Review: Lip Injection gloss by Too Faced

Tried Lip Injection by Too Faced over the weekend. It did plump my lips considerably. However, it only lasted around 20-30 minutes; it felt as though a bee made out of jalepeños stung me violently & repeatedly on the lips; & after about ten minutes, the area around my lips became irritated & turned a red tint, & it looked like I had "kool-aid mouth" for half an hour. It's a great product in theory, & it really will plump your lips. But I think I'll wait for one that doesn't cause a red ring around my mouth, lasts longer, & doesn't make me feel like I need to go to the burn unit. (As posted to my Instagram, karenmarieblack.)

If you've tried this product or one like it, I'd love to hear what you think of it!!

Love Love Love

Review: Boscia BB Cream

As many of you know, I'm not a fan of heavy foundations. I like for my face to be able to breathe, so I look for something light. I also look for something that, though light, will provide good coverage. I've been on a quest for quite a while for the perfect BB cream, & this means I try a lot. For me, the perfect BB cream is light, provides good coverage, blends well, makes an accurate match for my fair skin, & has SPF built right in. 

Well, my lovelies, I think I've found it!! Boscia B.B. Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 27. You can find it 

here, & I suggest you do! The first time I put it on my face, I really thought it was going to be too light for my complexion - which is very hard to do, because I'm pretty fair. But as soon as I started smearing it on, the color blended with my skin perfectly! It's light, airy, & feels like you're putting on another moisturizer, so you can barely tell you're wearing anything; however, it still provides adequate coverage, which I've found is unusual for a something so light. It stays put & doesn't get greasy & smudge like a few of the BB creams I've tried. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a top-quality bb cream. And though it may seem pricy, it's 100% worth it, & the product lasts, considering that you don't need to use much of it at a time. I had a girlfriend who works at Sephora hook me up with a couple of samples viles of it, & it took me about a month to use them completely. 

If anyone else has tried this BB cream, I would love to hear your thoughts on it!! 

Love Love Love

Review: Keims Cleanshine Energizing Shampoo

I recently received a small bottle of Keims Cleanshine Energizing Shampoo in a BirchBox. It was a big enough sample that I've had several uses.

The scent is peppermint & macadamia, & it smells lovely. It has a very sweet scent, & when I smell it, it makes me think about the latte syrups we used in a coffee shop I worked in. Takes me right back. So sweet & refreshing.

The scent, however, was the best part about it, & that doesn't stick around for long. I can't smell it after my hair is dried, or even after it's rinsed. It didn't lather very well (a no-no for me), even after I applied a larger amount of shampoo & a little more water. After washing it, sometimes twice for good measure, my entire scalp still didn't feel clean, & it sometimes felt that there was still product in my hair. (I've been doing a show, so I've been using lots of extra hair spray.)

Over all, I would give this product a 2/5 stars, for the scent. (Yes, the scent is worth two stars.)

If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can find the product here. If you had a different opinion about it, I'd love to hear what you think!

Love Love Love

Dobbler/Dahmer Theory

I read a list today - my goodness, those are popular now - 18 struggles of modern dating. It's interesting, & for the most part, true. I suggest a read (here), especially if you are dating in this age of social media flirtation & rising "all about me" attitudes.

As anyone who has spoken with me about the perils of modern dating will know, I agree with this list almost completely. Except #7. It reminds me of something called the "Dobbler/Dahmer theory," which says basically exactly what #7 says. If the person a gesture is being performed for (Person A) finds the person who is making the gesture (Person B) to be attractive, then it is perceived as romantic, like Dobbler with the boom box in Say Anything. However, if Person B is not attractive to Person A, then that person is usually called creepy & compared with a stalker or serial killer, such as Jeffrey Dahmer.

