What I Read | April 2020

April was quite the reading month for me! I read nine books in total and felt like I really found my groove with reading this month, since I’ve cut back so much on watching tv and being on my phone. One of the benefits of being stuck inside all day, is that it gives me a lot of time to read and really get stuck into a book and feel full immersed in the process of reading. Overall, I really liked the majority of the books that I read this last month and I know that I have a lot more to look forward to in May!

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern ~ I’m not usually one for fantasy, but I had heard so much about this book from a few friends of mine who really loved it recommended that I read it anyways. The book is about a young man named Zachary Ezra Rawlins, who is wandering through his school library one day and picks up a random book and as he starts reading the book he realizes that the book is his life story. He ends up on a fantastical journey trying to figure out where this book is from and is whisked up into an alternate universe that is at risk of being destroyed. Overall I really liked this book, it definitely is a great one if you like fantasy and want a bit of escapism. At times, the writing felt a bit too meandering and I had to remind myself what was going on at times, which was a bit annoying. This book made me more interested in trying out some more fantasy novels in the future.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead ~ As I’m writing this post I just found out that Colson Whitehead has won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for this book! This book is about a boy named Elwood, who is living in segregated Tallahassee during the 1960s, and is sent to a brutal reformatory school and there he is exposed to abuse and violence. Elwood is a firm believer in Dr. King’s nonviolent movement, but being at The Nickel Academy as well as his peers and their beliefs, test his ideology and his firm belief in non-violence. This book is incredibly thought-provoking, yet manages to be subtle even while confronting truly horrific history. I do wish that this book had been a tad longer so we could have delved a bit deeper into certain sections, but overall I appreciate how much Whitehead packed into such a short novel. This is easily one of the best books I have read this year and it will most likely be in my top picks from 2020.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid ~ And the first disappointing book of the month award goes too… Ok first off, this book is so hyped up, which always makes me far more critical of a book because I’m expecting it to be great (is that unfair?). Any-who, this book is about Emira, a 20-something African-American woman, who babysits for a white family. She is called in to help out the family she babysits for on short notice after a night out with her friends, and is asked to take the young daughter, Briar, out of the house whilst the parents deal with the police (their house got egged). At the grocery store Emira is accused of kidnapping Briar by the security guard on duty. The plot devolves from that point and explores the relationship between Emira and Briar’s mother Alix, a woman who tries so hard to be an ally that she ends up doing the opposite, as well as the role that race and privilege play a role in both women’s lives. I didn’t think this book was horrible, in fact I thought the plot, at the beginning was engaging and thought-provoking, and that the central themes of white savior-hood and privilege are certainly important topics that should be explored more. Where things went wrong for me was the writing, I thought that overall the dialogue was flat and dull and the plot lost it’s way about halfway through. I also thought that Emira’s boyfriend and Alix were pretty insufferable characters, which is kind of the point, but it was so over the top that it made the book less than enjoyable to read at times.

Lanny by Max Porter ~ Unlike Such A Fun Age, I went into reading Lanny with almost zero expectations and loved it so much! This book is definitely experimental both in its form and content, which I imagine some will love and some definitely will not. Lanny is about a small village outside of London, which is inhabited by a local spirit called Dead Papa Toothwort, who listens to the village people and becomes fascinated by a young boy named Lanny. Though Lanny is the main character of the book, we never actually hear from him, but rather the adults that have the most influence over him, that is to say, his mother, his father and “Mad” Pete (a local artist who takes Lanny under his wing as a kind of protégé). I loved this book’s structure as well the depiction of childhood imagination, and the process by which children lose that imagination as they get older. I definitely see myself re-reading this in the future.

You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe ~ Yet another book I had high expectations for that ultimately let me down. I was so excited to read this book because 1. I’m a history nerd (I majored in history in college) and 2. Coe sets out to bring a new perspective and analysis to the life and legacy of George Washington’s life. The reason why I didn’t like this book is because there was absolutely no analysis, and as someone who studied history and has read a decent amount of historical writing, I expect exhaustive and extensive analysis when I read an historical book. I don’t think that I’m this book’s intended audience because it is meant to be a more popular history book, but even still, I wish Coe hadn’t been so rushed in her description of George Washington (this book is a mere 300 pages and spends about 40 pages on his presidency).

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott ~ This is a work of historical fiction about the Cold War and the role the CIA played in disseminating the famous Russian novel, Doctor Zhivago, in order to undermine the Soviet Union. I really expected this to be a crossover between a spy novel and an historical fiction, and while the beginning really built up momentum, the last third of the book fell flat plot-wise and ended up turning into a love story, which was a bit disappointing. This book is ok, it’s an easy read overall, but I think there are better works of historical fiction that are based around similar subject matter.

