lola's secret beauty blog was tagged by the lovely Marcia from Beauty Info Zone!
The Rules
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus add eleven questions for the people you have tagged to answer
3. Choose eleven people and link them in your tag
4. Go to their page and tell them
5. No tag backs
6. You legitimately have to tag
Here are 11 things about Lola:
1) I am obsessed with Hakuhodo brushes, Sunday Riley Skincare and makeup, and Rouge Bunny Rouge makeup.
2) I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but live in Los Angeles with my husband, cats and dog.
3) I have been obsessed with skincare and makeup since I was an early teen. My big introduction into the world of high-end makeup was when, as a teenager, my mom took me to I. Magnin on Union Square in San Francisco. It was there that I was indoctrinated into the world of Erno Laszlo Skincare, Chanel makeup, and YSL makeup. There was no turning back after that!
4) I have always loved rearranging furniture in my house. I started this at about 8 years old when I moved my parents' bedroom into a different room in the house (without their knowledge or consent)! My husband is no longer shocked when he comes home to find that the whole house has been rearranged.
5) I've always been a bit of a tomboy, and despite the fact that I love makeup and all things pretty- I am happiest wearing sweats and jeans!
6) When I have an idea, I tend to act on it (within reason, of course). There was an ugly closet in my bedroom that was a tacky add-on that didn't match the room (or the architecture of a 1920s house). I woke up one Saturday morning tired of looking at it, and decided to demolish it by myself. I tore it out, patched, primed, painted, and sanded and retouched the floor by the time that my husband got home from surfing late that afternoon. He just looked at me and shook his head and said "you're nuts, how did you do that?! That looks great, but seriously nobody helped you?!" I have many more stories like that one!
7) I am in love with authentic Mid-Century Modern furniture.
8) I am a huge proponent of animal rescue, and all of our cats and our dog are rescues. That is Jasper (back) and Zeus (front)- I found them sitting like this I did not try to pose them!
9) I love painting the rooms in my house, and if I can't find a color that I like I create it myself. I just add different colors until it is just right. I do the same thing with my makeup as well!
10) As a teen I used to melt down and mix my mom's and sister's old lipsticks and create new colors that they preferred. I did this for myself all of the time as well. Now I don't bother to melt them down- I either mix them directly on my lips, or on a palette.
11) When I am not working, or blogging I tend to like to relax by dreaming up some new crazy project to undertake.
Here are the 11 questions I was asked:
For a more subtle olive green MAKE UP FOR EVER #123 which is a lovely khaki green shimmer. It always makes my hazel colored eyes pop. For a brighter green MAC's long ago discontinued Fresh Green Mix Mineralize Eye Shadow. MAC Mineralize eye shadows usually make my eyes itch. This is the only one that I have and it doesn't bother my eyes at all.
2) What countries have you traveled to?
England, France and Mexico.
3) Have you ever been on a cruise?
No.
4) Are you a good sleeper?
Yes- except when I have a cat walk across my head in the middle of night!
5) What are your 3 desert island items NOT counting lip balm and sunscreen? (My desert island provides those!)
Sunday Riley Juno Transformative Lipid Serum, Sunday Riley Good Genes, and kai deodorant.
6) How long have you been blogging?
Since July 2010, but lola's secret beauty blog started in 2011.
7) Where’s your favorite place to shop?
Barneys New York.
8) What hobbies or obsessions do you have?
Makeup and skincare- which led to blogging about it as an outlet for my obsession.
9) How would you wear your hair if you could?
Hmm. Well, I have naturally curly hair, and when it's well-behaved I am quite happy with it. I would say I would wear it with nice soft shiny curls with no frizzies whatsoever.
10) What lipstick brand would you choose over all others? I tend to wear more lip glosses than lipsticks, but lately I have been loving Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Royallieu. However, I am eagerly awaiting the new Sunday Riley Lipsticks and want to try out the Rouge Bunny Rouge lipsticks, and I suspect both will cause me to have new favorites.
11) You can’t live without what? Love, friendship and continued learning.
Here are my 11 questions for my TAGGIES:
1) What is your one Holy Grail Skincare item?
2) What is the most over-hyped beauty product that you purchased and regretted?
3) What is your favorite place to vacation or visit?
4) What is your most extravagant beauty splurge, and will you repurchase it?
5) What is your best beauty find?
6) What is your most bold makeup choice?
7) If you could only shop at one cosmetics counter (or line) which would you choose?
8) What is your favorite place to shop?
9) What current beauty trend(s) do you love, and what current beauty trend(s) do you hate?
10) What is the first makeup product that you remember using?
11) If you could pick one thing that you really wanted your readers to know about you personally, what would it be?
Who I’m tagging. Please go visit them- they are phenomenal bloggers.
Blushing Noir
British Beauty Blogger
drivel about frivol
Everyday Beauty
Front Row Beauty
Karla Sugar
Modesty Brown
Musings of a Muse
Pink Sith
Product Doctor Beauty Blog
Rola's Fountain of Youth
#4, 5, 6, and 8 make me think we were separated at birth. My husband gets used to my changeable moods and appreciates that I do all but the heaviest lifting myself (usually when he's out hiking). I like change. I can't help it; it's the INTJ in me.
ReplyDeleteDH gets more vacation than I do, so he went mountain climbing for a week last summer, which took place over his birthday. While he was away, I built him a man cave out of the guest bedroom ... the only thing I paid out was for the electricians. I know my limits. He was quite thrilled.
I also have some house reno stories, starting in an 1805 Colonal/Federal--oh the paint stripping and stuff we discovered under more than a century of wallpaper. The one thing I hate hate hate to do is measure stuff. I so badly want to put plantation shutters on my big front-facing windows (inside), but I dread ordering them cut to size even more than I dread painting all those little movable louvers.
Jasper and Zeus are adorable! They're just waiting for someone to pour them a brandy. As for pets, we were up to six cats but lost our last FIV+ boy this past Christmas Eve. In fact, for a few years, we did nothing but adopt adult males who were FIV positive, and they were such gifts. ♥ Then some cat put the word out and all these strays started coming out of the woods. We kept two and named them Hannibal and Ivan, keeping the monster theme going after Grendel departed us. We also had one named Pig. Best cat ever. RIP.
Thank you for the tag, and it was nice getting to know you a little better.
That's so hysterical! I guess we were separated at birth. We do seem to be two peas in a pod in so many ways it would appear. My husband used to get freaked out when I would make so many changes- he has grown accustomed to it over the years, and at this point and appreciates the fact that things get done, and often without his help. I'm with you-- I like change- it keeps things fresh and interesting. I also do most of the work myself when he's surfing on the weekends, but lately he's taken more of an interest in getting involved.
DeleteThat's so nice that you built your husband a man-cave while he was away mountain climbing. I have undertaken numerous projects when mine has been away on surf trips.
OMG- I can only imagine your reno stories on an 1805 Colonial/Federal- that's about 118 years worth of more paint and wallpaper than we had to strip! We have a living room with a big barrel vaulted ceiling that at it's peek it probably about 18 feet high (I'm guessing here). Someone at some point had wallpapered the ENTIRE thing. So one day when my husband was doing something I emptied the room brought the city garbage can into the living room and started removing it-- he walked through the door and just shook his head. Thankfully he decided to help me on that project! I can't BELIEVE that you hate to measure as well! I will do anything to avoid it since it requires such precision, and the slightest mistake can be so costly!
Jasper & Zeus are both very odd little guys! They do look like they are waiting for someone to pour them a brandy-- that's hysterical! I' think that is so amazing that you were up to 6 FIV+ male kitties-- that is such a noble thing to do! I'm so sorry for your recent loss! That sounds like something that I would do! I'm sure the strays had heard the word on the street that you offered a really great life to kitties! I love the monster themed names-- that is fantastic. I'm sorry that you lost Pig and Grendel! I know that pain all too well, and my heartbreak persists. A year ago last August we had two cats die from cancer 2 weeks and 1 day apart. Sebastian, who was almost 15 was seriously one of the great loves in my life (it may sound demented, but I loved that cat more than many people that I have known). He and Luca (about 11 years old) both wasted and we did everything to give them the best care and the best quality of life-- until there was no quality of life left for them. It was so heartbreaking that even several of the people at our vet's office cried when they died.
Thanks for sharing-- I look forward to getting to know you better as well!
You don't sound demented, lola. I, too, like animals better than most people. They bring me such joy, and even though it breaks my heart that I have lost 7 cats in the last 10 years, every moment we had them was totally worth it. I'm sorry you lost two at once. That seems so unfair.
DeleteIt's been a while since we lived in that 1805 house. I miss all the nooks and crannies and window seats and the three stairways and carriage-house-turned-into-garage. *sniffle* I live in a Cape now, built just after WWII, and one day I decided to pull the particleboard off the wall in the back room to see what was underneath. Bad idea, but by then I was committed. A family of SIX once lived in our wee 1100sf cottage, and they had 3 sons. I guess those boys did some damage, which explains the pre-wallpapered-particle board over huge holes in the horsehair plaster. And around the holes was paint on top of wallpaper on top of paint on top of .... you get the idea. And the crowning glory, when I finally hit the end, was someone had painted the most hideous mural I have ever seen. Of course I took pictures, and I still laugh when I see them. As for those wretched walls, my dad finally came down and we skimcoated the whole thing and put up crown moldings. Oh, and we did this on the hottest two weeks of the summer where a few days exceeded 105.
I cannot believe you stripped wallpaper from an 18' ceiling! I know how absolutely exhausting that must have been, from putting up the molding, and I had the luxury of a nail gun. Working off a ladder with your arms over your head is hard work, and I can't imagine all that scraping. I bet you had wicked buff deltoids after that task.
Mr. Petals is not interested in home improvements, but if I give him a hand-drawn map and send him outside with it, he will dig me all the garden plots I want and remove all the big rocks. He always says, in a Russian accent, "Smart like bull."
As for measuring ... I've lived in this house for 8 years, and there are still mirrors and artwork propped against the wall on the floor because instead of a wire strung across the back there are two little doodads, which means the nails I put in the wall have to be level. Arg! Unfortunately, DH hates to measure as much as I do, so when we hung my spice rack, we made a template using parchment paper, where I scribbled across the back of the rack right over the hooks, and then I taped the paper to the wall so I could drill right through those impressions!
I agree with you there- I tend to prefer animals to most people as well. The heartbreak when you lose one is so devastating, but I agree with you that every moment is worth it. That you lost 7 in 10 years is really tough. Two at once was awful- I'm still not over it, and suspect that I never will be. This is timely-- we have a 15 year old kitty who is an insulin dependent diabetic (yeah it's super fun giving her shots twice a day), but she was recently diagnosed with thyroid disease. So she has to take pills for that. She became unregulated, lost 2 lbs in a short period of time-- so last night we had to take this frail little thing to the vet. Hopefully the new dose regulates her and she can go about living her life happily.
DeleteYour 1805 house sounds as though it was magical. I imagine that you miss it, but you must have a had a good reason for selling it. I love Cape Cottages. I can't imagine that a family of six (especially with three boys) lived in a 1100 sf cottage!! I'm not surprised that those boys did some damage. Funny thing about taking these projects on ourselves-- they often lead to uncovering SO MANY unanticipated little secrets that require more projects to fix them! The mural that you found sounds just delightful- ROFL!! Nice to be forced to do that type of labor during a hot spell!! That must have been hideous! Skimcoating and ptiing up crown molding sounds especially fun when it's 105 degrees!
My wallpaper removal sounds far more heroic than it was, but it was actually pretty easy to pull down. It was this really thick textures wallpaper that probably wasn't really installed properly to begin with. It literally peeled up in huge sheets. I would grab it at the baseboards and pull to remove each sheet that terminated at the top of the barrel vault. What I discovered was why they put it up in the first place: there were many many cracks in the original plaster and lathe-- so we ended up having to hire professionals to come in a fix the walls and ceiling.
So Mr. Petals or г-н Лепестки :-) isn't interested in home improvements, btu then at least you can just do what you want. It's nice to have someone willing to dig the holes in the garden for you-- after all you never know when you are going to need to bury a body LOL!! Like I said in my comment on your NARS post- my dad was from Russia. You made me laugh and smile when you said "Smart Like Bull" I can hear the accent. It makes me think of by dad and my grandfather-- both with their thick Russian accents!
