Taffy

First, thank you all the makeup commenters, I've been practicing with the answers you gave me before and I'm getting a lot better at putting makeup where it needs to go. Now I even _like_ how I look with eyeliner.

Now I've figured out why eyeshadow was so much easier to use than eyeliner. I put on eyeshadow with a Q-tip and that is a lot shorter than the pencil, so I can get closer to the mirror. With the pencil I kept hitting the mirror which would jog the end of the eyeliner and ruin the line. So a shorter pencil is what I need. Right now I'm using a Wet'n'Wild mechanical pencil which pushes out more liner when you twirl it, which is a good design, but it's impossible to shorten.

I looked at Walgreens but didn't see any pencils that were short except Almay and I'm not exactly on an Almay budget yet. I remember trying liquid liner awhile ago but when the goths tell you you're overdoing it. . .anyway pencils are easier. So is there a brand which sells shorter eyeliner pencils? Should I try using a lip liner, which for some reason comes with a shorter pencil? Suck it up and learn how to use liquid eyeliner?

I was reading an argument that a tramp stamp could never be a good thing, and to my shock a counter-argument popped into my head. The first line of a poem that has stuck with me since I first read it. The first idea I EVER thought I would want to carry for the rest of my life, placed somewhere where it would only be read if I was naked.

Plain black ink is the longest lasting ink. How big do the letters have to be to stay legible? How long before a touch-up is required? Why are so many word tattoos in that Olde English font that I hate? So many questions. . .

I'm growing my hair out again. It's thick, oily, and tends to be wavy below the shoulders and straight above (don't ask me, I used to think that the weight of it was pulling the top straight, but the same thing happened when it was chopped off short). At the moment it's just past my shoulders and flaring out like an anime parody whenever I try leaving it down. I've been pulling it back with a stretchy band, which keeps it under control, but the front and top are pulled taut in order to capture all my hair in the band. There's not enough slack yet to make a messy updo and break the severe line. It is NOT a good look for me. I need volume somewhere around my face, visible from the front. French braids (when my hair is longer) are lovely--from the back.

Should I wear combs, clips, or fascinators to accent the hair pulled back tightly? I do not like the look of headbands as they frame my face AND they hurt some part of my head no matter how low the tension, so please do not recommend them. I am open to the idea of hats and opposed to the idea of hair brushing forward and touching my cheeks.

(Yes, a lot of noob questions in a row. At least I figured out lipliner and reshaping the lip on my own.)

I bought eyeshadow and a retractable solid eyeliner pencil. The eyeliner I could draw next to my lashes but still left an unsightly stripe of pale skin at the very base of the lashes. There's a rubbery doo-dad on the opposite end of the pencil, which I guess should have been used to smudge the liner into the areas between the lashes?

The eyeshadow, though. . .When I blinked after applying the eyelid color, it smeared onto the upper eyelid. The crease color fell onto half of the eyelid color instead of staying in the crease, and then smudged on the side of my nose, giving me the look of post-lobotomy bruises. There wasn't even enough clean skin to use the browbone highlight color. I'm lucky I have glasses to disguise most of this; even after scrubbing away the worst offenders, the result had no clean lines.

Now I took a closer look at my eyes, and strange to say, most of the time my crease isn't even visible. There's a droop I never suspected (or I've got some inflammation/swelling of the eyelid). So my upper eyelid and the part lying over the eyeball are actually going to be cross-contaminating one another all day. So. . .now what do I do?

P.S. I tested all the new makeup on the back of my hand and waited 24 hours, but had no allergic reaction.

Hi again, you all taught me about BB cream, which worked out great for awhile. I could get the same skin tone all over and cover up the faintest signs of darker areas. . .

. . .then I moved somewhere sunny. It's been two weeks and I can't wear that pale shade of BB cream any more. Even the parts of me that are always covered have developed extra freckles.

I'm tanning (and freckling) and my skin is still changing. How long should I wait before my color has 'stabilized' enough to consult a makeup girl? Is foundation strong enough to cover up these changes anyway and thus I do not have to wait? What's more, I'm proud of my tan and freckles. I don't want a featureless face all the same tone any more. In that case, should I forget looking for BB cream and just invest in some facial scrubs/masks/moisturizers?

I've recently discovered the idea of a folding bike and fallen in love. They favor short people, they have no high crossbar to catch my skirt, they don't have to be parked outside in areas where people wreck things for a lark. My idea of a bike is something that goes a few miles/kilometers into town and holds 25lb/12kg of groceries that I can't carry myself, not something that travels between towns or off-road.

This is advertised as an entry-level but not BSO folder:

http://www.foldingbikes.biz/html/succinct_gd7.html

(never mind the godawful .biz URL, it IS, at least, a true physical bike shop)

Now that the seller has spelled out what to look for in gears, I've started to look also, and yes none of those imports at half the price have gears as versatile as this one, the ones that bother to list the gears. Heck, even Halfords folders at the same price point don't have such gears. Still, is this something which I need to bother myself with?

Also checking my checklist of things to carry with: the spare tube, some means of inflation, a tire lever, and a bit of rag to wipe it down before rolling the bike indoors? Do I need to add in straps to keep the bike tied in its folded position?

Makeup noob here. I wash with soap and water only. I have a bottle of CoverGirl foundation #110 (classic ivory) which does match my skin tone, and cake it on when job interviews come up. I have a few lipsticks and like the garish splash of color but it looks out of place, with or without that sticky foundation. I have bronzer and use that instead of eyeshadow and/or blush, sometimes. I am certain I hate the look of noticeable eyeliner or mascara if it is anything other than heavy-handed goth Cleopatra eyes. That's it.

Now, the question. When I get sick, I go very pale, so frightfully wan and peakéd and not at all like my little bottle of #110--and my face is much improved. My natural lip color stands out more, somehow. It took me a very long time to realize, maybe makeup could mimic that look, so I could be more beautiful when I'm not semi-conscious. Is that true? If so, how? Does it mean I'll have to have a sticky face? I live in a windy area. No matter how I tie back my hair, some strands will get into my face, and I don't want them to stick there.

Apologies for asking the question, but searching for an answer only gets answers for fluid-filled electric radiators. The radiator in question has a bladed radiant element, no oil or water, no storage bricks, no fans. When the power switch is on, the toggle is at full power, and the slider set to continuous heat--there is none. I've cut the power at the switch and pried off the front cover yet can't find any sort of thermostat reset button.

1. Is there a reset button and I can't see what's in front of my face?

2. If there isn't, then has the thermostat itself gone bad? how can I test or tell?

3. If the thermostat is good, then has the radiant element itself gone bad?

4. Given that this is in the computer room, is there a fuse within the radiator itself that has been tripped and not reset because of the load already on the circuit? (The radiator has its own switch, and UK wiring regulations are strict, so I doubt they're on the same circuit.)

5. Anything I've overlooked?

I wear shoes very hard at the heel. Just bought a new pair after destroying the heels of my Skechers (the hollows in the heel were starting to pick up stones they were worn so badly) and was hoping to do some preventative care on the new pair. These shoes have 1/4" thin rubber plates on the heel that a cobbler will be able to replace.

It's getting annoying having to use mild drain cleaner twice a week just to get the pipes cleared out a tiny bit. If I don't, whatever I washed off of me floats back up during the shower and leaves a ring around the shower stall. Gross. How do I get this froth to go down the drain and STAY down the drain?

I am sure I'm the cause because the drain ran clear when we moved in and gradually got worse. :( Can't get more than a few inches into the shower drain to clean it, and no obvious hair wads.