Randomosity

Aloha! I am still alive, and though I have quite a few blog posts I've been working up to doing, I am just going to do a quick update for now of some random crap.

1. I had been acting in a higher position for nearly 4 years and it's one of those ones you have to reapply for every year. I decided not to reapply this year because I hate the job, I hate almost everyone I was working with, and it was just causing me too much stress. Instead I've taken a massive pay cut to go and answer phones all day. I am going to be pretty povo from now on, but it's so much better than dealing with all the shit I had to deal with before. Although nothing ever changes in call centres - there are always a large number of weirdo loner types, and pretty much everyone is on some stupid diet and can never stop banging on about it. Whatevs, I just want to do my work and go home.

2. Noodles and I have been watching Game of Thrones together - her for the first time - and I am enjoying it a lot more now that I understand the connections between everyone and what's happening. For example, I was bored shitless the first time with Daenerys wandering around in the desert for four seasons but it's far more interesting to me now I know why she is doing it. I still have no clue why the wildlings and Jon Snow are going over the wall though. I also noticed that Jon Snow has exactly one facial expression - confused stoner. They really needed a much more charismatic actor for that role, considering how central the character appears to be. Noodles has somehow managed to avoid spoilers almost entirely - except for that one big one in Season 4 that book readers could not resist shooting their gobs off about. So when there was that death in Season 1 and then that other death in Season 2 she was shocked and devastated. Tonight we are watching S03E09. Oh, Noodles. If only you knew.

3. I am currently obsessed with steel cut oats - yes, I've become one of those people. I had tried them before in the slow cooker and it was a complete disaster, but I read somewhere online that you could just soak them overnight, so I decided to try that. I have been mixing the oats with skim milk, frozen blueberries and a tablespoon each of slivered almonds, chia seeds and sunflower seeds in a mason jar (yes, I've become one of those people too) and leaving overnight. I take it to work with me and it's awesome. Chewy and filling and I feel super healthified.

4. My current favourite podcast is Picturehouse Podcast, a London-based film cast that's hosted by two guys who work for a cinema company. (Maybe only one of them does - I don't really know.) Anyway, while their news section is more relevant to locals, their general chat and reviews of films are really fun and interesting, and they have a lot of interviews with cast and creators of various movies. I liked it so much that I downloaded most of their back catalogue and spent a few months listening to them for a couple of hours a day. I'm up to date now and only get a half hour or so fix a week. Boourns. If you like films, check it out. And of course I still highly recommend previously mentioned favourites like Answer Me This, How Did This Get Made, Personal Arrogants and pretty much any of the Bald Move TV and movie podcasts.

5. Noodles has a new BFF at school who is a full on feminist and it's really rubbing off on her. Yesssssss!

6. I've stopped reading the news sites. It's so depressing what this shithead government is doing to pretty much every vulnerable group they can hunt down and stomp on. They are a pack of nasty cunts and I really, really hope that they don't last longer than one term because if they hang around much longer we are all completely screwed.

Pondering Stuff and Things

 The other day a blogger who is fairly well-known in the indie makeup online world posted some swatches of eyeshadows from a small, relatively unknown company. She made some fairly benign comments in the post about being unimpressed with the colours – essentially that they were nice but basic – and she didn’t feel that the ‘full’ jars had much product in them, and therefore she would not make any further purchases. As she generally does, the blogger then posted the swatch post on Reddit. For most of a day there were only one or two comments, and the post may have eventually disappeared from my Reddit front page, but then the company owner showed up, and all hell broke loose. There was a lot of back and forth with the blogger and the business owner throwing accusations at each other (which seemed to stem from a misunderstanding about the anonymity of Etsy reviews), and after a while ‘two’ loyal customers (though judging by the identical spelling errors, it appears to have been one) weighed in, hurling abuse at everyone while raving about the super awesomeness of the products and how dare anyone not love them. (Sidenote: This was actually the most entertaining part because this person seemed to assume that everyone should know who she (the customer) was and became quite irate when people said they had no idea. I had never heard of her so I Googled – 23 followers on Twitter. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a superstar makeup artist in our midst.)

Although it did end up getting out of hand in what is normally an extremely polite and respectful community (on Reddit – I know, right!), it was an amusing shit storm to watch while it lasted, and the business owner revealed a lot more about herself and her lack of professionalism than she probably ever meant to. I’m sure I’m not the only person who decided after her first couple of comments that she was a bit of a drama monger and probably best avoided.

