Among other mind-blowing things I’ve learned in the last few weeks…did you know that when silent film starlets would wear lipstick on camera in the 1920s, the lipstick would register as black on film? Also, although perhaps less interestingly, I’ve finally figured out that the key to properly using face masks is — drum roll, please — reading books!
For serious.
Yes, I know. Face masks have many skin benefits, especially for combo skin like mine, but I absolutely loathe waiting for them to dry because it feels like there are so many other important things I need to be doing, like plotting to arrange the marriage of Idris Elba and Beyoncé so they can finally adopt me and make all my dreams come true. 🙂
If I apply a mask before I sit down to read, though? Oh, man, the time just flies, and my skin is better for it!
The mask I’ve been hitting the books with lately (reviews below) is by Origins.
Origins Clear Improvement Charcoal Honey Mask to Purify and Nourish ($34 for a 2.5-oz. jar)
I usually steer clear of anything “purifying” or “detoxifying” because they often render my cheeks dry and tight (UGH), but Origins spiked this deep-cleansing mask with honey to moisturize while it draws out the gunk from your pores.
It smells like honey, and it kinda feels gooey like honey, too, but it’s weirdly satisfying when I smear it all over my face. I’ll read a chapter or two as it dries, then rinse it off, and my skin just glows afterwards.
From the Origins website…
WHAT IS IT
This gentle purifying mask deeply detoxes while nourishing skin, leaving it feeling comfortably clean, clear & conditioned.WHAT IS IT FORMULATED TO DO
Formulated with Bamboo Charcoal, this purifying mask actively deep cleans & draws out deep-dwelling pore-cloggers, impurities & debris. Golden Wildflower & Fermented Honey help nourish skin.WHAT IS IT FORMULATED WITHOUT
Parabens, Phtalates, Propylene Glycol, Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Paraffin, DEA, Polyethylene Beads, Animal Ingredients*
* except cruelty-free Honey & BeeswaxWHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW
Bamboo Charcoal acts like a magnet to draw out deep-dwelling pore-cloggers, Wildflower & Fermented Honey help nourish. Skin looks clear, feels perfectly pure & conditioned.INGREDIENTS
Water, Butylene Glycol, Bentonite, Montmorillonite, Honey, Polysorbate 20, PEG-100 Stearate, Polybutene, Jojoba Esters, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil*, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Oil*, Cananga Odorata Flower Oil*, Mentha Viridis (Spearmint) Leaf Oil*, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil, Eugenia Caryophyllus (Clove) Bud Oil*, Gaultheria Procumbens (Wintergreen) Leaf Oil*, Citrus Aurantium Amara (Bitter Orange) Flower Extract, Triethyl Citrate, Ethyl Phenylacetate, Limonene, Linalool, Eugenol, Citral, Benzyl Benzoate, Yeast Extract, Kaolin, Charcoal Powder, Caffeine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Glycerin, Trehalose, Lecithin, Ethylhexylglycerin, Xanthan Gum, Caprylyl Glycol, PEG-150 Distearate, Silica, Hexylene Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Tetrasodium EDTA, Dehydroacetic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499). *Essential Oil
❤️❤️❤️❤️ 4 out of 5 hearts.
And because reading is fundamental…
The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson
Oh, gosh, so good! — but don’t start reading it before bed because you’ll end up staying up way your past your bedtime. This suspenseful tale tells the story of the three women of the Glass family — Angie, Ruby and Silja.
The action kicks off in the fall of 1960 when Silja goes missing and Ruby’s father commits suicide deep in the woods of upstate New York. Angie, Ruby’s aunt, thinks she’s traveling from her Wisconsin home to New York to care for and comfort her niece, but she discovers dark Glass family secrets instead…
I practically tore through the pages and was even tempted to skip ahead and read the last few chapters before finishing the book (which I never, ever do). That’s how desperately I needed to find out what happens at the end.
Highly recommended reading for your next long flight because the time will fly! Haha.
Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta
This comedy is firmly on the schmexy side, and it’s written by the same person who wrote Election (yup, the movie with Reese Witherspoon!). Eve Fletcher is a mid-40s divorcee dealing with an empty nest, and Brendan is her hard-partying son who leaves for college.
Both characters have a difficult time adjusting to their new lives, as Eve develops an unexpected addiction to a naughty website, and Brendan stumbles and struggles through the first few weeks of his freshman year.
The writing’s witty, and there are several saucy scenes during which I screamed, “OH, NO THEY DIDN’T!” The entire time I kept wondering, “Will she? Won’t she?” And those pages, they kept a’turnin’.
River Under the Road by Scott Spencer
This character-driven tale follows two couples whose lives intersect in New York in the ’70s and ’80s.
Even though there are lush, lovely passages, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters in this book. I had a hard time with this one and didn’t finish it. 🙁 I felt like it often rambled…slowly… I say skip it.
