R. Asks | Scrimp and Splurge

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Hope all is well and good.

I've been weeding my makeup collection lately, trying to pull out things that I don't really like or that don't work for me and get rid of them. As I was doing this I started to notice a pattern in my makeup-buying habits—there were certain items I only had cheap versions of and others that I spent a lot more on. Which brings me to this week's question...

Which items in your life are you likely to scrimp on and which items are you more likely to splurge on? If you're not big on makeup, don't feel left out—this question applies to anything one might spend money on.


Here are a couple of my somewhat rational examples:

• SCRIMP: I almost always scrimp on mascara—drugstore all the way for regular everyday black mascara. I'm actually pretty vigilant about replacing them every few months, so it doesn't make sense to me to spend a lot on them.
• SPLURGE: I'm willing to pay a lot more than drugstore prices for lipstick if I really like the formula. Not to say that there aren't drugstore lipsticks that deserve a place in my makeup pile, but for colors I wear frequently, I'm glad to fork over extra cash for something I really love.

Now for a couple that are slightly less rational:

• SCRIMP: Once in a while I go crazy and buy a shit-ton of dried beans. Dried beans are usually cheaper per ounce than canned, but when you add in how much the energy your stove consumes to cook them costs, the difference is pretty negligible (at least at the rate we're eating them). Have I mentioned yet that cooking dried beans is a pain in the ass? I mean it's not like it's hard, but when time is precious it feels a little silly to watch over a boiling pot for two hours just to save ten cents on every pound of beans.
• SPLURGE: I am weirdly particular about which brands of seltzer I buy. Some of them taste different to me than others, so I will always get one of my preferred choices, even if it costs twice as much as the other options. You'd think that all sparkling water tastes the same, but I guess not? Whatever, I can afford to be a little crazy.

So how about you? Wanna join me in an epic bean-boilin' session?

R. Asks | How far in advance do you start saving for the holidays?

Happy Wednesday, everybody! How you doin'? I'm tired.

This week's question was inspired by all of the holiday beauty sets that started appearing over these past couple of weeks—it is still summer, right?

How far in advance do you start saving and planning for your holiday season shopping? (That includes gifts for others and holiday splurges you might make for yourself.) Do you have a special system for keeping track of the funds?

In 2014 I made a separate savings account with the boring name "gift fund"—every month I put a bit of money aside in it to be used for holidays, birthday gifts etc. So thanks to that I'm saving a little bit for gifts year-round, but I still always find myself overwhelmed when it comes to my wants—there are so many pretty things that come around the holidays that nobody's going to buy for me but me. Obviously I can't purchase every single thing that looks awesome, but giving yourself a gift or two during the holiday season isn't so bad, right? So I just set up yet another savings account called "fun fund", hahaha. Now what to spend it on....

On a related note: If you don't care about financial planning at all but have been paying attention to the holiday collections, I'd love to know what's on your wishlist! Nosy nosy me.

R. Asks | Eye Masks/Packs: How *do* you wear them?

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

This week's question was inspired by these bad boys:

Don't recognize them? They're under-eye hydrogel masks. Very useful for cooling/de-puffing the eye area. But their efficacy isn't the point of this post—I'm wondering if you use them, how do you wear them?

I realized after many, many uses that I was probably wearing mine the wrong way. I say "wrong" because the jars that have illustrations or pictures of people wearing them tend to show them pointing in a certain direction—but maybe that's not how you do things. If so, I want to know. So here's my question...

Which of the following eye mask wearing styles most closely resembles your own? Is there a reason you prefer wearing them that way?

I think method A is what you're supposed to do, but I usually feel more comfortable wearing them in style B. Maybe that has to do with the shape of my eyes. I've also seen bloggers model them in style C. I don't think there's really any way you shouldn't  wear them (except maybe on the inside of your mouth or butt). Just curious what other folks do.

Oh yeah, sometimes I stick them on my forehead and smile lines too. I'm such a wild woman.

R. | Lights Out!

Hey everybody, I'm back! I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to in my week plus off, but ain't that always the way. I have some fun posts and reviews already cooked up to share though, so I couldn't wait to get back into the swing of things!

Moving on. This week's question was inspired by recent, true-life events:

What do you do to amuse yourself during a power outage?

Last week my landlord informed me that they'd be temporarily shutting off the power in our building to do some electrical work—by temporarily I mean for a couple of hours, not days or anything like that. But of course Stan started panicking on my behalf—and I was like "Dude, I will probably just go to a coffee shop or take a nap."

