Beauty Brawl #1: Murad Moisturizers

If you were not aware that Sephora will give you a free sample of any product you'd like, be aware!  I have learned to take advantage of it, and discovered some great new beauty products risk-free (and also discovered some not so great ones, but at least they were free!).  My mom sometimes gives me the free samples she gets from the rewards program, and it was this way that I discovered the Murad skincare line.

Let me say this upfront:  Murad products are not cheap.  But I have come to believe that they are well worth the price.  And no one is paying little old me to say this :-P.

The first Murad product I tried was the Acne Clarifying Cleanser.  My mom had gotten it as a rewards program sample and didn't have any need for it, so she kindly let me try it.  I saw immediate results.  I'm talking next-day, very noticeable results.  My blemishes were already clearing up, and my face felt smoother than I'd ever felt it.  And most importantly (this is the litmus test for me when I'm trying new products) it didn't cause any new blemishes.  I don't have the worst skin in the world, but it is pretty sensitive and it always makes me nervous to try new products that more likely than not will just make my skin worse.  This was not the case with the Clarifying Cleanser.  I've been using it consistently since Christmas break. and I've been very pleased with it.

Acne Clarifying Cleanser-$26

Intensive-C Radiance Peel-$49.50

Next, and again thanks to my mom, I tried the Intensive-C Radiance Peel.  I thought the results from the Clarifying Cleanser were dramatic, but boy, this amazed me even more!  You use the Radiance Peel 1-2 times a week, leaving it on for up to 10 minutes.  It instantly brightened my face up and evened out my skin tone.  I was super impressed.  It also creates a nice smooth feeling.  I've only been using this product for a few weeks now, but it's been serving me well.

Now on to today's Beauty Brawl, which is a new series I'm starting for the blog, wherein I test and review beauty products so you don't have to!  Inspired by the improvement in my skin from those Murad products, I decided to sample a couple of their moisturizers.  I went to my local Sephora (Dallas North Park!) and got samples of the Essential-C Day Moisture and the Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer.  Here are my findings:

You have to take this with a grain of salt though, because I have very sensitive skin, and what works for my skin might not work for yours, and vice versa.

A little bit about the process:  I was planning on testing each moisturizer for a full week, starting on March 21st, but only did so for the Essential-C.  That's because after three days of watching the Energizing Pomegranate continue to break my skin out, I had to give it up.  I didn't want to do any more damage!  I have been using the Essential-C since then and my skin is recovering :-P.

Again, there's no denying that the Essential-C is pricey, but I think it's worth the money.  It's a twofer; you've got sunscreen and moisturizer in one product!  Plus the smell is amazing.  Something about the smell of sunscreen cheers me up, and the citrusy smell added in is heavenly.

Have any of y'all tried Murad products before?  I'd love to know your experiences with them.

Wishful Thinking #2: Classic Black

It is a universal truth that black never goes out of style.  It is timeless, seasonless, and effortless.  Not to mention flattering!  This is a simple ode to the color black, Wishful Thinking style.

Clockwise from top left:
AÃRK Collective watch
Mille Dørge iPhone case design via Society6
Shoes are sold out from Topshop, but I see that style everywhere (here's a pricey example from Chloé)
Kaweco fountain pen with screw cap
Kate Spade purse
Brooklyn Cruiser bike

School should be calmer for a couple weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to post more regularly for a while.  This is a rare weekend when I'm not going to visit Josh or vice versa, so I have a lot of free time on my hands.

Have a great weekend!

From the Bookshelf: The Age of Miracles

Perhaps titling my book review series From the Bookshelf is misleading since about half of the books I read are in iBook form now, this one included.  Either way, I always wish that more blogs in the great blogosphere talked about books on occasion, so here is my humble attempt to start the conversation.

I just finished The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, a science fiction novel more literary than the average sci-fi paperback.  In the novel, a mysterious force is causing the Earth's rotation to slow and days to lengthen, creating increasingly dire consequences.  Animals begin to die, plants wither away, and people begin to suffer from a mysterious sickness.  The narrator is a woman in her twenties named Julia, who looks back on the time when the "slowing" began, when she was 11 years old.  The world is teetering on the edge of a catastrophe, of which she is very much aware, but she is also preoccupied with the usual catastrophes of being a preteen in middle school.  She experiences her first real crush, loses her best friend, and fears her parents may be splitting up, all the while having to adjust to living on "clock time" while the real days grow ever longer.

