Best of Beauty 2012

Best of Beauty 2012

Dec 30, 2012

Inspired by Jamie at Perpetual Page-Turner's post on the "Best of 2012: All Things Not Books," I thought I'd do a little end of the year round-up of my own. I could spend so much time in Sephora and Ulta - browsing, smelling, testing and dreaming of taking all the pretty home with me. But I'm also a creature of habit. I find the products I love, and then I get in a routine that I like. Regardless of whether or not you're a product lover, here are my 2012 beauty obsessions.

1. Kenra Volume Spray 25 ($24/16oz) - This hairspray smells great, and one quick shot really does help with all those frizzies and flyaways. I also love a little extra on my bangs so they'll stay in place and not drive me crazy all day! If this isn't sold at a salon near you, you can also pick it up at Ulta stores (just not online).

2. Bb Texture Hair (Un)Dressing Creme ($27/5oz) - In my dreams, I have Blake Lively's hair on Gossip Girl. You know how it's all textured and messy without actually being wavy or curly? That's what I want. With this product, I've actually been able to come close to that look. I don't use this product everyday - just when I'm feeling lazy and want messy hair that still looks like I tried. 

3. Rootful 06 Root Lifting Spray ($16/8.5oz) - Volumizers work differently on everyone, so my favorite may not be yours. That being said, I adore this root lifter! Creme and mousse volumizers tend to make my hair sticky and gross, so I love that this is just a liquid spray. Even when my hair is wet, I can see added volume at my roots as soon as I spray it on.

4. Morrocanoil Treatment ($39/3.4oz) - This is seriously liquid gold. I adore this because it makes my frizzy hair smooth, shiny and smell divine. If I could only have one product on this list, it would definitely be this one.

5. Remington Studio Pearl Ceramic Hair Dryer ($49.99) - My favorite hair dryer ever! 

1. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation ($42/1oz) - This is one of the only foundations I've been able to find that has a color that works well with my skin tone. My skin also tends to be dry, so the sheer glow texture makes my skin look more dewy.

2. MAC Paint Pot in Painterly ($18.50) - I use this on my eyelid as a primer before eyeshadow, and it's made such a difference. It evens the color of my eyelid and makes my eyeshadow look good all day long!

3. Dermablend Smooth Indulgence SPF 20 Concealer ($22/0.3oz) - My go-to concealer when I need to cover up acne. There are videos on this company's website showing them using the concealer and foundation to cover huge tattoos. So yeah, it works pretty dang good.

4. Urban Decay Naked2 Eyeshadow Palette ($50) - I adore this palette! All of the colors are gorgeous, which is rare because there is usually a few weird ones in palettes. The colors in this are deeply pigmented, perfect for daily wear and look gorgeous on. 

5. NARS Bronzer in Laguna ($34) - I'm very fair, so I thought this would be too dark on me even though it's their lightest bronzer shade. However, as long as I use a very light touch with my brush, it's perfect. Gives you that "I just spent a little time in sun" glow, even in the dead of winter.

6. NARS Blush in Orgasm ($28) - I'm sorry, but this is a bestseller for a reason. It's gorgeous! And from what I can tell, it works on so many skin tones.

7. Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express ($6.99) - I may like mostly expensive makeup, but I'll always use cheap mascara. There's nothing better! I like to try new mascaras all the time, but this is the one I keep coming back to. 

8. Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy ($32.50) - My mom is always trying to get me to wear lipstick because I need some color on my lips, and this is the first one I've owned where I'll constantly put more on. It's a lovely color, but I'm an even bigger fan of the way the lipstick looks and feels. It's hydrating, sheer and has a beautiful shine on your lips. OBSESSED.

9. Milani Liquid Eye Eyeliner in 05-Brown ($5.97) - Of all the eyeliners I've tried, this one is my absolute favorite. It glides on, stays all day and is so affordable! 

10. Essie Nail Polish in Lollipop ($8) - I'm a nail polish addict. Or, rather, an Essie addict. I just can't stop buying them! Of all the colors I own, I wear this one the most often. Red nails just look so glamourous and automatically make you feel prettier!

