Let’s talk specifics first. They’re both white, gloopy pastes you spread onto your makeup covered face dry, massage around, then rinse off. Clinique’s offering is $29 for 3.8 oz while the Bye Bye Makeup Cleansing Balm is $38 for 2.82 oz despite having the larger packaging. Definitely when it comes to makeup products size doesn’t necessarily mean more product. Packaging wise I do like the IT Cosmetics container more. It feels higher quality and the satin matte finish is a nice touch. The Clinique one suggests a 24 month shelf life while IT Cosmetics only suggests 12.
When it comes to actual usage, the two are almost identical. They apply the same way, lather up when water is added, and remove the same amount of makeup. My skin feels clean, but not dry after using either one. The Clinique one does make my skin feel slightly more buttery although I never end my routine at this step so it really doesn’t matter too much.
They’re basically the same product, but I find the Clinique one to be a much better, longer lasting deal than the other. I can pass up prettier packaging for more product and a longer expiration date. No matter how much I love IT Cosmetics as a brand, Clinique wins this one.
Earlier this week I went to my first neighborhood book club meeting. The introvert, anxious mess of a person in my head kept telling me to just skip it. I wasn’t feeling that well and I didn’t think there would be anything to even talk about at the meeting since we had already discussed a bit in our Facebook group. Yet I knew a few of my friends were going and I didn’t want to flake out on them. The ultimate struggle of an introvert.
So I went a number of houses down and arrived a bit too early. Classic Kayla. At the very least it was at a house where I had been before, and I really enjoy spending time with the couple and their kids. All easing me into this book club thing. That’s the trick for anxious introverts. There are certain things that can make a very anxious situation easier. A familiar place, some familiar faces, and being prepared.
This definitely wasn’t like school where I never read the books and had to pretend I knew what I was talking about. I thoroughly enjoyed Kristin Hannah’s
The Nightingale (
review if you’re interested) and had a lot of opinions on the topic.
Yet it still was a very nerve racking experience to sit down in a small circle with women from my neighborhood all of which seemingly have their life more together than I do, to talk about a book. And you know what? I didn’t suck. All the pieces came together for me to be comfortable enough to push my anxiety aside, at least for a few hours.
Nothing went terribly wrong and I didn’t make enemies for life. That’s the funny thing about anxiety. The worries and concerns don’t necessarily make sense or are rational, but they still grip to you like a needy preschooler who doesn’t want to go to class without you.
I managed to talk and participate and share some of my differing opinions on the novel. I spoke up during periods where a few people started to talk (you know how it goes in group discussions) and people allowed me to speak rather than talking over me. I was an actual part of the discussion and it felt really great.
Afterward I felt proud walking home and didn’t find myself running over the whole evening in my head like I usually do. I didn’t analyze everything I said, and just let it be. It was a somewhat alarming, yet comforting experience not stressing over what people thought of me or if I said something weird. I just let the evening be.
And I’ll definitely go back and do it again. Look out world, Kayla’s in a book club now.
Alex and I are kind of board game snobs when it comes to what we usually like to play. In an effort to break out of our snobbish ways we’ve been trying to play a bigger variety of games lately.
Enter Game for Fame.
Game for Fame is a team based charades/Pictionary/taboo high-bred. All of the classic games rolled into one where everyone is an actor trying to make it big and win the most money. Ultimately there is only one winner as sometimes team members are pitted against each other to win bonus cash.
Right off the bat the rules seemed a little too oversimplified. I do love a short rule book that gets you playing quickly, but the “bank of celebrity” wasn’t made entirely clear at the beginning. After teammates compete against each other, another team secretly selects who won and writes the appropriate amount of cash on a bank of celebrity card. That card is then put into a pile upside-down. It took a few turns of confusion to understand exactly what do to with this part of the game. Once we figured it all out the game became a lot more fun. It adds a level of mystery as to who actually has the most money as the game progresses.
The cards themselves range from super easy to really challenging in almost unfair ways. Sometimes we had to act out certain words in a story where it was super easy to just use context clues to figure it out. While other times we had to act out one animal while making the sound of another. I’m still not sure how a person acts out “ant.”
Yet all the confusion and occasionally challenging rounds aside, this game was a lot of fun in a larger group. We played with four people, but this could be lots of fun with larger parties and more people on a team. There were fun twists like people changing teams and hidden tasks people can perform to earn extra money. Rounds got people moving, writing creative poems, and laughing. It’s a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, in a good way.
Now if you don’t really like games where attention is on you while you’re doing incredibly silly things, I’d pass on this one. But it’s a great one for families with somewhat older children or adult parties who are just looking for some simple fun. I’d definitely play again and I’ll offer it as a recommendation if someone’s looking for a lighthearted game for family game night.
So I’m here to tell you that anyone can knit. When I started about a month ago the only thing I had was a faint memory of knitting failures from middle school. Seriously how can someone start out making a scarf then end up with a jagged looking triangle from accidentally added stitches?! Yet knitting has totally become much more doable all thanks to the internet.
It’s crazy to think that I sucked at knitting because I didn’t have the handy dandy internet to help me, but it was just getting started during my initial failed attempts. All I had was a crappy tutorial DVD and a little book that came with the beginner supplies. Now you can literally look up anything and everything and have tons of how to videos to guide you.
Plus the patterns. I never even knew about all the patterns! I was turned on to a lovely website called
Ravelry where this cute little (and pretty straightforward)
owl pattern just waited to be made. There are loads of free patterns with handy guides next to the instructions to explain all the knitting jargon us newbies never understand. If I still didn’t know how to do a certain step, I would just google it and watch a tutorial. Now I know how to add stitches, on
purpose.
Now I’m definitely no expert and must admit I also have a knitting guru in my neighborhood helping me out when I twist something or get into a panic. Hopefully as I get better I can provide some actual tips, resources, and tricks to people who want to get started. Until then though all I can do is share my projects and encourage you to give it a try, it really isn’t as hard as you think it is.
Nothing says Halloween like delicious treats. Sure candy is the easiest to snag up, but I wanted to try my hand at three different Pinterest recipes that are seriously getting me in the festive mood.
The
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are a fun spin on a classic cookie. The recipe is pretty straight forward, but I definitely recommend using pre-made icing or an actual piping bag for the legs. Things got intense and very messy when I tried it the original ziplock bag method. I made these bad boys to bring to a neighborhood game night this evening. We’ll see how they go over!
My personal favorite of the bunch has to be these
Mummy Pumpkin Pie Cookies. Basically a pumpkin pie meets poptart, these cookies are seriously cute and look a lot more impressive than they actually are to make. The biggest downside is how small the serving size is. If you’re going to go through the effort to make these mummies, definitely double or triple the recipe to make it worth your while.
I desperately wanted to make the
Monster Cupcakes in order to try my hand at cupcake decorating. I’ve never used piping tips before and after a lot of trial and error getting the frosting the right color, we were in business. This is such a fun activity for kids and really pumps up the creativity. Plus if you get a tip set it’s a blast trying to figure out what each one does. The candy eyes aren’t too difficult to find in the baking aisle of most super markets and it gives classic cupcakes a spooky vibe that’s just perfection.
This has been one crazy baking filled week. Now to sit back and eat way too much.
