Sephora loves me. So does Ulta, Blue Mercury, and anybody else who sells make-up. I have tried a lot of &*^%....but in trying a lot of ^&*%, sometimes you find a winner, and a lot of losers. If I can’t look like Christie Brinkley looks at 63, why bother. Foundation has been a big problem for me. I had teen acne and coupled with sensitive skin, left me with pock marks and redness. I don’t think they are horribly apparent, but I know they are there, and unless you catch me at 8:00 at night, or 5:00 in the morning, YOU should not know they are there. I have bounced around foundations like a loose chick looking for her sugar daddy. When I was done, I was done, but here is one with some staying power: Urban Decay All-Nighter (love the name). With the help of a beauty blender and foundation brush, this foundation goes on effortlessly, and the best part, impeccable coverage. Now, I use a lot of magic to keep my look intact from sun up to sun down: primers, powders, spray, etc, but even with the that, your foundation should be able to withstand breakfast, the supermarket, Starbucks, pick up, play practice, spit up, potty training, basketball, dinner and everything else you come across in eight mom hours. This does. With a review and praise, also comes compromise and honesty. This foundation is great, but it oxidizes after about an hour, and looks unblended and about three shades darker than your face….SHREK!!!! I thought I had it looking groovy till I went home and thought I had been to a tanning bed and forgot…The trick here is to go down, literally about 3 shades than you normally would pick your foundation color. It should be well-blended and photo-ready if you pay attention. And, like it’s name says, the ALL NIGHTER can be on as long as you want it to, so get a good make up wipe, or maybe two, and take it all off so you can pull your all-nighter with your pillow…and not an ALL DAYER with your washer. All in all, a great find, and a GOLD STAR recommendation ...caveat and all.
0 Comments
Yes, it is true, my beloved store, has won a Pottie … it may just be a one flusher, but the store I used to value as much as www.revolve.com gets a poo… I am a huge, huge proponent of customer service. When I went in this past weekend to purchase a new umbrella stroller (I will review) for my son for some upcoming travels, I thought I would run in and run out … but NOOOOOO. Of course a Saturday is the busiest day of the week in the land of malls, Paramus, NJ, but boy … get a grip. I walked into the stroller department to be greeted by … nobody. The one sales associate dressed in his royal blue Buy Buy Baby uniform was helping a couple who were on their third baby, with their two other kids, father who was negotiating a deal with his secret service headset exploding from his ear, and a mother who kept rubbing her belly as if that baby needed comforting, in unison with periodically grabbing her toddler daughter by the arm. The associate kept explaining the latch vs the seatbelt installation, and I was now standing in the group as if I were an in-law, trying to get attention. I just wanted to know where this one stroller was located. I was apparently invisible. I strolled around the department to see, if in the mecca of baby and children’s needs there existed another associate to help me with something so obscure as stroller. Alas, there was, but she was explaining some car seat system to a young couple who kept repeating questions. Is it possible a car seat or a stroller was that foreign when you were having a baby? Feeling even more ignored, I approached the information desk. “Is there anybody else working in strollers?” The associate grabbed her lapel mike like she was about to use it for a SCUBA expedition, and whispered, “Associate to strollers…” She said to me in top secret form. “He will meet you by strollers.” I felt like I was a CIA agent on a reconnaissance mission. I ran over to my spot in the sea of strollers where, if you were having a nightmare that you were being attacked by strollers and car seats, this is what it would look like. And sure as hell, as I was on my way over there, the new associate was snagged by another first time couple who needed help with the car seat curriculum as if tomorrow they were defending a thesis on five point harnesses or they would have to give their baby up for adoption. I said, “excuse me, they just called you for ME.” He looked at me blankly, “Oh, someone else can help you.” GEEZ..I was losing my cool. If I didn’t need the stroller, I would have left. Another blueberry associate approached me…”I NEED YOU…..I said. Please do not move another inch. She stared at me. I need this stroller…” She pulled one from the display so I could play with it and give it a treat like I was adopting a puppy. I said, ok, “I need it in blue…” but she was now talking to another couple who were on a Buy Buy Baby date. So, while she was talking to them, she stared spewing information into her SCUBA apparatus about my purchase. She was helping me and them at the same time. I thought for sure I would go home with their infant car seat system and breast pump, and they would get my umbrella stroller at check out. Did I get what I came for? Yes, I did…after almost 45 minutes…it was unacceptable. Not enough help, organization or decorum that afternoon from a store I have trusted for about 15 years. Poo…Buy Buy Baby…work on your customer service and realize it’s busy in Paramus on a Saturday…hint…every spot in the parking lot is filled, and yeah, people have off. Hire a few car dealers ... they know how to make a sale and work the Saturday crowd. I think in order for you to understand that it’s really okay to make mistakes, we just have to say what Lisa Bonet used to say on the Cosby Show … ”mmmm my bad.” It’s basically saying, “yeah, and so what … I made a mistake.” Guess what, parenting is not a perfect science. We are human beings and we make mistakes. How you choose to deal with that mistake and present it to your kids is up to you. My theory is they need to know we are not the perfect beings we think they are, and owning up to that is healthy.
Let’s take for example the summer I had Gianmarco. He was born in June, and was my paramount concern, on top of planning a family vacation to California when he was eight weeks. I thought I had it all going on: get up, feed the baby, shower, feed the baby, put on some make up, feed the baby, drop the girls at theater camp, feed the baby, take Albert to sports camp, feed the baby ... etc. I think you get the picture. We sat down for dinner, about 6:00, and the phone rings. “Hi Linda, are you picking up Albert from camp.” I was like, “Albert, who?” Then I realized ... I forgot my kid at camp!!! Holy ^%&$! I had no idea this kid wasn’t even in the house. He could have slept there and I wouldn’t have realized till I checked his bed. I freaked out. I started proverbially pistol whipping myself “Bad mommy, bad mommy.” My girlfriend, Julie ran out the door like Ed McMahon was showing up with a check, and got him for me. Of course everyone was laughing ... ”LOL, you have eight kids ... lol” I found NONE of it funny at all. I wanted to call DYFS and turn myself in. When Julie brought him in the door, I saw the halo around his head, and I hugged him like he had been lost in Agrabah at the market. He thought I was crazy and sat down and woofed a spare rib down his throat while I just stared at him, sobbing. As you can see, almost four years later, I’m not really over the moment, but I can own it, and say yeah, even good mommies get a “MY bad.” and this was only the beginning. The slow cooker and I were never friends. I pride myself on homemade meals, and I often felt the slow cooker would be like having an affair behind my stove’s back. I was afraid there would be no aroma wafting through the house when you walked in, and most importantly, it would taste like the liner of the slow cooker. However, the slow cooker and I are taking it just like that ... slow, like any meaningful relationship. I have learned to embrace the simplicity, velocity and cleanliness along with its charming streamlining abilities. I do think, however, choosing the right recipe is a must, and I did like this one from one of my favorites kitchen queens, Paula Deen. I paired this with rice and a salad. Stay simple. The flavors here combined with the ribs and the trendy yumminess of the Sriracha (that’s what I used) stands apart on its own without having to hold hands with a bold side dish. Dinners don’t have to be extravagant to have wow factors, nor do they have to take ten hours to prepare. The slow cooker is a great way to ease your way into culinary prowess without burning down your kitchen. |
Archives
July 2024
Categories
All
|