Hi everyone! One month down, eleven to go. Ha! January did go by rather quickly didn’t it? It feels like it’s only been two weeks so far.

I have quite a few favorites, so let’s get to it!

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My movie favorite of the month is Hidden Figures. This movie, which is based on a true story, was so amazing to watch. Set in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement, this story highlights three women who were employed by NASA as African-American women “computers”.

Dorothy Vaughan is portrayed by Octavia Spencer, a woman who is doing the work of a supervisor to the women of the West Area Computers and is pursuing a promotion to be the supervisor and get the pay raise that comes with the position. When she discovers that an IBM computer has been purchased she takes it upon herself to learn how to program it so she can ensure she will still have a job after it starts working.

Mary Jackson is portrayed by Janelle Monae, who fights to get a court order to attend engineering classes at the University of Virginia, a segregated school, so she can become an engineer at NASA, despite already doing the work for them.

And the star of the story Katherine G. Johnson is portrayed by Taraji P. Henson, a brilliant mathematician who is tasked with double-checking the work of the engineers working on the Friendship 7 space mission to get John Glenn into orbit and back safely. She has to work hard to not only get access to the math she’s supposed to be checking but also to information to be able to create her own path to success in the department.

If you have the chance, you should check out this film and watch! It really is an inspirational story. I’m currently reading the book the film is based on.

My favorite primer has been the Laura Mercier foundation primer this month. This is a product that I had forgotten I had until I was reorganizing everything and moving everything in my collection.

 

My favorite foundation has been the L’Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte foundation. I did a whole review of this product recently so I won’t go on about it for too long but this foundation is such a good semi-matte finish. It can go really matte of course with some powder, which is my preferred way to wear it and lasts all day. The only bad thing about it is that I bought a shade too dark! Otherwise it’s amazing. This was also a December favorite so I think I should find something new for next month!

One of my favorites this month has been this Avon Skin So Soft lotion. I got it when I went to a baby shower over a year ago and didn’t use it until this month. I had such extreme dry skin on my shins and basically tore my room apart until I found a lotion and this was the first one that I came across. Now it sits on my nightstand for such emergencies!

 

Another repeat favorite, this Nest Fragrances perfume in Midnight Fleur. I love this scent so much and is such a strong, deep scent. I’m definitely getting more used to wearing this and more confident but it is a bolder scent than what I normally wear so it’s been an adventure.

My favorite mascara has been this Estee Lauder Sumptous Mascara. It’s the perfect mascara for just everyday life when you just need a bit of help with your lashes. It’s been my go-to all month!

New year = new agendas! I have two planners that I got from the dollar spot at Target. One is a 2017 planner that has each day listed on it. I bought this one first thinking that it was one I would use more often than I have been. Since it’s winter I think I don’t use it as often because I don’t make plans ahead of time because of the crazy weather. I normally keep my eye on the forecast and make last minute decisions of whether I will go somewhere or not. I will definitely be using it more when summer comes!

The other is a two year monthly planner for 2017 and 2018. So each page spread is dedicated to one entire month. I use this one exclusively to plan my blog posts. Early last year I would decide what to write on basically the night before when I was writing the post. This worked okay because I was only doing two posts a week. Then I increased two three posts per week and really started planning my posts about a week ahead of time. Still the problem I ran into with both of these is that I wasn’t thinking long-term about my posts. I was doing a bunch of product reviews and then forget to do hauls, then I would do tons of entertainment (books, movies, etc.) reviews and forget to do my OOTD posts. Really it was quite difficult to try to make sure all my favorite topics were being equally represented. Now I’m planning out my posts for the entire month and use this planner to keep track of them all. I still write out my posts weekly, and on rare occasions the night before, but everything seems so much less stressful and well planned.

I also use these three happy colored pens that I also got at the dollar section in Target. I keep them in their bag so that they don’t float around and get lost in my handbag!

 

Another old favorite, the Lypsyl lip balm! My lips are still extremely dry even though I put lip balm on all the time. Unfortuantley they are so dry I haven’t really been able to wear lip stick because it looks so bad, and lip stick is my favorite. Still, they’re much better than they would be if I didn’t use lip balm so I’m not complaining.

 

Two new favorites are podcasts! My first favorite podcast is First Draft with Sarah Enni, which is hosted by Sarah Enni. She is an author who interviews young adult authors about their shared craft. I’ve listened to a few episodes and I am really interested and find it very, very inspiring. As a writer myself, I am so interested on how everyone has different processes and views. I found this podcast when Sarah Enni moderated a talk with author Victoria Roth that I attended during her book tour for Carve the Mark that I did a blog post on last week. I’ve already finished the book and I’ll likely do a book review soon!

The second favorite podcast is The Room Where It’s Happening, hosted by Mike Drucker and Travon Free. I talked about this podcast in this week’s post about my Hamilton experience, the two hosts talk with many, many famous people who are also Hamilton obsessed. It’s really fun and it’s amazing to hear so many different types of people and their takes on Hamilton the musical. The hosts also sing with their guests, as each guest selects a song from the musical and they all talk about it. Some episodes are more in depth than others but all are fun and a great homage to an amazing work of art.

And my last favorite has been this Kate Moss by Rimmel contour palette. It has a bronzer, blush, and highlight. There are a few different palettes, the one I have is 002 in Coral Glow. I love it because it’s not very pigmented, which makes it super easy to use when I’m in a rush in the morning. I know, most people love pigmented products but when I’m running out the door, I don’t want to accidentally mess everything up or end up looking like a clown! (No offense to clowns.) It’s very subtle and a great everyday product.

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And that’s my favorites for January! I feel like I need to really mix it up for next month because there were so many beauty favorites that were the same. We’ll have to see what happens next month. Let me know what you’ve been loving this month in the comments!

Thanks for reading!