Phantom 002

www.patmcgrath.com phantom 002 looks amazing!

The Body Shop Japanese Camellia body butter

It smells great, but when I sampled it I didn't like it as much. Maybe a bit too sweet and buttery. The butter itself is lovely though - moisturizing but absorbs well.
I love the fact that you can ask for samples! Excellent customer policy that encouraged me to buy the Italian Fig products.

Documentary Québékoisie

Recently I saw Québékoisie, a documentary by Mélanie Carrier Olivier Higgins about the North Shore of Quebec.  It looks at the complexities of racism in the context of Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals.

I found it quite fascinating; a well done narrative.  There was one point that was probably missing from the documentary, and it just scratches the surface of the topic at hand, but the film made many good points that apply to racism in general.

I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys thoughtful documentaries.  Some people will probably find this a little too disjointed and slow for their tastes, but I found it a very thought-provoking film.

David Vines - Wildfires

Ciara videos

Ciara looks great in her latest song Dance Like We're Making Love (especially the rose dress!) but I think my favorite Ciara video in recent years is Got Me Good:

Musically, I am currently in love with her cover of Paint it Black.

Overall, my favorite video is still her classic "Like a Boy":

It's hard not to buy lipstick...

Such pretty, pretty things!

I bought a moderate coverage lipstick from Integrate Gracy for my mother though - I hope she likes the color.  It's nice having testers available!  But conversely, it's a bit dangerous.

I played with a tester of Shiseido Prior Beautiful Lift Lipstick in Beige 1 (2862 JPY) - it seemed a very easy-to-use, my-lips-but-better color.  But what I really enjoyed was the new Shiseido Maquillage Dramatic Rouge in the limited edition RD351, a very sheer red.  Lipsticks are so much fun; it's really hard not to buy more.

However, I am really enjoying the lasting power and versatility of my Shiseido Lacquer Rouge RD413, so I will content myself with that for now.

Musing: on the difficulty of discarding makeup that I don't love

I am having extreme difficulty discarding makeup no matter how useless it is.

I have many products that I can make work with a little effort.  But I have products that I absolutely love, and the mediocre products just take time away from the ones I love.  Considering the volume of makeup that I have, I could get rid of the mediocre products and still have plenty of variety to enjoy in my stash.

However, for the life of me, I can't seem to let go of the products that are just ok.  I'll try just putting the subpar products into a box and see if I can just let go of the box some day.

Uni Jetstream 0.7 pen

The Uni Jetstream 0.7 is a smooth pen that makes writing fun.