Psychology on TV - Dr. Lance Sweets

I wont lie I get somewhat giddy when I see psychology in the popular media, particularly portrayed in television shows.  One my recent favs is Bones' resident psychology aka Dr. Lance Sweets.  Sweets, as he's called in the show, is portrayed by Freaks and Geeks alum John Francis Daley.  His character is described as a sort of early child genius as he graduated high school early and at a young age has a doctorate.  Part dork, part Freudian wizard...I'm hooked. 

Fall TV

Image via Wikipedia

Its somewhat ironic that at the same time that studious minds are bent over school lesson, television releases its best stuff on air.  Thank goodness for Hulu or I'd never catch up.  Here are just a few of my favorites (I swear they just suck you in...)

• Monday: Castle
• Tuesday: Glee, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles
• Thursday: Bones, Grey's Anatomy

One more to add to the list is Sanctuary, which doesn't start its fall run until mid-October (sigh..).  One thing I can say for school work is that it keeps me from being a couch potato...

Success!

Image from CVS 

So after searching and hunting all my surrounding CVS stores I finally managed to locate one (on a recent trip out for work) that had the much talked about Essence of Beauty Crease Brush Duo set.  Needless to say I'm absolutely thrilled.  I've had several Essence of Beauty brushes before and I can honestly say they are absolutely terrific at a fraction of the price of the more expensive brushes (ahem...MAC...ahem). 

Aspirations

Apparently two Chicago folks got MacArthur awards this year. I wont lie, its always been sort of a hope of mine that one day I would be doing work worthy of a MacArthur genius award. Needless to say I'm in awe and congrats to those who won this year!


2010 MacArthur genius grants awarded - chicagotribune.com

GLEE- "Me Against The Music" Sneak Peek

Mail Surprises

 The Search for the Perfect Purple...

There is nothing I like better than opening my mailbox and finding something other than a bill...

Today's shipment was from Glamour Doll Eyes.  While I don't have time to go into detail about the colors (Freud calls me to read...) here are the colors I got (all sample sizes in jars).  All descriptions are from the Glamour Dolls website

• Mood Swing: "This color is a greyish blue with some shimmer."
• Premonition: "This color is a gorgeous dark greyish lavender."
• Shaded Orchid: "...a dark purple color."
• Girlfriend Sweater: "...a gorgeous matte dark purple."

I also got two free samples of Masquerade ("a very unique blend of black and purple") and Backstabber ("unique bend of black and green").  The package was sent to me in a bubble package and also included some Glamour Doll Eye shadow cards and sticker.  I found shipping to be quite quick (about a week).  Shaded Orchid is described as an "unblended pigment" and I appreciated that this was very clear when I purchased the samples.  Both Premonition and Mood Swing were part of the 'Twi-Shadow' collection, as I can't resist something named for two of my favorite Twilight characters (Alice and Jasper respectfully). 

I also enjoyed the fact that I could purchase an unlimited amount of samples, which I like as I hate committing to a full size unless I can see the color in person.  An example of this is Masquerade whose picture on the website appears more pink to me, while in person it appears to look more like a dark purple. 

While I haven't swatched/used any of the products yet so I can't speak to pigmentation/wear/etc I feel confident that this is a good start to me finding the perfect purple shade. 

The Duchess

So I had the pleasure of recently watching The Duchess, in which Keira Knightley portrayed Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.  While the movie was somewhat sobering (several scenes even cringe worthy due to their content not portrayal), what I was quite taken with were the costumes.  Georgiana was a socialite during her day, known for her fashions, and I felt that this aspect of the film was adequately portrayed.  I particularly loved the earrings shown above (admittedly a bad screen cap of them). 

New Loves - Bumble and Bumble Creme de Coco

At the suggestion of my hair stylist I recently began to use Bumble and Bumble's Creme de Coco shampoo and conditioner.  My hair was in dire need of some TLC, specifically some hydration.  This shampoo smells of coconut butters and has helped sooth and hydrate my dry frizzy hair.  I was recently complimented on how shiny my hair looked and I know I owe it to this amazing product (and my hair stylist). 

Blog Love - Makeup

Image via Wikipedia

Autumn is my favorite season.  It brings with it Halloween, sweaters, candy, and my personal favorite...darker makeup.  Now I love Summer and its easy bronze shades, but nothing quite wets my palette like a nice rich plum or a dark burgundy.  There's just something about these colors that screams fall for me.  Thus I began my annual search for the perfect fall colors.  This year rather than scouring Sephora and the like (though I will admit Lancome and MAC's newest collections have more than piqued my interest) I started looking through some blogs for some lesser known makeup collections.  As I type I (according to e-mail invoices) have several makeup orders coming my way.  Here are the blogs I owe homage to in my pursuit of the perfect fall colors...

