Things I'm Currently Loving

Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Fine Fragrance Mist
This was on my last favourites list, but I'm still loving it to death. It's the best kind of vanilla, warm and delicious. Om nom nom. I have taken to occasionally spraying it on my pillow a couple of hours before I go to bed so I can wallow in it.

MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Again, this was on my last list, and again, still loving it. I use it almost every day - either to add a bit of oomph to tinted moisturisers, or to set under eye concealer.

Queen Helene Grape Seed Extract Peel Off Masque
I love peel off masks generally, but this one is especially good - it leaves my face feeling soft and non-wrinkly at least for a while after. And it's as cheap as chips, less than $4US on iHerb.

The Garden Bath Fresh Roses Perfume Oil
A true rose scent with a touch of a sharp green note in the background. So pretty and girly, I just love it.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe and Bad to the Bronze
I've been doing the old swipe-and-go on the eyes a fair bit of late, and these two colours are just fool proof. I wear one or the other depending on whether I feel like matte or a bit of shimmer. The only problem I have with them is that I have to apply them exactly where I want them to be because they dry almost immediately, making them virtually impossible to blend.

Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Matte Eyeshadow Primer
I have never really been a fan of UDPP, so when I finally used up all the little freebies that come with palettes I had lying around, I went looking for something else, and decided to try this one and the NYX HD primer. The NYX is pretty much a dupe for UDPP, which I guess is okay from a cost point of view, because it's way cheaper, but for keeping my eyeshadow in place all day, this Coastal Scents one has it in spades. Love it.

Real Techniques Brow Brush
When I first bought the Real Techniques eye brush set, I thought this one was kind of rubbish - it seemed way too thick to be a good brow brush, and nowhere near as stiff and precise as my beloved company-that-shall-no-longer-be-mentioned-due-to-hideous-unapologetic-racism one, but I have found that it is actually perfect for filling in brows and making them look really natural rather than 'done'. It's also super super quick to use.

NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Taupe/Ash
This is a little set that comes with two brow powders and a wax, as well as an application brush and a spoolie. The application brush is a bit useless, though I do occasionally use the little spoolie. I don't really use the wax either as it's quite soft - I much prefer NYX's Eyebrow Shaper. However, the lighter of the two powders is perfect for me - a lightish medium brown with absolutely no red in it. I use the Real Techniques brush to apply and only takes a few seconds.

Also....

Etsy
I have been Etsy bingeing of late, though in my defence, it's mostly samples. Perfume oils, loose eyeshadows, skincare products, lip balms, etc. I just love Etsy, and the 99.9% of good experiences I've had far outweigh the one or two bad ones. I love that I can buy something from a creative person doing their own thing. Mind you, I feel like they are getting a bit lax in their definition of 'handmade'. I was looking for bracelets for Noodles recently and there are a hell of a lot of mass-produced little crap things coming out of Hong Kong and China on there. Not cool, Etsy. That's what eBay is for.

The Because Show
This is a podcast that I only heard about very recently, and it's three women who are probably in their mid to late 30s. There are elements of their cast that don't grab me (a tendency to chat a bit too much about farting - I'm not a 12 year old boy and that really doesn't interest me), but on the other hand, there's enough there that I do like and I've been listening to their back catalogue most of the weekend. They talk about loads of things, including makeup and books. MAKEUP AND BOOKS. Yay for chicks!

Parks and Recreation
I've loved this show for lo these many years (and again, this is the second time in a row it's been on my favourites list), but it has come up in conversation more often of late because I FINALLY have some other people to talk to about it. Natalie has been a fan for quite a while, but fairly recently we managed to cajole Jessica into watching, and now she is up to Season 4 and thoroughly hooked. Hurrah! I've just converted a bunch of episodes to MP4 and put them on my phone so I can just watch them randomly whenever I feel the need for a P&R fix. Oh, and a girl I work with texted me yesterday to say she had just watched all of Season 1 (which is only 6 episodes) and loved it. The word is getting out there!

Nacho Saturday
This kind of speaks for itself. It involves eating nachos. On a Saturday. And it's awesome.

Stuff I Love At The Moment

COSMETICAL WOTSITS

Garnier BB Cream in Light, or Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in Nude, set with MAC MSF Natural Medium.
I absolutely detested the original Garnier 'BB cream' (it's not - it's a tinted moisturiser, and not a very good one), but this one (also not really a BB cream) is awesome. It gives a nice coverage and smooths out general redness and uneven tones. It doesn't disappear in minutes like the original one, either. My only complaint about it is that it's very thin so it's hard to get out of the tube without getting way too much. My other favourite face coverage at the moment is the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser, which actually reminds me a lot of the Garnier one but is thicker. Regardless of which one I use, I set it with MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural buffed in with one of those soft Coastal Scents brushes (since my Everyday Minerals flat kabuki carked it recently). The MSF holds it all in place without looking cakey or powdery.

MAC Studio Finish concealer in NW20
I'm not a big MAC fan, so it's odd that two of my current favourite things are theirs. I bought this yonks ago, didn't like it, threw it in a drawer and forgot about it. I hauled it out a couple of weeks ago and decided to give it a go, and I really like it now. I use it under the eyes very lightly, as it's really thick, and around the nose and any other small red areas, then smooth out with an Everyday Minerals Eye Kabuki brush. I set it with a bit of MSF and I'm good to go.

