Lately I've Been Loving

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• OPI Mermaid's Tears. As I mentioned in this post, this particular nail polish was rather difficult to procure, and it's all I've lately been wanting to wear. I wore it for about two weeks and planned to reapply, but, alas, my nails are still bare. It's in the same family as China Glaze For Audrey, but it reads slightly more teal with a hint of gray. The best part: It's from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Collection. [Side note: I don't understand why so many people hated the movie. I just took it for what it was: A silly pirate movie, starring the fabulous Johnny Depp, that had nothing to do with the first three in the series. If you don't like Jack Sparrow, don't watch it!]

• Beauty blogs. You can check out my blog roll on my Complete Profile page. Those are just some of the blogs I read. I enjoy looking at the blog rolls of other people whose pages I regularly read, but I don't want eight million blogs on my subscription list, so I just tend to browse tons of blogs outside my own regular reading list.

• Glamour magazine. My friend subscribes to this magazine and, since we basically share each other's collections, I've been really loving it. It's a super quick read, but it doesn't feel ridiculous like magazines geared toward teens. There are plenty of pictures with articles interspersed throughout the pages, but there's nothing too dense. It's ideal light reading material for when my brain doesn't want to work too hard.

• Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Sweet Tart. I got this on a major sale, with a gift card and a coupon, so it was a little under $2 when I purchased it. I find it to be super easy to apply quickly before class, especially since I constantly think I'm running late. [This doesn't explain why I always get to class 15 to 20 minutes early.] The shine isn't too drastic, and the color shows up a vibrant pink on my lips. I love how it looks against my complexion and hair. I can't leave my dorm room without some sort of lip color on, or I feel way too washed out. With one or two reapplications, it wears down to a bit of a stain, so there's always a hint of color on my lips.

• Parks and Recreation. I literally just started watching this show yesterday, but my friends showed me some clips of the character Tom Haverford over the past weekend and now I can't get enough of it! I watched this clip on repeat before actually starting from the first season.

• New Girl. I'm so happy this show is back! The cast of characters is as ridiculous and lovable as ever, and I can't wait to see where this year's plot goes.

• Living close to home. Even though sometimes I consider whether I would have preferred living at home, I don't think I'd like commuting to school at all. That's why I love the fact that my college is close to home. I'm about an hour away from my house, which is just far enough for me to feel like I can have my own life but still have a safety net and a place to visit more often than I could at my previous university.

• "Uncharted" by Sara Bareilles, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, and "Us" by Regina Spektor. The first is one of my favorites by Bareilles, though I do love all of her songs. She's a pretty brilliant lyricist and has a fantastic, sassy voice. "I'll Be" got stuck in my head after watching the finale of The Glee Project: Season 2. Despite the fact that I don't watch Glee, I really enjoy that show. The winner, Blake, sang the song as his final performance, and I've been listening to it pretty often ever since. I also enjoy harmonizing to that song. [I enjoy harmonizing to any song, actually] "Us" is a song that I wouldn't normally like at all, because I don't particularly adore Regina Spektor's music or voice. However, because it's the opening song of 500 Days of Summer, one of my many favorite movies, I've recently been hooked on it. I still have no idea what it means. I do realize that not one of these songs is new.

• Family and friends. This one's a given, but particularly since I've started school, I'm very aware of how lucky I am to always have someone to call when I'm feeling unsure of myself or just need to talk. It's a great feeling.

[Aside: I currently have midterm exams and papers to write, and my reading assignments never end, but I'm certainly not going to stop posting.]

I hope your September has been great!

What have you been loving lately?

xEsther

Lazy Day Face and OPI Mermaid's Tears

Hello, dear readers,

Today has been a rather lazy day in the sense that I haven't been able to go out and about. I've mostly been inside doing homework or on the phone. Yesterday was much more fun, as I had two of my friends come to visit me at college. I plan to hula hoop this evening, so that should make me feel better about being so static today. Fingers crossed.

For no particular reason, and despite barely leaving the room, I felt the need to slap on some makeup and attempt to look more awake. After that was done, I thought, Why not take some photos of questionable quality on my MacBook and post them on my blog? So that's what I'm doing. I shall also share a couple of photos of my current nail polish, OPI Mermaid Tears.

An aside: I didn't buy Mermaid Tears when it came out as part of the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, because I was being noble and refraining from purchasing nail polish. However, that meant that by the time I got around to looking for it, it was discontinued. A journey to a nail polish/beauty supply store was to no avail, and all the bottles I found online were ridiculously expensive. Somehow, my mom managed to find one for a reasonable price and sent it to me at college. [Thanks, Mom!] I'm a little bit in love with it, and now I know not to pass up a limited edition nail polish if I'm obsessing over it. 

I tried to adjust the lighting and contrast of some of the photos, but they're honestly still pretty washed out and poor quality.  No color changes or any other sort of editing has been done besides that. Without further ado, here is my face of the day:

Products used:

1. Cover Girl Aqua Smoothers Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15 in 805 Fair/Light
2. Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer in Ivory                                                                              (under my eyes and down the bridge of my nose)
3. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent
4. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in 300 Rose Blush

As you can see, this isn't a flawless face. This is what I use when I want to get my makeup done quickly and efficiently, making myself look much more awake while letting some imperfections peek through. I always alternate the lipsticks, often layering more than one to create the perfect color, but Rimmel's Rose Blush is one of my go-tos for a natural, fresh-faced look. I'm almost out of the tinted moisturizer, so I'll need to bring my back-up to college next time I go home. Apparently, this is now being marketed as a BB Cream. Total sales gimmick, in my opinion.

On to the nail polish:

Despite the grainy quality of the photographs, these are pretty accurate depictions of the color. In the second, the nail polish in the bottle itself appears more blue than in real life.

What nail polish shades have you been loving lately? Are you transitioning to darker fall shades, or do you still play around with all sorts of colors?

I hope you've had a lovely weekend and have more great things in store for you during the coming week!

xEsther