Ah… Gotta give it up to Mother Nature for coming up with the coffee and tea plants. That first cup of tea/coffee/mocha-frappa-whatever-is-your-Saturday-morning-beverage is a glorious signal to my body (and my mind!) that it’s time to unwind! It’s the freakin’ weekend, baby, and I’m gonna have me some fun.
Today I’m doing a slow ramp up because I’m craving this Celestial Seasonings Decaf Sweet Coconut Thai Chai tea. It tastes like a blend of chai and Thai teas, so I’m going to start with that, then move onto the big guns (COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE).
Then, I’m gonna tuck myself underneath a blanket and get cracking on a book I borrowed from the library called If You Were Here, by Jen Lancaster (it’s supposed to be funny).
I don’t know if you’re in the mood to read right now, but here are a few online stories that struck my fancy this week…
- Makeup boosts my confidence. When I apply it, it’s like I’m donning my marvelous medieval armor to face the perils of everyday life.
(Nobody can mess with me when my brows are filled in, honey.)
Apparently, the same goes for the young women who compete in Utah cross country/track & field, which I think is awesome! Their motto is “Look good, feel good, race good,” and they bond on race days by putting on their makeup together.
What they wear is up to each person’s prerogative, and there’s no judgment on how much fleek (or how little fleek) someone decides to don during competition.
- Good advice from IT Cosmetics Founder Jamie Kern Lima on the importance of being persistent and trusting your instincts, and not only in how it applies to being a startup entrepreneur, but to life in general.
“The biggest hurdle was hearing the word ‘no’ from just about every retailer,” she writes of the challenges she faced growing her business. “But I decided that it just meant ‘not yet.’ All of our most important partners to our business today turned us down initially — in some cases, several times. But we kept being persistent, focusing on truly developing life-changing products, and real women everywhere started spreading the word about the brand until eventually we got a ‘yes’ from every retailer.”
Note to self: when people say “no,” it just means “not yet.”
- Are you into special effects makeup? I don’t have much experience with it (there was that one time…), but I love seeing how FX makeup artists bring characters to life.
Special makeup effects artist Arjen Tuiten did Angelina Jolie’s makeup in Maleficent, created creatures in Pan’s Labyrinth and, most recently, worked on the movie, Wonder, a story about a boy born with facial differences who enters a mainstream elementary school for the first time. Actor Jacob Tremblay sat in Tuiten’s makeup chair for more than an hour each day to get prepped for the day’s filming.
- China currently requires animal testing on imported beauty goods, and the rule applies to everything sold under that umbrella, from lipsticks to blush to sunblock to deodorant.
But thanks to new developments in product testing technology, China might be moving toward ending its animal testing requirements.
- Calling all #makeuphoarders! Take these steps, according to a KonMari expert, to cull your collection.
- If Connor Claire eventually makes it to Mars (Most likely as part of the second wave of NASA’s manned MARS missions, because she’ll be a little too young for the first. Yes, El Hub and I have discussed this at length.), I hope that she 1) trusts me enough to watch her cats, and 2) asks for my help in preparing her beauty kit for space.
- Also, don’t miss this piece on a painter who uses lipstick as her medium, bugs (yes, the creepy crawly kind!) in your makeup, and scents for dudes that will make your man smell delicious (Valentine’s Day is right around the corner).
Other than reading (which is fundamental), I don’t have a lot planned this weekend. I want to do some cleaning because Operation Spring Cleaning 2018 starts right meow, and bake some lemon bars, but that’s about it.
What’s on your agenda?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Tabs, so hell no.