Is March really over? I feel like I just finished February's list and here we are already at March's. This month's favorites aren't full of new things; I've kinda been sticking to what I know and rediscovering old favorites. So this probably won't be the most interesting list but that's me. Not the most interesting. lol Here are the things I've been loving this month!
Sally Girl Single Eyeshadow Pots, Wet 'n Wild Silk Finish Lipstick
I've had my Sally Girl single eyeshadow pots for a few years now, but I stopped using them once my makeup collection started to grow. I started using them again this month and I'd forgotten how pigmented they were for store-brand shadows. They last all day, they're very buildable and the intensity increases with the layers, and they look even better when you use a wet application. They're in these tiny pots so they're portable, and depending on how the store handled the shadows they're also durable and don't break easily. The best part is that there are a bunch of colors and each pot only costs 99 cents. There are shimmery colors, metallics, and mattes. You'd have to check at your local Sally Beauty Supply to see what colors are being offered but there's a decent smattering of shades at mine. If I could list a point for improvement on the overall product, it would be to name the colors.
As I described in my review for the Silk Finish lipsticks, these are a good choice if you're 1-cheap like I am, or 2-prefer to keep the lips simple throughout the day. There isn't a terribly large variety in the shades being offered, but I'm pretty sure there's at least one good color for every skintone. They too are only 99 cents, they're soft and moisturizing on the lips, and are good lipsticks to go with if you want a shiny but natural finish.
Storm by Carian Cole
I downloaded this book for free from BookBub I think, and it was great. This debut novel by Carian Cole follows the story of two strangers who get trapped together in a truck on a deserted stretch of highway during a blizzard. The heroine of the story, Evelyn, grated on my nerves at first and I was worried I wouldn't warm to her, but I did and in the end, I understood her fully. She too was a fearful sort (something that I am still getting accustomed to sometimes, even after a decade plus), rather uptight and prone to anxiety attacks, bouts of profound doubt and insecurity and ultimately, afraid to leave her protective bubble.
Enter Storm, who is none of those things. He's good-looking and aware of it to the point of arrogance, tatted from the neck down, wears guyliner and really enjoys saying the word "fuck." Ironically, it's being unable to open the doors and leave each other's company that ends up opening so many other doors for Evelyn and the course of her life, and that time spent in the truck with the sinfully delicious Storm ends up being the best thing ever to happen to her. It's just the kind of romance that I, even in my cynicism and disillusionment, really enjoy and Evelyn was like my spirit animal in many ways. I like a dirty, fun romance where people have to get past things with themselves in order to receive something greater; it gives me a chance to live vicariously where gorgeous, tattooed men end up with regular gals like myself. LOL I enjoyed it and I think it was a favorite mainly because I related to Evelyn a lot. If you'd like to read it, here's where you can download it:
Enter Storm, who is none of those things. He's good-looking and aware of it to the point of arrogance, tatted from the neck down, wears guyliner and really enjoys saying the word "fuck." Ironically, it's being unable to open the doors and leave each other's company that ends up opening so many other doors for Evelyn and the course of her life, and that time spent in the truck with the sinfully delicious Storm ends up being the best thing ever to happen to her. It's just the kind of romance that I, even in my cynicism and disillusionment, really enjoy and Evelyn was like my spirit animal in many ways. I like a dirty, fun romance where people have to get past things with themselves in order to receive something greater; it gives me a chance to live vicariously where gorgeous, tattooed men end up with regular gals like myself. LOL I enjoyed it and I think it was a favorite mainly because I related to Evelyn a lot. If you'd like to read it, here's where you can download it:
Vikings, Duck Dynasty
Both of these are tv shows I already watched, but since I was in satellite timeout as well as blogger timeout last year, I didn't get to watch much tv at all. Luckily, I got my service back right just in time for season 3, which has been nuts so far. I love this show for a number of reasons, but this season has been really gritty and it's been equally stressful and fun to watch. Yes, sometimes tv shows stress me out. Don't act like that's never happened to you.