In the end I ended up kind of half-dozing whilst listening to music through a little portable speaker... not a big deal. Stan's whole power outage panic brought back a bunch of childhood memories for me though... I grew up in a really snowy area with above-ground power lines, so it wasn't unusual to lose power for multiple days at a time after a bad storm. We had this massive wood-burning stove in our family room, which my mom would keep going to warm up the house and cooked canned soup and SpaghettiOs on top. We would listen to a battery-operated radio or my dad playing the guitar. It was almost sort of fun, though now that I'm an adult I can how that would have stressed the shit out of my parents.

Anyway. What do you do to keep yourself amused when the lights go out?

R. | Plan your fantasy vacation!

Happy Wednesday, everybody! How's life treating you?

Art via

Right now I'm in full on "ahhhh I have to get ready for vacation" mode. By "vacation" I mean my annual trip to Chicago to visit friends, which is happening at the end of this week. Wish I was going on a slightly more epic journey this summer, but hey, it's better than nothing! Which brings me to this week's question:

If time/finances/etc. weren't a consideration, where would you most like to go on vacation this summer? Or if you don't have a specific destination in mind, what would you like to do?

I have a bunch of destinations in mind, but mainly I'd like to go somewhere I haven't been before. Doesn't even have to be that exotic... I've never been to Seattle, for example. What's there to do in Seattle? I don't know! Maybe I want to find out. But if I really had a lot of time to kill, maybe I'd do one of those Alaska land/sea tours... I'm not big into cruising just for the sake of cruising, but I do like seeing amazing scenery. Going overseas is also a thing... lots of countries I've still never visited. But I can only be so many places at once!

How about you? Where would you go and what would you do?

R. ASKS | A picture may be worth a thousand words, but....

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Hope you're all fine and dandy. I haven't been sleeping well, so excuse me if this post doesn't zzzzzzzzzzzz.

This week's question is about blogs, and was inspired by a conversation I was having with somebody about blogging. Go figure.

Which matters more to you on blogs: Good writing or good photography and design?

Please don't say "it depends"—there's obviously a greater need for nice photos on a beauty blog than on a blog about self-publishing e-books, for example. Think about the blogs you really, really, really love: Do they excel more at the written word or at taking gorgeous as f**k pictures? Is it possible to be equally good at both?

I find myself seeking out interesting writing over photography most of the time. Not that I don't appreciate beautiful imagery, but beautiful imagery without a story or compelling information to accompany it just doesn't intrigue me as much. That said, I really, really, really appreciate bloggers who try to provide both. But I will read blogs without pictures. (Remember when that's all there was? Yeah.) It's a bit different with beauty blogs because visual appeal is a big part of the whole beauty thing, but a really vivid description is more likely to make me run out and buy something than a nice photo. Talk of scents and textures, scintillating recollections of how the blogger used the product, personal anecdotes that I can relate to (or at least react to). But that's just me.

There's no wrong answer here—if you value amazing photos more than amazing writing, let me know in the comments! I'm curious about what other people think.

R. Do you still follow a beauty routine when you're ill?

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Hope you're all fine and dandy.

art via

This week's question was inspired by the er... not-so-glamorous start I had to my week. I'll spare you most of the gruesome details, but let's just say that Aunt Flo and some sort of stomach bug decided to visit me at the same time—and this was not a hospitable mix of guests. I spent a fair bit of time lying in bed on Monday and Tuesday trying to pretend that I wasn't having excruciating stomach and abdominal cramps at the same time, which I guess sort of worked, because I feel mostly fine now. Anyway, I found myself feeling (a) bored and (b) in need of a little pick-me-up, so I started having a little at-home pamper session... easy stuff like foot masks, sheet masks, a bit of makeup even though the rest of me felt like crispy fried death. Which got me wondering...

Do you stick to your usual beauty routine while you're ill? Are you more likely to shorten your routine or pamper yourself extra when you're laid up?

I will say this: If I had bronchitis or something like that instead of stomach flu, I probably wouldn't have been sheet masking. Focusing on trying to breathe takes up a lot of energy, so I'm not sure how often I'd even wash my face during that type of illness. But for a stomach bug... taking a few minutes to put on a mask was a welcome distraction, and made me look less disheveled than I was feeling, which I guess made me feel slightly better in a way? Mentally, anyway. I still had to make a couple of mid-mask trips to the bathroom. (Whoops, guess this post turned out to be TMI after all.)

How about you?

