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| Great dedication, or greatest dedication? |
Currently reading:
Austenland, because I can't get over the movie. It's taking me a ridiculously long time to read it, but yanno...
I also started a book I found in a winery called Experiencing Colorado Wine. Yes, I went into a winery and instead of coming out with a bottle of wine I left with a book. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Subscription boxes:
Since my birthday is coming up, I decided to treat myself by trying out a couple more makeup subscriptions. As I've said before, I love Ipsy, but it's been a year and I'm getting restless. I chose Birchbox and Glossybox because they were both rated better than Ipsy on various articles online.
First off, Birchbox, the one I was least impressed by. There was a face masque, eye cream, perfume (yay /sarcasm), a concealer stick and an eyebrow pencil. So two out of the five items were skin care. I don't *hate* getting skin care products in these boxes, but I do always feel like they're filler. If I wanted cream and soaps and shit I'd sign up for a skin care box, not a makeup box. Plus, both the masque and the eye cream smelled weeeeeeiiiiirrrrrrrrrrd. The perfume is supposed to smell like the Australian rain forest, which explains why there's a white model pretending to be an aboriginal on the cover. OH WAIT NO IT DOESN'T.
Anyway, I threw away most of these items. I'll probably keep the concealer stick for covering up blemishes, and I'm on the fence about keeping the brow pencil. Total tally: toss, 4; keep, 1; love, 0.
Next up, Glossybox, which is more than twice the price of Ipsy and Birchbox at $21/month. Why? I have no idea. Supposedly they're unique because they only send "luxury brands," but the brands they send are the same ones I've seen from Ipsy and Birchbox, sooooo yeah.
Anyway, compared to Birchbox this one was a winner! Only one skin care product–a revitalizing serum that seems to work okay–and some of my favorite types of makeup. To wit, nail polish, blush, and lip gloss. Plus mascara. I tend not to wear mascara because it irritates my eyes, but I'm willing to give it a try on the off chance it won't be too hateful. This mascara wasn't bad, although it did start flaking off pretty severely by the end of the day. The lip gloss was AWFUL and weird tasting. The nail polish shade can best be described as puke-rific, but who knows, it might look good on me.
Overall tally: keep, 4; toss, 1; love, 0. I'm not sure this box is worth the money, and it seems to skew towards an older demographic than Ipsy and Birchbox (hence the price?).
Finally, good ol' Ipsy. The September Glam Bag I got last year was one of the best bags I ever received from them. This month's, however, was mixed. The bag itself is nice, but I don't do gold. I was SUPER excited to receive the NYX eyeshadow palette, and the mascara was pretty decent (oh goody more mascara /sarcasm). I don't do eyeliner or this weird eyebrow stuff that made it look like I'd applied mascara to my brows. The masque was very refreshing!
Total tally: keep, 2; toss, 2; love, 1.
Ipsy is still the winner for me. It's a much better deal than Glossybox and sends more of the type of products I like than Birchbox. Yes, it has its problems now and then, but for the money I don't think you can beat it.
I also got another Le Tote. I adored the cuff and the striped shirts were suuuuper cute. The pink dress was more like a nightgown and looked terrible on me, but oh well. The next box is already on its way!
This week in heidendom:
A busy but fun week. I worked long hours on Sunday and Monday finishing up articles and artist profiles so that me and my mom could go to Denver on Tuesday. We were planning to visit a winery (I paid for a tour and tasting on Groupon), but when we got there it was closed and open by appointment only, even though online they said they were open daily and no appointment was needed! The business phone was scratched off the door and the number listed online went to a private residence. Did I mention it was sandwiched between two industrial suppliers in a garage? Kinda sketchy.
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| My still-life. |
Since we had nothing to do at that point, we went to the Denver Art Museum and saw the In Bloom exhibit, which I had little to no expectations for. Silly me, it actually turned out really fun and awesome! There were paintings by all my favorite artists, you could make your own still life, and there was a room where they recreated the scents of Monet's garden. You should definitely go see this if you're in town.
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| A cool flower still-life by Odilon Redon. |
Finally, we went out to dinner with my aunt to Osteria Marco, which according to some sources is the absolute best pizzeria in the entire state of Colorado. The pizza was delicious, and the service impeccable. I also highly recommend the grilled artichokes and thyme traveler cocktail. Yummm.
Bonus:
Have you ever wondered why wine is so often served with bread and cheese? Wonder no more.
Have a great week!
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