Benefit Cosmetics Hello Flawless Oxygen WOW Review

Benefit Cosmetics: Hello Flawless Oxygen WOW Foundation

$36

Pros: Lightweight, Easy Application, Blends Well

Cons: Dewy look

So, I finally finished my old foundation, and I thought I would take this opportunity to buy myself a nice brand name foundation. I purchased this foundation in the shade "I'm all the rage, beige." I must say for a higher brand name, the price was pretty nice (in comparison to Urban Decay's $39 or Smashbox's $42 foundation). For the price, the foundation is really really nice! When applying the foundation there is a pump, which I like because it's cleaner and easily dispenses the same amount each time. The foundation is lightweight, I only need one pump each time. It also blends well and lasts a long time. I know some people complain about its lasting quality, but I have acne and it hasn't shown through after a few hours. Also, I wore this foundation to a concert, and after 6 hours of sweat it still held its coverage.

The only thing I have against this foundation is the dewy finish. However I know that some people prefer this. In order to fix this I use a powder and a setting spray.

In total, I am happy with this purchase. I would recommend this to one of my friends, but I would still prefer a slightly lower price, considering a college student's budge isn't that large.

Birthday Haul

So I know that technically my birthday was more than a month ago.

However, I have amazing friends, who will go above and beyond to get mee some of the wildest and most fun things as presents. One of my best friends from home, Alice, just gave mee my birthday present this past weekend. Inside the bag were all the wonderful things I needed to help further my procrastination at school!

Here have a peek inside!

I absolutely love painting my nails. Nail art, nail deco, nail anything is simply fun and amazing. I see painting nails not as a beauty and fashion accessory, but also a tiny form of personal expression, since your nails are a little creation of art.

Included in my ultimate nail art gift are:
- Dotting tools; 8 different sizes

- Gem rhinestones; stars, ovals, circles

- Empty wheel palettes

- Nail glue

- 3D Nail art decos

- Extra long double sided toothpicks

I can't wait to use all my fun new things and show you guys all the new designs I come up with!
Thank you so much Alice! ~

{Movie}: Contagion

Contagion

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Matt Damon*
* Multiple well known actors cast, refer to "Thoughts" for a more complete list.

Genre: Drama, Sci- Fi

Rated: PG- 13

Year: 2011

Thoughts: Beware! Warning! This may contain spoilers!

We all dread that one cough, that first sneeze, or even the sniffles because we know it can all lead to one thing... getting sick. But what if you came down with an illness so quickly that nobody could even figure out what you were infected with? Well that was the basis for the most recent film I watched, Contagion.

When I first saw the trailer for Contagion, I was instantly intrigued and wanted to see the film. However, the trailer heavily lays on the drama. The movie is a different type of sci- fi, meaning that there were no paranormal things, no aliens, or no futuristic science, technology or travel. This film seemed more of a dramatized PSA about making sure to wash your hands and stay away from others, when you feel sick. For those of you who disagree with mee about the PSA comparison, then I hope you can agree with mee about the film being a dramatized version of medical science. The film focuses on a highly fatal and contagious infection, which spreads too quickly to study. The duration of the scene focuses on the different steps taken to identify, stop, and cure the disease.

The movie had way too many characters in it. In the beginning it was difficult to keep story lines straight and remember which doctor was who, where they worked, and what their purpose was. However, as the movie progressed characters' lines began to cross with each other and the story eventually merged into one complete line. I enjoy movies where multiple stories lines converge, but I tend to think this type of storyline should be saved for comedies or more light hearted movies. Using multiple characters in this film lead to many deaths. While many deaths were inevitable, considering it was an epidemic movie, it was shocking that the director would allow so many main characters to die.
The director probably also considered having more characters in order to accommodate more stars, seeing as well known actors and actresses portrayed a majority of the main characters. (Some of the film's cast included: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwenyth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Elliot Gould, Chin Han, Bryan Cranston, and Jennifer Ehle.)

