What to buy during the Sephora sale, what to read this holiday weekend
It's the Friday before a long weekend! A day when no one is getting any real work done, because even the people who are still at work are mentally checked out. You know what that means: perfect timing to shop the Sephora sale, either fantasy shopping or real shopping. (For those of you who don't know, Sephora has a sale going on right now for their Beauty Insider members; it's 20% off if you're Rouge, 15% off if you're VIB -- the levels that have spent more money the year before -- and it's 10% off if you're a regular Beauty Insider member. All you have to do to be a member is sign up on their website or in store, so if you're not one and need some new lipstick, go sign up). I always think these sales are the time to splurge on something higher end that you don't really want to pay full price for, so if you think that too, you've come to the right place. My favorite lipstick brand (not just at Sephora, but anywhere) and one that I feel like a lot of people sleep on, is YSL. I've tried so many lipsticks and lip stains and lip glosses from them, and they've all been fantastic. People always ask me what my favorite lipstick is, and I never thought I really had one, until last weekend when I thought I lost my YSL lip stain (in 1) I wear all the time, and I thought "OH NO I LOST MY FAVORITE LIPSTICK" so I guess it is my favorite. I also just bought this new lip gloss of theirs and I'm wearing it today, and I like it a lot. And even though it's the end of summer coming soon, I bought some COOLA sunscreen, because I used my friend's tube of it when we were at the beach last week, and liked it a lot -- no white cast, went on super easy, and smelled good.
So I'm in the midst of working on the second draft of Book 3, and one thing that's helped me so so much with this book is Lisa Cron's Wired for Story. I read her other book, Story Genius, last year when I was working on Book 2 (The Proposal, out in less than two months!), and got a lot out of it, so I decided to dive into Wired for Story, and I've found it so so valuable. It's made me figure out stuff about my characters and plots, realize exactly why stuff I knew wasn't working wasn't working, and figure out some solutions, and just generally get the draft into a lot better shape than it was. I feel like writing books are the kinds of things that are super personal -- something that really works for me doesn't work at all for other people, and vice versa, but I think I've always gotten at least a grain of something that helps me later from all of the ones I've read.
And if you're looking for something more fun to read over the holiday weekend, I'm planning to dive into Tessa Dare's new book, The Governess Game -- I've loved all of her books (especially the Spindle Cove series) -- and so this book coming out right before a long weekend is a gift to us all. (Please ignore that I'm desperately trying to finish the second draft of Book 3 this weekend, we all need breaks, okay???)
Other holiday reading and viewing: I wrote this about my Good Friday for Popula, and I filmed this video about three books I recommend to all of you (all three of which you've already heard me rave about if you've been reading this newsletter) (Bringing this newsletter full circle: I'm wearing the YSL lip stain I talked about up top in that video).
As for what to what to make this holiday weekend, I'm going to repeat a recipe I gave you all in the very early days of this newsletter. I make this a lot in the summer: it's great to bring to a party or eat by yourself. You can call it a salsa and eat it with chips, or a salad and eat it with a fork, either way is great. And it's super easy to put together, especially in hot weather. Also, these amounts are all just estimates; add more of whatever ingredient you like.
Black bean, corn, tomato, avocado salsa/salad
2 ears of corn
1 can black beans
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 avocado
cilantro, chopped (half a bunch or so)
1 jalapeno, diced
juice of one or a few limes
salt
olive oil, a tablespoon or two
Cut the corn off the cob (I break the cobs in half, and then cut right down each half onto a cutting board), and throw into a hot frying pan for a minute or two until they brown a little. Cut the tomatoes in half, and put in a big bowl and salt to taste. Add the corn to the tomatoes. Drain the black beans, and add to the bowl. Dice the avocado, and add to the bowl. Squeeze lime juice over all (especially the avocado), and add the cilantro and jalapeno (if you don't like either, leave them out, or sub another herb or another pepper). Drizzle with olive oil, and then stir everything together. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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