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suicidalslasher · 3 years

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𝑛𝑖𝑔𝘩𝑡 𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 ➤ 𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑙. & 𝑠𝑡𝑢 𝑚.

In which the reader comes home, completely broken-hearted and her two friends, Stu Macher and Billy Loomis, come in to put a smile on her face and show her how much they love her.

WARNINGS: This is a smut but not well written, lol. It’s mainly just oral, both receiving and giving. (male and female.) Also, if you squeeze your eyes really tight, you may get a glimpse of slight foreshadowing in which Billy and Stu killed the guy that broke the reader’s heart but blink and you might miss it. Anyways. Enjoy.

(Y/N) lied upon a soft feather mattress, cocooning herself in the silk sheets. A sad sigh surpassing her lips as the realization settles in, hitting her like a ton of bricks, like a cold bucket of water was thrown on her. She's alone. The room feels empty. Wait, no, scratch that.

It is empty. It's dark and cold and lonesome. As many blankets that surround her and although she has many draped around her body, her skin still somehow prickles with goosebumps and she's shivering.

Though, she knows it's not because she's cold. She isn't shaking because of that. Not really. Before she could stop herself, her eyes start to glisten with tears, the corner of her eyes pooling with water and slowly but surely, they slide down her skin, wetting her cheeks. Goddammit. God fucking dammit, she thinks, reaching over and grabbing the duvet comforter, she slides it over her head. Broken, silent sobs then proceed to escape past her lips, although she oh so desperately tries to hold them back. She fails miserably. Then, out of nowhere, she hears a little knock, followed by another. Rolling over to lay on her stomach, (Y/N) buries her face into the nearest pillow, causing mascara tears to soak and stain the cushion as she continues to cry and sob. Before she realizes it or even can acknowledge it, the window to her bedroom is being pulled up and her friends, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, step inside her bedroom. "(Y/N)?" (Y/N) is quick to flip around upon hearing her name, her heart hammering wildly against her chest.

"S-Stu? Billy? What the Hell are you guys doing here?" She relaxes, having seen her friends standing by her bedroom window rather than the man everybody was fearing lately in Woodsboro.

A masked man with a dark cloak and a spine-chilling voice. She was lucky she hadn't heard what he sounded like, she had enough nightmares as is. It was hard to say whether or not it was a man behind the mask but regardless, whatever sex the person was, they were crazy, inside and out. End of story. (Y/N) makes a mental note, reminding herself to lock her window next time and to keep track of that before she gets comfortable and goes to bed. Especially with what was happening everywhere in Woodsboro. "We wanted to make sure you were okay." Billy said, walking over to the girl as he sat down next to her, the mattress sinking beneath his weight. Stu followed, nodding happily as he shows a few VHS tapes, gesturing them over to (Y/N).

"We brought movies to watch and snacks, too!" He exclaimed as he then pulled out a small plastic bag, dumping out the items onto her bed.

There was chips and candy and they were all her favorite flavors and brands, too. (Y/N) felt the tears pooling in the corner of her eyes again at the sweet gesture her friends were sharing with her. "Oh... c'mon, don't be such a cry baby." Stu snickered but he wrapped his arms around (Y/N) and pulled her into a side hug, Billy following right behind, hugging her from her right.

"We love you, we've got your back, always, okay?" "What Stu said. Besides, this world doesn’t deserve an angel like you, (Y/N).” "Mhm." Stu nodded. "I really liked him, that's all..... I should've known it was a set up to get back with his ex." (Y/N) said with a sniffle, running a hand over her face as she tries to rid herself of any left over makeup, especially getting rid of the mascara, although, if she were positive, that and her eyeliner were most likely now resting on the pillow she had cried into rather than on her face. "Well, he's a fucking idiot." Billy growled. "He doesn't see how perfect you are, (Y/N)." "Billy and I see that, though." Stu said, taking his hand off from her shoulder as he now rests his hand on her thigh, giving her a reassuring squeeze. It made (Y/N)'s breath hitch in her throat and she bites on her lower lip, nervously.

What were they doing....? She thinks. “We would do anything for you. Absolutely anything.” Billy said. "We'd do anything just to see you happy, just to see you smile..." Stu continued. "You deserve nothing but the best, deserve nothing but happiness." "So, please... (Y/N)... let us give you that. Let us show you how beautiful and loved you really are. We love you.... we love you so much-" "We love you so much we'd kill for you." Billy looks over at Stu, giving him a questioning glare and (Y/N) goes to ask what that stare meant but her words are loss and any train of thought she had left the building once she feels both hands of Billy and Stu's on her thighs.

One on her left, the other on her right. "So.... no movies then?" (Y/N) asked jokingly. Her heart, like earlier, was pounding so loud she swore both boys could hear it against her chest. Her body was trembling as it had done earlier but now, it wasn't from sadness or feeling broken but rather hot and bothered.

She did always have an attraction to Billy and Stu, she'd be a liar to say she didn't. "We can watch them later. Right now, we want to see those legs of yours sprawled out, give us a view of that pretty pussy." (Y/N) whined softly but she obeyed, and while she did, Billy grunted while Stu spoke softly, "Such a good girl for us. You're our good girl, aren't you, sweetheart?" (Y/N) nodded as she stretched her legs on either side of her. All she was wearing was a thin gown, one that matched her sheets, being the fact both were silk.

"Oh.... so pretty, so beautiful." Stu purred, licking his lips, his eyes growing darker while Billy's did the same. "Naughty though.... aren't you, baby? Not wearing any panties." Billy chuckled as he stood up, feet landing on the carpeted floor with a soft thud as he walks over to (Y/N), undoing his jeans and the belt that had been neatly placed in the hoops of the pants.

"Is it okay if you suck me off, darling? You want to be a good girl, don't you?" (Y/N) says nothing, she's unable to speak. It was as if a cat had captured her tongue and ran off with it, and she couldn't get it back from the creature. She feels paralyzed, too. Everything feels as if it's going by too fast.

What an odd day.... she thinks. She didn't expect this to happen, not now, not ever. But she wasn't angry at it or the outcome of tonight's misfortune. It was just crazy how fast the night changes. "Baby? I asked you a question... If you know what’s good for you, you better answer me.” "Y-yes." (Y/N) stammered, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. "I'd love to suck you off, please, may I?" "Oh!" Stu chirped, giggling as he shook his head from side to side, a wicked grin playing out across his lips. "She's got manners, fuck - we really found the perfect girl, haven't we, Billy?" "Mhm." Billy said, pressing his cock to her lips. "Open up, sweetie. Let's see how pretty you look with a mouth full of cock." While (Y/N) parts her lips open, and as Billy pushes himself in her wet and warm mouth, (Y/N) feels heat against her clit and before she can put two and two together, Stu's devouring her pussy with his tongue and she squeaks, bucking her hips up into his touch. "Fuck! She tastes incredible. Can't believe I haven't gotten to you sooner." Stu said before pressing his face back in between her thighs, licking and lapping her cunt with his tongue, making her tremble and shake.

(Also makes her almost choke and gag on Billy's cock as he presses his cock further down her throat.) Above, Billy nodded as he rocked his hips back and forth, eyes half-lidded, not quite shut but not all the way open either, as he grunts out an answer; "She's good with her mouth too, Stu." He said.

"Not sure I can last long, sweetheart..." He warned and right as the words slip from his lips, it didn't take less than a second until (Y/N)'s mouth is being filled with Billy's creamy, white load.

"Oh.... fuck!" He grunts, pulling back as he drops down next to her on the bed.

"Go on, baby. Cum for Stu. You wanna be good for him too, don't you? Go on and cum.... cum all over his tongue, beautiful. I'm sure he'll love the taste of your juices, exploding into his mouth." And fuckfuckfuck.....

FUCK~!!

"O-Oh!" (Y/N) mewls, bucking her hips into his mouth once more as the sweet release of her orgasm floods out of her and into Stu's mouth. Happily, Stu licks every drop up, pulling back with a very much pleased and satisficed smile.

"Both her and her pussy are so sweet." Stu complimented, now crawling up onto the bed and resting beside her, tucking his face into her neck as he presses a few ghostly kisses on her skin. "Love you."

"I love you, too."

"And what about me?" Billy said with a playful pout.

"I love you too, Billy Loomis." (Y/N) admitted, grinning as she scooted a few inches over, patting the empty spot next to her. "Sleep with us?"

Billy smiled in reply as he plopped down next to his now lovers, curling up in (Y/N)'s side and kissing the other side of her neck, the way Stu had done previously.

"I'll treat you to a good time too, tomorrow," (Y/N whispered, mainly to Stu but she turned and repeated the sentence to Billy as well. The boys look at each other with a smirk, giving one a knowingly glance before they turned back to (Y/N).

"Sounds like a plan, baby." The smile she wore across her lips falls into a frown and the boys are quick to sit up, having seen the smile turn upside down. "Baby, are you okay?" "Yeah." "Babe....don't you lie to us." "I'm not." She answers truthfully. "But.... this- I mean, us three, it's real, right?" She gestures in the air with a wave of her hand. "You won't play with my feelings and hurt me-" "Baby." Billy's voice is rough and cold, and his grip on her is far from affectionate and soft. "We'd kill for you, remember?" "We love you so much, (Y/N) you have no idea to what limits we'd go to prove that to you.” She didn't understand why the two kept repeating that very first sentence but she didn't question it, didn't think anything of it. She smiled and nodded, rubbing at her eyes now tiredly.

"I love you both, too. Now... before I get too tired, can we watch those movies you rented?" Billy laughed softly as Stu scrambled up and on his feet, grabbing the candy and the films that had fallen on the bed off of the floor and goes to set the VHS player up, clicking the TV on with a push of a button.

"You're gonna love these, (Y/N)! It's a new horror movie that came out!" "As long as it's not a slasher with a mask like the one that's hanging around in Woodsboro, I'm fine with anything. Whenever that monster goes away, I'll be fine and more than happy to watch slasher films again... just not now." She says with a laugh. "Don't worry, baby. With us around, you’ll be safe and sound. We’ll protect you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

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averykedavra · 4 years

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Valley of the Dolls 2/10

The wonderful idea of apathy!Roman goes to @caffeinated-cryptid, an amazing artist and all-around great person. Check out their @ts-unsolved au, it owns my heart! This is mostly in line with their ideas, but I took it in a slightly different direction. And my description doesn’t do justice to their amazing costume design, so take a look yourself! Also, this chapter is chock-full of my favorite headcanons. I got some of the ideas from this post and this post. You can find this fic on Ao3 here.

(Title is from Valley of the Dolls by MARINA. Chapter is based around Surrender by Malinda)

Pairings: platonic DLAMPR

Warnings: sympathetic Remus, sympathetic Janus, a ton of angst (but I’ve got a happy ending planned), blood mentions, death mentions, death threats, slightly NSFW jokes, attempted violence. Basically Remus being Remus. Set immediately after Putting Others First.

Summary: After the disastrous video and a week of spiraling, Roman becomes a Dark Side, Apathy. At first, Remus is thrilled, dragging his brother into all sorts of trouble. But Roman’s no fun anymore, the other Sides are paying a visit downstairs, and it’s becoming clear that Thomas can’t survive without Creativity by his side.

Chapter 2: Hours From Another Day

First. Previous. Next. Masterlist.

We're a bomb, ticking time away You belong to hours from another day... All we need is one disaster, one relief Hearts beat, hoping for that old belief... But that was then, and this is now And we made it through the woods somehow Willing and able to breathe.

Remus was minding his own business, welding two dildos together, when his brother fell from the ceiling and landed on the living room carpet.

Remus hopped off the couch and tossed the half-melted dildos behind him, where they burned a hole through the middle cushion. But there were enough stains and burns already that the new hole fit right in.

Roman was lying still, three inches from the coffee table with the extra tentacle leg, face-down and silent. Wait, was it Roman? He wasn’t wearing the right clothes. Black, not white. And Roman would never go this long without jumping up, waving his sword, and making declarations of undying love or great heroism or something.

Still. Remus just knew. Maybe it was intuition, or twin-tuition, or separated-from-this-guy-at-age-seven-tuition. This was Roman Creativity Sanders himself, lying on the Dark Sides’ ragged tan carpet.

Which begged the question. What in the name of Mary Shelley was he doing here?

“Ro-bro?” Remus asked. “Why’d you decide to drop in?”

Roman didn’t congratulate Remus on his pun. He didn’t respond at all. He didn’t even twitch.

“You in there?” Remus tilted his head, neck cracking. “Did you pass out? You’d better not have passed out, Jan will kill me if I bring another unconscious human into his room.”

No answer.

Remus summoned a chalkboard and dragged his nails down it. The ear-splitting screech echoed around the room.

Roman didn’t flinch.

