25 Questions Beauty Tag

Hello dear readers,

Wow! I managed to skip an entire month. November is quite possibly busier for me than October, so I'm doing this tag while I have time. I found this 25 Beauty Questions Tag on Beauty in Balance, and I thought it would be a fun way to return to the blogosphere without taking up too much time.

And the questions are...

1. Do you apply your foundation with a brush, sponge, or fingers?

I generally apply it with my fingers, since I find it easy to blend liquid foundation that way. I do, however, own a foundation brush which I prefer to use when I mix foundations or foundation and moisturizer.

2. Do you apply your eyeshadow from light to dark? or dark to light?

I don't use eyeshadow, mostly because I don't have the patience to learn how to do it well.

3. Do you prime your eyes?

As I said, I don't wear eyeshadow. Instead, I cover up the darkness on my eyelids with concealer. I guess that's irrelevant.

4. Concealer first, or after foundation?

Concealer after foundation, because otherwise I would mess up the concealer by blending foundation over it. This way I can use less concealer as well.

5. Go for manicures, or manicure yourself?

I do them myself. I did enjoy the one time I got a manicure, but I prefer to do my own.

6. Exfoliate lips, face or both?

I exfoliate my face once or twice a week when I'm at home by adding baking soda to my facial cleanser. For my lips, I exfoliate with a damp washcloth or Q-tip.

7. On average, how long does it take you to do your makeup?

It can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. It only takes 15 minutes or so when I decide to spend extra time perfecting my skin and/or mixing my own lip colors. 

8. Do you wear makeup everyday and everywhere?

I don't wear makeup if I don't have any plans for the day. If I'm staying in and doing homework, exercising, going to the grocery store, or with my family on a break, I don't wear it. Generally I wear it at least 6 days out of the week.

9. What release are you most excited about? (Makeup)

I’m not sure what specific releases are coming up in the makeup world, but I always like to see the holiday collections and sets from various brands. I am excited about the Skyfall collection from OPI, though I doubt I'll get anything from it.

10. What’s your weakness? Shoes, purses, clothes, jewelry, eyeshadow, lipstick or other?

Lipstick is definitely number one on that list based on how many I have, but I also have a weakness for shoes and purses.

11. Do you whiten your teeth?

No.

12. Wax eyebrows, or pluck?

I don't really do anything to mine, but I'll pluck a stray hair if there is one.

13. What do you use to contour?

I don't actually contour. I'm so pale that I don't think I'd be able to find a color to contour with if I wanted to.

14. False lashes, or natural?

Natural. Unless they're for a costume, false lashes creep me out.

15. Favorite makeup brand?

I haven't tried enough different makeup items from each brand to be able to pick a favorite.

16. Liquid eyeliner, pencil or gel?

I've only ever tried pencil.

17. Lipstick, lipgloss or chapstick?

Lipstick, without a doubt.

18. Pigments, pressed or cream eyeshadow?

If I were to wear any, I would choose pressed eyeshadow. It seems easiest to work with.

19. If you had to wear only one thing, excluding foundation; what would it be?

Lipstick. It instantly brightens up my complexion and adds color to my pale skin.

20. Favorite color?

I'm going to answer this generally and not related to makeup: I would have to say aqua and variations of it.

21. Favorite color combination?

If this is referring to eyeshadow, I'm not really sure. I personally would just wear neutrals.

22. Natural? or Dramatic? (Eye Makeup)

Hypothetically, I would choose natural for myself.

23. Do you care more for quality or name brand?

Quality.

24. Do you enjoy using face masks? If so which ones?

I don’t really use masks at the moment. When I do want to use one, I just go for pure honey. I enjoy using it because it feels refreshing.

25. What is your current addiction? (example: lipsticks, eyeshadows, earrings..)

Lipsticks are always my addiction, but I'm addicted to researching concealers and foundations for future consideration.


That's all for the 25 Beauty Questions Tag. As always, if you're interested in filling this out on your own blog or in the comments, please do. I love reading them. The last tag I filled out was the 14 Fun Facts About Me. I will be doing a post soon explaining my absence, and I should have at least a couple of photos in that one. 

I hope you had a phenomenal October and a fabulous Halloween if you chose to celebrate it!

Until next time...

xEsther

About Me

Hello readers,

As I was struggling to come up with a new idea for a post, I thought, wouldn't it be fun to do another survey? Floating around YouTube these days is the "About Me" tag, so I decided to post my answers right here on my blog.

Here goes:

1. Do you have a middle name? 
I do indeed. My middle name is Meira. Just about no one is able to pronounce it when I tell them.

2. What is your Favorite subject in school?
Currently my favorite subjects are Intro to Communication and Culture and an English literature class focused solely on William Faulkner. All my friends think I'm insane because they can't stand Faulkner.

3. Whats your Favorite drink?
Water!

4. What is your Favorite song at the moment?
Well this isn't a new song, but my favorite at the moment is "Melody" by Kate Earl. It was free on iTunes in the summer and I quite like it.

5. What would you name your kids?
I really don't know. I used to think about this much more carefully when I was younger, ironically enough. I can't even remember the names I used to think of but they were the weirdest names. Truly. I  obsessed over my family's name dictionary as a child, picking out the strangest sounding ones, but I don't recall the names now.

6. Do you participate in any sports?
This one gives me a giggle. I've got absolutely no hand-eye coordination and I'm rubbish at sports. In P.E. in middle school and high school I just ran around pretending I knew what I was doing and letting everyone else play. I really appreciated that we got to choose P.E. junior and senior year, so I took dance. I danced when I was young, and I consider that a sport, but otherwise I much prefer exercise on my own to any kind of team sports. Well, that was a long answer to a yes/no question.

7. Favorite Book? 
The Harry Potter series are some of my favorite books, especially the seventh but I do love them all. I also love anything by Neil Gaiman. I wish I had more time to read for pleasure, but these days homework gets in the way.

8. Favorite Color?
I really like aqua and turquoise. Very beautiful and calming.

9. Favorite Animal?
When I was younger it was always horses. I'd say I still like horses quite a lot, as well as monkeys. As for an animal I could actually have, definitely dogs.

10. Favorite Perfume? 
I really don't own too many, and I generally prefer body splash/body spray, but my favorite of those I own has got to be Strawberry Champagne from Victoria's Secret.

11. Favorite Holiday?
Thanksgiving. My birthday occasionally falls on Thanksgiving. It's done so at least twice, and will again next year. It used to bother me a lot for some reason, but now I think it's a wonderful treat.

12. Have you graduated high school?
Yes I have.

13. Have you ever been out of the country? if so how many times? 
I've only ever been out of the country twice: once with my family to Canada, and once with a group of students from across the U.S. on a trip I won to Peru. I'd like to travel more, though, and I'm contemplating study abroad for my junior year of college.

14. Do you speak any other language?
I can speak Spanish, but since I've only taken literature and linguistics classes in Spanish this year, I'm a bit rusty at the moment. I can read and write and understand fluently, but speaking comes slower for me. This is my eighth year studying the language.

15. How many siblings do you have?
Two: a brother and a sister, both older.

16. What is your favorite store? 
I love Ulta and Target, as well as Barnes and Noble. I do also like Forever 21.

17. Favorite restaurant? 
I think it's local to where I live, so I won't say it here, but it's Italian.

18. Do you like school?
I do like my school. I was absolutely in love with it first semester, but this semester is a bit tougher and friends are transferring to other universities for various reasons so it's like starting over again.

19. Favorite youtuber? 
I can't pick one favorite! But I do love Anna Saccone, EGHearts, Community Channel, A Model Recommends, Pinkiecharm and SlightlyScented. There are many more, of course.

20. Favorite movie?
Again, I love the Harry Potter movies and "The Princess Bride". I also love "27 Dresses", "The King's Speech", "The Devil Wears Prada", "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Alice In Wonderland" [the new one], "Megamind," and "Tangled," to name just a few.

21. Favorite TV show? 
It was "That 70s Show" when that was still on. I rather enjoyed watching both seasons of the discontinued "Flight of the Conchords" this year as well. Now I'd have to say "Castle" is my all-time favorite, as well as "America's Next Top Model." I am partial to "Glee," but some of the recent episodes have just been disastrous.

22. PC or Mac?
Mac! Before my family got our first Mac, I was terrified of them. Now I've got a MacBook of my own and I love it!

23. What kind of phone do you have?
A rather unexciting red little Samsung sliding phone. It's cute and it does the job, so I don't feel the need to get a fancier one.

24. How tall are you?
5'3." I still consider that average, even though I'm pretty sure average is actually 5'4." Call me vertically challenged; what can I say.


I hope you enjoyed that little tag, and if you'd like to do it, I'd be thrilled to read your answers!


Hope you're having a lovely weekend.


xEsther

Questionnaire

Hello readers!

Clearly I have not yet gone to bed, and I've been reading blogs, so I decided to do this questionnaire from the blog Amarixe. You can find her questionnaire here.

Here are my answers:

1.) Mood: a mixture of happy and sad, bittersweet I guess, with a dash of excitement for tomorrow thrown in
2.) Do you have a subscription to any magazines? Seventeen, and I'm considering Allure
3.) Name one thing you are looking forward to in the near future. Seeing my best friend tomorrow after a couple months apart at school!
4.) Current nail polish: I don't know the name but it's a bright pink by OPI.
5.) Do you know how to identify any constellations? I know how you're supposed to identify the Big and Little Dippers and I can't remember the others. I probably wouldn't be able to, though.
6.) Do you like the idea of electronic reading (Kindle, iPad, etc.) or prefer an old-fashioned book? I prefer an old-fashioned book, but I understand the appeal of the Kindle.
7.) Current outfit: Pajamas!
8.) Do you like karaoke? I used to hate it, but I've gotten more confident about my singing voice so now I love it! I mess up the words all the time!
9.) What was your favorite cereal as a kid? I liked Lucky Charms and Oreo O's. Deliciously unhealthy.
10.) Weekly goals: I'm working on feeling better about myself and treating my body better.


That's all for now, folks. Please respond if you'd like, or you can head over to Amarixe to read hers.

xEsther