So I’ve been thinking about this and some other things that have happened of late, and I wonder at what point or for what reason people decide to take their money elsewhere, when it is the business owner/s rather than the product who are seen as sub-par for whatever reason. I have a problem giving my money to someone I don’t like. That someone could be an individual person like an Etsy seller who wants to start a public brawl over some really very mild criticism, or a large company like Gloria Jeans, which has made financial donations to the Australian Christian Lobby, an ultra rightwing religious lobby group that wants us all back in the 1950s when being gay was considered a mental disorder and women knew their place. In short, if I know something I don’t like about whoever is behind a particular store or a product, I will not give them my money. There is an element of hypocrisy there of course – I am sure I’m handing money over to lots of big companies who engage in all kinds of shenanigans, but I’m not aware of them so I go about my merry way. I don’t go out of my way to find out what’s going on in the background. Maybe I should, but that seems exhausting, and there’s a small part of me that fears I’d have nothing left to buy ever. I’m pretty judgemental and it doesn’t take much to put me off. Sometimes I just wish I didn’t know so I could keep happily shopping.

Case in point: Within the last 12 months I have discovered that the owners of two indie companies I had previously thought very highly of have some political views that – well, frankly they are pretty gross, in my opinion. It’s no secret that I am a bleeding-heart lefty and a borderline socialist when it comes to looking after the whole of society, so when I see reams and reams of ranting about gun rights (in the weeks after Sandy Hook, no less) and how evil Obamacare is (along with memes likening Obama to a monkey – super classy!), or someone speaking proudly of the Confederate flag – as well known as the Southern Cross for its problematic symbolism - then I’m not going to look on that kindly. And I’m not American, so some people might just say “Butt out,” but you know what – we are saturated with America these days. I probably know more about American politics than I do about Australian. Not only that, but to me wrong is wrong – it doesn’t matter if it’s in the US, Australia, the UK, the Middle East, or wherever. When it comes to opinion, let’s just say I’m definitely not into cultural relativism.

So that was a very long-winded way of saying that since discovering personal things about the owners of companies I had previously liked a lot, I feel I can no longer in good conscience hand my money over to them. And in addition to that, if I get the slightest whiff that a business owner is going to be one of those dramariffic types that unfortunately the indie beauty world seems to foster, then I don’t want a bar of them either.

Now, tell me how you feel – would you buy from a big or small business whose personal philosophies were anathema to you if you loved the products they provided? Do you think I over-react by taking my money and going elsewhere? It won’t change my mind if you do, but you can say it. ;-)

Perhaps there should be a part two for this post – a definitive list of the people who are dead to me because they signed the Roman Polanski support petition (looking at you, Johnny Depp). 

Randomosity

1. My work is chaos at the moment. My team is having a meltdown over some changes that have been on the cards for a couple of years and myself and one other person seem to be the only two out of 10 not freaking out. It's very tiresome. I have a lot to do and I just want to get on with it, but I'm being interrupted constantly by people wanting to talk about the drama.

2. Last night I was watching Eastenders and I was struck yet again by how quickly people leave in soaps once they decide they are going. Tanya - who's been in the show for maybe 8 or 9 years - decided to take her alcoholic daughter to a clinic in the country. She has a sister and nephew in Albert Square, brother in law, friends, and owns a business. But she had made her decision, was packing a suitcase, and had a taxi waiting while she told her daughter they were leaving. And then they were gone. Just like that! She has a car - why didn't they drive instead of taking a taxi and a train to this place? What about her business? What about the other daughter she left behind? A few weeks ago Sharon was having a bad time and Dot suggested she go on holiday for a while. Within the same episode (they are almost always one day) she had packed up, got her dopey kid from school and was off on a flight to Florida. Seriously??? Who makes and then carries out these decisions within hours other than grifters?

3. Noodles got a job at a fast food place and I think (hope) it will do her the world of good. She's been so unhappy the last year or so and really struggling so I think working will help her focus on something other than how crappy she feels, as well as giving her some independence and responsibility. She has to do all this online stuff before she starts and she's been enthusiastically getting into that all weekend, so even though she's acting all cool about it, I think she's pretty excited. I had to go to the interview with her because she is under 18 and she presented really well - confident and friendly. I was very proud of her. Go Noodles!

4. I am doing #NoBuyJuly and also #DryJuly. I have been pissing money up the wall lately - no idea where it's all going, because I don't feel like I'm buying much. However, if I added it all up that would probably tell a different story. I have also been drinking more than I would like. When I get together with my BFF for TV we always drink all the way through it - and lately that's been a couple of times a week. I would like to give my liver a bit of a rest. Not to mention I have no stamina these days and it doesn't take much to have me waking up seedy and feeling rubbish the next day.

5. Politics is gross at the moment. I don't want to talk about it and I've been avoiding the news entirely. I get all my news from Twitter these days. And on that subject, I get really annoyed when people dismiss Twitter as pointless. Sure, there are One Directioners and Beliebers skewing the trends all the time, but for links to proper news and analysis on issues Twitter is my go to. I'm certainly not getting any of that from mainstream media in this country.