Duck Dynasty is an old favorite of mine; I was introduced to the show a couple of years ago and was hooked immediately, mainly because of Si and Jase, but my interest waned a little bit last year. I haven't watched many of the newer episodes, but the first three seasons were gold to me and I've been binge-watching the episodes I'd saved on my DVR. Not too much to say about it; It's a light-hearted show, I love the older episodes and it's great to watch at night when I can't sleep.
WWE Immortals, HellFire
I haven't been glued to the phone so I could play Immortals off and on all day like I was when I reviewed it, but it's still part of the daily routine. It's fun for me and I'm enjoying building up the coin and improving my characters. There isn't too much more to add that I didn't put in my review of the game, but I'm still having a ball with it.
I used to be hopelessly addicted to HellFire, but after they overhauled the system I was kinda over it for awhile. Immortals kind of reminds me of HellFire though, so I went back while it was on my mind. The addiction isn't back at a level where it's a problem yet, but it has potential. lol It's an elemental-based card game where you fight enemies of differing elements (fire, earth, death & water) with a deck of your strongest cards in those same elements, leveling up and evolving characters (each character has 4 evolutions) as necessary to make them stronger, and destroying enemies with the elements that combat theirs the quickest. Much like Immortals, there are different tiered cards, with some being regular, others being less common and usually having some ability during battles, and others being extremely rare with very strong base abilities. As a lifer of the Nerd Army, I must confess that the rare cards get me excited. lol The character art for these cards is awesome. That's actually one of the best parts of the game for me, acquiring more of the same card so I can see the changes in the character's art as they evolve. Now that I've rediscovered how much I like playing the game, it's been on the brain a lot more than it was.
I used to be hopelessly addicted to HellFire, but after they overhauled the system I was kinda over it for awhile. Immortals kind of reminds me of HellFire though, so I went back while it was on my mind. The addiction isn't back at a level where it's a problem yet, but it has potential. lol It's an elemental-based card game where you fight enemies of differing elements (fire, earth, death & water) with a deck of your strongest cards in those same elements, leveling up and evolving characters (each character has 4 evolutions) as necessary to make them stronger, and destroying enemies with the elements that combat theirs the quickest. Much like Immortals, there are different tiered cards, with some being regular, others being less common and usually having some ability during battles, and others being extremely rare with very strong base abilities. As a lifer of the Nerd Army, I must confess that the rare cards get me excited. lol The character art for these cards is awesome. That's actually one of the best parts of the game for me, acquiring more of the same card so I can see the changes in the character's art as they evolve. Now that I've rediscovered how much I like playing the game, it's been on the brain a lot more than it was.
Instagram, Pacifica
Hmm...I'm noticing that it's becoming a habit to include more than one thing in each category. lol I don't mean to make this run longer than usual. Moving on to apps though, I don't need to explain Instagram but it's a great source of inspiration and effective time waster for me.
Pacifica is an app that I recently found that's supposed to help monitor and combat anxiety. I'm going to review it in the next few days so I won't give too much of it away, but it does help when I'm being overly negative because of my anxiety and allows me to get outside of that bubble sometimes. It's a good monitor for the anxious moments I have throughout the day and sometimes I need that. It doesn't necessarily help me stop an anxiety attack, but if I remember to get to the app when I'm feeling anxious, it does help me to figure out my trigger and calm myself down that much faster.
I Can Build a Blog is a site about the obvious, building a blog and sharpening it to something with an effective image, design and message. Some of the posts include how to create content that you're happy with, how to increase site traffic and build a consistent audience, and smaller design elements that you can change on your own, like header/footer images and the like. Dana has included a lot of relevant information for both WordPress and Blogger on this site, which is updated regularly, so the steps she gives are up to date, easy to follow and she often replies back to commenters who ask her questions. It's been a big help to me since I can't afford to overhaul the blog design on my own.
