Foundation Review on a Budget

When I am not on a strict budget I enjoy using Bare Minerals, but these times are tough on the wallet and I've had to switch to the $10 makeup range. Last week as I was running out of foundation I decided to get experimental. So I purchased Almay's Truly Lasting Color as it seemed like a good fit for the increasingly hot and humid weather. But I was wrong. It comes out pretty thick and is difficult to blend. It basically just moved around and didn't offer much coverage. Plus at the end of the day my face felt really tight and dry. Needless to say I returned it.

 Next, I decided to try the new Maybelline Fit upon the recommendation of a friend. While the color matched my fair skin pretty well I was having the same issues that I did with the Almay. It is pretty thick and hard to blend. At the end of the day it did not leave me with the tight dry feeling, but it definitely did not offer the coverage I needed and did not stay on. Especially on my nose area it had a blotched appearance where the makeup had come off and streaked. So this wasn't ideal coverage. I took this back and decided to go back to my original budget foundation.

L'Oreal True Match is my go-to budget foundation and it was the cheapest of the makeup in my experiment. It offers excellent coverage and stays in place all day. Upon switching back a friend even complimented my skin as to the previous days. It's easy to blend on with fingertips and covers redness very well and even covers acne when dabbed in place lightly like a concealer. It doesn't feel caked or like you have a lot of makeup on your face. It doesn't dry you out, and can also withstand hot and humid temperatures, but if worn on a long day you may want to touch up with powder. All three of the foundations I set in place with Mineral Veil from Bare Minerals $15.

Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley

Huxley starts this novel with two Hollywood types discovering a screenplay by William Tallis. They track him down only to find out that he has passed on, and the rest of the novel is his screenplay. Taking place in the year 2108 we come to find that there has been a Third World War and North America and other parts of the world have been nuked. The danger of the radiation has subsided and people are beginning to explore these parts of the world. The main character Dr. Alfred Poole happens to be with an exploration crew from New Zealand and they are studying California.

We come to find that the people are mutated from the radiation, are experiencing the bottleneck effect and know that their race will eventually reach extinction. They've also created a Satanic theocracy to govern their lives complete with rituals and societal values that are realistically exaggerated versions of what actually exist in the world today in regards to sexism and religion.

While vastly different than Brave New World, both novels carry Huxley's ability to evaluate his current society—the scientific and technological advances, as well as political corruptions—and imagine them forward into scarily accurate and possibly prophetic depictions of the future of the human race.


Interesting note: Pay attention to how William Tallis wanted to buried and how he is actually buried. 

Excerpt I love:

From the beginning of the industrial revolution He foresaw that men would be made so overweeningly bumptious by the miracles of their own technology that they would soon lose all sense of reality. And that's precisely what happened. These wretched slaves of wheels and ledgers began to congratulate themselves on being the Conquerors of Nature. Conquerors of Nature, indeed! In actual fact, of course, they had merely upset the equilibrium of Nature and were about to suffer the consequences. Just consider what they were up to during the century and a half before the Thing. Fouling the rivers, killing off the wild animals, destroying the forests, washing the topsoil into the sea, burning up an ocean of petroleum, squandering the minerals it had taken the whole of geological time to deposit. An orgy of criminal imbecility. And they called it Progress.

Ape and Essence @ Amazon.com

Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman

This book is a good start if you have some questions regarding how our modern day bible came to be. However, I wouldn't use it as your only source. I like how he gives you an idea as to his strict background and how some of his ideas changed as he began to question the text. There are many instances where the author mentions examples of certain concepts and will cite the text, but doesn't show the text. Since we don't have easy access to these historical bibles (nor can I read Greek or Latin) it would be nice if he provided a translation of the text he is referring to, otherwise we are supposed to take his word for it.

This book raises some interesting questions regarding the formation of the bible and how numerous interpretations have altered the text over many centuries. It is important for it to be translated accurately, one physical example of that would be Michelangelo's Moses with horns. It also raises many questions in regards to the origin of the text. If the New Testament books were written at least a century after the people who had spoken the words how can you trust the accuracy of even the earliest existing documents? Really this book helps open your eyes and makes you wonder why more modern day followers of these religions don't know or choose to ignore the history behind their main source. Next I want to learn about how the Torah was put together, and find more viewpoints on Bible history.

Misquoting Jesus @ Amazon.com

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Egan follows the lives of several different characters over decades in this novel. The way she shifts the point of view from each character highlights the flow of time and the effect it has on all of us. Each of the characters we experience relate to one another in some way—as family, old friends, or a one time acquaintance.

The last chapter in particular was one of my favorites, as it raises some interesting questions in regards to the implications of technology, especially hand-held devices such as our cell phone computers. When discussing this section of the book at a recent event, held by Columbia College in Chicago, Egan said she was "picking up on things in the air and imagining forward." Her imagination proved pretty accurate to the present day and our near future with children being inundated with technology from their birth. She foresaw,"class issues between off-the-grid people (without internet) being divided from those that have internet." As a society we will notice people starting to fall through the cracks unable to get into the flow of information.

This point reminded me of a local news show (not Chicago) where the vapid reporter "took to the streets" to interview homeless people and had the idiocy to ask them if they'd heard of the media buzz surrounding a homeless man in another state that went viral on the internet for his radio voice. Then seemed shocked when they didn't know what she was talking about. Egan made one of her characters, Scotty, one of the disconnected. In complete irony he becomes a sort of icon because he is seen as mysterious since no one can look up any information on him.

