Saturday, April 6, 2013

So..I've bought everything Smashbox has decided to make


Don't ask me why, but over the course of the past 6 months, I've been completely obsessed with online shopping from Sephora and Smashbox.  It's most likely because with every purchase you get to try something ELSE and the game goes on and on, and I was ready.

I think my interest in Smashbox came from their reputation with primers since, yes, I am one to spend 10 to 15 minutes on their makeup every day, but I'm adamant that my makeup is to be done ONCE. I live in a humid climate, so getting something to last a solid 10 hours without touch-ups is very difficult, and primers have a reputation for doing just that, which Smashbox is known for.  It was also a very popular brand in the BB cream market, so I started a collection as you can see.

I'm pretty satisfied with most of my products, so it's worth reviewing from top to bottom.

The Best and the Worst


My absolute top three would have to be: 1. Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer 2. Limitless 15 Hour Cream Shadow in Gemstone and 3. Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder.

Products to skip: 1. Photo Finish Foundation Primer in Color Correcting Adjust 2. JetSet Waterproof Eye Liner in Vamp (but probably all of them are bad) 3. Any individually priced makeup brushes, they work but they are WAY too expensive to buy separately.

I'll start soon with detailed product reviews from the beginning of the makeup routine.
 
Stay tuned for these Smashbox reviews!



Wednesday, December 26, 2012

How to ACTUALLY Check Your Facebook Privacy Settings

 
Social media in terms of privacy can feel like a total betrayal of trust at times.  You want to take part, but it just seems like you have to stay one step ahead of the game to get anything out of it.  By now, you've probably read an article or two about the dangers of Facebook and all the privacy policy changes from this past year.  As someone who uses Facebook for their day job, I even have trouble keeping up with all the privacy changes. So the following list is my most up-to-date privacy proofing systemt that's much simpler than going through every single setting and every past post/picture.  NOTE:  The results may scare you, but it's always better late than never to protect your privacy!  This doesn't mean you have to take everything down from your profile, but it's to actually know what others can see on your profile publicly, since Facebook's preview option no longer exists. (Jerks!)

1.  Create a Facebook Page & Switch Users

Go to Facebook.com and click "Create a Page" on the bottom right-hand side. It can be for anything you want: your car, your blowdryer, your pet, your blog, your small business, whatever! You may actually find fan pages useful on Facebook, but for right now, you're simply making this to preview your public profile.  You can use one you've already made as long as you have administrative privileges. The page wizard is actually pretty helpful at setting up all the details of your page, but for the purposes of this, just type in gibberish and skip whatever possible.  Once your page is set up, look to the top right hand blue bar and click the gear icon for a drop-down menu and click on your new page to switch the user. Your are now acting on Facebook as your fan page. Everything should now look different from your home page to your profile.

Now, type your name in the search bar. Find your profile and click on it. This is what ALL public Facebook users can see. At first, you may be relieved that your timeline and 1,999+ photos are hidden, but no so fast! Click on your profile photo and click through your albums tab, about tab, etc. Before my updates, the public could see my past 3 profile pictures at full size, all of the comments on it, every single cover photo, and videos. It's funny how these things are so much easier to miss without actually previewing your profile! It's pretty awful how Facebook changed all these default options, but hey, it can be fixed.  So, click through everything and take note of anything you want taken off your public profile and switch back from the users on the top. The following steps should relieve all of your privacy worries...for this hot second on Facebook at least.

2. The Quick Fixes

Before you have a meltdown and delete your account, the following fixes in Facebook Privacy settings will make a huge impact in a small dose:

-On the main privacy page, click on "Who can look me up?" and edit it to "Only Friends". You may prefer not to hide yourself from the search feature all the time, but this is useful when undergoing a privacy makeover. This just makes it about 5 times harder for coworkers, frenemies, fake profiles, etc. to find you- especially while your profile is vulnerable privacy-wise.

-Delete any controversial cover photos.  These things may have been a real selling point for Timeline, but there's a twist! They're public! Every. Single. One. Available for anyone to click through. Scenic photos or patterns, obviously aren't anything to worry about, but whichever ones you're not comfortable being public, you have to delete all together to have any sort of privacy.

-Edit privacy settings for all photo albums. On your own profile, click on photos, then albums.  Scroll over the gear icon under each album to review the privacy settings for each. This is where your notes from the preview come in handy! It's easy to miss these pesky privacy settings since there are so many photos usually on a profile.  So switch users back and forth from your page to your account to make sure all the unintended public albums are hidden. Facebook posts, check-in's, and statuses all work the same way where you need to change it one by one as they come.

