#that ugly coral lipstick

[toychest321]

Infographic coming out once better quality pics of her are released but what the actual fuck. Like? This is genuinely horrendous??? Easily the worst of the line by far by just how much potential was missed, it truly shows just how little thought they're putting into these designs. Mattel should feel ashamed to be releasing something this low quality

[blazevillains]

hate lip stain ads because every time i think i am watching someone apply a beautiful coral blue or rich emerald green lipstick and they WIPE IT OFF to reveal an ugly shitass pink. FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Vil Schoenheit Halloween Personal Story: Part 3

"Becoming who you want to be"

(Part 1) (Part 2) Part 3

[Pomefiore Dorm – Lounge]

Vil: Vil Schoenheit presents: Beauty Session for Halloween Week

Vil: Finally, it's Floyd the Mummy… I'll show you the makeup that will pair well with your mummy man costume.

Floyd: Why am I the only one who had to get my face washed again…?

Vil: Don't open your mouth so wide! Don't turn towards me!!

Floyd: Ow! That's my head you're grabbing…

Vil: You're supposed to be a mummy revived from its casket… Let's try to show an inorganic and dry texture.

Vil: The base makeup needs to use a strong matte foundation. Carefully use a puff to pat it down.

Vil: Use a concealer to kill the signs of life in your lips and use a blue-based lipstick.

Vil: Although usually its visibility on stage is low and is normally frowned upon, perhaps we should use lamé here?

Vil: You'll be up close and personal with the general public, since it's a live event, after all.

Floyd: Ooooh～! It's totally different! Is that really me in the mirror?

Vil: Fufu. There's no magic involved, either.

Floyd: ? Come to think of it, Betta-chan-senpai, your vibe's a little different today, ain't it?

Floyd: I mean, you're still as scary as usual, though.

Ace: Now that you mention it…

Ruggie: Yeah, his intensity during the fashion checks he did to Leona-san was completely different from this.

Vil: How rude. I simply cannot tolerate sloppy people who lay around and neglect making a proper effort.

Vil: You all have been positive and willing to learn about the makeup for Halloween.

Vil: I do not dislike teaching those who are willing to learn.

Rook: I agree, I also noticed that Vil is enjoying himself more than usual.

Floyd: Hmm～ Maybe if I also did all this stuff like Betta-chan-senpai does, even makeup can be fun?

Floyd: I'm from the Coral Sea, right? Makeup's such a pain when you're livin' underwater.

Floyd: Hm? Oh, wait? But Azul wears makeup every day with his dorm uniform, even though we both come from the same ocean.

Floyd: Oh right, Azul said that the Sea Witch would wear tons of makeup even under the sea, and always keep up her appearance.

Floyd: Maybe he's just trying to copy those legends of her?

Vil: It's good to be curious. That's right, all fashion gets its roots from somewhere.

Vil: From something as deep as cultural backgrounds, to something as trivial as imitating your friends…

Floyd: D'you got something like that too, Betta-chan-senpai?

Vil: For me, my father's influence is quite strong.

Rook: Vil's father is also an actor. They are a whole family of performers.

Vil: My father would fly all around the world for his filming. However, that did not mean he left his child at home…

Vil: He would take me to set. And there I was in for a surprise!

Vil: That's because every time I went to see him, he would have transformed completely. One day he was an old man. The next, a young man.

Vil: When he played the role of that Monster Hero, fighting with his long claws, I believed that my father was protecting the world.

Vil: I cried once, when cosmetics for a serious injury genuinely surprised me.

Vil: And whenever he would greet the audience on stage, he would return to that wonderful father, dressed to the nines with his makeup on point.

Vil: That is how I naturally began to understand it. Makeup is neither the control of beauty or ugliness, or is it an intuitive art.

Vil: It is created on the logic of becoming who you want to be…

Vil: Beauty is created, not given. It is for those who know their path to their ideal, and strives towards that goal.

Vil: That is why I love makeup. I love fashion. I love the me who loves fashion.

Vil: Whew… I was so swept up but your own motivation that I spoke for a little too long. My apologies.

Ace: Uh, so, you're saying that your dad's a movie actor…

Floyd: My old man's favorite movie's got a monster hero in it that fought with some long claws…

Ruggie: Is it possible that…

Ortho: Displaying keyword search results. The actor’s name retrieved from the cast list is…

Ortho: "Eric Venue."

Ruggie/Ace/Floyd: EEEEHHH～～～!! THAT FAMOUS ACTOR IS HIS FATHER!?

Silver: But his last name isn't Schoenheit.

Vil: It's obviously a stage name. Alright, break time is over.

Vil: Stop looking around and face the mirror!

Floyd: Ow! You grabbed my head again…

Vil: EVERYONE IS FINISHED!

Ruggie/Ace/Jamil: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Silver/Ortho/Floyd: THANK YOU!

Vil: It's too early for you to relax. Every single student will need to be able to apply it the same.

Everyone: YESSIR!

Silver: Now then, if you will excuse me.

Ortho: Saving today's lecture. Uploading the video to the cloud.

Floyd: When I get back to the dorm, I gotta show Azul and Jade all this.

Ace: I wonder if I'll be able to teach all my upperclassmen good enough～ If I mess up, the Dorm Leader'll get mad at me.

Jamil: You're not shy when talking to your elders, so you'll be fine. Even in the Basketball club, you get along better with the third years than we do.

Floyd: Want me to come over to your dorm and teach it for you, Kani-chan?

Ace: No, anything but that…

[Pomefiore Dorm – Vil's Room]

Rook: Good work today, Vil. With this, the quality of our school's Halloween has just increased.

Rook: Everything will be fine. You should rest up, especially for your skin with all the makeup you've used today.

Vil: That was my intention, but something occurred to me while I was talking about my father.

Vil: Would it be possible to use not only stage makeup, but also special movie makeup for horror films?

Rook: Beauté! That's a great idea!

Vil: I'll use all the techniques I've learned in the acting field and show them the greatest Halloween ever.

Vil: I am no longer Vil Schoenheit. Instead, I am classical and elegant, the pinnacle of royalty.

Vil: The Monsters of Monsters―

Vil: A VAMPIRE!!

Vil: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

(Part 1) (Part 2) Part 3

[musubiki]

do you have anything you can share with us about Mermaid GF??? 🥺

aaa i have some stuff!!! not super fleshed out though and super subject to change!!!

- so far my favorite design is that koi fish mermaid i drew back in july so im gonna stick with that for now.,,,

- she still doesnt have a name,...some contenders are just koi (me being uncreative), tofu, soy, (adzuki is also a cute name!! name her after beans!!!!)

- im using that same mermaid lore i used a while back for a mermaid au: the way mermaids work is they all have items they carry with them that if they give it to a human, they can turn human too (so long as its in that humans possession. they cant return to the ocean and be a mermaid until said human gives their item back)

- that being said, im not sure what her item is yet!! probably pearls she wears around her tail!! gives them to oscar when she wants to come on land and be around him!!!

- i like to think shes pretty bubbly..,..very upbeat and excited about life..,,sweet and a little bit dumbass (but they all are so she kinda fits right in)

- her and mochi have a beef. theres a huge rivalry between the witches and the mermaids. probably dates back thousands of years to some sour grapes but basically now they hate each other. its also a bit of a pride/power thing, similar to the BU bear vs shark debate. on land the witch is the top magical creature but plot them into the ocean and the mermaids can kill their asses so its a bit of a fight there

- they both talk enough shit to get on each others nerves. when mermaid gf first came around to see oscar mochi was like NO. absolutely not. put that thing back where you got it or so help me-

- and of course oscar wont disobey her, he owes her a lot. but also it makes him sad. new friend gone :(. and lime has to be like "get your ass over here mochi we have to have a TALK." and gives her a scolding about being mean to oscars mermaid gf just because shes a mermaid

- eventually mochi is like fine youre right. oscars been through enough he can have this. goes up to oscar and goes "(sighh) i wont stop you from hanging out with mermaid gf" and hes HAPPY!!

- (worth noting at that point he doesnt.....particularly care? shes cute and all but he doesnt really know her, he just feels bad about mochi sending her away when mermaid gf just wanted to befriend him)

- her and mochi never really stop fighting. but they reach the point of friendship one day. still fire off insults and stereotypical jabs but they come to understand each other eventually (i believe at one point mermaid gf even protects mochi against the other mermaids trying to kill her)

- in terms of magic, mermaids are closer to like. the rock monsters and tree spirits than the mages and witches, despite being part humanish. this is because their magical features are inherint rather than gifted by the gods or whatever

- that being said, theyre not capable of the kind of magic witches or mages can use. but they have abilities like the turning human through the item thing i mentioned, and they also have special coral they can morph into any kind of weapon/object

- bouncing off that, mermaids are masters of arms!!! theres a few fighting types in tcwg, and aside from magic fighting and hand to hand combat, theres also weaponized combat which is what the mermaids are best at !!! they all carry a piece of coral they can morph into weapons when they need!! (mermaid gf here prefers a polearm, i believe.)

- shes veeeerrrrryyyy flexible

- perfect wavy hair all the time

- mermaids have natural eyeshadow and lipstick that matches their tails. its who they are as a species. they also have very long eyelashes and it makes witches go GRRRRR cuz witches are always seen as ugly old hags

- i want her to have a koi/ocean patterned wrap skirt when on land !!!!!

- her and coco are chill with each other. coco is like yooooo wanna try peanut butter on a spoon? and shes like YESSSSSS

- her and taffy are also chill. she looks at him for a long time, seems to remember he tried to kill mochi in the past, then goes "witches are the worst, amiright?" and he kind of cringes and goes "i am not the man i used to be-"

- she never becomes a member of the guild. but i consider her to be one of the various characters that just show up sometimes like sulluvan or the merchant or corvus. definately not a constant character but she shows up occasionally!! (i believe shes also timeskip-exclusive)

[merryfortune]

5 Heart of Heartland

Written for ZeXal Rare Pair Week

Day 5. Matching Outfits/Clothes Swap | Lipstick | Paparazzi

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal

Ship: not applicable | Akari/Droite

Rating: T

Word Count: 1,750

Tags: Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Inspired by Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure, Mermaid Droite, Past/Referenced Akari/Charlie, Indirect Kiss

   With a gentle plink not fitting how violently that it had been lobbed into the water, the tube of lipstick hit the surface of the water before it fell deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean. Right until it bumped into Droite’s forehead as she swam.