Which was rude! Remus didn’t like being ignored. He grabbed the fused dildos and chucked them at Roman’s back. But he’d never been super great at throwing things so it flew over Roman’s shoulder and began to burn a hole in the carpet. Eh, there were lots of stains in the carpet, too. Nice things in the Downstairs didn’t tend to last very long.

“C’mon!” Remus prodded Roman with his foot. “C’mon, wake up! Say something! This is boring!” He kicked Roman’s ribs, hard, and Roman curled a little tighter, making a pained noise.

Success!

Now. If a kick got him to move, what would get him sitting up and talking? Maybe a nuclear warhead in the face? Or nipple tasers? Or branding his face with swear words! All fun options, but if Roman was in too much pain to talk, it wouldn’t do anyone any good.

Remus decided answers were more important than nipple tasers. A sad truth, but there it was.

“Get up,” Remus ordered, kicking him again. “Or I’ll electrocute your nipples.”

Usually, that statement elicited a lot of screaming. Or, in Jan’s case a ‘good for you, Remus,’ but Jan was different. So it was a surprise when Roman didn’t even look up.

Was he sleeping? Unconscious? Ignoring Remus like the little bratty baby he was? Wait, was he dead? No, he wasn’t dead, he’d moved—but what if he died right after that? Could Sides die? Remus had done a lot of real nasty stuff that would probably kill a regular boring human body twenty times over. If ripping out his own beating heart and feeding it to a dinosaur didn’t kill a Side, Remus didn’t think anything would.

But Roman still wasn’t moving. And hey, intrusive thoughts sucked. Remus couldn’t stop picturing Roman dying, his corpse decaying on the carpet, his eyeballs drying up and—

He wasn’t dead! He was breathing! He was breathing, right? He wasn’t dead, right? Remus sniffed at him and grabbed his arm, lifting it high in the air. It immediately fell back down. Alrighty, fun game! But he needed to figure stuff out. No time for games. Be a detective instead! Logan liked detective stuff, right? Remus caught him reading a Sherlock x Watson fanfic that one time. What would Logan do, and how could Remus do that better and with more butts?

Remus stuck out his tongue as he thought. He should try to gather information! Right? Like the answer to that is-Roman-breathing question. He’d completely forgotten about that. Sometimes Remus really didn’t like how his mind worked, all slippery and fluid and changeable. Like a greased pig on caffeine. How slick was a greased pig anyway? Were some animals faster when greased? What about humans? What about a few specific body parts—

Breathing. B-R-E-A-T-H-I-N-G. Focus, focus, focus. Remus had a mystery to solve and he didn’t have time for this.

How did someone check for breathing? Remus held his hand in front of Roman’s face. Was that breath? He hoped it was. He barely got to see his bro and it would be a real shame if Ro-Bro’s visit was cut short by cardiac arrest. If Roman died before Remus got to kill him, Remus would murder him.

Wait, heartbeat! That’s something Remus should check, right? Remus immediately reached for Roman’s chest to extract his heart. Nope. Wait a sec. They were both Creativity. Injuries hurt when the other did them.

Although it might get Roman to move—

Before Remus could decide whether to jumpstart Roman’s brain with a defibrillator-style shock to the system, Roman shifted again. It was tiny, but there.

Okay. Definitely alive. Cool. Cool cool cool. Was he asleep? Wouldn’t the impact have woken him up? And he was sleeping face-down, which sounded fun and suffocating but not the sort of thing Roman was usually into. Remus couldn’t see if his eyes were open. They’d better not be, or Roman was just ignoring Remus and making his life harder on purpose.

Remus lodged his foot under Roman’s chest and flipped him over.

Huh.

That was new.

Roman wasn’t wearing his usual prince costume. Well, he was? Sort of. But the white parts were all black, and the sash might have been darker as well or maybe it was just Remus’ imagination. Maybe it was because the red didn’t gleam and the gold didn’t shine. Roman was always easy to spot, like a strangely plumed peacock. Remus was the same, dousing his outfit in sparkles and ruffles. Maybe it was tasteless in Remus’ case, or ostentatious in Roman’s, but it made sure they were always the center of attention. Now, the colors were dull and seemed out-of-place on Roman’s outfit. They didn’t have any life to them, like veins with the blood drained out, only a shell left behind.

This was Roman, right? He’d never be caught dead in that outfit. It looked like Jan and Virgil had dressed him on a dare. But no. It was Roman’s face. Although his skin was pale and he looked a little thinner than usual and dark purple makeup dripped down his face. Like tears.

And was a lock of hair in front darker than the rest? Remus absently reached up and fingered his own white patch. He’d dyed it as a teenager and kept it around. It reminded him of Cruella de Vil, of raccoons. Roman talked about dying his hair sometimes, but usually something colorful. Red, or purple, or full rainbow. Never just darker brown.

Very emo indeed, Remus decided. Maybe this was a prank from Virgil? Virgil wasn’t really the prank type.

Then Remus noticed something really weird. Roman was wearing a crown.

When they were little, back when they were the same person, they wore a crown. After they split, for a while, they’d wear cardboard crowns and paper wreaths. But as they grew older, Roman and Remus decided against the crowns. For Remus, they brought back bad memories and stories he didn’t want to revisit. For Roman, the crowns always ended up falling off. Roman was full of restless energy—maybe it was a twin thing—and any hat or headgear was bound to wobble around and tumble to the floor. Remus was the same way. He tried wearing a dear skull to dinner and it fell into Virgil’s soup. Virgil was not impressed.

But now, Roman had a crown. A small golden crown perched on his head. Like it was glued to his scalp. Like Roman wanted a crown so bad he made it stay put, or he knew he wouldn’t move around enough to make it come off.

Something was definitely wrong.

Remus reared up to give Roman another kick, because he was getting answers. Then he noticed Roman’s eyes were open.

“You dork!” Remus yelled. “You’ve been awake this whole time? Why are you here if you’re just gonna ignore me?”

Roman’s eyes shifted over to him. He didn’t speak.

“Are you giving me the Silent Treatment?” Remus stuck out his bottom lip. “Rude! You visit just to act like I don’t exist? I thought princes have manners!”

Roman swallowed and whispered “Not visiting.”

“He speaks!” Remus paused. “Wait, what d’ya mean? You’re here, aren’t you?” He groaned. “Oh, is this another hallucination? I knew I shouldn’t have eaten those carrots—”

Roman shook his head slightly.

“What are you saying?” Remus stomped his foot. “If you don’t start talking sense, I’ll bash your skull in!” Remus summoned his mace and swung it from his hand, leering at Roman. “I’m gonna.”

Roman looked away.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Remus said, poking Roman hard in the leg with his mace.

That leg should have bled, thick and strong. Roman should have screamed like a girl and clutched the wound as the skin split and veins separated. Remus should have Sides at his door, patching Roman up and giving Remus dirty looks that weren’t the fun kind of dirty. Roman should be back the next day, sword in hand, and it would be Remus’ turn to bleed out, JanJan lecturing him as he tightened the bandages, asking why they couldn’t just leave each other alone.

That’s what should have happened.

But the mace stuck in Roman’s leg. No blood bubbled up around the points. Remus pulled it out with a squelching noise.

There was no damage.

“What?” Remus said aloud, prodding the area. Not a scratch. Even Roman’s clothes were intact. He’d sharpened that mace this morning, why wasn’t it—

A new outfit. A new crown. Makeup running down his face. The usual just-the-brothers-can-maim-each-other-rule no longer applying.

Remus dropped his mace. It clattered on the ground.

“No.”

Roman met his eyes and nodded.

“No, no, no.” Remus shook his head hysterically. “No! Nope! Not dealing with this!”

Roman exhaled and turned away again. Remus stared at him with wide eyes. This was a prank. A joke. It had to be! Sides didn’t just change, that wasn’t how this worked. Virgil switched, but Virgil was different. Roman was the fan favorite, the pretty boy, the good twin, everything Remus would never be.

“Jan?” Remus called, eyes trained on his brother. “Roman just fell into the living room and I think he might be a Dark Side now?”

He waited for Jan to respond. The Mindscape was quiet.

“JanJan?” Remus yelled at the top of his lungs.

No answer.

“Guess you’re not here,” Remus muttered bitterly. “Again.”

Great. He was alone in the Downstairs with a half-way comatose twin brother in a weird new outfit, that he couldn’t even stab!

“What happened to you?” Remus asked, not expecting an answer. “Did someone say something? I know the last video was a mess, but I thought y’all would figure it out. That’s what you do, right? Kiss and make up like in My Little Pony?” Remus blew a giant raspberry at Roman’s face. “I had things to do today and you completely messed up my schedule, so thanks a lot.”

Roman didn’t apologize. That tracked.

“You know what?” Remus asked, pacing back and forth. “You know what?”

He reached down and grabbed Roman’s face, squishing his cheeks and puckering his lips. “What?” he asked in a falsetto.

“I’m so glad you asked!” Remus released Roman’s face and stood up again. “I’m going to pay Upstairs a visit and see if I can pawn you off. You’re gonna be someone else’s problem, dearest brother-of-mine.”

Roman did not protest. Remus grabbed his mace off the floor and, swinging it joyfully, headed down the hall. His feet squelched on the carpet—it never really recovered from that cloud of blood, did it? The staircase was past the doors, a rickety set of spiral stairs perfect for pushing people down. Jan did that to Virgil once. It was hilarious.

Remus passed his own door first, a green slimy slab of putrid, hardened pus. ‘CREATIVITY’ was scratched into it with, Remus recalled, a double-bladed knife. The next door was Jan’s, made of dark burnished wood, a golden plaque proclaiming ‘DECEIT: Please Enter.’ The third door had no doorknob or keyhole, and the only marks were four long scratches down the front, like something had clawed it.

Remus deliberately ignored the blank, dirty patch of wallpaper where a fourth door used to be.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move.

Remus whirled, mace at the ready. At first he didn’t see anything. It was just a stretch of ugly wallpaper with some unidentifiable stains and graffiti that yelled ‘EAT THE RICH’ in bold letters.

But one of the stains, a dark one in the center of the wall, was steadily growing wider. No, it wasn’t really a stain—it was a rip, a tear. The wallpaper peeled away, revealing—a door handle?

What?

Remus creeped forward, hand still on his mace. Despite himself, hope bloomed in his stomach. The door was a familiar shade of black. It was impossible, but—was Virgil coming back? No. He wouldn’t. Would he? Could he? And if he wasn’t, why as a door appearing on the wall?

Maybe it was a storage closet or something. Who summoned it, Jan? Ugh, if Jan was here and had just ignored Remus, he’d have a bed full of shaving cream tonight.

The door was getting larger, stretching until it reached over Remus’ head. The wallpaper folded around the corners of the door and was scored away along the edges. The gold doorknob rattled and clicked, a new keyhole right below it. Remus reached out and tried to turn the knob. It wouldn’t budge.

The whole door was black. On closer inspection, it wasn’t the same black as Virgil’s door. Virgil’s was iridescent and almost purple. This black was just matte black. Virgil’s door was paint on wood. This was—Remus touched the surface carefully—almost glassy in texture. Cool and smooth.

Then, under his fingers, red scribbled across the surface, looping around and tucking back into itself. A red square settled around the doorknob, a red stripe slashed across the door like a sash, and on that sash, black cursive etched out a name.

APATHY.

In little golden letters beneath, ROMAN SANDERS.

In even littler letters, DO NOT ENTER.

Remus pressed his fingers to his mouth, reading the words again. Apathy. Roman Sanders, do not enter. Apathy. Roman Sanders. Apathy, Roman. Roman.

A hysterical laugh bubbled in Remus’ throat. He stumbled to the opposite wall and slid down it, staring at the door. He blinked hard. It didn’t disappear. He ripped his eyeballs out, dusted them off, and popped them back in. The door was still there.

Apathy Roman.

“You little…” Remus laughed. “You little b*tch!”

He didn’t even mind that Thomas’ mind censored swears. He swore anyway. He swore and laughed until he was gasping for breath. He said every swear word he knew and some he was pretty sure he’d just made up. He laughed until his eyes watered. Was he complaining or celebrating? Remus didn’t know.

He didn’t know a lot of things. How did this happen? Was it permanent? Would Roman stay for a day, a month, a year, forever? Remus glanced toward the living room. Roman hadn’t moved from the floor. Well.

“Hey, turd!” Remus called. “You’ve got a room here, did you know that?”

Roman didn’t respond.

“Seriously? Don’t tell me you died while I was over here.” Remus walked back down the hall and poked Roman in the chest. “Get up. The door won’t open for me and I’m really curious what it looks like inside.”

Roman looked blankly up at Remus. Remus leered back. When that got no reaction, he tore off his nose and let blood drip down his face. Still nothing! Was Remus losing his touch or was Roman just that apathetic?

Apathy. Apathetic. Oh. Yeah, that made sense.

