2015 Beauty Favorites

My beauty addiction is a problem, but as a result of it I do act as a guinea pig for friends when it comes to trying new makeup products. I test it so you don't have to waste your money! I thought I'd compile a list of the products I tried and loved this year - some new releases, some just new to me. So if you're looking for something new to sample as you start off 2016, here is a list of things I think are worth dropping your hard-earned cash on.

Some 2015 reads

Although earlier this year I spent quite a bit of a time going down a literary wormhole that I'm not all that proud of, I have read a few other books I've enjoyed this year that I'm less embarrassed to name, and I thought I'd write a bit about of them. If like me you're always looking for a new good read, and you have liked some of my previous recommendations, perhaps you'll find something to add to your list. As per usual, my list leans heavily toward YA. My favorites are in bold.

• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This is the first Rainbow Rowell book I've read where I didn't feel like the characters were part of my extended group of friends. Which is not saying I didn't enjoy it, just that it is quite different from anything else I've read by her. She's kind of written fanfiction of her own work - taking characters from the clearly Harry Potter-inspired fantasy series in her book Fangirl, and giving them their own story. It was a fast, fun read, but I wasn't inspired to start my own Tumblr blog on it or anything.
• Me Before You and it's follow-up After You by JoJo Moyes. These were a "let me read the book before the movie comes out so I can act all holier-than-thou about how the movie didn't get things right" kind of read. The short plot summary, cash strapped girl from small town forms an unlikely bond with wealthy paralyzed man she's taking care of, might make it sound a little Nicholas Sparks-esque, but trust that they are A LOT less eye-roll inducing. I did enjoy both - despite the soap opera-esque story lines. 
• The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes. Since I enjoyed Me Before You, I kept going down the JoJo path. (Just writing that made me think of the singer JoJo, and this song popped into my head.) It was a good path to go down - I enjoyed this one even more than the other two thanks to the history elements.
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. Sweet yet grounded YA book, full of characters that felt real, with relatable issues. Really enjoyed this one.
• How to Be Bad by Lauren Myracle, E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski - I have to be honest, I completely forgot the plot of this book about a week after reading it. I picked it up because I so loved E. Lockhart's We Were Liars last year, but obviously this one did not stay with me in the same way. I didn't hate it, it was fine, but didn't find it gripping or memorable. 
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. This is YA I loved. I mean, I've mentioned in the past my weakness for a good coming of age tale, and about finding one's place in the world, and this delivered on all fronts. Teared up. Related. Added other books by the author to my "to read" list. I give this one all the stars. 
• You Deserve a Drink: Boozy Misadventures and Tales of Debauchery by Mamrie Hart. I've been a big fan of Mamrie Hart's YouTube series, so I had good feeling about this one, and it did not disappoint. Raunchy. Hilarious. The book I have most recommended to people not in my family this year. I quite literally laughed out loud reading it. And it has some great cocktail recipes to boot. :)
• An Untamed State by Roxane Gay. Ms Gay not only wrote some of my favorite online reviews/recaps of Magic Mike XXL and the Outlander TV show, she also wrote one of my favorite books this year, which is thoroughly different in tone than her hilarious recaps. This book is fantastic, if incredibly hard to read. Very violent and emotionally draining, but so well written and kind of beautiful. This one has stayed with me all year.
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore. YA fantasy that's actually NOT set in a post-apocalyptic world,   with a strong female lead, intrigue, adventure, and some romance. Really enjoyed this one.
• The Paper Magician series by Charlie N. Holmberg. I was so charmed by the magical fantasy of the first book, I promptly followed with The Glass Magician and The Master Magician, and read all three in about a week. YA coming of age with magic and romance. Didn't enjoy the two follow-up books quite as much as the first one, but still liked the series overall. 
• Finding Fraser by kc dyer. Cute book, reminded me of Austenland, but for the Outlander fanatic. Although predictable, still a fun read. Helped me get through the many long months of waiting for new episodes of the TV series. 