6. Dinosaurs of the world: you are on notice. Your time is nearly over.  Standing up against sexism, racism, homophobia and misogyny is exhausting and often feels pointless, but I like that it's happening. Helen Razer and other 'social commentators' can STFU about 'confected outrage'. Social media is a wonderful tool for revealing all manner of things we would otherwise not know about, and it DOES make a difference. That's been proven over and over again. If it weren't for social media George Zimmerman probably wouldn't be sitting in a court room right now. If it weren't for social media most of us would never have even heard of Wendy Davis, let alone be able to watch the amazing thing she did the other day. If it weren't for social media, most of us would have no idea of the disgusting racism of Paula Deen (and no, it's not just that she said the 'n' word 25 years ago), and all those companies who have ditched her now probably would not have, not being under any pressure to do so. Unfortunately, we are yet to catch up in Australia - we still largely detested a Prime Minister because she was a chick, and told  a black footballer that he should harden up when he was called a racist slur and had the audacity to call it out. But we'll get there.

Phew! That got a bit ranty, didn't it? I have to admit, I've been in rant mode pretty much all week - ready to go anyone over anything. Maybe it's the super moon.

Randomosity

Pretty random.

1. I haven't been into blogging much of late (and my poor perfume project blog is suffering for it too), mostly because I haven't been on my laptop - I tend to read most things on my phone and writing and commenting and whatnot is a pain in the arse on an iPhone. I've also had some dramas going on with Noodles. She's been a bit depressed - like, actual depression, not 'oh, this boy doesn't like me and I'm sad' depression. She's okay, but she's a bit up and down and I'm currently using up a lot of my time and energy trying to be there for her and get her some help. So when I have time to myself I just feel like sitting there staring vacantly at the TV or flicking through my bloglist or Buzzfeed or whatever on my phone.

2. The other day I was cleaning out my Favourites on YouTube and I was reminded of some clips I love. These are just guaranteed to make me laugh - I've probably posted them before, but they're worth another spruik if so.

First of all, one of my favourite clips from Malcolm In The Middle, a show I always loved. Hal was always my favourite character, and I thought that his whacky comedy combined with how much he genuinely loved his wife and kids was pulled off beautifully by Bryan Cranston, who really is an amazing actor.

Then there's Tom Hanks doing Toddlers and Tiaras, which I KNOW I've posted (probably many) times before, but it always, always cracks me up.

If you're a Gavin and Stacey fan, you'll remember Smithy and Rudi's rap to entertain Gav on the phone.

And finally a new favourite that I'm sure everyone has seen by now as it's been doing the round of the internet for the last couple of days. It's an out-take from Parks and Recreation with Patton Oswalt performing a 'citizen filibuster' and delighting the inner nerd in all of us (and I'm not even a particular Star Wars or Marvel fan).

3. I have been doing a bit of splurging lately - probably about time to reign it back in. As well as a bunch of new perfumes and perfume samples, for the first time in ages I bought some makeup - not that I need it, as you would know if you've been around this blog for a while. I didn't want anything in particular - I was just interested in trying out Beauty Joint, as a lot of Aussies use that site for brands we can't get here like Wet'n'Wild, ELF, Nyx, etc. I picked up a few things that caught my eye.

I haven't really done much more than play yet, though I did try out the Wet'n'Wild foundations. The colours are slightly off - one runs a bit too yellow and one a bit too pink. I'm going to mix them and see if that helps. As far as texture, application, etc. they're pretty good for a super cheap foundation (about $6US).

4. As far as my stories go:

• Super annoyed that Breaking Bad doesn't come back until August. That's too looooooong! I don't know what I'm going to do when it finishes. I feel like there will be some weird kind of worldwide mourning for it. I've spoken to some other people about it and they said the same thing. Maybe we are just all way too attached to our stories. 
• The Walking Dead finale was a dud. I love that show, but god, sometimes the writing is just... ugh. 
• Of the new shows out recently, I'm still watching The Following, even though it's stoooooooopid, and the serial killer guy is about as charasmatic as a vacuum cleaner salesman. I watched two episodes of Hannibal and found it gimmicky and annoying. The one I'm really getting into is Bates Motel. It started off a bit clunky, but once the older brother showed up and started messing with the dynamic between Norma and Norman the pace really picked up. As my friend Jade said, there's something a bit Twin Peaks-ish about it, what with all the townspeople having creepy secrets and everyone being a bit 'off', and so on. 
• Nurse Jackie is back - yay! I love the show overall but what really keeps me coming back is Merritt Wever. She is ADORABLE as Zoe the nurse. I  love her so much it makes me feel a bit creepy - if I lived in Hollywood I'd probably stalk her. She turned up in an episode of New Girl the other day and I literally squealed when I saw her. 
• Speaking of New Girl, NO THANK YOU to the Nick and Jess thing. It's not working. Make it go away. Also, those lensless glasses just bug the crap out of me so much, especially because she wears them at times that would be appropriate for regular glasses - rather than as an (albeit dopey) fashion statmement - like when she is teaching or sitting in front of the computer. THEY. HAVE. NO. GLASS. IN. THEM. THEY. ARE. NOT. GLASSES. 
• Yay forever that Mad Men is back. Aaaaaah, like slipping on an old, slightly confusing pair of slippers. And also Game of Thrones, which I don't love as much, but I do still enjoy. I always listen to the Bald Move podcasts after in the hopes that they and/or their listeners who write in with feedback can shed more light on the bits that baffled me. If you're a fan of either of these shows, I highly recommend these podcasts - Mad Men Happy Hour and The Night's Watch.  They also do casts for The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad when they're on.

