Audible Book Recommendations 2016

I’m a HUGE audiobook fan I’m pretty sure I’d go insane driving in LA traffic if I didn’t have audiobooks and podcasts to listen to. I’ve been an Audible member since 7/8/2011! I pay about $15 a month and get 1 credit for a free audiobook monthly. The Audible app is great and super easy to use as well and keeps your bookmark in the place you left off even if you switch between devices. My favorite part about the Audible app is being able to adjust the speed of the speaker which I usually put at 1.25x. You can sign-up for Audible and get a 30 day free trial with 2 free audiobooks:

As you’re about to see, I read almost exclusively non-fiction and love biographies, science, and self-help type books. Here’s some recent books I’ve been enjoying from Audible: Continue reading “Audible Book Recommendations 2016”

Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

Welcome to the first ever Blushing in Hollywood Book Club post! Today I finished Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun, and Be Your Own Person and I really enjoyed it a lot. If you didn’t already know, Shonda Rhimes is the incredibly talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder. She is a serious boss lady that pretty much runs things on TV right now. She’s so much more than that though because she’s really changed the face of television to make it look more like how the world actually looks (instead of adding diversity she likes to refer to it as normalizing) and for her efforts she’s won a GLAAD award, several NAACP Image awards, and a Peabody Award. She’s a pretty impressive person.

shonda-rhimes-year-of-yes

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How To Say No To a Date

As a person that has been socialized since birth to people-please (aka a woman) I understand how difficult it is to say no when someone asks you on a date. Today I’m going to talk about turning someone down via text message/Facebook messenger/email/etc. because turning someone down in person is a much different. When you’re in person and you’re a girl being asked out by a guy you have to worry (unfortunately) about your safety so that will be a different post.

This all stems from a man asking me out via text recently who I needed to maintain a positive relationship with for professional reasons. I think this comes up a lot when you’re asked out by a work colleague or a Starbucks barista or friend of a friend that you’re going to run into a lot and it gets tricky. If you give a creepy stranger your phone number so he will leave you alone you have my permission to never respond to him ever and block him if he harasses you. Same goes for a guy on a dating website who you have barely chatted with- no response necessary. Another twist comes when you’re not sure if someone is asking you on a date and you don’t want to presume they are and be incorrect because that’s awkward. For example, a single work colleague of your preferred sex texting you “Hey want to grab drinks?” Here’s how to handle it if the answer is “No.”: Continue reading “How To Say No To a Date”

Ray Rice Inspired Makeup Tutorial

You have to check out this Ray Rice Inspired Makeup Tutorial this girl is hilarious.

I really love this video I think this girl is awesome and hilarious. Megan MacKay is a writer and comedian from Canada and you can check out her website for more info meganmackay.net She combines some of my favorite things in this one: feminism, makeup, humor, calling people out on their shit, and helping women. I hope this video goes even more viral than it has already!

Some of my favorite parts:

  • Foundation in a new shade called The NFL because it will cover up anything just to save face
  • The intersectional feminism eyeshadow primer- And to those people generally the best thing to do is um read a fucking history book.
  • Bronzer time! I love this name it’s so punny it’s ‘Orange You Sad That the American News Source Most Dedicated to Truthful Journalism Turned Out To Be TMZ?’

So yeah be sure to check out this video because this girl is quick and it has a good message. Also, if you don’t want your day to take a turn for the worst I recommend (and this is just s general life tip) to not read the comments.

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mm gif2More of her videos that I loved: Continue reading “Ray Rice Inspired Makeup Tutorial”

My BeautyConLA Experience & Insecurities

Last Saturday I went to BeautyConLA and holy crap it was overwhelming. Since 99.9% of the population doesn’t understand what a beauty convention is or why one would exist, let me explain. According to the website “BEAUTYCON IS A FASHION AND BEAUTY COMMUNITY + CONFERENCE FOR THE INTERNET’S MOST INFLUENTIAL BEAUTY AND FASHION ICONS AND THEIR EVER-GROWING NUMBER OF FANS. BEAUTYCON HAS ALREADY TAKEN OVER LA, LONDON + NEW YORK AND NOW, WE’RE HEADING BACK HOME, TO BEAUTIFUL LOS ANGELES! #BEAUTYCONLA” It consisted of a bunch of booths for makeup, hair, and skincare (mostly) products, and had panels of internet/youtube/instagram famous beauty gurus and the like as well as some quickie classes/makeup demonstrations. I had actually planned on seeing some of the panels, but it was so insanely busy and confusing in the convention I never actually made it into one.

Annabelle drawing a penis on the BeautyCon wall
Annabelle drawing a penis on the BeautyCon wall
Annabelle and I at BeautyCon LA
Annabelle and I at BeautyCon LA

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You Don’t Have to Try so Hard

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Picture of Colbie Caillat from her Instagram @colbiecaillat

Colbie Caillat’s music video for the song “Try” has recently gone viral for all the right reasons. You’ve probably seen links to Buzzfeed articles on your Newsfeed titled things like “These women took off their makeup for a music video and you won’t BELIEVE what happens next!!” It’s not all that dramatic though, the women take off their makeup and Colbie takes out her weave and they looked like what every girl in the world looks like when she wakes up.

Through all forms of media we are bombarded with images of flawless looking women. If you scroll through your instagram feed I’m sure between all the pictures of scenery and delicious looking brunches there are bound to be women who appear to have huge hair, huge lashes, and flawless skin. When this glammed up image has become the norm, it’s hard to look at yourself fresh faced in the morning and like what you see. Hell, it’s hard to take a picture of yourself all glammed up and like it enough to post on Instagram because it always just seems not quite good enough. I have absolutely fallen into this trap. A few months ago I was bored and killing some time by putting all the makeup I own on my face and I decided to capture it for Insty:

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