Another feeling that is present in the novel is how we fall in love with certain times and memories in our lives, and how the nostalgia can either affect us as a fleeting memory or we can dwell on the past. Dwelling on the past can cause us to compare our trajectory in life to others that were once close, Scotty resents Benny when he hears that he has become a big-shot record producer while Scotty resorts to fishing in the city's river for food. It's a quick read and you'll love relating to how certain characters completely change over time. Overall this book is an entertaining, there is variety in the characters' personalities and points of view. Sometimes we even receive different characters' takes on a significant time period—which is always fun. I look forward to diving into some of Egan's other works.

A Visit from the Goon Squad @ Amazon.com

Save the Grand Canyon!

Sign the Petition Against Mining the Grand Canyon

I was appalled when I got this in my Twitter feed! Why would anyone even think of mining for uranium in the Grand Canyon?
Growing up in Arizona, I feel attached to the natural beauty that you find there, there is nothing else like it in the world. Once you tamper with it there is no getting it back. The Grand Canyon shows approximately two billion years of geological history, and took millions of years to form. It is a national treasure, and should be left alone.

There are some places in the world that you'll visit to remind yourself just how magnificent and breath-taking nature is, to remind yourself how small and short your time on the Earth is, and to remind yourself how you are part of something greater than yourself.

Must Have: Earbuds

 Philips Sport Buds @ Target
These earbuds are the best thing that has happened to my try-to-exercise-more lifestyle. Finally I have found an earbud that doesn't fall out when I move! Of course they aren't perfect, reading some of the reviews makes me wonder if maybe I just don't man-handle mine enough since people seem to be having problems with them falling apart. I have not had this problem, and they stay in my ear which is something that iPod/iPhone earbuds and Skull Candy earbuds have never done. Phillips Sports Buds come in a lot of different, fun color choices as well. They sadly do not have a mic built in or they'd be perfect, for the $19.99 they cost—which is still cheaper than the other two—and I don't have to constantly push them into my ear, and that makes my jog.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

This novel contains many philosophical insights amongst two couples; one a complex love story and the other a fleeting relationship. Mainly it counters Nietzsche's philosophy that the decisions we make in life have weight.  One quote in particular stood out right away:

"We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come."

Both of the main characters seem to have this dilemma in that they are tied together by some unknown and unexplainable love, but aren't sure what they really want other than to be together. Tomas even views this as a weight in his life. Towards the end of the novel Kundera also shares some interesting philosophical observations regarding shit (yep as in poo), and how it is perceived by people vs. animals and what the implications of that perception are.

The story mainly follows Tomas and Tereza with their love for each other that doesn't seem to make sense or have an obvious basis, but it's strong enough to carry them until the end of their lives. Tereza is somehow able to deal with the fact that Tomas takes numerous lovers throughout their years together and views herself as weak with the jealousy. While Tomas loves only his wife and perceives his womanizing as an exploration of the female. The book also follows Sabina, one of Tomas' main lovers, that he's had relations with since before Teresa entered his life. Sabina is a complex, artistic, and free spirit that opposes the communist influences of Russia through her art. Franz, a married professor in Geneva, falls for Sabina's lightness and allows it to influence his beliefs and view of how his life should be, but she doesn't like how he gives her light actions weight in their significance to him.

All of the characters in this novel are affected by the Russian take over of Prague and its aftermath. Tomas and Tereza move to Switzerland to escape for a while, but upon returning to Prague Tomas ends up losing his career. The only constant in their lives becomes their love and each others' presence.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being on Amazon.com

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Looking back on family life as we get older we start to think about corrections we could have made to accompany the inevitable mistakes one accumulates in a lifetime. The family in this book is chock-full of them. From the overbearing, obnoxious mother, to the complete scumbag, youngest brother. The main focus of this book is on the elderly parents entering the phase of life when their health (mental and physical) are beginning to deteriorate and how it effects all three of their adult children. We then learn about their respective childhoods and adult lives that are pretty much a mess, but they each put on a facade of success and happiness for their parents. This facade, we learn, parallels what Enid and Alfred have been doing for them. It all hits the fan at their last Christmas dinner together, where else, when they can't deny the decline of their father's mental health, and must face important life decisions. This book was a long read, but I actually prefer it to Franzen's other popular book, Freedom. It really made me think about how we treat our elderly population in this society versus how it's been done in the past. I'm pretty sure it's not healthy or right, how we seem to put them away and forget about them, because we don't want to have the burden i.e. think about our own inevitable decay and death. It is terribly sad to see someone's mental health decline, and raises many important issues and debates that we need to address as a whole. This book also caused me to think about family dynamics, and all the energy and time this family put into lying to each other. If you can't be honest with your family, how can you be honest with your friends?


The Corrections @ Amazon.com

Room by Emma Donoghue

This book is told through the eyes of Jack, a precocious 5-year-old boy. He's oddly smart for his age, because his mother has read him books and taught him mathematics. She's made sure he received plenty of nourishment and exercise to be a healthy child. The catch is, Jack has never been outside of the room, a room roughly the size of my studio apartment. He knows nothing of the outside world and has never interacted with anyone besides his mother. Through his eyes the room is almost a magical place, transformed by his mother into many different environments and full of creative activities. But as you read further you begin to realize that this is not the case. They are kept in this room by a man who kidnapped Jack's mother, and has been holding her against her will for seven years. Yes, do the math, but shhh Jack doesn't know, he's five. This book tackles many interesting issues about child development both psychological and physiological. Also, being loosely based on a true story makes you think about the people that have faced a similar imprisonment or are currently enduring one. This book will likewise hold you captive, you will not want to put it down.

Room @ Amazon.com

Direction

I'm not entirely sure which direction this blog will go, but that's part of the fun. I do know that I want it to be a little bit of everything, because that's what we are as people, a little bit of everything. We need to stay open-minded and continue to learn and balance our own lives as well as respect others as they learn and balance their lives.