Naked 3 Tutorial!

Have you ever tried any of the eleventy-billion eye shadow tutorials on YouTube? I have. And while I’ve had success with some of them, and some of them are great, in my experience they are a huge pain in the butt to follow. Even when I did have that kind of time, I didn't have that kind of patience. You have to keep going back and watching again, listen to the chatter, rewind, blah blah blah, OMG I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT COLOR GOES IN THE CREASE!!!

But there is another way! I have enlisted professional makeup artist Sheri Stafford to do some tutorials for us! And what we did for OUR tutorial, is provide step-by-step instructions and close up photos. Photos that don’t move! So you can look at them and see what’s what. Sort of like a map of where the colors go. Or a very blendy paint-by-numbers.

2014: Naked New Year!

The Naked3 Palette is in Sephora today! It’s been available (though not really since it was always sold out) on the Urban Decay site for a bit, and then VIBs were able to order it from Sephora a little ahead of time… which I totally did! Which is why I already have the Naked3 palette and didn’t have to walk allllll the way to the end of my street to buy one at the Sephora store that magically landed there back in November.

P.S. I went to the Grand Opening of that store. I was going to write about it, but basically the post would have been “HOLY CRAP IT’S LOUD AND CROWDED IN HERE! BUT NOW THERE’S A SEPHORA SUPER CLOSE TO MY APARTMENT!” So there it is. Done.

I have been a big Nakedfan since the first palette came out, then when the Naked2palette came out I liked it even better, so I have very high hopes for Naked3. Really though, they are all great palettes which is why in 2014 I’m launching NAKED NEW YEAR with the help of Sheri Stafford, a professional make-up artist and aesthetician who is going to TEACH US STUFF. 

I told you good things were coming to this site! Earlier today! When I wrote that other post! After hardly posting at all for this entire year! The baby is still sleeping!!!

Promise

I know it seems like I fell off the face of the internet, and kind of, I did. I don’t partake of the internetz while the baby is awake, and when he’s asleep, I am either showering, inhaling a meal, or working double-time to get stuff done around the house.

He’s in a completely adorable phase now where he screams a lot and is into EVERYTHING, especially things he shouldn’t be into. Yesterday he figured out how to slide open the credenza and remove a champagne flute. He’s almost 9 months old, so I guess I should have figured out a lock for that by now. I just thought I had a little more time. I didn’t expect him to be cruising yet either, but there you go. Boy’s on the move! Not that he’s good at it, hence the screaming. It goes along with the falling.  He really is very cute though.

Clearly, I have other priorities, and time sure does fly. But some day, I will have my shit together again, and if ever there was a time for resolutions, it’s the new year. So, along with losing the last 10lbs of baby weight, I WILL be getting this blog up and running again. And it’s going to be better than ever.

I have to do it because I said it on the internet, and everything on the internet is true.

Splish Splash

Last Saturday I somehow found a window of time to wash, dry, and flat iron my hair. Unsurprisingly, this window of time partially overlapped with baby's nap time. Unfortunately, this window of time preceded baby's bath time.

So I wore my shower cap.

Not only did it protect my hair from my splashy baby, my “funny hat” distracted him enough to reduce splashiness by half! As it turns out, wearing a shower cap with clothes isn't much less ridiculous looking than wearing a shower cap naked. Even to a baby.

Totally Oatally Awesome

I’ll tell you who’s running a racket: The people selling granola! I don’t know why took me so long to try making my own... maybe it was not enough time, or maybe it was because it didn’t seem worth the effort. But there is no effort. It was insanely easy and is insanely delicious. I have already eaten way too much of it, actually. It’s the best granola I’ve ever had, even better than the $10 kind!

My favorite kind is the $10 kind, which is what prompted me to finally give DIY a shot. That, and the fact that my apartment is freezing because we still have our window AC units in. In the northeast, summer stretched well into fall this year; then abruptly left us with a string of cold, rainy days. (You can tell it's cold from the light in the photo! But I don't have time to fix it.) Anyway, I was looking for a reason to turn the oven on and heat up the place, so I found a recipe for olive oil granola online and used the ingredient list from the bag of my favorite granola. The rest is magic.

A Hot Second

My baby has been asleep for one hour and twenty eight minutes. I showered, ate breakfast, put a load of laundry in, and painted my toenails an appropriate shade for today's weather: Essie "Too Too Hot". Then I started this post.

This kid generally naps for 17-29 minutes. Luckily, he spends most of the rest of the day being adorable. But if these long naps stick around, I'll be back to writing again soon. Keep your manicured (or not) fingers crossed!

Annnnd... He's awake.

This Just In: NOTHING.

Back in January, when I broke the pregnancy news, I never actually mentioned how far along I was. At this point, two months later, I can tell you the answer is VERY VERY. As in three days past my due date. While I was hoping that during the last couple months, I would catch up on all the stuff I had to do and be able to do some blogging, somehow that didn't happen.

I've been dealing with both the expected baby preparations and the unexpected b.s., most recently my cc# being stolen and my upstairs neighbor's bathroom leaking into mine. (Resulting in two big holes cut into my drywall to see where the leak was coming from.) So despite all my hard work and careful preparation, I somehow still have construction going on in my apartment during the time that I just want everything to be clean and calm and ready. It definitely could have been worse, but at this point I'm not sure if the baby will come first, or the superintendent.

Hopefully, I will be back to writing regularly before long, but at this point, it's definitely going to be a little longer! Miss you!

New Year, New Everything

Wow, it has been so long since I posted. Half of the time my life was too crazy, and the other half of the time I wasn’t sure how to jump back in. Okay, maybe 2/3 and 1/3 because everything is my life is changing and I've had so much to do. I’ve been super-busy, and I’ve only recently been like “I HAVE TO GET BACK TO THE BLOG.” Not that I don’t love you.

