Editions of Me

Last month, I received one of these Lip Paints in my November Ipsy bag (see here  for pictures as well as my thoughts on the formula), and I liked it so much that I purchased a few more. They finally arrived, and I had to swatch them right away. What I got: - Wonderland , a beautiful blue-leaning turquoise - Always Late, Rabbit! , a pinkish purple - Caterpillar Smoke , a bright, warm rosey-pink - Blabberwocky , a salmon pink - Red Potion , a blackened berry red - Queen of Harts , an even more blackened berry red that is more purpley as well - Curiouser , a warm-ish beige Some of those colors are totally colors that I always gravitate towards (purple, vampy reds), and some of those are colors that aren't really me (um, the blue!), but at $5 a pop, it's not a big deal, and it's a good opportunity to get those weird colors that I always wish I had every time it's a crazy dress-up day. Here they are, swatched in the order listed above. They all were thic...

It's Thanksgiving, and I want to talk about privilege. Specifically, mine. There are people who appear to have a lot of trouble either understanding what privilege really means or recognizing that they do in fact have some, and I want to talk about mine because I'm hoping it will clarify some things in a hopefully non-accusatory way (I will try to police my own tone on this one, but no promises) and also... just to express thanks. It IS Thanksgiving, after all. So let's begin with what and who I am, in no particular order: - Asian (specifically, Vietnamese) - Female - Graduate-educated - Upper middle class - Cisgender - Heterosexual (though to be honest, I would call myself "heteroflexible" or "curious") - English-speaking - American-born (to immigrant parents) - Physically and mentally able - Fat - Atheist - Unmarried As you can see, there are areas where I have privilege and areas where I don't. I'm heterosexual (for all i...

Spoiler warnings in effect, for the book as well as the movie.

( see full image ) I have purple hair now :)

November's Ipsy theme was Girl Meets Glitter. After not being terrifically impressed with the last couple of bags, I was pretty happy with this one, which had a nice variety of items: - Marc Anthony Oil of Morocco Argan Oil hairspray - Be a Bombshell eye base in Submissive - Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder in Universal, with a mini fan brush - Elizabeth Mott You're So Fine Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Glitterati - J. Cat Beauty Wonder Lip Paint in Mad Splatter I also cashed in some Ipsy points for a full-sized bareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow in Elegant Taupe: I liked the smaller sized version enough that I didn't mind getting a full-sized one in taupe, because you know how I am about taupe :) Swatches, top row: Elizabeth Mott eyeliner, bareMinerals cream eye shadow Swatches, bottom row: Be a Bombshell eye base, J. Cat Lip Paint In particular, I was most interested in the Lip Paint. If you look at the packaging...

Yep, the selfie game is STRONG with this one. This past week was my first "off" week since maybe early September. Going into the race today, I'd only run four miles (though, I was coming off a 28-mile week). For various reasons, I was just really off my game this week. But still, I was excited to run this. I did the inaugural Sirena 10-miler last year with my knee injury, and though I enjoyed the race anyway, it definitely wasn't a great performance. I was looking to redeem myself today, even with being off my game. I woke up at 4:30am, which is not so different from my weekday runs, except getting up early to DRIVE feels way worse than getting up to run. I know that sounds weird, but seriously, once you start running, your body wakes up. It was surprisingly not very cold when we got there. The last couple of weeks, my long runs in Los Gatos were 48 degrees at the start, and by general rule of thumb, San Francisco is colder than the South Bay, so imagine my ...