1. LUSH Catastrophe Cosmetic Fresh Face Mask ($6.95/2.1oz) - I'm in love with this face mask! It's made fresh, so it actually has an expiration date. It has little blueberry pieces in it, which kind of freaked me out the first time I put it on. I don't buy this all the time - it's more of a treat to get it - but I love how it makes my skin look and feel. 

2. DERMAdoctor Ain't Misbehavin' Acne Control Serum ($45/1oz) - My skin and acne breakouts have gotten so much better with the use of this acne serum and the cleanser below. I only use this when I'm starting to breakout, and it heals my skin so much faster than anything else I've tried!

3. DERMAdoctor Ain't Misbehavin' Acne Cleanser ($25/7oz) - Oh hello, cleanser I now can't live without. I know the packaging is cheesy, but this has been a lifesaver. You use this while your skin is dry, and I only apply it to areas where I'm breaking out. I've tried so many acne treatments, and this is the only thing I've used that's made it better. It hasn't made my skin perfect, but it's significantly better. Hallelujah!

4. Korres Wild Rosse + Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial ($48/1.35oz) - I put this on at night before bed and am absolutely in love with the smell. It's divine, and I just love how it moisturizes my dry skin while I'm sleeping.

5. Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil ($3) - My favorite chapstick! It smells good and has a really pretty, sheer tint to it. It helps soften my lips and adds a little color at the same time. Success!

6. Clarisonic Mia in Turquoise ($119) - I LOVEEEEEE my Clarisonic! I previously used a washcloth, but not anymore. My skin has never felt cleaner! I also love that it sloughs off all the dead and dry skin, which also makes my makeup look better on.

7. LUSH The Comforter Bubble Bar ($10.95/7oz) - I'm addicted to taking a bath - as in, I would take one every single night if I could. I love breaking off a piece of a LUSH bubble bar and crumbling it in the bath. The bath smells good and the water turns pink, and then I'm in heaven.

8. Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer SPF 15 ($31/4.2oz) - I'm not moisturizer loyal, but I love this one. It's light, works well under my makeup and protects against the sun. It's also not making me break out or anything, so that's always good!

9. TOCCA Eau de Parfum in Brigitte ($68/1.7oz) - I'd read about people having a signature scent and not understand the idea of falling in love and being loyal to one perfume. Until I found this one. I love everything about it! It smells wonderful, and the bottle is gorgeous. 

10. Korres Wild Rose Daily Brightening and Refining Buff Cleanser ($24/5.07oz) - I switch cleansers all the time, but I'm really loving this one lately. It smells good, and I love that it has a little bit of a buffing quality. Used with my Clarisonic, it's wonderful!

Do you use any of these products or have any recommendations of your own? Please share - I'm always on the lookout for another beauty buy!

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A Tasmanian Adventure

A Tasmanian Adventure

Dec 29, 2012

Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman

Release Date: August 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster | Touchstone
Pages: 544 pages
Source & Format: Gift; Paperback
Goodreads | Amazon

Summary (from Amazon)

Emma, a prima ballerina in London, is at a crossroads after an injured knee ruins her career. Forced to rest and take stock of her life, she finds that she’s mistaken fame and achievement for love and fulfillment. Returning home to Australia, she learns of her grandmother Beattie’s death and a strange inheritance: a sheep station in isolated rural Australia. Certain she has been saddled with an irritating burden, Emma prepares to leave for Wildflower Hill to sell the estate.

Beattie also found herself at a crossroads as a young woman, but she was pregnant and unwed. She eventually found success—but only after following an unconventional path that was often dangerous and heartbreaking. Beattie knew the lessons she learned in life would be important to Emma one day, and she wanted to make sure Emma’s heart remained open to love, no matter what life brought. She knew the magic of the Australian wilderness would show Emma the way.

Thoughts on Wildflower Hill

Wildflower Hill gets off to a slow start, but I was completely hooked once I get in to the story. The novel ties together the stories of a young woman and her grandmother. Neither woman seems like they'd be very sympathetic - both are flawed and selfish. But they quickly grew on me, and I just had to know the outcome of both of their stories.

