meganscribbles: September 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

YSL Gloss Volupte in Violet Sequins from the Pretty Metal Collection Review and Swatches

I'm not a gloss girl but I love the shifting shades in this one. And glosses with a grey undertone are a soft spot of mine. Lovely.

Tom Ford Lilac Nymph Lipstick Review and Swatches

Stunning shade! A pink lilac with a wonderful shimmer as only Tom Ford does. Love it....had to get it...had to...

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Urban Decay Vice 4 Review and Swatches

Smoky, more cool toned than warm (though the palette has some lovely warm shades) and shimmery. I like it...it won't be for all. Most, but not all shadows have great pigmentation, buildability and blendability.

Monday, September 28, 2015

YSL Couture Palette in Metal Clash Fall 2015 Review and Swatches

Love. Sultry, warm and lovely.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Keeping that summer glow....a little longer...

Summer used to be so easy! Pre-sunscreen obsession, I was an outdoor swimmer (daily) and since I live in California that meant I always had a summer glow. Now I'm older, run instead of swim and slather myself in skincare.

To keep my summer glow:

1. I drink vegetable juice, drink a lot of water and get a lot of sleep. Glow comes from inside and out.
2. I dust on a little bronzer.
3. A great gold orange shimmery blush, Privia from Essentiellebeauty https://essentiellebeauty.com/shop/illusion-glittering-blusher-in-peach-orange/
4. An eye cream that fights bags and circles like this Simple coffee one (with cuke, carrot and parsley as well): https://essentiellebeauty.com/shop/anti-bag-and-circle-coffee-eye-cream/
5. Aloha daily good greens (see number one, to power charge the glow I get from the nutrients in greens...they are the best thing for your skin ever): https://aloha.com/shop/product/daily-good-greens-original . ALOHA also has a bunch of healthy recipes that help nourish!
6. Lot's of reading. Why not?
7. Daily runs or workouts.
8. Mascara, and more mascara.
9. A great highlighter.
10. Bright lipstick.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Book Review: The Republic of Imagination by Azar Nafisi

Azar Nafisi wrote Reading Lolita in Tehran and drew attention to the importance of literature in a repressive society. The Republic of Imagination addresses the importance of literature in the United States. Specifically, it addresses her experience coming to the United States and becoming an American. Classic American literature helped her shape her beliefs about life her.

My parents are immigrants as well so I have some familiarity with the immigrant experience. The United States has long welcomed most, and given them the chance to reinvent themselves. The books she discusses include Huckleberry Finn and Babbitt. They range across how Nafisi views the US. And I often don't agree with her on her book choices and what she takes from them.

But she does get the American quality of difference and individuality. I don't need to agree...we're all allowed to have a different perception of this country.

I really enjoyed this book.

Book Review: A World Elsewhere by Sigrid MacRae

A World Elsewhere by Sigrid MacRae is a beautifully written story by a woman who never knew her father but struggles to come to terms with her after her mother gives her a box with information about and letters from him.

Sigrid's mother, Aimee, was from a family wealthy enough to let her travel to Paris in 1927, where she met Heinrich. He was a poor Baltic German aristocrat, charming and a little lost. They marry and go live in Germany. Living in the 1930s life is tough. Heinrich leaves Aimee and their five children to volunteer to fight on the Russian front. On a leave home Sigrid is conceived. Eventually, he's killed, leaving Aimee to struggle to escape back to America with her six children and then to provide for them.

The details in the book can be heart rendering but also strike a deeper chord about life and values.

The story is written dispassionately but beautifully. Truly a great book.

Book Review: The Lightening Stones by Jack Du Brul

The Lightening Stones by Jack Du Brul is a fast paced thriller, jumping from one crisis to another. The story starts when Philip Mercer, a prominent geologist, walks in on one of his mentors murdered beneath the earth in a mine. Abraham Jacobs is leading a research team while Mercer is teaching a course on mining.

Gunfire erupts. And Jacobs and his team are dead. What follows is a grand chase by Mercer to find his mentor's killer. And the lightening stones are rumored to have been on the plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she crashed. But why do they matter so much?

Mercer needs to retrace Jacobs past to understand what is really going on. Through Afghanistan, then a remote island in the middle of the Pacific. The ensuing story is shocking, and kept me wanting more.

This book is a well written and gripping action thriller. It moves quickly but holds the reader's attention. Very well executed plot and a wonderful story line.