Emily is my roommate and best friend. We first met our freshman year of college and bonded over our amazing taste in music and rolling our eyes at art-major shenanigans. We lived together for our last two years of school and we've been living together for two years in Portland. She's one of the most intelligent and intuitive people I know and I've been really lucky to have her as a friend. Even though we live together and share a bathroom counter, I don't know much about the beauty products that she uses or her daily routine. This would seem less weird if you knew me and my tendency to forget other people's routines and schedules (dear friends, I'm sorry!). So I was really excited that she agreed to do this little feature so I could learn more about her beauty regime!

Oh gosh. There's this incredible dramatic black and white photo of me in 8th grade in front of my bathroom mirror putting on mascara. I'm wearing one of those fake spiky hair ponytails and a black mesh top and I'm wearing WAY too much black liner. I think I started with makeup sometime between 7th and 8th grade of my own accord, mostly because I really wanted to be the cool "goth" girl (I went to art school) so that seemed like a good start. There was about 20% follow through on that. Anyway, in all honesty, my makeup didn't get any good until way late college. I feel like I just tried to figure it all out myself, which means I went through that terrible Dream Matte Mousse foundation phase. 

I have sensitive skin and super acne prone skin. It sucks. It's WAY better now, but I felt so embarrassed by my skin from age 15 through college. And still do at times. I know my skin isn't my identity but sometimes it's a real pain in the butt and it's so high maintenance and sensitive and whiny and...I try not to get mad at people who seem to have perfectly clear, smooth skin. Toward the end of college, I found out that I have quite a number of food sensitivities, most notably gluten. Eliminating gluten definitely helped reduce my acne. This also made me take a good look at what I was choosing to put in and on my body; basically, if I wouldn't want to eat it, I'd rather not put it on my skin!

Getting into natural beauty products and DIY stuff has actually made the whole process way more fun and interesting for me, so I appreciate that. Here's the main "crunchy granola" stuff I'm using currently:

Coconut oil to remove my makeup. It takes off everything and it's awesome.

Skincare products from Mountain Rose Herbs. Currently, I use a rose facial cleanser, wild rose toner, wild rose face oil (if needed), unrefined shea butter (at night) and finish with a tea tree jojoba facial serum. Wild rose is way stinkier than regular rose scent. I'm not sure how I feel about it and I may have overcommitted. 

Alima Pure makeup. This is a Portland makeup company focused on using 100% natural, eco-friendly ingredients. They have a HUGE range of foundation colors for every possible skin tone and it 0% irritates my skin, which is a big deal. I've tried many of their products, but I've found that their balancing primer, stain-matte foundation, and satin finishing powder work best for me and provide the best coverage. I recently switched to the Real Techniques makeup brushes. Super affordable and they work well. 

On the non "crunchy" spectrum: mascara, eyeshadow, liner, and eyebrow stuff. I've never had a problem with the good ol' Great Lash mascara. I don't really have an eyeliner preference as long as I can do a good cat eye! Currently, I'm using Soap & Glory's Archery brow pencil and setter. It makes my brows look bomb, which is very important. The eyeshadow is a sore subject for me right now; Alison gifted me the original Naked palette (after using up most of the Naked 2 palette, pictured) and SOME BUTTFACE smashed in my car window and stole a backpack which contained my makeup bag. They are the best eyeshadows and I'm still mad about it. 

In case you care, here's some other weird stuff I use:

Apple Cider Vinegar (ph balancing for skin and hair and a million things), French Green Clay (DIY clay facial and hair masks), and activated charcoal as a toothpaste (to remineralize and whiten, as counterintuitive as that sounds).

The best part of my skin care routine: Konjac sponges! I'm glad I get to type this because I still don't know how it's supposed to be pronounced. These were honestly an impulse purchase one day at a New Seasons and I will probably continue using konjac sponges as long as I have the motivation to take care of my face. They are plant stem cell-based sponges and they come in cute shapes and colors. I use mine twice a day with a very small amount of cleanser. They are affordable and super gentle; I've noticed a huge difference in my skin. Bonus: they've completely replaced the expensive facial scrubs I used to buy.

I'm in a weird transition with my hair. It used to be a pixie cut, and now I'm growing it out with no end goal in mind. I'm also trying out a holistic hair care routine, Morrocco Method. Basically, the goal is to "detox" and rebalance the ph levels and natural oil production of your hair. This means there's a hair detox process where things get kind of crappy before they get better. I'm smack in the middle so we will see how it goes!

I'm back to making my own dry shampoo: arrowroot powder mixed with cocoa powder since I have brown hair. It's a bit messy, but it works. Apparently, it did not work for one lady, whose dog wouldn't stop licking her hair after she used it.

Ummmm, simple but sort of intentional and put together? I'm big into earthy and jewel tones. I would live in the colors of sage green, burnt orange, and mustard yellow if I could. I mostly wear black though out of habit. Patterns either aren't my friend, or I've just been too lazy to figure out how to wear they effectively. Honestly, I just don't like attention really, so I'm not the most adventurous dresser. I always wear earrings and my go-to look is usually some sort of tights/skirt/top.

I really can't think of anyone. I also don't have a celebrity doppelganger, so maybe those two things are related.

It's not clothing, but I love the vintage Coach purse that Alison gave me in college. She found it for $8 at Goodwill. It's classy, over-the-shoulder, it coordinates with everything and it will last forever!

Fashion should not be stressful. Choosing what to wear and put on your body should not make you question your self-worth. If you buy something new, you must put it on IMMEDIATELY. No one else has to follow that last one, but I am notorious for doing that.

Thank you so much, Emily, for letting me into your space and teaching me a little bit about the products I see in our bathroom every day - I feel like I've learned something!

