Karen

1. Mood:

Chipper but not quite awake yet.

2. At what age were you allowed to date?

I was 14. Looking back, I was probably too young, but I remember at the time feeling like I was the last kid in school to start dating. I knew 11-year-old girls signing “Mrs. Joe Shmoe” in their yearbooks, yikes.

3. Which lip gloss do you wear the most?

Right now I’m all about Smashbox Limitless Lip in Boundless.

4. Dark, milk, semi-sweet or white chocolate?

Semi-sweet… or milk.

5. Eyes/lips/cheeks:

I’m only wearing minimal makeup for now — Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Mascara, Yes to Carrots C Lip Tint in Sunset Pink and naked cheeks.

6. What’s your favorite store at the mall?

It’s a tie between Sephora and H&M (love their cheap and funky accessories).

7. Are you hungry right now?

Ha, yes! I need a sticky bun and coffee.

8. Which supernatural being would you rather be: vampire, werewolf, shapeshifter or telepath?
   

Telepath, but only if I could turn it on/off.

9. Outfit:

Lavender tank top and my favorite pair of Lucky jeans (the ones with the hole in the thigh, LOL!)

10. Weekly goals:

Try to stay focused on one task at a time (does anybody else feel like the Net’s giving ’em ADD?), remember to take small breaks throughout each day, and sort through the ginormous piles of paper on my desk (never ends).

Good morning, my candy girls. 🙂 I was having my first ever Twitter-related dream when the alarm went off this morning. Kim Kardashian and I were chatting about eyeliner and cats.

Weird…

Are you ready and willing to tackle this week with me (we can do it!)?

Before you go, let me know how you’re doing. Just copy the empty list below, and paste it with your answers in the comments.

Have a good one.

Le list

1. Mood:
2. At what age were you allowed to date?
3. Which lip gloss do you wear the most?
4. Dark, milk, semi-sweet or white chocolate?
5. Eyes/lips/cheeks:
6. What’s your favorite store at the mall?
7. Are you hungry right now?
8. Vampire, werewolf, shapeshifter or telepath?
9. Outfit:
10. Weekly goals:

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Mine is watching cheesy Lifetime movies on TV (click here for a gigantic database!).

Every time I do it, I know I’ve lost two hours I’ll never get back, but it’s relaxing and strangely recharges my batteries. One of my favorite things in the world is chilling out on the couch in front of a movie like Co-ed Call Girl (starring Tori Spelling!). For those two hours, my cares and responsibilities just float away. Forget cleaning the bathroom or bettering myself; sometimes my brain craves happy endings and pureed mush (the woman-in-peril ones are my faves!). 🙂

What’s your guiltiest pleasure? Please share in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

• How to fight frizzy hair when it’s hella humid outside — Bella Sugar
• Viva la Hogwarts! Check out these beautiful Harry Potter-inspired cakes — Cake Wrecks
• Warning: you may find yourself desperate for a laser photo background after perusing this site — We Have Lasers!!!
• Get those creative juices flowing with these easy tips — Zen Habits
• 4 makeup looks to channel your inner Gossip Girl — Ladies Beauty
• I want these New Balance kicks! — Sicka Than Average
• Top 10 tricks for making your playlists rock — Life Hacker
• Got insomnia? Try lowering the thermostat –NY Times
• Beware the ninja kitteh! — I Can Has Cheezburger
• How to wear fall’s new over-the-knee boots — Manolo’s Shoe Blog

Hola, chicas. I managed to finish most of my laundry this afternoon (it’s a Christmas miracle!).

What’s the plan for tonight? 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Today marks the end of my first month as a Tweet-head/Twitterer, and I think I’m beginning to get a picture of the service’s big strengths and weaknesses (and how to work around them).

Twitter’s strengths?

1. Keeping up with news — Find out about stuff fast. By the time something appears on the front page of Yahoo or Google News it’s probably already been tweeted about 1 million times.
2. Taking advantage of e-bargains — There’s an ecosystem on Twitter between companies and their prospective customers where the companies feed out these little tweets to their followers with ways to take advantage of discounts and giveaways, many lasting just a few minutes or hours. A lot of beauty companies are getting in on the action, and I’m seeing new spins on Twitter-only giveaways every day.
3. Networking — Both personally and professionally. Twitter is like texting, only the texts go out to all of your Twitter followers. People use Twitter to get instant feedback, but you don’t have to be at the computer every second of the day. Replies are saved to your Twitter page, so you check them whenever you want.

bellasugar — How-To: Christina Hendricks’s Shimmery, Smoky Eye Makeup
http://bellasu.gr/3749897

4. Sense of camaraderie — It helps me feel connected to the outside world. If you’re homebound or sick, it gives you a way to reach out to people. Even if you’re just shy and have trouble connecting with people, it gives you another means to practice your social skills.

TIP: After creating an account, follow 10-20 people, and fill out your Settings page. Choose a colorful design for your page, and upload a picture (if you have one) to appear beside all of your tweets.

Twitter’s weaknesses?

1. Starting with 0 followers — The one big weakness I see is for people just starting out. There really isn’t a clear path to take, and I see a lot of new Twitterers start out with 0 followers and then never use the service again. It can feel like an echo chamber at first, with people tweeting things into cyberspace like, “Is this thing on?” or “Hello?? Anyone out there?”
   
   Right after making an account, I think it helps to immediately follow 10-20 people (even ask your friends to join with you), and it almost doesn’t matter who they are (not at first), as long as a few of them follow you back.
   
   Twitter’s Direct Messaging feature (DM) comes in handy, too, particularly when you’re just starting out. To send a DM, you have to be following the person you’re trying to reach, but with it you may be able to get their attention even if they aren’t following you yet. — CORRECTION: The person has to be following you (obviously, I’m still getting the hang of this feature — Thanks, PumpsAndGloss!).
2. Filtering out the noise — Ironically, while it can be lonely just starting out with Twitter when you have 0 followers, things can change literally overnight. You pick up some followers and suddenly find yourself trying to carry on multiple conversations at once!
   
   Programs like Tweetdeck can help. It’s easy to download and install (I use it), connects to Twitter.com and makes it easy to group followers into categories. I have categories for the beauty companies I follow, my friends and my freelancing contacts.
3. It can be addictive — Just like instant messaging, Twitter can take up a lot of time, but the same thing goes for anything fun and useful. Everything in moderation.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. If you follow me at karenmbb, brace yourself for more than makeup and beauty. I must confess to posting the occasional embarrassing picture of Tabs.