Just For Fun

Being a card-carrying, professionally certified worrywart, I have quite a few irrational makeup and beauty-related fears, but the most serious one has to be getting my brows professionally done.

I’ve always taken care of my brows myself and have never had them professionally waxed, plucked, threaded or otherwise tended to by a stranger, mostly because of the aforementioned fear. I’m terrified of someone (else) accidentally messing them up.

If I mess them up myself, OK, that’s one thing, and I am guilty of making bad brow decisions, for sure.

But I don’t know… I can just see myself sitting down in a chair and having someone accidentally wax off half my left brow or pluck both of them into a weird shape where I look permanently surprised. I’m seeing too many different doomsday brow scenarios play out.

Really, though, that’s the tip of the irrational beauty iceberg. I’m also afraid of…

• Accidentally shaving off my own eyebrows in the shower with a body razor.

  Don’t ask me why, but I can totally see this happening.

• Being startled by El Hub coming around a corner while I’m curling my lashes with my lash curler and accidentally pulling them out mid-curl.
• Losing my makeup bag on an important work trip. My rational mind says, “Don’t worry, Karen. You could find replacements for everything in a pinch.” But my irrational mind says, “OMG! I’m freaking out! What am I going to do?!”

OK, babe. Spill them beans. 🙂 What’s your most irrational makeup or beauty-related fear?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Greetings! Welcome to the hump.

I’m happy to report that there’s silence at the end of the noisy tunnel… That construction project I’ve been talking about is (hopefully) winding down today. Or at least this week. As we speak, they’re pressure washing the windows, so there’s a generator humming and a high-pressure hose hissing outside, but honestly, those are like a whisper compared to the racket of the past few weeks.

Or maybe I’m just becoming immune to it all, haha!

I’m off to make another cup of coffee (Target’s Archer Farms Light Roast Breakfast Blend). Can I get you one?

Oh, gosh. Maybe 4 a.m. or so?

Whenever it was, it was sinfully, criminally early.

I had one of those mornings last summer. I had a very early flight, so I set the alarm for 4 to give myself enough time to fix my mop and put on le warpaint before heading to the airport.

El Hub just doesn’t get it. Whenever we have to catch an early flight, he militantly insists that we sleep until the very last second before the alarm goes off, but he wakes up fully alert like a ninja! It’s like BOOM! Eyes open, wide awake. I swear he needs less than five minutes to get ready.

Simply put, I do not function that way. I need at least 20 minutes just to get my brain turned on. I like to get up, put something in my tum (doesn’t matter what time it is, I’m always starving when I wake up), have some coffee, and then I need 30-45 minutes to do my hair and makeup. Then maybe another 20 minutes to check and double-check and re-check everything to make sure I don’t forget something important like my driver’s license.

El Hub always gets super cranky when I set the alarm for an hour before we have to leave. It’s gotten to the point where I just tell him, “Sure, babe, the alarm is set to go off five minutes before we have to leave,” but really, I just set it for the real time I want to get up anyway, LOL! 🙂

How about you? What’s the earliest you’ve ever had to wake up and do your hair/makeup?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. BRB! I’m on my way out the door right now. I’m going to be a hair model this morning for my hairstylist buddy Alis, who’s teaching a class on Oribe products where she works. I’ve never done that before… I think it’ll be fun.

Then on the way back I have to swing by the MAC counter at the mall.

No, really, I “have” to, because yesterday I dropped my brand new bottle of Pro Longwear Concealer on the kitchen tiles, and it shattered.

I was probably more crushed than it was. 🙁

Grr… Those damned glass bottles.

Anywho, I should be back in a few hours. Have a great Tuesday. I’ll see you soon.

You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”

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

1. Have you ever made pasta from scratch?
   I helped someone do it once. Does that count? I fed the pasta dough through a Kitchen Aid with the pasta attachment.

   (Of course, I totally ruined the dough. It was the most un-aesthetically pleasing pasta humankind has ever seen…but it was still edible! 🙂 )

2. What’s your everyday outlook on earrings? What do you wear most of the time?
   
   For everyday wear, studs, and I alternate among pearl, diamond and rose gold.

   I also love chandeliers, but only on occasion, and they can’t be too heavy, too loud (like wind chimes) or be too tempting for Tabs…since he will swat at them.

3. Do any of your lifelong or very close friends live in a country other than yours?
   Just you guys. I’m pretty lucky to have most of my lifelong friends nearby here in the Bay Area, all within a two-hour drive.
4. Have you ever had to shave someone’s back?
   
   Yes! And it was…an experience.

   Like shaving a shaggy Muppet.

5. When makeup colors do you most commonly wear when you do smokey eyes?
   
   Most of the time, bronze, warm browns and golds, but I also like gunmetal grays, deep blues and purples.

   Smokey eyes are my favorites! I could seriously wear them every single day.

6. What’s one thing you love about your neighborhood?
   
   The birds are such wonderful musicians. We have some three-hundred-year-old heritage oak trees on the hill we live on, and they provide the perfect venue for the songbirds in the area (lots of finches). There’s always something singing or chirping in the trees.
7. When do you usually have the most energy during the day?
   
   Mornings, pretty much around this time of day, 2-3 hours after I get up and have been sufficiently caffeinated.

   I’ve gotta get some breakfast and coffee in my belly first. Then I (usually) feel ready to conquer the world.

8. When was the last time you wore false lashes?
   
   On date night with El Hub last Friday. I wore these Lovely Lolita lashes by Katy Perry.

