Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Huge transformations brought about by makeovers are pretty common in television and movies. Take off the glasses, straighten the hair, walk down the staircase: poof, you’re a certifiable hottie.
In real life, it’s not always so successful (unless the puberty gods were nice to you.) Continue reading
I once read an article that speculated that hormones given to cows are the reason that young girls are developing earlier and, uh, more amply. Either way, I was ahead of the curve (ha!) and gifted with a pair of assets that I sometimes am grateful for and sometimes curse for holding me back from accomplishing interesting things like being a ninja. Continue reading
Maybe you’re in your mid-twenties and you’ve just discovered that you don’t really like becoming an adult, and all of your friends have moved away for grad school, and you feel kind of aimless. Apparently, that feeling is not just nostalgia for when you could wear pajamas, drink all day and watch cartoons. It’s got a name (and Wikipedia page): quarter-life crisis. Continue reading
I didn’t get a cell phone until 2004, when I was a freshman in college. I have pretty much broken, lost or somehow damaged nearly every phone that has had the misfortune of belonging to me. If there is some kind of Toy Story shenanigans going on at the T-Mobile store, my name is whispered in hushed tones by hot pink flip phones who fear to be purchased by me. My alternative theory is that the things that I say or text with my cell phones are so inane that they all commit suicide rather than be owned by me for a period of longer than six months. Continue reading
This is America, 2011. We have our first mixed-race president. There are actual commercials now which feature interracial couples. But people are still really stupid when it comes to race relations, particularly the kind of relations where you are trying to get into someone else’s pants.
Since I live in an extremely diverse neighborhood, in an extremely diverse city, and am pretty ambiguously ethnic, as well as being totally hot (and modest!), I’ve had my fair share of amazingly creepy, and sometimes just slightly racist pick-up lines thrown at me. I’m sure some of the more attractive of you have experienced the same. So let’s break a few of the more common lines down and analyze them. Continue reading
Popular nail blogger, Michelle Mismas, from All Lacquered Up, wrote a post for the NYT website “Room for Debate” series about unique colors of nail polish becoming mainstream. And the New York Time’s commenters went completely batshit insane.
Streetsblog posted an article musing about why women don’t cycle. So I decided to ask you, the fine folks of Crasstalk, the following:
QOTD: Why do you cycle? Continue reading
The following is a true story. Continue reading
When I was in high school, I barely wore make-up. I’d be the girl in cat sweaters, thick-rimmed glasses and overalls. I dressed like a hipster without realizing what a hipster was, simply by shopping at Goodwill and being too much of a literary geek to care about clothes.
Now, I’m 25 years old and I work in public relations, so I feel obligated to wear make-up nearly every day I go to work. Part of this is because I got into the habit in college, being in a major with a high percentage of sorority girls. It’s also partly due to the simple fact that I have a total baby-face.
When I don’t wear make-up, I look ten years younger. Since I’m already the youngest person on multiple teams, wearing make-up helps make it look like I’m not some sullen teenager sneaking over from some “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” event.
But because I like to stay up late and go out and do things, I am not really a morning person. I wanted my workday make-up routine to be as streamlined and simple as possible.
Here are my go-to products for quickly putting on my face and facing the fucking day.
Moisturizer and Primer
I always use moisturizer with some SPF. You should too. It’s a good idea. Right now I’m using Kroger’s version of the Oil of Olay Oil of Beauty moisturizer. I do not use make-up primer every day. I save that for going out or days when I think if I don’t use it, my minimal make-up will end up melting off my face. (So, the summer, maybe.)
Foundation
I live in Los Angeles, so I don’t usually like to wear liquid foundation. It feels too heavy and hot. I’m also dark-skinned so it’s usually a pain in the neck trying to find the appropriate shade. What I do instead is dust some Physician’s Formula matte bronzer on my face in lieu of powder foundation. I don’t know at what point I discovered that their matte bronzers were the perfect shade for my skin, but it’s true. They also manage to brighten your skin as well.
I’m currently infatuated with their “mood-boosting” line, with the cute hearts and the wacky violet smell. The smell fades after a while, unfortunately.
Physician’s Formula Mood Boosting Pressed Powder
Blush
As much as I claim to wear make-up so I don’t look 15, I still kind of have a 15-year-old’s budget. That’s why drugstore brand Wet N Wild is one of the staples of my make-up routine. It helps that their make-up is pretty awesome for the price-point. They also recently redid their line so the packaging is very cute and minimalist.
I usually use their blush in Heather Silk.
Eyes
I use more Wet N Wild products here. I’m partial to their eye pencil in Bronzed. That’s actually an understatement. If they stopped making that, I’d probably kill myself. It’s one of those eye pencil shades that works for all skin tones, I think. It’s also only 99 cents, and if you have a Walgreens nearby, on sale for 69 cents. I definitely recommend this product.
I am also extremely fond of Wet N Wild Mega Plump mascara. It’s the one in the red tube. They are all really good mascaras but this happens to be the one I like.
I do not use eye shadow, typically, if it’s just an everyday workday.
