Just For Fun

You know what’s weird? Between El Hub and Tabs, I’m surrounded by dudes 24/7, and interestingly enough, they usually smell similar — like a blend of boxed mashed potatoes, over-ripe peaches, tuna and preserved meat.

Sometimes, though (like when he’s too lazy to shower), El Hub will do me a solid by spraying Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme on himself.

It’s my flat-out favorite men’s cologne. Even amidst the backdrop of eau de mashed potatoes, peaches, etc., the light and citrusy, yet masculine, scent still makes me swoon.

Sometimes I’ll even steal a spritz or two… 🙂

Oh! And here’s the best part: whenever El Hub is wearing it and Tabs climbs up on his shoulders, which he does at least once a day for lurvies, the scent permeates his fur.

Sweet!

As a woman (or a dude!), what’s your favorite men’s cologne or deodorant?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy hump day.

OMG, yes!

And I think that “she,” the other wearer of my outfit, looked better in it, too. I wasn’t winning any points for styling. I mean, the Christmas-colored press pass and single strand of pearls? LOL!

Yeah, didn’t really do a whole lot for the outfit. 🙂

This was at the 2008 Macy’s Passport fashion show in San Francisco, a big to-do in the same vein as Fashion Week, only smaller.

I went to cover the show for the blog (I think it was the first event where I brought a big DSLR camera, so I felt very “official”).

I was just walking around in the meet-and-greet area, trying to look “official,” which is code for “I didn’t exactly know where I was supposed to be,” when I saw this lady wearing the exact same black lace dress.

The dress, I picked out at home the night before because it was clean, didn’t have to be ironed, looked somewhat respectable/responsible and, most importantly, had some give to it, so I knew I’d be able to move around in it (important when you’re going to be hauling a heavy camera).

Honestly, though, I would’ve preferred to twin it up with Dame Edna, who was also in attendance that night, wearing a hot pink sequined number with a HUGE statement necklace…

Gimme sparkly pink and bling any day of the week! 🙂

How about you? Has the unthinkable ever happened? Have you ever shown up to a party/event and seen someone else wearing the same outfit?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past seven years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. What’s the weirdest thing in your refrigerator right now?
   You mean, other than what’s left of El Hub’s two-week-old birthday cake (which has very likely gone bad, but he refuses to throw away)? This: two Bath & Body Works Body Splashes. LOL! Putting them on just feel so friggin’ good when it’s hot…

   I used to also keep an eye serum roller in there (Clinique’s All About Eyes) for hot days, but I recently used it up (NOTE TO SELF: Get a new eye serum roller for the fridge).

2. Some of the best moments in life are [FILL IN THE BLANK].
   Quiet. And they usually don’t seem epic or significant at the time, but later you realize that they were.
3. [FILL IN THE BLANK] brings me major makeup joy.
   Perfectly applying false lashes in one try without having to adjust them brings me major makeup joy. Just dropping them down and then whoomp! — there it is!
4. [FILL IN THE BLANK] is overrated.
   Being a grownup is overrated…

   As are pants. Pants are terribly overrated.

5. Shimmer or matte?
   GUUUUURL, you know I love the sparkly stuff. 🙂 But as I get more “mature” (air quotes), I find myself increasingly reaching for mattes. They’re great for defining the crease and carving out cheekbones while not calling out mah pores — all that good schtuff.

   That said…I could never pick mattes over shimmers. I just couldn’t (I mean, I lived through the ’90s), so consider me part of Team Shimmer, but I’ll be on a sub-squad called Team Very Subtle Sheen.

Your turn. 🙂 Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em!

1. What’s the weirdest thing in your refrigerator right now?
2. Some of the best moments are [FILL IN THE BLANK].
3. [FILL IN THE BLANK] brings me major makeup joy.
4. [FILL IN THE BLANK] is overrated.
5. Shimmer or matte?

One of the things I do first thing on a lot of Monday mornings is scour my favorite productivity websites for a new tip or technique to latch on to that week… Something to help me focus and get things done.

I was doing that this morning when I spotted this: Schedule Your Day Backwards to Get Everything Done in a Timely Manner.

Interesting… I do a lot of different to-do list-type things, but I can’t recall ever trying this.

Here’s my concern, though: what if I don’t do one of my scheduled tasks at its predefined specific time? Does that throw the whole thing out of whack?