Glitter is my crack : You know one of those blogs that you find yourself hitting the button "older posts" repeatedly on?  Yeah this is one of those blogs.  Seriously fantastic makeup, not for the faint of heart...think rich colors and lots of sparkle (hence her blog title).


Confessions of a Makeup Addict : I didn't realize until several posts in that I had viewed this blogger's amazing videos on youtube for quite sometime now.  Based across the pond she does a lot of Internet based mineral makeup company reviews/swatches which is fantastic.  It was through her blog that I first heard of Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy, which I look forward to receiving soon. 


Pink Sith : I absolutely adore the breadth of information, and reviews on this blogger's website.  As much as I love to read about the newest lines to hit Sephora, its nice to read about other beauty related items out there


And one more for the road...

The Diary of an Indy Grrrl : While not makeup related I did have to show love to this amazing blog that I ran across in the Blogs of Note section.  This is another one of those blogs that I managed to stay on for a good hour or so.  I love movie reviews about lesser known movies, and am secretly a horror movie junkie so I appreciated all the reviews about horror movies. 

I Want It...

So this past year I had the opportunity to go the Printer's Row Festival.  It was there that I noticed a good deal of the vendors there were sporting t-shirts emblazoned with the covers of some of literature's greatest works.  After further searching online at home I came across the website Out of Print Clothing which sells t-shirts featuring classic book covers (many out of print - hence the title).  According to their website for each t-shirt sale one book is donated to the Books for Africa an organization that collects and ships books to children in Africa.  Needless to say I'm hooked.  I particularly want "The Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley), which is one of my favorite books.

Quote

Photo from www.photos8.com

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience"

- Emily Dickinson

Wishing I Had HBO

Not that I need another reason not to study this fall, but HBO's Boardwalk Empire looks seriously good...

Blog Love

Photo from www.photos8.com

Cupcakes and Cashmere
Just an absolutely beautiful blog and one of my favorite sources for fashion inspiration, as well as a good escape read.

Smitten Kitchen
It was through the aforementioned blog that I discovered this little gem of a food blog.  This blog is full of great recipes and tons of mouth watering pictures.  While I admit that I don't cook, this website gives me hope that one day I will...

Musings of a Muse
When I first started really getting into makeup blogs this was one of the first blogs I loved.  Full of great makeup reviews, this blog has it all.  What I love is that the range of makeup reviewed here is wide (drugstore, international brands, high end, etc.), which is great.  I also love that the reviews are surprisingly honest (not something you always find), giving both the good and bad of each product.

Flipped

I recently had a chance to check out Rob Reiner's latest movie Flipped.  The movie is based on Wendelin Van Draanen's book of the same name.  It follows two kids, Julie and Bryce, as they navigate the ups and downs of first love. 

Overall I found the movie quite enjoyable.  The ending was fairly predictable (I've never read the book), but as with most good movies, it's not so much the ending as the journey toward the ending that makes the movie worthwhile.  I particularly liked how the audience was given the chance to view events in the movie from each of the main characters' points of view.  This element not only added more depth to the film, but also made for some humorous (and sometimes scarily true to life) points in the movie.  While the middle seemed to drag a bit and at times seemed a bit repetitive overall I liked this film.  If  you like Reiner's past films, or are looking for some nostalgic romantic dramedy I highly recommend seeing Flipped.

Urban Decay

Its been ages since I've written, but here goes nothing...

 
So I've been updating my makeup recently and have become completely smitten by the makeup line Urban Decay.  As I love to share things I'm absolutely crazy about, here are my favorite Urban Decay products:


Eye Shadow Primer Potion
This is by far my favorite eye shadow primer.  The colors look fantastic after applying, and they last all day.  While my only complaint about this product in the past has been the bottle (as has been the complaint of many a user), Urban Decay has recently remedied this by coming out with the Professional Size Primer Potion. 

Naked Palette
I was fortunate enough to pick up this palette at my local Ulta.  It's my first Urban Decay palette and possible one of the best palettes I've ever bought.  As a lover of neutral shadows it can be quite frustrating to find good quality, highly pigmented neutrals.  It can even be more frustrating to find these shades in work-appropriate matte colors.  In the past I've had to hunt for individual shadows, sometimes buying quads or whole palettes to get 1 or 2 shades I've liked.  Needless to say I'm in love with the Naked Palette.  The quality is great, the range is awesome, and it has a nice mix of matte and shimmery shadows.  I love that the palette is sleek, easily portable, and has a large amount of each shade.  If my raves aren't enough just type in "Naked Palette" in any search engine for any number of reviews, swatches, and tutorials that have stormed the Internet over the past month. 


All-Nighter Long Lasting Makeup Setting Spray
This was bought after reading multiple reviews during a particularly humid filled summer in Chicago.  Not only does this spray keep my makeup from melting off my face, but it also helps give it that "just applied" look. 

Urban Decay Naked Palette