5. Speaking of TV, I finally managed to get someone else to watch Bob's Burgers, and now Jacquie and I spend probably way too much time throughout the day sending each other gifs or quoting lines. "Ginger's cat died... but in a really funny way!"

6. I went shopping with Noodles the other day - for the first time in ages she actually wanted to go out in public with her mum. She dragged me through all these groovy (do the kids still say groovy?) shops I would never set foot in otherwise - and man, did I feel old or what - and I was surprised and pleased to see that 90s fashion seems to have made a reappearance. I love 90s clothes - not mum jeans or spaghetti strap dresses with t-shirts, but the black tights, chunky black lace up shoes, plaid, band t-shirts, houndstooth skirts, hand dyed petticoats worn as dresses, etc. I wish I could get away with wearing all that again - I'd be all over it. And I hope this means the 80s is finally going away because that shit is ANNOYING.  I have a wee mohair cardigan that I have kept for about 20 years and since they're sort of part of the fashion now I gave it to Noodles. It's about 4 sizes too small for me these days - that dream has well and truly died. It might as well go to someone who can do the buttons up.

7. Noodles is away for school holidays at the moment with her dad, so I think I'm going to spend the weekend reading books and magazines. I have a bunch of Rolling Stones I have yet to get through and I was reading an article in one yesterday and remembering how damn good their journalism often is. It makes a nice change from all the opinionated, dumbed-down, journalistic shit that passes for journalism these days, at least in this country.

More Randomosity

I really miss this show. 

You may or may not know that USPS has increased their shipping prices from January 27, and in the case of international shipping, it’s a massive increase – in some cases almost double. This is a bad, bad thing for those of us who don’t live in the US but buy the majority of our online purchases from there. It’s also a bad, bad thing for little guys on places like Etsy who do a lot of their business internationally (such as indie perfumeries, as we don’t have much of that available to us here), because a lot of us will have to severely limit our purchasing from now on. In short – it’s sucktacular all round.  BOOURNS!

Speaking of perfume, I learned something interesting the other day. Apparently grapeseed oil only has a shelf life of 6-9 months, so beware of buying perfumes that use it as a carrier. Unless you’re someone who is going to use it up in that amount of time, you might find they go off. I have never used a perfume in that time in my life, so it’s certainly something I’ll be watching out for.

And speaking of using makeup (do you like my smooth segueways there?) I have recently had discussions with a few people (Natalie and Jacquie to name two) about our habit of buying beautiful products that we are coveting, and then either not wanting to use them because we don’t want to upset the beauty of it, or saving it for ‘best’ and only using it a couple of times a year. When you think about it, that’s insane. I mean, if you own, say, two lipsticks and you wear one every day and save the other one for special occasions like weddings and parties, then fine. You have a case. But if you’re like us and you have lipsticks in the dozens and you’re saving some of them for special occasions, you’re just wasting all the money you spent to have this beautiful product in the first place. So whether it’s lipsticks, a gorgeous eyeshadow palette, or a bottle of perfume, if you love it, USE IT. Enjoy it and make every day a ‘special occasion’. Eventually whatever it is will go off, and if you’ve barely touched it, then what was the point? So that’s my goal for this year – use all those things I put aside as special. If I use them up and I can’t get another exactly the same, at least I will have had the enjoyment of it while it lasted.

Speaking of goals for this year (oh wow – I’m so good at this), another one of mine is to learn to wear necklaces. As a young’un I always wore necklaces of one kind or another, but as I’ve gotten older (and let’s be real, porkier), I’ve found that I hate wearing anything around my neck – it just feels uncomfortable. I carry my work pass around in my hand because I hate the lanyard thing it hangs from. But I love the look of necklaces, and I own a few of them, so I want to relearn to love wearing them.