Emma, the granddaughter, is a world-renowned ballerina. It's her passion, her entire life, until a fall down the stairs ruins her dreams for the future. She'll never again be able to dance. Add to that a breakup with her boyfriend and very few real friends outside of dancing. When she returns home to her parents, she finds out that she's inherited a sheep ranch in Tasmania from her late grandmother. She decides a break - time away - is just what she needs.

While clearing out the contents of the house, she starts to piece together the puzzle of her grandmother's life. That's when the story begins flashing back to Beattie, her grandmother. Young, pregnant, and unwed, she must make a new life for herself when she's thrown out of her parent's home.

I don't want to say anything about what happens next because so much of the tension in this book comes from the way the story unravels and the puzzle pieces fall in to place. Beattie's heartbreak and Emma's discovery of it made me fall in love with this family saga.

These are flawed characters, but I grew to love them. I also was crazy about the Tasmanian countryside. Freeman did a wonderful job on the setting - it played such a huge role in the book. Wildflower Hill was a compulsive read, even at over 500 pages. I will definitely be picking up this book again - just to relive the Australian magic.

So Quotable

“There are two types of women in the world, Beattie, those who do things and those who have things done to them.” 

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Falling for Fantasy?

Falling for Fantasy?

Dec 28, 2012

Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore

Release Date: October 1, 2008; October 5, 2009

Publisher: Harcourt Houghton Mifflin / Penguin Books

Pages: 471 pages; 461 pages

Source & Format: Bought; Kindle ebook / Library; Hardcover

Series: Graceling Realm #1 & #2

Sum It Up (from Goodreads)

Graceling: Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Fire: It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her. 

Thoughts on Graceling & Fire

I was convinced that I was going to hate these books. Based on the cover alone, I'd already put it on my "no way" shelf. I think if you are already a fantasy lover, these covers probably aren't a turnoff. In fact, you might actually like them. But, if you're like me and a little bit afraid of the fantasy genre, these are not the most appealing covers.

However, I kept seeing review after review that raved about Graceling. People loved Katsa and Po, they loved Kristin Cashore's world... and who am I to question popular opinion? So, I decided to go against my "better judgment" and read Graceling. A few hours later, and I understood why everyone raved about the book.

There are just so many things to love about this book - a kick-ass heroine, world building that's developed and has real depth, a romance that builds slowly but packs a huge punch, fast-paced action, political intrigue and characters that come alive.

There's adventure, humor, romance... I can't even begin to tell you how invested I was in this book! If I had one complaint, it's that a few of Katsa's opinions felt a little heavy-handed. I have no problem reading about a character who doesn't like the idea of marriage or children, but there a few times that the opinions didn't seem genuine. I don't really know how to explain it - it just felt a little off a few times.

I know I'm not really saying much about the plot, but it's only because there is so much that's already been said about Graceling. I'm just here to tell you that I was really skeptical, but I fell hard for this book.

I immediately picked up Fire from the library because I just had to know what happened next. I was really surprised to find that it's more of a companion novel - I expected a traditional series where the second book published follows the first. On one hand, I was a little disappointed because I was dying for more Katsa & Po. But, at the same time, I appreciated the next characters and the way Cashore showed her readers a different side of the world she created in the first book.

This is essentially a prequel to Graceling. While there were some things I enjoyed about this book, I found it kind of frustrating. The pacing wasn't nearly as gripping as it was in Graceling - I easily set the book down and came back later.

More than anything, I didn't really connect with Fire, the main character. She just seemed like a more whiny and less likable version of Katsa. The characters and story as a whole just felt like a shadow of the awesomeness that was Graceling. Don't get me wrong - there were moments of awesome and I could see some more in there.

It was still a good book - it just didn't live up to my expectations. I'm going to re-read this soon, without reading Graceling first, to see if I appreciate it more without the comparisons to Graceling just floating around in my head.

So Quotable

“When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?” 

“Are you determined to leave me in this world to live without my heart?” 

