Inside the Mind of Suz

I’ve been curious about this product since I first saw it. Well, to be fair, I learned of the Revlon version (PhotoReady Airbrush Mousse Makeup) first, but after reading so many negative reviews of it (especially for us oily skinned chicas), I decided to pass. Then I heard there was a Maybelline version, called Dream Nude Airfoam Foundation.

Naturally I gravitated towards the Revlon version since they have just owned me lately. That includes their Colorstay Liquid Makeup, which I’ve been using exclusively, in terms of base foundation, for the past year and a half. But hearing the Revlon Airbrush foundation had sparklies immediately turned me off. No, it doesn’t mean there are big chunks or anything, but those don’t look the best on those of us who tend to get oily. I, for one, sometimes end up looking like a shiny penny. Don’t need to add sparkles to that! But aside from that, I also ready other reviews and pretty much none of them came off that impressed, so I didn’t even bother. Maybe some day I will, but it’s not likely.

So, I read and watched a few reviews from women of color (I usually look to them first) and they were surprisingly favorable. So, I decided once I got my hands on some coupons, I’d give it a shot! Read more »

I’ve been a fan of Michael Jackson’s music my entire life. My parents own the vinyl of Off The Wall and sitting together, listening to it, is one of my fondest childhood memories.

So, good or bad, I was going to enjoy the Michael Jackson Glee episode. After all, I was already a fan of the show! But I also noticed that a lot of people, who don’t usually watch, tuned in. ‘Tis the power of MJ’s music!

Various members of the cast performed favorites like “Bad”, “Black or White”, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, and “Human Nature”. But I think my favorite performance was Santana (Naya Rivera) and Sebastian (Grant Gustin) performing “Smooth Criminal” with the guys from 2Cellos. I’m a former orchestra nerd, so I loved the acoustic performance, accompanied by nothing but cellos. Also my brother still plays the cello, and he directed me to their own music video performance. Awesome, right? Just bought it on iTunes as well.

And speaking of iTunes, that version of “Smooth Criminal” is currently flying high on the Top 10 chart (and rising)!

I don’t always like when they do “theme” episodes because, in the past, they’ve detracted from the show’s storyline, but I thought they integrated this one rather well. And it’s prompted me to add even more Michael Jackson hits to my iPod. Thanks, Glee!

By the way, if you’re interested in the guys from 2CELLO, visit their official website for more information!

I had no idea that Obama could sing! Not only do I love Al Green “Let’s Stay Together”, but he sang it so well. Nicely done, Mr. President. I only wish he’d sung a little bit more!

ETA: The President has received such a positive response from this that you can now download it as a ringtone for your phone!

DISCLAIMER: I typically steer clear of politics/religion on here, not because I don’t have beliefs and ideas, but because I’m aware a lot of different groups visit and I don’t want to be too polarizing. This is a happy and positive place (for the most part LOL). Just a personal decision. So, don’t think this means that I’m going political now. I’m not. This post is about music and nothing more.

This is a quick post to share my thoughts on Maybelline’s new SuperStay 14 Hr Lipstick. Before I get started, let me just say that I won’t be switching my allegiance to Maybelline from Revlon.

I was walking through Walmart looking for a specific shade of Revlon’s Lip Butters (I’m still obsessed) and spotted a Maybelline display with new products. I read about them, before-hand, so I knew what they were. I haven’t tried their StainGloss yet due to some negative reviews I’ve read. (The idea is really cool!) But I probably will as curiosity shall get the best of me!

Let me rundown the things I loved:

• The color. I picked Ravishing Rouge, which was a bright red. I lucked out because you can’t really tell from the packaging what shade you’re getting.
• The application. It went on really smooth!
• The color payoff. Very pigmented. So, if you’re looking for a toned-down look, these may not be for you.

These are kind of like my beloved Revlon Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in that you should let them set for a couple of minutes, then you’re good to go. I only had it on for a little while, but I started drinking some pop, and there was very little transfer. More than the Revlon lippie I just mentioned, but not much at all.

I want to say that these could last 14 hours, but I’d be lying because I wasn’t able to test it that long. Let me tell you why… Read more »

…is nearly complete! I’m still on the hunt for Red Velvet, then I think I’ll be finished. Below are the shades that I own!

I wear this product, at some point in the day, every day. I really do treat it like a chapstick and my lips are in great shape as the temperatures start to dip down into the 30s.

With the exception of Tutti Frutti, the shades I own are very pigmented. They would very well, IMO, on women of color. I might have to swatch my collection because all of the swatches I saw, prior to purchase, were only on fair-skinned women. Not such a great indicator for WOC lol. Luckily, I happened to choose well! Generally, I go for the bolder colors, as a rule of thumb. It worked out for this product as well. Read more »

I have, but I wished I had stumbled upon it months ago!

Let me tell you about Earndit. If you’re anything like me, you may work out. (After all, most of you are probably here because of my Couch to 5k podcasts.) Earndit wants to reward you for your hard work and commitment to staying fit.

When I run, I use the Runkeeper app to log my workouts, mileage, and all that good stuff. With Earndit, I connected my Runkeeper account to my newly created Earndit account, and based on my logged activity, I earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards.

The running/working out that you were already doing, FOR FREE, can earn you free stuff? Um yea, I wish I had found this back in April before I started running for the warm season!

Other services, besides Runkeeper, that can be used with Earndit include Nike+, Foursquare, FitBit, EveryTrail, Garmin Connect, and BodyMedia Fit.

I’ve never heard of half of the companies that are offering the gift cards rewards, but honestly I don’t care. They’ll have something I want to have, when the time comes to cash in my points. Health supplements, workout clothing, shoes…

I’m not sure if it’s possible, but my only “issue” with Earndit occurs when I’m not running, and therefore aren’t using a GPS tracker/app for my workouts. I still work out every day, though! I wish I could still earn points towards some of that swag even if I’m not out n’ about, ya know? Is that even possible? If it is, then it’s soooo on y’all!

So, I highly recommend you give Earndit a look. If you were running already, why not get rewarded with some free stuff for doing so. Win-win, right? Let me know what you think!

I’ve been really lazy, in terms of my post frequency, but I had to share my thoughts on a new Revlon lip product, their Colorburst Lip Butters.

Now, you probably saw my 2 month-old post about “discovering” the beauty section at “Bed, Bath, & Beyond”, right? The day I took those, was the day I found the lip butters. According to a few beauty blogs, Revlon released them to BB&B before the traditional drugstores, so that’s what lead me to BB&B.

Once I got them home, I immediately tried them and fell in love. Granted, most of Revlon’s lip products have struck a chord with me, but these were like… perfect? They look like lipsticks in the packaging, and even apply like them. But they wear like chapsticks. No, seriously!

At first I thought I was just overreacting because that’s how the product was initially described. (Back then, it wasn’t on Revlon’s website, and no press release had been sent out) But it really was true! I started telling my friends about it and soon they, too, were on the hunt for these wonderful Lip Butters. Once they finally found them, they completely agreed with my assessment that, not only were they amazing, but that they really did feel like chapstick!

And not only that, but the products claim “94% of women felt lips were softer, smoother, and instantly hydrated”. That’s because the main ingredients are Mango Butter, Shea Butter and Coconut Butter. Now, I know there are many “medicated” lip products out there, but these seem to work really well! I mean, I usually sleep with Blistex Medicated Ointment on, but I still felt a difference from wearing these new Lip Butters for a few days! (I may start sleeping w/ them on, to be quite honest)

I got 3 shades (as you can see above) Fig Jam, Raspberry Pie, and Candy Apple. You can easily see the shade through the top of the container, so it’s not a guessing game as is the case with some lip products. I picked Fig Jam because it was a brown that I thought would be a good neutral for me. And boy was I right! It’s perfect! I’ve literally been wearing it as my “chapstick” the past few days. I reapply a little after eating, but I would have done that for chapstick too. And because it’s my “nude”, I don’t need a mirror or anything. Perfect! Even though this is a permanent line, and not Limited Edition (which I was afraid of) I’m going to be sure to buy a backup or two, of Fig Jam because I have a feeling I’m going to run through those suckas!

The other two shades I got were Candy Apple (a bright, fun strawberry red) and Raspberry Pie (a medium berry/magenta pink). I’ve worn all these colors, and loved them, but Fig Jam has my hard for its versatility.

I will be getting more colors because I’m obsessed. Red Velvet, Lollipop, Sweet Tart, Sugar Plum, Pink Truffle, Cherry Tart, Tutti Frutti (coral), stand out. If you’re wondering, those, combined w/ the 3 I already own, are the most pigmented shades I’ve seen. A shade like Sugar Frosting and/or Creamsicle, will do absolutely nothing for me or probably anyone else without naturally light pink lips lol. No, I don’t need them to necessarily be full-coverage lipsticks, but I’d still like even the lightest shade I purchase to at least show up!

Judging from how many regular ColorBurst lipsticks I currently own (10 total), there’s no doubt I’ll probably break down and buy a bunch of these as well. This is always how it starts. Revlon created a Monster!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about makeup (I know, what’s wrong with me), so here’s one for the masses!

I was at the grocery store today, and like any other trip, I just had to walk past the makeup aisles to see if there was anything new. And of course there was! My favorite drugstore brand, Revlon, had a nice display up advertising their “Spice It Up” Holiday line.

Now, usually my grocery store doesn’t get the special displays and limited edition products, so I was already pleasantly surprised. Then I saw it… the beautiful purple shaded Colorburst lipgloss. I’d been on the hunt for a drugstore purple lip color (still looking for Maybelline’s ColorSensational The Jewels Limited Edition lipstick in Amethyst Ablaze), so when I saw this gloss, officially named Decadent, there was no way I was leaving the store without my own tube!

I was already a Revlon Colorburst disciple. I have 10 lipsticks already, and had 3 of the relatively new glosses. Today, I added 2 more glosses to my collection; the aforementioned Decadent as well as a sparkly clear shade called “Chilled Frappe”. If you’re familiar with the Superlustrous line, it favors “Shine City” without any hint of pink (look at my pic above). Read more »

So, it’s no secret that I have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with my ISP and cable provider, Time Warner. Today added another chapter to the book.

I don’t know what’s going on, but there have been City of Columbus workers prowling our street and marking the electrical lines. I don’t know if they hit something they shouldn’t have or it’s Time Warner sucking as usual, but we haven’t had internet, or CABLE TV, allllll day!

Now, I’ve been watching my newly acquired “Best of the Cosby Show” DVD, but I also have my iPhone’s wonderfully fast 3G connection. This is the best part of us at least having full power. I can stay on my phone indefinitely. After a while, I got tired of typing on my little keyboard and decided it was time to get on a freaking computer!

So, I downloaded MyWi from the Cydia store and it has provided the entire house with a WiFi hotspot in which to connect to. My brother was going a little crazy too, so I figured I’d throw him a bone too!

Everything’s running smoothly as I write this post. I have a 3 day trial and then will be prompted to purchase MyWi. It’s so easy to use, I might just consider it. The only reason I wouldn’t, other than the $20 price tag, is that I only seem to need something like this in a power or internet outage. It happens rather infrequently. Decisions, decisions.

And yes, I know that our official carriers want us to use a special and overpriced tethering plan for situations like this. But those start at $20 per month and I don’t need this on a monthly basis. That would be highway robbery! If I only need to tether once every 3-4 months, there’s no way in hell I’m adding an extra $20 to my monthly bill, just in case. Now, if you’re one of those people who are constantly traveling or away from your usual connection, and need to tether a lot, you probably should invest in an official tethering plan. /disclaimer

Anyway, I thought I’d share my experience just in case my fellow jailbroken iPhone users find themselves in a similar situation! Who ya gonna call? Not the Ghostbusters, but MyWi!

This won’t be the first time I’ve mentioned the wonderful 3rd party backup app, PkgBackup, here. When reviewing competing app, iBye, I frequently compared the two products, with PkgBackup winning my endorsement. But all my previous dealings with PkgBackup dealt merely with the backup process. I’d never used it for a restore… That is, until Sunday night!

I upgraded to 4.3.3 (since I’d been on 4.2.1 since I got my iPhone 4 on NYE) so I could use the now-patched jailbreakme.com exploit. It was sooooo easy! If you’re thinking about jailbreaking — and you totally should — do NOT upgrade to 4.3.4. You can still jailbreak, but it’ll be a little more difficult. Visiting jailbreakme.com, prompts you to press a button twice, and you’re jailbroken within a minute. Seriously. Perfect for jailbreaking noobs!

But, on to my restore. PkgBackup put my stuff back on my phone rather quickly. After a reboot, my folders were back, with the apps already in them as before. My settings from the MyProfiles app were already applied, as well. I was amazed!

I had a bit of a snafu with restoring the AppStore app data. The data didn’t want to transfer over (which was probably due to user error, AKA me), but I ended up trading 4-5 emails with the developer, Jibril Gueye, who walked me through suggestions on how to get my data back on my phone. The data from my banking app, WordPress, photo editing settings, Awesome Note, and 2do are now all fully restored on my iPhone and things are running smoothly. And, mind you, this correspondence with the dev all took place within 24 hours; sometimes immediately after I fired off a reply! Now that’s customer service, folks. PkgBackup is worth the $7.99 price tag for that alone!

So, after finally performing a restore with the software, I still fully recommend PkgBackup to anyone and everyone who has a jailbroken iPhone. That doesn’t change with Apple’s upcoming iCloud. I’m guessing they won’t be backing up 3rd party data, so there will still be a market for this wonderful app. Do yourself a favor and get it now!