THIS SITE HAS MOVED!

I can't be arsed to fiddle around blogger trying to renew the domain for this blog. I'll be at wordpress.com:

http://kateescapereviewsnj.com/

jibjab.com

My family and friends LOVE jibjab.com e-cards, and they're so simple to make!  A little cut and paste and you're done!  They have a variety of cards and videos "starring you", or you can send a pre-made card.  I must be honest though: I'm there for the cut and paste e-cards.  Jolly good fun for all ages, they are! 

They also work with rathergood.com quite a lot, which is another website that I have loved for a while. Like, Justin Bieber was most likely a tickle in his pappy's sack at the time.

Since it's going to be St. Patrick's Day before I know it, I'll give an example (I have the paid member account):

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Dear Anonymous from 6/16/13:

(This is a response to a comment left on my Physician's Formula Matte Collection Eye Shadow blog, which goes as such):

 

Anonymous June 16, 2013 at 11:48 AM

 

"You need better photos - they aren't crisp like on other review websites. You also need a new model - she looks like a miserable guy in the photos and the fat hand is a turn off. Nasty! Gross! If you have to use that model because you don't want to be seen then tell her to not wear a hat, smile and shed 30lbs. Awful reviews! "

My response:

 I'm not scared to show in any picture or Youtube videos that I've gained a lot of weight, unlike people like you who hide behind "anonymous" because they would never say deplorable things as themselves. 

I am the person behind this blog, you see me in the pictures I post, and do you see the pics on the links to my personal blog and indy wrestling blog?  Those are pictures of me as well, from almost 3 years ago, when I was a size eight.    I can't believe that there are still people like you out in the world who are still stupid and brainwashed enough to think that being as thin as you can be and pretty will magically solve your problems, because it sure as hell didn't solve mine.

I've gained 100 lbs since then due to MEDICATION THAT I CANNOT STOP TAKING.  Karma doesn't take too kindly to incredibly shallow people such as yourself, and it never will.  The only judgment I ever take seriously is God's.  If you are religious (I know not everyone is), then maybe you should think about that before you go off on a troll spree spreading hate speech to make yourself feel better about the fact that you're pathetic.

#Dropbox review

(Sign up here!)

https://db.tt/Z9ijHgdH

I have been using the Dropbox app a lot on my Samsung Galaxy tablet and I really like it.  I just upgraded to 100 GB worth of storage (you start with about 3 GB) for 10 bucks a month and I like it even more, since as a blogger I have a huge screen capture collection and having them load right to Dropbox instead of fiddling with photobucket, that made me like Dropbox even more.

They also give you opportunities when you first sign up to get free storage, the big one being that they give  1 GB of free storage and your friend 500 MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 32 GB) if you refer them to Dropbox!  This offer is a part of what they call their "seven quests" for new members.  Finish at least five and you get a reward (and a chance for a free 48 GB storage addition).


You can add multiple computers to your account and you have the option to sync your devices so that every picture or video you take from your device gets loaded up to your Dropbox automatically: it saves so much time!

Religion Rant

Ug. Getting into Heaven isn't like waiting in line to get into the hottest club ever. God doesnt give out VIP passes. We are all children of God, equally loved in His eyes. There are no "favorites". He did not have "favorite angels", he had right-hand angels who decided being second best wasn't good enough. They did not want to be LIKE God, they wanted to replace Him. They were "thermin", as the young folk say nowadays.

http://youtu.be/svwZwOLFtuE



Yet some people continue to kill each other trying to cut in line.

Amelle Grey Sea Salt Caramels

(in creamy milk chocolate)

For those who are on the fence about Facebook sending actual gifts now: check out what one of my Facebook valentines sent me! The shipping speed isnt the greatest, but the merch is still pretty good. You see it's a friends' birthday: your option to buy a gift is right there! The box is way too big, though.

I've never had salted caramel. It's really different but i love chocolate covered caramels, so i'm sure i'll grow to love it.

Favorite Products

Due to my naturally wavy hair, and years of dying it, my hair can get pretty damn frizzy, esp when it's going to rain like today. These frizz ease shampoo and conditioner work really well so far.

