Hey everyone!
June is almost over, which means my BIRTHDAY MONTH IS ALMOST HERE! I love July almost as much as I love fall, and we all know that’s a damn lot. In July, there’s the 4th (and I swear I’m going to celebrate this year- I missed the fireworks last year), my anniversary with Scott, my favorite beanie baby’s birthday, and then my birthday. Pretty awesome all the way through.
June was a great month for me this year. I wanted to share some of the stuff I’ve been loving this month! Let’s go!
⇨STUFF I LOVED IN JUNE:
❀ My Erin Condren 2017-18 planner!
My boyfriend got me this beautiful, fully customized Erin Condren planner as a present this spring, and I just adore it. I spent a torturous two months waiting to actually be able to use it since it started on June 26th (it goes until January 6, 2019, so I’ll have it for a long time!). I filled the back with notes and decorated it, and use my Erin Condren markers. If you’ve ever wanted a really nice planner that feels like a place to document your life, stay organized, and is an extension of your personality, you should customize your own Erin Condren planner. It’s without a doubt worth the money.
❀ Bright-As-Hell Nail Polish
I’ve been reaching for my summery shades since May ended. Girly pinks and China Glaze neons have been getting a lot of love. If I had to recommend ONE polish that I wore the heck out of in June, it would be You Drive Me Coconuts by China Glaze. One of the best neon creme formulas you can ask for, and whooaaaaa buddy is that a bright pink! 😎
❀ Pineapple Mimosas
I love a mimosa at night while cooking dinner, as opposed to white wine or a vodka cocktail. Lately I’ve been using pineapple juice instead of OJ, and it’s more tropical and summery to me!
❀ Lancome Juicy Tubes
I bought a 4-pack of these glosses from Ulta one day, and I’ve been obsessed since then. Well, technically I’ve been obsessed since I was 14 and I asked for a Juicy Tube for Christmas and everyone agreed it was insane to spend $20 on a lip gloss. But now I have four of them! Being an adult rocks! They’re moisturizing, long lasting, pigmented yet sheer, smell good, and look sexy- everything I could have asked for in a lip gloss 😍.
❀ Reading!
I’ve been reading SO MUCH this month (five books in total, and the month’s not over!). My favorite was Isla and the Happily After by Stephanie Perkins. I’ve now read all three in the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy, and I HIGHLY recommend them if you like teen fiction/ love stories/ contemporary fiction. Like… I miss reading those books. I just did a whole review on them, as well!
I also read Sarah Dessen’s newest book, which was amazing as well. Dessen is my favorite author!
❀ Enema of the State- Blink 182
I’ve basically been listening to this on repeat. It’s my new Blue Album by Weezer, which I listened to nonstop last summer. Blink 182 is the ultimate teen fiction band- all the lyrics put me in the teen dude, first love, crazy summer mindset.
❀ Smash Mallows
I’ve been seeing these cool all natural marshmallows all over Instagram but figured I’d never get to try them. Then I FOUND them at Sprouts, then Whole Foods, and have been making it my mission to try all the flavors. Churro was great, Root Beer was amazing, and Meyer Lemon Chia was crazy. But the best by far is mint chocolate chip! If you see these, I HIGHLY recommend picking them up- especially the mint! (BTW- my partner loves the mint ones and he doesn’t like mint chocolate chip ice cream! They’re that good.)
❀ Benefit Mascara
I’ve been using Benefit’s Roller Lash exclusively for a few weeks now. Normally I jump between mascaras, like Too Faced’s Better Than Sex (my old favorite), or Tarte’s Lights Cameras Lashes. But Roller Lash is way better than any other mascara I’ve used, including Dior Show and a dozen others. It’s my absolute favorite mascara of all time! It gives me great curl and length (I always use a Sephora eyelash curler to help), and looks amazing on the bottom lashes. Try a mini if you don’t believe me!
And my FAVORITE THINGS OF ALL…
❀ The three lip syncs from the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9
I’ve been watching Drag Race since last fall, and I’m SO glad I gave it a chance. This season really mixed it up and introduced a new finale structure- the final four queens had to lip sync in an epic battle. Trinity Taylor, who I’d been rooting for all season (and had the reddit flair to match), was selected to go first, BOLDLY choosing Peppermint as her opponent. Peppermint is a trans-woman, drag legend, and lip sync assassin. Their dance off was to Stronger by Britney Spears. I love when Peppermint does the two claps after her reveal, and I think Trinity’s wig was really her downfall. I’ve watched this Stronger lip-sync a dozen times. JUST WATCH IT!!
❀ Then the other two queens, BFFs Sasha Velour and expected season winner Shea Coulee were next. Sasha Velour’s lip sync to So Emotional by Whitney Houston might just be the greatest performance I’ve ever seen in my life, of anything. I cannot praise this enough. Scott’s caught me watching this video at least fifteen times (but I’ve watched it quadruple that since it aired on Friday, lol), and it immediately puts me in a good mood. It’s my favorite thing ever. It’s art, it’s an instant classic.
I do not care if you’ve never seen Drag Race, don’t care about drag queens, don’t care about dancing- watch this. It’s beautiful. You don’t need a lot of context to see what makes Sasha’s performance so legendary.
❀ Then, of course, the winners of their respective lip syncs had to perform one last time for the CROWN. Peppermint vs. Sasha. Sometimes I think this is my favorite of all, then I watch So Emotional again. But still, this is beyond epic and truly spectacular. See if you can guess who wins while watching it, even if you don’t know what makes a good lip sync. It was really hard for me to tell when we watched the finale live- I actually guessed wrong! This was Scott’s first season of Drag Race, and by the end of the season he could tell who was ’embodying the song’ better and who was doing ‘desperation death drops’. It’s such a good show, you guys!
Drag Race is definitely my favorite show, after I thought it wasn’t for me for a long time (as a straight woman). Season 10 is going to be huge, so you might as well get on board now lol.
I’m hoping for my July list, I’ll be able to include shampoo, conditioner, and lotion I liked. Because I need to try some new ones that work better for me…
Any suggestions for cool stuff I should try or watch?
You can always tweet at me, or leave me an Instagram comment!
-Taylor
TAYLOR DOROTHY 