R. | Do you keep a beauty (or style) budget?

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

art via

This week's question was actually inspired by fellow blogger adordee, who posted an article earlier this week called How to Beauty Haul responsibly. Speaking as someone who usually plans out beauty purchases instead of just impulse-buying everything in sight, I can relate to a lot of what she says—but it got me wondering:

Do you keep a specific budget just for beauty or style purchases? If so, how do you ensure that you stick with it? If not, do you wish you did have a budget?

I do keep a budget, mostly out of necessity (hellooooo student loans that I will be paying off until after the end of time). I'll admit that some months I don't stick to it to the cent, but for the most part I'm keeping my spending within a certain range. I also try to keep a list of what I've bought recently on a spreadsheet so I'm not like "Oops, forgot about that $50 I spent on squirrel nail decals last week."

I actually got in the habit of keeping separate budgets for separate spending categories a few years ago when I had a "normal" job with regular paychecks—a friend recommended some budgeting software to me called You Need A Budget. It's a bit trickier when you have freelancer income (not the same from month to month), but I still think is an excellent resource if you're trying to pay off debt or save up.

Anyway, this post is not meant to be judgmental towards folks who don't keep a beauty budget—there are plenty of reasons why it might not be necessary. Either way, let me know in the comments!

R. | One (body) lotion or lots of potions?

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Hope life is treating you well. I'm eating Skittles right now. Mmm, Skittles. Aren't I exciting?

drawing via

This week's question was inspired by cleaning, strangely enough. I spend a little time this past weekend cleaning up my mess of a bedside table, and weeded out all the skincare products I don't really use... but of course there were still a million left. What can I say, I'm a multi-stepper. But that got me thinking:

A lot of folks have a multi-step skincare routine for their face (e.g. cleanse/tone/serum/cream), but do you have one for your body? Or do you just slap lotion on and call it a day?

I never really thought about writing a post dedicated to my body routine, but when I think about it, I do actually use a bunch of different stuff. For example:

• Cleanse with body wash (or sometimes even just my face wash)
• Sometimes exfoliate in-shower with a rough cloth or sugar scrub
• If I'm not exfoliating in-shower, use Paula's Choice RESIST AHA body lotion
• Lately I've also been alternating the AHA lotion with Paula's Choice 2% BHA body treatment, in the hopes of killing the scant amount of acne and KP that remains on my body
• Sometimes follow up with another, more occlusive moisturizer (like body butter)

 Geez, that's actually kind of a lot of steps. Or is it? I don't know, maybe some of you do more. Let me know in the comments!

Weekly Poll | Combing Attractions

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Is it freezing where you are? The internet tells me that the low temperature for tomorrow in NYC is 4°F/-16°C. Oh joy of joys.

Woman illustration via

Speaking of the cold, today's question has to do with nature's hat: Your hair!

What's your favorite hair product at the moment and why? It can be a styling product, shampoo, treatment, whatever. List a couple if you can't decide on just one!

I think mine is the Ryo Anti-Hair Loss Treatment that popped up in a couple of Memeboxes. Supposed hair loss benefits aside, it seems to be making my scalp less gross and flaky, and when I use it in conjunction with a regular conditioner it makes my hair SUPER shiny. Like so shiny that Stan even said "Hey, your hair is shiny!" (This is a guy who didn't notice when I chopped eight inches off my hair, so yeah. Impressive.) If I have to choose a second product, I'd probably go with Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle spray (which I first sampled through Birchbox). Everybody seems to love this stuff, and with good reason—it smells delicious and works really well as a detangling spray.

So, how about you? Got any hair-raising favorites to share?

Weekly Poll | Still Life with Fruit.

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

This week's question is about fruit. Mmm, fruit. Stan's father signed us up for the Harry & David Fruit of the Month Club as a holiday gift, and it's been a real treat because we don't buy a lot of fresh fruit for ourselves around this time of year. Last month we got a massive pile-o-pears, and yesterday a ton of tangelos. Aww yess. Anyway, here's my question:

What's your favorite kind of fruit? Feel free to choose two or three if you can't decide on one.

Simple as! I think mine must be grapefruit, though I certainly don't consume it all the time out of respect for my stomach lining. I also grew quite fond of feijoas when I was staying in New Zealand, but I haven't had one in several years. I don't think they grow anywhere in North America? (If I'm wrong and you have a feijoa tree, please invite me over for a fruit party.) Lastly, avocados. Didja know those were technically fruits and not vegetables? Either way, I want to eat them. A LOT.

Weekly Poll | Cooking the books... or not

Happy Wednesday, everybody! I hope those of you who live in the Snowmageddon zone didn't get hit too hard by yesterday's blizzard.