I had mentioned I was doing a No Buy for January, and that was going pretty well until I found out about the international shipping increases, at which point I decided to suspend the No Buy and get all the stuff I could manage from my wishlists while I could for a reasonable shipping cost. The No Buy is back on from now until my birthday in May. As a consequence I have  A LOT of little packages on the way to me:

Twyla Perfumes (20% off – how could I not?)

Possets Perfumes

Alchemic Muse

Midnight Gypsy

Solstice Scents

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Various Etsy purchases such as earrings, a necklace, a lip scrub , posters for Noodles and a purse for my mum.

I love acapella. I know it’s cheesy but I really admire people who can do talented things like that. I especially like Matthias Harris and Mike Tompkins.

While you’re checking them out on YouTube, you should also watch this 10 minute documentary about a group of people with a lot of time on their hands at work, who spent it perfecting their strategy in the event of a zombie apocalypse. There are a couple of questionable comments about women, but consider the source, let it slide and enjoy the show. It’s pretty good. 

And finally, a slight whinge – I hate it when people have blogs with no ‘follow’ button on them. If it’s not a private blog, why would you make it difficult for people to follow (and bloglovin’ doesn’t count because that sucks)? Also, captcha on comments – I need new glasses, so trying to read captcha words is REALLY hard. I am sure that 99% of people don’t even realise when they have it on there, so it should be something that you have to opt in to rather than opt out of. Get on to that, Blogger!

Okay, I’m done now. 

Randomosity

One of my favourite pictures of Noodles, from about 10 years ago. 

1. 2012 was an awful year for respect towards women, in so much as there was very little of it. I'm not going to rehash all the reasons - I'll just get angry all over again, and you all know them anyway. Suffice to say I will not be shedding a tear if Alan Jones finally shuffles off this mortal coil in 2013. What I'd love to see this year is more positive support, both from men and from each other. Let's stop bagging out women who don't fit the Hollywood norm of 'beauty' and yet still have the nerve to be on our screens. Let's stop blaming women who are attacked for being out and about in the first place. Let's stop making ourselves miserable and boring everyone else shitless with our diet obsessions. Let's stop judging mothers for not meeting whatever our own lofty standards of perfection are. Starving a child = abuse. Formula feeding =/= abuse. And so on. In short, let's just be nice.

2. I am really enjoying my perfume a day reviews. I've found a handful of perfume oil fans who also have blogs I'm enjoying reading, such as La Domna, Liber Vix, Brightest Star of All, and Iris Handmade Soaps, and it's so nice to be back into one of my longstanding hobbies again. My only problem is that my wishlist won't stop growing.

3. TV shows I'm hanging out for the return of this year:

• Breaking Bad (of course)
• Mad Men 
• Game of Thrones 
• The Walking Dead. 

      TV shows I've well and truly given up on in 2012 and no longer care about:

• Grimm 
• Once Upon A Time 
• Glee (ugh) 
• How I Met Your Mother.

4. I'm on holiday at the moment and I've been home for a week. I had plans to get up early every morning and do all sorts of useful things. Very little of that has happened. I have another week off, so maybe I can get started on all that tomorrow...


5. I'm finding myself increasingly distracted by overly botoxed and derma-filled faces on TV these days. Both men and women from about 26 onward have these ridiculously smooth, unlined, expressionless foreheads and frankly, it's just creepy. If you're in your 40s, it is OKAY to look like you're in your 40s. Check out Connie Britton. She looks like a 40-something woman, but she's still gorgeous.

6. Don't forget to check out Twyla's generous 20% off for readers of this blog! The code is PRISSYPERFUME and it will run until 12 Feb.

Organising!

A couple of days ago Jacquie and I went for a trek to Ikea to buy some drawer organisers and things to hold makeup brushes and generally just mess about in Ikea and eat meatballs (my first time!). I came home with a bunch of divider things that go in drawers, but rearranging all my makeup in those I decided I didn't like them and wanted something else (lucky they were cheap - I can use them in the kitchen for something). So instead I ordered some Keji document storage things from Officeworks - one with 5 small drawers, and one with 3 small drawers and a larger size drawer.

They arrived this morning, and I've spent some of today organising my stuff in them. I'm really happy with these - they were only $15 each. Bargain!

In this one I have single eyeshadows, sorted roughly by colour: green in top drawer, next blues and purples, then pinks and peaches, then browns, then random other neutrals and some odd colours that don't fit anywhere else (a yellow one I received as a freebie and so on).

This one has most of my other stuff - the top drawer is mascaras, gel eyeliners, lashes, eye primers and brow products. The second drawer has blush, the third face products like primers, foundations and concealers. The bottom larger drawer holds eyeshadow palettes and one stray primer that is too high for the other drawers.