[Spoilers from here on out!]

The personal urgency of Julia's childhood crises counteracts perfectly with the anxiety, excitement, and fear created by the slowing.  Julia often wonders if people begin to act more boldly once they fear the end of the world is near, and she too begins to act with more urgency.  Every betrayal and disappointment she suffers is made all the more poignant by the fact that she may not get a second chance at having a best friend, sharing a first kiss with a new crush, or even see her friends and family again. 

My main issue with the book is that I found it to be largely predictable.  Not the actual premise or the scientific aspects; the research that obviously went into the book paid off, because the premise seemed totally plausible and the consequences of the slowing seemed reasonable.  The mundane events of Julia's life, however, were not elevated much in importance or weight by the slowing.  I suppose that may have been the author's point, that the human experience is common, no matter what the circumstances.  But I, for one, found the scientific questions of the story more intriguing and pressing than Julia's preteen woes.  I often found my attention drifting away from Julia's thoughts towards the unsolved mystery of the slowing.  I wish that we could see more of the causes of the slowing rather than just the effects.  My most recent creative writing professor was fond of saying, "if you use a sci fi setting, there better be a reason for it.  The story should not be able to happen in a normal world."  And that is exactly how I feel about this novel.  Julia even makes a point of saying that her life would mostly have unfolded the same way without the slowing, it just complicates matters.  It is interesting that most of the characters attempt to carry on, so to speak, and live normal lives despite the slowing, but ultimately this is the book's biggest weakness.  Why not use such an interesting premise to radically change the way the characters live and interact?  In the end this book was merely a sci-fi bildungsroman.

And on a slightly morbid note, I was surprised that Julia never once considered suicide or even simply wondered what the point was in continuing, when it seemed obvious that the world would eventually cease to exist or become uninhabitable.

All of that being said, I really enjoyed reading The Age of Miracles (I even procrastinated on studying for midterms so that I could finish it).  Julia's voice is engaging and relatable, and I came to care about the characters and their relationships.

l'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.  If you're looking for an easy read, or some science fiction that doesn't go on for a thousand pages, I would recommend this book!  If you check it out, let me know your thoughts.

Up next:  whatever I get at Half Price Books tomorrow (coupon week, whoosh!).  Or Karen Russell's new short story collection, Vampires in the Lemon Grove.  Speaking of Karen Russell, the iBook version of The Age of Miracles comes with a conversation between Russell and Thompson Walker that I found very enjoyable.  I'm sure the print version has it too.

If y'all have any book recommendations for a review, let me know!

Completely unrelated:  My boyfriend is staying with us for spring break, and we just got that board game Settlers of Catan and played it tonight, and oh man.  It's fun!  Unfortunately Josh has a leg up on my family since he's played it before with his family.  He did a far better job of teaching us the rules than the rule book it came with, let me tell you.

Happy spring break!

Mixtape #4: Jangly Pop

School has been crazy busy lately, hence the lack of new posts the past couple of weeks.  I am going to try to work on some at the end of this week after my exams are done and schedule them for spring break.

For a quick post tonight I decided to post a playlist I've been compiling for some time now.  My boyfriend asked me once what kind of music I liked best and I jokingly said "jangly pop!"  The label has stuck, and when we listen to music together he'll say, "This is so Caroline, this is so jangly!"  I should note that for some weird reason most of this music originates from Australia... maybe they're just more cheerful there in general?

I hope you enjoy the mix!  Let me know if y'all have any requests for playlists (genres, occasions, etc.).

If you're battling through midterms like I am, hang in there, and good luck!

Jangly Pop from fatalistpalmistry on 8tracks Radio.

Spring Fever Pt. 3

Here's the last part of the Spring Fever series, Design.  We're experiencing a cold spell in Dallas right now so this is especially wishful thinking.  And here I thought spring was right around the corner...

Letterpress fill-in invites by Pei Design
Part of a poster by Allan Peters for Artcrank 2012
Logo design by Oscar Morris for the Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (the aquifer beneath my home town!)
I don't have a credit for the last image unfortunately.  I particularly liked the color scheme though, so I had to include it.

I think the groundhog decided spring was coming early, right?  Let's hope so!  I can't wait to break out my tank tops and shorts.

