LOVE these shadows! So, naturally, when they released a couple new colors this month I had to pick one up:-) I decided to get Borealis, which was described as charcoal with peacock shimmer.


Gorgeous!!


It was really hard for me to pick up the color shift in this shadow with my camera, but basically it is a deep charcoal base and, depending how the light hits it and how much light you have, will reflect with green, turquoise, or blue shimmers. REALLY stunning stand-alone shadow! In the swatches above the first swatch is 1 layer dry, the second is 2 layers dry, and the third is 1 layer wet.

Just like with the Supernova shadow, I do recommend using a flat shader brush to apply this. It's the best way to pick the shadow up. The shadow is super sparkly, so you will want to use a base and do your eyes before the rest of your makeup to clean up the fallout easily.

Overall, I am in love with these Orbital shadows and HIGHLY recommend picking some up if you like sparkle and unique colors!

Here is a look I did last week with this shadow:-)