I also tidied up some other stuff while I was there - I'm not overly thrilled with the nail polishes being in a basket all higgeldy piggeldy but I don't paint my nails all that often so it will do until I can be bothered working out something else. In the cups and little spice canisters are (from left) lip glosses, lip pencils, eye pencils, jumbo eye pencils.

I did use one of the drawer organisers to get some currently unused stuff out of the way - a couple of empty jars, some empty eyeshadow sample bags, and brushes I don't use much.

And I finally got around to labelling the top of all my perfume oils, as I keep them in a drawer in a darkish corner and it's a pain in the butt having to pull half of them out to find the one I want.

Not gonna lie, I'm feeling a bit proud of myself!

Celebrate Good Times... COME ON

I used to like Christmas, even though it would appear I was given a bucket.

And yet, within a couple of years the joy was over.

Imaginary Boyfriends (other than Paul Rudd)

Richard Harrow (Boardwalk Empire) 

This sharpshooting assassin-slash-brothel minder-slash babysitter is sensitive, philosophical and thoughtful. The dreamiest guy with half a face who ever lived. And with a whole face - phwooaaar. 

 Cary Agos (The Good Wife) 

In the beginning, it seemed like Cary was going to be the archetypal scheming rival/villain going up against Juliana Margolies, but the writers gave him a lot more depth and even though he was competing for his job with the protagonist, he was still a decent guy. Cary is intelligent, intuitive and has layers.He's just an all-round good guy.

 Ryan Gosling 

Reasons to love Ryan Gosling:

1. He can act. 
2. He can sing. 
3. He has a great sense of humour. 
4. He is a feminist. 
5. He is intelligent. 
6. He is a feminist. 

Reasons to not love Ryan Gosling:

1. You're crazy. 

Slash 

I've never been a particular fan of Guns'n'Roses, but every fan encounter with Slash I've ever heard about results in a story about how nice he is. I've just never heard anyone say a bad word about the guy, and positive gossip speaks volumes.

Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead)

Needs no explanation. HE'S FEEDING A BABY IN A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE.

Ben Wyatt (Parks and Recreation) 

Smart, nerdy, funny, and adores the perfect Leslie Knope. Pretended to 'get' L'il Sebastian out of love. Bought a Batman suit on Treat Yo' Self Day. Made a (very) short film called Requiem for a Tuesday. Perfect, perfect, perfect boyfriend.

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.

 

I Heart Drugstore Makeup Tag

What is your favourite drugstore makeup brand?
NYX. I'm pretty sure I own more NYX than anything else, and it's pretty rare to come across a dud product in their range.  

What are your favourite face, cheek and lip products?
Face of Australia Face Base Primer
ELF Radiant Blushes
Revlon Lip Butters

Least favourite product?
Cover Girl eyeshadows. In fact, Cover Girl in general sucks.

What is the best makeup bargain?
ELF Radiant Blushes - they're about $1US and they're perfect for me. Lightly pigmented, not shimmery, just a nice flush of colour.  

What is your favourite underdog product?
Lacura lipstick from Aldi. I have two and I really like them, but I never really hear anyone else talk about them.

A drugstore product that is overpriced?
All of them here. But particularly foundations and mascaras. They're about 3 times the price you would pay in the US.

Show your best drugstore dupes!
Wet'n'Wild Penny and MAC Expensive Pink
 
Drugstore product that isn't worth the hype?
L'Oreal mascaras - they smudge like mofos, particularly Voluminous, which everyone raves about but I can't make stay put no matter what I do. . They are also ridiculously priced here. 

Etsy Lerve

I feel like it's been a couple of years since I last pimped out my Etsy favourites, and a couple of things have happened lately to prompt me to share some more love. Firstly, Jessica and Suzanne both sang the praises of their favourite Etsy shops, and secondly, one of my old favourites reopened after a long break. So here we go - go forth and spend money!

Poison Apple Apothecary
Perfumes, body lotions, and scrubs in some really lovely fragrances - they are particularly good with gentle florals. Lasting power varies depending on the scent, but I decant the oils into a roller bottle and find they are easier to slather for more staying power. My personal favourites are Ghost of the Knoxville Girl, Garden of Graves, and White Rabbit. You can get samples and/or mini versions of everything, and their customer service is fantastic.

Wiggle Perfume
Gorgeous, gorgeous heavy floral and musk-oriented perfumes with a burlesque theme. Wonderful service, and everything is available in samples. I particularly love Buxom, Speakeasy Vanilla, and Little 5.

