Who Do You Wear Makeup For?

It's fitting that I stumble upon this Beautylish article, "Who Are You Wearing Makeup For?", on the day that I buy myself a Stila eyeshadow palette and Too Faced bronzer from Sephora because, hey, I'm in New York and it's Black Friday and I got both of these babies for $10 each! Down from their normal retail price of $30 to $70! Yay!

Wandering through Sephora, as I have been known to do many a time, you can't help but notice the insurmountable amount of mirrors that litter the store. And in front of every single one, someone is checking themselves out. Whether to try out a new lipgloss or check that their hair is okay, I feel like we all have this weird obsession with looking at ourselves. (It really drove my sister crazy when one lady inadvertently held up the bathroom line at Starbucks because she was checking out her hair...)

It's no wonder, then, that people tend to think that makeup addicts, like myself, are unreasonably vain attention mongrels who wear cosmetics simply to attract the opposite sex. 

Like the amount of lipsticks and eyeshadows in my collection are a registry of the different ways I can convince a guy to talk to me. Like the pink lips and neutral eyeshadows mean that I'm sweet and perky. Like the sultry reds and the precision-black eyeliner mean that I'm amazing in bed.

I agree with the above article when I say that when it comes down to it, the colours and the shades and the glitter don't mean anything. Not to you, at least. 

For a long time, I had trouble reconciling myself with wearing things on my face. I thought that all-natural beauty, which is wonderful in its amazing way, was the only way to go, and that any other option was shameful. I was wrong, of course. There's no shame with wearing a little blush and lipstick when you're feeling down, as I have done many a time. And, as most people know, hiding some pimples with concealer does wonders for the self-esteem on those days when your skin is a little less forgiving.

It helped when, in high school, I had a friend who introduced me to what it was like to like makeup, to fully enjoy playing around with colours and ways to enhance your natural beauty. I didn't fall in love then, though. Not yet. It wasn't until this past summer, when a bout of blog browsing brought on a new love with having fun with makeup.

Now I have fully embraced makeup, like any other hobby or interest anyone could cultivate. We shouldn't shame people who love to wear makeup, just as we shouldn't shame people who choose not to. It's just one of those things, those little preferences akin to whether you like wearing socks to bed or not. 

As for me, I still love wearing socks to bed from time to time, just as I fully believe that a coat of mascara on some mornings can help me feel beautiful and ready for the day. It's a preference thing. There's nothing wrong with that.

Skyfall

I hate labelling myself a "film buff." I'm not. I haven't seen half as many classics (Hitchcock, Lynch, Scorsese, etc.) as I desire to. But I think I know a beautifully-shot film when I see one.

That was the case with Skyfall last week. I'm not a huge Bond fan either. I guess I was never exposed to Sean Connery nearly as much as I should have been when I was young (too many Star Trek reruns to watch with my dad...), but this seems to be a good introduction to whatever impending Bond marathon is on the horizon.

Here are some shots (and spoilers) from the latest of 007. Click here for the full album.

I'm heading to New York City this coming weekend. A family trip, but I'm sure that, after this hell week, I'm going to need it.

Listen to this.

Dyed Hair

I once had an obsession with dyeing my hair. I wanted to do that common Azn (~~~~~, etc.) thing where you put blonde streaks in your EBONY BLACK hair. It was not a nice thing. And I thank my mother everyday for preventing me from making a mess with bleach and whatnot.

But now the ends of my hair are a confusing shade of brown, so maybe her finger-wagging didn't work out after all.

Anyway, here's a song that I've been listening to too much for it to be considered okay anymore.

It's my birthday this Wednesday, which means I will be eating food (medium rare sirloin, maybe) or drooling over Ben Whishaw in Skyfall. I loved him as Keats and I expect I will love him just as much as Q.

A few weeks late, but here's an article I wrote for the Journal about taxidermy. I spent an early weekday morning touring the underside of the BioSci building to get a taste of dead animals (ew?) and what goes into stuffing them, etc. It's a weird fascination of mine (along with birds, used book shops, and sad people). 

If you like taxidermy, though, read this article by UBC alum Rachel Poliquin. She runs a blog called Ravishing Beasts, and spent a lot of time looking at dead animals and their taxidermists for her thesis. A really interesting read.

Now, I leave you with this - a button that takes you to useless websites. It's amazing, I swear.