Still a little bit Country

My first concert was Suzy Bogguss at the Utah State Fair. My first arena concert was Brooks & Dunn, with Blackhawk and Little Texas opening. I stood front row at a Tim McGraw concert and touched Billy Ray's hand when I finally saw him live in 2002. Despite these and many more wonderful memories, the concerts I go to lately are more of the indie rock variety. 

So I was psyched when my friend, Jen, text and asked if I'd go see Charlie Worsham with her. She explained he's a country singer she had discovered from an episode of Bones. I didn't even need to listen to him before saying yes. I was thrilled at the idea of going to a country show. 

To make things even better, I quickly found out that I love his music. 

Sadly, Omaha is apparently kind of a lame scene for concerts. Exhibit A:

Despite the fact that people were chatting (yes, carrying on conversations) during the set, Charlie was really incredible. 

You'll notice in this video that Charlie points right at me. Jen swears it was at her, but come on. I was the only person singing along, he saw me, and he acknowledged me. Total connection.

Omaha music fans get a D- for this concert, but Charlie Worsham? A+! His tour comes back through in March and he'll play in Lincoln. I kind of want to go...

Breaking Up

It's no secret that I've been posting on my blog less and less. I never really know what to write about, but I feel bad when friends mention the fact that they don't know what's going on with me because I haven't written recently. 

On the other hand, I always have a lot of opinions, and I like to share them. When I'm asked to write a blog post about the products I receive from places like Influenster, I have a lot of fun. Once I Instagrammed about some eyeshadow I was loving, and Adiel commented about me starting a beauty blog. 

I started thinking about it and decided it might be fun to devote my blog to that. But then, on the bottom of my friend's Christmas newsletter, she commented about needing updates from me other than about makeup. 

I decided that, at least while I'm still at school, I should do better to use this blog to post about my life and what I'm up to. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to focus solely on beauty reviews and tutorials.

So, I started denouveaureview.com. After this post, I'll keep the two blogs completely separate. I'll talk about me and my life here and I'll talk about more entertaining things like eyeshadow there :) I launched the blog yesterday, and so far it hasn't seen much traffic. I'm trying not to get discouraged about the small number of entries for my giveaway and instead to stay excited about this new adventure. (translation: go enter and make me feel better!)

If you rely on Twitter or Facebook to find out about my new blog posts, you might want to subscribe to this blog. From now on, I'll be using those social media sites for De Nouveau Review posts rather than Life in Limbo updates. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

The Last One

I've been watching too much Friends lately, as is evidenced by my compulsion to title this post after the last episode of the series.

I've been enjoying Friends relatively guilt-free for the last month and a half, and I'm not anxious to give that up on Thursday. That's right, the day after tomorrow I'll head back to school for the last time. While I know this semester will be fun, I simply have no desire to get that fun under way. I enjoy being a student and, unlike many of my classmates, I'm not dying to graduate. Additionally, I feel like my job as a clerk is significantly less stressful than my job as a student. I'd prefer to continue on, working limited hours, watching t.v. each night, and reading a few books a week.

With all of that said, I do have to admit that it's pretty cool I'm looking at my last semester of law school. Who knew this time would actually come? You've all heard the story. You know I talked about being a lawyer on and off my whole life. But it's kind of crazy to think I'm only six months away from that being a reality.

My law school experience has been an absolute joy. Before I started school, I heard a lot of horror stories. I can honestly say that none of those cautionary tales ended up being true for me. I won't say that law school has been easy, but I also can't say I haven't enjoyed it all. I love the law, and I'm repeatedly reminded that there's nothing else I could be doing with my life that would make me feel as satisfied.

Something I haven't yet publicly announced (maybe because the reality of it still hasn't set in) is that I have a job lined up for after graduation. I entered law school when the legal job market was horribly over-saturated. While that's far from being completely remedied, I feel very fortunate that I found a job before graduation, before the stress and doubt of needing to find a job really set in. My job will be in Utah, and I'm excited to stop missing out on so much of my family's experiences.

I'll leave you with a slideshow of some of my favorite moments from over my final Christmas Break:

Makeup Review: Rimmel London's Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara

I recently had the chance* to try out Rimmel's new Scandaleyes Retro Glam mascara. This mascara hit shelves last month. On Rimmel's website, it boasts:

Bold, wide-eyed false lash look.Hour-glass brush shaped to the lash line to plump lashes, fanning them up and out for bold, wide-eyed volume.Coats lashes individually for a big, false lash look in one simple stroke. No clumps!

For the most part, I think their description of the product hits the mark, though I will say upfront that I had a slight problem with clumping. It wasn't the standard problem you think of when you hear that mascara clumps (of eyelashes clumping together). Instead, there was just too much mascara on the applicator brush at times. I think this was more a problem with the mascara being new and extra wet, and I feel pretty confident that the issue will take care of itself after a few more uses.

When picking out a mascara, it's important to me that a product have a large applicator brush and that the mascara aid in enhancing the natural curl of my eyelashes, because I hate eyelash curlers. Retro Glam has both of these crucial components. I thought I'd walk you through my eye makeup process, which culminated in applying this particular mascara. It's pretty standard, and I'm sure you already take this same approach. But maybe someone reading is curious how I go about it.

For context, I begin my makeup regimen with liquid foundation followed by loose powder. Then I do my eye makeup, and I finish with bronzer/blush and lip gloss. These pictures are just of the different stages of my eye makeup.

I picked three colors for the day. I used a shimmery bronze, a nude, and a gray. I applied the bronze to the entire eyelid. Then, I applied the nude under my brow. I finished the eyeshadow by applying the gray to the crease.

I'm a big fan of eyeliner. The darker, the better, in my opinion. So after I finish eyeshadow, I line by bottom lashes, then my top, and then I apply mascara to my lower lash line. To avoid getting mascara dots under my eye, I always do one quick swipe of mascara with the applicator brush horizontal. Then I turn the brush vertical and use its tip to focus on a few lashes at a time.

 Finally, I slowly apply mascara to the top lashes. I'm sure if I would have curled my lashes before using this mascara, you'd see even more dramatic results, but like I said: not a fan of lash curling.

 And there it is! How does your eye makeup routine differ from mine? Have you tried any new mascaras lately you think I should try?

*I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.