MarfDaze
Noodles' go to for presents for her friends, this shop sells sturdy, cute pencil cases with a big range of designs.

iCase Sera Sera
iPhone cases, including a big range of really cool retro styles. I have two, Noodles has two, and I want pretty much one of everything.

The Garden Bath
One of the first Etsy stores I ever purchased from, and closed for a couple of years because of illness, this one recently reopened, to my delight. The owner, Donna, makes the most delicious food-scented perfumes - and her Chocolate Passion is probably my all time favourite chocolate scent. You can buy samples in sets, or custom pick any 6. She has Autumn Limited Edition scents out at the moment, available until the end of the year, and I am currently compulsively sniffing Vanilla Nutmeg on my wrist. Of the non-foodie scents available, I adore Fresh Roses, a gorgeous true rose note, and I'm hoping she brings back her Southern Magnolia perfume, because that's my all time favourite magnolia scent.

Boojiboo
Aprons. I have one. Noodles has one. My mum has one. I've bought several for friends. They are gorgeous retro designs and beautifully made. They also sell children's sizes for mini budding pâtissiers. The hardest part is deciding on a fabric.

 Smile, Noodles! Life's not that bad.

Things I Like: A Semi-Regular Series - Podcasts

Source

I'm not really a big music person - I go through periods where I like listening to it, and then I'll go months without ever hearing any. And I detest radio to the point where it can send me into a frothing rage if someone at work is playing one on their desk (seriously people - it's 2012. HEADPHONES). However, I do quite often need to blank out noise around me at work (OTHER PEOPLE'S STUPID RADIOS), so I quite often listen to podcasts. Today I'm just going to list some of my favourites - mostly relating to TV, film, and pop/geek culture, so if you're interested in any of these topics, check them out and see what you think.

I'll start with my favourites - Bald Move. These guys have a bunch of TV show specific podcasts that come and go according to the programs' seasons. They have just wound up Breaking Bad and will be starting up The Walking Dead in a few weeks when that's back on television (yay!). They also do Mad Men, Justified, and Game of Thrones. The set up is that they recap the week's episode, discussing along the way any interesting points or interpretations that crop up, and then spend time on listener feedback. They're chatty and organically funny, and they're enthusiastic about their subjects, but not afraid to criticise something they don't consider up to par. They also have an older podcast called Blue Yonder (still available on their website and iTunes, though they don't update them anymore) that's more of a generic geek/pop culture show, and it's worth listening to if you enjoy their rapport in their more recent outings. They have quite interesting backgrounds (hardcore, intelligent geeks who come across as endearingly naive about some things due to having been raised in a strict religious environment).

Personal Arrogants is a podcast by two young guys in Seattle, the subject of which is 'bridging the gap between nerd culture and pop culture' or words to that effect. It's a pretty random cast, with a lot of discussion about gaming and beer (one works for a brewery and they both have an interest in boutique brews). Since I neither play video games nor really drink beer, it's surprising how much I like this cast. They talk about a lot of other things as well though, and like Bald Move, they have a great rapport and a funny outlook.

The Golden Briefcase is a film podcast, but rather than review a specific film, these two guys have a discussion topic each week inspired by a new release for that week. For example, if there's a big superhero movie coming out, they might have a discussion about comic book heroes and how successful their translations to the big screen have been. I like this one more than other film podcasts because I rarely see new releases until they hit DVD or a good download shows up on The Pirate Bay, so listening to them talk for 40 minutes about a film I haven't seen can be a bit dull at times.

How Did This Get Made celebrates terrible movies, with a podcast popping up about every two weeks dissecting a particular 'bad movie we love'. They've done casts on such gems as Godzilla, Cool as Ice (with special guest Vanilla Ice himself, who was wonderfully good-humoured), Burlesque, and Batman and Robin. Hosted by actor Paul Scheer (you might know him as Donny the head page in 30 Rock), his wife June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukis, they're invariably hilarious.

The Black Guy Who Tips makes me uncomfortable sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. My white leftie guilt goes into overdrive when they start throwing the 'n' word around. This is an incredibly meandering cast - they quite often spend 20 minutes or so just banging on about their sponsors, their Twitter handles, their website, etc. It's a husband and wife team, and though Rod the husband is funny, Karen the wife is really just there for him to bounce off. She has an annoying tendency to come up behind him and 'explain' his jokes. Having said all that, it's often screamingly funny. They just talk about random topics and read out weird newspaper stories, and then Rod comments on them and discusses them with whoever else he has there with him. And they do that for 2-3 hours several times a week. It's a good one for work because I can put it on and just tune in and out of it.