"Bohemia" by Veronika Carnaby

From   https://www.mtholyoke.edu/:

"Using revolutionary Paris as their backdrop, bohemians challenged the status quo by rejecting mainstream values and mocking the bourgeoisie."

 "However, Bohemia remains difficult to define. Participants, including writers, artists, students and youth, all contributed to the feelings and ideas of bohemia in different ways; the one attribute they shared was their rejection of the bourgeoisie."

 "Degenerates are not always criminals, anarchists, and pronounced lunatics; They are often authors and artists."  -Max Nordan, Degeneration

From http://www.online-literature.com/periods/beat.php:

"The years immediately after the Second World War saw a wholesale reappraisal of the conventional structures of society. Just as the postwar economic boom was taking hold, students in universities were beginning to question the rampant materialism of their society. The Beat Generation was a product of this questioning. They saw runaway capitalism as destructive to the human spirit and antithetical to social equality. In addition to their dissatisfaction with consumer culture, the Beats railed against the stifling prudery of their parents’ generation. The taboos against frank discussions of sexuality were seen as unhealthy and possibly damaging to the psyche. In the world of literature and art, the Beats stood in opposition to the clean, almost antiseptic formalism of the early twentieth century Modernists. They fashioned a literature that was more bold, straightforward, and expressive than anything that had come before. Underground music styles like jazz were especially evocative for Beat writers, while threatening and sinister to the establishment. To many, the artistic productions of the Beats crossed the line into pornography and therefore merited censorship. Some dismissed the Beat Generation’s literature as mere provocation – a means to get attention, not serious art. Time has proven that the cultural impact of the Beat writers was far from short-lived, as the influence of their work continues to be widespread."

"With a little time, the movement becomes chic, and some members of the dominant culture may even descend into the counter-culture voluntarily, creating a second generation of the movement. This was the case with the bohemians of 19th century Paris as it was with the Hippies of 1960's America, and so on."

I had the pleasure of being asked to review Veronika Carnaby's debut novel, Bohemia. I am a bibliophile, and while I have heard of "beat" artists and authors, I have little knowledge of the "bohemian" lifestyle and its history other than my knowledge of it morphing to the "hippy" movement and the musical "Rent".  Heck, you can find traces of it in the most popular stable (which wound of consisting solely of Shawn Michaels and Triple H) in professional wrestling history, "D-Generation X":

"The group originated in the midst of the WWF's "Attitude Era" from 1997 to 2000.  Their gimmick was that of a gang of rebels who broke the rules, acted and spoke as they pleased, no matter how provocative and/or insulting. Noted for their crude, profane humor and sophomoric pranks, the stable has been dubbed multiple times as the "most controversial group in WWF/E history".

-Wikipedia

Veronika Carnaby's variation of bohemian/beat culture in the '60's which is narrated by the main character, Valerie Freed.  Valerie and her best friend Emma drift from one fancy to another after the club they danced regularly at, "The Ladybug", became too seedy for Valerie's liking.  Emma wishes to become a regular dancer at "The Ladybug" an increasingly seedy night club that causes Valerie to walk out after the band who has been keeping a dark secret of the owner Bud, quits.  She and her friends ramble from one place to another, one experience to another, with Valerie playing the part of a female Jack Kerouac.  She describes a new age suffragettes protest equal rights for women,  Valerie through one intense occurrence after another, in the hopes of finding her own voice and her own destiny:

"After so many months spent shadowing the foot tracks of others, the time came for me to move on in a direction of my own.  I had nothing holding me back, nothing to chain me down, no one to follow.  Freedom meant everything and I held it in my fingertips."