Pan clip art via

This week's question has nothing to do with weather, and was inspired by one of my favorite activities... eating! Well, and cooking. Usually goes with the territory.

Where do you get inspiration for new recipes or things to cook or eat? Cookbooks, magazines, blogs, Pinterest, something else? Do you have any all-time favorite sources?

I'm kind of old-school in that I like to flip through cookbooks for inspiration. I don't always follow recipes to a T, so having a book with an index where I can be like "I have a block of tofu, what recipes in this book have tofu in them?" works well as a method of idea-gathering. Sometimes blogs are useful too though, as there seem to be a number out there focused on budget-friendly meals, which isn't always the case with cookbooks—I remember reading some "recipe" recently that was basically just a pound of non-dairy cream cheese (not cheap!) with some stuff mixed in it. Umm what?

As for favorites, I really like Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbooks because I have yet to make a recipe of hers that utterly failed. Trying someone else's recipe with a certain degree of confidence is good. Because spending a lot of time making something and having it come out gross is very, very sad.

Weekly Poll | An Authorized, Unauthorized Biography

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

This week's question was inspired by my fondness for pajamas. Oooooh, cozy.

If you were to commission a close friend or relative to write your biography (or a story about your life), what do you think they would call it?

This topic came about when Stan and I were discussing my excellent choice of attire one Saturday afternoon: Purple pajamas and different colored eyeliner on each eye. (The latter is a beauty blogging thing, not an insanity thing. Assuming this blog isn't just a figment of my imagination.) This wasn't the first time I'd spent the weekend wearing sweats with a glammed-up face, so he announced that my life story should be called Purple Pajamas and Eyeliner: The R. Story. Clever, huh? Of course I have done a few things in my life besides lounge on the couch wearing makeup, but we'll save those stories for volume two.

Weekly Poll: Happy New Year edition!

Happy (almost) New Year! Or for those of you on the other side of the globe, Happy (actual) New Year!

This week's question was inspired by today's date on the calendar. A modern invention, but I like it.

Do you have any New Year's resolutions, goals or plans you're willing to share? What do you hope to improve on or change in 2015?

For me, my #1 goal/resolution is to get organized. Both my physical space and digital space. Would you believe that I have over 2,000 unread emails in my blog inbox? A lot of them are newsletters and stuff that can probably just be deleted, but when your inbox gets to that level of disarray it's easy for real e-mails to get lost. So if you wrote to me recently and I didn't reply yet... uh... sorry.

As for physical organization, we do have a spare room that I use as a home office/makeup/dressing room, but oh maaaaan is it in chaos right now. Too much stuff, not enough space. In the short term my goal is to get rid of some stuff and put everything back into order, but my long-term goal is to come up with a system to ensure that clutter won't stick around for too long. Shredding junk mail right as I get it? Hurling empty shipping boxes out the window with a scream? Something.

With that said, I'll be taking a mini blogging break for the next few days to get a jumpstart on my new life of orderliness. I'll still be checking comments and e-mails (and working my way through the old ones), plus maybe popping in on social media, but don't expect any new posts here until the 4th or 5th of January or so.

So! Here's wishing all of you a happy (and safe) new year, whether you choose to comment on this post or not. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the other side! :)

Weekly Poll | It's the most wonderful time of the year... to watch movies!

A happy Wednesday to all, and happy Christmas Eve to those of you who celebrate!

My boyfriend has the next few days off (including today), so we've started binge-watching Christmas movies. Of course when I asked him to pick one he chose Die Hard... not exactly a film about Christmas, but it takes place during Christmas so I'll allow it. Anyway, here's my question:

What are your favorite Christmas films that you can watch over and over? They can be fully about Christmas or very loosely connected to the holiday. Your choice!

In addition to Die Hard, I think there's a good chance we'll be re-watching Bad Santa and Elf, plus enjoying the numerous made-for-television cheesefest films that Netflix has to offer. Five star taste in this household, all the way.

How about you? What's at the top of your video playlist this holiday season?

Weekly Poll | Flash Beverage Round

Happy Wednesday, everybody! How's the week before Christmas treating you? A more relaxed or more stressful time? Probably depends on where you work, I guess.

Cup clip art via

Speaking of Christmas, this week's question was inspired by seasonal drinks....

If you could have any beverage in the world delivered to you right this moment, what would you choose? Could be something ordinary, could be something rare, could be something discontinued, could be something that doesn't actually exist. Sky's the limit!

I heard someone talking about peppermint lattes yesterday and that sounded really appealing to me, hence the question. I don't think I've ever actually had a peppermint latte before though, so here's hoping my fantasy drink isn't gross? I'd ask for it to be made with soy milk and served with a candy cane on the side. I love destroying my teeth.