The Joe Rogan Experience is a podcast I've only started listening to recently. I only really know Joe Rogan from Fear Factor, and vaguely remember him from NewsRadio, so my opinion of him is 'overgrown frat boy'. I would never in a million years have bothered listening to a podcast of his, but I heard a couple of people talking about it and it piqued my interest. And I have to say - it's probably now one of my favourites. He's another one who just rambles - not least because he's generally pretty stoned - and he and his comedian friends sit around and tell weird, rambling, hilarious stories about whatever pops into their heads. The most interesting one for me so far was when he had Dave Foley on and they dished on all the NewsRadio gossip and Dave's disastrous first marriage. And the one with Bobcat Goldthwait was so funny I had to stop listening at work because I kept bursting into laughter and looking like an idiot. 

And finally, one that's more of a hate listen. Firewall & Iceberg is a general TV podcast, where the two hosts - Alan Sepinwall and Daniel Fienberg - discuss the most recent episodes of several of the week's shows, review upcoming new programs, and report any interesting or important TV news. I'm not entirely sure why I listen to this one, because I rarely agree with Sepinwall's opinions about anything (I often feel like I've watched a different episode to him), and Fienberg's halting, disjointed speech patterns and irritating habit of asking himself questions and then answering them ("Do I think she's the best character? No. Do I think she's a good character? Yes - I do - but - ") drives me mental. I think I just keep going with it because it's an easy one to listen to at work - I don't really need to pay attention to what's being said and I can tune in and out.

You Like Different Things From Me? You Suck!

 

Michelle wrote a post the other say having a bit of a rant about judgements from people when you tell them you're a beauty blogger. I love a good rant, and she has a valid point (though speaking personally I have to admit I detest the term 'beauty blogger' and never, ever use it to refer to myself). If I'm ever in a position of having to explain this blogging thing, the conversation is usually something like:

"You have a blog? What's it about?" 

"Oh, you know... makeup and shit. Nothing you'd be interested in..."  and trailing away into an embarrassed mumble. 

I don't deliberately keep it a secret, but I don't go out of my way to tell people either. On the few occasions I have, I've regretted it, because the other person has either been completely disinterested and doesn't even have the manners to say, "Oh, how nice for you!" or words to that effect, or they look at me like I'm crazy, which I think is what Michelle is complaining about, and (I would venture to guess) exactly what most of the people reading this have experienced. I feel like I'm being looked down on for what I choose to spend my money on.
 
However, I've noticed lately that there's a bit of an all-round trend toward intolerance of other people's hobbies, regardless of what they are (and full disclosure, I side-eyed Harriet Archer when she delved into scrapbooking). I attend regular work-related meetings with a woman who prides herself on not owning a TV, not having internet, and not having the vaguest idea of anything related to pop culture. In the first few minutes when everyone is shooting the breeze waiting for the stragglers to turn up, conversation inevitably turns to trivial things like television, especially if there's some big thing that everyone's watching (more likely to be Masterchef than Game of Thrones with this crowd). This woman literally gets angered by people talking about these sorts of things, because she has no interest and can't relate to any of it. (I have no interest in Masterchef either, but I just tune out of the conversation.) Yet, at the end of the meetings when the discussion turns to 'what's everyone doing on the weekend', she will happily hold forth for 10 minutes about her weird, obscure hobbies that only about 5 people in the entire world have even the most passing interest in. She likes some odd stuff, and if that makes her happy, good on her. If I have to sit there and listen to her bang on about it, I'm not that thrilled, but I'm polite and I understand that we live in a society (as a wise man once said), and these are the things one does when one is forced to interact with people they wouldn't normally cross paths with. On the other hand, she seems to be insulted if anyone dares to spend a minute or so talking about something she doesn't like, and makes it quite clear that she disapproves.
 
I was listening to a podcast yesterday where two guys were talking about a segment on one of those chat shows (The View, The Talk, whatevs) in which several older women and a middle-aged guy were sitting around talking about how men over 30 playing video games were weird. Again, this is the same sort of thing - people who don't have any interest in, or understanding of, video games looking down their noses at people who do enjoy them. These guys are avid gamers and devote a lot of their podcast to the discussion of various game-oriented topics, and one of them is in his mid-30s while the other is only a few years younger. Not surprisingly, they took great offence to a bunch of non-gamers judging them, and as they pointed out, it's no more weird than men in their 30s seeing a couple of movies a week, or watching a few hours of TV, or going to watch a football game.
 
I think it's human nature to judge other people and feel superior to them, and in most cases we can only do that by picking at trivial things like what hobbies they enjoy. I know I'm guilty of it (adults reading Harry Potter, people who like car races, the above-mentioned scrapbookers), but really - if they're not doing any harm, what business is it of mine how anyone else chooses to entertain themselves and spend their money?
 
Challenge: think about the people you judge who are enjoying totally harmless activities that have no effect on you, and make an effort to change that thinking. You'll be a better person for it.