On confidence.

This is a quote from actress Gabourney Sidibe, on where she gets her confidence:

"It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn’t have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see."

I haven't seen Precious. I had no idea who Gabourney Sidibe was until I saw her at the awards shows. I still don't know anything about her, and really have no opinion of her.

Beauty is subjective, but only to a point. Excellence can be defined by many things, but I'll bet we can all roughly agree on which people excel in their fields. Talent is fairly easily recognized; you can only fake it so much. The hard truth is, we are not all model-gorgeous, we cannot all win Nobel prizes, and we aren't always going to be great at what we want to do, no matter how hard we try.

But. Does it matter? Even if the best we can be is far from the best, it is still OUR best. Shouldn't we treat ourselves with as much love and respect as we lavish on the beautiful, successful, and talented? 

So wear your 'special-occasion' outfit. Break out the company-only cutlery and stemware. Spend an extra 5 minutes perfecting your hairstyle or lipstick or whatever. Why not? You just might end up feeling lovelier, acting cleverer, being kinder. 

No one can rob you of these feelings. Only you can allow them to be taken.

Thanks, Gabourney.

Product Review: MAC Cremesheen Lipstick

Guys, gather 'round, actor announcement! I love MAC's Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme in Your Coffee! I love it so much that I wanna take it behind a middle school and get it ... um, on my lips.*

Okay, remember my last MAC lipstick and how much I loved it? Well it's still great and all, but I've discovered the shade is a titch toooo dark and it is just a little toooo drying to wear regularly. And because of my short attention span, if I don't wear it regularly, I pretty much don't wear it at all. But this, my friends, this is the real deal.


First, the colour. It, like MAC Fast Play, is a pink-brown midtoned neutral. But it is a little more pink/mauve than Fast Play, and a hair lighter. Combined with the slightly less pigmented finish, it means that it goes on more subtly, but still classes up my act so much so that I feel I should wear ridiculously wide-brimmed hats to some garden parties or something. (AKA: I feel all lady-like and stuff.) It goes great with lots of different looks, save for the smokiest of eyes, perhaps.

But the colour's not all. The Cremesheen formula is just gorgeous. Pigmented and matte enough to feel like real lipstick - because hello, I have like 8 similarly toned sheer & shiny lipglosses, and that's just the ones in my purse right now. But with a slight sheen to it, so your lips look hydrated and soft. It also feels substantially nicer than the Amplified Cream formula... I can wear it all day in comfort, though I do need to put on a little extra balm at night-time. It also lasts a good amount of time, and when it does wear, it wears evenly (no gross crusty ring around the outside of the lips).

So yeah. I know it's not like a hot Spring release or whatever, but a good neutral lippie is worth a thousand flash-in-the-pan trends, no?


*30 Rock? Anyone? Bueller?

Awesome tip: Customize your gel eyeliner!

Hey you gorgeous gals! Know what I think is one of the hottest things to wear on your lids these days? A vibrantly-dark-but-shimmery smokey eye. (I also think hyphens are hot, obvs.) And what easier way to achieve this than with some lusciously pigmented gel eye liners in various yummy shades? Just sweep it on, blend in a bit of shadow, and Bob's yer (expertly made-up) uncle.

But of course, some of us (ahem) don't actually have a real income with which to buy a plethora of gel liners, and even if we did would rather avoid the accusatory gaze of certain significant others for buying yet ANOTHER cosmetic item (hey buddy, me and the shiny pretty things are a package deal, capiche?).

However! Because I'm so smart that I decided to go to graduate school and will never get out(HA!), I stumbled across a trick the other day:

+

... equals TEH AWESOME! Seriously. Just dig out a teeeny tiny clump of your black (or grey, or brown, whatevs) gel liner with your slanted liner brush, and put it on the back of your hand. Then, take another brush and pick up a good amount of a shimmery loose eyeshadow (like a MAC pigment, or loose mineral shadow). Tap the shadow brush so that the powder falls over the liner that's on your hand, then use your slanted brush to blend blend blend. Soon, you will have a smear of custom-created gel liner that you can use to add quick and easy drama to your eyes! So awesome.

The best part is that you can use whatever colour strikes your fancy. I'm thinking that it's probably most effective to use a light iridescent shade, since the dark liner will deepen the colour considerably. But hey, go nuts and experiment. I'm thinking glitter (cosmetic-grade, of course) would be hot too.

And, let's face it, this is the only way I'll ever come close to finishing that jar of liner. Or an eyeshadow, for that matter.

What do you think, bellas? Cool trick? Old news?