So…what is the Monday Poll?
Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
Take me back to 1999, why don’t you? I’m gonna have to go with the frosty pink gloss.
2. Pancakes or waffles?
Pancakes. Ideally banana, with lots of REAL maple syrup (not that fake watery stuff).
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup (products and process)
Assuming it’s at the end of the day, at which point I’m exhausted, I strive to keep the process short and sweet.
Right now it’s just the following three steps:
- I massage a couple pumps of Fresh Seaberry Cleansing Oil directly on my face and work it in with my fingers (yup, even on my eyes and my lashes) until my foundation and eye makeup breaks up. Then I rise that off with warm water.
- Next, if I wore long-wearing eyeliner that day and there’s still some on my water or lash lines, I take a Q-tip or Shiseido Facial Cotton soaked in Clinique Take the Day Off Eye Makeup Remover to remove whatever’s left over.
- Then, I apply a non-drying liquid or cream cleanser (basically, anything that doesn’t foam, because bubbly cleansers dry out my skin) on my face and neck while they’re still wet and work it in with my fingers before gently removing it with a warm washcloth.
4.How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
Mine’s with me 24/7, and sometimes I love it, and sometimes I wish I could throw the fracking thing into the ocean.
Mind you, it’s useful, obvs. I can always be reached in an emergency and make calls from wherever if the car stalls or if Tabs needs a midnight gravy run. Plus, all of the to-do lists and notes I write to keep my life in some semblance of order are on there, and that’s super helpful, buuuut tuning out is definitely tougher than it was back in the pre-phone days.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
I’ve been wearing a BECCA lipstick called Yours Truly A LOT lately. It’s a smooth and creamy opaque nude.
That bittersweet feeling
It’s always bittersweet to come back from Oahu. On one hand I’m beyond happy to be sleeping in my bed again, and on the other hand I’m like, “Take me back ASAP to the land of sleeping in, shave-ice and warm water, ahhh!” Today’s my first day back from Hawaii, and first thing on the list is to give Tabs lots of TLC. He’s super clingy right now and very chatty.
I wish you could hear him meowing; it’s like a symphony of kitty hellos that’s been going on since I woke up.
I hope you’re having a nice Monday so far. I’ve missed talking to you! Tell me what you’ve been up to.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to you soon.
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
2. Pancakes or waffles?
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”) pink gloss always
2. Pancakes or waffles? waffles
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup. I pour some micellar water onto a cotton round and wipe off as much as I can of all my makeup, even eye makeup. I saturate a q-tip with micellar water and take off any eyeliner. Then I use Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser to wash everything else off. Then I use a Neutrogena Toner to make sure I get any last traces that might be left.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? I think I am the only person on earth who does not live with their phone 24-7. I do always have it in my purse when I leave the house, mainly because I drive a 25 year old Honda, and I never know when I might have to call for help!
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? I am loving the Fenty Glow lipgloss, and Fresh tinted lip balm. Dying to try the new Fenty Fu$$y lipgloss – Have you tried it yet?
Welcome Home!!
Thank you, Daphne! I’m happy to be home. 🙂 How’s your Monday been?
P.S. Hondas rock! My parents still have the one I drove in college (it’s 23 years old).
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”) – I’ll go with the frosty white brow bone and add some to the inner corner too.
2. Pancakes or waffles? – I’m currently cutting carbs but I’d go with the pancakes loaded with butter and syrup.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup. – First, remove my eye makeup with a Shiseido Facial Cotton and Micellar Cleansing Water All-in-1 Cleanser and Makeup Remover by Garnier. After that I use a balm (usually the Clinique one) and take off my face and every other night I use my Clarisonic with the First Aid Beauty Facial Cleanser after the balm cleansing.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? It doesn’t bother me, at all.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? I recently traded in some Sephora points and got a $100 gift card to use. I picked up some Pat McGrath lip products, including the Mini Lust Gloss Trio and a MatteTrance Lipstick in 1995. I’m totally loving all of those products.
Hi Barb,
I’m lowering my carbs too! I’m not completely no carb though because I love me some bread and rice. 🙂 What are your go-to low carb recipes? I get a lot of mine from College Nutritionist.
Hi Karen. I’m not completely carb free either. I still enjoy a beer or two over the weekend. To be quite honest, my husband does the cooking. Usually I’ll have some type of protein (either chicken or steak) with veggies or salad. If we eat out, my go to is wings or a cheese board of some type. Today I had a bunless 5 Guys burger for lunch.