A few of you know that during a show I was in last summer, there was some unwanted attention from a cast-mate, with whom I'd been friends for quite some time. (I won't go into the details about what went on, because it's over & I'd prefer not to be spreading things around.) I tried to brush it off & not overreact to it, hoping that maybe it would stop if I didn't pay it any undue attention. I spoke to another cast-mate about it, & she encouraged me to talk to the director. Still, not wanting to be the source of any "drama" & not wanting to be considered difficult to work with, I decided I would give it a few more days & try to ignore it. That only seemed to make matters worse. The second weekend of the show, it got to be more than I was comfortable dealing with on my own. Another couple of actors in the show had seen something that made them particularly uncomfortable, & they told me it wasn't just me overreacting & that I had a right to feel the way I did about it all. One of them even came up to me backstage, told me what they had witnessed & said, "If you don't say something, I will." I spoke with that actor & another friend (someone whom I trust very much & I feel very safe around, & who'd been told about the goings-on by another concerned friend in the cast; I wasn't just going around talking to everyone about this, contrary to what was assumed later by this particular Person B), & decided I would say something to the director the next day before the show. Well, before I had the chance to address it myself, more than one other member of the cast had gone to the director & spoken to him on my behalf, saying that everyone was now uncomfortable with the actions of this particular individual. The director came to me to discuss the goings-on, & then he spoke with our Person B. Everything stopped: the unwanted attention, the discomfort in the dressing area, my being constantly on edge backstage, & our friendship ended with it. We were still "friends" on social media, though after seeing this person post passive-aggressive & pouty statuses about how he'd been wronged & so on & so forth, I decided to hide him from my news feed. A mutual friend told me one day that I should go read something that Person B had posted. So I did. And there it was. Dobbler/Dahmer theory. None of the discomfort backstage was any fault of his; it was mine, because I didn't find him attractive. Even though people other than myself were made to feel uncomfortable by things that he did, it was my fault for not seeing all this unwanted attention - & his refusal to see it was unwanted - as romantic.

While the "Dobbler/Dahmer theory" may be popular & even true in some cases, there are certain behaviors that, no matter how attractive the person, would be perceived as creepy. (I'm sure there are some girls out there who misuse the word "creepy" in substitution for "that was nice, but I don't feel for him like that," when a guy has simply done something nice for a girl & said girl didn't want that nice thing from that particular guy. Those girls are stupid & need a larger vocabulary. But that's not the "creepy" I'm talking about here.) For the most part, I feel like the "Dobbler/Dahmer theory" is one of those things that someone who's been rejected tells him- or her-self to feel better about the rejection, laying blame to the other person & how they're made to feel, not their own behavior. I can only imagine a few cases where the truth is that Person A did not find Person B attractive & that's why Person B is perceived as "creepy," instead of Person A receiving too much unwanted attention from Person B & eventually having to do something about it.

It's a milder version of blaming the victims of sexual assaults. (i.e. - "Did you see what she was wearing? She was just asking for it, dressed like that.") But that's a whole different soapbox for a whole different time.

I just needed to get that out there. Rant over.

Love Love Love

Hello, 2014

Woah. I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. Things have definitely been busy since August. 

We revived Second Samuel. 

I started a new job in September. I was so very sad to leave the Village, but I believe it was past my time there. And now I have a job that pays me enough to pay my bills, & I even have insurance!!

I was in my first musical in five years (only my second ever), The Rocky Horror Show. 

I got bangs for the first time ever. 

There were some birthday celebrations. 

Not pictured is the oh-so-sweet surprise party that Dayna (my biff) planned for me at Rojo the Tuesday before. I was overwhelmed to have friends so sweet. 

Went to some fabulous gatherings over the holidays. There was a Tacky Christmas Sweater Party at Steele, for the American Cancer Society. 

The annual Hivelys gathering, where we we're reunited with Wesley. 

And a gathering at Gabrielle's to say goodbye to friends moving to L.A.

Spent New Years Eve at home with Miss Lola, because I was running a fever. But I made sure to keep some sparkle in my evening, with a sparkly swizzle stick to stir my tea/Emergen-C. And My tea of choice that night was Strawberry Rose Champagne from Teavana, since I wouldn't be drinking any actual bubbly. 

And now, I'm growing my bangs out. Trying to make the most of the awkward-in-between phases. 

Since Rocky I've been on a bit of an acting break. After doing three shows that all intertwined, I needed a break. Now, however, I'm starting to get that itch again, & I want to be back in a theatre so badly. Just waiting for someone around here to have auditions. 

That's it for now. Hope you've all been well!! 

xoxo