   She blinked, recoiling, she scanned her surroundings, her hackles rising as she tried to work out what had hit her before realising she was being unduly paranoid. She couldn’t help herself though. Having the tail end of an octopus gave someone an unusual affinity for anxiety and as Droite looked straight on again, bemusement gave way to curiosity.

   Just… what was that? She asked herself in thought as she reached for it. She held onto it delicately, it felt like dead coral on her fingertips but far too smooth. When she pinched it, she was able to remove it and was surprised by the inside: a glaring red colour but it didn’t appear to be a tongue.

   Droite was not a romantic, she swears, but she was also very much on her way to the realm of romanticism. This object being a token of the human world, the very one she wanted to see with her own eyes. Her heart raced. This had to be a good omen and so, she stowed it away safely and kept swimming into the lighter, shallower waters.

   It was not for a good reason but Droite had her motivations as to why she was even swimming outwards and upwards to begin with. Her kind were best situated even below the fathoms of coral castles and palaces of princessly fish. The octopi mermaids, like herself, were outcasts and unwelcome anywhere that got so much as a gleam of sunlight. Not even always out of foreboding distrust from the more beautiful or elegant of mermaids, but merely because their own biology disliked it.

   Hence why Droite had chosen when it was darkness to attempt her ascent. She needed to see it. Just once. That world of humans. She needed to know if it was better or worse than the destiny that had cast its spell when she had emerged from her egg as an octopus. She had been… propositioned by rebels seeking an upheaval of the social order. No longer would the octopi or other “ugly” creatures of the underworld be kept under the fin of the more beautiful. 

   Honestly, Droite wasn’t even that interested, she was perfectly content alone and in the bottom of the craters of the ocean, but she was curious all the same. Why not strive to live better if it was possible, if it was worth it, she mused.

   It being worth it was exactly why Droite was so sceptical, her kind, smothered by that strata of beauty and species, were quite lacking in what was called motivational power. So, she just needed to know if it was worth all the damn effort first before she decided and the only way she could decide was if she saw the humans first. They were going to play a role in this revolution one way or another, if they wanted to or not, as they were rich in that pesky magic that Droite wasn’t exactly burgeoning with.

   Droite held tightly onto that foreign object she had encountered and felt her gills swell with water, as much water as they could hold, and she swam up. She broke through the surface of the water and pulled herself up onto whatever leverage she could find.

   She hefted herself up over a rock ledge, it left cuts and scrapes on her flesh, the outcrop poking and prodding her as she struggled. Her ‘tail’ flailed as her legs spasmed. Droite held tightly onto the water that she had kept with her as she expended so much effort. Too much effort. This human world stuff was absolutely not going to be worth it, she was quickly coming to the conclusion of as she finally - finally - made it onto the edge and she looked up.

   “Whoa…” Droite breathed to herself. She hardly recognised her voice out of the water but she was amazed by what she saw.

   The night sky and all its stars without the filter of water. Droite had only heard tall tales about just how beautiful they were and none compared. They were gorgeous, she soaked in the starlight, and the moonlight, and even the light pollution that the nearby city was casting in all its prismatic glory.

   Actually, maybe, she thoguht to herself, maybe this human world stuff could be worth the effort, Droite found herself tentatively retracting her previous statements. The side of her ribcage aching as she kept that water tight in her gills. 

   “Whoa…”

   Droite paused her awe. She knew she sounded off outside of the water, as she had just discovered, but not that off. That sounded like a completely different voice to her own, like a completely… different… person’s… voice…

   Terror began to stricken inside of her as Droite turned her head. She had never considered herself stupid until this moment. She and a human were both sitting on the same rocky ledge hidden away in some cove on the beach. The human appeared to be female and also appeared just as awestruck as her for having seen a mermaid for the first time. Not because of the stars, Droite was willing to assume.

   “What are you?” she asked, far too eager. “Who are you?”

   Droite stiffened. She was lunged at, her hands snatched up and grabbed. She was pulled closer and she got up close and personal with this human. Her eyes were wide and sparkling.

   “I’m Tsukumo Akari and I’m a journalist and you could just be the- what the…?”

   Droite was let go, at least momentarily. The human, now identified as being of the biological sub-species Tsukumo Akari, only took her one hand and she turned it over. She gently unpeeled Droite’s webbed fingers from the object that Droite had found earlier and had almost forgotten that she had been holding, having been swept up in the childlike excitement of seeing stars for the first time.

   “Why do you have this?” Akari asked, sounding beat up and annoyed now. Akari turned the object over and found an engraving at the bottom of the tube, one that Droite hadn’t noticed previously as it was so small. “It’s mine. It was mine, before I threw it… into the ocean.”

   “What is it?” Droite asked.

   “It's a tube of lipstick.” Akari told her and then chuckled half-heartedly. “Do mermaids not have lipstick? Or any kind of makeup?” She sounded like she was chastising herself for being insane.

   “No, we don’t…” Droite mumbled in reply.

   “Here, I’ll show you what it's for, if you’d like.” Akari offered her.

   “I’d… like that.” Droite replied, stiff. She wasn’t sure how much more time she could spend with this human before she would need to refill her gills but she had an odd feeling that it might just be worth almost suffocating on land for. Whatever this lipstick stuff was.

   Akari smiled a pitiful smile as she uncapped the lipstick and rolled it up. She shook out the salt water, as much as she could from it, and then approached Droite. She recoiled but then softened as Akari urged her with just a gesture of her eyebrows alone. Droite felt her nerves prickle as Akari applied the lipstick, unsurprisingly, to her lips.

   Despite its attempted drowning in the ocean, the lipstick applied wondrously. Clean and smooth, like velvet on Droite’s lips. All of her hearts, all three of them, fluttered in their chambers as Akari gently smeared the peculiar cream, like loam, on her lips.

   “Now rub ‘em together, like this.” Akari said and she simulated the motion.

   It looked silly and felt even sillier but Droite mimicked, feeling hazed and clueless. The sensation was soft and Akari smiled.

   “That colour looks great on you, here.” she added.

   She brandished another object that Droite couldn’t identify - and it dazzled her with a flash. She wasn’t just seeing stars in the sky after being ambushed like that and before Droite could scold Akari for spooking her, Akari turned that silver-coloured object over and Droite gasped. That was her, but lit up, like it was day even though it was night.

   “How did you…?” Droite asked.

   “That’s called a photograph and I took it on my phone, but d’you like how you look?” Akari answered her question with another question.

   Droite mulled over the image - the photograph - and she nodded. “I do.” Droite replied.

   “Yeah, you're really pretty, the myths and fairy tales don’t lie. Mermaids sure are pretty.” Akari said. 

   “I-I’m really not…” Droite tried to shake off the praise.

   “Sure you are.” Akari said and she capped the lipstick purposefully. “Don’t be so modest.” She handed it back to Droite. “Anyway, I really don’t want this and I think you found it for a reason. My… My, uh, ex-boyfriend, Charlie, he gave it to me but that gift is a dime a dozen now that I know he’s got a girlfriend in every port town.”

   Droite wanted to reject the regifting but something told her not to. “Thank you, Akari.” she said. “I’ll treasure it. This has been… illuminating for me.”

   “Oh, uh really…? Glad to help… Darn, never got your name.” Akari awkwardly chuckled.

   “Droite.” she replied. “My name is Droite and I have to go but if you like, I’d like to see you again some time. I want to be shown more human trinkets.”

   “I’d like that.” Akari replied and she beamed. “Its a date.”

   “Sounds good.” Droite demurely giggled before she really felt the echoes of her body straining for more water. 

   She smiled a melancholy smile and bade Akari farewell. Not forever, just for now, and Droite hoped that she gave Akari another photographable moment of her as she waddled to the edge of the water and dove in. There was a huge splash and another as Droite did something very uncharacteristic of herself: she jumped like a show dolphin and in that blur of movement and water, she heard Akari cheer for her, before she dived deep again. Into the bottoms she wasn’t so sure she truly belonged now.

   After all, she was beautiful to one human and that one human made her journey to the human world worth the effort. The rebels and the princesses be damned.

[lovemesomesurveys]

Blue

Do you like Blueberry Muffins? I love ‘em. I had one earlier, actually. Did you used to watch Blues Clues? Yeah. Where did you buy your favorite pair of Blue Jeans? Most of my jeans are from JCP. What is the closest Blue object to you right now? My pill crusher. Have you ever seen the movie Deep Blue Sea? Nope.

Green Do eat Green Beans? I like them, but it’s been awhile since I’ve had any. What is something in your household that is the color Green? All I see right now is a green shirt on my bed. Did you ever own a Green Machine? What’s that? Do you think Green is ugly? No, I like various shades of green. Are your eyes Green? No, I wish. Is it true that the grass is always Greener on the other side? Nope, definitely not. Red Are you friends with any Red Heads? No, but I have a cousin who has red hair. Is your favorite color Red? No, but I like it. Have you heard of the band Red? Hmm. Doesn’t ring a bell. 

Have you seen the movie Red Eye? Nope. Do you own any Red lipstick? No.

Orange Do you like Orange Juice? Ew, no. How about Oranges? Nopeee. Does anything actually rhyme with the word Orange? Door hinge. ha. Do you have any Orange shirts? I do, actually. Yellow Have you heard the song black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa? Yeah. What is the first thing you think of when you think of the color Yellow? The song “Yellow” by Coldplay came to mind. Name something that rhymes with the word Yellow. Mellow. Have you ever drank the soda Mellow Yellow? Yes. Pink Have you seen the movie Pretty In Pink? Yes. Do you listen to any of the singer Pink's music? Yeah, I like several of her songs. Is the Pink starburst your favorite flavor? Yeah. Can men wear Pink? ...Yes. It’s a color. Who cares. Did you ever watch Pink Panther the cartoon? Yeah, I saw episodes as a kid. Black What is the closest thing to you in the room that is the color Black? My laptop’s keyboard. Do you have any Black shoes? Yes. The Adidas I always wear are black. Is your hair or has your hair ever been dyed Black? Yeah, during my emo phase when I was 16. Does wearing Black make you gothic? No. Do you have a Black cat? Nope. I don’t have a cat, period. Brown Is your hair Brown? Yes. Are your eyes Brown? Yes. Do you have any Brown jackets/coats? Nope. What is your favorite Brown food? Pork flavored Maruchan ramen. White Do you know who Snow White is? Yes.