-Profile Pictures now DEFAULT to "public" settings. To change this (i.e. so people can't pull up your profile picture at full size or view comments) you have to click on the gear icon for every photo since the timeline change.  For me, it was three profile pictures, for you it may be a lot more than that. Double check by switching users with your page as many times as you need to.

3. Preventing Privacy Issues in the Future

-In the Facebook Privacy settings, click on "Timeline & Tagging" to the left. There you can turn on or off settings for mandatory review when your friends tag you in photos, statuses, posts, etc. It may seem like overkill but hey if if prevents a Facebook hack or an unflattering picture from getting to your timeline, you'll find it's worth its weight in gold.

-Set up friends lists. Facebook's new "smart lists" bring privacy settings to a new level. Lists like "close friends" and "aquaintances" not only help with privacy but also with relevancy of your posts. Again, it's a feature that may seem like overkill, but since people can't see these lists, it's become really useful in guarding certain pieces of information.  Adding someone to your aquaintance list is the new "unfriend", in my opinion. You can also unsubscribe from people's abnoxious posts right from your news feed using the dropdown arrow to the right, but that's a side topic!

Hope I helped someone with this discovery!








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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Week I Caught Up On My Online Shopping

Obviously the Accessories are what I'm Most Excited For...

 This rhinestone, crystal, and chain link confection better be half as cute as it looks online.  It should go well over shift dresses and boatneck tops.

I went with a budget version of this necklace, so hopefully it works. Collar necklaces are really versatile this season.




A Gift for my Mom..

Mango Cat-Eye Sunglasses



The Business-Related Purchases

By Joy Cho

Upgraded my Cargo Collective account so I can finally set up some Google Analytics for it!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Shoe Therapy: The Cure to a Long Day

I hope you all like my new look.  I haven't been posting as often with my new job, as you may know, but as with everything, it gets boring. So, I just gave my blog a much-needed 5 minute refresher to its look and decided to write about the only thing that never fails to make me happy: shoes. Down to business, the top five pairs of shoes I wish were in my closet this month.

To wear to a friend's wedding


Gianni Bini Jeanna Platform Heels



To Feel Sassy at Work


Tony Bianco Black Strappy Heels


 

The Shoes Everyone Would Notice 

Badgely Mishka

 

The Vintage Style

Rachel Roy

 

The Absolute Splurge

Christian Louboutin


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Event Calendar Design

Oh the Joys of having to design a calendar of any kind.  It's something all graphic and web designers MUST do for all sorts of clients, but why do they just always want to come out so..blahh?  This week at work has been slow, so I took an hour to dig for the best and brightest ideas for inspiration for our magazine's upcoming events calendar.  I decided print event calendars are definitely the hardest to pull off, but let's just take a moment to drool over these print/life calendar masterpieces.











Click on any of the items in my collection to see source and more information on them. 










Sunday, August 12, 2012

Stacy and Clinton's Cost-Per-Wear Theory

Of all my fashion shows, "What Not to Wear" is one of my most consistent favorites. Stacy London and Clinton Kelly's infamously quirky program brings fashion back to what it's intended for in the first place, REAL PEOPLE.  In honor of my new job, I'd like to praise pair's the "Cost-Per-Wear" theory and what it means to me.

Here are the problems: I've always loved to go shopping, to a fault, but my current wardrobe plain and simple wasn't built for an office. So my brain quickly does the math that I need a TON of new clothes and my bank account has a decent amount more money in it. All lights say go, TIME TO SHOP!!!  But thankfully, the Learning Channel's re-run's have made me think twice and plan ahead.

Checking Out the Place


Of course with any new job or interview, you want to put your best foot forward, so you do need two-three standard business professional looks in the back of your closet regardless of your work situation. However, every office culture is different, so I made sure to check mine out first before I hit the mall.  Usually the definers are the age of your coworkers and how often clients come in.  At my internship 2 years ago, I noticed about 4-6 people wear jeans every day to a 30-person office, so I wore my dark jeans most days. Mistake! Not that I saw any specific hindrances to my work, but Stacy and Clinton remind us always: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have! Besides, I admit it does feel better to be overdressed constantly than to be underdressed even once. Yes, this means more money, but that's where the budget-crunching theory comes in.

Quantity Vs. Quality

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Late Free Printable Friday: Birthday Card



We didn't forget! 

Right click on the image below (and after the jump) to view at full size.