Adventures in Quesadillas

For someone who loves Mexican food as much as I do, it's crazy that I didn't think to make quesadillas before this week.  I was in San Antonio over the weekend and I brought some flour tortillas from Alamo Café home with me (seriously the best tortillas ever).  I'm going to freeze most of them for now, but I used a couple last night to try my hand at chicken quesadillas.  I made up the recipe as I went along, and while there are a few tweaks I would make next time around, it made for a delicious dinner. Mexican food is comfort food to me, and a week with two exams calls for comfort food!

Grilled Chicken Quesadillas with Fresh Salsa
For the chicken:
1 Chicken breast, fat removed
Cumin
Mexican oregano
Chili powder

For the salsa:
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1 Bell pepper any color, chopped
2 Green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
Small bunch cilantro, to your preference, minced
1/2 tsp Lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

Other ingredients:
1/2 cup Kraft four cheese Mexican, shredded
2 10" Flour tortillas
Butter or olive oil
Dollop of sour cream

Directions:
To season the chicken, rub the spices on the full chicken breast, trying to evenly distribute them.  Go easy on the cumin--trust me.  Alternatively, you could use a pre-made fajita or taco spice mix.  Then, cut the chicken into small pieces, anywhere from 1/2" to 1" depending on your preference.  Smaller pieces will make a flatter quesadilla, which will stick together more easily later on, so keep that in mind.    Using a skillet with a grill pan preferably, cook the chicken until it is no longer pink in the center.  You could also boil and shred the chicken if you prefer, but if you do leave out the seasonings initially.  Set the chicken aside.

Prepare the salsa by mixing all of the salsa ingredients together in a small bowl, adding the lime juice and salt last.  You could also chop the vegetables in a small food processor if you're pressed for time.  Make the salsa as chunky as you want!

Brown the tortillas lightly in a skillet using either butter or olive oil.  If you do use butter, use it sparingly.  Set aside one tortilla on a plate and leave the other in the skillet.  On the tortilla left in the skillet, pile a layer of half the cheese, a layer of chicken, a layer of salsa, and a layer of the remaining half of the cheese (you can always add more cheese if you'd like), then cover with the other tortilla.  Heat on medium or medium-high until cheeses have melted and the quesadilla sticks together.  You can try to flip the quesadilla midway if the bottom tortilla is getting too brown.

When all of the cheese is melted, transfer the quesadilla to a plate, cut into four wedges with a pizza cutter or knife, and add a dollop of sour cream in the middle for dipping (bean dip or guacamole would also be great).  Enjoy!

If you're not hungry enough for a full quesadilla, you can easily halve the ingredients and use just one folded over tortilla.  This huge quesadilla was too much for me to eat, but now I have leftovers for lunch today.

If you give the recipe a try, let me know how you like it!

Spring Fever Pt. 2

Here's the second post in the Spring Fever series, Living.  Plus, a (very loose) smoothie recipe below.

If only vintage cars like that were fuel efficient, eh?
The washi tape is still available at Madewell; I saw it the other day when I was there.
I wish I had an occasion to make a fancy cake for!  That decoration is so beautiful.

Part 3, Design will be up some time after Sunday.  I'm in San Antonio this weekend for my Dad's birthday and therefore without Photoshop.   Luckily I don't have too awful much homework this weekend, so I'm mostly relaxing and enjoying spending time with my parents.  Sometimes I wish my college wasn't so far away from home.

My mother and I made pretty delicious smoothies tonight for dinner, since we had a big lunch out (Alamo Café, my favorite Mexican restaurant in SA).

Here's a quick and easy recipe:
1 cup Italian soda blend from HEB in Fruita D'Isola
1 Sambazon frozen açai smoothie packet (any variety will work)
1 cup frozen mixed berries (ours had strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries)
1 fresh kiwi, peeled and sliced
Just a smidgen of honey.

Blend and enjoy!
 
I'm hoping I can find the Italian sodas at Central Market in Plano too (they're owned by HEB) because it really was a nice addition.  If you are not lucky enough to live near an HEB, you could just as easily substitute vanilla soy milk and I'm sure it would taste great, just not as tart and fruity.  I'd also recommend any type of simple fruit juice, maybe orange or apple.

What are some of y'all's favorite smoothie combinations?  One thing I really want to try is incorporating greens into the mix.