On a different note, I have to say that this movie is not for the average person. I am interested in science and medicine, so I thought that I would enjoy this (which is half true). But for people who like comedy or lighter dramas, this movie may not be your first choice because an understanding of some medicine and medical science politics is required. While I have some of that basic knowledge, I was slightly confused during important scenes in the movie, and afterwards I ended up googling a few things.

However, the lack of information on the both the audiences' and the characters' part was sometimes exciting because it lead to suspenseful moments. A majority of the movie was spent in the unknown; not knowing the disease, not knowing the cure, not knowing everything. This unknown though was good, it added more suspense to the movie and created more feelings of intensity.

I'd say while the film was interesting and moderately suspenseful, the confusing aspects and large cast made the film difficult to follow at times. While, I prefer this type of epidemic in a film as compared to zombies, I must say that zombie films are more interesting than this one. This film is luck that their cast was filled with many well known actors and actresses, otherwise it may have had more difficulty attracting an audience.

Rating: 5/10

Any suggestions for movies to watch? Any opinions about the movie? 

Comment and please let me know what you're thinking! Thanks guys!

{Movie}: The Possession

The Possession

Directed by: Ole Bornedal

Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Natasha Calis

Genre: Horror, Paranormal

Rated: PG- 13

Year: 2012

Thoughts: Beware! Warning! This may contain spoilers!

Wow, I am on a role with movies... never realized how many movies I watch. 

Anyways, The Possession was a decent horror movie. It was kinda your typical "child becomes possessed" movie; there is some event in the family that causes a slight commotion within their relationship, there's an innocent sibling, and the parents refuse to believe anything is wrong until it's too late. 

Also, the scene where the demon is revealed through Em's CAT scan is really cheesy because the CGI or the editing on the scene was poorly done. The scene where the demon exits Clyde's body is also really cheesy because while the demon looks "scary," it moves really weirdly and it looks extremely fake when compared to the background. The jump scare moments in the movie also weren't very scary. It was a good thing they put music in the background for these moments because by themselves there weren't going to cause anyone a jump. I'd say the one moment in the movie that provided a good scare was when Em looks into the mirror and fingers appear to claw its way out of her throat. However, this part wasn't as scary as it could be because it was used in every variation of the film's trailer. 

I do give the film a little creativity points since they attempted to change something of the stereotypical plot. The family featured in the movie was not your typical Christian family, instead the family was Jewish. Not that this difference did much, since instead of a priest there was a rabbi, and there were no flying crosses. 

I know that you aren't supposed to expect much from horror movies, and this one kinda fit that description. I mean the acting was good, and the effects were decent, but the idea was an original one that has been overused lately. The film's end also set up a possibility for a sequel, which means yet another possession movie.

Rating: 4/10

Any suggestions for movies to watch? Any opinions about the movie? 

Comment and please let me know what you're thinking! Thanks guys!

A Look Inside: Freegal

Photo: Freegal

This week my friend told mee about Freegal, which I must say is a godsend.

This site is amazing because it offers thousands of song for free to download for its users. The songs range from popular Top 40 hits to random garage bands or electronic music. This last week I downloaded Avril Lavigne's and Sara Bareilles's new singles and New Politics's new CD. The music downloads directly into your iTunes library, or other musical library, so you don't have the hassle of going through tons of clicking and rearranging. The best part about this site is that everything is legal! I am aware that there are sites allowing users to download music from youtube, but tsk tsk now that isn't exactly legal.

However, the site only allows for 3 downloads a week. But I mean, I really can't complain too much, since this is free. The other thing about the site is that you need a library card. But once again, this shouldn't be too hard, considering library cards aren't hard to get and they are also free.

So in summary...
Pros:
- Free music
- Legal music
- Large selection of music and genres

Cons:
- Must have a library card, from a participating library
- Limited downloads per week

If this sounds good to you, check out the site here.