The Idiot by Elif Batuman ~ This book is quite a divisive one, some people absolutely hate it, while others love it. I happen to fall in the category of those who love this book. The main issue people have with this book is the fact that it doesn’t have a plot, but I’m a firm believer that a book doesn’t need a plot to have meaning. This book is about a college freshman named Selin, who embarks on her first year at Harvard and navigates new friendships and academic life. This book made me tear up and laugh out loud, and I could relate so much to Selin and her experiences. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more nostalgic for college and academic life as I did when I read The Idiot.

These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card ~ Last book of the April! This book is about Abel Paisley, who faked his own death decades ago, and assumed the identity of his friend, Stanford Solomon. Abel left behind a wife and a family back in Jamaica when he faked his death and started anew with his second wife in New York, the consequences of which reverberate for generation. The narrative perspective constantly jumps around from chapter to chapter, which can be confusing at times, but ultimately serves to underline how Abel’s decisions have had effects on nearly all of his living relatives. This book really dives deep into the idea of inter-generational, since it also explores Abel’s own ancestry and the legacy of slavery that looms over his family. I really liked the first 85% of this book, but the ending was just a little rushed and came out of nowhere. Had Card had an extra fifty pages to resolve and weave in the last few chapters to the overall narrative I think it would have been more successful. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future novels from Maisy Card!

Eyeshadow Sticks I Love

Gone are the days where I spend a lot of time on my eye makeup, instead if I use eyeshadow at all I opt for a single wash of color all over the lids. To me not only does that look more modern, but its also incredibly quick and easy. I have found over about the past year that cream eyeshadow sticks are perfect for achieving this very understated and minimal eye look that I am drawn to nowadays.  However, I have also realized that eyeshadow sticks are very easy to get wrong; they can be too creamy and have no longevity or be too dry and not blend properly. That being said, I have found two brands that really nail a cream eyeshadow pencil formula that blends well and stays put all day. 

First and foremost is a longstanding favorite in the beauty blogging community: the By Terry Ombre Blackstars. These come in at a hefty $45 a piece, and while I was extremely skeptical of that price tag, they really do live up to all the hype they have received over the years. The formula, to me, is the gold standard of cream eyeshadow sticks because they blend so effortlessly but stay put all day long. I have two shades (although I plan on adding more to my collection): Misty Rock, which is a gorgeous mauvey purple with the most beautiful and complex metallic shimmer, and Bronze Moon, which is another very complex shimmery bronze shade (as one might suspect). I think the thing that really sets this formula apart is the shimmer itself. Because they are so multifaceted, the shimmer gives off that wet look that looks absolutely gorgeous on the eyes.

My most recent find in the cream eyeshadow stick world has been the Burberry Eye Contour Sticks. Much like the By Terry version they have incredible longevity and blendability. They come in at a slightly cheaper $28 a piece, which is definitely not cheap but considering how close they are to the By Terry offering in efficacy, they are a decent value. I have three shades in total: Pale Copper, which is a mid-tone gold/copper shade, Rosewood, which is a purple-toned brown, and Midnight Brown, a cool-toned shimmery dark brown (which also happens to make the best smudgey smokey eye). The shimmer is definitely more subtle in these compared to the Ombre Black Stars, but it still adds a gorgeous dimension to the eye that lend themselves perfectly to that one wash look on the eyes. 

What are your favorite eyeshadow sticks? 

The Glossier Cloud Paints | A Review

It's definitely no secret at this point that I am a big Glossier fan. In fact, at this point I think I can easily say that Glossier has become one of my favorite and most used brands. I find myself using at least two or three of their products on an everyday basis. So when I found out about a month ago that Glossier was adding blushes to their range, I got very excited. There isn't a day that I wear makeup that I don't wear blush. I personally feel that because I am so pale, blush gives me a dose of some much-needed color and dimension. I held off on writing this post till I had thoroughly put all of the Cloud Paints to the test.