Your description is hysterical! Funny that both of you hate to measure-- it would certainly be easier if one of you liked it. My husband isn't afraid to measure, but I'm not convinced that he really knows what the hell he's doing!!
We had the air conditioner on inside during that heat spell, but all the paint and wall goop (technical term) added so much moisture to the air, we may as well have had the windows open! Lucky you that your wallpaper came down so easily. Ours was on so tight I ended up gouging the wall in places. :( Pulling it off in sheets must have been so cathartic!
DeleteMy husband and I hate to do the same things. We both wait each other out on vacuuming (this with five cats!) until one of us can't stand it any longer or one of the cats blows by in a giant furball tumbleweed. We also wait and hope that the fallen leaves will evaporate outside. He likes to shovel (thank god) and can cook a mean steak. I think the rest of his aversion is passive aggression, figuring I'll do it because I am such a decisive person (which he'd probably say bossy, lol)
Yep, yep, Chloe was on methimazole (and later benazepril for her heart/kidneys), and Pig was insulin dependent. I got his fructosamine back to normal by changing his diet (no carbs), but right when his bloodwork came back normal he died of acute renal failure. We suspect he died of melamine poisoning, but the vet said AIDS also worked against him and having two autoimmune diseases probably did him in. He also had a pin in his leg and was the poster boy for the no-kill shelter where we adopted him. Apparently he'd been hit by a car but lived in an abandoned warehouse in the city and would run dragging his leg behind him whenever one of the people from the shelter tried to capture him. They eventually caught him in a trap, and we were lucky enough to take him home after he had surgery and healed. Best. Cat. Ever. There will never be another Pork Piggler (his porn name)/Porker Posy (his celebrity name).
That sounds pretty miserable. OMG it was so cathartic- I'm quite sure that I had a deranged expression because of the pure unadulterated bliss I was experiencing demolishing something that was removable intact! What wasn't cathartic was seeing all of the damage that they decided to cover rather than fix years earlier!
DeleteThat sounds like the same stand-off that we have. We have MORE than 5 cats (long story, but when we learned that a few had been living in cages for 6 months we had to do something). I thought that our vacuuming stand-off had to do with the dying vacuum from Sears that sounded like an airplane taking off (which frankly created more fur ball tumbleweeds since the cats would run for cover in fear every time it was turned on- leaving behind even more fur). I decided my husband avoided vacuuming because of the vacuum- so with my 20% off coupon in hand I headed to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought a Miele canister. What I learned was that his (dis)interest in vacuuming had nothing to do with the machine! LOL about the fallen leaves outside. We also do this with dishes and laundry. Yup, mine assumes the same thing!
Poor sweet Chloe & Pig. This all sounds so familiar. Emma was up to 4 1/2 units 2x/day and was eating DM wet and dry. I did research and found out that wheat gluten was a culprit so I removed all dry food from her diet and all wet containing WG (actually I removed these things from all of their diets). THe upshot was that her insulin intake went down to just less than 1 unit 2x/day-- all because of removing carbs in general and wheat gluten specifically. When they run the glucose curve or the fructosamine now she has normal numbers even when she isn't on insulin (though there is sugar in her urine with our insulin - so she will require it for the rest of her life). Accute renal failure is awful- poor Pig. I think their little bodies can only take so much, and once a few of the systems are so heavily taxed it becomes very difficult for their bodies to maintain (let alone thrive). Porker Posey- ROFL!! I know there are certain little beings that just forever leave a gaping hole in your heart forever. I've had a couple like that-- most recently Sebastian! It breaks my heart every time I think of him being gone forever.
Miele is the best! My mother gifted me with a canister when I finished grad school (weird present, I know), and when that started to sputter 12 years later (still works but not the powerhead), I bought the upright Miele when William-Sonoma had a sale; it's made specifically for cat and dog hair, and 4 of our cats are long or at least medium hair, which gets so deeply embedded in any carpeting. Best purchase I made last year! It sucks everything up ... including rugs so I have to do a bit of finagling with those area orientals, but so worth it.
DeleteI know!! I don't know why I waited so long to get one! My mom bought one of their bigger canisters and handed it down to my sister, and got a smaller one for herself. I finally caved and bought this one (which is one of the lower end models- no HEPA and no powerhead). I do think that I will buy the HEPA filter for this vacuum because of all of the animals in this house. I saw that one on the WS website and almost bought it some time back, but just decided to wait until my old vacuum died. Their suction is amazing-- definitely takes some finagling with area rugs! So worth it is right-- even with the ungodly expensive vacuum bags!