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The Moon Princess

The Moon Princess

Dec 22, 2012

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Release Date: July 2010
Publisher: Random House | Broadway Books
Pages: 464 pages
Source & Format: Gift; Paperback
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Amazon)

After the death of their parents, twins Alexander and Selene and younger brother Ptolemy are in a dangerous position, left to the mercy of their father's greatest rival, Octavian Caesar. However, Caesar does not kill them as expected, but takes the trio to Rome to be paraded as part of his triumphant return and to demonstrate his solidified power. As the twins adapt to life in Rome in the inner circle of Caesar's family, they grow into adulthood ensconced in a web of secrecy, intrigue and constant danger. Told from Selene's perspective, the tale draws readers into the fascinating world of ancient Rome and into the court of Rome's first and most famous emperor.

Thoughts on Cleopatra's Daughter

There were some things I really enjoyed about Cleopatra's Daughter, but there were some elements that really didn't work for me. It was kind of a mixed bag, in my opinion, but I may just not have been in the right frame of mind when I read it.

It took me a long time to get in to this book. I'm not very familiar with Egyptian or Roman history, so I was really confused at a lot of the name-dropping. There are so many characters - and so many conversations where they refer to people while also trying to subtly explain who they are. It was all a little too much for me.

There were also some moments that seemed really unrealistic too me. The twins get settled in to their new life and city awfully fast, especially having such a heartbreaking and traumatic past. It made them seem less like real characters because they often didn't react in a way that made sense.

Some of the historical element didn't fit in organically. For example, details were added in to conversations for the sake of the reader and felt sort of clunky. That made the reading experience a little less enjoyable for me. Don't get me wrong - I was obviously interested enough to finish the story. But as someone who typically loves historical fiction, this wasn't quite as nuanced as I expected it to be.

Having said that, I did enjoy the Red Eagle storyline and the mystery surrounding his/her identity. If you approach this book just expecting an interesting story, I think you'll enjoy it. If you're looking for fiction that is really rooted in history and seems accurate, this probably isn't for you.

So Quotable 

“Even in the most wretched life, there’s hope.” 

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She Runs Wild & Free

She Runs Wild & Free

Dec 20, 2012

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Release Date: January 2009

Publisher: Simon & Schuster | Scribner
Pages: 272 pages

Source & Format: Bought; Paperback

Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Amazon)

Lily Casey Smith, this novel's feisty Texas protagonist, is a frontier teacher, a rancher, a rodeo rider, a poker player, and bootlegger. In Half Broke Horses, she survives droughts, tornados, floods, poverty, and whatever else fate can throw against her. Based on author Jeannette Walls's grandmother, Lily is a plausible character because she has a voice that synchronizes with her history. This novel lives up to the still-gathering acclaim for Walls's novel The Glass Castle.

Thoughts on Half Broke Horses

After reading The Glass Castle, I was excited to dive in to Half Broke Horses. While The Glass Castle was a memoir, this book is billed as "a true-life novel" because of the way Jeanette Walls approached the book. Rather than tell her grandmother Lily's history in third person, she decided to write it in the first person. Lily is the narrator of the book - her stories so legendary within the family that Jeanette felt it was a stronger book when written in Lily's voice.

I still can't decide if I liked that aspect of the book. I felt like The Glass Castle packed such a punch, but Half Broke Horses just wasn't quite all there for me.

Lily is absolutely a force of nature. So much happens to her and she makes so much happen, it's almost hard to believe it all really happened. She's a larger than life woman, and it was really interesting to read about all that she accomplished in her life. It also provides more context for The Glass Castle because you get to know the woman that raised Jeanette's mom. The contrast between Lily and her daughter is quite interesting.

I didn't find it nearly as compelling as Jeanette's memoir, but it was still an interesting read. Because it's written like a novel, I just felt like I didn't buy into it all. I questioned how much was true, what was embellished and what Lily's feelings really were (rather than her granddaughter's interpretation of what her grandmother's feelings might have been). I think it fell short for me because I spent so much time questioning everything. If I'd be able to get past that, I probably would have liked this a lot more.

So Quotable

"Sometimes after I finished a particularly good book, I had the urge to get the library card, find out who else had read the book, and track them down to talk about it."

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