I decided to get all four shades because after watching them demoed on the Glossier website, I realized that they all can work on my paler skin. One thing that I love about Glossier is that they try to be as inclusive as possible when coming up with color products and they take a wide array of skintones in consideration. All of the shades are demoed on very pale to very deep skin on the website and I think they look beautiful on all the models. The first shade is Puff, which is a pale baby pink. I was a bit wary about this shade at first just because it is such a pale pink, but it gives a beautiful flush that doesn't read as powdery or ashy. The next lightest shade is Beam, which is a a true peach that doesn't read as orange on the skin (which I am prone to). Dusk is a brownish rose, which I thought would only look good on darker skintones but looks good on paler skin as a kind of blush/contour hybrid. And then there's Haze, the darkest and most pigmented of the shades. I absolutely love Haze for a very healthy berry flush that looks most similar to the way my cheeks naturally flush when I'm out in the cold.

Now onto formula, which is where I think the Cloud Paints really stand apart from most other blush formulations. The best way to describe the formula is a thicker liquid that almost resembles the texture of a lightweight liquid foundation. The blush definitely dries down but more as a stain than as a powder. I personally love the formula because I think it looks incredibly natural and the shades lend themselves to looking as though it is just your natural flush. If you don't have perfect skin you might want to use these blushes before you use any concealer because they do have a tendency to shift whatever base you have underneath. I don't find this to be a deal-breaker for me because I tend to wear little to no foundation, but it can be more of a problem if you were to wear a very full coverage foundation. Longevity-wise, the Cloud Paints really do amazingly because of that stain-like dry down that they have. However, because of that I would say that you need to use a very minimal amount of product because they are pretty pigmented and you need to be pretty quick to blend them in because once they set they don't really budge.

If I Could Only Own Three Glossier Products

It's no secret that I absolutely love Glossier. I love the aesthetic of the brand, I love the ethos of the brand, and don't even get me started on their Instagram feed *insert heart-eye emoji*. If you rummaged through my beauty stash you would find that I own nearly every product in the Glossier range, and I can easily say that I love every product that I have bought and they have become some of my workhorse beauty products. But as I don't want to bore you with going over every single Glossier product I own, I thought it would be much more useful to narrow down my top three products that I could not live without from the Glossier range.

Milky Jelly Cleanser ~ The hype was definitely real with the launch of the Milky Jelly Cleanser. In making it, Glossier took in hundreds of comments from their audience to formulate the perfect cleanser. I love how multi-tasking the cleanser it, as it both removes non-waterproof makeup effectively and cleanses the skin. The jelly texture is also really nice because it cleanses the skin without it feeling stripped or like there is still a residue (like some balm cleansers tend to do). I use this cleanser both morning and night and I don't see myself straying any time soon.

Balm Dotcom ~ My lips are incredibly dry year round, no matter how much water I consume, so I am constantly in need of lip balm. While I have loved lip balms like the Dior Crème de Rose in the past, the Glossier Balm Dotcom has cemented itself as my favorite all-time lip balm. For starters it comes in both flavored (my favorite of which is the rose version pictured here) and unflavored versions, which is nice because sometimes you don't always want a scented lip balm. The lip balm is also pretty thick and sticks around on your lips, but it actually does improve the condition of your lips after it has worn off. I had cracked lips after skiing for a few days, used the balm dotcom regularly and they were healed within a matter of a day or two, which I cannot say for many other lip balms. I also love the tube packaging, because it is far more sanitary for on-the-go than a pot style lip balm.

Boy Brow ~ Oh boy brow. I honestly do not know what I did before I had boy brow in my life. Might sound a tad dramatic, but it is seriously the best brow product I have found (and believe me I've tried a lot of brow products). I like boy brow so much because it really does everything: it gives the brows a some color, definition, and keeps them in place all day long. I am also glad that Glossier decided to go with a wax-based formula as opposed to a fiber-based formula (like the Benefit Gimme Brow) because I find the wax-based formula performs better and you don't get those little flecks of product falling down your face throughout the day, which I have experienced with fiber-based formulas. I'd say if you like that very brushed up, defined yet-natural brow look, you'll love boy brow.

A New Foundation Find

Now I'll fully admit, I am very much behind on the It Cosmetics bandwagon, but with the purchase of their well-talked-about their Your Skin But Better CC cream, I am well and truly on the bandwagon. For starters, I have combination skin but lean dry during the winter time and more normal/oily during the summer months, however year round I always crave a dewy, natural complexion.

Although this product is marketed as a CC cream I would say that it is actually more of a medium coverage foundation with a very impressive SPF. Because the formula is pretty thick I love blending this base in with a beautyblender, I find that a beautyblender and this foundation make for the most beautiful natural base. While my skin does tend to get a bit shiny in the T-zone, I think that this foundation always looks glowy and never greasy. I don't think I have ever found a foundation that makes my skin look so healthy. If you're in the market for an everyday foundation (especially for daywear) I'd say give this one a go.