Are your walls painted White? No, they’re not painted at all.

Name something that rhymes with White? Flight. Do you listen to the band The White Stripes? I only know their song, “Seven Nation Army.” Do you have any White shirts? I have one. I really avoid wearing white. Have you heard of the band Motionless In White? Nope.

Grey

Have you seen the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey? *cringe* I have. Do you have any Grey hairs yet? Ugh, yes.  Name something that is the color Grey? There’s gray on my shirt. Do you like the color Grey? Sure. Purple What is your favorite shade/color of Purple? Pastel and lilac. Would you ever dye your hair Purple? Nah. Do you know anyone else who has ever had Purple hair? No. Name a food if you can that is Purple. Plums. Silver Do you know who the Silver Surfer is? No. Do you drive or have you ever driven a Silver car? I don’t drive. Do you have any Silver jewelry? Yes. Gold Do you own anything really made out of Gold? No. Do you like the color Gold? I do. Have you used Gold Glitter before? Yeah. Name a word that rhymes with Gold. Mold. Rainbow/ Or All Colors Have you ever seen a Rainbow? Yes. Would you ever get Rainbow colored hair? No, that would be way too much work, time, and maintenance. What is your favorite colored skittle? Not a big Skittles fan, but the red ones were good. What is your favorite color? Pastels, rose gold, yellow, coral, sea foam green. What color(s) are you wearing right now? Black, white, blue, and gray. What color is your phone? Gold. What color bed spread/sheets do you have on your bed? They’re white with blue waves printed all over. What color is your couch? Gray. Name a random song with a color in it: “Blue” by Eiffel 65.  Name a random band with a color in it: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. What color do you hate or is your least favorite color? Brown. What color is your favorite pair of shoes you own? Black. What color is your shower curtain? Blue. What color(s) have you dyed your hair? Black, red, and blonde highlights. What color do you seem to see most often? *shrug* What colors are on the flag of your home country? Red, white, and blue. Last one, name a random color I did not list on my list of colors. Rose gold.

[ohmylove--mydarling]

It’s true what they say about your early-to-mid 20s. This particular span of ten blissful, wanton years is the only time in your entire life where you will ever feel truly invincible. And yes, you absolutely better enjoy it while it lasts. Lithe-bodied, hopeful, capable of both pounding an entire handle of rail vodka all while making it to your 8 am sociology class the next day, they’re a little like your teen years, with one prized difference. Your early-to-mid 20s are blessed with the seemingly novel, universe-bending element of freedom.

And freedom doesn’t simply mean the ability to make stupid decisions without the fear of getting grounded. It also means the freedom to live in an idyllic sort of vacuum, where you’re surrounded by friends – if we’re being honest, the family you get to choose – and cradled in this serene philosophy, this security blanket of an idea that hangs in the air but is never outwardly or directly expressed, that this, all of this, will last forever. That these people will always be there, they will always be around, floating with you in this bubble, as free and easily accessible as a coatrack or your neighbor’s WiFi. Always holding your beer, always holding your hair back (while you puke, or maybe while you cry), always holding your hand. Always at the very least in the peripheral, if not the forefront, of your vision.

During these years you know everything, and yet somehow you know nothing at all.

***

Like most of the sorority sisters I grew close with – and as is probably true with anyone else who pledged a very tiny chapter at an equally tiny school – I don’t remember much about how I met Taylor beyond the first night she “rushed.” Rush is an interesting social phenomenon, for multiple reasons. Picture a gaggle of young college-aged women who typically spend every waking hour of their day primping and glossing and adjusting for the sole purpose of the male gaze. Except this time, their attention is entirely drawn to a smaller group of girls (not that much smaller of a group, if we’re lucky this semester) that they want to impress instead. A frenzy of compliments and genuine interest, a dormant volcano of estrogen and hot girl energy and reciprocation, madly overflowing in a span of two hours over something as innocuous as an ice cream social or tie-dying a pile of crewneck t-shirts (I think we did the “hippie” recruitment theme every other semester). It is one of the very best parts of what is an often problematic-at-best Greek culture, and this rush was no different.

I’m not sure what my first impression of Taylor was, other than that we obviously had the same first name, and oh yeah, she was beautiful– effortlessly pretty but not the least intimidating. I could approach her and talk to her and not feel like a complete toad. She was a little soft-spoken, incredibly polite. I think she wore navy blue. And an aura of genuine kindness seemed to radiate from her with the soft glow of candlelight.

After rush ended and Taylor chose to join our ranks, where she belonged, it felt like she had been in my life from the very beginning. And, though this idea was never spoken, it felt like she would never leave.

***

In a sorority, there is sometimes a tendency, however unintentional, to categorize your sisters, and to turn to certain ones for different needs at different times. There’s the sister you study with, the sister you go on your morning run with, the sister(s) you are always down to party with. There’s the sister who makes amazing grilled cheese, the sister whose dorm is the only place you’ll binge-watch Supernatural. When you’re riding the waves of a breakup, you got mad options: There’s the sister who brushes your hair as you ugly-cry and choke on your own snot, the sister who pledges to hook you up with her brother’s hot friend the moment you’re ready for a rebound, the “dump him sis” sister who yanks your phone out of your hand in the middle of what is probably a very unwise text and threatens to stab him with her eyebrow razor if he so much as looks at you again, the sister who makes you forget the whole thing ever happened, that it ever even mattered.

There’s the maid of honor sister, the future fun wine-aunt sister, the sister you have on speed-dial even though speed-dial isn’t a thing anymore. There are the sisters who teach you how to do winged liner, how to hide a hickey with coral lipstick and concealer, how to chant, how to chug, how to memorize the Greek alphabet and the …numbers (at least for the ones who are most definitely going to ask). There are the sisters whose weddings you bawl at, whose babies you hold and immediately love as an extension of the incredible mother who brought them into this world.

And there are the sisters who teach you grace and humility, strength and resilience, kindness and self-love. The sisters who changed your life for the better the moment they put on your letters, the sisters who hand you the mirror and force you to see yourself just as they see you.

The thing about Taylor was that she was all of these. The whole package. Everything good, all in one.

***

Though our friendship was at its strongest during my college and immediate post-college years, Taylor remained a calming, grounding presence in my life. She married an incredible man who loved her for all the reasons we did and plenty more, and I went to her wedding and cried. She got a job as a nurse at the local hospice, a profession she seemed put on this earth to do. I could picture Taylor in her element there, literally surrounded by an entire ocean of grief, serving as an island of hope, a beacon of light and love for those who so desperately needed all those things, the things she provided us without question even when our lives were comfortable. Soon after – and this thought still makes something in my throat ache – she brought life into this world, a beautiful daughter with both her mother’s eyes and her genuine love and gratitude for life, a joyful curiosity coloring everything she did.

Taylor’s life, we knew, was finally the one she had always deserved.

***

I won’t, and can’t anyway, get into the details of Taylor’s passing. I can say that nothing about it was expected and literally every detail about it is horrific. Personally, it feels like a robbery, like something was taken from me; but on a grander scale, on a scale that actually matters, it is simply heartbreak. Riding the waves of grief not only for my own loss, but for a husband, a child, a family, a community whose lives were upended and whose hearts were crushed by something that simply should not have happened in a universe where they say justice and kindness exist.

Frankly, this grief is unlike any other I have experienced. It has a way of blanketing everything around me, like mosquito netting. It is as thick and choking as a cloud of black smoke, permeating my clothes, filling my lungs, making it impossible to see, so all I can do is desperately cling to whatever gives me the slightest amount of peace, no matter how fleeting. As someone who has always struggled with my faith (and moments like these certainly do not help), I try to remember Taylor’s. It brought her comfort and strength, the belief that God loves everyone so naturally she was going to love everyone, too. And all I can hope is that this belief of hers, this faith, manifested in her final moments. That there was a light, a voice, a presence, something there that reminded her that she was loved. That we knew she loved us, that her family will never be alone, that we will desperately miss her. That her legacy is as wide and expansive as all the oceans.

Her funeral is in a few days. Her funeral, a concept still as foreign as my own.

***

At this point it’s probably clear, but the things I want people to remember the most about Taylor are, quite simply, her kindness and her intrinsic ability to love. She was kind without questioning. She loved without strings or conditions, tirelessly and endlessly. At a time when an icy, impenetrable layer of cynicism seemed to blanket so many of our hearts – including my own – Taylor managed to crack it a little, to let just enough of her light and her warmth in to make a change.

I teased her often – probably too often –  for her unbreakable habit of bringing home literally any stray cat she ever found (and then naming it something either really cute or painfully dumb, like “Moe” or “Cheese”). But even as someone who unapologetically hates cats, and more honestly as someone who spent most of her 20s thinking that if I hardened my exterior and never let love in I was somehow protecting everything it surrounded, I viewed this habit through a secret lens of adoration. I adored Taylor’s heart. I hoped to absorb some of it, its ability to love everything, to find beauty in the darkest and loneliest spaces and to also force people to see it and feel it for themselves.

I felt Taylor was going to be around forever. It was a selfish thought. I hadn’t physically seen her in over a year (there was a pandemic and she was a nurse and I was subsumed by my own now meaningless world). I am filled with an omnipresent regret that I have no control over. I miss her so much my heart feels swollen and achy with a pining, a real grief.

There is no happy ending to this, no concise, comfortable, heartwarming way to wrap this all up in a pretty package, though Taylor was the type to want everything to have a good ending. So instead I cling to the memories, the photographs. Our banquets, homecoming, Lana del Rey, cherry blossoms. The way she rapped that entire A$AP Ferg verse one night. The way she looked in her wedding gown. The way she talked about charity and good deeds. The way she talked about God. Her love, no matter what transgression I made or no matter if I failed to give it back. I hope to love harder now, and if I can, it’s because Taylor taught me how.

I love you, Taylor. DZLAM.

[piermanwalter]

I had a dream that I got myself a shapeshifting Nicki Minaj makeup set as a birthday present. I just got home from a long trip and impulse-purchased the makeup set at an airport duty-free shop. It was pitch black outside and felt very late at 9:30 like when you are a little kid and feel 9:30 is late. When your time is controlled by someone else, staying up late feels like a luxury. I’m not sure how old I was in my dream, since I travelled alone but still felt as though someone set a bedtime for me. 

The makeup set was a mystery box from the newly released “Nicki Siren” collection, which was mostly mermaid and sea-themed clothes and accessories. It cost 900 dollars, but the crushing sadness of being stuck in an extended layover on my birthday and the Fear of Missing Out since it was the last Nicki Siren set in the store compelled me to buy it. It was the volume of a shoebox. Top-down, it was square and slightly taller than it was wide. I opened it in my bedroom. The cardboard box was white with dark blue gouache-like writing and the front of the box had Nicki’s face in the corner wearing a pearl and seashell studded tiara and a teal wig with a surprised expression. The overall mood was bright, fun, and unusually unsexy. 

Inside the box was a teal plastic cube with gold accents. Inside the cube was custom light blue bubble wrap flecked with gold glitter. Under the bubble wrap was a 30-inch gold chain necklace with pearls at 3-inch intervals and two huge clamshells hanging off it. The clasp of the necklace had an 8-cm long flat silver pendant in the shape of a fan coral on it, studded on one side with tiny white crystals. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a real chain and instead gold beads fit together like a chain strung onto braided teal leather. The information packet in the box under the cube said the beads were 20-ct gold-plated sterling silver, the clasp pendant was cubic zirconia and platinum-plated sterling silver, and the pearls were cultured. 

Despite being quahog type clams, the clamshells had the color and texture of a teal turbo snail shell. This is biologically impossible and I assumed the shells were fake or some weird manufacturing technique was used. Luckily, the shells could be removed from the necklace. which made it much more wearable. I was worried about the shell toggles being right on the pearls, since pearls are fragile, but the pearls were extremely slippery and couldn’t be scratched. I spun the clamshells around the pearls until I got bored. The shells were hinged containers. The smaller clamshell I could close my hand around and had 13 loose non-slippery pearls in it, while the big clamshell was the volume of two double cheeseburgers, extremely heavy, made sloshing noises when shook, but couldn’t be opened. 

The giant clamshell also had a big rectangular magenta sticker on it, which looked very good against the teal shell. Peeling the sticker off, there was product and copyright information printed directly onto the shell, which was ugly as hell and the opposite of normal giant stickers.

When I gave up on opening the giant clamshell, I noticed the necklace chain had grown a cigar-like steel tube around one of the pearls. The tube unrolled into a 3-inch-long hamsa charm with a cloisonne enamel design of white birds flying over fields and forests on it. I went downstairs to get a string and a chair. When I hung the hamsa on the ceiling fan in my bedroom, it started bending again and the birds had left the forest and were now flying over the sea. Although the design changed, I never saw the birds or the hamsa move.

After I got down from the ceiling fan, the pearls were sprouting like seeds, growing into cubic zirconia pavé coral like the one on the clasp. Unlike the hamsa I could see them grow and change in real time. As an experiment, I pinched one of the sprouts until it broke. The broken sprout withered until it disappeared and instead of faceted gems set in perfect prongs, the pearl started producing cloudy industrial accident crystals and twisted wires, before slorping it all back into itself and turning black. 

I felt bad about that and grated a block of parmesan over the pearls to atone. I had to clean cheese out of the prongs afterwards but it felt like the right thing to do. I noticed the coral was “eating” the cheese calcium crystals and growing little pearls so I put them back into the cheese and by the time all the parmesan disappeared, they were twice as big as the original with a seed pearl at every place the coral branched. When the coral pendants stopped growing, the pearl “eggshells” crumbled into powder and flowed back into the little clamshell, which grew a mirror and became a highlight powder compact. 

I looked back in the box and found a little redwood box taking up the remaining space. In the wood box were sheets of stickers made of dyed suede leather, more cubic zirconia, and metal foil. I put some on my phone case and decided to cover the product information on the giant shell with stickers because it looked so bad. This caused the big shell to open. In the shell was a bottle of “Cali Coast” Nicki Siren perfume, a mini lip palette, a mini eyeshadow palette, three tubes of mascara, a teal lipstick, a magenta lipstick, and a sea salt bath bomb. There was a dent in the shell the exact size of the stunted black pearl so I put it in and closed the case. When I opened it again, the black pearl turned into a pearl-handled powder brush.

I looked up the makeup set on the internet and there was a #NickiSirenChallenge on instagram where people bragged/commiserated about what they got. Always, the pendant on the clasp was some kind of immobile sea animal like an anemone or sea pen or sea star and there were always two teal turbo-patterned bivalve containers, like scallops or oysters, one big and one small. The necklace also varied from choker to floor-length, some with real chains, some beads set with larimar cabochons, some with solid gold chains, some with no metal and all natural pearls. Instead of stickers, some people got sample-size vials of different perfumes, keychains, silk scarves, or vouchers for free Nicki Siren clothes. One in 150 makeup sets had clasp pendants with real diamonds and solid platinum. 

To open the big case, you must cover it in stickers, put a key on the keychain, wear the scarf, or redeem the vouchers, depending on what you got. The big case always contained normal makeup and the little case contained 5-30 pearls which turned into different things depending on how you treated them, usually more makeup if you broke them, jewels if you didn’t. It was discovered breaking pearls before they sprouted turned them into applicable products like face creams or nail polish remover. Breaking pearls after they sprouted turns them into tools like nail files or lash curlers. Naturally people cared more about the pearls than the makeup even though it’s technically a makeup set. 

The little case could turn into anything with a hinge, usually corresponding to what the pearls turned into, like my compact and brush. Most people got jewellery boxes but some people got phone cases. 

There was a small chance of getting a bonus animated lucky charm. Someone got a clear resin horseshoe with a functioning ecosystem of malachite seaweed and peanut-sized copper sea urchins in it. Someone else got a palm-sized glass nazar which changed eye patterns before fading to a solid blue disc, then a brass goldfish would jump out of the center of the disc (not literally, it was a flat sheet of brass embedded in the surface which was etched using perspective to make it look as though it were leaping out of the nazar) before falling down, creating ripples that looked like an eye again. Another person got a blue faience ceramic Egyptian fish amulet that changed poses like it was swimming and sometimes moves to different rooms by itself. There were only 20 lucky charms in the world.

In one video, a pole dancer did a routine to Nicki Minaj songs and opened the box on stage. She got vouchers for a cameo in a music video and an entire free outfit. When she pulled the necklace out of the box, the strands of pearls just kept coming and when she turned the box upside down, the stage was engulfed in pearls like a giant shimmering mop.

In another video, someone poured Veuve Cliquot champagne on their case pearls and they hatched into huge round life-size faceted topaz sea apples encircled with braided gold wire instead tube feet, sprays of diamond-tipped gold as feeding tentacles.

Someone was able to score a rare full size Nicki Siren SuperBase foundation tube and she made a video where she applied the foundation, then complained it didn’t match her skin tone. The foundation immediately darkened to match. Later she made another video proving SuperBase foundation was like holy water because it could be refilled with different foundation but still be the same no matter how diluted it gets. SuperBase was the only product that behaves like this.

Someone ran over a case pearl with a Ferrari and it exploded into an 80-piece skincare set. 

I felt bad because aside from the hamsa, I got the second cheapest versions of everything. But as I scrolled through instagram, I became grateful that I didn’t incur Nicki’s wrath. 

Someone bought ten Nicki Siren sets and when she opened one, the stickers were paper, the necklace chain was that weird golden alloy that turns your skin green, the clasp pendant was a lead picoroco barnacle with a giant chunk of plastic for its beak, the small cockle had two pearls in it which turned into another lead barnacle and a sea salt bath bomb, and the big cockle had 8 sea salt bath bombs in it. When she tried to open the other boxes, there were more boxes inside and the boxes grew as though they were being put into more layers of boxes. She resold a box to someone else and in it was one of the rare larimar necklaces and a plate-sized bronze disc with the face of Medusa molded on one side and a shifting mosaic of an ancient Greek harbor on the other side. Consumed by greed, she kept opening the boxes until they were the size of refrigerators. Nine boxes in her garage, she now parks outside. She makes increasingly desperate unboxing videos and with every update her comments are filled with “i can buy a box for $3k dm me i’m serious” and “Ma’am. Please give up.” and “pouring out my superbass foundation for u when u cant fit in ur house ne more LMAO”.

Someone smashed open her big shell instead of opening it properly and it was filled with moths which followed her around eating her clothes. 

An influencer who infamously bugged Nicki into giving her a free set for promotion was crying next to a 10-foot-wide crater in her house because she broke all the sprouting pearls in her little mussel case and the pearls became so heavy they broke the table, broke through the second floor, broke through the first floor, broke through the foundation, and sank into the earth. Then the little mussel turned into a 2001 flip phone and Nicki called her through it and said she was a “fake-ass copy-ass jealous-ass bitch”. She still wore Nicki Siren eyeshadow in the video.

Someone lied about getting a lucky charm for clout and it turned out she strung sea-themed Pandora beads on a mass-produced dreamcatcher. After she redeemed her voucher for a silk dress, when her big freshwater oyster case opened, there were 8 sea salt bath bombs in it and also moths. The moths ate her new dress.

There was a news article about the finder of the resin sea urchin horseshoe being banned from casinos because it increased his luck in gambling but most importantly made his bets on horse races always win. Since the hamsa is a hand, I assumed it would make me unbeatable in card games. 

There was also a news article about German material engineers trying to get as many Nicki Siren pearls as possible to study their previously unseen anti-friction properties. 

Not to be one-upped, Megan Thee Stallion announced the “Hot Girl Eternity” line of hoodies, t-shirts, and booty shorts which will allow the wearer to be immune to fire, heat, and radiation (hoodies), conjure flames (t-shirts), and absorb power from things they burn to add to their own lifespan (shorts). Even though they have yet to be released, it’s already impossible to get Hot Girl Eternity hoodies because they have all been preordered by hazard area workers and x-ray technicians and also stans. 

I think in my dream all rappers are powerful enchanters because that makes the most sense given everything that happened. 

[breaniebree]

Talking about my love for my OC with @xxqueenofdragonsxx​.  This is my Zahira as best as I can make her, though someone awesome may be drawing me some amazing fan art of her so fingers crossed. 

ZAHIRA ZELENA ZACARIAS (ZEE):

Magizoologist, works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for the Ministry of Magic.

Born 9th April, 1964 to parents Michael Ivanovich (Misha) Zacarias and Magnolia Jackson Zacarias.  Misha, a Muggleborn Russian Auror who is following the trail of a dark wizard and finds himself in Paris where he meets the American witch Magnolia Jackson.  They fall in love and get married and Magnolia moves to Moscow to be with him and then when Zee is six, her mother is killed.  

I think that it was a gruesome death, a curse that tortured her for days before she finally succumbed to her death.  They were living in Russia at the time and Zee was with her Baba and Deda, as she was only six, and her mother had gone into town to do some shopping.  The dark wizard was stalking her and cursed her.  She was left alone in an alley to die and wasn’t found for almost six hours, by then, the curse had taken over too much of her and any attempt at saving her life was impossible.  She’d lost her mind and Zee was never able to say goodbye.  Magnolia didn’t even recognize Misha when he found her which was part of why it hurt Misha so much to lose her in the end.

Misha meets Sorcha Brown when Zee is eight, a freelance journalist from Scotland. Zee grew up travelling between Scotland and Moscow and she always loved animals.  She spent her summers visiting her American grandparents on their ranch in Toccoa, Georgia where her grandmother owns a 50s diner called Flo’s and her grandfather is chief of police.  Her stepmother is the mother she grew up with.  Mama, seeing Zee’s love for animals always allowed her to bring home strays.  Her father continued to work in Russia, travelling back and forth via international portkey every day when they spent time in Scotland.  And when it came time for her to go to school, they decided to send her to the wizarding school in Russia — the Koldovstoretz School of Magic because it had such an amazing Care of Magical Creatures program.  She speaks fluent French, Russian, and Mermish because of her upbringing and her career and a little bit of Greek.

She has 4 tattoos:

Gold and green tribal elephant on right side of ribs

Red and gold dragon across spine

Black niffler on back of her neck

Zee tattoo over scar - deep green vines with bright blue orchids scattered from the top of her left hip down the side of her thigh, wrapping around her knee, Lady Godiva hidden in the vines covering her scar lying on a bed of blue orchids ending at her ankle.  I AM WOMAN written on one side, HEAR ME ROAR, written on the other.

Zee found him napping on the sofa and she smiled at the sight of him, bending to kiss his forehead.  Her curls tickled his face, a small smile on his lips.  Not wanting to disturb him, she hurried upstairs to pack the rest of her bag.  She changed into a short halter dress over her new bikini and was admiring her calf in the mirror when he came in.

His eyes met hers in the mirror and the look in them sent desire raking through her.

“When did you get home?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes ago?  You looked so peaceful having your nap.”

“I was resting my eyes,” he said, making her grin.

“Right.”

Sirius moved towards her, his eyes trailing down her body.  “You look fucking gorgeous.”  His gaze stopped on her leg, a brow rising.  “You got a new tat?”

Zee held onto his arm as he picked up her leg to examine the new tattoo.  She had gotten Lady Godiva.  She’d done her panther’s sleek form in a dark black outline but other than her golden eyes, she’d coloured the panther in with flowered camouflage.  Purple perennials and pink tulips, red roses and blue lilacs that brightened her leg and covered every inch of the ugly burn scar to the back of her knee.  Deep green vines and leaves surrounded the outline of the panther, framing the words written down either side of the panther in cursive: I Am Woman and on the other side it continued with: Hear Me Roar.

“Fuck, that’s sexy,” Sirius murmured, his fingertips tracing the words. 

“Yeah?”  Zee said.  “I didn’t want to look at my burn anymore so I wanted to cover it with something beautiful.”

“And the Reddy lyrics?”

She grinned.  “Points to you.”

Sirius let go of her leg and bent his head to kiss her.  “I love it.  But you were sexy with the scar too.”

Zee slipped her arms around his neck.  “And that, Mr Black, is one of the many reasons why I love you.”

Sirius slid his hands up her back into her hair.  “Let’s go shag on the beach.”

She laughed as he let her go and picked up their bags.  “Sounds perfect.”

As he walked out the door, she couldn’t help but think that she had never loved anyone more than the man before her.  She didn’t know what the future held for her, but she did know that her future was nothing without Sirius Black and Harry Potter. (Excerpt from A Second Chance, chapter 213)

Zee’s wand was made by Gregorvich and it is chestnut as the wood meshes with her love of animals, I think it’s short like her, only 15 cm  in length and her core is from a coral reef.  Her wand core gives the owner patience, someone with a coral reef core knows how to bring things to fruition, provide protection for all, as well as generate longevity.  They have a knack for deflecting disaster, whatever form it takes.  They are also loving, nurturing, and healing; are a source of enduring friendship and support and often the glue that holds the ship together.  I thought it sounded very much like Zee.

She stands no taller than 156 cm (roughly 5′1 and 3/4) and often wears 4 inch heels as if she was born in them, preferably her heeled cowboy boots.  She has long dark brown hair with golden caramel highlights mixed through it.  Her grandmother on her mum’s side was African-American so her skin is like a caramel toffee.  She loves bright red lipstick and big earrings.  She wears a white gold and turquoise turtle belly button ring and usually has smaller hoops or studs in her ears above the big hoops.  As shown above and mentioned before, she is very curvy, hourglass and I picture her body type like Jaydah Doll, but her face is the gorgeous model at the top (I saw her and thought Zee).

Her pet is a panther named Lady Godiva.  She rescued her from Muggles who were hunting her and her pack in Kenya.  Her parents were killed and she was the only cub that she could find so she nurtured her and kept her safe.  Why Godiva?

“I always admired her bravery; standing up for what she wanted and doing the only thing that she could do at the time to make her stand.  No one would listen to her and she had no power and no ability to use weapons.  She wasn’t a witch with powers to sway them so she set out on a horse, completely nude, and she got the attention she wanted.  She made her mark.  I found Lady Godiva in Kenya, hiding from the Muggles who had shot and killed her family, when I rescued her and confronted the Muggles, she jumped from my arms and stood in front of me, growling at them, almost daring them to fight her to get to me.  I thought that she was making her stand, a cub with no power of her own, but she was trying.  So I named her Godiva.” (Excerpt from A Second Chance, chapter 65)

Her grandfather on her dad’s side was a Muggle and veteran of the Second World War.  He drove a 1937 BSA M20 and it’s hers now.  She loves motorcycles and getting her hands dirty.  She’s an incredible cook.  She likes to read mystery, horror, and romance novels.  She travels for her job and has been all over the world, but has recently been enjoying her time working in the menagerie within the Ministry of Magic and helping to organize it.

As to the Koldovstoretz School of Magic, I like to think it’s hidden somewhere deep in Russia and that it looks like the ruins Balga Castle to prevent anyone from finding it, but when you get through the warding it opens up and looks the Vologda Kremlin and Saint Sophia Cathedral, just gorgeous Russian architecture -- but not as large as Hogwarts’ castle.  It says that they played a version of Quidditch there where they flew on uprooted trees instead of broomsticks -- which is another reason why I think Zee was never big into playing the sport herself.  Also I imagine her as short and curvy, which means she may not have great balance on a broom, and she loves riding the motorbike and likes the Muggle machine more than a broomstick if she has to choose.

As to her family tree:

The Jacksons:

Colten (Muggle) and Florence Jackson

Daughter Magnolia Jackson Zacarias (deceased) married to Michael (Misha) Zacarias with one daughterZahira Zelena Zacarias

The Zacarias’:

Ivan and Anya Zacarias (Muggles – Ivan was the soldier in WWII with the motorbike that he gave to Zee)

1. Michael (Misha) Ivanovich Zacarias m. Magnolia Jackson Zacarias (d) m. Sorcha Brown Zacarias

(a) Zahira Zelena Zacarias eng. Sirius Orion Black

(i) Harry James Potter

(ii) Twin 1 and Twin 2 Black (due January 1997)

2. Olga Ivanova Zacarias Petrov m. Dimtri Petrov

(a) Mikhail Petrov m. Ana Ivanov

(i) Yuri Petrov (11)

(b) Mila Petrov Sokolov m. Nicholas Sokolov

(i) Nastasia Sokolov (9)

(ii) Dinara Sokolov (6)

3. Sasha Zacarias Blok m. Yerik Blok

(a) Tanya Blok Fedorov m. Alek Fedorov

(i) Eva and Irina (twin girls identical) (2)

(b) Tatiana Blok eng. Iosif Kuznetsov

The Browns:

Callum and Fiona Brown

Brian Brown m. Jocasta Fitzgibbons

(a) Dougal Brown m. Ellen Smith

(i) Jenny Brown (24)

(ii) Ian Brown (22)

Sorcha Brown m. Misha Zacarias

(a) Zahira Zacarias

Names for Family Members:

Ivan & Anya = Baba and Deda

Tetya = auntie

Dyadya = uncle

Misha & Sorcha = Papa and Grandmama

Colt & Flo = Grandpa and Grandma

Callum & Fiona = Gran and Grandda

Basically, I love her and I’m so glad that other people have come to love her as much as me.

Zeerius is my canon.

@velvethopewrites​ thank you for loving her enough to put her in your Muggle AU.

[maaaaaatryoshka0325]

Arcane - Lee Know Mafia AU Part 13

(Part1) (Part2) (Part3) (Part4) (Part5) (Part6) (Part7) (Part8) (Part9) (Part10) (Part11) (Part12) (Part14)

Warning: not telling y’all Bc then it’s a spoiler 😂 just be prepared 👀

I’m also too tired to link anything rn but I figured I wouldn’t leave y’all hanging so I pushed through and finished this, I’ll link all chapter tomorrow 💕

The cool city breeze ruffled your hair as you walked along the streets. You decided to take the day and enjoy the city. The boys seemed busy, as you hadn’t seen any of them all day.

You smiled as you walked into your favorite cafe and saw Kyuhyun already in there. He turned and smile at you as he walked over to meet you.

“Hey! Long time no see.” He said.

“It’s only been a couple days.” You laughed.

He hugged you and lifted you up.

“It’s felt like forever.” He said.

You noticed the tone in his voice. It sounded almost sad, like he was hurt.

“Are you okay?” You asked.

“Yeah,” He said with a bright smile. “I just miss seeing you all the time.” He said.

“I know, maybe when my job isn’t so busy we can hangout more.” You said with a smile.

He nodded and you both got your drinks and walked around.

“How is it being a rookie cop?” You asked.

“Actually, things are starting to look up. They put me on the stray kids case and I think I have a lead.” He said.

You choked on your coffee and he looked at you in shock.

“You choke a lot.” He said, patting your back.

“What do you mean you have a lead?” You asked.

“We found someone suspicious. He’s always around or checked into a hotel when something goes down.” He said.

“W-What’s his name?” You asked.

Kyuhyun leaned forward until his lips were almost on your ear.

“Bang Chan.” He said.

You felt like you were going to throw up. How could Chan be so dumb?! You had to find a way to tell Chan about this.

“Oh- oh that’s interesting.” You said.

“We’re gonna nab him next time.” He said.

“Oh, I bet!” You said, trying to sound optimistic.

You both walked around, going into different shops. You were looking at a dress since it was getting nice out when you heard your name.

You looked up and started cracking up when you saw Kyuhyun walk over with dark blue lipstick on a messy blue eyeshadow.

“What color IS that?” You laughed, holding your stomach.

“Coral blue number 5.(spongebob reference)” He said with a goofy smile.

You both cackled as you ran over and tried on the ridiculous colors. You tried on a red that turned out to be almost orange. You looked at him and saw bright pink lipstick on him and you both started laughing.

You went into the store beside it, which was a mask store, and tried on different masks. You turned around and saw him with an ugly pig mask and he started making snorting sounds and started chasing you. You ran around the store laughing and hid behind the cashier, who was trying his best not to laugh at the both of you.

“We piggies eat little girls like you!” Kyuhyun laughed when he got ahold of you and lifted you up from behind.

When you both left the store he looked back and it and laughed.

“Maybe I should go back in and buy that mask since we took 10 years off of his life.” He laughed.

“Yeah, but you don’t need the mask to look like that.” You said, trying to suppress a laugh.

“What was that?” He asked, grabbing you and tickling you.

You laughed as he chased you again through a park, and just like before, he lifted you up and you both laughed. He spun you around and crushed you into a tight hug as you giggled. You felt his arms stiffen and he was staring at something.

You turned your head and saw Minho standing there, his eyes dark as he looked at you.

“Oh, Minho. Is everything okay?” You asked, pulling away from Kyuhyun.

“Everything’s fine.” He said.

You turned to Kyuhyun and gave him a smile.

“I have to go, I’ll see you later.” You said, waving to him.

He grabbed your arm and kept his glare on Minho.

“Is he really just a coworker? Or is he some type of weirdo?” Kyuhyun asked.

Minho’s darkened even more, if that was even possible, and you stared at Kyuhyun.

“What? No. Minho isn’t like that.” You said, pulling your arm away.

“I’ll see you soon, okay?” You reassured.

He looked at you hesitantly before turning and walking away.

You walked over to Minho and gave him a confused look.

“Did something happen?” You asked.

“No.” He hissed as he walked ahead of you.

“Yah! Wait!” You yelled, trying to keep up with him.

You got in the car and he sped off, making you jump.

“What’s your problem?” You asked.

“Nothing.” He said, edge to his tone.

“Obviously it’s something if you’re acting like this.” You pointed out.

He ignored you as he pulled up to the mansion and got out, ignoring your calls for him. You ran after him as he walked down the opposite wing to your room.

“Can you just tell me what I did wrong?” You asked.

“Drop it Y/N.” He hissed.

“Drop the hot and cold attitude you have towards me.” You shot back.

He pulled you into the room you had been standing in front of, and you realized it was his. A fresh scent was in the air as he had left a window open, and his cologne lingered slightly.

He was dangerously close to you as his eyes were narrowed.

“What was that?” He asked.

“Stop being so hot and cold towards me. I can never tell how you feel about me. One moment you’re happy to be around me and the next you act like you wished you had killed me that night!” You shocked yourself at how loud you were being with him, and how your voice was cracking as tears of frustration were pricking at your eyes.

You were grateful for the dim room so he couldn’t see how sad you really were.

“How I feel about you? You really want to know?” He asked.

You nodded and you felt his lips crash against yours. His one hand held your jaw and the other was on the wall next to your head. Your eyes closed as you melted into his kiss, and his hand that was planted on the wall went down to your waist as he pulled you closer. Your one hand was clutching his shirt while the other was on his chest as his lips moved to your neck and placed soft, warm kisses along it. He moved until you fell softly onto the bed, and he was leaning over you as his lips found yours again.

“Let me show you how I feel about you.” He said softly.

Your eyes fluttered shut as his kisses went to your collar bones and down your chest. He traced soft circles into your stomach, which was exposed as your shirt had come up a bit. He kissed your lips again and licked your bottom lip, wanting entrance into your mouth. You obliged and his tongue quickly dominated your own. His body was planted between your legs and you felt warmth pool in between your legs as his fingers trailed up your shirt, softly cupping you. He pulled one of your breast from your bra and gave your nipple soft rubs with his thumb, making you sigh into his mouth. He pulled your shirt over your head and pressed soft kisses on the tops of your boobs before unclasping your bra, making your boobs pop out.

“Beautiful.” He whispered as he pressed soft kisses all along your chest and down to your stomach. He slowly pulled your pants down and smiled at your laced panties.

He pressed a soft kiss to your clothed clit and you arched your back into his mouth as his tongue softly flicked it. He pulled your panties down and gave your heat a long lick before coming back up and kissing your lips.

He placed himself between your legs as he placed passionate kisses along your jaw line and looked down at you as his tip pressed against your entrance. He leaned his forehead on yours as he looked into your eyes and you felt your heat stretch as he pushed the tip in. Your nails dug into his shoulder as he slowly pushed in, a small groan leaving his lips as he pushed himself the rest of the way in. He placed comforting kisses on your cheeks and lips as you clung to him.

He pulled his hips back slowly and pushed back into you, setting a slow, but steady pace. His lips found yours as he started to hit your G-spot.

“You’re so tight.” He panted softly.

“You’re so big.” You moaned as he snapped his hips into yours.

He smirked as his lips attached to the junction between your neck and shoulder as he picked up his pace, his hips fluidly snapping into you. Your fingers dug into his shoulders as he pulled all the way out and slammed into you, making you see stars. Your moan increased as he circled your clit with his thumb, making your body tremble as your orgasm washed over you. He let out a soft groan as your walls tightened around him and you felt warmth fill you. He had his face buried into the crook of your neck as he slowly rode out your highs and stilled his hips. He panted into your skin before slowly pulling out, and you sighed at the feeling of being empty.

He slid his arm under your head as he laid beside you, pulling you into his chest and burying his face into your hair. You rubbed soft circles into his chest as he placed kisses in your hair and on your shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” He said softly.

You understood what he meant instantly. He didn’t want to get close to you in fear you would get hurt, in fear something would happen to you.

“Everything will be okay Minho.” You said softly, rubbing his cheek with your hand.

You couldn’t help but admire him. His flawless skin, his messy hair, the way his eyes looked at you. His eyes weren’t how they usually were, they were soft and held affection in them. He gently grabbed your hand and kissed the spot below your thumb, then placed another kiss to your forehead.

“You’re so beautiful.” He whispered gently.

You smiled as you placed a kiss on the tip of his nose. His arm that wasn’t under your head went around your waist as he pulled you close as he could get you. You rested your head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat as he rubbed circles into your hips.

“Oh and I was right.” He said.

“About what?” You asked.

You looked up and saw him smirk.

“About what kind of underwear you wear.” He said.

You smacked his bare chest and he started laughing.

“Pervert.” You muttered, getting up.

You squealed when he grabbed your waist and brought you back down with him, holding you close from behind.

“Don’t leave.” He said.

You knew he was being a brat, but you couldn’t help but notice there was a sad hint in his voice. His arm was tight around your waist so you slid your hand into his as his face was buried into the back of your neck and hair.

“I’m not going anywhere.” You said softly.

You felt him smile into your hair as placed soft kisses on your shoulder and held you close to him. He yawned and closed his eyes as he held you.

“Goodnight.” He said softly.

“Goodnight Minho.” You said back.

You opened your eyes and squinted as the sun pooled through the curtains and into the room. You felt a secure arm around your waist as you turned your head and looked at Minho, who’s face was a mere inch away from yours. His head on rested on your shoulder as he held you from behind, and you could tell by his breathing that he was still asleep.

You smiled and laced your fingers with his as you laid there, remembering the night before. You slowly turned over and looked at his sleeping form. His lips were slightly parted and chest rose and fell slowly. You rubbed his cheek softly, watching his face slightly twitch at your touch. His eyes slowly opened as he looked at you, a small smile stretching across his face.

“Good morning.” He said lowly.

“Good morning.” You said in a soft voice, continuing to rub his cheek.

He pulled you closer to him and held you against his chest, his chin resting on your head as he ran his fingers through your hair.

“I wouldn’t mind waking up to this every day.” You blurted out, your face turning red as soon as you said it.

You heard his low chuckle as he placed a kiss to the top of your head.

“I wouldn’t mind it either.” He said.

You blushed a shade darker and buried your face into his bare chest. You pulled away slightly and gave it a good look. He had scars painted across his beautiful skin, making elegant lines along his chest and abdomen. You ran your finger along the darkest one, the one on his chest. His larger hand grabbed yours as he looked down at you.

“Thats why I was so scared for you to be in my life like this.” He said softly.

You looked up at him with sad eyes as he pressed his lips against your forehead.

“I don’t want you to be in the kind of danger I am. I don’t want you to have to worry if I come home or not.” He said.

You rubbed the dark scar and looked at him with a small smile.

“I know you’ll always be there when I need you Minho.” You said.

“I’ll protect you no matter what. I promise.” He said, holding you tightly.

You smiled as you pressed kisses along his jaw and his cheeks. You both laid there in a comfortable silence, still completely naked.

Just then, Minho’s door swung open and Felix was standing there.

“Hyun, Chan Hyung wants-“ He froze when he saw you laying there with him and he gasped.

Minho pulled the blanket up over you as much as possible as he glared at Felix.

“Ever heard of knocking?” He asked.

“Wait- you and Y/N- Why are you both NAKED?” He yelled.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Minho asked.

He yelped as you slapped his chest and Felix’s jaw was on the ground.

“Was she at least wearing the underwear you got her?” Felix asked.

“FELIX!” You yelled.

“Okay Okay!” He yelled, backing out.

“What did you come here for?” Minho asked.

“Chan Hyung wants you both in his office, we think Seungri is after Y/N.”

[radicalromanov]

I totally understand the sentiment behind “don’t just plainly insult trans people because you’re stooping to their level and we’re better than that” but at the same time... I’m not going to waste my time being polite to a group of people who do not respect me or my arguments in any way. Trans activists insult the shit out of radfems on a daily basis, equating our worth to our looks and calling us ugly bitches that nobody will love, they spew such misogynistic nastiness all the time, and I really just don’t care about being polite to them. I’m not going to say “shut up ugly” in the middle of a debate with a trans person, because THAT’S definitely stooping to their level (and practically admitting that I don’t have an argument besides insulting their looks, which isn’t true) but like.... radfems should be free to make a post making fun of how trans women dress like five-year-olds and wear coral blue number 2 lipstick without another radfem being in the notes like “DoN’t Be LiKe ThAt” 

also, when a trans activist insults a radfem’s looks, it’s wrong, bc like none of us have terf bangs and all of us take good care of our hygiene and shit. when a radfem insults a trans activist’s looks, we’re often damn right. 

[curatecomfy-blog]

Love the Lips, Hide the Pain

One of the biggest changes I made other than coordinating my clothes again was adding in lipstick. It really helps bring me alive without doing a face full of makeup. The coral color of Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm in Zinnia is actually less orange than the cap portrays, but it a bit pinker. It goes on a soft magenta with peach/pink undertones, giving a natural look. I layer it with Lancome’s cream lipstick in Curtain Call. This cream lipstick is actually a bit drying and matte in spite of the sparkles you see in the bullet, but when put on top of lip balm it glides on smoothly. The color without a balmy base is a very strong, bold purplish red you would see in burlesque dances. I love it. On top of the Zinnia tint, though, it smooths out the muddy application of the lip balm with a darker red. The combination helps overcome any other red splotches on the face, while making it look almost natural or overly bold.

My face has this weird white undertone like I’m sickly, which developed from poor nutrition and extreme stress for 11 months living and suffering under an abuser. While I used to be porcelain china white, I grew up pretty happy outside tanning in southern California sun. The sickly undertone makes my breakouts (which were viciously reoccurring in the abusive relationship due to stress and hormones ruined by stress) that I’m struggling with more visible. Basically, the redness of the darned acne pops out. The lipstick I’m wearing helps mask it a bit by refocusing the red hues towards my lips, which is where the redness should be! And then my acne is downplayed a bit.

The abusive ex hated women, but loved Korean idols and singers. He hated people wearing makeup and lipstick, and said everyone in America wearing lipstick were ugly. He hated red lipstick. Even after pointing out Korean people wear lipstick too, he said they weren’t, or said it looked more natural so was okay. My wearing colored chapstick with some lipstick in the beginning degraded to not even wearing uncolored chapstick to protect myself from the dry weather or even the drying out of lips from lack of eating/drinking.

So my wearing lipstick is also a giant FUCK YOU. Don’t ever listen to someone who has different views than you. And if that person starts hating on a large swathe of people around you but is fetishizing something else, RUN AWAY. It isn’t a red flag but a giant klaxon shouting at you to stand attention.

[kiwitro]

Well, another name of this post is What is in my handy make-up bag. 

Make-up bag is the most important part of every journey. If you go or, maybe, travel somewhere, you need to have your make-up bag with you, even if it’s small and do not contain all the goodies you have.So, when it comes like that, I have my own go-to bag. There are a few important things which may help in every situation. All the products are really easy to use, sometimes a mirror is not needed to use them – that’s the most important fact, because sometimes there are no mirrors or the small ones are not convenient to use.

However, there is no opportunity to take ALL the stuff you need. That’s why I have a small make-up bag in my bag, so it doesn’t take too much place but at the same time contains everything I need.

1.Pink cat powder by Tonymoly Once I’ve written the post about this cutie-cat. The powder is small, contains little mirror, light and long-lasting – the best decision.

2.Hand cream My hands are always dry, the skin hurts a lot if i don’t use hand creams. So, a small hand cream is the most important part of my make-up bag «to go». Moreover, it’s great to moisturise your hands sometimes, even if you don’t have as horrible hand issue as I have.

3.Nail file Have you ever had a situation, when you are not at home but you nail is broken and it’s sharp and ugly? That alway happens. To be honest, I think my nails hate me. BUT the small nail file is a hero!

4.Velvet lip liner by Essence Lipstick pencil with bright intensive colour and matt finish. Easy to apply, small and sharpenable. Lip liners are not that big, but good to use. Mine is in colour 02 Call Me Coral.

5.Lip balm Have nothing special to say. Lip balms are something that every girl need to moisturise her lips. The taste of mine is a cinnamon bun, huh!

6.Make-up bag by Essence Small and colourful, that what I love!

So, the make-up bag is not that big, but there is everything I need. And you. do you have the same bag? Can you give any recommendations about what else can I add?

Ready to go Well, another name of this post is What is in my handy make-up bag.  Make-up bag is the most important part of every journey.

[lovemesomesurveys]

and it was all yellow.

Blue Do you like Blueberry Muffins? Yes. Did you used to watch Blues Clues? Yep, the OG one with Steve. Where did you buy your favorite pair of Blue Jeans? My favorite pairs came from JCP. What is the closest Blue object to you right now? Some Adidas leggings. Have you ever seen the movie Deep Blue Sea? No. Green Do eat Green Beans? Yes. 

What is something in your household that is the color Green? The mini Christmas tree I still have up in my room, ha.  Did you ever own a Green Machine? No. Do you think Green is ugly? No. I like various shades of green. Are your eyes Green? No, I wish. Is it true that the grass is always Greener on the other side? It just seems that way. Red Are you friends with any Red Heads? I have a cousin who’s a red head. Is your favorite color Red? No, but I like it. Have you heard of the band Red? No. Have you seen the movie Red Eye? No. Do you own any Red lipstick? Not currently. Orange Do you like Orange Juice? Ew, nooo. How about Oranges? Again I say: ew, nooo. Does anything actually rhyme with the word Orange? Door hinge. Do you have any Orange shirts? Yes. One of which I just got recently from Target. It has a pumpkin on it. Yellow Have you heard the song black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa? Yeah. What is the first thing you think of when you think of the color Yellow? Yellow by Coldplay. Name something that rhymes with the word Yellow. Fellow. Have you ever drank the soda Mellow Yellow? Yeah. Pink Have you seen the movie Pretty In Pink? Yes. Do you listen to any of the singer Pink’s music? Yeah. Is the Pink starburst your favorite flavor? I haven’t had Starbursts in yearssss, but yeah pink was the best.  Can men wear Pink? Yeah? It’s a color, get over it. Did you ever watch Pink Panther the cartoon? Yeah. Black What is the closest thing to you in the room that is the color Black? The keyboard on my laptop. Do you have any Black shoes? Yes. Is your hair or has your hair ever been dyed Black? I dyed it black when I was 16. My hair is also super dark naturally. Does wearing Black make you gothic? It’s one part of it, but just because you wear black it doesn’t mean you’re gothic. Do you have a Black cat? No.  Brown Is your hair Brown? It’s naturally dark brown. Are your eyes Brown? Yes. Do you have any Brown jackets/coats? No. What is your favorite Brown food? Coffee (I’m counting it, shh), wheat bread, potatoes, brownies, fudge, peanut butter, oatmeal (is that brown? Oh and on that note, cinnamon and brown sugar as well).  White Do you know who Snow White is? Yeah. Are your walls painted White? Yes. Name something that rhymes with White? Bright. Do you listen to the band The White Stripes? I like one of their songs. Do you have any White shirts? Yeah. Have you heard of the band Motionless In White? No. Grey Have you seen the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey? Yes.  Do you have any Grey hairs yet? I’ve found a few. I’m old. Name something that is the color Grey? Koala Bears. Do you like the color Grey? Sure. Purple What is your favorite shade/color of Purple? Pastel purple. Would you ever dye your hair Purple? Nah. Do you know anyone else who has ever had Purple hair? Yes. Name a food if you can that is Purple. Grapes. Silver Do you know who the Silver Surfer is? I’m not familiar with that superhero. Do you drive or have you ever driven a Silver car? No. I don’t drive. Do you have any Silver jewelry? Yes. Gold Do you own anything really made out of Gold? Yes. Do you like the color Gold? Yeah. Have you used Gold Glitter before? Yes. Name a word that rhymes with Gold. Fold. Rainbow/ Or All Colors Have you ever seen a Rainbow? Yep, many times. Would you ever get Rainbow colored hair? No. Just one color is a lot of maintenance.  What is your favorite colored skittle? I liked the red ones. I haven’t those in years either. What is your favorite color? Pastels, yellow, mint green, rose gold, and coral. What color(s) are you wearing right now? Black. What color is your phone? Coral. What color bed spread/sheets do you have on your bed? Pink. What color is your couch? Gray. Name a random song with a color in it: Dang, I already named “Yellow” by Coldplay earlier. “99 Red Balloons.” Name a random band with a color in it: Green Day. What color do you hate or is your least favorite color? Brown. What color is your favorite pair of shoes you own? White with 3 black stripes on both sides. What color is your shower curtain? Blue. What color(s) have you dyed your hair? Black, blonde highlights, and red. What color do you seem to see most often? Hmm. What colors are on the flag of your home country? Red, white, and blue. Last one, name a random color I did not list on my list of colors. Coral.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: NMNL Feb 20

With this box, it’s officially been a year since NMNL changed its box to feature cuter Korean and Japanese products in the box.

