Back to Campus: Beauty Tips for Running Late

So it’s just about the time for being back at school.  Many of us are excited to be on campus again, seeing old friends and meeting new ones, going to parties on the weekend and not being ready for that test on Monday…  But, of course, the end of summer also feels like the end of relaxation and sleeping in.  It may take some time to get used to your school schedule again, so those mornings when you wake up late and have hardly any time to get ready before class (oops!) are inevitable.  The last thing we want to do is show up to class looking like we just rolled out of bed, and we don’t want to skip class altogether just because there wasn’t much time in the morning (no, really, that’s not a legitimate excuse for missing class.  Really.)  To ensure that you can get ready quickly when you’re in a rush, and still look great, here are some tips:

·      Tinted moisturizer and BB creams are great for a light coverage that you can apply in a hurry and with few mistakes

·      A concealer stick is faster than a liquid concealer; you can just do a quick swipe under the eyes, around the edges of the nose and on any blemishes, then blend with your finger

·      A pencil liner is quick and easy to fill in sparse brow areas when you don’t have time for fully shaping them; if you use a brown pencil, you can use that to quickly line and define your eyes

·      A white liner on the inner corners of your eyes brightens them and gives the illusion of being more awake; blend some under the highest point of your brows, too

·      Use mascara on just the top lashes, focusing on the tips and the outer corners, for a brighter, more awake look in a hurry

·      A cheek/lip stain in one is a great way to add a little color to the face in a matter of seconds; just apply and blend with your finger

·      As an alternative to the cheek/lip stain, a bronzer with some shimmer in it lightly dusted on your cheeks, forehead and the bridge of your nose will bring some light to the high points of your face, add some warmth, detract from a sleep-deprived look and also help preserve that summer glow that may be fading

·      As for hair, side braids are easy, quick, and you don’t even need a mirror to do them well

·      A little bit of dry shampoo massaged onto your roots soaks up oil and adds volume; put a little more halfway down your hair and rub it in to create great second-day texture, and to add grip for ponytails and buns

~Alyssa

Trashy Fridays: Virgin Territory

Welcome back to Trashy Fridays! This week we had a new episode of Virgin Territory, with Anna, Luke, Kyle and the new girl, Shelby. So let's get to the trashiness.

So first, let us return to Kyle, who is still somehow on this show, despite not being a virgin anymore. He first shares the news with his mom (that he is no longer a virgin), and his mom was like "Why are you telling me this?", which I totally agree is weird. She tells Kyle that his father was older than him when he first lost his virginity and he responds that he wishes he would've known that before so he didn't feel so insecure about being a virgin at his age. (I really don't think this fact matters, he still would've been insecure because of friends.) Speaking of the douchey friends, they come to visit Kyle, greeting him by saying now he's a man and making it rain condoms.  The douchey friends insist that they meet Amanda, so they all go to the club and meet up with her. Kyle and Amanda have a good time grinding on each other the whole night, until one of Kyle's friends reveals to her that Kyle might be returning to Florida. At the end of the episode, Kyle tells Amanda he's planning on going back to school and possibly staying in Florida for good. This upsets Amanda and she offers to have a long distance relationship with him, and as long as he puts the effort forward, she will too. Kyle decides that he really doesn't want to do it because it's too much work. I felt so bad for Amanda because Kyle took advantage of her. Kyle refused to try to make it work with her, even though they seemed to have an amazing relationship. I never liked Kyle because he was sooo annoying, but doing this to Amanda showed that he is an asshole and just as douchey as his friends are. I think he just liked the idea that she was available and was willing to give him what he wanted. Kyle leaves the show after this episode, and it seriously is about time. I will not miss Kyle.

Anna shares with us that she wants to be a model in the future. She meets a photographer for a beach shoot to help build her portfolio. He, of course, chooses for her to wear a leopard print bikini for many photos.  She shares that having her picture taken makes her feel pretty and sexy. Back at her apartment, Anna gets her friend to help her ask out Alex. Anna wants to be his girlfriend, but doesn't want their relationship to get awkward if it goes to that point. Her friend was really smart and told her that to get what she wants she has to make sure that she doesn't ask him to come over, but to talk with him in a public place. Anna asks Alex to go with her to walk her dog at the park. They talk for a while, then Alex asks Anna to be his girlfriend. (So, yay, she got what she wanted!)  Anna later meets with a modeling agency and the agent tells her she needs to work on her portfolio, but he believes that she could be successful. I am really interested to see where the relationship between Anna and Alex goes. Alex seems like an alright guy, he really seems to like her and he supports her career goals. 

Then, we have the lovely Luke! Luke starts out by going on a couple of disaster dates with Lea. Lea takes him to get tea, and he just acts so stupid. First, these girls that he knows comes in and he completely ignores Lea to talk to them a lot. Then, he makes fun of her by saying the tea she likes sucks. He asks her if she would rather have a tea date or a snowboarding date, and she says a tea date is better to sit down and talk to each other (though he disagrees). He then hangs out with her, his roommate and his roommate's fiancée, and they talk about marriage and such. Luke decides that he really isn't feeling Lea, so he walks her to her car and tells her they will just be friends. (What a waste of time on the date...) We then get an essential "Luke changing his clothes" shot, and he goes to a rave. There, Luke decides to go after Madelyn, another girl that he finds attractive. (Let's see how long this lasts.) Luke awkwardly tells her he wants to kiss her, so they kiss for a while... Luke is very annoying, because he has a lot of commitment issues (which he acknowledges, and they are very apparent to the girls he hangs out with). He keeps moving from one girl to the next, because he can't find his love. I can understand taking a while to like a person, but he's been leading girls on since the start of this show. Not only that, but his sex views also seem all over the place. We'll have to see how Luke does with Madelyn. I can't see it lasting a long time, but I could be wrong.

Lastly, we have the new girl, Shelby, who is a 21 year old virgin from Texas. She is a dance major with a lot of body confidence issues. Shelby is also a part of a sorority and is in a group know as the "unicorns", because she's a virgin (and, of course, sorority girl virgins are just so rare they're like unicorns). She admits that she hasn't had sex yet because all of the guys that she has dated ended up being jerks. Shelby signs up for a pole dancing class which she says helps her confidence (and to be honest it looked kinda fun!) At the end of the episode, she goes to a bar and meets up with her friend/crush, Scott, and they end up kissing. Now, like, I wasn't thrilled or anything for her because we are just meeting this girl, but this kiss lacked pizzaz. By this I mean neither of them looked really happy that the kiss occurred... So, I really don't know the future outlook of this couple.

~Katrina

Perfect Dessert Idea

So you want a dessert that is light AND satisfying, well I have a dessert option that satisfies your sweet tooth cravings.

My dessert is a vanilla pudding parfait.

Ingredients:

for the topping:

some berries(any kind that you love!)

2 to 3 tbsps of sugar

cool whip or rediwhip

a few chocolate chips

for the pudding:

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of white sugar

2.5 tbsps of cornstarch

1 2/3 cups of whole milk

3 egg yolks

1 tbsp of butter

1 pinch of salt

plastic wrap

Directions:

First we start with the pudding: Mix the ingredients of the pudding, except the butter, in a pot. Put the pot on the stove and cook the pudding on medium, stirring constantly until it starts to bubble and thicken. Once this occurs, put in the butter and melt it. Then put it on low and cook until all of the pudding thickens. Finally, put the pudding in a bowl and put the plastic wrap directly on the pudding so a skin won't form. Then put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours to cool.

Next we do the berries: Take your clean berries and just put the sugar on them. Mix them together and chill them in the fridge.

When you are ready to eat your dessert, put 3 tbsps of pudding in a glass. Then put on 1 tbsp of berries. Next, top with 1 tbsp of the whipped topping, make it pretty with a pinch of chocolate chips and enjoy!

This dessert is perfect and versatile, you can really make 3 desserts with this recipe. You can also just have some pudding with whipped topping on top (really delicious) and you can simple have berries and cream. 

-Katrina

Better Brows

So the new collection of colors for Anastasia’s DipbrowPomade brow gel was just released (meaning that now girls with brows that aren’t dark, dark brown or bright blonde can try it out, yay!), so I thought I’d check the product out.  The brow gel is just like gel eyeliner, even packaged in a small glass jar like the popular Stila Smudge Pots.  It’s described as a “smudge-free, waterproof pomade formula”, perfect for oily skin (so, perfect for me).

Before this product, I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills BrowPowder Duo, which I loved, except it would get a chalky look and run off when in contact with rain or after a long time wearing it (so, rainy days and long days with my oily skin were not ideal).  The Dipbrow Pomade is much easier to apply than the powder brow color, as it goes on smoother and actually reaches your skin with the first swipe, rather than sitting on top of brow hair.  It didn’t seem to smudge at all when going back over and smoothing out harsh lines, but mistakes were easily removed with just my nail.  After a full day of wearing the gel brow color it stayed on well, no need for touch-ups. 

I purchased the Dipbrow Pomade in soft brown, though I wore the Powder Duo in medium brown (I noticed the gel versions seem to be a bit darker than their powder counterparts, so if you are switching over from the powder to the gel without checking them out in person first, I suggest going at least a shade lighter).  I like the soft brown, but I may have been able to wear the taupe as well, or a combination of the two colors.  (Remember, for any brow product, if you have brown eyebrows, pick a brow color 3 shades lighter than your brow hair, and for blonde brows, pick a color 2 shades darker.)  I used a MAC 266 eyeliner brush to apply the product (as I already had this brush), but there is a brush made by Anastasia with a spooley on the end for brow product application.  It took hardly any product to outline and fill both of my brows, so I think this product should last for quite a while and it is well worth the money.

~ Alyssa

Trashy Fridays: Virgin Territory & Married at First Sight

So for this week's Trashy Fridays, we will continue with the amazing journey of our four virgins from MTV's "Virgin Territory". This week we continued with Kyle, Dominique and Luke, and we were introduced to Anna, which made a very entertaining episode. So let's get to the trashiness!

First, let us have the pleasure of introducing Anna, a 19 year old virgin from Florida. Now unlike the other characters in this show, Anna is, well, she's a slut. Anna hasn't had vaginal intercourse, which is her only definition of sex. She does everything else though... which is one of the reasons she has this title. Anna shares with us that she previously had a boyfriend named Parker, and she cheated on him with a guy named Alex, who she's now interested in. Anna hangs out with him a lot, asks him to sleep over, and they party together, etc.  She shares that she wants to take their relationship to the next level and tell him she really likes him, but she's afraid that the relationship that they have will become awkward if she tells him her feelings. Okay, first, I really do not like Anna; she is like a tease, she fools around with people, it all disgusts me. Unfortunately, we have to see her in the next episode.  The preview for this week said someone would lose their virginity, and I thought it would be her, but she keeps it. I really do not understand this girl's morals on anything. 

Next, we continue with Luke's story. So, first he says that he must keep up his grades so he can get into med school, and he explains his Catholic school's weird rules (you can't hug a girl more than 5 seconds, you can't kiss in public, no girls are allowed in the boys' dorms...) For this reason, many of the students go to parties off campus to get in touch with the ladies. Luke goes to a party at a hotel and meets some girls. There, he reveals that he doesn't think that a bj is sex, and that he's had a few, but he must save sex for his wife. Ugh, I hate guys who do this, it can't be both ways, seriously!!! (NO SEX=NONE OF ANY KIND!!!!!!) Luke ends up hanging out with this girl later on (I never caught her name, nor do I care), at a snowboarding place. She reveals that she's interested in being more than friends, but might not want to get involved with him because he is a tease (and he agrees that he has a bit of a reputation). Well, I got a vibe from the preview from last week that Luke wasn't a great guy, and this episode proves it. 

We also had the return of the best cast member, Dominique, who has stayed true to herself throughout the show. Dom goes on an adorable date with Sain again, to a place where they can just paint together, and she really likes him. She is so excited about her dates that she tells her family. I think Sain and Dom are the best couple. Sain is willing to waiting until Dom is ready for sex, and I think he's a great guy for her. Dominique shares that she is confident in her sexuality, and tells us how to fight sexual urges (use your fingers, pray, take cold showers). At the end of the episode, she is able to see her mother at her grandma's house, and confesses that her pickiness is due to the fact that she had to go through her parents divorce by herself. Dom's mother consoles her and lets her know that it's okay to let people into her life. 

Lastly, we have Kyle, who decides to go back to Rhode Island to visit his family after the semester is over. Kyle first talks to his mom, who is actually surprised that he's still a virgin. He tells her about how hes planning to hang out with Amanda, and his mom says she'll buy him condoms (to which he responds that he doesn't like condoms, but, um, how would he know?) Amanda, who is my favorite person that isn't a star of this show, comes over with wine. She and Kyle go in the hot tub, which is kinda crazy because it's snowing.  Later, Kyle skypes his douche friends for tips on getting to the next level with a girl. Amanda and Kyle go ice skating together, and she again gives it to Kyle; while tying her skate, Kyle jokes that he must be careful not to cut his balls off with the blade, and Amanda says "Well, you don't use them." Lol, I love Amanda! Amanda then invites Kyle over for the night. Kyle is super awkward, but Amanda is understanding and accepting. He gets a condom and turns off the lights, and the next time we see Kyle, he isn't a virgin anymore.

So as I got to the end I was like yes, Kyle will be gone now that he isn't a virgin anymore! Then, the preview comes on and guess who's on the next episode? Kyle. Apparently they got rid of Dominique, the best person ever, and replaced her with a new person. Why keep Kyle when he's not even a virgin anymore..?

This week we are also briefly discussing FYI's "Married at First Sight".  This show features three couples who were paired up by matchmakers and first meet each other at the altar, on their wedding day.  They agree to get married and stay married for five weeks, then they can decide whether or not to get divorced.  It's a strange concept, described as a "social experiment", but it makes for an interesting show.  The episodes feature all three of the couples getting to know each other and facing issues in dealing with specific situations, such as the wedding night, the honeymoon and moving in together.  There is also commentary throughout by psychologists, sociologists, sexologists and others.

From the beginning we see that Cortney and Jason have a connection, and it is clear that Monet and Vaughn have a strong physical connection on the wedding night.  However, Jamie and Doug do not look promising, as Jamie admits she is not attracted to Doug and refuses to let him touch her in any way.  She warms up to him over the course of their honeymoon, but they are still the couple with the most distance between them.  Maybe that's a good thing, since Monet and Vaughn were the first couple to be intimate and they seem to fight more than others.  But Jamie's initial resistance to getting close to Doug seemed strange to me (I know we can't expect her to be into him right away since they were complete strangers when they got married, but you would think she'd be less hesitant since she, ya know, signed up for this show..?)

As for the realistic-ness of this series, I think it seems more realistic than a lot of "reality" shows, though it doesn't seem completely natural.  Maybe that's because it's scripted (even if just slightly) and maybe that's because it's about complete strangers who just got married.  Though one thing that doesn't lend much credibility to the show is the fact that Jamie has been on ABC's "The Bachelor".  It could be that she has just had such little luck in love that she needed to try multiple TV series, but it seems more likely that she's just making the rounds on the reality show circuit...  Only time will tell, I guess.

~ Katrina & Alyssa