
Good morning and happy Caturday from my happy heart to yours.
I’m SO RELIEVED that it’s the weekend. Is it just me, or was this week a doozy?
I don’t know why year after year, I trick myself into thinking our summer schedule will be less chaotic compared to the regular school year, but every year summer proves me wrong!
I think it’s summer camp. The ones around here are usually at funky times, like 10-2, which isn’t super helpful if you’re a working parent.
Connor’s doing a whole bunch of different camps, and this week, it was dance camp.
Now that I’m working in an office, I’ve got to juggle taking her to camp and picking her up in between manning my desk, which means adjusting my schedule in all kinds of funky ways. This week, I had Connor come in with me to work at the crack of dawn. We improvised a reading corner for her to chill out in while I furiously banged through emails so that I could meet my deadlines.
I’m lucky in that I have some flexibility with my schedule, so even though it was chaos for me, we made it work.
I swear when I sat down to write this post, I had beauty on the brain, ha ha ha. I’ve been adding to my beauty wish list lately because I’ve been diligently saving for things coming down the pipe in the last half of the year (Connor’s dance season and Christmas, mostly), and for some reason, adding to my virtual beauty list makes it a little easier to not buy things willy nilly.
Side note, I’ve also found that staying off social media helps with saving money too. I swear Instagram is the new Home Shopping Network!
Anywho, here’s what I recently added to my virtual beauty cart. 🙂
Clinique High Impact Shadow Play Eye Shadow + Definer
I saw these ultra-portable dual-ended sticks at Ulta last week, and they look so cute and fun! One side is a cream and the other is a velvety powder. You swipe on the cream first and then blend the powder on top, which I think is perfect for the on-the-go makeup that I favor these days. They come in a bunch of color combinations; I liked Double Latte, Cafe au Lait and Royal Couple. Each stick is $34.
Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize Cream Eyeshadow
What is it about a cream shadow in a pot that makes me weak in the knees, le sigh! I like how these are super pigmented yet easy enough to blend with a finger because let’s face it, I barely have time or energy to deal with brushes these days. These come in a wide range of wearable colors; a lot of them tend to lean warm, so heads up on that. A pot is $35.
Oribe Hair Alchemy Heatless Styling Balm
This lightweight balm is made for air-dried hair styles. It adds shine, smooths frizz and locks in your waves. No crunchiness; just soft, touchable hair. It’s $48 a bottle, and ugh, WANT.
What’s currently on your summer beauty wishlist?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen

I don’t think I have anything on my wish list right now. I just got the ND “I Need a Nude” palette (snagged a discount & used a gift card to get it at a decent price), and I got the UD “Naked Wild West” palette (for $12.25!), so I need to play around with those before acquiring anything else.
I never went to “summer camp,” but I did go for a short time to a “summer school” they had in CA when I was 9 years old. It was free, I think. It had classes like swimming, art, and knitting. I had set up too many classes, and decided to bail out and stay home during the summer (my mother didn’t have a job, so we didn’t need the summer school for daycare). I’m kind of glad I did stay home, as that turned out to be the last summer I got to spend in California.
I saw those Clinique shadow sticks online at Nordstrom while looking for a new eye makeup remover. Was curious, but even with the triple points on beauty I’ll wait until I can swatch them in person. I used to love the TF cream shadows in a pot, but then they discontinued them. Le sigh. Story of my makeup and beauty adventures. Reformulated or discontinued.
I remember the summer camp hustle. Luckily Dear Husband always split the work load with me. Usually he did the morning drop off and I did the afternoon pickup. We usually paid extra for the extended time if it was offered. I remember the hours for Dear Daughter’s favorite camp being longer though 8:30-4:00 with extended hours from 4 to 6 (for an extra fee). Most days I didn’t need it, but was grateful for the extra hours when I did.
Happy Weekend!!
I remember going to work with my mom when I was a wee. The computer took up the entire room and I played with the punchcards (yes, totally aging myself #GenXAssemble). That’s great you took CC to work. She is highly adaptable! I think of her busy dance life whenever I catch a YouTube short by @evanysphotography. She captures Master Ballet Academy rehearsals. I swear, if I had attended this kind of ballet school I would have stayed with ballet much longer than I did. I’m sure CC is having such a fulfilling dance life, it’s great to hear about and see her great stage lewks.
On my wishlist:
Summer Fridays Light Aura Vitamin C + Peptide Eye Cream
Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm in Iced Coffee
(I don’t usually go for Instagram brands–I don’t even have an IG account–but I tried the Jet Lag products and the Midnight Ritual Retinol Renewal Serum and I’m really loving this brand!
Hope the rest of your Caturday is wonderful! Aloha!