I feel like my list this year is quite a bit shorter than it has been in the past - probably because of all the trashy novels I've read that I would rather not name check, because most were pretty forgettable. There are many other books I bought or was gifted that I haven't gotten around to reading yet, (Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me?, Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Felicia Day's You're Never Weird on the Internet) but I'm hoping 2016 will be a better read year. 

Is it worth the $$?

Over the years, I have spent A LOT of money on beauty products. I've shopped online, in duty free, in drugstores, department stores, beauty retailers, outlets, home shopping channels, and even from infomercials. Although the grand total over the last 20 or so years is probably some ridiculously embarrassing amount, individually, I have lines in the sand on how much I'm willing to spend on a product. I refuse to spend more than $10 on a nail polish, so there are brands I have never tried. $30+ dollars for a mascara seems ridiculous when there are fantastic options for a third of the price in drugstores. And there is no way in hell I would spend $90 on a lipstick. (Especially considering my ridiculously large existing collection, partially highlighted in the pic below.)

2015 Movies

I didn't set a movie goal again this year - a good thing considering I haven't really seen all that many, and given all the time I dedicated to falling down the bad romance novel wormhole.

That said, I have seen a handful of new movies, and even had the opportunity to see a screening of one I really liked and actually participate in a brief Q&A with some of the cast, Of course, having learned that it is based on a book I actually did not read before seeing the movie, I then felt I had to go back and do more book reading. More on that in another post. Here's a list of 2015 movies I've seen, and my thoughts on them. (My favorites are in bold.)

• McFarland, USA: Reminded me of my years working with an AmeriCorps program that did outreach with farmworkers. I had some issues with it, but glad Disney decided to make it, and wish more people had seen it. It was better than expected, and yes, in keeping with my reputation as a weeper, tears were shed.
• Woman in Gold: Helen Mirren is awesome and I bet the real Randy wishes he looked like Ryan Reynolds. It's an OK movie, but I will say that I left the theater really wanting to see a Klimt exhibition in person.
• Far From the Madding Crowd: The design and cinematography of this movie are beautiful, but the plot was frustrating. I mean, the right choice of suitors was clear from the get-go...but I guess we all at one point make stupid decisions when it comes to a pretty boy. (Although in this case all her choices are easy on the eyes.)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron: Entertaining effects-heavy set up for future Avengers movies. 
• The Age of Adaline: beautiful costuming. Michiel Huisman is very easy on the eyes. The voice over exposition was annoying, and the plot was weak.
• Pitch Perfect 2: I'm going to go ahead and say it: I kind of loved Das Sound Machine, and feel that they were robbed. This was silly, but also a ton of fun.
• Ex Machina: Wouldn't a being with artificial intelligence know better than to go into the woods with high heels on? Interesting movie, but obviously written by a man. (Also, you'd think I'm a huge fan of Domhnall Gleeson or something, since it's one of three movies I saw him featured in this year.)
• Tomorrowland: where a smart girl with a dream can change the world, yet somehow all those in charge are still old white men. Despite my frustration with the plot, I might have still shed a few tears with this one.
• Kingsman: The Secret Service: I love Colin Firth. Turns out I love him even more as kick-ass spy. My favorite of the spy movies I saw this year, surprising in that I saw multiple spy movies this year, and they are not typically my preferred genre.
• The Duff: OK teen movie, made watchable because Mae Whitman just can't help but be great in everything.
• Me and Earl and The Dying Girl: was lucky enough to attend a screening with two of the leads and the director of this very funny (and sad - it's in the title) little movie. Unexpectedly one of my favs of the year.
• Spy: I love Melissa McCarthy, and turns out pairing her with Jason Statham playing a parody of the characters he usually plays in movies was comedy gold.
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: enjoyable. Henry Cavill is sure easy to look at. That said, I would be hard pressed to remember the plot of this movie, and it's only been a few months since I saw it.
• Magic Mike XXL: dare I say it - I enjoyed it more than the first. Maybe even more enjoyable than the film is Roxane Gay's spoilery and hilarious recap of it. 
• Inside Out: another Pixar movie that made me tear up. Funny and sweet, and I loved it, but it felt more like a kids movie for adults than for actual kids. 
• Paper Towns  I read the book, and it falls into my coming of age dramas sweet spot, but I felt kind of lukewarm towards this movie. 
• The Martian: The science in it may be kind of wonky, but I enjoyed it, and any movie soundtrack that includes ABBA automatically goes up a star in my book.
• Trainwreck: hilarious raunchy take on a romantic comedy. Amy Schumer has become one of my favorite comedians. 
• Spectre this one confirmed to me that I'm really not a fan of James Bond in general. Not that it was bad, it's just not my cup of tea. 
• Spotlight: an engaging movie on a difficult subject, that did a great job showing what I fear will soon be the lost art of investigative journalism. One of my favs of the year.
• Brooklyn: was beautifully styled, but I felt it lacked something. I liked it, but I kept focusing on the costumes instead of characters -given the subject matter and my leaky eyes, I expected some tears, but surprisingly there were none. I did walk away wondering how Saoirse Ronan managed not to get burnt to a crisp in the days before sunscreen, and wanting her green coat. (Domhnall Gleeson feature #2.)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2: Again, surprisingly no tears from me, which is shocking given how I ugly cried reading a certain scene in the book. The one thing I walked out of the theater thinking was how did those 2 parents produce such a giant baby? 
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens: I walked out with many questions, but I enjoyed the ride. I really took a shine to most of the new characters too. That's all I feel I can say without being too spoilery for people waiting to see it. (Domhnall Gleeson feature #3 - and my least favorite of his appearances. I liked the movie, but not so much him in it.)
• Sisters: I'm a big fan of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and although I would love to be friends with them in real life, I wouldn't be friends with their characters here. The movie was pretty formulaic, but also a lot of fun. And for some reason after seeing both this and Trainwreck, I now want a big bear hug from John Cena.