   They’re very comfy and still look fairly natural, but with a kick!

9. Do you ever have your tea in a cup with a saucer (fancy!)?
   
   I wish. I usually just grab the closest clean mug in the dish rack, but having tea in a fancy cup and saucer takes it to the next level.
10. Beauty is (among many things)…
    
    • …appreciating all the small, seemingly mundane day-to-day things and realizing their magical potential
    • …the way Tabs looks into my eyes and blinks slowly when he’s sitting on my lap
    • …the smell of El Hub’s cheeks when he’s freshly shaven
    • …burying my face in a warm armful of laundry right when it comes out of the dryer

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

1. Have you ever made pasta from scratch?
2. What’s your everyday outlook on earrings?
3. Do any of your lifelong or very close friends live in a country other than yours?
4. Have you ever had to shave someone’s back?
5. When makeup colors do you most commonly wear when you do smokey eyes?
6. What’s one thing you love about your neighborhood?
7. When do you usually have the most energy during the day?
8. When was the last time you wore false lashes?
9. Do you ever have your tea in a cup with a saucer (fancy!)?
10. Beauty is…

G’morning, babe. Sending you a sunshiny hello from Northern California (Marin County, to be exact). 🙂

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was good but way too short.

I ran some errands, made a couple meals (including this improv kale, sun dried tomato and shrimp pasta dish, which turned out OK) and bought an ugly black metal filing cabinet, which I’ve already nicknamed THE FILING CABINET OF DOOM.

Thrilling stuff!

OK, maybe not…

Did you do anything fun and/or productive last weekend?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”

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

1. Your favorite pair of pajamas?
   This really cozy, cute and boxy two-piece white flannel set with little pastel pink, blue, yellow and green drawings of little high heels all over it. They’re hella warm, too, and the bottoms also have big pockets, which I like.
2. Do you still de-fuzz your legs in the winter?
   Well…I do when I have running hot water, LOL! Our gas is still off because of that construction project, so I’ve been taking zombie apocalypse-style showers since last week, heating up big pots of water on the stove that I then dump into a bucket in the tub.

   It’s really quite luxurious… Not! I sit in the back of the tub behind the bucket and use a big (Simpsons) cup to pour warm water from the bucket all over myself.

   And there ya have it! — improv shower 101!

   Yeah, I try to be in and out of there pretty quickly, so no shaving for me since last week, and the situation has gotten rather Sasquatch-y south of my neck.

   On the positive side, I think the extra layer of fur insulation keeps me a tad warmer.

3. When was the last time you cleaned your makeup brushes?
   Yesterday. I usually do it once a day in the evenings.
4. Have you ever worn eyelash extensions?
   Nope. I had a long discussion about them with a friend a couple weeks ago, and I although I’ve never tried them before, I’m not sure I’d like them.

   I’m the kind of person who notices every little uncomfortable physical difference, like when there’s a single grain of sand in one of my shoes. I’ll freaking notice it! — and it’ll drive me crazy.

   So I can just see myself going absolutely batty, even from the almost-imperceptible weight of a few lash extensions on my eyes.

5. What are three of your eye makeup staples?
   NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, MAC Pro Longwear Concealer and the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil.
6. What’s your stance on long, pointy nails?
   I think they look wicked cool on other gals, especially when the nails are all blinged-out and intricately painted, but not so much on me.

   I don’t think I’m hip enough to pull it off, and I can see them as a disaster waiting to happen… I’d probably have ’em on for less than a day before I accidentally scratched my eyes out or something.

7. What’s one weird thing your pet does?
   When Tabs is in lovebug mode, he’ll hop up on my lap, climb up my torso, and drape his paws over my right shoulder.

   Always, always the right shoulder. Never the left.

   I’ve tried to interest him in the left shoulder a bunch of times, but he’s just not into it. 🙂 It has to be the right; otherwise, no dice.

8. Are you more of a palette or a singles girl?
   Yes, please! Both.

   It depends on my mood and what I’m doing. Sometimes I like singles, like when I’m going somewhere and need to be streamlined, and can only bring one or two shadows, or blushes, or whatnot.

   Other times, I prefer palettes, like when I know I’ll want to do a number of different looks from casual to dressy.

9. Do you take cream and/or sugar in your tea?
   
   It depends on the tea, but usually, yes. If it’s Earl Grey, English Breakfast or Darjeeling (YUM!), I take both cream and sugar. For green tea, though, or brown rice tea or something flowery or herbal, I’ll have it plain.
10. To do great things, you must _____.
    
    Take the first step! — even if it’s just a baby step. Momentum is a powerful motivator.

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

1. Your favorite pair of pajamas?
2. Do you still de-fuzz your legs in the winter?
3. When was the last time you cleaned your makeup brushes?
4. Have you ever worn eyelash extensions?
5. What are three of your eye makeup staples?
6. What’s your stance on long, pointy nails?
7. What’s one weird thing your pet does?
8. Are you more of a palette or a singles girl?
9. Do you take cream and/or sugar in your tea?
10. To do great things, you must _____.

Hello, sweetpea. 🙂 It’s brisk in the old MBB offices this morning (which is code for “REALLY, REALLY COLD”) because, along with the lack of warm water, our furnace uses gas, so it’s been an interesting and educational few days, to say the least.

I’ve learned some interesting things, too, like just how cold couch cushions, bra straps and jeans can get in an unheated house overnight.

If you’re around today (Happy President’s Day, by the way), come say hi. Let me know how you’re doing in the Monday Poll.

Have a nice day today. Try to stay warm!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen