HG in E/L ... almost

Eyeliner


The closest thing to HG, yet.


Over the last couple of weeks, I've collected a handful of eyeliners that are pretty close to wonderful. They aren't smudgey, but they still creep just enough to end up in my lower crease.


Cream/Gel E/L
I really like the formulations of the new cream/gel eyeliners.


I've tried:
http://www.calvinklein.com/ck/beauty.aspx
http://www.sephora.com/browse/brand_hierarchy.jhtml?brandId=ck+Calvin+Klein

cK - Ultimate Edge Gel Eyeliner in Mica

By far, this gel liner has the thinnest consistency, which translates to the easiest thick line and most smudgeable. A bit metall-ick-y.






L'Oreal HIP
A bit dark in shade for those of us with lighter skin tones. Good consistency and application.




Make Up For Ever's - Aqua Creamliner in Matte Light Brown




















This has the thickest consistency, so on first try you don't think anything is getting on your brush, but this actually has the easiest application.


Hands down best color for lighter skin tones ... a true MEBB. They also have a darker brown and charcoal matte shade that I NEED to try. Gets my highest marks out of the four.




Stila's Smudge Pot in Bronze











Good texture, medium consistency, easy application ... awfully metall-ick-y.






I prefer matte shades to the shimmer/glitter/metallic craze.
This definitely warps my review in some ways.

MR - The Secret Life of Words

Movie Review - The Secret Life of Words aka "La vida secreta de las palabras"


This is such an odd movie. I don't quite know how to describe it.


Sarah Polley plays Hannah a typical factory worker (rote, repetitive tasks) completely cut off from the world around her.

Having been forced to take her first holiday in several years, she "offers" to care for a burned man on an oil rig (played by the incomparable Tim Robbins). This begins a series of improbable events: 1) an uncertified nurse caring for a burned oil-rig worker, 2) said care taking place on an oil rig in the sea, and 3) the oil rig being nearly devoid of entities following a major accident on the rig (in which one worker has died and one worker got burned).

IRL: the company would not have taken the liability of 1, nor left the patient on the rig for 2. And safety officials, inspectors, and miscellaneous other individuals would have been swarming that rig for 3.

I think I could have overlooked any one misstep, but all three really stretched my ability to "suspend disbelief and immerse myself" in the story. Yes, I am sure these decisions were made to create the "mood," but I can think of more believable/plausible directions.

In any event, the skeleton rig crew and irascible patient eventually cajole Hannah into revealing some secrets to her past.

(hint ... thanks to snippets in the beginning, middle, and ending, we know that Hannah shares the same diagnosis as the famous "Sybil" - aka Shirley Ardell Mason and "Eve" - Chris Costner Sizemore ... still lost? How about The Hulk, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, or the biblical "Legion.")

It is a sad story with a "fairly" happy ending. You hear about torture and genocide. You hear the typical butchering of a foreign accent. You hear "silence."

This is a slow, deliberate movie. It does not plod along, but it should not be watched by a restless mind.


Do I recommend it? Hm, if only for the atmosphere created by the director, actors, and budget.


Actors:
Sarah Polley, last seen in "Beowulf & Grendel"
Tim Robbins, last seen in "The War of the Worlds"
Julie Christie, last seen in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Troy" (I can't remember which one was more recent)
Eddie Marsan, last seen in "Beowulf & Grendel"
Steven Mackinstosh, last seen in "Underworld: Evolution"
Reg Wilson, last seen in "The Machinist"

Yes, I really do spend a percentage of each movie saying, "Where have I seen that actor before?" Sometimes it's days before I figure the part out.

NP - OPI - Lunch at the Delhi

Review - OPI's Lunch at the Delhi




















While it will not be as long lasting as the famous Zoya Natalie 8 day mani, this is coming up on day seven.

At day six, it had two miniature chips, one on each pointer finger.

Between the start and end of my workday, being day seven, several large chips appeared, necessitating emergency removal of the polish that evening.

Other than that, there was a bit of tip wear, but I am pleased. With my recent experience of OPI's "I'd Like to Thank" still fresh, I was thoroughly impressed with the longevity of my new "Lunch at the Delhi."

I like the color: an odd mix of mango red, passion fruit, and orange-red depending on the lighting conditions. This cream is an unusual shade, difficult to describe. It is not a loud nor a bright red, but it approaches such descriptors. Additionally, it bares little resemblance to the bottle color, which I consider all the better.

Recommended.

MR - pt1 Jean de Florette and pt2 Manon of the Spring

Movie Review(s) -

The duology "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring"

A French tragedy in the best Greek tradition ...

The first part follows Gerard Depardieu's "Jean de Florette" as he attempts to farm the land at his newly inherited property outside a little French town. He automatically has two strikes against him: he is a hunchback and a city boy.

Unbeknownst to him and his family, unscrupulous neighbors (an uncle and nephew team) have blocked a spring on the farm in an effort to force the sale of the land. (As revealed in part 2, all the townsfolk know of the spring's existence.)

The farm has struggled along for several years when a long drought ruins the crop, almost certainly the final nail in Jean's dreams of country living.

Part 1 closes with a death in the family, the farm sold off to the unscrupulous neighbors, and Jean's little daughter Manon witnessing the neighbors uncorking the spring.

Admittedly, I fell asleep during a couple of parts of this movie ... I don't feel that I missed much.

- My one little pet peeve, you just don't block springs with a piece of wood and concrete. The water will find its way around, or the spring will change course. (Having lived through various exclamations from the significant other during my movie career, "Gasoline does not do that", "Helicopters don't do that", "Planes don't do that", and so on and so forth, I felt it necessary to return the comments in kind.)


Part 2

Manon, having run away to live in the country while her remaining family moves back to the city, has grown into a beautiful young woman. She attracts the attention of the unscrupulous neighbors, who decide she will be a good marriage candidate to the nephew (a rather charmless and disurbingly amoral creature). Understandably, Manon disagrees with the nephew's alarmingly declared love and marriage request.

In a fit of pique, having followed one of her goats into a cave and finding the head of the water supply for the whole town, she blocks said water source and makes her way into the town to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Fingers point, confessions begin, and for a short while, town life comes to a screeching halt. Yes, the townsfolk knew of the spring, but said nothing because the new owner was a hunchback. Outsider snobbery at its best.

Part 2 closes with a suicide, the desperate procession of the townspeople, an additional death, a wedding, and life returning to much the same as before.

I found the reactions off at several points in the movie, and, once again, disagree with "a little bit of stone and mud can block this spring upwelling for several days." Jawohl, fraulein ... oops, wrong language.

I found part 2 more engaging than part 1, though I enjoyed them both to some extent.

*** There is a bit of "wholesome" female nekkid-ness in part 2: neither disturbing nor disgusting, but rather carefree and light-hearted.***


Known actors - Gerard Depardieu, last seen in "The Man in the Iron Mask," he and Jeremy saved that movie, while Leonardo and John tried to sink it.

No other familiar faces were glimpsed in these movies.

Considering its English subtitled, French speaking language (and that I neither speak, nor understand French), the action and storyline kept me present and accounted for ... disregarding a few nod-offs during part 1.