Saturday Surfing: December 9th, 2017

When Pantone declares that Ultra Violet is the new color of the year for 2018, the only thing to do is rush out and buy a Prince shirt from Target.

RIGHT?!

Between the Pantone announcement and Raspberry Beret, I took this as a sign from the universe that it was time for me to own a Purple Rain tee.

The shirts run small, so I got a large, assuming it would shrink a little. I wanted a slightly baggy fit. (They’re also available online!)

So the Target here in Novato is usually empty early on Friday afternoon, but with the holidays coming, everyone and their poodle was there…

On my official list was boring stuff I needed for the house (sponges, rubber gloves, laundry detergent), but ya know, it’s easy to get sidetracked in the beauty section, ‘specially when there’s a sale.

Ruchita, one of the gals who visits the blog (Say hi to her in the comments sometime! She’s super nice and assists many, many cute kittehs.), mentioned that I really need to try Espresso cream shadow by Revlon, which just so happens to be on sale…

I tried a few of the Revlon shimmer cream shadows a while back. They’re a lot like the MAC Paint Pots, but I haven’t tried any of the mattes, so I grabbed Espresso and Swiss Chocolate.

Also, not that I need another mascara (she said for the one zillionth time), but my makeup artist friend Vanessa Haro raves about $9 L’Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise, so I grabbed a tube…

FYI, one can easily spend an obnoxious amount of time debating with herself whether to get Black Noir or Blackest Black mascara.

In the end, Blackest Black won the debate.

Fun fact: did you know that losing hair ties to the Black Hole of Things Never to Be Found Again is not just a grown lady thing?! Toddlers are afflicted by this condition as well.

I got Connor a pack of colorful Goody Hair ties for her ponytails not too long ago, and they’ve all disappeared.

Sometimes I find one in the car, on the bathroom floor or under a cushion on the couch, but there were A LOT in that package when it started… I picked up a replacement pack.

Connor also picked out some new bows and tried on some cat ears for fun.

Before we left the beauty aisles, we got a wonderful surprise. We bumped into an MBB reader named Sharaz! She was doing a bit of beauty shopping for herself and was nice enough to say hi. 🙂 Thank you, Sharaz. It was great meeting you!

I’m so excited about my beauty loot! I can’t wait to wear Revlon Espresso this weekend.

But before that, let’s do some Saturday surfing. 🙂

Here are the stories that caught my eye this week…

• I thought this piece in the New York Times by author Ashton Applewhite was very thought-provoking:
  

  “Appearance matters. Adornment pleases. But society’s obsession with the way women look is less about beauty than about obedience to a punishing external standard — and power. When women compete to ‘stay young,’ we collude in our own dis-empowerment. When we rank other women by age, we reinforce ageism, sexism, lookism and patriarchy. What else we can we all agree on? This is one bad bargain. It sets us up to fail.”

• How makeup is currently an integral part of the performance aspect of women’s wrestling.
• If you’re a woman working in science, the L’Oréal USA For Women in Science fellowship program annually awards $60,000 grants to five postdoctoral scientists for their contributions each year to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and for their commitment to serving as role models for younger generations.

  The application period is open now and runs through February 2nd, 2018.

• Tabs and I would love to attend this cat party and see you there, so bring your cat and something to share!
• Vantablack is the truest, darkest black in the world. Now, if someone could only figure out a way to replicate it in a Chanel Stylo Yeux liner…
• Soon you might be able to try on all of the lipsticks at your favorite beauty store by tapping the screen on your phone.
• Another big beauty brand just bought an independent line. Unilever purchased Sundial Brands (they make Nubian Heritage, Shea Moisture, and Madam C. J. Walker), the largest black-owned beauty business in the United States.
• Just in case you were looking for a $10,000 hair dryer…
• The best under-eye color correctors and how to use them

I can’t get enough of Alissa Ashley’s videos. She’s REALLY GOOD at describing the “why” behind her techniques, and it’s very helpful. I learned a few new tricks from this tutorial for brown smoky hooded eyes.

Cassey is one of my favorite fitness instructors. She thoroughly explains everything, and her upbeat personality really helps get me through those last reps.

This stretching video isn’t super intense, but I’ve been trying to work on my flexibility (I can’t stretch for sh*t, man!), and it’s been helpful. I do it once a day, usually early in the morning.

Take me back to 1992! I heard this on 102.1 (the Bay Area’s throwback hip-hop station!) yesterday, and I’m FEELING IT.

OK, friend, now that I’ve show you mine, you have to show me yours. 🙂 Tell me about your most recent beauty run. Did you find anything good this week?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen