*Note: This is also the first time that I'm rolling out our new subject headers until I've redone the design. These will be at the top of each post for that subject. I'm not a pro graphics designer by any means, but I think they're cute. Let me know what you think!
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As you'll see in my SBS, I received the Bare Body Milk with my polishes and I love it. It's very moisturizing for the skin, it's not greasy and didn't leave my hands feeling like they were covered in a film. The smell is subtle, the formula isn't either too thick or too watery, and my hands stay soft for quite a while after using it. I would love to purchase this in a larger size so I can use it everywhere.
The Laura Mercier powder is from last month's SBS box and I'm still in love with it now. As I mentioned last month, the fact that it's both multipurpose and portable makes it even more fun for me to use, and I've used it as a number of things within the month. I've used it as a highlight, a brow highlight, eyeshadow, a highlight for the inner corners of my eyes, and I think I could even use it as a highlight for my bottom lip on days I don't want my lipstick to be as matte. It's not chalky, it's buildable, and it complements my skintone both with and without a tan. It's been awesome for light/lazy makeup days.
Books: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois
I just started reading this book a couple of weeks ago and I can already tell that it's one of those books that I'm going to have to unwind after reading so I only read a chapter at a time. It's intense, at least for me. The book is about its namesake, the souls of black folk, towards the end and just after the abolition of slavery. It challenges your mind about the struggles that African-Americans experienced during that time, and it also gives you a bit of a revision on what your definition of "free" is as it relates to the ending of slavery. Considering the time it was written in, the book makes me feel both blessed and stupid to be reading it. I feel blessed because I am so glad I got my hands on such a well-written piece of work and that I am now able to see a period of time through the eyes of my forefathers because one of them decided to allow me to do so. I'm not reading re-enactments, I'm not reading third-hand accounts, I'm not reading folk tales or fables. This is a first-hand account of someone who lived through the infant years of Black "freedom" in America and fought for our equality. I also feel blessed that at a time that the majority of society felt that there were no Blacks who were intelligent or even literate enough to write down thoughts that were worth sharing, this book was written. And it's still relevant today in so many ways; many thoughts that he conveyed I feel too and didn't even realize it until he vocalized it. Which brings me to why I feel stupid after reading a passage; the words are so eloquent that they're almost too eloquent. It's so well-written, such an intelligent body of work with a number of big words dispersed throughout, that it borders on being too wordy. How ironic that such a critique is coming from me, right? LOL Sometimes I have to reread things like, "Wha?" But all in all, I'm loving this book. I got it as the free featured book from BookShout a few weeks ago, but here's where you can purchase it:
BookShout! | Amazon | Audible
TV: Sequestered
With my satellite service disconnected (probably indefinitely lol) at the moment, I've had to start looking at Netflix and Hulu for their original series when I want to find new things to watch. Jesse Bradford and Patrick Warburton star in this Crackle original series about a kidnapping/murder trial of a governor's son in which the jury has to be sequestered following the vicious beating of one of the jurors. Each of these jurors is very different from the other and it would appear that more than one of them has something to hide. Simultaneously, a conspiracy is being uncovered that may or may not involve said governor. How closely connected is this conspiracy to the murder of his son, where the jury found his former manny guilty of the crime? Is the manny even guilty of the crime? We don't know yet; the season's only half finished. The first 6 episodes were released on Crackle back on the 5th, but they're making us wait until October 14th for the second half. Crackle for the longest time to me has been the anime/B-movie graveyard so I never paid too much attention to it before, but watching these first few episodes made me sit up and take notice. I think Sequestered has had a pretty good start and I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the season. It's moving along rather slowly, but I have to see how everything plays out so I'll be coming back. Smart move on their part by making us wait for the second half of the season too. Click the link if you want to check this show out.
Games: Dynasty Warriors 7, PS3
I was introduced to the DW series a couple of years ago when 6 came out and I've been hopelessly hooked ever since. I used to (and kinda still do) have a thing about playing games that are in a series; I don't usually like to buy the newer game until I've finished the older one. That was my viewpoint when I bought and started playing 6. I bought 7 when it came out, but due to said oppressive mentality (LOL), I didn't touch it....until a couple of weeks ago. And I frackin' love it! If you've never heard of the Dynasty Warriors series, the games are based off of a novel called Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is loosely based off of events that took place following the collapse of the Han Dynasty in China. All of the games follow the three main territories--Shu, Wei and Wu,--but a fourth territory, Jin, is introduced in 7 with a familiar face at the helm. You get to explore the game through each territory and relive their side of this historical war. The gameplay, to me, is better than 6, although it took me a bit to understand it fully. I think that the game is more extensive, which allows for longer playing time, there are more characters and more locations, weapons and animals to unlock, all of which make gameplay as a whole pretty fun. I love the game and recommend it if you like historical games, fighter games, or those that follow actual events.
Apps: Vinted
Vinted is a fashion app that I don't want to go into too much detail about because I'll be reviewing it in full in another post, but it's like the Pinterest of gently used fashion. 95% of the things I've come across on the site are affordable, including the designer stuff, everything I've seen is in good condition, and I waste a bit too much time on there adding things to my favorites closet. I highly recommend it if you want to buy, swap or sell clothes on your own terms (minus Vinted's selling guidelines, ofc lol) from home.
Websites: Go Fucking Do It
Firstly, that is really the name of the website. LOL GFDI is a website designed to push you to accomplish your goals or stop procrastinating on something you've been wanting to try. The difference between other goal pledge websites and GFDI is that they make you put your money where your mouth is...literally. lol When you decide what you'd like to pledge to do, you have to not only set a deadline for yourself, but you also have to decide on an amount of money that you pledge to donate if you don't make the deadline. I don't mean like $1 or $5, the beginning pledge amount is $25 and the highest one is $1000. To date, 393 people have pledged just over $30,000 to accomplishing their goals, and I'd like to see how the number increases as the site gains more attention and begins to grow.
DIY Projects: Desk Organization, Fall-themed decorations
I'm in the process of overhauling my desk, but I wasn't sure what I wanted. So yet again, I turned to the good ol' Tube for some inspiration, and I found a few organization DIYs and desk tours that I really liked. Right now I'm thinking it's going to be black with sky blue and pink accents. Other than that, I've been looking for fall-themed home decor accessories, mainly candles and subtle seasonal accents that I can put on my desk.
Random Things: Fall lookbooks, documentaries, 7-11 Chillers
I know that fall doesn't begin until the end of September, but for me summer unofficially ends when the kids go back to school. Labor Day weekend is usually what I consider the last hurrah for summer, then my mind goes straight over to fall stuff. The kids went back to school on Monday, but I've been checking for fall lookbooks for a couple of weeks now in preparation for the season. I put together a small playlist on my second YouTube account that you can see here, which has some of the inspiration I got for autumn this year from both a fashion and beauty perspective. Some of the fashion lookbooks are more for color or individual piece inspiration, while others are entire outfits. The beauty tutorials and looks just help me to get in a more 'fall' mentality and give me ideas on how to integrate season-appropriate colors into my daily makeup wear.
I'm normally a documentary buff, but when I'm on Netflix these days that's pretty much all I watch now. If you're in the mood for a true story but you're in the mood for something crazy intense or just plain out crazy, watch Jonestown: Paradise Lost. This follows the 900+ mass suicide that took place in Jonestown, South America, and the events leading up to it. It's heartbreaking, it's tragic, and it's scary to know that people like Jim Jones really do exist. It's even scarier to think about the fragility of the human mind and the fact that he was able to convince, then in essence kill, so many people. When I tell you I cried, it wasn't the silent, tears streaming cry. It was a sob from the gut kind of cry because a lot of the footage was original and this made it so much more real, so much more personal than a re-enactment or secondhand account.
Aquatic and geographic lovers, I recommend Turtle: The Incredible Journey. It's a documentary following a loggerback turtle from her birth, throughout her journey in different oceans, and I felt like a boob for nearly crying while I watched it, but I did. Anywhoodle, the last random thing I fell in love with this month was 7-11 Chillers. I don't care for hot coffee too much but I love me a good frappe or cold coffee, but because of the tummy problems that any kind of coffee usually creates I try to stay away from it. Thursday I had to get up butt early and I ran into these at 7-11. I was willing to risk the pain since they were only $1. They come in mocha or french vanilla, so me being the obvious masochist that I am, I got a little bit of both in mine. Not too sweet, not too bitter if you add an extra creamer, and it tasted amazing. The amount of pain I was in not long afterward, however, not so much. LOL
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Well, that wraps it up for this first monthly favorites post. I hope you enjoyed it; it's a long post but I'm sure it would be shorter if it was on video or if I had more pictures. Maybe next month, I'm still figuring out how I do these reviews. See you next month!
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