How about you? Have you read anything good lately or used any great masks?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Karen, thanks for the book recommendations! I love to know what other people are enjoying and I’m always looking for another good book to read!
I also want to check out this Origins mask. It sounds intriguing!
I recently finished Patricia Cornwell’s Depraved Heart. It’s part of the Kay Scarpetta series. Have you ever read any of her books? If you like murder/mystery types, I highly recommend.
Hi Barb,
That series is new to me. I do like mystery and suspense, but I find that I can’t read it at night otherwise I stay up too late. Does that ever happen to you? #storyofmylife
Ha, ha! With books, that’s a no but with movies or TV shows, yes!
I like the Active Charcoal version of the Origins mask (I believe it’s without honey, but will need to check).
Thanks for the book recs! One of my friends gave me Leviathan Wakes and it’s pretty decent sci-fi (actually the SyFy channel based the series Expanse on the books). I prefer the book so far to the series. I know, shocking. 🙂 I do agree with you that some books keep you up, waiting to find out what happens next. I don’t feel that way with this one but, I’ve already seen a season or two of the series so I pretty much know what happens.
Thanks for the book recommendations! I’ll be out of town next week so looking forward to books to read while on vacation. I’ll be visiting my sister-in-law in San Diego, so sorta in your neck of the woods. 🙂
I just finished All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth. It was good, quick read.
You’re only going to be 9-12 hours away by car (depending on traffic!). Close enough though!!! I will send you a virtual waves from my windown.
What are you guys doing in San Diego? Vacation?
I’m actually just taking a solo trip for my birthday, which is on the 20th. So it’s going to be a fun girls weekend. I have zero plans except to spend some time relaxing by the pool/beach. 🙂 I think we might be visiting a vineyard for some wine tasting.
San Francisco is on my list of places to visit! Hopefully sometime next year.
Happy early birthday! I hope your trip is fun and relaxing. So, have you ever thought about learning to surf? I think you should totally do it (a birthday is a good reason as any to learn something new). I learned down there in San Diego at a surf camp called Surf Diva. They’re in La Jolla!
Thank you! One of my lottery fantasies (after saving all the cats) is to move to Hawaii and learn how to surf. 🙂
I didn’t know there was a place in La Jolla. When I’m there for a longer time. Thanks for the recommendation!
Very intrigued by the mask! Read like a rave review to me – what was the one deducted star for?
Hi Karen Too,
I’m not a huge fan of the jar. I’ve almost dropped it a few times! If it was in a tube it would get 5/5. 🙂
Ok, I see. I prefer tubes too. ?
Will check this out.
My favorite author just released her new book Reel of Fortune. I think it’s book 12.Jana DeLeon is the author. Heroine is a woman named Fortune who is a CIA sniper. She has a bounty on her head so her boss sends her to Sinful Louisiana to pose as his niece Sandy Sue. I don’t want to tell you too much, but it’s laugh out loud funny. Fortune befriends two ladies in their 70s. Imagine Rose and Dorothyfrom the Golden Girls with a tomboy sniper in a small southern town. All three have more guns than US Army!! Funny mysteries.
I read the first 10books in seven days!!!!
Smart women,
It’s funny you said that about the lipstick in silent movies. I recently read a biography about Cecil B. Demille and it said that when opera singer Geraldine Farrar made a silent movie version of Carmen, her grey eyes photographed completely blank. For every movie she made, they had to hold a piece of black velvet in her sightline just off camera to make her retinas expand enough to appear on film. I’d love to see some of the film before they figured that trick out!
I’m in a book dry-spell. After a historical fiction about Typhoid Mary and the DeMille bio (both pretty good), I read three of the unreliable-narrator-thriller type novels in a row. (One bad, two that should’ve been better than they were.) Then a decent, but underdeveloped historical fiction. Now I’m adrift.
That mask sounds interesting. If I didn’t have rosacea I’d try it. Some of the ingredients listed would irritate my skin to no end, so it’s a no-go for me.
I love all the book recommendations from you and everyone else. I’m definitely going to put many of them on my list to read. I’ve been trying to get away from my laptop or watching TV before bedtime in the hopes that I will fall asleep more easily. Only works if I’m not reading a book so engrossing that I keep reading until 2 a.m.
My most recent read was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I didn’t like it at first, thinking the main character was just another stereotypical, highly intelligent, extremely socially awkward person. It got more complicated as I kept reading. The supporting characters were so heart warming and genuine that I had to see how they would end up influencing the main character.
Thanks for the recommendation, Tatiana. I haven’t heard of that one! Will add to the list so I can read a few passages next time I’m at the bookstore or the library (if I can find it there).
It’s in paperback right now. My local independent bookstore had multiple copies when I bought it. But try the library first. Except for the taxes you pay the library is free.