New Year, new thoughts!!! Ok, not really...some new and some that have been gurgling for awhile ha ha :-)  

***Links are to previous posts and Pinterest.

You know me...any excuse to show a clip from one of my favorite silly movies! But it does lead me into the first Beauty Thoughts topic: Then & Now! 

THEN (last and in previous years): Slightly obsessed with eyeshadows and finding the textures, colors and formulas I loved. Also busy trying to create the perfect smokey eye (never really quite happened), and trying to find liner that wouldn't crease and trying to find mascara that would give me some semblance of lashes and that wouldn't flake or smudge. 

NOW: As mentioned in THIS post, I'm not so obsessed anymore and generally just not into it. As far as shadows, I find I much prefer a clean, no eye makeup look which over the past couple of months has meant a wash of the Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder. I've worn this mostly alone, but sometimes with Burberry Rosewood or Japonesque single in shade 5. Either way it's still a very clean, unencumbered look!

Liner - I've found some nice liners, but just don't reach for them. Partly because I don't like being paranoid that they are going to crease (even if they've proven otherwise, with primer of course) and keep checking the mirror all day, and partly because if I do wear liner I have to make a very wide line so that I can see it when my eyes are open #AsianMonolidProbs - and I'm just kind of over that in general...too much work to make it look even and all. 

Mascara - I slightly gave up on mascara last year, then decided to try again, then gave up again. I think maybe this time for good. Who am I kidding...not for good, but at least for a good long while!! Maaaaaybe 1/4 of my lashes show when my eyes are open. Maybe #AsianMonolidProb2. So that means my lids weigh down on a good 3/4 of my lashes...which means my lashes can't hold a curl and my oily lids are a war zone for any mascara. With mascara, at best, my lashes will stick straight out. Even with lengthening mascaras, my lids just put too much weight on my lashes to make any real and lasting difference. Which leads me to the next Then & Now!

THEN: All these tutorials tell me I need to make a crease. That I look best with lashes curled (see above for that problem). That I should do fake lashes, because full and voluminous lashes look best no matter your ethnicity. And if I don't do fake lashes, that I should consider extensions or getting my lashes temporarily curled in a salon. That a smokey eye looks good on anyone. That giving my eyes definition is the way to go. 

NOW: First of all, all that sh*t takes time. It already takes me long enough to do my simple makeup (15 min at least & that's not including lipstick!), and even if I'm going out...IDK...I just don't wanna. And by sh*t I don't actually mean it IS sh*t, I just mean that for me personally it's stuff that I would rather not mess with. Second, I feel like anything but a clean eye look makes me look tired. Especially after a long work day, where my face ends up with a lot of red (especially my eyes, as in my eyeballs!), my makeup doesn't look crisp anymore and no amount of touching up makes me look fresh - you know...when the best thing is just to remove all your makeup??!!! Minimal eye makeup = minimal scare factor at the end of the day! 

Third...what's wrong with NOT doing all of that??? Why do I need to look like everyone else??? Why do I need to make a crease (or create depth) - I don't have one anyway, so what's wrong with that...why can't I celebrate my monolid-ness instead of trying to make it look like I have a 'Western' eye when clearly I do not??? Seriously. I'm not fooling anyone!! 

So yeah...minimal shadow look...no mascara...no liner...been looking to pics like these for inspiration...

I realize these ladies are sporting mascara and such, but the point is a minimal eye look can be beautiful! We don't all have to have crazy big lashes and stuff to rock it out! 

THEN: Being fairly willy-nilly with purchases. In the past six months, purchases were more thought out and I returned a little less than I normally do...but overall I still spent a lot of time browsing, 'researching' and buying stuff, especially online...even if it was just toothpaste or water filters on Amazon LOL #ILoveAmazonPrime

NOW: I've had an epiphany of sorts, and realized much of my buying is out of boredom. At least I think? Here's the situation...where I currently live, I don't have many friends and my family isn't around so it's mostly just my Husband and me. When I'm not working I'm either too tired to do anything or don't want to be bothered to go anywhere because I hate driving where we are and it takes at least 30-40 min to get anywhere worthwhile. So I'm home a lot...and therefore have a lot of free time on my hands. You'd think, oh Gummy why don't you blog more or workout or do something productive??? Haaaaa ha ha!!! Yeah, no. Why do that when I can Pinterest, look on Instagram, watch Netflix or YouTube???!!! Or browse, 'research' and shop online?!!! Plus it's exciting to get packages, it takes time to try everything out (beauty) or on (fashion). It takes time to decide if it's worth keeping. Then it takes more time if I package it up to send it back. See...shopping is a total time waster!! 

The good news is that we are in the process of moving to a different state - YAY!! We are moving close to my family, and have a few friends there as well. It's also an area where I've lived before, and also close to an area where I spent much of my growing up. Plus, I don't mind driving there at all. And there's enough to do close by, and even driving anywhere else isn't bad! 

So my theory is that with more to do, and more people to spend time with, I won't be shriveling away...tap tap tapping on the phone or laptop trying to figure out what to buy next. Of course, I do realize I haven't actually put my theory into practice yet, but I feel like even recognizing this is a really good step!!! ***EDIT: I went back and read my last Beauty Thoughts IV, and that totally goes along with all this...when I have other things to think about and do, I lose interest. Ack that's such an obvious statement, but somehow took 2 posts to finally put it so simply LOLOL :-P

xo, Gummy :-)