DeleteI found your blog because of your three favorites. Every time I searched for Sunday Riley or Hakuhodo there you were. When I discovered you loved RBR too, I was hooked.
ReplyDeleteHi Marcia! Thanks so much for tagging me-- I am so very flattered that I'm even on your radar at all! Your kind and thoughtful words mean a lot to me! I LOVE your blog, and have been so inspired by you!! Those are my three big loves: Sunday Riley, Hakuhodo & RBR!! Such luxurious vices they are!
DeleteThanks for the tag, Lola. I did this tag a couple of months ago...I also love Mid Century Modern anything from houses to furniture, etc...It is great to know more about you:)
ReplyDeletehttp://foofyo.blogspot.com/2012/01/11-random-things-about-me-tag.html
Hey Rola,
DeleteMy pleasure! Thanks for the link to your last tag. Nice getting to know you better too! I love Mid-Century Modern houses as well. We live in a 1927 house, and we often lament the fact that we would love to live in a Mid Cent house instead.
Give me antique any day! Dados and crown moldings and cornices and window seats and leaded glass ... I should have been born in another century.
DeleteAs much as I love Mid Century Modern architecture, I have always lived in older houses. I suspect that I would really miss all of the nooks & crannies that make older architecture so comfortable and womb-like to live in. I also love crown moldings, dados, cornices, ah window seats (I grew up with them). I love my barrel vaulted living room ceiling, and the triangular faceted being in my dining room. These are not unusual features in the old houses in our neighborhood. I would REALLY miss these things! There is also an old telephone nook in the hallway that just makes me smile!
DeleteFunny that you should mention leaded glass- our house is a 1920s English Transitional style. We have Diamond- lite windows, many of which need replacing because they are as old as the house. However we live in an area of LA that has a strict HPOZ- so we have to replace them with historically appropriate wood windows. We have patched and have done what we can to preserve them since they will be so expensive to replace, but there is one small window in the foyer that we would love to replace with a leaded glass window (diamond pattern), but preferably an antique rather than something new with no character.
A telephone nook sounds charming! Our old house had a closet in the dining room that served as a bar and had a pass-through to the kitchen and an actual dumbwaiter! The kitchen also had a huge pantry, like the kinds you never see any more in newer houses. And those leaded-glass windows in our dining room went from floor to ceiling.
DeleteYour windows sound beautiful but I can only imagine they require lots of upkeep. I want to replace my front door with one that has a slim window on top, kind of like a transom window, but we don't have enough space over the door to put a transom in.
I love the telephone nook-- the phone was long ago disconnected and removed- so I usually have a vase or something like that in it instead. Though my savages routinely jump up there and wreak havoc so no cut flowers allowed!!
DeleteYour old house sounds fantastic!! I love how your dining room and kitchen were configured-- that just sounds spectacular. The character in old houses just can't be replicated in new construction. Leaded glass from floor to ceiling is mouthwatering!
Our windows are old, leaky, rotting and super high-maintenance. We keep patching because replacing them means that all of them will have to be custom built wood windows that are historically appropriate-- and nothing other than that will be approved by the HPOZ. I understand their desire to preserve an historic neighborhood, but doing what they require is prohibitively expensive! So we will have to do one at a time as needed.
The door you describe sounds beautiful. I love transom windows- I'm sure that you can find a lovely door that will meet your requirements! Sounds so beautiful!
This is a topic which is close to my heart... Cheers! Exactly where are your contact details though?
ReplyDeleteMy contact information is in the tab at the top that says "contact"
Delete#4, #5, #6, #7 sound just like me! -- except I haven't done as big a project as you for #6 :) I've almost finished the front hall and living room, and I have a feeling you'd like the MCM goodness of our living room. I was going to work from the front door to the back deck but the recent good weather is making me want to tackle the back deck next.
ReplyDeleteThat's AWESOME!!! I'm sure that I would LOVE LOVE LOVE the MCM goodness of your living room!Tackling the back deck first makes sense given the good weather!
Delete