pleased and thank you

so it's lent and i gave up buying myself stuff

i've done well and it isn't easy.

i've also cheated a couple (few, several) times 

but overall i have cut back on stoop purchases which is my purpose

naturally. sephora would send a 15% off coupon this time,

and after talking it over with God, 

we decided it would be ok to make one purchase

i went to the jcpenney sephora with a nars "the multiple" in mind

and decided against it for a multiple of reasons, lol,

- i have a bunch of free sample highlighters already

- i am prone to breakouts at least monthly 

and highlighting them is not something i want to do

- $39

- the testers were really smudged and nasty; 

two of them out of eight or ten were not even available for testing 

- upon testing, my face did not look like kate bosworth's and she swears by these

instead i meandered to the josie maran shelves and took a gander,

came across this "argan infinity lip and cheek creamy oil" for $18

background info:

i am into the color of benetint, it suits me,

but putting benetint on my lips does nothing really,

and the benetint balm (apparently discontinued)

 is almost perfect, albeit too sheer

this lip color by josie maran in boundless berry is perfect.

repeat, perfect.

it is everything i know benetint could be.

i am very pleased.

wore it all day at work two days in a row 

and upon exiting my room to check patients out at the front desk

and to check myself out in the full length mirror directly outside my room

i was happy to see it had stayed put and did not need hourly reapplications,

plus i did dab a little from my lips to my cheeks 

and it creates a natural, dewy, flushed look - very kate bosworthy

there other colors and i am interested in the "always cherry"

i will be purchasing after easter as a late birthday present for myself.

i did a good job not buying both with the 15% off coupon because it was lent!

i held back and only let myself buy one although i could have easily purchased both.

-- yes i have been taking prenatal vitamins because they were on sale! --

foundation highlights

big news: i got highlights.

they look really good,

 they are only little face-framers.

told my mom i should've done it a long time ago

instead of resorting to cutting myself bangs and stuff

when i was feeling like i needed a change.

quick review of these two foundations.

i use foundation, not to cake or hide freckles, etc..

i love my freckles and even some of my sun spots are fine for now

i use to to even skin tone and add some moisture to my face

i also find i am less likely to touch my face if i do my makeup 

which is a good thing.

DIOR - approx $40 and slightly too yellow in color for me.

it is a heavier coverage which i was learning to adjust to 

simply because it was DIOR

stupid.

yes, i am a lover of packaging 

but i ended up decanting into a smaller little plastic pot 

because the original glass packaging 

was too cumbersome in the makeup bag.

i think this kind of makeup is for grannies? people who like to cake it on?

whatever the case, will not be buying again.

COVERGIRL - it's easy breezy & beautiful

my shade literally disappears on my skin

basically see through yet dewy and youthful

keeping bobbi brown teenage beauty mantra in my head:

only apply where you need it, not all over.

simple.

it's only $9 and it rocks.

i do want to try bourjois healthy mix foundation

because lisa eldridge likes it a lot

(she calls it "dewy" which is my favorite term when talking makeup)

and it is made in the same factory as all the chanel foundations

perhaps after lent? perhaps.

my strange addiction

i need to stop buying lip products!

(remember this for lent, and maybe next year's NY resolutions)

the revlon moon drops lip conditioner i bought at rite aid today at lunch...

(buy one get one 50% off)

(also bought two other lip colors that seemed like a good idea at lunch but when i tried them on after work i asked my reflection "were you high at lunch?"

and i told my brother who was watching me put  one of them on,

"this is called gothic princess"  

- just so you get the idea of the shade range i was in - 

.... they have been returned)

...has a circle in the middle that is a different color than the outside

like an orange creamsicle, i thought,

i even searched "revlon lip conditioner cross section" to show it but to no avail - 

the above picture was the best i could find, 

but don't be fooled, the tube is emerald green in real life.

i like it and i have no idea how they got it to smell exactly like a grandma!

how did they do that? 

apparently, people hate the smell;

reading the reviews online people used words like

"disgusting" "worst" "terrible" "gross" "cannot stand" "weird"

but i say

"creamy" "dreamy" "supple" "nostalgic" "tasty" "fun!"

you have an ant in your mustache

today it was very awkward when an ant was crawling on my patient's bib

so i flicked it off, but it stuck to my gloved finger

and when i went to pull his lip back to continue working on the upper left quad

it went in his mustache and started crawling around

and i had to casually get it out all nonchalant

where the heck did that ant come from?

his pants i think

it's also awkward that my hottest guy patient came in today

and he doesn't brush very well or floss at all

and i don't have to courage to give him "the lecture"

because he's that attractive and also 6'7"

to tie these two anecdotes together i chose a picture of mustached christian bale:

a hot guy with a mustache.