How about you? Coffee? Absinthe? The tears of unicorns?

Weekly Poll: It's All About The Money

Happy Wednesday, everybody! I was having a good one until I realized that I might have a hole in one of my teeth. I sure know how to have fun?

In a bizarre twist, the possibility of unexpected dental bills made me think of this week's question ....

What's the very last thing that you bought? I don't care if it's mundane or embarrassing, spill it!

The last thing I paid money for was the postage for my NoNoBox 2 giveaway winner's prize, which ended yesterday. But if we're talking tangible objects, I guess it would be a bunch of food items on my maiden voyage to Costco this past weekend. We just joined up, so went a little nuts and bought as much as we could carry. (Literally, because we don't have a car or granny cart to lug stuff in.) We got too many foods to list, but I did post pics of a couple of my favorite things here and here. I'm so freaking interesting, aren't I?

Your turn! Tell me about your latest haul, whether it was clothing or tissues or a salad for lunch. Mmm, tissues and salad.

Weekly Poll: Sick Day

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Hope you're feeling grand.

Unfortunately I'm not feeling so grand this week ... I've come down with a bit of a cold. Nothing life-threatening (insert ominous soap opera cough) but bad enough that I had to postpone the trip I was supposed to take this week. What's more fun than going on a trip? Sitting on your couch and coughing for hours, of course!

I haven't had a bad cold for a while, so this latest bout of illness got me thinking ....

Do you have any tried-and-true feel-better rituals for when you're sick? A favorite soothing drink, stupid movie or TV show you like to watch, lazy activity, etc.

I'm realizing that my main ritual as an adult is something along the lines of "Take medicine, pass out, drink hot tea when conscious." Could use some improvement. When I was a kid, I had my sick day ritual down pat: My parents would let me lie in their bed during the day (which was normally not allowed) because they had a TV in their room. I would spend the day watching cartoons, reading, or playing with our Atari game console (which was ONLY brought out for sick day occasions—low-fi video bowling anyone?) And I would always drink Sprite or 7-Up mixed with cranberry juice out of a bendy straw. Being sick as a kid was never fun, but these memories do sound a lot more appealing than the Mucinex + drowsiness routine I currently have going on.

How about you? Any classic sick day creature comforts or must-haves?


PS Today is the last day to participate in my reader survey! Please fill it out by 11:59PM ET tonight for a chance to win $10 and my undying love.

Weekly Poll: It's Pumpkininny!

Happy Wednesday, all!

It's not technically autumn yet, but I'm already seeing scores of blog posts pop up dedicated to dressing for fall and eating for fall and just generally falling for fall. (See what I did there?) Which brings me to a very hard-hitting, topical question:

How do you feel about the pumpkin/pumpkin spice craze?

It seems like everybody and their grandma is already stocking up on pumpkin candles and pumpkin lattes and whatnot. What do you think—totally delicious and worth the hype or kind of bleh? I've always been a big fan of pumpkin pie and pumpkin as an ingredient in other recipes, but I'm not sure where I stand on the latte issue. And pumpkininny candles either smell good to me or give me a headache, depending on the manufacturer.

So where do you stand on the pumpkin issue? Pumpkin all the way? Sometimes? Never? In space? Deep thoughts.

Weekly Poll: What's in YOUR bag?

Happy Wednesday, everybody! Are you back to school by now? (If you're an adult with a boring 9-5 job do you wish you were still in school right now?)

This week's question was inspired by other bloggers. Hi, other bloggers. I've seen a lot of "What's in my handbag?" type posts/videos, which I think are fun to read, mostly because I'm ridiculously nosy. I probably won't ever do one of those tags myself though because the real contents of my bag is probably something like 90% crumpled paper and used tissues (allergies, yo.) Perhaps there are others of you like me out there. Which brings me to my question ....

What beauty/personal care items do you always keep in your purse or backpack?

Makeup comes and goes from my cesspool of a bag, but these things usually remain:

• Lip balm: Dry lips make me crazy. Nuff said.
• Hand cream: See above, except replace lips with hands.
• Tissues: My body consists mainly of allergic reactions to things you can inhale. That, and you do not want to be using a public restroom only to discover there's no toilet paper.
• Sunscreen: I get crispy easily. This is where all those tiny beauty box samples of SPF come in handy.
• Hand sanitizer: Never go into a public restroom in NYC without it.

Throw in a lipstick and you're ready for ANYTHING. Even the bathroom at Penn Station.