“We hope you're getting the love you deserve this February! We’re back with your monthly dose of Japanese and Korean cosmetics, skin care, beauty tools and more. Whether you plan on pampering your loved one(s) or yourself on Valentine’s Day, we support you and hope you will enjoy this month’s beauty box!“

Glam Gift and Contest Prize

For Valentines Day the box was focused on romantic colors and sweet, chocolate-themed products.

For this month, our horoscope’s would tell us our perfect matches. For example, I’m a Libra, and it suggests I would go good with Leo, Taurus, and Aquarius.

Dear My Soap

Our first item is this adorable little pastel colored soap, available in pink,blue, or white with matching ribbon sweetly tying it in place. It has a lovely Bulgarian rose scent, and it contains rosehip oil.

The booklet says it’s moisturizing... and to be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to un-tie this and try it out like I usually would <3< I feel bad because I try to use everything prior to writing a review, but it’s so... cute-looking, I couldn’t help it! I want to keep it as is.

Momocos Colored Eye Pencil

The Momocos monsters have been becoming more popular these days, I keep seeing them in these boxes! They’re so cute, and this time we get an eye pencil, available in this black color, pink, blue, and red.

As fun as they are to draw with, I’ve been afraid of stabbing myself with eye liner pencils. It applies really smooth when I tried drawing a line on my hand, but on the eye it pretty much blotches along the lid like the liquid. I really can’t tell if it’s me, my eye, or what...

A’pieu Chocolate Milk Mask & Medius Heart Eye Mask

If I recall properly, we got one of these milk masks the previous years box. At least I think, I could be off. I also see it when I go to Target, so I thought it was a funny coincidence. It felt really nice on my skin, but it doesn’t smell like chocolate. To me it actually kinda smells like coconut and hand sanitizer.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Our other mask focuses on the eyes with a lovely rose scent. It moisturizes and its made from the same, jelly-like material the lip masks are made from. It includes extracts of cacao and pearl, along with collagen and ceramide.

Unfortunately, something seemed a bit unusual with mine. After I opened it, I noticed one eye was cut much more widely than the other, it fit okay, but I had some issues wearing the mask. Not only that, but my allergies have been bothering my eyes lately, I kept trying to find the best time to wear the mask but it wasn’t happening. The product or something kept getting into my eyes and was irritating them, even when I kept moving it around. It smelled good and felt nice, but it was too hard to keep on for the full 30 minutes. I took it off at almost 15 minutes.

Beauty World Makeup Palette

I love when we get such pretty palettes, especially when they include colors I’d actually wear. For this month’s box, there was 4 different ones: Daily Color, Elegant Color, Tropical Color, and Natural Color. If I translates this right, mine is the elegant.

What I like about this palette are its unique textures. Some are smooth and silky, some feel scratchy (especially the one that’s SUPER-glittery), and there’s 4 of them with a diamond pattern that feels lovely to rub~

I don’t have the best lighting for these types of pictures <_< I’m sorry.

Melliesh 3-way Multi Heart

We tend to get these types of cute little cosmetic pieces pretty often. In fact we did get a single-colored heart from this brand a year or so ago, I still have it but I don’t use it very often.

This one is not just cheek and lips though, but also eye. The colors could be pink, cherry red, rich brown, or cassis berry. It has a bit of glitter in it and is pretty shiny, but it blends into the skin pretty well too. I’m not sure I could pull off straight up red eye-shadow, but I’m sure it could blend in with other colors nicely.

Capsa Lip Plumper & Heart Crush Lipstick Creamy Velvet

The Capsa lip plumper is a special product made with pepper extract that heats up the capillaries to increase blood flow. It comes in clear gloss, moisturizing lip serum, or as a red gloss. It also has a wonderful minty scent!

I was a little nervous trying this out because I never used a heating type of lip product before. It was kind of exciting too though. I tried it out and it’s actually not very hot at all :3 it does warm up a little but not to an uncomfortable level. I’ve been using it since the start of the week, noticed a teensy bit of a plumping but nothing too impressive. I’m not really big on thick, fuller lips though so I don’t really mind. It’s also very sticky, but that’s nothing new and it doesn’t personally bother me. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Our final item is by the famous brand Holika Holika. There was 9 possible variations of pink, coral, red, and beige you could get in this collection!

Mine is New Woman 01 PK, I think that means it’s a pink shade. Although it looks pretty close to red.

I’ve seen these lipsticks online a LOT and always wanted one of my own, but I haven’t actually seen it on a website to buy from before, so you can imagine how happy I was to receive this! I couldn’t believe it!

I’m not a huge fan of matte lipsticks, but it’s so cute, and it doesn’t look too bad. You could also just use it for a heart stamper if you wanted ;3

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 4.5 out of 5. The items are nice, no leakages or issues this time. I didn’t hate anything, although as usual I can’t use the eyeliner, and the eye mask gave me a bit of a problem, but that’s just me personally.

Theme: 5 out of 5. It featured lovely sweet items and definitely gave me a Valentines Day vibe.

Total Rank: 8 out of 10. I liked this more than our previous box, but I think I liked the Valentine’s Day box we got last year a bit more. The items are all kind of on the small side, but they’re also cute and fun to use, re-usable, practical, both playing important roles in these types of boxes. But I will say that I’m getting pretty tired of seeing eyeliner in these boxes, not only that but I wish there was a little bit more variety. It’s almost entirely for your face, and mostly the eye and lip regions.

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

Lip Plumper - I love how it smells, I don’t mind the stickiness at all. I actually kind of like the warming behind it too~

Lipstick - It’s so cute!

Palette - The colors are so pretty, I love rubbing my fingers over them. I’d recommend buying one of these if you can find them (Japan Haul shop may have them still). 

Multi Heart - Pretty color, but no scent. I can’t stand the outside yellow color either, it’s so ugly, the worst shade of yellow for me. No offense to anyone who likes it though, it’s just my personal opinion.   

Soap - I really want to use it but it’s so cute, I just can’t! 

Heart Eye Mask - I thought I’d love this but it was so uncomfortable.

Chocolate Milk Mask - The scent wasn’t super-appealing to me. A basic mask.    

Eyeliner - Once you get past the cute sticker label there isn’t really much to this.

[mildred-meadowlark]

Tasteful Tagging

Tagged by @sallyjavery and @olivieblake (hello and hi and I’m blushing)

Rules: tag some people with excellent taste.

Colour(s) I’m currently wearing: Mulberry plaid shirt, coral pink jumper, and black skinny cords. And pink woolly socks. Because it’s cold, dammit. And gold boots.

Last band t-shirt I bought: I’m gonna say the Kinks t-shirt I stole from Mr Meadowlark, because I don’t get out enough, like ever, nevermind going somewhere cool like seeing an actual band I like.

Last band I saw live: See above. The last time I had fun was before you were born kids. (It was actually an amazing band called Wyvern Lingo and they have an amazing, haunting sound that you simply must try if you know what’s good for you.) 

Last song I listened to: Ne Me Quitte Pas by Jacques Brel (not a song to listen to on the bus - there tends to be ugly tears)

Lipstick or Chapstick: I’m gonna go wild and say the Rose Vaseline. I’m terribly adventurous.

Last movie I watched: Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) - which is an absolutely stunning anime and YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST WATCH because it is beyond beautiful and moving.

Last 3 TV shows I watched: Stranger Things - which is hardly surprising seeing as absolutely everyone has watched it at this point. But still. It has taken over my life. Utopia  - which is a dystopian mindfuck of a tv series, but honestly one of the most compelling, beautifully shot pieces of madness I’ve had the pleasure to set eyes on in years. Very gory. The Tudors - which I watch when I needs me some comfort, and I want to fall in love with Natalie Dormer all over again, because she is absolutely magnetic as Anne Boleyn.

Last 3 characters I identified with: Briony Tallis, from Atonement by Ian McEwan. She’s such a difficult character, but she’s, like such a writer. And there are so many great little moments in this book that illustrate how frustrated she is by the fact that she can use words to create a world and people who will behave and react in ways that she understands and can predict, and yet she cannot apply this to the real world. Real people are messy and complicated and she can’t control any of it. And that’s frustrating to her. (That’s me in a nutshell).

Anouk Rocher, from The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris. There’s a story arc where Anouk is being bullied and made to feel like an outsider in this book... and well... I’ve been there. She comes out so much stronger and vibrant at the end of her story, that her whole journey as a character really struck a chord in me.

Hermione Granger - for obvious reasons. (She’s been my hero since I was like, twelve.)

Book I’m currently reading: Speaking of Hermione, it’s time for the annual Harry Potter Marathon in the Meadowlark house and there’s an argument as to whether age four is too young to start reading the Best Series of All Time to the kid.

I’m also reading (because who reads just one book at a time?) a beautiful little book called The Housekeeper + The Professor by Yoko Ogawa and I’ve been dipping in and out of The Faber Book of Modern Fairy Tales.

I’m tagging @naarna @mrbenzedrine89 @kreeblimsabs @unknown-authoress

@lightofevolution @nicholelikewhat @inmuddywaters