I received my boxset today! Thank you so much!

Thank you!!

As Sandy says - THIS. I agree totally. I've been trying to grow my hair out (haven't had it trimmed or styled since August this year), am cutting down on clothes shopping while maximizing my options with accessories, and am looking (always looking!) for the perfect five-minute makeup routine. I've almost got that one figured out (BB Cream, anyone?) - I'm just going to minimize the things I put on my face for day-to-day situations. There is no need to pile makeup on my face to meet the day. Day be damned, I'm going natural.

Also, I've always admired the Final Fantasy ladies (from the most recent installments) ability to look so fresh! I want people to look at me and know what they see is what I am - imperfect but happy in my own skin anyway. This means getting rid of a lot of what I have (not my NAKED palette, though!) and spending more time on my health, not beauty.

I'm doing my best with this move I'm having to make to pare down my stuff so that my life is so much simpler. At the moment, I can't do too much about it, but I'm hoping that by being forced to go through my things for storage and what-not, I'll be able to cut some of it down.

Love this post :D
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Oh my. I totally hate the way the second and third girl you have pictured looks. It is just so fake looking - I can totally tell that they have added something in the hopes of looking more awake or bright-eyed.

On the other hand, I much prefer to go without white liner on the water-line. If it was meant to be white, it would be already. Instead, I dab it in the corner of my eyes and smudge it so it subtly makes things look brighter - much easier on the eyes (pun intended) and it doesn't make you look like an alien. If you want to really put something on your waterline, nude liner is the way to go. I would use a lighter nude, probably very close to a shade that could almost be white, but not going too far. It should make things look a bit more uniform, especially if paired with a good concealer.

As for drinking water and sleeping, I do too much sleeping and not enough water drinking. Need to balance out the two. I do, however, now spend more time on my beauty routine by focusing on my eyes. I use a brightening eye cream that does wonders without me packing on the concealer and looks a lot more natural.

Another way to look more awake and bright: use a good highlighter for your cheek-bones paired with a very lovely, define brow. The brows frame your face and really give it a good shape - defining my brows adds more dimension and texture to my face, taking the beholder's eye away from my circles / bags and focusing on how well my brows look. The highlighter also acts as another draw away from the circles / bags, but in a more subtle fashion, which is why alone it isn't a good "shield."

All in all, I prefer natural. It is human nature, biologically, to occasionally have to deal with circles and bags. I don't mind that very much. Obviously, however, if you are very ill and/or they are super noticeable you might want to do some damage control.

Thanks for the post - it makes me consider my options more when confronted with this particular issue!

This one is full of ads, but the colors are beautiful!
http://www.hair.becomegorgeous.com/newest_trends/...

Also tempted to try for this!
http://www.haircolorideas2012.net/wp-content/uplo...

Thanks! I was desperate for some blonde, but now that that isn't an option I'm totally digging the red! I've even had people point and stare, lol. Mostly dudes. One guy even pointed and told his son "I always liked redheads!" LOL. Weird for me to deal with, but nice, nonetheless. I suggest using Born-to-be Blonde in your hair then the color "Burgundy" by Revlon in the Colorsilk line. I guess you could do a salon brightener from Sally's or whatever, but if you can find a shade of Burgundy that you like at Sally's that would probably do best. That's what I'm going to do next time :D

It is so awesome! I only wish I could force it to hold its shape better. It fits well inside my purse and holds just about anything you could want, but it tends to fold down around the edges. I'm going to have to see if I can find a remedy.

I'm very tempted to take all my planners and consolidate down into my iCal. There is no real need for me to use that many planners, now that I've been thinking about it. I loved the idea at first but now it seems redundant. School planner and notebook stay but the other might be going...

Thanks!!

These are great and affordable! I definitely recommend them! I was so glad to find these and not be forced into brand and/or Z-palettes! They look loads better holding my makeup and fit in my palette holder thingy fairly well :D

I need to depot some stuff and put them in another palette. I currently have two M.A.C. shadows that have been depoted but aren't in anything yet, a few drugstore palettes that could be consolidated into a palette, and a few other things like misc. blushes and stuff that could go in another. It looks much neater in these things than in all those sitting around.

After re-reading that post, I seem a little silly, disorganized in thought, and used very cloudy / muddy phrases to get my point across. I\'m glad you some-what understood what I meant!

Yes, this list actually is helping me out a lot. Some things are hard for me to part with: it isn\'t that they bear any sort of personal sentimental value, but they cost a lot of money. Like my bedroom suite was over $1000 - I totally don\'t need my chest (all my clothes fit in my dresser). I don\'t need the chest, but it goes with the rest, so I\'m breaking up a set if I get rid of it. It\'s just in the way, though, you know? And my closet takes up room but isn\'t useful at all. It\'s empty (really) and is in such a position that I couldn\'t put my desk in it for a closet office without blocking the rest of the wall. It\'s ridiculous. I\'m making do, though. I mentioned a room tour on twitter - might do that and then you can see what I mean.

Other things are just in my way. If I can\'t use them, why have them? There are some things that I can think of uses for, and I\'m going to use them, but other than that it is all going the way of the garbage / recycle bin.

Thanks for the theme mention! The other was okay but it became very annoying after a while. Just too cutsy and not me at all. This is better but it needs a better logo - might have to redo that after I\'ve finished my study guide :D