Overall, a lot less tears shed than last year. Not sure if that's a good thing. Once again I hope to squeeze in a few more movies before the end of the year in order to be better prepared to give my opinion come awards show season.

Any movies you would recommend seeing?

Awkward

As someone with chronic foot-in-mouth syndrome, I really appreciated this roundup post of awkward moments shared on Twitter. One story in particular, about having a laptop hooked up to a projector for a work meeting with execs and receiving a colorful email, reminded me of something kind of similar that happened to me, so I had to share.

I had to facilitate a meeting with a group of folks that included board members of the association I work for, and we had a shortage of work laptops, so I took my own. It was not until after I had connected it to the LCD projector that I realized that maybe I should have changed my desktop background, because up on the screen was this picture of Carlos Bocanegra, then captain of the US Soccer Team. Obviously I think it's a beautiful shot of a very attractive man, but probably not the most appropriate image to have displayed on a screen at a meeting with executives not involved in sports. Thankfully, since I was just setting up, it was just me and the AV guys in the room, and I could just laugh it off and change the background. The part that made it awkward for me was that after I started laughing and said "oops, I better change that before anyone else gets here" one of the guys said "oh, it's no big deal, you could just say it's a picture of your brother." Because a picture of my brother naked and dirty looking all sexy is somehow less objectionable than a picture of a total stranger.

The meeting went very smoothly, but I kept my interactions with that AV guy to a minimum. And I've never used a personal laptop at a work meeting again.

More bunny safe makeup

I've written a couple of posts about my attempts to be a responsible, ethical consumer and buy makeup/beauty products not tested on animals. A couple of recent conversations with folks asking for recommendations made me think it might be time to do an update.