Wet N Wild Eyeliner in Bronzed
Wet N Wild MegaPlump Waterproof Mascara
Lips
Depending on how I’m feeling, I will either rock Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey (this is truly the holy grail of lipsticks, everyone loves it), a CoverGirl Outlast Lipstain or just plain old Chapstick. I’m partial to the Burt’s Bee’s chapsticks, since they have a nice scent.
I don’t wear lipstick, generally. It also feels like a bit too much make-up.
Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey
So now you have my beauty routine, which, honestly, takes all of 5-10 minutes depending on how hungover I might be. So what’s your workday beauty routine?
Do you want to know a dirty little secret? I don’t have a car and I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been behind the wheel of a car that wasn’t attached to a pole or a track. My sister claims to still have traumatic flashbacks to the time I once drove her car in a parking lot. I don’t know why she let me do that.
But I live in Los Angeles, car city!, have a regular 9 – 6 job and a semi-active social life when I’m not commenting in the IRC about how much I want Chad to be my boyfriend.
How is that possible? (To those of you who live on the east coast, please, just go with this.)
Well, and I’m asking you now to please stifle your laughter and/or incredulous looks—Los Angeles has a pretty sweet public transportation system. Remember, Los Angeles’ sprawl wasn’t built by the car, no matter what people tell you. It was the Red Car that spread LA out. Watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for more on that.
We’ve got trains, light rail, buses and a subway. Because our weather is lovely and our streets are relatively flat in the city-portions, it’s also a great city for bicycling. And if you believe our Mayor, we’re interested in improving the public transportation system we have and have committed money towards doing so.
Location, Location, Location
I live in the central part of Los Angeles near a Red/Purple Line (the subway) stop. It gets me quick access to downtown, Koreatown and Hollywood. I never have to think about parking or valet or any of those other supposed typical Los Angeles experiences.
The best way to choose a place to live that’s convenient to your job, your transportation choices and “necessities” is to research. I like Walk Score for grading the walkability and transit-ability of your new neighborhood. It’s actually how I first ended up picking my post-college apartment. It had the best walk score of the different places I’d looked at. This is also a good thing to do so you don’t end up being the human interest anecdote in an LA Times article about traffic.
Train, Bus, or Rapid
You need to familiarize yourself with the public transportation options in your city. One way to do that is via their website, Google transit, and of course, experience.
I like to explain the way that LA’s transportation system works to n00bs as a series of levels. First, you have the train. This is easy. Everyone likes trains. It appeals to your inner 8 year old. The Gold Line is the cleanest and prettiest, going through Arroyo Seco. The Blue Line carries the most people and goes past and to some really awesome stuff. (Watts Towers, Long Beach.) The Red and Purple are the fastest (and the most underground. Yes, LA has a subway.) The first phase of the Expo Line will theoretically be opening in December and then we will get to visit Culver City, where the set of Cougartown is located.
The next level is the Rapid level. It’s hard to hate a Rapid bus—they’re so fast. These are the Red express buses that have limited numbers of stops. Depending on the route, they can be crowded. The 720 at rush hour going westbound on Wilshire can be a sardine can of attractive professionals commuting from downtown to the Westside.
Lastly, you have the orange regular buses. Depending on the route, you can run into hipsters (the 2 or the 4 going through Echo Park and Silver Lake has a really high concentration of skinny jeans), grandmas, families of five or me. Wave to me. I’m cute. I’ll probably be reading a book, because I can, because I am not driving.
There’s also the DASH. Everyone loves the DASH once they’ve ridden it. This is actually a Los Angeles Department of Transportation system that runs small circular routes throughout the city and costs $0.35. (Full disclosure in the interest of being journalistic-y, I used to work at the LADOT and I cannot say enough good things about paying $0.35 because you just don’t feel like walking the last 3 blocks and it’s right there.)
Bicycling in Los Angeles
I have to admit; I’ve actually gone on only one group ride. I was previously a much more utilitarian bicyclist versus someone active in that community who did all of the fun social stuff like the crazy rides. Since the ride I did with C.I.C.L.E. was the most fun I’ve had fully clothed in months, I definitely am changing my tune on that.
Los Angeles has an incredibly active cycling community. I previously thought they were kind of crazy, but if you ever ride your bike on a lovely sunshine-filled Los Angeles day, you can identify with the kind of crazy that they are. And they have done a lot of good work in the city and county towards recognizing cyclist’s rights, getting safer bike paths and routes (4th Street Bicycle Boulevard!), and better amenities for bicyclists and pedestrians which benefit all residents of a community.
They are also the main force behind the creation of CicLAvia, a car-free festival in Los Angeles that is coming back on April 10th. It’s closing down 7 miles of street in the heart of Los Angeles for people to walk, bike, play and basically interact with their community in a way that is impossible from behind the windshield of a car. It’s also a great way to positively experience neighborhoods people often have negative assumptions about: MacArthur Park and East LA, for example.
So I hope to see all of you LA-based Crasstalkers on the streets this Sunday. Next time, I’ll write a round-up of really great bars/restaurants that are accessible to public transportation. Because remember, if you take the Metro there, and a cab back, you don’t need a designated driver.