September Wrap Up: Disappointment and Restart

Warning: this post is a major downer!!

I don't know about you, but boy, this month really flew by for me!

Overall September was kind of a rough month for me. I had two goals for this month, but kind of let them slip by...and as I sit here on the last day of the month and look back on the last 30 days I really can't believe I let myself do that. And more disappointingly, I've come to realize that I do this a lot. I make goals, realize they're challenging, and too quickly let myself off the hook. Procrastination at its worst.

Recently I've started seeing this cycle as self-medication rather than procrastination. I think if I'm to be honest with myself procrastination is too weak a word. Procrastination is when you delay doing the laundry until you have to dig through the hamper for semi-clean clothes that can be "refreshed" with perfume. Or when you only have fresh granny panties left to wear...

Putting off tasks because they're too hard and make you feel uncomfortable--that's really self-medication. When you ask addicts why they turned to their drug of choice, the common answer is to numb the pains of life, no? For me my drug of choice is the internet, mostly news and social/political analysis sites. While I am absorbing intelligent information, it is nevertheless self-medication.

Just to clarify, I totally understand my life could be much worse. However, we all have our own standards and expectations, and based on my own hopes for life I'm falling short.

Anyways, as October begins I am putting down on paper to restart myself.

I'm 24 years old and this month just kept thinking of those demographic check boxes for age. Usually the "young" group is 18-24. I'm at the end of that age range already! I know this is all arbitrary, but I guess this is a great wake up call for me. Better now than when I'm 30!

Anyways, sorry this was such a bleak post. On a Monday!

Here are five thought items that have occupied my mind this past month:

• Information Is Beautiful: This site visualizes ideas, issues, knowledge, and data in really beautiful and powerful ways.

• Lana Del Rey: Forever late to the party, I am a new fan.

• Hillary Clinton: I guess primarily due to the RNC declaring they would not allow CNN or NBC to air the next Republican Presidential Debate if they make a Hillary Clinton documentary, there was a lot Hillary 2016 hype recently. I won't go too much into my own political opinions (yet), but it's absolutely fascinating to see how passionately people feel about her.

• Obamacare: If you live in the U.S. and watch the news at least once in a while, there's no escaping the nonstop Obamacare talk now that the House Republicans have decided to try to pass a budget that does not fund Obamacare (which begins enrollment this October). It didn't occur to me how odd it is that health insurance is tied to employment until recently. Here is a Wall Street Journal article to answer this question. And I know this is a crazy long, but this video is pretty interesting to watch:

• Louis C.K.: While explaining why he hates cell phones and won't buy his kids cell phones ends up speaking about something much more profound and true.

I am ready for October!

Breaking Bad Series Finale

There are no words.

I am not ready for this series to come to an end.

Wet n Wild Megalast Salon Nail Basket

As I may have alluded to previously, I can be a bit of an obsessive categorical shopper. What I mean by this is that when I'm in certain phases I'll just have my mind set on looking for and buying items in one category only. For example, when I was in cleansers phase I researched cleansers exclusive and bought four. When I was in my blush phase I looked at a ton of swatches and bought six. And when I was in design jeans phase I bought two and made myself stop before I spent $1,000 on just five pairs of jeans.

Recently I've been in a bit of a nail polish phase, but I let that slowly die down as I looked at my nail polish drawer and realized I'd doubled my collection and had basically all the colors covered. Previously, (my sister likes to make fun of me for this) I only owned shades of red/pink and shades of nude. Now I have COLORS.

Anyways I was done. Except every time I went into CVS I'd always loop around to this one stand where this little basket of Wet n Wild Megalast polishes and nail tools sat...just to see if anyone had nabbed the last basket.

Review/Estée Lauder Unboxing: Perfectly Clean Multi-Action Cleansing Gelée

You had me at "hello." 

Jerry Maguire, anyone?

Two or so weeks ago Estée Lauder was having a four-hour promotion of their Advanced Night Repair serum that would accompany any purchase from Estée Lauder. I have been eyeing their night creams recently, but I hadn't had the chance to really research them or test a sample, so I ended up ordering a cleanser. I got the Perfectly Clean Multi-Action Cleansing Gelée (200ml) for $25. I felt that the price was very reasonable (in comparison, the La Roche-Posay Toleriane cleanser I currently use is $23.99) and figured I couldn't go terribly wrong with a gel cleanser. The reviews were generally positive, with a couple of people who I guess much preferred their old formula, but that didn't really detract me from this product because I can't really long for a discontinued item.

Before my quick review, I actually wanted to share with you the unboxing because the packaging was so luxurious! A little confession, whenever I order from online, if they offer free gift-packaging, I always opt in. Why not get it gift packaged? Just because you're buying something for yourself doesn't mean it can't look pretty!

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." -Aristotle

Today I want to share with you my current favorite song: Here we are by Patrick Park. It's a bit emo for Friday night, perhaps, but I think the lyrics are quite relatable to most of us. I first heard this song on Best of the Left Podcast and it just works wonders to wrap up the podcast. 

I just love to unwind to songs like this. Add to it a bubble bath, wine, and a good book and life is quite perfect even with imperfections.

Katherine

Mini Haul: Wet n Wild Megalast Lipsticks

You know, once I get obsessed with something I can't stop. Since getting a few New York Colors lip products last week I am full on obsessed with lip products now. This week I picked up a couple of Wet n Wild Megalast Lipsticks.

Anyways, these are the shades I picked up:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Summer 2013 Limited Edition Pinch of Punch

I recently bought this Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Pinch of Punch (Summer 2013 edition) and just fell in love! Right after purchasing this polish I tried a swatch on my nail and loved it so much that I considered going back into the store to buy a second bottle!