Welcome home!
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”) Frosty white brow bone
2. Pancakes or waffles? Pancakes. I love banana, too! Pumpkin and gingerbread pancakes are really yummy, too.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
1) Take off eye makeup. I saturate a cotton pad with remover. I just used up a bottle of Garnier Micellar Water. Usually, I use BH Cosmetics Studio Pro Eye & Lip Makeup Remover.
2) I use a makeup remover wipe, usually either Neutrogena, Pond’s, or Burt’s Bees grapefruit.
3) I wash my face. Right now, I’m using up the last of a Nu Skin cleanser. I’m not sure yet what I’ll change to when that’s gone. I use a microfiber washcloth.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? I hate telephones. I try to keep mine with me, because my two sons are special needs. I’m good about taking it with me when I leave the house, but I’m really bad about leaving it in other rooms at home.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? I’ve been wearing Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Backstab quite a bit, and Bite Beauty Liquified Lipstick in Cava.
Thank you, Rachel! 🙂
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”). Frosty pink lipgloss, it’s horrible but almost classic in a way.
2. Pancakes or waffles? Waffles! With an obscene amount of butter, Mrs Buttersworth syrup, and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup. I only use Micellear water. It works great for me, it gets everything off, and it’s one step. I put some on a washcloth, rub it all over my face, boom, done!
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? Yes, 24/7. My phone is in a wallet, so it’s got my drivers license and credit cards in it. I love it. I can listen to podcasts and Motown music in my car, I can check Facebook in the Starbucks drive thru, my kids text me ridiculous things from school (mostly terrible jokes or pics of their friends), we just got a pug puppy so when he does something cute, which is always, I can snap a pic and out it on FB immediately! I’m a big fan of my phone!
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? My lips are hella chapped right now, I need more water, so I’ve been sticking with Glossier balm dot com in mint and coconut to keep them hydrated and soft.
Feel ya on the chapped lips, Stephanie! I haven’t been drinking nearly enough for the past week so I’m making up for it today. Have a great rest of your day!
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”) – Pink gloss
2. Pancakes or waffles? – Also cutting carbs (the devil!) but waffles all day, every day over pancakes.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup – First, if I’m wearing eye makeup, I use Bioderma micellar water with a Shiseido Facial Cotton. Then, I use a cleansing oil (I like oils better than balms bc I find they have less microplastics in them), or the Kate Somerville Cold Cream, then a cleanser with a low ph.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? Who doesn’t have their phone with them 24/7? I’m fine with it, although that tech neck is a bitch.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? Don’t have one, but normally during the day I try and use something with spf (either a Fresh tinted balm, or a clear sph with lipstick over it), and at night I use whatever I want.
Hey Tracy!
Do you have any go-to sites for lower-carb recipes? Would love to know where you get your meal ideas from!
Nope, I don’t really cook, haha! There’s tons of keto/low carb/paleo etc type blogs that do publish recipes though!
Welcome back! So sweet that Tabs missed you and had a lot of kitty gossip to share with you that you missed!
1. This is a toughie! I’ll take the frosted lips since I’m already known for wearing weird lipstick colors.
2. Pancakes. I mean, it has the word “cake” in it.
3. Dip my fingers into my ginormous tub of coconut oil from Costco. Smear onto eyes. Wipe off with tissue. Repeat for lips. Then wash face like normal.
4. Same. I do have mine with me 24/7 which is nice but also sucks.
5. I’m still obsessing over Maybelline Matte Super Stay! I’m going to get some for my mom for her birthday.
Thanks, Jaclyn! Yes, he had many, many things to tell me. I love him so much!
P.S. What colors are you getting your mom for her birthday?
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
Pink gloss, I guess.
2. Pancakes or waffles?
Waffles! We actually had them for dinner last night. Mine had strawberries and whipped cream. But if crêpes are an option, always crêpes.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
Step 1: Bioderma Sensibio H2O all over the face
Step 2: Clinique Take the Day Off eye makeup remover on the eyes.
Step 3: Wash face with a normal cleanser, I switch them up.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
I carry mine everywhere and am probably too attached to it.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
I have nothing on right now and my lips are so hella dry even though I just put Bag Balm on them. Normally Lime Crime Plushies in the peach color, but I’m not in love with it.
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”) Pink gloss.