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Blush and Petal
Weird confession time - over the past couple of years, my teeth have shifted a lot. They used to be pretty tightly together, and now they are gappy and the top ones are starting to protrude. I'm not gonna lie - it's heading towards hillbilly territory. Apparently it's something to do with my bite pushing them out, but I can't afford whatever it would cost to fix them at the moment so I tend to concentrate on making sure Noodles' teeth are looked after and ignore my own. It's made me self-conscious though, I've always had slightly crooked teeth and I kind of liked them, but these are just not a good look. Anyway, as a consequence, I have been steering clear of any bright lipsticks or glosses that will draw attention to my mouth. I wouldn't wear any lip colours at all except that I don't think faces look quite finished unless there's something on the lips. Enter Blush, a nude beige, and Petal, a nude pink. These are both very unassuming, easy to wear colours and I've been using them almost exclusively for the last few weeks.

Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Fragrance Mist
Jacquie brought this back from the US for me and I love it to death - it's one of those wintery vanillas that smells really foodie and delicious (in contrast, Dreamy Vanilla Woods, which I bought on eBay, smells like toilet spray). It doesn't have huge staying power, but I'm going to decant some into a smaller bottle (the one she brought back was huge) so I can carry it around with me and respray regularly. I don't even care that it's more of a cold weather perfume - I'm wearing it anyway.

NON-COSMETICAL WOTSITS

Bean and Asparagus Salad
Asparagus is my favourite vegetable, so I love it when Spring rolls around (Ha! See what I did there?) and it's everywhere. I make this salad at least a couple of times a week at this time of year, and I never tire of it. It's not even really a recipe, you're just assembling a couple of ingredients.
 

1. Top and tail some fresh stringless green beans, and chop the bottoms off some asparagus (I like the thin stalks, but you can use whatever you like).  
2. In a big pot of rapidly boiling water, blanche the vegetables for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then fish them out with a spider and plunge them into a big bowl of iced water.
3. Drain well and spread them out in a shallow bowl. Drizzle over a really good quality olive oil (use your best for this, as the TV chefs would say), fresh cracked black pepper, and fancy salt flakes or fresh ground salt. Toss a little bit with tongs to get it all coated and then eat. SO GOOD.

The Walking Dead/Watching Dead
It's that time of the year again! Haters to the left, I love this show, and I don't care about the dodgy writing or bad accents, or the supposed realism or otherwise of what people would or wouldn't do in a zombie apocalypse (Seriously? It's a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE). I've read all the comics, so I have a fair idea of where everything is headed, even though the show deviates considerably at times. And then a couple of days after each episode I listen to The Watching Dead podcast for an entertaining recap, discussion on each episode, and audience feedback. If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, I highly recommend this podcast as a side dish. The two guys are big fans, but not above critiquing the show when it needs it, and they are both funny and entertaining without trying to sound like morning radio DJs, as podcasters are often wont to do. 

Nashville
My newest obsession, which has sparked off several other new obsessions, as listed below. This TV show is not on Australian TV yet (WHY?), but the US is about 4 episodes into it. Set in Nashville (der). it's about a fading country superstar (Connie Britton) and an up and coming pop/country crossover starlet (Hayden Panettiere) battling it out. There's also political intrigue going on with Connie's dad, a dodgy business man, trying to make her sort-of-useless husband the new Mayor of Nashville, and a bit of a bone thrown to those who just want to hear gorgeous love songs sung by ridiculously pretty people in a side plot about two plucky young'uns being discovered. It's glitzy and fun and has some awesome music, as well as Connie Britton's hair. Which leads me to...

Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen
The previously mentioned ridiculously pretty people singing gorgeous love songs. Like this one. 

And this one.

 

And that leads me to...

The Civil Wars
Apparently I'm the only person in the world who had not heard this band. This is what happens when you don't have a radio or television and you work with people who are mostly middle-aged. I thought it was Jessica who introduced me as she mentioned them on Twitter, and when I looked them up I found that they had written one of the above duets, but as it turns out, Natalie had pimped them to me in an email a couple of weeks ago, AND I had written them on my 'to download' list on my phone. I just didn't make the connection, until she huffily informed me that she was the one who had originally put me on to them. 

So, vindication and apologies to Natalie, and thank you to both her and Jess, because this band is AHMAAAHZING. Such gorgeous, gorgeous voices and beautiful, sparse music. I downloaded their album Barton Hollow on Friday morning before work and after the first 30 seconds I was completely in love, then proceeded to play it continually over and over all day, as well as most of Saturday (you're welcome, neighbours). And speaking of gorgeous duets...

Lennon and Maisy
Again, I seem to be the only person who didn't know about these girls. They play Connie Britton's daughters on Nashville and in the third episode they do an acoustic version of one of Hayden Panettiere's songs from the show which is crazy good. I was telling Noodles about it (living vicariously through other people's talented children since mine inherited her complete lack of musical ability from me), and she says, "You mean Lennon and Maisy? Everyone knows them!", and then she showed me this video. 

I'm usually pretty up on virals so I don't know how this one passed me by, but regardless, the song is on iTunes so I downloaded it and it's another one I've been playing to death. I hope they let them sing more on Nashville, they're so good. And check out their real life parents - is this the coolest family alive or what? I wonder if they would adopt me. 

Parks and Recreation
Look, I have been on at everyone I know to watch this for years, and if you haven't succumbed by now, I just don't know if we can be friends anymore. If you're a regular viewer, you'll know that the most recent episode was amazing and touching and oh my god I'm choking up again just thinking about it. The show is hilarious, the cast is perfect, Amy Poehler is the most flawless human being who ever walked the earth. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED, PEOPLE?   TREAT YO' SELF.