Pinterest is where a piece of my soul has been pinned. I have spent so many hours, procrastinated on so many other tasks, and pinned so much junk to my 10+ boards over the years that I really should be collecting a paycheck for my contributions. lol Now that it's so much easier to Pin something to a board from anywhere on the Net, I end up pinning stuff almost every time I'm using the computer. It's a problem.
Finally, Greatist is a newer website to me but I love it because it has a bit of everything on it. Food, recipes and healthy motivation, workout routines, recommendations and tips, articles for self-help and improvement purposes, and random articles about life in general. I think overall the goal is to help you live better, mentally and physically, and the daily newsletter is usually full of links to helpful articles with tips and tricks.....that I pin to an applicable board as soon as I can.
Color and home inspiration boards, luxury and high-end product dupes
I'm still stuck on inspiration boards, but we're a quarter of the way through the year and I still have yet to actually create one for myself. I'm still not sure what I'd like to include on my own board, so right now I'm getting my inspiration from looking at other people's boards. What inspires them, how did they style their boards, how large are the boards, how do I go about going through with the things on the boards that inspire and motivate me, those are usually the questions that I ask when trying to come up with my own. I want something that speaks to me, but it's interesting seeing how other people's boards are representatives of their minds and how they work.
I love a good product dupe, whether it's a nail polish or cheaper version of a piece of overpriced furniture from the store. I also like making things with my hands and having someone ask me where I bought this or that and being able to tell them that I made it. So much of what we see today is easily replicated for a much cheaper price, which is where the fun part comes in for me. It's fun challenging myself to see if I can come up with supply lists and accurate directions to recreate some of the more expensive home decor items I see in stores and online. It's a goal of mine to someday have a DIY series on here full of store products that I've DIY'd for a better price without sacrificing the aesthetic of the original.
My laptop, green nail polish, cookbooks, food trucks, sunlight, the 1920s
I've had my child (my laptop) back for a month and it's been such a beautiful reunion. She still needs a couple of small fixes but otherwise it's been wonderful. Green polish made its mark on my nails for just about the entire month, and that too was wonderful. March is home to one of my favorite holidays and one of my favorite colors, so obviously I had to celebrate in style. lol
Lately, I've been feeling really inspired with the different things I want to cook, learn to cook and the dishes I'd like to experiment with cooking. So my nose has been in more than a few cookbooks throughout the month. When I cleaned out underneath my bed earlier this month, I found a (don't you even think of judging me) Richard Simmons cookbook that I'd apparently thrifted a few years prior, and the clowning session that my entire household (that's 7 people, folks) had at my expense afterward still haunts me. lol That was just the beginning though, I've been looking through cookbooks and perusing recipes ever since. Cooking is one of the few things I am good at, and I love it. That brings me to food trucks and my goal to one day have one of my own. It combines the next favorite on my list with cooking, traveling around the city, and feeding people. I'm ready for it.
Sunlight. Precious sunlight. Now that winter is officially over, the sun is back out in full force here in Texas and it's been glorious. Two weeks ago it was in the mid '50s, and this weekend is looking to be somewhere near 90. I feel bad complaining when I know we didn't get a fraction of what the rest of the country got this past winter, but hell, I was cold. So welcome, spring. I've been waiting for ya.
Finally, the '20s has been on my mind ever since I did a post about the Harlem Renaissance over on my vintage blog. It's been a favorite decade of mine for a few years, but for some reason that post just kicked things into overdrive for me. The fashion was great, there was no shortage of entertainment, but culturally and nationally there were so many significant things happening, the Renaissance being one of those things. It's a very informative decade to explore.
Sorry this month's post ran so long. I didn't intend to have more than one favorite for just about each category, but there it is. If you've made it this far, thank you. I'll try to shorten things up for April's list. What were some of your favorites this month? And I'm sorry I don't have a documentary recommendation this month, ever since I got my satellite restored I've been binge-DVR'ing and haven't been on Netflix too much so I haven't seen any new ones. When I am on there, I'm usually watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Which coincidentally, is set in the late '20s. See how it all comes full circle? LOL See you soon!
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