In the couple of years since my eyes were opened up to the fact that although a company can claim they don't test on animals, if their products are sold in China, chances are the products have been smeared on some poor bunny, I've tried to keep my new makeup purchases strictly to brands that are either listed on the bunny list or my research has shown don't test on animals/don't sell in China. It can be simultaneously overwhelming and depressing to find out all the brands that are suddenly off the table if you're trying to stick to your anti-animal testing guns, so I've tried to compile a relatively comprehensive list of the bunny-safe makeup brands I've tried/currently own, and some of my favorite products of theirs, i.e. products I would recommend. It's a mix of drugstore and higher-priced/department store lines - and hopefully it will give those who might be interested in going down the same path a starting point.

More hot weather makeup

We've had some gross, swampy summer weather the past few days in DC, and as I struggle to not have all my makeup melt off during my commute into work each morning, I am reminded of a post I did awhile back on hot weather makeup. Those recommendations still stand, but as someone who has been making more of a focused effort to not buy products tested on animals, the list of products in my current rotation has changed a bit.

The following is a list of the products I have been using lately that put up a fight with the heat, humidity, and my sweat. They are in the higher end of the price spectrum, but they are what I have found work best in terms of lasting power. I'm not saying these products will survive all day when the air outside feels like you're walking around in warm soup, but they do give you a fighting chance to look somewhat polished if you have to be out working in the gumbo.

• NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base remains a holy grail product for me. I know I talk about it a lot, but I still haven't found anything, high end or drugstore priced, that works quite as well in terms of keeping my eyeshadows in place, although the LORAC Behind the Scenes one is a close second. They are both pretty fabulous at creating a nice canvas for shadows, and keeping them from fading/creasing, but the NARS still takes the cake, especially in hot weather.
• BareMinerals Locked & Coated Waterproof Lash Topcoat  this stuff is fantastic. It's an invisible topcoat that makes any mascara water/sweat proof for lasting wear without altering your initial application. And although it stops me from getting the dreaded raccoon eyes, it's not as hard to remove as most waterproof mascaras are. Love it.
• Liquid eyeliner - when it's soupy outside and my eyelids start to sweat (it happens) I have found that pretty much every gel or pencil liner will melt and leave me with the dreaded raccoon look. So I stick with liquid eyeliner, Lately my liner of choice has been the Stila Stay-All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner - which DOES NOT BUDGE. It also comes in a variety of colors which is pretty awesome, although I've only used the brown and black. 
• theBalm Instain blushes have the best staying power of any that I have used - and I've tried many. They are SUPER pigmented, and require a light hand during application unless you want to end up looking clown-like. I really enjoy theBalm products, and buy them when their site has a sale or when their products are on Hautelook. 
• Supergoop Defense Refresh Setting Mist. I discovered this stuff this year, and love it. I carry it in my purse at all times for a refreshing mist that also fortifies my sun protection throughout the day. It has a nice herbal scent that is not at all sunscreeny, has a matte finish when it dries, and controls oil while delivering UV protection. I took it with me on my recent vacation and am happy to report that despite walking around outside for hours each day, I returned home just as pale as I left. :)
• Paula's Choice Skin Balancing Ultra Sheer Daily Defense sunscreen. Even though most foundations I use have built-in SPF, I almost always apply sunscreen underneath, especially if I know I'll be outside for more than just a few minutes. This stuff dries matte, unlike most sunscreens that make me look oilier, doesn't smell offensive, and it doesn't break me out. I especially like it on the days when I don't wear any makeup, because it doesn't leave me looking like an oil slick like a lot of other sunscreens. It is pricey, but can be found on sale online. 

Because I have super oily skin, I've found that a lot of the products I love because of their staying power seem to work pretty darn well in humidity too. They might not all be great for folks with dry skin, but when summer is in full swing and the air feels like a swamp, it's 92 degrees Fahrenheit with 95% humidity, these products have shown their mettle. They have earned my seal of approval.