I wonder…

Most of my to-do lists don’t have structured times. They’re just a list of things, and I do it that way so I’m free to pick and choose when I do each one throughout the day, like, the creative stuff when I feel most creative, and the monotonous stuff when I feel…most monotonous, LOL! 🙂

Eh, what the heck. I’ll give it a try… I like the idea of knowing when you’re supposed to stop.

Yeah, knowing when I’m supposed to take Tabs for his afternoon walk promises to keep me in his good graces, and that’s a very good thing.

Good luck this week, babe. Let me know how you’re doing today.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Summer 2014 will go down in the history books as the summer of lazy girl cream shadows for me.

What are lazy girl cream shadows?

They’re shadows that I can do a lot with. In other words, products that accomplish a lot in terms of creating interesting eye looks but require very little effort on my part (hence the lazy girl component). 🙂

They’re products where you get a high bang for your buck, so to speak, like the eye equivalent of a bright lip. They’re also fairly easy to use, and when you use them, you look like you actually tried…not like you’re showing up to the rodeo with stretchy pants and a t-shirt with holes.

Earlier this summer I was all about the Chanel Illusion D’Ombre eyeshadow in New Moon and Mirage, but now I’m more into the MAC Electric Cool Eye Shadows, which I like for basically the same reasons. They all have something interesting to offer. Either complex glitter, sparkly shimmer or an intriguing color — something to draw attention to my eyes and do the work of multiple shadows.

[Continue reading…]

You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past seven years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. Do you have a fussy cowlick, or is there another part of your hair that always misbehaves, no matter what?
   Yes! I have these mischievous little baby gremlin hairs at my temples that jut out in different directions. I’ve tried imposing my will on them using heat and industrial-strength products but nothing works.

   I’ve given up… Now I just let them have their way.

2. Have you ever had your body painted?
   You know, I can’t say that I have. An opportunity has never arisen for that, but I would like to get my hands done with henna someday. My friend did it for her wedding, and I thought it looked really cool.
3. If you could sing a duet with a famous singer (living or dead), whom would it be?
   Ooh, good one. I think it would have to be MJ during the Off The Wall era, circa 1979. We’d sing Rock With You while a laser light show played behind us.

   That would be rad.

   Or I’d go with David Lee Roth, circa his mid-’80s, spandex-wearing, high-kicking era, just ’cause that would be SO weird.

4. Have you ever worn one of those thick terry cloth bathrobes, like the kind they have in hotels?
   Yes! I got one as a gift once and it’s AWESOME. It always feels like a spa day when I wear it, like I should be drinking cucumber water in a recliner and listening to Enya (even when I’m sitting on my living room floor and painting my toenails).
5. If you have a pet, have they ever seriously destroyed/shredded the crap out of something that was deemed off limits?
   Oh, don’t get me started on Tabs and the stairs!

   When we moved into this condo a few years ago, the carpeting was a heavily stained Golden Girls ’80s mauve, so we got it re-carpeted. Shortly thereafter, Tabs decided that the carpeted stairs would be his personal scratching posts, and so now the bottom three stairs are practically threadbare.

   I’ve never been able to get him to stop, and I swear that he does it when he knows he can’t get scolded, like when I’m upstairs in bed or out of the house.

Your turn. 🙂 Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em!

1. Do you have a fussy cowlick, or is there another part of your hair that always misbehaves, no matter what?
2. Have you ever had your body painted?
3. If you could sing a duet with a famous singer (living or dead), whom would it be?
4. Have you ever worn one of those thick terry cloth bathrobes, like the kind they have in hotels?
5. If you have a pet, have they ever seriously destroyed/shredded the crap out of something that was deemed off limits?

Monday, babe. Aaand we’re back. 🙂

So, interesting articles this week. Here’s one I found yesterday that I thought you might like. It’s about visualization — in this case, specifically visualizing yourself at this moment, as if you’ve already accomplished whatever you’re working on.

They use a running analogy.

“When you first begin any endeavor, if you believe yourself to be behaving like someone who has already accomplished the task would behave, you set the challenge up as a simpler task. As Cain describes it: the task won’t be like running uphill, it will still involve running (in a sense) but it will feel like a downhill jaunt. To reach that point you simply need to visualize yourself behaving in the way that your ideal self would behave.”

— 99u.com

Very cool idea. I’m gonna actively try it this week.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen