Steph Reads: Morning Star: Book III of the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

Morning Star by Pierce Brown is the third installment of my favorite book series, the Red Rising trilogy. The book starts off where Golden Son left off...and its a pretty desperate situation. Darrow has been captured and subsequently tortured unsure of the fate of his friends and ultimately what his fate will be given he is in the hands of the Jackal. The book takes its time to get going as it relies on Darrow's own thoughts and recollections of past occurrences to get the reader caught up on the current situation, but sure enough, there are joyous reunions with new and old characters alike and the story follows Darrow's continued quest to overtake the broken society and convince all to break the chains that bind them.  My favorite character of this series is Sevro, the smart-mouthed and sharp goblin who is as jaded as he is witty and tough, and I was so happy to find he served as one of the main characters in this book with his personality a highlight throughout.

Without spoiling anything, I will say that this book was everything I hoped it would be as the perfect wrap up to my favorite series. It had violence, romance, conflict, love, war, defeat, and success. I appreciate the imperfections of our favorite protagonists that made the characters both frustrating but also all the more relatable. I'm excited for this series to be turned into films (rumored to be happening soon!), because I NEED this amazing world and its characters to be brought to life.

I will definitely be following Pierce Brown's career eagerly awaiting his next book because the way he writes is realistic even with the most fantastical elements and so, so addictive.

xxSJ

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Lianne Moriarty
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Clinique Beyond Perfecting foundation and concealer in 'Breeze'

My skin began acting crazy after spending a very humid Summer in NYC. My foundation was oiling up by the end of the day and yet my skin was breaking out while looking quite dry in some areas. I decided to splurge on a higher end foundation that would give me the coverage I need for my breakouts but was designed for my combination oily/dry skin. I went to Sephora and picked up the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer.

This foundation is your standard 1 fluid ounce and it is housed in a glass container. One interesting part of this foundation is the gigantic doe foot applicator. Some people think that this doe foot is not 'sanitary' for application directly the face, but I don't mind. I use one dip of the brush and put the foundation on my cheeks like wiskers, a stripe down my nose, and then a few dots on my forehead and chin. I've been using a beauty blender to blend this out which works beautifully. 

L: no makeup on at all!!!**GASP**, R: one coat of Clinique foundation applied with beauty blender

I got shade matched at Sephora to the lightest shade of this foundation which is the color 'Breeze' (0.5 VF-P). I noticed that this shade range is a little limited as far as lighter shades. A lot of the shades had quite a yellow undertone to them which on me makes me look a little sick. This color 'Breeze' was more pinky which is why I selected it. I think it might be a bit light for me but with blush and some bronzer it looks just fine. I find this foundation wears really well over an entire work day and does a beautiful job at evening out my skin tone while my freckles can still peek out to say hello. I find this foundation does well with a powder on top to set it and performs fine with products layered on top without caking up or emphasizing pores or fine lines. The finish of the foundation is quite natural (as in NOT MATTE) and allows for some light dewiness without making me look like an oil slick by day's end. 

This foundation costs $27 which is pricey compared to drugstore, but a very fair or even inexpensive price compared to other brands at Sephora. I am finding this foundation lasts quite a long time as well. I think I am only about 1/3 of the way finished and I have used it daily for 2 months. That is much better value than the L'Oreal cushion foundation (Click HERE for my review on this foundation!) which costs $15 but only lasts for a month...think about it. 

I'm all about this foundation, you guys, and I highly recommend it if you have similar skin to me. It just does what its supposed to do which is so refreshing. 

Check it out from Sephora HERE!

xxSJ

Steph Reads: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl follows the story of Mia Dennett, a young school teacher who comes from a massively wealthy family making her the perfect target for an abduction demanding a hefty ransom. The story takes place through the eyes of Mia and her captor during the time she is living as a captive, as well as after her return switching perspective between the Detective on the case and Mia's mother. Upon her return from being held captive, Mia has selective amnesia which has blocked most of her memories of her time in the Minnesota woods with her captor, making her case all the more interesting and complex.

Kubica manages to pen this story switching between points of view as well as places on the timeline without confusion and is able to reveal a great deal about many characters in few words. Overall I enjoyed the set up of this story as well as the ending, but I felt the middle of the story was a bit lengthy without much development. It was most likely intentional, but just when I thought the characters were getting somewhere in a scenario or conversation, the chapter would end and the point of view would shift to a different character and part of the timeline forcing me to abandon the momentum I had going in a previous scene.

I do think that the ending of this story was worth the wait and well worth the repeated taunt at some sort of fulfillment in the mid portion of the story, but I do think other books (such as Gone Girl and Girl on the Train) do a better job at keeping a more consistent engagement with the story. When people refer to these types of stories as 'thrillers' or 'roller coaster rides,' I would say with this novel I felt a peak at the beginning, one long plateau, followed by a last peak where as with the previously mentioned novels I feel a ton of bumps along with the massive peaks throughout the story's entirety. Again, I think the ending of this book is very well done and made me want to read the story again (seriously, read the Epilogue...my jaw dropped and I gasped on the subway), but be prepared for a bit of a slow burn with this one!

xxSJ

Check out my other Steph Reads posts!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline11/22/63 by Stephen King
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Lianne Moriarty
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
Splintered by AG Howard
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in 'Double Dare' and 'Lovesick'

 The liquid lipstick trend has hit the beauty world hard and I don't think its going anywhere any time soon. I decided to hop on this trend after thorough research on what I thought the best liquid lipstick formula would be for my dry, depraved lips. I settled on trying out Kat Von D's Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks due to their reputation of having a long-lasting and very comfortable formulation.  I settled on picking two neutral colors to try this trend out.

R: Lovesick, L: Double Dare

 I picked out 'Lovesick,' a mauve pinky nude, and 'Double Dare,' a dusty rose mauve. The products come housed in a slender plastic tube with ornate black designs on it. I like the sleek packaging a lot, and the slimness may make it seem like you get less product, you actually get 0.22oz of liquid lipstick which is double what you get in an Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick. The applicator is a standard doefoot applicator which I found very easy to use to get a relatively perfect application.

Top: Double Dare, Bottom: Lovesick

I love this product a lot.  I am someone who LOVES lipstick to death but can't be bothered to reapply it through out the day when it fades. I also have a profession that doesn't allow me to look in mirrors often or take frequent restroom breaks for touch ups so I tend to avoid putting on lip products at risk of fading or smearing in an unflattering way. I think this product solves this issue for me as I get a full 8 hours of wear time out of this lipstick with no touch ups needed. This stuff lasts through eating and drinking and best of all, it doesn't make my lips feel uncomfortable. I definitely wouldn't say that this lipstick makes my lips feel moisturized while I wear it, but I'm certainly not bothered by it.

As an added bonus, I noticed in the morning following wearing this product my lips always looked and felt very refreshed. After some light investigating I discovered this product is infused with Vitamin E and sunflower seeds which my lips apparently respond really well to!

I'm in love with these lipsticks and will surely pick up more shades in the future. It's a beautiful product that works and costs the fair price of $20 per tube. Its not cheap, but its not going to break the bank if I hold off on my normal Starbucks purchases for the week!

Find these liquid lipsticks HERE!

xxSJ

MAC Goodies: Flamingo Park collection

MAC has recently done some out of character things for the brand such as lowering their eyeshadow pan cost to a meager $6 as well as starting a loyalty program AND providing free shipping, no minimum. After a recent browsing sesh on their website, I noticed that MAC now has a 'sale' section online! MAC and 'sale' are two words I never thought I would see in the same sentence, but I suppose they are attempting to move some old stock out of inventory.  The MAC Flamingo Park collection was a collection full of deliciously gorgeous pinks that I completely drooled over. I repeatedly added products into my shopping cart only to have them sit there for days, unable to pull the trigger (being that I am a grad student with low funds for my makeup hoarding!).  After seeing some of the Flamingo Park collection on sale for 30% off, I finally felt like I could pull the trigger!

I purchased a lipstick and a blush. The lipstick is in the color 'Flocking Fabulous' and is a hot coral color.

The blush is the color 'Spring Flock' and is a bright peachy coral in the pan but shows up a bit more subdued when swatched.

Wearing Spring Flock blush and Flocking Fabulous lipstick

MAC blushes wear for about 6-8 hours on my skin and this shade of lipstick lasted about 4 hours through light drinking. This creamy shade needs to be reapplied after meals though!

I recommend stalking MAC's website for the random sale you may stumble across! You never know what goodies you might find...I think these two products were awesome items to add to my collection that I'll get plenty of wear out of.

xxSJ