"show her the mascaras"

i love going to the beauty counters at the mall

but i also hate them so much.

i went tonight after work, it's pay day.

i do so much research before i buy things

that when the ladies start forcing other products at me, 

going so far as to grab my hand and start painting my nails

with their $22 nail polishes that i just told them i didn't have an interest in

i get really, really annoyed. 

this summer i went to the beauty counters at nordstrom 

before a facial appointment

(lol i sound like a total brat)

so i didn't have a stitch of makeup on, big whoop.

actually huge whoop to the salesladies at the mall.

i swear i was the most popular person in there - 

i had to keep telling everyone,

 "no i have a facial in half an hour that's why i'm not wearing makeup"

my last stop was the dior counter - 

 i was looking at the lipsticks and there were two women behind the counter.

the one in front asked me "can i help you with anything?" 

with her affable, saleswoman smile

and as i was starting to give the standard "no i'm just looking"

the other smiling saleswoman, 

says breathily but forcefully to the first through her teeth, 

while maintaining eye contact with me

like a ventriloquist

"SHOW HER THE MASCARAS"

i was like listen. i have a facial. now lay off.

when i'm a saleswoman for a beauty counter 

i'm going to be so good at it because 

a) i can sell oral-b power toothbrushes all day easily

b) i won't be a total pushy idiot (lol sound like a brat again)

i will probably visit the beauty counters again on my next pay day. 

my fountain of youth joke

going to bring work home for a second

so i've told some of you before that i go through 

phases of phrases

with my patients...

i don't even know where they come from, 

i don't make any conscious effort 

to start a new one per week or anything like that - 

they just happen and then i notice that i'm using the same phrase repeatedly 

throughout the day/week/months

until it phases itself out and a new one starts

you just told me your totally obscure job description:

"oh my gosh how interesting"

you just told me about some silly thing your granddaughter said/did:

"you've got to be kidding me!"

you just told me an inside joke with your family (aka you had to be there): 

"stop"

to the patients with wheelchairs/walkers/canes when i leave the room:

"don't go anywhere"

cue senile chuckles

to the teens/adolescents when i leave the room:

brb (pronounced 'birb')

cuz i'm hip like that

to the lil brats kids who say i look 34 when i ask them how old they think i am:

"get out of my room and don't come back"

just kidding  - that was fake, i don't actually say that

but they think i look 34?! shit.

moving on...

lately i've been making references to the fountain of youth

always on the very elderly patients

and it seems to be a crowd-pleaser.

example:

such an old woman came in and she had short-term memory loss,

we're talking dory from finding nemo

but she had IMMACULATE skin

(little bit of exaggeration but nonetheless, i'd take it at her age)

i asked her what creams she uses (of course i did)

surprise! she couldn't remember - how convenient.

so i said "are you sure you haven't found the fountain of youth 

and you're just not telling me"

she LOL'd. so did i.

fountain of youth?! really? 

and today:

i'm ultrasonic-ing an old man patient up on his front teeth

the water-mist is going everywhere on his face, like it always does

at an appropriate pause, he says

"is this water doing anything to help my face?"

that's a gimme, gotta reference the FOY, how could i not?

so i said

 "actually we pipe this water in from the fountain of youth, 

so when i sit you up you're gonna be like  benjamin button 

and have wrinkle-free baby skin"

i haven't even seen that movie. 

but he loved it, 

made him laugh and forget about the water-mist all over his face.

gotta love that FOY.

oilé

i'm having a really hard time 

not turning this blog into a beauty roundup

of the products i accumulate and test on myself

right now i'm so into oils 

and things in unlabeled jars, pots, and dropper bottles

just bought that josie maran argan oil - no opinion yet

i switch off cleaning my face with 

a half sweet almond/half castor oil (clear pump bottle)

and straight coconut oil (clear pot) 

depending on what i feel like at night, either pumpy or scoopy

my favorite part of the day is my night routine: 

taking off my makeup and putting on my night creams 

my second favorite is when 

i wake up 8 hours later and put my makeup on again

happy sunday, bring on another week!

the big M

who remembers this?

biked passed it everyday and 

it's the pic that shows up when my mom calls me

wednesday off hanging with my mom

ballister's ballers

last night i got to go to

 seamus' law school's formal dance,

ballister's ball

on a 3-decker yacht in marina del rey

basically seamus is the biggest baller at law school - 

two girls spent a good 5 minutes telling him how awesome he is

amidst breaking into katy perry's "eye of the tiger hear me roar" song:

second hand pride and second hand embarrassment all at once

and i got to wear the prettiest dress of my mom's too!

so pretty that when we got back i didn't want to take it off

so i snapped some pics in their bathroom

fun night, chill sunday

bring on monday

hawaii mani

got this mani when i went to hawaii

got it again this week for good time's sake

isn't it cool?