I've been obsessed with the color purple recently, and this color is the exact, perfect berry pink color I've been looking for. I already have a couple of polishes that are variations of blue-purple range and a lot of red-pink-coral range, but nothing sort of in the middle. This color is that pink with blue undertone I've been looking for. The color is so juicy while not being in-your-face. It's a really sweet and fun color without being too prude the way soft pinks are with that sense of innocence.

Similar to the other polishes from this line the formula is opaque and creamy, just the right level of thickness.

One base coat (OPI) + two coats of color

 More photos!

Mini New York Color Haul!

Well, I just can't say no to a great deal.

Recently I picked up a few items from New York Colors.

I got me some masksssssss

In my sudden obsession for skincare I've been on a hunt to try new products and come up with a new collection of skin care products that will really take care of my skin and covers a good range of skincare needs. Prior to this mini shopping spree I had maybe three skin care products and none of them I really loved or believe did much for my skin, so needless to say this research-and-shop phase has been a lot of fun.

Facial masks are actually the final group of skin care products I researched because I've never really understood what they do or how they work. I'm still not exactly sure, but the other day I tried out my mom's Shiseido the Skincare Purifying Mask and my skin felt...cleaner and more alive! After that I figured, meh, why not start with some budget-friendly drugstore facial masks. These are the three I bought:

Breaking Bad: the end is near

I watched parts of the Emmys last night and then watched the second to last episode of Breaking Bad. It was again, excellent. While the previous episode, Ozymandias, was by all standards, epic, this one was equally excellent, but with a different mood. This one felt more...like the settling of dust. Like all of Walt's actions have caught up with him, and he's trying to find peace with his downfall...

I think I watched the entire Ozymandias with my hand over my mouth because it was one of those episodes. I mean there were no breaks for regular breath-taking, really.

This episode on the other hand, while still incredibly awesome to watch, it was so bittersweet knowing that with every minute of this episode I was getting closer and closer to the series finale.

Really, does it have to end?!

Oh god, I can't even wrap my mind around what it'll be like when the final episode airs... Oh god...

Oh dear, oh dear, where is my wallet?

The other day I was at the library, just shuffling around everywhere. Usually when I go to the library to do work I sit down and don't move, but this time I was like a bumblebee, moving around everywhere (printing station, asking for white out, bathroom, etc). Then at one point I had to enter my credit card number for a purchase...when I realized my big fat wallet with all my credit and bank cards, some dollar bills, and tons of receipts and random useless membership cards was no where to be found!

Ever the one to fear causing a scene, I calmly searched the entire second floor for my wallet.

But it was gone.

In my hail mary attempt I went and asked if the library has a lost and found. The librarian chucked and responded:
"Why? Did you lose your wallet?"

And before I could even describe my wallet--which is often the standard operating procedure for proving a lost item is actually yours--the guy at the counter handed me my wallet. I almost started crying out of relief! Apparently a reference desk librarian had found it near the printing station. (I knew it!)

In hindsight I guess you don't need to really prove a wallet is yours when it has your IDs inside...

The world is still a good place.

-Katherine

Revlon Nail Enamel in 610 Charismatic

To tell you the truth I only bought this polish because it came in a package of two Revlon polishes and I really wanted the other color... Usually pearly or metallic polishes always take the backseat to either pastel or juicy colors, but I decided to give this baby a try because I'm trying to be an equal opportunity polish lover.

I've now had this on for a couple of days now, and I have to report that I am rather surprised by how much I've come to like this color.

The sheen on this polish is fairly subtle; the light is reflected in these photos and really exaggerates the metallic nature, but in person the pearly reflection is very understated.

Grr bubbles...

How To: Finding cosmetic product expiration dates

Recently I started selling items on eBay in attempt to downsize my rather ridiculous amount of stuff. One of the items that sold was a Neutrogena sunscreen I had bought within the year, but when I went to package and ship I noticed that it had expired! Obviously I couldn't ship this item, so I ended up throwing it away, went out and bought a brand new tube, and shipped that.

This made me wonder, what other products do I own that's already expired? Prior to this incident I've actually rarely considered expiration dates of cosmetic products because the information is so easy to ignore. You can easily tell when milk goes bad, but it's much more difficult to tell when the chemicals of sunscreen has broken down. In addition, the cosmetics industry is not under stringent regulation to label expiration dates in mm/yyyy format! But, there is a way to find the expiration date for all cosmetic products. I'll show you how!

First attempt at DIY french manicure!

Not perfect, but not too shabby for first attempt, right?

Cetaphil DermaControl Oil Control Moisturizer SPF 30

First off, thank you for coming to see my second blog post!

I wanted to give my first review honor to the product that really kicked off my sudden and overwhelming interest in skin care. For the longest time my knowledge of skin care has been really limited to just sunscreens because it was the one thing my mom really stressed all my life. Unfortunately as most combination / oily skinned girls like myself know, sunscreen is often not our friend and the SPF 50 sunscreen I've worn since circa 2004 was...well, it just wasn't my soulmate.

When I came across Cetaphil DermaControl Oil Control Moisturizer with SPF 30 (4 fl oz, $18.49), however, I started to realize there's hope for even a combination/oily skinned girl like me! This product really helped a great deal in erasing the disdain I had for my skin.

THE first post

Hello and welcome to my blog!

Oh god there's so much pressure to make this post perfect.
I'm experiencing writer's blog.

So I'm going to skip this post.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

See you next post!

Katherine