Phew! It's been quite a while since I've done one of these, which is a shame since I actually have several drafts backed up. Anyway, onto the brag.
Defeating Mediocrity is a project being run through a blog. One of my long-time friends, Adam, is setting out to achieve twenty one goals to be completed by 11:59 pm, December 31, 2011. Not talking cheesy new years' resolutions, either. Here are the goals:
1. Record a five song EP
2. Get my motorcycle license
3. Donate blood
4. Busk for a day
5. Take a solo road trip
6. Cook dinner for me and five friends
7. See a game of sport, a concert, a comedy show, a musical and a theatre production
8. Paint a self-portrait
9. Learn a song on piano (or any instrument that's not guitar)
10. Read 12 important books
11. Create a 10-minute arthouse film
12. Do a 365 Photo Challenge
13. Ride the Indian Pacific
14. Do City 2 Surf and the Perth Freeway Bike Hike
15. Spend a month following a type of meditation
16. Write a NaNoWriMo novel
17. Get a tailor-made suit
18. Get kissed on a beach at night
19. *Hidden goal*
20. Begin learning Sign Language
21. Spend New Year's Eve at Times Square, New York
He's running a vlog (weekly, I think) to keep followers/curious bystanders apprised of his progress. Like me, Adam is an avid writer and not-yet-reformed drama student, so the blog itself is very conversational and the vlogs should be quite entertaining once he settles into the rigmarole of talking to a camera.
I have volunteered to help him busk - he's going to play guitar and I'm going to sing. Easy to type, but what an undertaking! I'm going to be practising a LOT in the upcoming months (in and out of the shower, hehe).
I'm thinking I might jump on the wagon for a couple other of his goals - I want to do another NaNo novel, I'd love to learn Sign, and a couple of his books are ones I want to read as well.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Review: Savvy by DB (part 1)
After a horrendously boring day at work (it was New Years' public holiday and I think most of Perth figured the city wasn't open) I decided to buy some new eyelash curlers since my el cheapo ones are kind of dead. While in Priceline I spotted a big stand of $2.99 cosmetics. All its contents were clean and shrink-wrapped, so no returns or rejects! I grabbed myself a liquid eyeliner, a nail polish, a pencil liner and a lipstick. All the stuff was by the same brand. I figured if it was good, then I'd go back and splurge on some other colours, and if it was crappy I was only out $11-something.
The only info I was able to find online for this brand were raves on the Australian Vogue forum - a good sign, though I was a bit miffed at not being able to find a website. I like reading the 'story' behind a company, and looking at all the different products.
I got:
Pencil eyeliner in Ivory
Liquid eyeliner in Plum
Nail polish in Violet
Lipstick in Poppy
I got all 'safe' colours - I wear/use a lot of purple, I've been looking for something a bit thinner than Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Milk for my waterline, and I love red lipstick.
Poppy isn't anything new at all, but it is extremely pigmented for a $3 lipstick. Swatches, from left to right: Stargazer 127, Savvy by DB Poppy, Morgana Cryptoria Twinkling Rubies (lip swatch here).
Lip swatch of Poppy:
Poppy feels a little thinner and more watery than the Stargazer and the Morgana, but it's the same bright, blue-based red that I can't seem to get enough of. The formula isn't drying at all, but it's hasn't got the moisturising qualities of Morgana lipsticks either. Staying power is amazing for the price - after a roast beef sandwich (nom nom) and a glass of water, the inner circle of my lips were bare, but I still had a LOT of lipstick left. I'm definitely going to go back to pick up some more tubes of this lipstick.
The tubes themselves are brushed-metal-look plastic, and they click when you close them, which I like. They also have that clear bit on the bottom which has a colour representation, so you can tell the tubes apart. No ingredients on the tube, though, and since I didn't get any packaging with them... Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm not A) vegan, or B) allergic to any common cosmetics ingredients! Since Savvy/DB also don't have a website there's no way for me to follow up on that.
Eyeliners and nail polish coming next!
The only info I was able to find online for this brand were raves on the Australian Vogue forum - a good sign, though I was a bit miffed at not being able to find a website. I like reading the 'story' behind a company, and looking at all the different products.
I got:
Pencil eyeliner in Ivory
Liquid eyeliner in Plum
Nail polish in Violet
Lipstick in Poppy
I got all 'safe' colours - I wear/use a lot of purple, I've been looking for something a bit thinner than Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Milk for my waterline, and I love red lipstick.
Poppy isn't anything new at all, but it is extremely pigmented for a $3 lipstick. Swatches, from left to right: Stargazer 127, Savvy by DB Poppy, Morgana Cryptoria Twinkling Rubies (lip swatch here).
Lip swatch of Poppy:
Poppy feels a little thinner and more watery than the Stargazer and the Morgana, but it's the same bright, blue-based red that I can't seem to get enough of. The formula isn't drying at all, but it's hasn't got the moisturising qualities of Morgana lipsticks either. Staying power is amazing for the price - after a roast beef sandwich (nom nom) and a glass of water, the inner circle of my lips were bare, but I still had a LOT of lipstick left. I'm definitely going to go back to pick up some more tubes of this lipstick.
The tubes themselves are brushed-metal-look plastic, and they click when you close them, which I like. They also have that clear bit on the bottom which has a colour representation, so you can tell the tubes apart. No ingredients on the tube, though, and since I didn't get any packaging with them... Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm not A) vegan, or B) allergic to any common cosmetics ingredients! Since Savvy/DB also don't have a website there's no way for me to follow up on that.
Eyeliners and nail polish coming next!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Same old eyes and nails
I wasn't going to do any sort of New Years' post - I didn't take any pictures of my night, or make any resolutions, but I'm still wearing and loving my manicure 4 days later so I thought I'd share!
New years' nails:
Mode Party Girl under Mode Glitterati under China Glaze Wireless.
Then because I'm a matchy-matchy freakazoid, I dismissed the 20+ purple eyeshadows I own, and mixed up another super-glittery one to go with the polish:
I don't remember exactly what I used, but there's definitely TKB Grape Pop and Fyrinnae's Immortality in there. I think I threw in another purple, and then some red and blue to brighten it up. Excuse the weird lighting - in reality it's a dead match to the deep purple of the polish combo :)
Anybody else not bothered with resolutions? There's lots of stuff I want to do this year, but I just feel like making the new year all about "OMG I WILL DO MORE STUFF" just creates unnecessary pressure. You can't magically break - or make- a habit just because it's January again. Take it one step at a time! It's easier and far more realistic.
New years' nails:
Then because I'm a matchy-matchy freakazoid, I dismissed the 20+ purple eyeshadows I own, and mixed up another super-glittery one to go with the polish:
I don't remember exactly what I used, but there's definitely TKB Grape Pop and Fyrinnae's Immortality in there. I think I threw in another purple, and then some red and blue to brighten it up. Excuse the weird lighting - in reality it's a dead match to the deep purple of the polish combo :)
Anybody else not bothered with resolutions? There's lots of stuff I want to do this year, but I just feel like making the new year all about "OMG I WILL DO MORE STUFF" just creates unnecessary pressure. You can't magically break - or make- a habit just because it's January again. Take it one step at a time! It's easier and far more realistic.
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