July Favorites

A lot happened in the month of July. From my boyfriend visiting for the 4th of July to my visiting Austin, Texas to my best friends 18th birthday party. And each major event, or even casual encounter, had it's moments that made this month as great as it was. July is the middle of summer, the Saturday before August's end of the weekend, and I tried to live this month as exciting as I could. Here are a couple of things that I enjoyed most these past 30 days.

Beauty Products

Wet n Wild "I'm getting sunburned" eyeshadow palette-I had an impulsive decision to buy a bunch of drugstore makeup one day at my local Albertson's, and this is one of the only products I didn't regret buying. The colors in this palette really brought out the light in my brown eyes and made the natural honey hues pop. Sometimes I would just swipe on the gold eyelid color and leave it like that or I would just swipe the pink browbone all over my eye for a natural 70's vibe. All of the colors look like this when applied together (please pretend I did tweeze my eyebrows; I know I need to get them done, they're starting to look crazy)

For longer lasting color, you can use an eyeshadow primer and a nude base color so that your eye veins are covered and you have a blank canvas to work on. I tend to like the way my natural lid color is, so I usually just quickly pat on some shadow and messily swipe eyeliner. I love the way people's natural dark eyes look, under eye bags, veins, and everything. (A couple of weeks ago I actually tweeted how much I loved Kim Kardashian's haunting look she has when she isn't wearing any makeup. Then a few days later, she premiered her Vogue Spain cover and spread that featured her with no makeup. I'm still insanely proud of my random clairvoyentness.)

Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator-I have actually been using this product since I got it from a promotional giveaway that Clinique was having when you spent more than a certain amount of money. The giveaway came with a tiny eyeshadow palette, lip balm, this cream, some BB cream, etc. Now that the heat has settled where I live, my skin tends to get a bit dry. I actually have oily skin naturally, so I tend to stray away from using moisturizer even though you're supposed to use it regardless. This one however doesn't make my skin more oily and it also doesn't need reapplication or cause my makeup to fade.

Wet n Wild natural blend lip shimmer-This tinted balm has been my lifesaver this past month. I have naturally very pale lips that are sometimes almost white. I always need a pop of color in my lips just to add a little color on my face and prevent me from looking sickly. I believe this is the color "Berry", however, the color I thought it was is not the color it comes out as. It is a bit lighter than the color I thought it would be and comes out more like a dark pink than the kirsch red I thought it would be. 

Entertainment

The Mist by Stephen King-I actually borrowed this novella from my boyfriend and read it while I was on my way home from Austin. It was completely entrancing, though it started off a bit dull. I hate that I love open endings. I think it adds more to the novel when it has an end that is uncertain, even though I end up reading a bunch of other peoples opinion online on it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde-I haven't finished this book yet, so maybe it doesn't count for this month. But so far I have been thoroughly enjoying it. The first page of the book actually has a photo of Wilde before his trials. I had never known that the playwright had been imprisoned, so I ended up doing a Google search and came across articles about how he had a sexual relationship with another man that he went to prison for. It's an interesting fact to know when reading the book and hearing Basil speak so lovingly and obsessively over his friend Dorian Gray.

Monika Blunder-I love watching makeup tutorials with professional makeup artists creating the look. (Don't get me wrong I love any good makeup look, but there's something professional and clean about seeing the inspiration for the makeup actually sitting right there getting it put on their face.) I've been watching a lot of Blunder's makeup tutorials where she shows the exact products that she uses for celebrities and models in both magazines and premieres.

Don't Trust the B**** in Apt. 23-I always used to see the commercials for this show on my TV whenever I was watching something else. I thought it looked stupid and had a stupid name and stupid looking characters. After giving into the recommendations on Netflix, however, I realized that it was a lighthearted, adventurous show that brought light about important topics in a joking manner but still managed to never take itself too seriously. Not to mention, I am obsessed with Chloe (Krysten Ritter) in this show and her cool, "It Girl" persona.

Almost Famous-I thought this movie had a boring tagline on Netflix and even though there are dozens of high critical reviews on it, I didn't care to watch. That was until I saw a tweet about David Bowie being a pedophile, and I became interested in Lori Maddox and the "Baby Groupies" that several rock stars had apparently had sexual relationships with. One article from bitchtopia.com mentioned the theme of underage fans in the film Almost Famous. When I skimmed this particular page, I became even more interested in the concept of groupies and decided to watch the film. I was a bit disappointed that it didn't really go into more details about the ethical issues of Russell Hammond having sex with an underage girl, but I understand that that wasn't what the film was supposed to be about. It was an interesting inside look to the 70s and the pop culture involved in maintaing rock stars image.

Miscellaneous

Makeup Genius app-I was watching Good Morning America when one of the features on the show introduced this app, created by  L'Oréal, where your camera scans your face so you can test different makeup products without actually having to buy them or put them on your face. The camera follows the features of your face and still keeps the makeup look on, even when you're widening your eyes, closing them, pursing your lips, or opening them wide.

I hope that I didn't forget anything that I've really been enjoying this month, but if I have, I'll be sure to edit it back in. Hopefully the month of August is even greater!

xx

Liz