One lean, tanorexic teenage girl to another:
Do I look kind of yellow? Yeah, I look yellow. My tan, like, looks yellow as it fades if I used a tanning bed. It’s really funny because when it’s actually like sunny outside it’s too hot and I’m too lazy to like go outside in the sun. So I just use the beds.
I don’t know whether it was because of Retin-A or good old-fashioned aging, but my skin became incredibly oily about five years ago. I tried just about everything within a grad student budget to fight it: cleansers, moisturizers, astringents, face masks…
The most effective thing was a simple tube of green clay that I bought at Monoprix in France while studying abroad. (I rationed it carefully, but ran out. I’ve never found another face mask as good as that simple €2 tube of clay.) So I was stuck, until I gave up and tried the Oil Cleansing Method. Along with switching to powder foundation, it saved my skin from perpetual ickiness.
OCM is based on the idea that certain kinds of oils, applied to a dirty face full of dirt, dead skin, and skin oils, will yank the dirt out of your pores without stripping out the oils that are supposed to be there. At first glance, it sounds like a bunch of homeopathic nonsense, but it works. And indeed, there are a lot of oil-based skin cleansers out there. You can find them at Sephora. They just cost a whole lot more than a few bottles of oil do. That’s the beauty of it.
I currently use a mixture of 75% castor oil to 25% grapeseed oil, and I have brought my cleanses down to once or twice a week. I try to do it more often in the summer, since my pores don’t understand hot weather. I used the advice on this page, and there are other places online where people can discuss their blends and other fine points, but there’s not much more to it than that.
So, yes, Consumerist readers. I do make my own facial cleanser at home.
Lost left a couple of loose ends. Just a couple.
On Sunday, I will be moving. This move may take longer than previously anticipated. On Sunday, my beloved TV series “Lost” also ends. The timing is such that we will be watching Lost on tape delay.
What does this mean? It means that IF YOU SEND, TEXT, OR IM ME SPOILERS

I adopted a lot sooner than I had expected, because I fell in love with Zoe. And who wouldn’t?
I’m moving. I’m letting my roommates take the loveseat from the living room to their new place, because I’m tired of it and they need furniture. So I poked around in the cushions to see if I had dropped anything interesting in there in the 4 years this has been my primary couch.
This is what I found in the cushions and crevices.
- 1 size 11 double-pointed knitting needle
- 2 (knitting) stitch holders
- 1 plastic top to a marshmallow Peeps lollipop
- 1 set toenail clippers (??!)
- 3 yarn labels
- 1 pay stub
- 2 barrettes
- 1 bobby pin
- 1 highlighter
- 1 mechanical pencil
- 1 pen
- 3 balls scrap yarn
- handful of hamster kibble
- 38 cents
I would appreciate it if the person in Beaverton, Oregon who visits this page 3-4 times per day would explain what’s going on. It’s starting to freak me out a little, considering how infrequently this blog is updated.
This is my new hamster. His name is Chester.

Do not annoy him. Do not make him angry. Why? Because he will MESS YOU UP.

Choosing an apartment more or less on the basis of its totally awesome non-working fireplace may not be one of the wisest decisions we’ve ever made. But we like it.



