Inside the Mind of Suz

Here is segment #2 in my attempt to swatch some of Revlon’s Colorburst line for women of color (WOC). If you didn’t get the backstory, please read my first post on the subject. That should get you up-to-speed, as well as allow you to see swatches in the Brown family.

Today it’s time for the Pinks/Reds. I always want to get more into reds and pinks, but I’m chicken. I truly think I’ll look like a clown and drawn unwanted attention to my mouth. I think that’s a lot of women’s fears. Perhaps I’ll get there someday!

So, I’ll start with the swatches on my hand; with and without flash. From left to right, the shades are Crimson, Raspberry, and Fuchsia. Yes, fuchsia. Revlon was running a BOGO a couple of weeks ago, and I went in to get Raspberry and one of Chocolate/Grape, but this is where I couldn’t find those shades in stores because they are the 2 darkest. So, since I was essentially getting a freebie, I thought, “why not go for Fuchsia?” It looked like a fun shade, even if I never wore it lol.

Be sure to click the pics since I have that transparency setting still in effect.

No Flash

With Flash
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Lately, I’m getting a whole lot of referral hits from people searching “samantha prahalis boyfriend” via their search engine of choice.

Their searches led them to this post, where all I didn’t was mention the fact in passing. But that was really a post dedicated to the awesomeness that is Sammy Prahalis and her hoops skillz. What you’re reading now is all about the couple!

I’m guessing a lot of people are getting more interested in the adorable couple. And if you’re here looking for info, I’ll just come out and stay that Evan Turner, the soon-to-be NCAA Men’s POY ( ) is Samantha Prahalis’ boyfriend.

ESPN cut to ET about fiftyeleven times during today’s Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship game. It seemed that possibly the camera crew knew what was up, but the announcers should as hell didn’t.

Now, this is ESPN we’re talking about. They are very TMZ-like with their sports coverage. Remember how many times we got to see Colt McCoy’s now fiancée during Texas football games, and Tim Tebow’s parents during Florida’s games? If they’d have known that Evan and Sammy were a couple, they so would have run that storyline into the ground during the telecast. You know they would!

So I got a good laugh out of that this afternoon!

But back to the happy couple — since Google sent you here and all — Here’s what you need to know. They are both awesome basketball players for The Ohio State University. Both rock the #21 jersey. And if you’re curious, both have Twitter accounts. [Evan's Twitter, Sammy's Twitter]

It’s always such a task when I discover new lipsticks. I do my due diligence by Googling the product, and reading MakeupAlley reviews. The problem for me is that they rarely come from women of color.

Drugstore shades look different on darker skin tones than lighter ones. So, I can’t just look at reviewers’ swatches and say “hey, that looks like it’d look good on me!” I pretty much have to use the trial and error method. (Thankfully CVS has a generous return policy!)

So, what I’m going to try to do a little bit more often, is put up swatches of lipsticks I buy (whether they end up working for me or not) so that other WOC may get a little help before they head to the store.

I’ve mentioned before that I think I’m pretty close to the same shade as Gabrielle Union; except I can only wish my skin tone was a clear and perfect as hers! But I think she’s a good comparison. Medium brown. I don’t own MAC anything (except their lip-erase product), so I can’t give you my foundation number. I don’t know it! See this post for a picture of me. That or my Twitter profile.

So, I’m starting tonight with what I feel are the brown shades of Revlon’s Colorburst lipstick line. And they finally updated their website to include this product. I swatched Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Sienna on my left hand. And I had to buy Chocolate online because no stores carried it in my area. I keep finding that the darker drugstore shades are not available, forcing me to purchase online. I don’t know if it’s because the area I live in is predominantly white, but it’s kind of frustrating. Help a sista out, CVS/Target/Walgreens/etc!

Anyway, below is the first swatch, w/out camera flash. Left-to-right ==> Chocolate, Hazelnut, & Sienna

No, you’re not crazy. That pic is animated. I suggest you click on it because I have some creative transparency set on my blog

And below are the swatches with a camera flash; not animated

See the lip pictures, w/ no flash below. Click them, too, because the transparency fudges stuff up lol. Maybe, when I choose my next blog theme, I’ll pick one that doesn’t use that css setting?

I bought Hazelnut as part of my initial Colorburst haul, and thought it would be too light. It ended up looking very nude-like on my lips. Gave a nice glow for really subtle days. I really, really like Hazelnut.

Sienna is similar to Chocolate, but with a little more red. Mahogany? It looks different photographed than when I look in the mirror. Does that make sense? When I looked in the mirror, my lips looked like they were almost the color of my skin. It does have warm undertones, so that could be why. I seemed to like Chocolate ‘on’ more than Sienna, but I feel the opposite now that I see the 2 shades photographed. If I’m wearing something red, I’ll probably reach for Sienna if I’m going with the subtle lip and done-up eye. If not, Chocolate. I do have red shades, if I want to make my lips the focal point. I don’t know, though. I don’t usually go for the bold lip. I always think I look like a circus clown with a bright lip. Y’all can be the judge when I swatch that set!

So, those are the browns!

I went to campus (again) last night to watch the Ohio State Men’s Basketball team host Illinois, in what was effectively a Big Ten regular season Championship game. If Ohio State won, they’d earn at least a share of the regular season Big Ten title. And since, they did, they helped complete the sweep, as the women already locked up their title weeks ago.

I only decided to go to this game a few days in advance. My cousin, Charlie, and I wanted to see Evan Turner in person because we think he’s off to the NBA. And Charlie’s birthday is this weekend, so I thought a ticket to the game would be a great bday present. (I know. I’m awesome)

So, by the time I got my tickets, all the good seats were loooonnnnggg gone. That was pretty hard for me to accept considering how big of a ticket snob I am. But I put all that aside and soaked up the experience! After all, I’ve already seen the Lady Buckeyes twice! It was time to give the men’s team some love!

Below is a zoomed out picture that accurately displays how far away I was.

Everyone looks so tiny!

Now, behold a zoomed picture of the team after the starting lineups were announced.

See? My camera is oh-so-badass! I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a quality digital camera.

Fujifilm Finepix S2100hd Digital Camera – 10mp 15x Zoom
Price: —

4 used & new available from USD 249.99

Revlon’s done it again!

Lately it seems like Revlon releases a new line of lipwear and I fall sucker for their commercial and decide to try it out. I’m still a lover of the longwear ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick product and wear it rather often, but the new ColorBurst line intrigued me.

Revlon said the feel was lighter, but still creamy/not drying, and the color was vibrant. I like that. I always wanted to like lipglosses, but I smush my lips together too often to commit solely to that type of lip product. Longwears and lipsticks seem to be where I gravitate.

I bought a tube before I even took a look at MakeupAlley’s reviews, and that never happens! Revlon made a “Plum” shade, so that’s the one I grabbed. Usually when lipcolor comes in Plum, it works well with my skintone, and Colorburst was no exception! I absolutely LOVED how it looked on my lips!

Now, I just put it on to see what it would look like. I didn’t test it with food, drink, daily wear or any of those factors I usually do, but I will. I was just very surprised on how great this lipstick looked and felt on my lips. There isn’t going to be an issue with smushing with this product! Kind of felt like I had chapstick on. Seriously! So, I tend to reapply chapstick a few times per day. Surely doing that with lipstick (that feels the same way) won’t be an inconvenience, right?

I recently purchased a lip brush because that is now I want to apply lipsticks from here on out. I actually have pretty full lips and don’t want to look like a crazy lady who can’t “color inside the lines”. It should be here within a week, then I’ll continue with more of my testing. I’m also looking into lipliners.

My only issue is that Revlon does not have this product on their website anywhere. Does anyone else think that’s odd? I want to see all the colors and info. Their website still says the ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick is “new”, which it’s not. THIS product is new. *gives Revlon the side eye*

I made the original draft of this post a week ago and since then, CVS has announced a Revlon BOGO. Perfect timing! Now if only it’d stop snowing long enough for the roads to clear and allow me to get to a CVS store…

Just when I thought the bad TV news was over.

I was reading an article on some tv pilot casting news and saw that one of the stars of the wonderfully hilarious show Better Off Ted, Andrea Anders, had been cast in a new ABC pilot w/ former Friends star Matthew Perry.

Normally when actors are currently starring on a show, but take a job doing another show, it’s not a good sign. As I read on, I saw the forecast for BOT.

For her, the casting is formally in second position to ABC’s sophomore comedy “Ted,” which is not expected to be renewed.

Why do all of the shows I love end up getting canceled or screwed over? It’s like the only shows that get renewed are of the reality variety. *sigh*

I’m a big fan of the TBS show My Boys. You should be too. If you’re not, you don’t know what you’re missing!

Anyway, I was figuring that we’d see new episodes next month (March), and if not then, we’d get the new season in June at the latest.

WRONG!

According to the official show website, My Boys is “returning this fall”.

So, let me get this straight: Tyler Perry (whom I actually like) has 2 shows on TBS right now. And every single Wednesday, whether it’s a new season or re-runs, his shows get to air. Year round. My Boys, on the other hand, only gets to air when there’s a new season. This does not please me, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

All is not lost, though. Jamie Kaler (who plays Mike on the show) has listed the Season 4 premiere date as June via his official website. I hope he’s right and not TBS.

Other peeves with how My Boys is being treated? Why are the seasons so short? They are like 9 episodes long and the most recent one aired its finale on May 26th, 2009! Then they make us wait OVER A YEAR for a new season? Whack. I’m sure I’d still complain, but maybe not as much if they got a 20 episode order like normal cable TV shows. It’s absolutely ridiculous! And couple all of that with the fact that Andy (Jim Gaffigan) isn’t coming back for Season 4, and I’m all that much more angry! Now I can’t confirm that he’s officially not coming back, but taking a look at his Twitter account, pretty much confirms he’s not with the cast. Plus he’s touring. Grrr!

Apparently production on this new season just started and you can keep up with the cast via Facebook or Twitter. They’re posting pics from the set and other entertaining nonsense.

Hurry up, guys!

Who else?

Seriously, if you don’t think she’s exciting to watch, then you’re blind. It’s just as simple as that. Now the Big Ten Network wants you to learn a little bit more about Sammy’s back story.

She played tackle football when she was younger and also engaged in a ton of pick-up hoops games on some of New York’s most notorious courts. Explains a lot!

I love Sammy’s story. I love her boyfriend, Evan Turner’s story. Both wear #21. Both will probably be POY in the Big Ten conference. Makes for a very cute basketball couple, right? That’s what I thought too.

I’m trying to decide which women’s game to go to next!

ETA: If you want to read more about Sammy and her boyfriend, Evan Turner, click here. Ask and Ye Shall Receive…

“The tribe has spoken!”

Ok, the poll for desired Gateway to 8k podcast music has been open a while and I think I have enough data to get started on creating the series.

The majority, 43% of you, want to hear Old School Hip Hop and R&B. Can’t argue with that! I hope y’all are ready for some good tunes from the 90s! I’ve been downloading a lot of SWV, Total, Tony Toni Tone, Biggie, TLC, Janet Jackson, Color Me Badd, Bobby Brown and more! I’ve noticed that this era is what largely makes up my iTunes library, so the more the merrier!

After old school Hip Hop and R&B, you guys want to hear today’s Top 40 hits (23% of your votes). I must admit to not listening to much radio. I can’t stand commercials and I refuse to pay for satellite. However, I do keep up with the Billboard charts, so I know what songs are doing well in the marketplace and airwaves. Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” is the #1 song in the country, and I will definitely have that song on a playlist. Same for the Black Eyed Peas’ “Imma Be”. But y’all already knew there’d be a healthy dose of BEP. I’m a stan.

Coming in 3rd, with 25% of your votes was 80s, baby! There’s just so much to choose from! So, I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun with that as well. This should be a very fun training program for you runners!

So, I’m gonna get started! Now remember, I’m going to make a few weeks’ worth of podcasts before I debut them. I don’t want to have life happen and then force any of you to fall behind because I can’t keep up with making 1 podcast per week. I’ve got built-in “oh shi*t time”, just in case!

Bob Saget is funny. Yea he was super corny on “Full House”, but everyone was corny on there. Everything he’s done since then has been pretty funny and filthy AKA the best kind of comedian. Remember his cameo in Half Baked? Classic.

But this post is not about the past. It’s about what just went down at the Sundance Film Festival. He stopped by the Twitter House to promote his new project (an A&E reality show tentatively titled “Bob Saget’s Strange Days) with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols. In 7 one hour episodes, Bob will join in several AMerican sub-cultures such as rushing a fraternity. Don’t even tell me you don’t want to watch that, because if you do, you’re lying! He talks about that and other funny stuff in the interview.

Tune in to Jones Jukebox to watch the interview in full. You won’t be disappointed. ANd for other entertaining interviews, be sure to check out Steve Jones Radio.