2. Pancakes or waffles? Waffles!!!!
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
While I’m waiting for the sink water to warm up I use a bi-phase makeup remover on a cotton pad to remove my eye makeup. Then either and oil cleanser or balm to take off my sunscreen and foundation. Then a second cleanse with a milky or gel cleanser.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? Hate it. They’ve gotten so big they don’t fit into my jeans pockets anymore. Half the time I just leave it plugged into the charger in the kitchen. I only use it for calls, photos and to text my kid. Don’t feel like it’s private enough or secure enough for anything else. I still love paper and pencil and pens.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? NARS Dolce Vita. A long standing favorite. If it ever gets discontinued I’m sunk.
Love the flowers in the top photo. I can practically smell them!
Aww! Tabs!! He missed you.
Did you catch that crazy wind (or did the wind catch you) on Sunday ?? We thought we’d go to the beach for the weirdest vision: a sunny sky and NO ONE on the beach because DANGEROUS FLYING OBJECTS. O_o
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone?
Hm. Frosty white!! ;D
2. Pancakes or waffles?
WAFFLES. When I ate ’em, I could make ’em like a boss (crispy on the outside, soft and hot on the inside), and good flavors like sweet potato, pear+cardamom, classic blueberry cinnamon.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
Massage oil blend* to melt everything down, rinse off with cinnamon+aloe vera juice & warm wash cloth.
*Blend: avocado oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, lavender, neroli.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
I carry it when I leave the house but if I happen to forget it, it’s nbd.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
Viva Glam II with your recommended sheer berry lip gloss! :))
Welcome home! I’m so glad you had a nice vacay! I can just hear Tabs now. We get the hurt/outraged bark from our sweet puppy girl just for going out to dinner, lol.
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
Oh gosh, frosty white brow bone, I guess, because I sticky, frosty lip gloss.
2. Pancakes or waffles?
Waffles, preferably Joy the Baker’s Blueberry Sour Cream Waffles. Although I have much love for Chrissy Teigen’s Blueberry Pancakes from her cookbook.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
I take off everything with Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm or Sephora’s Micellar Water (which I just found out they discontinued- ugh!). If there is any eye makeup left- you know how UD 24/7 can be- I take that off with Clinique Take the Day Off for Lids, Lashes, & Lips. Then I cleanse with whatever gentle cleanser I’m using at the moment; right now I’m trying Glow Recipe’s Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser and kinda digging it.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
Mine is functional only. I turn it on in the morning and turn it off in the early evening. I do take it with me everywhere, but mostly just for safety.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
Fresh Sugar lip balm or some kind of crayon- usually either Bite, Nars, or Marc Jacobs. I’m really getting away from bullet lippies. It’s all about quick and easy in this season of life.
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
I wore something light and frosty on my brow bone recently and it wasn’t awful. A tiny dab of a frosty pink gloss would be okay but if I have to go all in, I’m taking the brow bone. ?
2. Pancakes or waffles?
I’ve always preferred waffles but the prospect of cleaning the waffle iron prevents me from making them very often. And it feels faster to make pancakes for the family.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
I take off makeup and wash my face in one go in the shower with Garnier Micellar Foaming Cleanser. Most cleansers leave me feeling dry but that one doesn’t. It’s also good at removing makeup and sunscreen. Sometimes I need to go in twice, but not usually. The first pass takes 3 pumps, if I need to go again it’s only 1 pump. I don’t wear waterproof mascara, not sure how it does with that. If there’s a lot of eyeliner or mascara residue, I’ll use a cotton pad with Paula’s Choice makeup remover or the MAC eye makeup remover in the purple bottle. Once in a blue moon I’ll do an oil cleanser but I don’t feel like it works that much better than my cheap Garnier option that doesn’t require dry hands and face.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
Yes and generally it’s a good thing. But it definitely can turn into a time suck where I’m getting nothing useful out of it. But I have read tons of books, keep in touch with a friend out of state and another out of the country, learned a lot about.. so many countless things and people. I guess it’s the same as my feelings about the internet in general.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
Don’t really have one in particular, but I’ve been wearing darker berries and reds in liquid lips a lot. I’ve been struggling with nudes and midtones so bolder is usually the easier option!
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
I am still a sucker for frosty pink lipgloss. It looks good on my extremely pale skin.