It's finally Friday! This week has been filled with a lot of anxiety and self-doubt, but also some wins as well. I'm working on savoring the good things that happen to me and trying to carry them through the week instead of dwelling on the bad things that happen (spoiler: it's very hard and I am only doing so-so but I am trying ok???). I'm really looking forward to this weekend, hopefully I will be taking some chill out time. We'll see! 

(photo via Rolling Stone)

I have to admit that I might have had this perfume for a little too long. Do fragrances go bad? I don't know. I have a weak spot for the whole Marc Jacobs Daisy range so when they came out with this colorful packaging for the Eau so Fresh I snatched it up immediately. If you know the classic Daisy scent, this is like a watered down version with much fruitier notes added. It feels more wearable during the day and you can spray on as much as you want and it doesn't get overwhelming. Key notes are Red Raspberry, Wild Rose, and Warm Plum. 

Last but not least - I'm still obsessed with this scent! I've talked about it here before, but it's holding fast in my favorites. It's like no rose scent I've smelled before, it's not granny-ish or overpowering. One downside to this is that it doesn't last very long (the eau de toilette distinction is no joke here). I frequently spritz a ton of this in my hair before going out and sometimes spray it on my bedding. Yeah - I like it that much!!

Happy Friday! I have a big old migraine today for some reason so I'm taking it easy. What are your plans for this weekend? I'm going to watch Pay-per-view boxing at the cinema (vamos Canelo!) which is like my little tradition - I never seem to make friends who like boxing so I'm just going alone. But honestly, 3ish hours of boxing with a big bag of popcorn is like heaven for me. Movie theaters will always be my happy place. Anywho, here's some links from the web for your workday!

Have a super duper weekend!

Oh boy. Here we go. I was SO EXCITED about the movie The Circle when I first saw the teaser trailer. First of all, if you've read any of my other movie reviews, you'll know that I'm a huge Emma Watson fan. But, I'm a big fan of Karen Gillan as well - ever since her Amy Pond days (redheads supporting redheads - yeah!). 

The "implications of big tech" theme of the film intrigued me. I love talking about technology and how innovations can help or harm people so I couldn't wait to see how this film tackled the issue. The excitement was real guys. I purposely didn't read any reviews or watch extended trailers so I was seeing this film with fresh eyes. 

The story begins with Mae (Emma Watson) kayaking around somewhere in California, going to her call center job, and driving her junky car around her hometown. She's stuck in a rut and living at home with her parents. Early into the film, she gets a call from her best friend (? it's unclear) Annie (Karen Gillan) telling her that she scored her an interview at the company she works for, The Circle. The Circle seems to be loosely based on Google and when Mae visits the campus for her interview, she's taken aback by the amount of extracurricular activities that employees are participating in (including "Doga" - yoga with dogs. Got a laugh from the audience). Annie talks a mile a minute about all the great things The Circle offers and how much she loves her job and Mae luckily nails her interview and starts her new job as a contact center representative. As she gets deeper into The Circle culture and community, she starts to lose touch with her family and childhood friend Mercer (who she has very little in common with?). She has to open up her life more and more to The Circle and this escalates until she tries to go on a solo night kayak paddle to get away from it all and almost drowns. What saves her is The Circle cameras which allowed viewers to see her in danger and send a rescue team to get her. The company loves this story and asks her to wear a device to share her life with followers and she agrees. And you'll have to watch the film for the rest of the storyline - I don't want to give it all away!

OH MY GOD THE SCRIPT IS SO BAD. Wow. wow wow. It's horrible. I was almost in shock of how especially terrible the dialogue in this movie was. Every conversation feels fake and strange, the characters say things that seem out of character. The transitions from scene to scene are sometimes abrupt in an unpleasant way. When the writing really jumps out at you in a negative way on a film to the point where it's a distraction...? Well, you've just lost me!

Poorly written characters: Not a single character in this film feels fleshed out or deep in any way. Relationships are so confusing! Mae and Annie are "great friends" but you have no idea why or how they became friends, especially because at the beginning of the film Mae and Annie are living drastically different lives. And, continuing with Annie, later in the film she turns on Mae seemingly out of nowhere with no real explanation? So confusing. And Mae's friendship with Mercer is unclear as well - they seem to have no chemistry, almost to the point where they don't really get along that well, but she touts him later in the film as one of her best friends. 

Tech issues left largely unexplored: There is no deeper dive into any of the real implications of the tech that The Circle is manufacturing/introducing. Mae "feels" that it might be bad from time to time, but she doesn't think deeper about why these inventions are bad for people. After her three weeks of sharing her life every day, there is no discussion of the burden of putting on a happy face every second (though there are moments where she falters that could have been perfect vehicles for this convo), there is no real exploration of all the ways this wearable tech is harmful to her everyday life - she actually seems happy to be performing for thousands of people. But then she tries to escape from it. Mixed messages, Mae. The inventions that The Circle CEO Tom Hanks introduces have some very clear negative aspects that everyone at the company just blatantly ignores. Where is the focus group for these? Seriously no one is raising their hand and saying "Oh this might bring out the worst in humanity"??? It seemed sort of unbelievable. 

Some good takeaways: First off, Tom Hanks is such a good choice for a "Steve Jobs" type character. His performance was definitely the best of this film (sorry Emma). Secondly, I love the IDEA of this film. I'm hoping to see more films in the future about technology's effect on human relationships and connections. And that's really it. What a bummer! No even Emma Watson's wardrobe was worth noting. Boo.

Overall, this film is probably worth a watch, but don't expect too much from it. I'm really intrigued to read David Egger's book that this film was based on because I have a gut feeling that it just didn't translate well into a movie.

photo sources: 1 / 2 / 3