Currently Obsessed With is a monthly feature where I talk about my favorite stuff and interesting things from the last month and also where I talk about what’s been going on in my life!

I can’t believe July is over.  Really, I can’t!  It went by really, really fast!

Nails (And A Bit Of Beauty):

After skipping the Maven box for a couple months, I’m back to getting it again!  I’ve tried out all of the colors, and I’m not a big fan of Dawn, which is the yellow one.  It’ll be fine as an accent color, or maybe on my toes, but I can’t picture myself wearing it.  Linden and Lissa (Linden’s from my box, and Lissa is an add-on) are great, and while I like Braiden as a color and a glitter-y, texturized nail polish, it’s also a major pain to take off, so I may not wear it often.  Also, I wish the picture came out better, but that really is the best one I could get…

Also: I’m kind of obsessed with the matte top coat from Nicole by OPI.  Plus, I got a reflective top coat from Sephora’s Formula X for Sephora line, so I’m looking forward to trying that out.  I also got a nail hydration treatment from Sephora’s Formula X For Sephora line, because my nails have been cracking and peeling, so I’m hoping this will help.  Not wearing nail polish may also help, but that never seems to last long…

I used to be a big Sephora person years ago, but due to unfortunate circumstances, could no longer afford to shop at Sephora. And then I got into the habit of not going, which is probably good for my bank account, because Sephora is a bit on the pricey side.  But I kind of miss it, because for some reason, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming as getting beauty products at CVS or Target.

BUT.

I got the most amazing mascara, and I love it to pieces.  I’ve tried a few different mascara over the years.  Like a bottle of mascara from Tarte, and I think I used it once for a cousins wedding last year.  I’ve also liked Clinique’s naturally glossy mascara. But the LashGASM mascara from TooFaced is my current obsession!  I’m usually a lip gloss and nail polish person, and I’ll sometimes wear mascara.  I may have spent $20 on a bottle of mascara, but it’s so worth every penny, because my eye lashes look amazing!  Not even kidding.

Let’s Talk Books:

So, I’ve been on quite the print kick this month!  I’m very much an e-book girl, but for whatever reason, print seems to be my reading thing right now, so I’ll go with it.  I’ve been in this weird reading funk where I’m reading stuff, and liking it, but I really haven’t been super-jazzed about anything.  And as much as I love my e-reader, e-books aren’t completely doing it for me, so I’ll probably be reading quite a few print books and listening to quite a few audio books.  Also, I haven’t wanted to read as much, which is bugging me, because reading is one of my things, you know?  I suppose it was bound to happen at some point, given how much I read, so maybe…I need to figure something out.  Like, reading, but not as much or something.

I usually get one book a month with audible (this month’s credit went to Gated by Amy Christine Parker), but I also got Septimus Heap (random audible sales are awesome!), Roanoke Vanishing and Beholding Bee.  I’m not sure why I got more audio books, since I have quite the backlog of audio books, but I’ve been in a mood for them, so why not add a few more?  Also: listening seems to get me reading.

As for print, you can see them below.

As you can see, it’s quite the stack.  I’m really hoping one of them will get me out of this reading slump I’m in.

T.V. And Movies:

I saw Lucy this month, which was really odd but interesting.  It started off super-weird, and I wasn’t sure if I should have gone with something else, but it turned out to be an okay movie.  Once you get past the set-up, it got a lot more interesting.  It definitely was more appealing than Planet Of The Apes and Transformers, which were the other two options…but I’d say wait until it’s available on RedBox or something if you’re interested in seeing it.

As for T.V., I haven’t been watching much of it.  I’m watching Gilmore Girls again, after a several month-long break.  I’ve also been watching Blue Bloods on Hulu, so I’ll keep watching that.  Oddly enough, it’s a CBS show (at least, Season 1 is), and that’s sort of confusing because CBS is weird, and only makes current shows available on their website.  But I’ll take it, even I need to hunt down the most recent season.

I actually really hate watching t.v. shows on the network websites, because I’ve always had HUGE issues with watching an entire episode.  Like, lots of buffering and poor issue quality, which really turned me off to watching stuff on the network site. Granted, that was several years ago, and it could have been my computer, but it was enough to make me never want to do that again.

Crochet:

There’s not much going on in the crochet department.  I’m working on another hat, and I’m currently looking at other projects, because I’m going to need one when my hat is finished.  Between Pinterest, ravelry and a few crochet books I have, I should be able to find something.  (And hopefully, I’ll already have the yarn for it).

Around The Internet:

There’s a lot of interesting stuff out there!

Like this article about an Oregon School Board reversing their pre-emptive ban on The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian.  Also: a school board gets rid of a summer reading list for incoming freshman, as talked about in this article.

I like this article that talks about where To Kill A Mockingbird would be shelved if it were published today.  It’s interesting to think about this in regards to other classics, and how people may categorize other books.

I’m not sure how I feel about a couple of the things mentioned in an article about YA heroines, but I do agree with the idea that we need to see all kinds of females in YA.  Also: this topic is a can of worms that really does warrant its own post.

A really interesting blog post about the grey areas of spoilers.  Eventually, I’m going to do a post on spoilers, because I can’t limit it to a couple sentences.

The science of old book smell.  I know there are people who really do like the smell of books, but sometimes, I feel like people say that to make themselves look super-impressive and are just lying about it.  As much as I love to read, I’ve never understood why some people love the smell of books.

E-book bundling needs to be a thing, so I’m glad HarperCollins is trying something out.  HarperCollins (more than the other 4 major publishers) seems to be more on-board with trying this stuff out.

Also: the Nostalgia Machine is totally awesome.  90’s music, here I come!

Music: 

Speaking of music, I’ve been on a music kick this month!  Not enough to do a separate post, but I did get some new stuff recently so there will probably be more music next month.  Since this post is getting really long, I’m just going to leave you with a couple of my favorite songs right now.

1- Fancy by Iggy Azalea and Charlie XCX.  If you like Lorde, you’ll probably like Iggy.

2- Ain’t It Fun by Paramore.  I can’t stop singing along to this one.

I hope everyone has a great August and a great weekend!