What, exactly, is new?

October Birchbox

I opted in to recieve the Goop co-branded Birchbox this month, and at first it was so much of a snooze I almost forgot to write about it. But upon closer inspection, it seems like there is some good stuff in here!

*Blush*

Sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth for a week! I got wrapped up in a project and basically dropped everything else, without warning. Oops. I may have to start doing only two posts a week, but I’ll keep up the best I can… because I still have to tell you stuff!

One such stuff is this Korres Cheek Butter.I picked it up toward the end of the summer, because I wanted a warmer option than the O-glow I’d been using, and this seemed like a really natural looking color. It’s the kind of “universal” pinky peach that looks good on everyone, according to a bunch of magazines I read, so I actually ended up ordering it online without even trying it at the store.

Rules For An Awesome Nail Salon

1. Provide a wide array of slightly dried out and/or separated polishes.
   
2. Manicurists should not allow customers to interrupt their conversations with each other, nor should they allow proximity to each other to limit conversation. That’s what shouting is for.
   
3. Use well-worn paper nail files aggressively.
   Avoid fine-grit boards if possible.
   
4. Always use ambiguously clean tools, with gusto!
   
5. If manicurists are not with a customer, they should stand around eating loudly and talking more loudly.
   
6. Have a rice cooker cooking rice, somewhere.
   Make sure aroma is evident.
   
7. Instruct employees to wash vegetables in the hand sink. (Recommended: Broccoli)
   
8. Allow manicurists to take personal phone calls while working on customer’s nails. Extra points if conversation is during polish portion of manicure.
   
9. Make sure there are no magazines anywhere.
   
10. Always try to include at least three misspelling per sign.
    
11. It should take no less than four rounds under the dryer to dry thick layers of polish.
    
12. All chairs should be uncomfortable, with torn vinyl and stains where applicable. 

In case you were wondering, it was $8, and probably worth it.
(Assuming I didn't catch nail herpes.)

Crème Of The Crap

Before there was BB Creamavailable, I used Tarte Smooth Operatortinted moisturizer. And before that, I used Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer,which was all the rage at the time. When I heard Laura Mercier had put her tinted moisturizer in a compact,I was definitely interested, mostly for touch-ups and travel. (Because I am still fiercely loyal to Dr. Jart!) So when I saw a Sephora promo code to get a free mini compact of the new tinted moisturizer, I snapped it up in a way that was very much like that little noise a compact makes when it closes.

Clearly, Time For A Mask

It’s October! Somehow! Already! But that’s okay, because I like October, but seriously, what happened to September? We don’t know. But since it's definitely October 1st, we might as well talk about a mask. Hahah. Do you get it?! A MASK!

Anyway.

Naked Too

I finally broke down and bought the Urban Decay Naked2eyeshadow palette. I’d been coveting it for months, but I had the original Naked Palette so I didn’t really need another one, even if the colors were a little different. Plus, conveniently, the little month indicator had worn off the velvet case, so I could play dumb about wether or not it was “expired.”

Bespectacled

Wow. So, it’s FALL, for reals, officially. I went outside in a sweatshirt and jeans today and I was still a little chilly! But that’s okay, because I love the change of seasons, and I was really starting to get sick of the heat and humidity. We’ve been treated to some truly gorgeous days this September.

I love fall fashion, I love fall foods, I love Halloween, and then Thanksgiving and Christmas and fondue and snow.

But.

September Birchbox

Fall Fashion Issues are such "a thing", that they’re the inspiration for this month’s Birchbox. There is even a tiny magazine inside, The Fall Lookbook. It features the Birchbox staffers modeling some of their favorite fall beauty trends, plus a few how-to’s. It’s cute, if a little catalogy.

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cookin'?

I don’t really buy cookbooks anymore because I have copy of the world’s largest cookbook, it’s called THE INTERNET. But one weekend afternoon, my husband and I stopped at Café Pedlar to get a cup of coffee (I got a really gorgeous cappuccino) and while we were waiting I noticed the The Frankies Spuntino cookbook for sale. The last time I ate at Frankies Spuntino I had gnocchi so good I actually got tears in my eyes because it reminded me so much of my grandmom.

I bought the cookbook. Obviously.

Face Off

I am as guilty as anyone of going out of the house without makeup on. Sometimes I go a little further from home than I should, if I can wear sunglasses. (But never further than I can travel on foot!) It’s not that I mind putting makeup ON, it’s that I hate taking it OFF. I would honestly love to have makeup on 24/7, which is probably why I was so crazy about those eyelash extensions, but taking it off is always a drag.

Over the summer, I reviewed some blueberry face wipes that were unimpressive. An anonymous commenter, who is currently totally missing her opportunity for a shoutout, recommended I try the ones from Trader Joe’s. Even though I can see Trader Joe’s from my apartment if I lean far enough out the window, I didn’t manage to get in there to track them down until recently. (Trader Joe’s stores in NYC get insanely crowded, so you have to go at just the right time. Which varies.)

Touche Me Once, Touche Me Twice

It’s been 100 years since I wrote anything about actual makeup! Maybe 100 days, but still, it’s been awhile! I guess during summer I wasn’t doing anything all that interesting, except for some lip glosses, or stains, or glossy stains. I was basically all BB Cream, O-Glow, and Buxom mascara all the time, with a little dust of whatever on occasion. The weather was just so sticky! It’s not the heat, you know, it’s the humidity. And also, it’s the heat.

Fall Flat

 

Have you done any fall shopping yet? I’m usually all over it, but I’m off to a slow start this year. Or maybe, it’s a “good” start, because I’m trying to carefully consider every purchase, and only buy and keep things I really love.

That said, I wore my new red flats on Friday, and I love them.