cheek kiss

got kissed on the cheek

 by a very gracious, very old woman at work today

there's always one thing like this per day 

that makes working hard all day 

and the sweet designer bags under my eyes

totally worth it

portrait of an old woman by louise de hem

wednesday off

album on repeat and cleaning stuff
1:51

never moving out!

cormac doing his best squints

eating dinner, reading into the gloss, when this happened

then we got hannah involved and threw it back to 2009

this photo was taken summer 2009

when i had 4 extra pounds stored in each cheek

(on my face, you sickos)

2013 - all cute and killin it

bella takes home trophy for longest tongue

chelo for biggest freak

sunday favorite day 

and possibly my favorite top shelf 

in a while

twins love it too because she is on their favorite show

H2O: just add water

which is about mermaids, of course

blisters on my sisters

i had a slew of bubbling blisters plaguing my heels

from all the walking i did in new york

 - spared you the pic of them - 

terrible.

i wanna say thanks to my feet for letting me do that to you, my kicks, 

and a big thanks to egyptian magic for the sweet relief.

generously (almost wastefully) slathered the cream on my heels overnight 

when i got back and i'm not kidding: magic!

heels nearly 100% healed

on this wednesday off i'm about to go get a mani pedi

and treat my tootsies to some "me time"

note: i've had my jar of egyptian magic 

since junior year of college at the polly pocket

it's not even half gone!

 totally would've gotten the 2 oz. had it been out

NY || NY

wildcat! wildcat! + MS MR @ webster hall

so hip i was in the shop and didn't even know i was in the shop

st. patrick's cathedral chapel

my favorite part: 9/11 memorial

later NY...

but LA is where it's at

my brothers

 

 

my brothers

seamus, liam, kieran, and declan

have been in a band together for a while

and recently pulled it together to make original songs 

that are really good, really catchy, great melodies, hottest drummer

played their first show a few weeks back with a surprising turnout

again, thank you to everyone who came out that night

and on saturday, played another quick show at a house party

where they were told by quite a few of the people

"definitely best of the night, straight up"

here's a YouTube link for more

also, let the record show:

 i named the band.

no posts for a week because i'm going to NYC!

for fun, to see friends, to spend money, 

and to instagram shots of the skyline like

"Wow, NYC, you never get old"

bathroom creatures

first three creature photos are from our house

last one is from the bathroom stall in the honolulu airport

they all make me smile and roll my eyes

probably not as much as i should

bringing work home with me for a second

"so what's your flossing like?    

no yeah i totally get it, starting that habit is so hard...

how many times a week would you say you do it?   ok so like every once in a while....

oh right those little picks? um they're better than nothing but you can't curve it that well...

well i just think that you have to try to do it at least every other night to start 

definitely try not to skip two nights in between 

because then that plaque just hardens and gives you gnarly DB* -

and you can't get if off, your toothbrush can't get it off, floss won't, 

just a professional cleaning will.

if you did it every night for a week, you'd see a huge difference, 

less bleeding, it wouldn't hurt, and then you just have to maintain it from there...

plus, you('re) ___________ so healing would happen really fast!

(insert young, seem like you're health-conscious, a cute-girl, etc)

my goal is to make progress every time you come in not just play catch-up"

literally say this 8 times a day and mean it

and they listen, i swear

* i just think this, i don't say it out loud

insane psycho freak

i've been copying my mom. 

in this case, wearing the same rose fragrance as her 

since last summer i think...

it's called

GUEN Beauty Fresh Rose Shower Cologne

and all of the important writing on the packaging is in korean

so i can't read it.

hannah bought it for her for her birthday last year

so i would sneak into her bathroom to "get something" or "weigh myself"

and spritz it on every morning.

finally i went down to the beauty supply to buy my own and

lo and behold, they don't have it anymore, they just have the sample.

so i made it a point to go in there once a week

and bug them to see if they had gotten it in.

no. no, we haven't. no, come back next week.

can i have the sellers contact info please? 

no.

and then one day:

"here just take the sample, you insane psycho freak"

! YES !

however, samples do not last forever.

so i started stalking google. 

literally could not get any search results on it

until this past weekend, when a store in san gabriel

known as "NAIL SUPPLY HOUSE" had it on their website.

went in there today and bought em out.

i gave it such a raving verbal review,

the lady asked me to spray some of my sample on her;

i happily obliged.

sidenote about NAIL SUPPLY HOUSE:

we're talking OPI nail polishes, regularly $8.50, for $5.50

we're talking essie, usually $7.50, for $4.75

we're talking floor-to-ceiling nail polish and nail polish smell - 

at one point i had the feeling i was going to faint 

and thought about stepping outside for a breath of fresh air

 but told myself to keep it together.

great place, might be my first yelp! experience, might not.