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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

"If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

Hello! As you may have seen on TV recently, there is a trailer for a new movie titled "If I stay" based off the book "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman. I was automatically intrueged by this commercial appearing on my television screen. I thought I had heard of a book by the same title. Later in the month of July, I was gifted this book.

Description on the back cover: 
"On a day that started like any other... Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left-the most important decision she'll ever make.
 Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving."

What I expected from this book: 
           From what I had seen of the movie trailer and from what I had read from the back cover, I had somewhat high expectations. I mean, I figure a book has to be pretty emotional and riveting to make it to the point where someone want to make it a movie. I thought I was going to get emotional. The type where I'm laying in bed reading before falling asleep, and I'm sobbing my eyes out. I wanted to feel an attachment to the main character - a strong one! I imagined the story to be mainly focused on the love life and relationship between Mia, the main character, and her boyfriend, Adam. I was prepared to have my heart bubble in that happy way when you know two people are really in love. I imagined a charming family. I figured that after reading this book, I would feel grateful. The sort of feeling where you run around for a week hugging everyone you know. It was easy to say that I wanted to feel this book in my heart and grow an attachment to it.

What I got when reading "If I Stay":
          Let's start off with our characters. Mia, our main character. She came off as a sort of mouse-y sort of girl. A sort of dull girl surrounded by her eccentric rock n' roll family. She's the sort of girl you don't really look twice at. In a way, this is nice, she's a regular person like you or me. Although, I feel that she could have had some sort of stand out physical feature. Something as simple as soft skin, or long lashes. One thing I really liked, was her passion for playing the cello. The whole "playing cello" thing almost felt like it was brought up too much in the story, but it's part of her, so it's acceptable. Mia also tended to be a downer.  Sure, her immediate family had all just died in a car crash, but she seemed to refuse to see the light in the life she still had. People tried to break into the ICU to see her. Her grandpa told her how much he wanted her to stay. Her best friend told her how much she needed Mia to be there with her, and Mia seemed to take that as 'sure, you can leave me and die'... like no. That's not what she just said. Thank God for her boyfriend. Adam is sort of Mia's opposite in some ways. He's a great character, but I wish we could have had it elaborated to us just how good looking he is. Maybe a great jawline? Nice hair? Muscles? They did say he had good eyes though. Not to mention, Mia also disliked going to her boyfriend's band's concerts. She didn't even bother to fake enjoying having fun. At least she was honest. Kim, Mia's best friend was actually quite like-able and interesting. Same for Mia's entire family and their family friends that are mentioned.
As far as romance goes... there was about one scene in this entire book that was intimate between Mia and Adam. They were pretending to play each other as instruments. Until the end of the book, most of their memories together are them being sad with each other. Instead of hearing about her debating on going to Julliard one more time, we could have had a cute couple scene? That would have been fun to read.
At the end of this book, I didn't really have that over-whelming feeling of being grateful. I had bouts of the feeling while I was reading the book, so that was pleasant.

Compared To The Movie (or at least the trailer):
Full Movie Trailer Here
This book right here? Yes this one. I believe that the movie is going to be better than the book. I rarely feel that way. I just feel as if this movie is going to tear my heart out more than the book ever did. I cannot wait to see this movie. (It's coming out late August 2014.) I just think that this will capture me more. The book was a good read, but it didn't have me itching to read it for three hours straight like some do. When watching the movie, we can hear Mia play the cello, we can hear the symphony. I don't know about you, but I don't know what all of these symphonies played on the cello sound like, but while I was reading the book I wish I did. I wish I could hear Adam's band playing. While watching the movie, it will be easier to do so. With the movie, I think I will finally get the romance I was hoping for.

Overall, this was a really good book. It just didn't grasp me the way I wanted it to. I would recommend it for some one to read since it does make you think. What if you were in Mia's position?

Monday, June 23, 2014

Lorac Pro Palette


This last winter, I invested in something with more quality... the Lorac Pro Palette! Easy to say, I fell in love the instant it arrived in the mail. With 16 different shades, I thought it seemed like more of a deal at $42 compared to any of the Naked palettes at around $50 that contain less shade variations. The palette contains 8 matte colors (top row) and 8 shimmer colors (bottom row). I enjoy both shimmer and matte shades, so I decided this was the palette for me. Let us get into a break down of the shades...
Lets begin with the top row, or matte shades.

White: This is your basic highlighter. Pure white. Tends to not have terribly much color pay off.
Cream: A highlighter color with a pink tint. When using more rose-colored looks, I use this as my highlighter. Again, not as vibrant color pay off.
Taupe: A great base or crease color! Taupe is one of my favorite matte shades. Reminds me of the same color as a latte. Color pay off comes off the same as it looks in the palette.
Lt. Pink: Great color pay off for such a light color. I enjoy using this one to lighten up some of my looks.
Mauve: Oh, mauve. This color is my absolute favorite color in the palette. When on, it gives odd a more brown tint on the skin. Absolutely love this one. Goes great with light pink and cream.
Sable: Sable is a bit more of a dark color. A good crease color.
Espresso: Comes off as an extreme dark brown. I can substitute as a soft eyeliner.
Black: Just as it says: black. Can work as a less-harsh or soft eyeliner.

Onto shimmers...

Nude: Very light highlight. It is a very light skin-tone color. The lighter of the shimmer highlights.
Champagne: A bit darker than nude, Champagne is just a touch more pink than nude.
Gold: My favorite of the shimmers. I adore this one as much as I adore Mauve. The color payoff is gorgeous. Will make you feel like a golden goddess.
Lt. Bronze: This beautiful color goes great with gold, it's darker partner in crime.
Pewter: Comes off as a brown color. Very dark. Great for night time looks.
Garnet: In the palette, it looks to be a more orange color, but when on, it looks much more like a bright right.
Deep Purple: The color pay off is that off an eggplants color... and eggplant that shimmers.
Slate: A metallic dark grey. Great for night time looks.

I use this palette A LOT. It's great for every day looks and for special occasion looks. It's worth the $42 that it costs. The colors all look even more stunning on when used with a primer. My descriptions were based off what the colors look like without primer.

If interested in the Lorac Pro Palette: Click Here
(P.S. The palette comes with a sample sized tube of Lorac's primer!)

Thanks for reading!
Bridgette

Friday, June 20, 2014

Jordana Twist & Shine


So, being the sucker that I am, I tend to get suckered in by good deals on cosmetics when I see them. This tends to happen frequently at my local Walgreens. They tend to have deals such as "Buy one, get one 50% off"! Seeing this on already inexpensive products makes me think 'Well, why not give it a try?'. So I did.

I first bought two of Jordana's Twist & Shine moisturizing Balm Stains months ago. One even got bumped around in my bag so much that the silver print on the side got worn off. (Whoops!) Then a few days ago, I decided to buy two more. They are basically a cheaper version of Revlon's balm stains that will cost you about $8, where as the Jordana Balm Stains will cost you about $3 a piece at full price. They also compare to Tarte's LipSurgence Lip Tints. Being so inexpensive, you tend to take a chance with the quality. So, how did I turn out?


  • Nude Chic: I'm going to be honest. This was one of the colors that you could say I really took a chance on. Thank goodness I didn't have super high expectations for it since I was a bit disappointed. When put on my lips, it gave just about zero color. Only sparkle. Way too much sparkle. 


  • Candied Coral: They did not lie in the name. This IS coral. Lots of color pay-off. There can be a sheen with this one, but I don't see sparkles. This is probably one of the most impressive of the four that I own. It's a color perfect for summer, and the color pay-off is ah-maze-ing.


  • Rock n Rouge: How can I say this...? It's the perfect shade of red. It's not orange-y, but a deep, classic red that will really stain your lips even after you try and wipe it off. It isn't dry, nuh-uh. There is a sheen to it, caused by the small amount of sparkle in it. Sorry, matte lip-lovers.


  • Honey Love: Ohhh, Honey. This color. It comes off a bit purple-tinted, but not in a bad way! In a good way. I think this is a color that could work for lots of skin tones. There is no sparkle with this one. It is not matte, but does not give off a lot of shine. It's a good color for an everyday look Good color pay-off. Possibly my favorite.


Out of the four that I own and have tried, I only had one fluke. I can accept that. I think the more vibrant the color, or less of a nude, the better your chances of getting your money's worth will be. I'm very pleased with what I have. I mean, only $3 for these babies? You can't go wrong.

Link to Balm Stain's here, where you can find out additional information such as: Long Lasting, Paraben-Free, Retractable, and made in the USA.