2. Pancakes or waffles?
I can’t really have either! They really upset my lupus these days, but occasionally I will eat half a pancake with Nutella OR 100% maple syrup. It has to be 100% real maple syrup or my guts just twist upon themselves and I’m in bed all day.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
-Take 1 cotton pad.
-Soak in Neutrogena Eye & Lip Oil-free Makeup Remover (if you did indeed put on makeup that day.)
-Take off as much makeup as you can with one pad. Repeat to get all makeup off because your lazy.
-Use Botanics Hot Cleansing Balm to remove any possible residue and just have that ahhhhhh spa feeling.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
I have it 24/7 and I remember the days when I didn’t have it. It can feel like a real burden sometimes because of the anxiety you feel when you DON’T have it. Come on, do I really need my darn phone all of the time?
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
Pacifica chapstick. Seriously. I’ve gone lazy.
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”)
Frosty pink gloss is fine by me!
2. Pancakes or waffles?
Waffles, simply because they can hold more butter.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup.
Sometimes, I take a Neutrogena makeup remover towelette, carefully wipe my entire face, then call it a night. Sometimes I splash lukewarm water on my face, glop on some Cetaphil or other gentle cleanser, rub it in, splash again with water, dry my face then call it a night. Occasionally, I soak a cotton ball with Neutrogena or L’Oreal eye makeup remover and press it to my eyelids for a few seconds, wipe away eyeshadow and mascara, then follow with the gentle facial cleanser, rinse and pat dry. It all depends on how much makeup I’m wearing and whether I’m wearing waterproof mascara (I usually don’t, as I find it too harsh to my lashes) and eyeliner pencil or liquid eyeliner (rare, as I mostly line with powder shadow).
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
My cell phone is glued to me at all times. I don’t have another phone (nor, at this time, another computer), and am constantly googling, using the phone’s GPS (sometimes just to hear a voice), and taking photographs of everything. My days are documented in my camera.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment?
L’Oreal Colour Riche Nude Balm in Plush Plum.
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”). Frosty white brow bone.
2. Pancakes or waffles? Waffles; particularly homemade whole wheat or gingerbread. No butter or syrup, thank you. To me that’s gelding the lily.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup. I put Chanel Bi-phase eye makeup remover on two cotton pads. I gently press the pads on my closed eyelids for about 30 seconds and then gently wipe my eye makeup off. Next, I apply Tatcha’s cleansing oil to my entire face and neck and then remove it with plenty of warm water. I then go over my face, neck, and chest with a clean washcloth that has been wrung out in warm water to remove any residual cleansing oil, makeup, or sunscreen. The washcloth also provides a mild and gentle exfoliation. I buy those cheap ones from Target or Costco and use a clean one every evening. On days when I don’t wear makeup up, I still use Tatcha’s cleansing oil because I always, always wear a physical sunscreen.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? I love having a cell phone with me because I can remember all to well the stress and difficulties of dealing with emergencies before cell phones were invented. The peace of mind and security they offer is incalculable. I must say, though, that I do not regard them as electronic leashes. Just because someone calls me does not mean I have to answer. The phone is there to serve me; not the other way around.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment. I don’t have a go to because I change my lip look to suit my outfit and the rest of my makeup. Variety is the spice of life!
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7?
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment
1. Frosty pink gloss or a frosty white brow bone? (And you gotta pick one! You can’t choose “neither.”) Can I pick both? If I must pick one, I’ll go with frosty pink gloss. Although I did love me some frosty white brow bone back in day. Hollah!
2. Pancakes or waffles? Waffles, forever. Although the teenager requested pancakes the other weekend and I was thinking dang, pancakes are really delicious too.
3. Walk me through how you remove your makeup. omg. I wash my face really well. If I’ve got an excess of eye make up on, I’ll use that eye makeup remover Clinique makes in the blue bottle.
4. How do you feel about carrying a cell phone around? Is yours with you 24/7? Conflicted. I recently set my iphone to grayscale mode because I’m on it too much. It is with me 24/7 but as a mom, I feel it needs to be. I’m not comfortable with my teenager or my aging parents not being able to reach me in an emergency.
5. Your go-to lippie of the moment? still Urban Decay Naked.
Please, please shoot some basic phone video footage of Tabs! I’d love to hear his voice!!!!
I’ll have to do something on FB soon. He’s very fickle, as you know, and his mood turns instantly. He was into me last night and this morning but this afternoon he wanted nothing to do with me! Ahhh, cats.