While there were a few mistakes along the way (I am not sure if they are only on the e-reader edition of the book and not the printed version), speaking as a rebel, I really enjoyed Valerie Freed for being so ahead of her time, and I also enjoy Veronika proving that men are not the only ones who can blaze a path all their own through the evolution of Bohemia, into the "beat" generation, into the "hippy" movement.  She molds all of her notes and observations into a manuscript she peddled around Boston with no success.  She gets hit with nostalgia and boils down this time in her life:

"One thing I did realize was that this is our revolution.  We weren't going to be held back as prisoners by the social and cultural ideals of our predecessors.  I ran like the vagrants of the old south carrying a bindle and thumbing north, tumbling like weeds of the Wild West, for I knew there was a whole lot left to conquer and even more left to write about."

While Valerie's journey is fictitious, it is an example of what countless women had gone through during the most tumultuous time in American history.



Veronika Carnaby is an American beat-style author and poet who is currently working on a follow-up to Bohemia. 

www.facebook.com/VeronikaCarnaby

http://veronikacarnaby.blogspot.com/

 https://twitter.com/VeronikaCarnaby

"Bohemia" on goodreads.com

iPhone 5 and Apps Review

I love my iPhone 5! Soooo many apps...my favs are the simpsons game app "Tapped Out" ( I don't play many games but I love the Simpsons).

  Other favs are the blogger, youtube, instagram, social cam, M calendar (for chicks only), comics,

  video games, menuish, drinks, photo vault, and toon camera. 

So far these are my favs, mind you.  I'll probably have new ones as time goes by, and I'll share those with you.

I'm really getting used to the keyboard; I didn't think I would.  I have chubby fingers so I do make a lot of mistakes. 

I also love one of the covers I bought (I'll have to get another one for when I'm with Lexi because she likes it as much as I do and it comes off the phone too easily.   She has no interest in the phone itself, thank Jeebus).

Watching Charmed

On Demand!  I took this pic with my iPhone 5

New Reviews to Come!

I have been so busy with writing and promoting my personal blog and just trying to get my name out there that I really didn't have much time to do reviews.

I have a lot of things I will review in 2013 (some you will also see on my personal blog), so stay tuned!

Love
Katie

72 warm color power eye shadow #72-2XW

I really like this palette because it's all nude colors, which is what I wear 90% of the time.  I actually don't wear much eye shadow in the summer, and leave the more intricate looks of mine for when I go out for an evening.  This is also a great palette for blue eyes because there are a ton of peachy shades.  All of the shadows range from matte to satin to shimmer.  The only downside of the quality is that some of the shades are very powdery, so you have to be careful how you handle the whole palette.

I bought this palette from lifeng201010  (http://myworld.ebay.com/lifeng201010/?_trksid=p4340.l2559) who is a top rated seller on Ebay.

Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antioxidants in Chocolate Chip

These are like CRACK!!!!  Best granola bars EVER if you are a chocoholic like myself.

Sleek iDivine Palette Review Part One

This weekend I got my first Sleek iDivine palette in the mail. iDivine is a U.K. mineral-based eye shadow line, so you can use them wet and the eye shadow won't seal over like regular eye shadows.

 I ordered Storm #578 on Ebay:

The colors are very pigmented and you get 12 eye shadows for around $15.00  I paid $14.60 from seller gift-ideas-store (link: http://stores.ebay.com/giftideascosmeticperfumestore )

There are nine shimmer shadows, light golds and peaches as well as silver, slate and dark blue (some swatches):

 and three matte, a light brown, a dark brown, and a black  (swatches):

I have another palette on the way but I won't be getting it until May 10th at the earliest.

P.S.: I use this for cleaning off my hands when I swatch, Wet n Wild Eye Makeup Remover:

I would never waste my good eye makeup remover on swatching, so I just use this.  It's very cheap and gets the job done.

The Journals of Louisa May Alcott

(Originally posted in my personal blog)

 All about Louisa: http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html

From amazon.com: From her eleventh year to the month of her death at age fifty-five, Louisa May Alcott kept copious journals. She never intended them to be published, but the insights they provide into her remarkable life are invaluable. Alcott grew up in a genteel but impoverished household, surrounded by the literary and philosophical elite of nineteenth-century New England, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Like her fictional alter ego, Jo March, she was a free spirit who longed for independence, yet she dutifully supported her parents and three sisters with her literary efforts. In the journals are to be found hints of Alcott's surprisingly complex persona as well as clues to her double life as an author not only of "high" literature but also of serial thrillers and Gothic romances.   Associate editor Madeleine B. Stern has added an in-depth introduction to The Journals of Louisa May Alcott, the only unabridged edition of Alcott's private diaries.


The end of the book is boring because Louisa doesn't pay much attention to it at all towards the end of her life, I have to say. The first two thirds of the book are great though. I loved reading about all the writing she had published in her life.

Physician's Formula Matte Collection Eye Shadow

I have two quads so far: Classic Nudes and Canyon Classics.

Classic Nudes:

Canyon Classics:

The texture of these eye shadows are very smooth and buttery (which is what you want with mineral mattes).  There is a lot of fallout when you apply (puffs of product cloud out around you if you're too rough applying it) so your best bet is to use a primer on your eyes and pat the color on, then blend.  The stay power on both is pretty impressive: I rubbed the swatches I had on my hands pretty well and it took a minute for them to fade away almost completely.  I haven't tried them on with a primer, so I'm assuming they'll last at least 8 hours with one.

BR 40 color mineral eye shadow palette

Some of the colors have more color payoff than others dry.  Try the lighter colors that need to be applied and blended a lot wet and that should help make them darker.

This is the case it came in:

My particular palette has one eye shadow that keeps popping out but I'm sure some superglue will help it to stay in:

They are mostly shimmers and satins but there are a few matte colors among them.

All in all this isn't a palette for mature skin but has a lot of colors that can stand alone.

Coastal Scents Blushes and Shany 40 Palette Review

Yesterday I got my order of Coastal Scents Professional Blush Palette and Shany 40 Eyeshadow palette in Boutique.

Coastal Scents:

I'm impressed with the pigmentation and color payoff for them being only $15.  They range from neutral  terracotta to peach to hot pink.  Any color you need is here.

Shany 40 Eyeshadow palette in Boutique:

The only thing that annoyed me about this palette is the fact that the black was cracked and managed to get all over the palette.  I didn't realize that some of the black also managed to wind up on my bed, and I woke up with black streaks all over my left cheek and nobody told me this morning.  Thanks Mom!

Update: I had to pry the back out of the kit because it was so crumbled.  Black eye shadow spilled everywhere and I just spent 10 minutes cleaning up.  I'm not mad about the eye shadow crumbling: that happens all the time when you order a palette through the mail, but it just HAD to be the black one that broke. Just my luck!

Other than that, great color payoff and vibrant pigmentation for 12 bucks. (not including shipping).


All of these are from amazon.com, where you get free shipping if you spend 25 bucks or over.  I got all of my palettes from amazon: I don't order many eye palettes from eBay because I know I'll be guaranteed my order coming in 5-7 days when I order from amazon.  So both of these items cost me $30 with no shipping charge.

Party City pinata fillers

I did not purchase the pinatas for Spider Man or Spongebob, just the candy fillers.  To me they seem like a rip off, since the way they package the candy, you'll get one little bag with like, one or two jelly beans in it.  It just seems like such a blow to the ecosystem for me and I'd rather go to WalMart or something and get bags of candy bar miniatures and gold coins or something.  I'd only do the pinata with the pinata filler if your kid is demanding that EVERYTHING be Spongebob, Spider Man, etc.

L'Oreal Studio Secrets

Rosecha is something I have inherited from my mother.  Right now my particular case is not that bad, but I can tell that it could get as noticeable as it was when my mother was in her 40's.

This product, however, erases this problem for me.

L'Oreal's Studio Secret Primer in #2

Green counteracts red and pink, so when you put this primer on and work it into the skin, the Rosecha goes away.  It lasts all day as well, so it has made its way into my list of "must haves".  

I actually used to use the Physician's Formula green mineral powder corrector, but my skin gets so dry it just  made my skin look cakey.  This liquid is great for those with dry skin.  I pop this on along with a pore minimize and some tinted moisturizer with sunscreen, and my face is good to go for the day (I also use very little powder to set my makeup because of my dry skin).