“Okay, I get it,” Remus said. “Your new gig is being a grumpy formless blob. Cool. Fine. But I’ve got business to do in the living room and you can’t just lie there forever. Get your tuchas moving and come check out your new digs.”

Roman looked away again.

“You’ve taken a vow of silence or something?” Remus flexed his fingers. “That’s irritating, I can’t read minds like Jan. Tell you what. Blink if you’re gonna get up and walk with me to your room, don’t blink if I’m gonna have to drag you down the hallway like a dead body.”

Roman didn’t blink. Either he wanted to be dragged or couldn’t be bothered to move his eyelids. Good enough for Remus. He grabbed Roman’s ankles and tugged him down the hall.

It was slow going. Roman was heavy and he kept getting stuck on the carpet. Remus tried his best to make conversation. He was used to talking to people who ignored him, so it was pretty easy. It was like that scene in Inside Out, he thought vaguely. Huh, that was weird. Usually his similes were more X-rated.

Wait.

If Roman wasn’t Creativity anymore—did that mean Remus was—

Remus stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, his brother in one hand and his mace in the other.

Was he the only Creativity now?

Was he like Him?

No. No, he wasn’t. He’d know. He could tell if something was different. Remus hadn’t changed. He was still demented and disgusting and delectable.

But wasn’t that worse?

Thomas…Thomas didn’t have Roman anymore. No flights of fancy or unicorn horns. Just asphyxiation and zombies and everything in between. Creativity was no longer balanced in a yin-yang black-white good-evil situation. It was all Remus.

He’d always wanted more control. More attention. To really have a say in Tommy’s decisions, to not be shunted aside and sidelined because his ideas were too ‘mature.’ He’d always wanted to knock Roman down a peg, kick him a few rungs down the social ladder.

Just...not like this.

He didn’t want Roman to fall off entirely. He didn’t want Roman to leave the stage. He didn’t want Roman gone.

Remus couldn’t—he couldn’t be the only Creativity. He was no good! Everyone said so! They’d probably blame him for Roman’s fall even though, for once, it wasn’t his fault, and Virgil would hate him and Jan would finally leave and—

There was a light tap on his leg. Remus jerked out of his thoughts, glancing down at Roman. Roman’s eyes were a little wider than normal. He looked worried.

“Okay?” Roman asked quietly.

Are you okay?

“Of course,” Remus said, waggling his eyebrows and ignoring the pang in his chest. “Let’s go.” He grabbed Roman’s arm and swung him around his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Without the friction from the floor, Remus was at Roman’s door in seconds. He reached out and jiggled the handle. Still locked.

“You’re gonna have to open this,” Remus told Roman, twisting his head around to look at him.

Roman sighed quietly. His finger twitched, and the door swung open. Remus barged in and tossed Roman on the bed. It had black and grey sheets with a red quilt and was the only thing in the room. The walls and floor were bare plaster. It looked like a prison cell.

“Jeez,” Remus complained, “not very stylish, bro. Would it kill you to add some color?”

Roman was already curled up on the bed, not bothering to cover himself with sheets. He stared at the wall.

“Fine, I’ll decorate.” Remus snapped his fingers and added a large mirror with claw feet, a few grotesque paintings on the walls, and a knitted carpet the color of dried blood.

“Perfect.” Remus glanced at the still motionless figure on the bed. “Look, I’m gonna call in some backup, okay? Don’t die while I’m gone.”

Roman closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep immediately. Remus watched him for a second before bolting out of the room. The door banged on the wall as he threw it open.

“Jan!”

Why wasn’t he here?

Remus stomped down the hallway toward Jan’s door. If JanJan wasn’t here, he’d just break into his room and make Jan pay attention.

As he passed the handle-less door, he paused. The food flap was locked but Remus knew the combination, he could—

No. He wasn’t that desperate. Not yet.

Instead, Remus kicked the snaky boy’s door open. Ha, joke’s on JanJan for letting Remus come in whenever. A snake hissed at him from its terrarium. Remus hissed back.

It would be pretty much impossible for Jan to ignore this. All Sides knew if someone else was in their room. Remus usually resented that. It made pranking harder. But today it came in handy.

“Oh, JanJan!” Remus stepped toward the bookshelf. “Sure would be a shame if all these lovely volumes were dumped into a vat of motor oil and set on fire!”

No angry snake appeared. Remus kicked over a end table and tossed some slime on the bed.

“Seriously, Jan,” Remus continued, releasing some crickets in the closet. “I’d get in here if I were you!”

There was a loud clang outside. Footsteps. Remus ran to the door and saw Jan, capelet flying behind him and face flushed, running down the stairs.

“There you are!” Remus complained. “Took you long enough.”

“I—” Jan stumbled to a stop in front of him, bending over and panting. “There—Remus—”

“What’s up, Double Dee?” Remus glanced at the open door behind him. “Um, I’d be careful going inside if I were you—”

“Remus,” Jan repeated, finally catching his breath. He straightened. There was panic in his eyes. “Remus, we—we have a situation.”

“Yeah, no sh*t, Sherlock!” Remus snapped. “While you were off playing nice Upstairs, that situation fell into our living room.”

“What?” Jan’s mouth dropped open. “Roman—what?”

Remus grimaced. “You’d better come see this.”

Next. Masterlist.

General taglist:

@the17thmeatball

@most-likely-fandom

@csi-baker-street-babes

@caffeinated-cryptid

Valley of the Dolls taglist:

@cluttered-wonder

@wouldnt-you-like-that

@gotta-love-alejandra

@mihaela-tbg

@tombombadi1

@kaefish

@not-enough-sketchbooks

@marshmallow-fluffy

@confusedhost

@ghostlygalactics

@a-salty-alto

@youthquake-in-the-making

@itriedandimtired

@aromantic-karamatsu

@fear-is-nameless

@somehow-i-got-an-account

Ask to be included or removed!

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 3 years

Text

Speak No Evil (Part 38) - Story 2

“How was your trip, Zuko?” Mai asks. Her voice is grating to Azula’s ears. She wishes that the woman would have followed her into the jungle. Perhaps if they had been bickering incessantly enough the spirits would have taken her voice too and then she wouldn’t have to deal with hearing it.

“It was fine.” Zuko replies stiffly and at least a few prickles of joy come back to her. At least Mai has also lost someone.

Even still, Azula finds herself unhappy; TyLee can’t love the type of person who relishes in someone else’s emotional turmoil. TyLee can’t love someone like her and if she is being honest, the woman probably shouldn’t even try.

“You still can’t talk?” Mai observes.

Azula shakes her head in confirmation. She wonders what had given her the first hint--likely it is that she hasn’t begun yelling and complaining, spewing hatred and resentment. In all honesty, she wouldn’t have the energy for it even if she did have her voice. Most of her energy is spent on dread.

She thinks that Mai might have grimaced, a faintly sympathetic gesture. She unfolds her parchment and writes, ‘after I speak with TyLee I was going to seek out the spirit who has my voice.’ She doesn’t foresee any success. She is still the same vindictive and spiteful woman that the spirit first encountered. She isn’t sure why she feels like this. Sometimes she thinks that she isn’t so terrible and sometimes…

“TyLee isn’t pleased with any of us.” Mai grumbles.

“What did I do?” Zuko asks.

Mai shrugs, “guilty by association.” She sighs. “You better have some pretty good dialogue--a pretty good letter prepared because she’s showing teeth.”

And maybe that is what she needs; to let TyLee gnash those teeth at her. Maybe she has to bleed…

“Azula’s a good person.” Seicho declares. “I’m sure she’ll do fine.”

But Azula doesn’t agree, she has been writing letter after letter only to waste parchment.

.oOo.

To say that meeting up with Azula again leaves her feeling apprehensive would be an understatement. TyLee can imagine an assortment of emotional responses from the woman and not a single one of them is good. Approaching the palace for the first time in so long, TyLee isn’t sure if she is going to be met with resentful, albeit, mute yelling--a red, strained faced Azula. Or if she is going to be greeted by more of those haunting sobs without sounds; a face streaked with tears and running makeup. She thinks that the best case would be to be met with Azula’s usual cold and deceitfully passive demeanor. That biting indifference worn on a stoney, uncannily blank face.

TyLee, again finds herself wondering what she had seen in Azula. A beautiful, confident, intelligent, and talented woman, she remembers. And she wonders if that person is still there or if she has completely succumbed to her repressed rage and inner turmoil. She wonders why she is humoring this request for reunion. It is because she is a good person; too compassionate for her own good. She wonders if she should let that part of herself go and completely succumb to her more realistic side, the side that has liberated her.

She thinks that she must relinquish at least some of that chipper empathy if she is going to speak with the princess. The princess who is just in the other room, waiting and probably with a whole packet of parchments detailing her contempt.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Zuko says gently.

She isn’t afraid of Azula anymore, she reminds herself. She can hold her own. “I’m ready.”

Zuko opens the door and beckons her in. She sees the other girl first; her skin is a shade or two darker than Azula’s and her hair is pulled into both a topknot and a low ponytail. Her posture is lax and untroubled.

All the while, Azula sits rigidly, tense. Her eyes seem somewhat misty and there is the slightest pout upon her lips. And yet there is some glint of determination upon her expression. A spark of something beneath what seems like hurt. And in this expression, this gentle and subtle vulnerability, TyLee finds reassurance. She has to admit that she didn’t anticipate coming to meet anything but intense and raw emotion. Even still, she has to wonder if there is a bomb waiting to explode beneath this mostly composed demeanor.

The princess offers a little wave and gestures for her to take a seat next to her. TyLee takes a seat but it is not the indicated one. She sits across from her, looks her straight in the eyes. In closer proximity she can see a sadness, a rather deep one.

Azula holds up a piece of parchment and TyLee takes a deep breath, her stomach twisting into knots. And when she finally reads it some of the unease dissipates, ‘how have you been?’

“I’ve been…” does Azula want to hear her say that she has been lost without her? Sad? That she has been thinking about her a lot. “I’ve been really well.” Truth be told, she has thought little of Azula after the first month. “I’ve done a lot of soul searching and I finally found a me that I like!”

Azula manages a half smile and nods. The smile doesn’t reach her eyes, in fact they seem even gloomier now. Of course Azula isn’t pleased that she has evolved and become her own person. She doesn’t think that Azula can stand it.

.oOo.

And there it is, she truly is better off without her. That she is nothing but a hindrance to the woman’s growth and cheerfulness. She has known it for a while now but the confirmation is still piercing.

“I learned to stand up for myself. I have new hobbies and interests. And I met some amazing people…”

Amazing people that probably help her thrive. Amazing people who aren’t horrible like she, Zuzu, and Mai. Amazing people who deserve to have a light like TyLee in their lives.

She wonders if any of them is a new lover.

‘I met this piece of work.’ She scrawls and gestures to Seicho. She supposes that Seicho is a light, really the only thing that keeps everything from going all encompassingly bleak and black. Seicho gives an eager wave.

“I was wondering who she is.”

“Seicho! Azula and I went for a hike together.”

“That sounds fun!” TyLee smiles.

‘It wasn’t.’ Azula writes as Seicho remarks, “it was actually kind of depressing.”

TyLee furrows her brows. “What happened?”

Agni, how she wants to tell her. Wants the woman to know how thoroughly she has been missed. Craves that brand of comfort only that only TyLee could give. But what would that look like? It would look like guilting, like playing with her emotions in some conniving attempt to get her back. ‘It’s a long story, Ty.’

“She was…” Seicho starts.

Azula shakes her head and holds up the parchment. A single word hastily scrawled upon it; ‘no.’ And then she adds, ‘not yet.’

Seicho quite literally bites her tongue and slumps in her chair.

“Azula, what happened?”

‘I’ll tell you about it some other time, okay? I’d like to hear about your adventures.’ She would actually rather hear anything but. She doesn’t want to know about any possible romances. But the story TyLee gives is one about adventure not love. There is plenty of friendship--and from the sound of it--better friendship than she had, had in the Fire Nation. And there is lots of discovery; skills she hadn’t known she had, smarts she didn’t realize she possessed…

And what has Azula discovered on her journey? That she is thoroughly miserable and trapped. That she has made little progress at all. Any optimism she has seems to be gone in an instant. She doesn’t want to die, she reminds herself, she just wants things to stop hurting… But sometimes she feels like there is no other way to stop it.

She wishes that she could get rid of these thoughts. Wishes that she could hold onto those moments for even just a little longer than a moment. Spirits she needs help but she can’t ask TyLee for it. TyLee will get too invested in it… Or maybe this new TyLee has enough boundaries to tell her to solve her own shit. She is trying, she swears to herself that she is. Why else would she be chasing down her voice and talking to TyLee?

She wishes that the girl would just yell at her. Scream at her and get it over with…

‘Tuya seems nice.’

TyLee seems to visibly flinch, confirming her speculations; there is something slightly stronger than a friendship there. “She has been wonderful and so supportive.”

Azula nods and points at Seicho. At this TyLee smiles, “I’m glad that you found someone who can help you through everything.” Perhaps she thinks that she would find unbelievable that she wishes her well because she adds, “really, Azula, I am. You need someone…” But I’m not that person, Azula fills in for her. She shouldn’t have to be. Seicho shouldn’t have to be.

‘I know.’

She needs someone but sometimes, more often than not, she thinks that she should be alone.

‘I was hoping that you would come with us--myself, Zuzu, Mai, and Seicho--to go find the spirit who took my voice.’

“I don’t know, Azula. I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

.oOo.

TyLee doesn’t think that she has ever seen Azula desist and retreat so fast. Even during a battle with grim odds. She has only ever fled battles she was wholly certain that she would lose. Even then she usually held her ground.

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow at noon, if you change your mind.” Seicho adds for her.

“I’ll think about it.”

Azula waits until she thinks that TyLee can’t see her to fall apart. To lean on Seicho and shed those silent tears. Her body is nearly limp and TyLee thinks that she might have been holding back the whole time. She truly is a broken woman. Her willpower is in delicate tatters. TyLee sighs, she supposes a jungle adventure might be fun. It has been a while since she has explored the Fire Nation.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #TyLee #TyZula #Fanfiction

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antivirus-mh-au · 3 years

Text

Antivirus - Chapter 4

First Chapter Previous Chapter Ao3 Link TW: None Note: I am completely exhausted and working on a laggy computer. I will add these links when I’m not a zombie trying to use a zombie laptop. Thank you for your patience.

Click the link. Let the page load, the old laptop whirring as it opened. A YouTube video, like so many others. Opening shot, an abandoned building in the middle of the night, muffled voices talking.

Shrieking, screaming. The camera lowered as the one holding it ducks for cover. Four voices yelling at once. Suddenly, laughter. Relieved laughter.

"Fucking bats!" A man called out. The camera raising, focusing on the dark shapes fluttering out the window.

"We need to be careful," a woman said, voice light-hearted. "Those things carry rabies."

Laughter breaking through the group again, a logo of a camera appearing on the screen.

He paused the video and glanced down at the title. "OUR GREATEST HITS, VOLUME ONE."

He sent a text to his friend.

Phoenix: who are these assholes?

The reply was immediate.

Skully: they're my assholes. College kids I made friends with on Twitter. Really cool. I don't remember being that cool when I was twenty.

He grunted aloud. Lucky him, remembering anything about his twenties. Not everyone was so fortunate.

Skully: They’re part of the MH fandom. They actually live in Alabama and were able to track down some of the locations in the videos.

He rolled his eyes.

Phoenix: Find any bodies?

Skully: Just blood.

He shuddered, pulling his hooded jacket closer to his body.

Phoenix: Cool. Morbid, but cool.

He was such a liar.

Skully: Anyway, not what I was sending them to you about. They just made a new video today and I think you might be interested in it

He grimaced.

Phoenix: This is about your crazy boyfriend, isn’t it?

Skully: He’s not my boyfriend!! I don’t know him!!!

Skully: And you know my partner doesn't share.

Phoenix: But it’s still about him. The prophet guy.

Skully: … Yeah. But you should still watch this! I think you’ll find it interesting

He leaned back against the wall and huffed.

Phoenix: Why?

Skully: … the kids talk about Tim, alright?

Skully: They talk about him a lot.

His fingers hesitated over the keys. He lingered, reading the words again and again. Tim…?

Phoenix: Fine.

Phoenix: Send me the video.

The video, almost thirty minutes long, took its sweet time to load. First thing on screen was the same logo as before, a camera with a generic full face mask behind it. The name of the channel followed, MH Unlocked. He shook his head.

The name faded out, replaced by three people on a couch. Two women, one man. A second man sat on top of an end table on the right side of the couch. The lamp that probably belonged in that spot sat on the floor at his dangling feet.

The woman on the left, a bushy haired brunette with deep tan skin, a high ponytail and golden brown eyes, gave the camera a grin.

"Hey investigators!" She waved. "We're back with another video."

"And this one's a doozy," the woman beside her said, raising her mug, which proudly bore a pride flag. If he had to guess, it was the lesbian one. Her hair was dyed orange, peachy skin flushed by makeup or a light sunburn, it was hard to tell.

"Before we start," the first woman said, "be sure to leave a like and give us your thoughts and theories in the comments! I promise, we read all of them."

"Eventually," said the man on the end table with a grin. He was the palest white guy ever, with curly black hair, glasses, and about a thousand freckles on his face. The man next to him gave him a shove, and the first man burst into laughter.

The other man, with skin several shades darker than the brunette and a suit far too good looking for this kind of environment, rolled his eyes. He waved a hand, with a silver ring on his index finger, at the camera.

"You already know us," he said. "I'm Mix."

"I'm Holly!" The brunette on the other end said.

"I'm Wren," the orange haired woman said.

"And I'm Steve!" The freckled man grinned wide, his green eyes practically glowing with excitement. "We've got a big story for you guys today."

"Oh, very big," Wren said, before taking a drink from her mug.

"Big like the worst headache you've ever had," Mix said with a smiling roll of his eyes. Wren smacked him on the shoulder without looking away from her drink.

"So." Holly reached up from the floor and pulled up a laptop. The brand logo was covered up with a pineapple sticker. Her eyes scanned the screen as she fiddled with the touchpad, Wren leaning over to see what she was doing.

"Last night," Holly said. "Something weird happened over on the Neophyte_Calling YouTube channel."

"Weirder than normal," Wren said.

"Yeah," Holly said. She glanced over towards Steve, who swiped at the screen of his phone. He looked up.

"We'd show the footage but people don’t seem to like when we do that," Steve said. "Something something spreading the sickness." He shrugged with a smile. "But we've all watched it and we can give you a play by play of what happened."

"It might not seem that dramatic," Wren said, "but the implications are pretty intense."

"I'll say," Mix said.

"Last night, at around ten pm," Holly started, "in the middle of his usual stream, the Neophyte went quiet. The way he does when whatever he's supposedly channeling is trying to talk through him. After about thirty seconds of silence, he started bleeding onto the table from his head, which remember, is mostly off screen. He said, "he's coming," and fell over as the screen glitched out. For another hour there was complete silence before the stream randomly ended."

"Weird shit," Steve said.

Holly nodded. "Very weird shit - but in character for him."

"Now, for those of you that don't know who the Neophyte is," Mix said, "he's the guy you see people calling 'the Prophet' in this fandom. Talks like a drug addict on a high, but many people believe there are secret messages in his words that can be decoded. They say those messages predict the future."

"Not everyone believes this," Holly said.

"I don't," Steve said, hunched over and watching his friends. "But there's definitely something funny-weird about the guy. Very… uncanny valley."

"Sometimes, unprompted, he'll stop talking and do this creepy voice." Holly cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, she lowered her voice, taking on an odd pitch to her words. "Grains of sand in the hourglass of time. Your existence is irrelevant." She shuddered, and let her voice go back to normal. "Something like that."

"That's an awful impression but it gets the job done," Mix said.

"You try doing one better," Holly said.

"The one thing all of these coherent messages have in common," Wren said, "is that they're all addressed to the same person. Someone called Tim."

Steve nodded. "And you can guess who most people think that 'Tim' is."

"It's been ten years since Marble Hornets ended," Mix said. "But it would make sense if it were Tim Wright the Neophyte was talking to. He was the only survivor, after all."

"But that would imply that Tim is watching the Neophyte streams," Wren said.

"And if he's watching the streams, he could be aware of us, too," Holly said.

The four went quiet. Mix looked at the floor. Steve traded a look of discomfort with Holly. Wren took a sip of her mug. She pulled it away from her lips with a sigh.

"If he does know about us," Wren said, "why not come forward and tell his side of the story? He could change the whole game by revealing himself."

"Probably because he's a fucking murderer," Steve said. Mix glared at him, but Steve only shrugged. "You know I'm right!"

"He did kill two people," Holly said, looking at her laptop. "Just because Kralie killed Jay doesn't make what Tim did right."

"But what other choice did he have?" Mix said. "Alex wouldn't have stopped trying to kill Tim. One of them needed to die."

"That doesn't matter to the legal system," Holly said.

"We're getting off topic," Wren said, raising a hand. "It doesn't matter if the Neophyte was talking about Tim from Marble Hornets or not. What matters is that someone is going somewhere and that's apparently good news for the Neophyte or whatever he's channeling."

"You can say the Operator, it's okay," Steve said.

Holly glared at him from over Wren's head.

"It does matter, though, if he's talking about Tim in particular," Mix said. "What if Tim is heading back to Alabama? Maybe he left after the end of the series."

"It's possible," Holly said, "but that's pure speculation. We don't know that."

"Isn't speculation all we do?" Steve said, swinging his legs gently. "Come on, let's give the audience something to chew on. What do you guys think the Neophyte was talking about? The crazier the theory, the better."

Mix frowned. "Well…"

With a shake of his head, the viewer closed the tab. He'd seen enough. Enough to make his eyes burn and hands shake. He took a deep breath, and shuddered, pulling his jacket around himself. It was a warm day beyond the safe confines of this abandoned house, but that didn't stop the chills shooting through him.

Was he afraid? Or was he angry?

With a growl he thrust the laptop away from him and reached for his sketchbook. The pen he'd been using before still rested inside. Forcing his thoughts away from the video, he focused everything in his mind onto his art.

He wasn't a great artist, but his memory was good, and with nothing else to do most days, his skill was getting better. With proper art tools, he could've even gotten great at it. But there was no need for greatness right now. Art was supposed to be healing, and that more than anything was what he needed.

In his mind he captured the image, something he'd seen so many times before. Grinding his teeth, he let the image flow onto the page once more. His favorite thing to draw, the one thing that really made him smile.

Losing track of time was part of the appeal. With the light from his laptop, he could see the whole page, or at least enough of it to work. The ink bled into the paper, the lines assembling into a rough image that soon became a face. He could see it so well in his mind's eye. As if the man he pictured was right in front of him. But he wasn't. And if the man knew what was good for him, he'd stay that way.

The sound of a new message on Discord got his attention. He glanced at the time instead. An hour, flown by, his mind lost in an ink-based daydream. Exhaling hard, he looked back at the art on the page. It wasn't finished. It would probably never be finished. But as it was… it was perfect.

Tim Wright made a very good model, unaware of that as he was.

Running his hand over the page, feeling the indents where his pen dug deep into the paper, he shook his head, and smiled.

"Better not be coming back, Tim," the man, the Maniac, said. "If you do… I'll have to kill you.”

#marble hornets #mh antivirus au #mh fanfiction #marble hornets fanfiction #marble hornets au

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neocity-sarai · 4 years

Text

“Love in _____” series

❀ chapter 4: reader x jeno

❀ friends to lovers

❀ alerts: fluff, tinge of angst, language, suggestive, making out

❀ song rec: “somebody to you” by the vamps ft. demi lovato

Just splendid. The moment you had stepped onto the streets outside of the Los Angeles airport, you groaned at the piece of gum that clung to the bottom of your new high tops- a going away gift from your parents. They were overjoyed that you’d be interning at one of the biggest independent film studios as a makeup assistant- even more than you were. In your free time, you’d read magazines about the year’s top 20 cosmetic brands and brush techniques that were applied on Hollywood’s biggest celebrities. Some of your friends claimed that being a makeup artist wasn’t being an artist in itself. To you, it was the exact opposite. Makeup had the power to beautify and transform even when the canvas was already beautiful.

So far, you didn’t feel the excitement yet. The air smelt foggy, grey clouds hung above the city in a clump, and you taxi driver had no interest to indulge in your conversation at all. You sat in the back seat, gazing out the car window as you watched the city blur past you. You passed the Hollywood sign that perched on it’s mountain and the palm trees that lined rodeo drive- cars parked on every meter of the block. As your playlist shuffled on, you couldn’t believe you managed to make it to California by yourself.

After your taxi driver dropped you off at your air b and b, you settled yourself in the studio space: a cozy bedroom complete with a bathroom and living room area. Much bigger than your room back home, you didn’t complain at all. That evening, you decided to go grocery shopping as you cooked an adequate meal for yourself- excited jitters bouncing in your stomach. Tomorrow would be your first day at the studio. You promised yourself you’d give it all you’ve got.

“Where is Matthew?!”

You stare back at a woman who’s dressed in a tight pencil skirt and white button-up as she continues to yell at you, “Are you Matthew?!”

Confusedly, you look around the film warehouse, “No- I-”

She turns to the left of you, stepping around you, “Matthew! You over there! Get on the coffee orders for the screenwriting team!”

A few fairs fall out of the woman’s perfect bun, her chest heaving from yelling, “Are you the new makeup assistant?”

Nodding at her, you speak, “Yeah. I am-”

“I don’t care who you are. Go report to Constance, she’s in aisle 4.”

Just like that, the woman leaves you standing in shock. You had interned with other film studios before, yet they all had welcomed you with soft-spoken voices and smiles. You were in Hollywood now, the epicenter of film and pop culture. It was no brainer that people seemed more abrasive. Eventually, you made your way to aisle 4- the cosmetics department. A girl no older than you stood by a row of vanities that made her darker-toned skin glow in the violet light that radiated from the mirrors. She was organizing an array of brushes, palettes, and hair products as she tied her hair into a loose braid. Black frames cover her eyebrows as they sit on the bridge of her nose, she wears a black uniform.

You lightly tap her on the shoulder, “Uh, hi. Could you point me in the direction of Constance?”

She turns to you, a smile gracing her mauve lips, “Are you y/n? The new assistant?”

You nod, “Yes, that’s me!”

Sweeping her braid over her shoulder, she replies, “Constance is out getting lunch for us right now but I’d be happy to take you around the studio? My name’s Terra!”

Reaching out your hand, you shake Terra’s hand firmly, “I’d love that.”

You ask her, “So what do you do?”

Adjusting her glasses, Terra chuckles, “I’m Constance’s personal secretary. I help train the newcomers, organize her schedule, and book her clients. I’m sure we’ll be working together very often.”

“Thank you for showing me around, I was really nervous when I first got here. Someone thought I was Matthew?”

Terra eyes you knowingly, “Was she a woman about yea tall, office outfit and had a bellowing voice?”

Nodding, you laugh, “Sounds like a perfect description.” “Don’t mind Valencia. She's a handful. She intimidated me until I found out that she just worked for PR. She likes to be bossy.”

As you and Terra breeze through the aisles, Terra gives you a tour through each of the studio’s sections. First was screenwriting and producing, the director’s office, and costume/set design. You continued to keep up with her, people waving to Terra with a bright smile as she told you stories and funny moments that occurred within the departments.

“Don’t tick off anyone from PR, they’ll give you an earful. If you want snacks, go to screenwriting because they like to keep the clients happy and full. If you want to talk to someone about a problem with work, the board office is over there.”

Nodding along, she leads you to a set that rests in the corner of the warehouse. Your eyes trail over the numerous light stands and propped up green screens, wires scattering like a web on the ground. With a blurry flash, a boy comes into view. When you look up, you don’t expect to be met with such a handsome boy. He wears a pair of black dress pants and a flaming red jacket, his dark auburn hair gelled back. You take note of the sharpness of his jaw and the way his features harden in the spotlight, “Terra! What’s up?”

Terra socks a punch into the boy’s arm, “Jeno, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Terra turns to you, her eyes motioning towards Jeno before he smiles at you, his eyes curling into crescent moons, “Who might you be?”

You barely choke on your words, “H-hi, my name’s y/n..”

Jeno extends his hand to you, you feel the texture of his callous fingers on your skin- a blush creeps onto your cheeks unwillingly. He’s still smiling at you, “My name’s Jeno. Welcome to Sunfire studios.”

Terra bumps her elbow at your arm, “Y/n’s gonna have to go through the whole process just like the old days.”

Chuckling, Jeno runs his fingers through his dark hair, “We did it, everyone’s gotta I assume.”

Terra places a hand on Jeno’s shoulder, “Well, we’ll leave you to your project. See you, hotshot.”

“Later, Terra. Good meeting you, y/n. See you around?”

You nod a little too quickly, “Yeah-right- Jeno?”

Jeno grunts in agreement before disappearing behind a set of double doors by the green screen. Terra tugs you along, her eyebrows wiggling, “So, what did you think of everything?”

You chuckle at her, “Everything seems great. I'm really excited to be here.”

Terra eyes you, “Any burning questions you have for me?”

At first, you try to decide against it. With a random surge of confidence, your question comes out in a sputter of words, “N-not that it’s my business but are you with Jeno?”

Terra raises her brows suggestively, eyes widening, “Really?”

You squeak, “Uh, yes?”

Terra bursts out into violent laughter, “Jeno and I are just good partners- we’re friends. Plus, I’m more into girls anyway.”

You breath hitches in your throat, “Oh.”

“What, don’t seem like it?”

You wave your hands in the air at her, “No! No, it’s not that. I just thought seeing you two, you were-”

A sinister smile creeps onto Terra’s face, “I see what it is. You have a crush on Jeno, don't you?”

Shaking your head wildly, you almost manage to spit in her face, “No! I- that’s not it!”

Terra gives you a slap on the back as if you were old friends, “Not to worry- every newcomer experiences a crush on Jeno.”

You pause, “What’s that mean?”

Terra pushes up her glasses again, “Be careful if I were you. Being here for 3 years, I’ve seen Jeno break a lot of hearts without him meaning to. He’s not a play boy or an asshole. When girls confess their feelings to him, all he can talk about is his dream of becoming the best film-maker and how he won’t let anything get in the way of his dream- including romances.”

Gulping, you nod, “Right- I was just wondering.”

You try to ignore the sinking feeling in your heart and the momentary butterflies of a boy you literally just met. What were you hoping for? You too, weren’t at Sunfire for distractions either. Terra puts an arm around your shoulder, “Jeno spends his time trailing after the directors like a love-sick puppy, you’ll only have to work with him for a short time. I want to see if you can break the string of girls who fall for him.”

You nod at her, “Right, I won’t lose my focus.”

A smirk graces Terra’s lips, “Time will tell.”

When you make it back to the cosmetics department, you finally meet Constance. She’s an African American woman, her jet-black curls bounce over her clothed shoulder when she hands Terra a bag of takeout. Terra speaks first, “Constance, this is y/n- the assistant.”

Constance turns to you, her irises glinting with glee, “Ah yes! Welcome y/n! If you ever have trouble with anything, don’t hesitate to contact me alright?”

Nodding, you smile at her, “Thank you so much. I’m happy to be working under you.”

“Yes! Yes! Now, eat!”

After lunch hour was over, you found yourself sneaking glances at Jeno when he’d talk to Constance. You were given the task of sorting the new and expired makeup from the storage room, not the job that you’d hope to have. Still, you were grateful that Terra and Constance were kind to you. Rummaging through boxes of eyeshadow palettes, you hear a voice from behind you. You see Jeno lean his body against the closet’s door frame, “Working hard y/n?”

You fall back onto your butt from your crouching position, “Jeno- don’t sneak up on me like that..”

Jeno laughs, his thin lips stretching across his face, “Sorry, I’m on break right now.”

“You’re good. How’s the project going?”

Jeno’s contorts with surprise, “Terra told you about my project?”

“Well, not specifically? just that you are working on something for the directors?”

Visibly, you watch Jeno let out a relieved sigh, his hand placed on his heart, “Oh good. Yeah- the directors gave me a film assignment to do. I’m taking a while because my creative juices have been stunted.”

You reply back to him, “Why is that?”

Instead of answering you, Jeno grumbles as he bites his lower lip, “The assignment is difficult is all.”

“Maybe I can help?”

In front of you, Jeno waves his hands in front of you refusingly, “No, no. I must do this on my own. Otherwise, I can’t give my 100% effort.”

From behind him, you hear Constance yell at Jeno, “Jeno back to work! Break time’s over!”

Jeno flashes a toothy grin at you, “Have fun sorting through expired makeup y/n.”

Scoffing, you smile, “Have fun doing whatever secret assignment you have.”

“Later, y/n.”

Like that, Jeno walks back to his corner of the warehouse- leaving you in the dusty closet alone as you sigh at the numerous boxes you have yet to go through.

A week later

Constance and Terra make sure to debrief you of everything that’s happening at the studio today, a line of investors are working with Sunfire Studios to arrange some kind of agreement. You try to avoid the cold eyes of the burly men dressed in freshly-pressed suits as they pass the makeup department by. You swallow the lump in your throat from the intimidation. Terra whispers in your ear, “Those guys can’t ever control their temper, I always hear them screaming at Mr. Stevens.”

You flick your eyes back up to Terra, “They would scream at the director?”

Nodding at you, she frowns, “In the film business, everyone’s critical of everyone.”

Cautiously, you and Terra clean the makeup brushes in order to lessen Constance’s load- you hadn’t seen her all day as she was sitting through grueling meetings with the other departments. Suddenly, you spot the investors exit out the door as they grumble to themselves, rolling their eyes.

“Do you think the meeting went well?”

Terra tuts, “Based on their faces, I don’t think so. Be prepared for Mr. Stevens to be snappy for the next week.”

Conveniently, you hear Mr. Stevens bellow his voice at Jeno, waving his hand around, “You call this good work?! You’ve been off your ball game Jeno! At this rate, how can you make films if you can’t put together a measly project son?!”

Terra looks up from her brushes, “There he goes again.”

“Shouldn’t we step in? Is it okay for him to yell at Jeno like that?”

Shaking her head, Terra sighs, “No, it’s best to leave them be. It’s always like this, Mr. Stevens is trying to teach Jeno the ways of the industry. Jeno gets frustrated for a few days and then he works too hard until he faints.”

“That’s not healthy?”

“No, but it works for Jeno.”

Though you hadn’t known him for long, you couldn’t help but feel concerned. You watched Jeno storm out of Mr. Steven’s office and out the back door, slamming it out of anger. You want to help him, to comfort him. Terra’s hand on your shoulder, stopping you, “Don’t anger him further, let him cool off a bit.”

Closing your mouth, you go back to work. Like that, another day passes by and when you lay on your bed at night, you still think of Jeno.

In the morning

“Terra! Y/n!”

You step beside Terra, taking in every piece of Constance’s instructions. Constance guides a younger girl into your view. Constance continues, “Today, we will be participating in the creative pitch meeting today. Here is the film we will be working on and the makeup looks that production has asked us to do. If Mr. Stevens doesn’t approve, we will be sat out of this production. This is our only shot.”

You nod determinedly, “Let’s do it.”

Constance motions the girl to come forward, “This is Mr. Steven’s niece- she will be helping with small tasks and observing.”

Terra flashes a bright smile and a thumbs up, “Welcome to the team kiddo!”

You add, “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Timidly, the girl tugs on her blonde ponytail, “Blair..”

You squeeze her hand, “Want to help me test out lipstick shades Blair?”

Reluctantly, she runs over to you, a laugh drifting out of her lips after you lift her on to one of the chairs that sits in front of a vanity. Constance smiles, scratching her chin, “Terra, do you mind coming with me? I need you to help me get some of the fabric samples in the costume department.”

“Sure, Constance. You’ll be okay y/n?”

You reply back with a wide smile, “Of course. Don’t worry.”

While they’re gone, you receive a text from Constance.

<12:54 PM (Constance- Sunfire Studios): hey y/n. Can you get started on the hair dye? The actresses will be here a bit early and the hair department is low on staff at the moment. You’ll need A34 in Chestnut Copper, B78 in Licorice Black, and D56 in Electric Blue. Thanks, it'll be a big help!”>

<12: 55 PM: Leave it to me!>

Placing your phone in your back pocket, you run to the storage cabinets and grab the exact colors listed in Constance’s text. You start opening the boxes, Blair staring at you as you work. You try your best to coax her, “So, what do you want to do when you grow up?”

Blair grins at you, gaps in her teeth, “I want to be like you!”

Laughing, you pat her on her head, “The film industry is an amazing place, makeup is a beautiful part of it.”

You also grab bowls in order to mix the dye in, realizing you forgot to grab brushes and spatulas to apply the dye on to the actresses. You smile at Blair, “Sweetheart, I have to go grab some things. You stay here alright?”

She nods, sucking on a lollipop that Constance gave her. By the time you make it back, you see Blair staring at her uncle from farther away, watching him as he directs the different departments. Constance and Terra make it back too, they help you to stir the dyes with the brushes you found. Eventually, you hand it off to the team of hairstylists. Within an hour or so, you hear a woman shriek as if she has seen a monster, followed by an angry Mr. Stevens. He shouts, “Makeup department! Get here now!”

Constance and Terra eye you confusedly, taking Blair’s hand in yours as you lead her towards the hair department. In view, you spot Mr. Stevens as red as a tomato, Jeno standing behind him with a frown on his face. The actress is practically in tears when her hair looks like a sloppy accident- her head covered in brown and blue spots. Mr. Steven’s voice makes you jolt, “Who is responsible for this?!”

Constance runs to his side, pleading forgiveness before Mr. Stevens holds a hand at her, “You and Terra were busy reporting to costumes. I’m asking who mixed the dye!”

Terra stares down at the ground, Constance says nothing. You already feel sweat dripping down your back, your hands feel clammy. Quietly, you whisper, “I did sir. It was me.”

Mr. Stevens breezes past Constance and Terra directly to you, “Who even are you?”

Constance is still pleading, “Forgive me Mr. Stevens, I was the one who asked y/n to do it. It’s not her fault.”

“But it is. If she can’t even mix hair dye correctly then how can she be your assistant? I should fire you right now.”

You cast your eyes down to the floor, tears welling up in your eyes as it blurs your vision. Suddenly, you hear the seriousness in Jeno’s voice. He tightens his jaw, “Sir, y/n didn’t do it.”

He glares back at Jeno, “If not her, then who?”

Jeno points at Blair, “When we were talking with production, I saw her mixing them together while y/n was grabbing supplies. It was out of her control.”

Visibly, it looks like Mr. Stevens will explode. He growls at Jeno, “Are you going to accuse my niece now? A little kid?”

Your voice cracks more than you expect, “No. I take full responsibility. It’s my fault and I accept it.”

Letting go of Blair’s hand, she gives you a sad frown, clutching onto your sweater, “Don’t go-”

“Y/n. You’re off the cosmetics team. You’re fired.”

Like that, you feel the pain of the silence. You feel the sinking of your heart. You hadn’t just gotten there and you failed. What would everyone back home think? The tears start to fall, your cheeks wet, “I will go collect my things.”

You hear Terra calling after you but you wave her off. Once you’re done collecting your things, you burst out the door and into the hot Los Angeles heat- the roads empty of any cars. The dryness you feel in your throat doesn't help when you’re still sobbing- you decide to take the bus home. The bus driver pays no mind to your tears, her eyes focused on the long road ahead. Plopping into the front seat in defeat, you receive notifications from Terra and Jeno but you don’t look at any of them. When you manage to make it home, all you can do is throw your box aside- some of the objects breaking from the impact. When you were told it was hard, you didn’t know that it would be this difficult. You felt like a failure, your dreams of working as a makeup artist withering. After a few hours of moping and crying into your pillow, you think it’s only common courtesy to respond back to Terra at the least.

<4:00 PM (Terra): Y/n? Are you okay? Can we talk?>

Dialing her number, Terra answers it almost immediately, “Y/n?”

Your voice sounds hoarse, “Yes?”

“How are you doing?”

Sighing, you roll onto your side, “Not the greatest but I’m alive.”

Her voice sounds deeply concerned, “Listen, I know I can’t do much to help but I care about you as a friend and co-worker. How about we go out today?”

Your reply becomes more snarky by the minute, “Listen, Terra- I appreciate the sincerity but I don’t feel like going out right now.”

“Come on, y/n. You have nothing to lose. If anything, at least you won’t have to be yelled at by our boss anymore. Just one night.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Text me at 7!”

With a click, Terra hangs up on her end- leaving you with the silence of your room. You sigh, throwing a hefty punch to your pillow out of frustration. Did you want to go? Fuck it. At this point, there wasn’t holding you back. It’s not like you had to go to work the next morning.

7PM.

“Yes! Y/n, we’re gonna have the best night of our lives! Let’s get drunk!”

Terra’s voice explodes through your phone speaker, you wince in pain when you feel your eardrum throb.

“We’ll see, Terra. Just two hours alright? The least I can do is have a good night’s sleep.”

“Deal!”

Within 15 minutes, you see Terra drive up to your driveway, boxy black shades sitting on the bridge of her nose. She’s sitting in a cherry red convertible, her smile brightening, “Get in loser! We’re going shopping!”

Perhaps, you could allow yourself to have a little fun. Though you had just been fired that day, you couldn’t fight the growing smile that graced your lips. You stuck your arms out above you, belting words as Terra yells along with you. The feeling is like being in a coming-of-age film where you’re zooming through rodeo drive to the highway that stretches over the ocean blue, salty air drifting under your nose. Terra cranks up her radio, some Beatles song that you don’t know, Terra belting out the lyrics while you shut your eyes in content- the sun dipping into the horizon. Flowery bushes line the side of the road, the people on the beach look like small ants in the distance. Suddenly, Terra turns down her stereo, “Hey- I hope you don’t mind but I asked Jeno to hang with us. He felt really bad about earlier and I just think he needs to get out more!”

You widen her eyes at her, “You asked Jeno?”

Terra gives you a suggestive smile, her lips smeared with red lipstick, “Technically, this was Jeno’s idea to take you out!”

Nodding, you whisper, “Jeno did?”

Before you know it, Terra pulls up to a modern-looking apartment after passing the Hollywood walk of fame, goldcast stars lining the road. In an instant, Jeno whisks through the lobby doors and you felt as if your breath had been knocked out of your lungs. He cards his fingers through his mahogany hair, his body fit with black, ripped jeans and a tangerine-colored bomber jacket. His fingers are clad with silver bands, his eyelashes accenting his coffee irises. He smiles at you first, “Glad you could make it y/n.”

You nod, “Right, thanks Jeno. Thanks Terra.”

Terra giggles, “Don’t thank me! Now, I am famished so let’s get some grub.”

You ask her, “Where are we eating?”

Terra jabs you in the shoulder, “Just you wait, I know just the place.”

By the time you reach the so-called place, you now understand why you wanted to be in California so much. Terra expertly maneuvers her convertible up a series of hilled roads, parking on a ledge that overlooks the ocean. Jeno laughs, “This place never gets old.”

You watch him gaze out into the depths below, his hands resting on the railing. The sun casts rays of golden honey onto his hard features, his hair lighter from the effect. Terra yells at you both, “Hurry up guys!”

You’re amazed at Terra’s choice of an establishment. It’s a retro diner that overlooks the ocean, a large neon sign reading: “Jubilee’s Diner.” When you walk into the space, the checkerboard tile extends to the bar area as customers sip on milkshakes piled with whipped cream. The booths are lined with leather that matches the shade of Terra’s car, waitresses zoom past you on rollerskates. One woman approaches you three as she breaks into a smile, picking up 3 menus, “Terra, my girl!”

Terra laughs, motioning us to follow the woman into a booth that sits by a large glass window. Terra scoots in, the skin of your thigh rubbing against the leather seat as Jeno sits across from you both. The woman hands Terra a menu, “I’m guessing you’re looking for Cheyenne?”

Suddenly, Terra’s whole presence lights up, her head bobbing up and down, “Is she in tonight?”

“She is.”

Terra looks at you, “Hey, are you and Jeno okay with hanging out for a bit? If not, I’ll stay. Seriously, I don’t mean to ditch you guys or anything.”

“No, go. We don’t mind.”

You scoot out of the booth for Terra to get out, she practically skips all the way to the backroom in excitement. When you sit back down, you see Jeno chuckle.

“Who’s Cheyenne?” you ask.

“Terra’s been flirting with Cheyenne since we started coming here. I think they’ll be a thing soon.”

You nod, “Ah, I see.”

After a few minutes, another waitress takes your order as you opt for a strawberry milkshake and Jeno ordering chocolate. For some reason, you had never felt anymore natural with anyone else than you had with Jeno. It felt like time was zipping by, Jeno getting brain freezes before laughing at your jokes. You’d throw a fry for Jeno to catch in his mouth, a moment you recorded on Jeno’s camcorder he brought with him. In turn, he’d film you as you tried to balance an onion ring on your face, your eyes crossing because of it. When you were done, you watched the sun set on the ocean- amarine yellows and watermelon pink clouds fading into a starry night sky. Of course, Jeno recorded that too- zooming on your face even though you protested. You’d swipe ketchup on his nose, Jeno pouted at you playfully. Looking back into the kitchen, you caught Terra and Cheyanne standing in the doorway as they laughed into each other, flirtatious whispers being exchanged. Jeno turns to you, “Do you want to get out of here?”

Nodding, you smile at him, “Best not to disturb them.”

You follow Jeno outside the diner, a cool breezing hitting your face. Jeno looks at you, “Do you mind if I show you something?”

“Of course.”

Like that, you start to climb up the hill that goes beyond where the diner is, cars full of teenagers zooming past you in Jeno. He tells you about his dreams and why he believes that Hollywood is his destiny. He tells you about his family too, how his father was a filmmaker and had bought him a hand-held camera for his birthday when he was a child. You dance along the road, socking your fist into Jeno’s playfully as you tell him about your rambunctious family back home and how you discovered the dream of being a makeup artist for cinema. When you reach the top, you realize that the Hollywood sign sits on the other side of the hill as the city lights glow in a golden ocean below you. Jeno grabs your hand to help you slide down, your shoes covered in dirt. Finding your balance, you and Jeno sit in front of the letter ‘L’ beside each other.

“Now this is a view.”

You take it all in, seeing how the lights don’t even end. You feel like you’re on top of the world.

Jeno smiles at the sight, “This is where I come when I can’t think.”

Jostling him in the shoulder, you laugh, “How many girls have you taken up here?”

You feel Jeno tense, his eyes narrowing, “None actually. You’re the first.”

“Huh.”

Both of you sit in silence, Jeno playing with the rings on his fingers. You can’t think of anything to say. Finally, you jolt at the sound of your phone pinging. Pulling up your messages, you see you’ve received a text from Mr. Stevens.

It reads: “Hello y/n. Firstly, I’d like to sincerely apologize. It was unprofessional and not good of me to lash out at you this morning as Blair made it clear she was the one who was playing with the dyes. I was the one who asked you to take care of her, it is not in your control. I should have taught her better. I hope you can forgive me if you’d like to come to Sun Studios tomorrow morning and start fresh? I am deeply sorry, no hard feelings. Have a great evening.”

You practically feel your heart drop at the sight, you almost lose grip of your phone.

“What is it??”

Immediately, your hand flies to your mouth, “Mr. Stevens just gave me my job back! He finally admitted I wasn’t in the wrong!”

Jeno’s eyes are wide before he breaks into a smile, his hands coming up to the side of your arms, “Holy- That’s amazing y/n! But, I knew that already.”

You eye him with confusion, “How’d you know?”

“Because I was the one who proved your innocence. I got Blair to confess.”

Tackling Jeno to the ground, you bury your face into Jeno’s chest, his back flat to the sandy dirt underneath you both.

“Thank you Jeno! Thank you!”

When you pull yourself off Jeno, he holds you down with his hands, your legs in between his own. You see his dark eyes flick to your lips. You want him to, you really do. Your skin tingles when Jeno molds his hand to your neck, you see a flash of hesitation. The feeling is gone when Jeno removes his hand from your skin, placing it on the ground, “We should go check on Terra. We have work tomorrow.”

You sit back, kneeling in front of him. You’re sure your jaw is wide open, confusion scribbled on your face, “What?”

Jeno places his face in his hands, “Oh, god.”

You can’t control the irritation that erupts from inside of you, “Is this some game to you? You flirt with me all night and then you make me look so eager? Am I fool to you?”

Jeno’s eyes contort with concern, his head shaking, “No, No- that’s not what I meant-”

Getting up from the ground, you begin to climb back over the hill, “No Jeno, save it.”

“Y/n, wait-”

Your anger consumes you. You raise your voice, “Do you know what Terra told me when I first got to Sun Studios?”

Jeno rubs his neck, his brows furrowing, “What did she say?”

You scoff, “She told me that you’re a heartbreaker. Girls flirt with you and then you tell them that you don’t want anything serious so you can achieve your dream.”

You continue, “If that’s so, why did you try to lead me on? I thought we had a chance- I thought I liked you. No, this is a whole joke.”

Jeno visibly sinks behind you, his shoulder slumping with defeat. The whole time you climb back up the hill, you two don’t say a word- Jeno is careful to trail behind you instead of beside you. The car ride back to your place is the same way, Terra droning on about how much she likes Cheyenne--unaware of the tension between you and Jeno. Collapsing on your bed, you replay the dark vision of Jeno watching you and Terra drive away, his eyes longing.

5 days later

Your way of coping is burying yourself under work and errands from the departments. Eventually, Terra had caught wind of the situation in which you explained to her, the reason why you hadn’t spoken to Jeno in 5 days. Terra’s mouth forms an ‘o’, patting you on the back in effort to comfort you.

“I’m sorry y/n. I don’t think Jeno means harm, that’s just the way he is. He’s a boy who doesn’t know what he wants. Still, he’s been asking me about you.”

“Well, he shouldn’t ask. He shouldn’t use people until he knows what he wants.”

Going home that night, you felt tears stream down your face in frustration. Your pillow feels too hot, your clothes feel sticky on your body, and you feel exhausted from work. You lie on your bed in silence, lazily staring out your bedroom window. You’re thankful that you fall asleep quite quickly, you’d rather not think about Jeno anymore. That’s when you hear a knock on your window at around 2 am, your head still dizzy from sleep. What creep would be knocking on your window? You sit up, only to be met with Jeno’s face pressed up the glass, “Please let me in.”

You jolt, “What the hell Jeno? It’s like 2 am?”

“I’m sorry, I know. I’ll explain.”

Resting your hand on your hip, you motion Jeno to walk into your doorway, leading him to your bedroom.

“Can I sit?”

You scoff, “Well, now that you’re here.”

Sighing, Jeno rubs his eyes tirelessly before speaking, “I just want you to watch something first.”

You eye him skeptically, “What if I say no?”

Jeno pouts at you, his hair messy and his eyes sad, “Please. I didn’t get heavy eye-bags for this.”

You can’t help but smile. He hands you a USB drive from his pocket, his eyes flickering with reluctance. Grabbing your laptop from your desk, you shove the drive into the port, a video swishing into view. Plopping down next to Jeno, you watch it together. Jeno had edited a video sequence of you working at Sun Studios and the times where you joked around next to him, cuts of him and Terra laughing. The video was sentimental like it had a vintage-y feel, grain filters coating the images. It reminded you of why you came to Hollywood specifically.

“Jeno, it’s beautiful.”

You turn to look at the boy who sits next to you, his hair shades his eyes a bit, “You really think so?”

“Of course it was. It’s extremely well made. From all the sunset shots to the studio, and all of it seems.. magical?”

“I’m glad you approve because this is what I’ll be entering in Mr. Stevens’s film festival contest.”

“Wait- you what?”

Jeno smiles at you until his eyes form crescent moons, “You heard me. This is the piece I’m entering.”

“But why?”

You feel Jeno’s hand creep over yours, “Do you know what the assignment was?”

Shaking your head, you wait for him to answer you. “Mr. Stevens asked all the contestants to make a film about someone that would make them see a new perspective. Someone that they like.”

Your heart beats out of your chest at Jeno’s words. You’re sure your knees have turned into jello- did Jeno just admit that he likes you?

“Jeno, I don’t know if you-”

“Y/n. Here me out okay? When I first met you, I saw how passionate you were. I saw how you helped Terra and the makeup team tirelessly without rest and I got scared. I thought that liking someone meant I had to give up my focus on my dream. I was wrong.”

You don’t say anything. Jeno leans closer to you, his breath hitting your face, “I was wrong. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Leaning your forehead on his, you close your eyes. “Are you sure you want this?”

You hear Jeno hum in affirmation, “I’ll support you and you me, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Jeno smashes his lips onto yours, his tongue coming in too quick before you can register. Pulling away, you eye him before pushing up against him, his lips molded securely onto yours. He tastes like watermelon popsicles, his lips are stained with pink. Smiling into the kiss you ask, “Did you eat something watermelon flavored?”

“Do you like it?”

You close your eyes, molding your lips on to Jeno’s lips once again, his calloused hands holding both sides of your face. When you both catch your breath, you whisper at Jeno, “You better win this film festival, especially since I’m the star.”

He laughs at you, bubble erupting from his throat, “I’ll try my best for you. Still, you haven’t answered my question.”

Slapping him in the shoulder, you smirk at Jeno, “What do you think my answer is?”

“You like me too?”

“Let’s take our time, lover boy.”

Jeno shouts at you when you get up to grab a snack from your kitchen, his figure following you like a lost puppy, “Y/n, come on! Give me another kiss!”

You were pleased to tell your parents that you were enjoying Hollywood, not only because of your job, but because of a certain boy named Jeno Lee- the vision of his gaze on the ocean engraved in your mind forever.

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beautybranding12 · 3 years

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The brand’s skincare, makeup and perfume merchandise combine science and sweetness to achieve the right blend of modern thinking and timeless style. Created by François Nars in 1994, NARS Cosmetics launched with simply 12 lipsticks. Since then, the label has grown considerably and now provides a various and in depth assortment of magnificence merchandise for women of all skin sorts. You don’t want to purchase couture clothes to find a way to put on luxurious.

This mega cosmetics firm is certainly one of the largest on the earth and has been providing girls with incredible cosmetics and fragrances since 1886. RMS Beauty prides itself on creating merchandise that are not solely non-toxic but in addition nourishing to the skin. The label’s makeup and skincare ranges function raw, food-grade and natural elements that promote anti-ageing and long-lasting magnificence.

They’ve backed up their dedication to that base of their marketing, and they’ve used social media to attach with their clients in unfiltered and organic methods. Since Lilah b isn't brand new, Foland is working via well timed issues that are important to modern beauty customers. The brand is increasing the variety of foundation shades provided, of which there are at present only 5, and addressing sustainability, an increasing area of focus for the wonder trade. The frequency of assortment has increased from monthly to weekly in just some years, and Lilah b is devoted to persevering with the scheme as a value of doing enterprise. Vegan beauty brand The Lip Bar was a prime performer on each Instagram and Twitter this year.

As prospects are exposed to a beauty model extra typically, they become extra inclined to like it. Successful brands have a constant look and feel in every little thing they put in front of their prospects. One of the major benefits of this type of consistency is that it offers easy recognition of any product amongst customers. Attractive packaging design is a motivating pressure in encouraging folks to make impulsive selections. Taking benefit of this reward-seeking conduct with a good design can have a robust influence on customers’ receptiveness to your products.

To be thought-about natural, the product must meet non-toxic standards for ingredients and processing. Up from $483B in 2020 to $511B in 2021 — and with an annual compounded development rate of four.75% worldwide — it’s predicted to exceed $716B by 2025. Long controlled by legacy conglomerates, the sweetness business has turned on-line. Spend a while really nailing down what makes your products different. You have to not be afraid to level out what makes you stand out, there’s plenty of power in that. You’re a growing group with systemic issues which may be affecting your brand.

Lilah B promote multi-use merchandise using "clean" components, encouraging clients to recycle their old cosmetics packaging. Customer engagement is handiest if it’s organic, through “deep connection” corresponding to user-generated content or influencers who've plausible relationships with products. A robust online presence might help entice stockists—so it’s worth investing in social media areas. Early on, you will want to create a website—try Squarespace for an inexpensive, secure, and slick on-line retailer you could build your self with no coding skills. I constructed my very own retailer on Squarespace within the time it took to watch an episode of Black Mirror.

Skincare model Mary Kay swiftly jumped into the fight against coronavirus by redirecting resources to fabricate hand sanitizer within the early days of the pandemic. Instagram followers jumped in to applaud the brand’s actions with more than 17,000 likes and comments. Not all brands went so far as to change up manufacturing, however many beauty manufacturers tried to make a difference by actively sharing what they have been doing to fight the pandemic with followers on social media. Many manufacturers noticed success with giveaways this yr, but this one from ColourPop is a textbook instance of a dynamite social media giveaway. The brand stored the criteria for entry easy and centered on ColourPop as an alternative of creating fans hop around to a bunch of different brands. The giveaway in celebration of a big follower milestone sneakily helped ColourPop develop followers even more by incentivizing casual followers to follow the model on Instagram.

The company serves various industries together with sports, leisure, food & beverage, retail and travel. But the joy in this brand comes in its simplicity — particularly in comparability to the encompassing packaging. The monogram is made up of the overlapping E and L of the model name in a curly, inventive and splendid font. The backward “N” adds a cool, innovative and edgy tone to the logo that elevates the brand’s mastery within the beauty industry. Due to Instagram API limitations, we’re capable of pull accurate Instagram engagement numbers only for verified and/or Instagram business accounts. Helpful business articles, our work, and special provides are introduced on these platforms.

You’ll also need an on-brand business card full with your logo, website and another components of your model identity, to construct these connections. The visual id communicates instantly what it would take a long time to place throughout in words. For example, are your values natural, natural and eco-friendly or glamorous and glossy? The customer will instantly get an impression from your packaging and marketing materials to assist them resolve if the product is for them. Of course the phrases are important too, but you have to get your clients to notice you first, and that's where visuals are so necessary.

After Fenty launched, their deep shades offered out across the nation, and customers took to social media to share their joy at discovering foundations that matched their pores and skin tone. But while Fenty is priced as a luxury model, they still aren’t as expensive as most of the other manufacturers promoting a lot of shades. Estée Lauder’s foundation range with forty two shades, for instance, is priced at $42; Fenty’s foundation is $35.

By posting YouTube movies of her make-up routines and sharing seems on her Snapchat tales, she had positioned herself as a number one voice. eMarketer reviews that 38% of shoppers interested in testing pop-up stores are those that already store on-line every week in comparability with 28% preferring brick-and-mortar shopping. By engaging with its followers in a face-to-face setting, Glossier is prepared to deepen relationships with customers past online interactions. Yet, it doesn’t come with the monetary obligations of following a chain-store mannequin. With different themes in every area and experiential advertising activations — it’s constructed hype that attracts droves of brand name lovers desperate to try out the products in real-time.

While the beauty and private care business will stay strong globally, the cosmetics and skincare verticals specifically will expertise probably the most income growth within the US at a fee of 3.5% by 2021. Crafted is a inventive branding agency that companions with startups and fortune 100 brands across the globe. They have experience in brand design, video manufacturing, web site improvement ad content material advertising. Does a Black-owned magnificence brand need to post about Black founders, Black influencers, and makeup shades for darker skin tones to be successful on social media?

Fenty is a good instance of magnificence brand advertising, from their partaking social media channels which include sharing well-liked memes on Twitter and sharing selfies of their clients sporting Fenty makeup. Fenty was initially launched in 2017 by way of an exclusively digital marketing campaign and to this present day the model is a testomony to the significance of how important the web area is for modern magnificence manufacturers. Different branded cosmetics model design elements by Almi designLogo. Your brand is the face of your beauty enterprise and, as such, it’s the most important component you’ll bring to life through the branding course of. Fenty found next-level success because it positioned itself from day one as a diverse brand for a various buyer base. They’ve built products for an enormous and underserved market—women whose pores and skin tones don’t fall into the ranges that the most important makeup brands focus on.

According to NPD, Benefit Cosmetics had a 50% share of the £20 million brow market in 2016, and that was before the model launched thirteen model new brow-related products. Fenty continues this strategy across digital channels, using YouTube tutorials and stay virtual events to generate engagement and hype around each new product launch. Many magnificence brands launched digital tools in 2020, as customers have been unable to visit stores , and L’Oreal’s ‘Signature Faces’ digital make up line was arguably one of the most innovative releases.

Your web site is a superb platform to start a dialogue about all magnificence topics and, who is aware of, maybe a while down the road you might begin producing a line of beauty products that you never considered. Funkhaus is a digital creative company working on the intersection of design, content material, programming, and strategy. One reason behind Benefit’s domination of the area is its shrewd advertising activity, which in 2017 concerned the ‘Browmobile’ campaign. Combining experiential elements with digital advertising, it involved an online competition offering customers the possibility to win a visit from the browmobile.

"Aside from social media, a advertising tactic that usually will get overlooked is the unboxing experience you could create for influencers," says Wittick. "Fabfitfun created a stir about this, yet it’s a tactic that still will get uncared for." When operating a cosmetics advertising marketing campaign on social media, begin by figuring out what makes your product visually intriguing.</p>

<p>Glossier managed to tie for first with last year’s Instagram winner Huda Beauty thanks to dynamic posts tailor-made to the instances. Many of the brand’s prime Insta posts featured COVID updates, assist of frontline staff, and popping out in support of Black Lives Matter, indicating the model was unafraid to take a stand. Going beyond the makeup was a profitable strategy for Glossier throughout all channels and was especially powerful on Instagram.

A logo that conveys your brand and character instantly is one which prospects will respond to. Those are just two examples, but you should take the time to determine the place your clients spend their time if you'd like your marketing to be effective. Once you could have taken these three steps, you have to use the information you could have gathered to market your company and merchandise. New web shoppers must create an online account to earn & redeem rewards. “We actually imagine that Then I Met You has its own distinct branding and story to inform, and we want to grow separate and distinctly from Soko Glam,” says Cho.

You will create much less waste and save vitality by using recycled supplies. This sort of engagement is gold, and firms like ColourPop comprehend it. The brand is constantly increasing its product range and making an attempt new things, and the probabilities are countless. In 2017 it put a name out for a name for a model new, yet-to-be-released concealer and inside seconds had dozens of replies. The website Bustle rapidly caught on to the thread, stating ColourPop teased a possible concealer on Twitter and followers already have the right name idea. A large seventy % of Glossier’s on-line sales come from peer referrals.

Matt Holt, Chief Strategy Officer at Digitas UK, explains why we have to deliver memorability and utility via buyer expertise. The travel trade fascinates me; not just because like everyone else I love a good holiday and a while within the solar, however it’s additionally some of the aggressive industries in relation to the SERPs. A beautifully designed web site in its personal right – it’s fairly simple to get lost browsing round. However, by pointing customers back to content material on the primary Aesop web site, it is in a position to deliver on its authentic function of promoting the core model.

Social media cosmetics branding by JayJacksonIf you need your magnificence brand to succeed, you need to model yourself on social media. While all platforms are necessary, YouTube and Instagram are each visual platforms where the majority of magnificence content material lives, making them, palms down, the most important channels for beauty manufacturers. Fenty launched with forty totally different shades of foundation, encompassing an enormous variety of pores and skin tones. As a outcome, the company was in a place to supply a greater number of choices in darker and lighter shades of make-up than most other major firms.

Logo by thisisremedy for Floral Chemistry.Customers wish to work with manufacturers they'll stand behind. So when you really wish to connect together with your customers, you should do greater than make superb lipsticks or tremendous pigmented shadows—you want a powerful corporate mission and values. Sign up for our free, 7-day e mail course and learn to construct the proper model id. When it comes to branding your corporation, there are three fundamental ideas you have to understand.

It specializes in science, and you'll see that within the design components that the logo embodies. You can’t ignore a model whose beauty brand is shiny, daring and dynamic in the way this model is — and you don’t want to. The first store opened a hundred sixty five years ago as a New York apothecary, nevertheless it has advanced right into a model that cares about all-natural merchandise and the shoppers that use them. Glossier is a modern cosmetic brand that is identified for its simplicity and minimalism — in its product providing and its product packaging.

The flowing feel of a script font is inherently feminine and conveys a simple class that might be perceived at a look. What meaning in sensible phrases is that the competitors in the magnificence industry is fierce. The huge cosmetics corporations are continuously engaged in a battle to win the business of more and more subtle customers. And even in the smallest cities, generally two or three hair or nail salons have to compete with one another for a small pool of shoppers. Over the previous twenty years we now have helped manufacturers grow from the bottom up, launch line extensions, rediscover their voice in a crowded market, and create totally new product categories. While public relations, partnerships, events like Indie Beauty Expo, and different advertising tactics may be efficient, Instagram influencers will actually increase your beauty business.

The emblem is a mirror of this magnificence brand’s products, usually described as bold, surprising and vivid. Its aesthetics is immediately derived from Kat’s tattoo artistry in its intricate typography sample even in its retail places which echo stylistic cues from gothic artwork and structure. It balances a regal history with a contemporary energy that can’t be ignored or tamed.

#beautybranding

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teacupfulofstarshine · 4 years

Text

the way that you are is enough (don’t need makeup to cover up)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL TUMBLR WIFE @bumblebeekitten!!!!!!

this is set in my moxiety!dad!au “little and broken but still good” when virgil and patton are still in college! they're seniors in this fic. title is from 'what makes you beautiful' by one direction, i will not be accepting comments or criticisms at this time

CW: mild injury (specifically bruises), brief nonspecific blood mention, sappy fluff for DAYS

wordcount: 2170

read it on ao3!

Two more paragraphs. Two more paragraphs and I’ll be halfway to the page limit, and then I can take a break. I’ll eat a snack and I’ll watch the next episode, and then I’ll throw myself back into it. Obsessing over it won’t make me work any faster. I have to take a deep breath and work at a reasonable pace.

Virgil exhales slowly, cracking his knuckles over his keyboard. He hates writing philosophy papers because there’s only so long he can waffle on about dead guys and their perceptions of the universe before he gets fed up. Luckily, this is his last philosophy core, so he only has to get through one semester and he’ll be fine.

There’s a soft knock on the door before it’s being flung open, and Virgil doesn’t even look up from his paper. “Pat, is that -”

“Virgil help me please!”

Virgil looks up, confused, because there’s rarely such a panic in Patton’s voice. The next second, he’s on his feet and crossing their tiny dorm room in three strides. His hand comes up to cup Patton’s face, tenderly sweeping a thumb across the massive bruise blooming on his left cheek.

“Who did this to you?” Virgil snarls, voice low and threatening. Patton leans into the touch for a moment before blinking at him.

“What? Virgil, honey, you’ve got the wrong -”

“Who did this to you?!”

“A spotlight,” Patton says, lifting a hand up to gently touch Virgil’s face. “Honey, I’m okay, I promise. No one hurt me. We were working backstage and one of the spotlights they were trying to hang fell. I jumped out of the way, but I wasn’t fast enough to avoid it completely and I got grazed on the cheek.”

There’s a tiny scratch on the bruise, and Virgil gently touches it again. His fingers don’t come back red, so he lets himself relax just a little. “You - you were so panicked when you came in, I - I thought . . .”

“That I was running away from someone bigger than me?” Patton says softly, tilting his head to the side. A familiar, warm smile creeps across his lips, and Virgil exhales in relief. “I’m okay, Vee. No big, bad wolves to run away from tonight.”

“And here I thought I was your big, bad wolf, little lamb.” Virgil gently kisses Patton, who squeaks in surprise and presses his whole body closer. One hand slides down to slip under Patton’s tank top, settling on his soft hips, and Virgil smiles at the little shiver Patton gives in response.

“So if you don’t need me to kick someone’s ass,” Virgil asks, pulling away from the kiss and leaning his forehead against Patton’s, “why were you so desperate for my help?”

“You’re good with makeup, aren’t you?”

“I mean, I’m no NikkieTutorials, but I’m pretty good. Why?”

“I have a presentation tomorrow, a big one. It’s worth twenty percent of my grade. If I go in there to present with my face all jacked up like this, I’m worried that my professor will dock points. Plus, I’m not exactly eager to explain this to everyone who asks . . .”

“So, what are you asking me?”

“Will you teach me how to do makeup? I don’t have to be the prettiest person in the world, but I wanna cover up this bruise.”

“You’re the prettiest person I’ve ever seen,” Virgil murmurs, feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment at the admission. Patton giggles. (It’s his favorite sound.) “But I can help you, sure. Are you busy the rest of the night?”

“No, they took one look at my face and let me go early from stage crew.”

“Alright. We’re gonna ice your face for a little, and then we’re gonna go to CVS and buy you some makeup. It’ll be alright.”

It’s still a break, after all. Just not the one he was expecting.

Patton gathers his skirt in his hands as he steps out of Virgil’s car. It’s not the most recent model, but it’s reliable, and Virgil keeps it clean and maintained. Patton looks up at the glowing fluorescent lights of the CVS sign. He’s been here before, but only during the day. Now, it’s almost ten PM, and the parking lot is almost deserted. It’s eerily unsettling to be alone in a place normally bustling and teeming with people.

“You okay, Pat?” Virgil asks, coming around the car. Patton turns to him and smiles; nothing can really be that scary when Virgil is by his side. Quickly, Patton grabs his wallet from the glovebox and shuts the car door. Virgil clicks the lock button twice so the car chirps and slides his hand into Patton’s.

“I am now,” Patton says, letting a sappy smile grow across his face. Virgil blushes and kisses the tip of his nose.

“You’re gonna make a sap out of me,” he grumbles, face pink. Patton just giggles and laces their fingers. “Okay, so I’m just gonna preface this by saying that CVS is no Sephora. They don’t have, like, the world’s most expansive selection of makeup, and the makeup they do stock isn’t particularly great, but it’ll do for what you need.”

Virgil keeps talking about blending and skin tones and concealers and the benefits of powder versus liquid foundation. Patton just nods along, pretending he knows what Virgil is talking about, and lets his boyfriend lead him over to the makeup section.

“They don’t really have testers here the way that a makeup store would, but if you look hard enough you can usually find one that’s been opened and used as a tester by other people. That’s important, because makeup in the bottle doesn’t always look the same way as it does on your skin,” Virgil tells him. They crouch down next to a display, and Virgil skims over the shelves with a critical eye before plucking a bottle off the shelf. “Give me your arm?”

Patton holds his arm out, and Virgil carefully twists it so that Patton’s inner wrist is facing up. He gently squirts a little dollop of liquid makeup onto Patton’s wrist and rubs it in with his index finger. “It feels nice,” Patton offers. “It’s creamy and smooth, like moisturizer!”

“Yeah, but it’s a poor shade match,” Virgil says. “You like that formula, though?”

“I like the way it feels, yeah!”

“Okay. We’ll stick to that brand, though, let’s try . . . this one.”

It takes two or three more bottles before Virgil finds one that he deems a satisfactory match for Patton’s skin. He plucks an untouched bottle off the shelf and hands it to Patton before turning to a different rack. “Alright, so now we need concealer. You were shade four out of twenty-five for foundation, which is pretty light, so out of twelve concealers . . . let’s try shade two?”

The concealer he picks up is a stick that reminds Patton of a lipstick consistency, except it’s rounded. Virgil rubs a little dot onto the back of Patton’s hand and rubs it in, comparing it to the foundation swatch. “Hmmm . . . I think you’re a little darker than this . . .”

They find a concealer much more easily than they had a foundation, and Virgil hums in satisfaction. “Alright. All we have to grab now is setting powder and makeup remover . . .”

“Virgil?”

“Hmm?”

“What about this?” Patton picks up a small white compact with a pink, slightly glittery product inside. “I like this.”

“Blush?” Virgil asks. “I mean, it’s not necessary to cover up your bruise, but if you want it I can show you how to use it.”

Patton grins. “Yay! And - um - I kinda want lipstick, too?”

“Do you want lipstick or lip gloss? They’re different.”

“They’re . . . different?”

“Yeah, they’re different. Lipstick will dry down, but lip gloss is shinier. Here, I know my mama likes this one.” Virgil reaches down and picks up a small, pale pink tube. “I can teach you how to put all this stuff on, too, if you want.”

“Yeah!”

Virgil snags an orange egg-looking sponge thing (“It’s a beauty blender, Pat, not an egg sponge”), a container of powder (“It doesn’t matter what shade we get, because it’s translucent powder, but I like this brand best”), a small set of brushes, and a container of face wipes. Patton manages to convince him to tack on a bag of Milano cookies and a pack of lavender sheet masks before they finally leave the store.

“Self care night this weekend?” Patton asks, leaning his head on Virgil’s shoulder.

“Oh, God, please.”

“Fair warning, this might sting,” Virgil says, twisting the concealer stick up from its base. “I’m gonna have to press on your cheek to get the pigment off, and I’m gonna have to rub it into your skin to make sure it conceals properly. Same with the foundation.”

Patton nods, even though his hands curl into resolute fists. “I’m ready.”

Virgil carefully begins to rub the concealer along Patton’s face. He does his best not to press too hard against the tender skin, but Patton still winces. “Sorry, Pat . . .”

“Don’t apologize, sweetpea,” Patton says. “I knew it was gonna hurt when I asked you to help me, it’s okay.”

“Yeah, but still, I love you. I hate seeing you in pain.”

“I know you do. You’re such a sweetheart, despite your protests. You care so much, and that’s one of the many, many things that I love about you.” Patton gently pushes the concealer stick out of the way and reaches up off the bed to tangle his fingers in Virgil’s wild hair and tug him down for a kiss. Virgil lets himself be pulled, sliding their mouths together easily.

He remembers what it was like, when they first started dating. How he was so worried that he would hurt Patton with everything he did, how unusual it was to have a bright and bubbly warmth constantly around him. Being with Patton felt like - feels like - having a star follow you around. Patton makes everything better just by existing; he exudes positivity and joy and warmth and light and life and love, and Virgil doesn’t know where he’d be without Patton.

He remembers their first kiss, all awkward nose bumping and warm breath on each other’s lips and the graze of Patton’s teeth across his lower lip and the taste of green apples and caramel on Patton’s tongue and the warmth of Patton’s hands looped around his neck. It took them quite a while to figure out the rhythm that works for them, but now they know each other with their eyes closed.

Patton sighs softly into his mouth, warm and wonderful and loving, and Virgil leans into him for a moment more before gently pulling back. “I love you,” he says softly. “I know you’re anxious to conceal your shiner, but I promise that no matter what you look like I’ll love you. I don’t love you for your looks. I love you for your personality, your laugh, your warmth and your smile and your you. I love everything about you.”

Patton’s cheeks color pink. “I love you too, Virgil,” he says softly. “You’re beautiful, always, and that’s not the only reason I love you but I - I just think you should know that I think you’re really, really pretty, Vee. Like, really pretty.”

Virgil sputters and leans in to kiss Patton’s forehead before picking up the concealer stick again. “Alright, Pat, I gotta teach you how to do this. I won’t be able to do your makeup for you before your presentation, so you’ll have to pick this up pretty quick.”

He shows Patton how to apply the concealer, how to rub it in with his fingers so that the edges blend soft against his skin. He shows Patton how to wet the beauty blender, how to squirt the foundation onto the back of his hand and dab it onto his face. He shows Patton how to gather the setting powder onto his brush and sweep it onto his face, how to smile wide and lightly dust blush on the apples of his cheeks, how to saturate the applicator tip with lip gloss and sweep it across his lower lip before carefully tracing his Cupid’s bow.

“Wow,” Virgil breathes, closing the lip gloss tube and admiring his work. “Pat, you - you look - you look incredible. I mean, I always think you look incredible, but this, I - I -”

“Can you see my bruise?” Patton asks worriedly.

“No, I can’t, but that might just be because I’m blinded by your beauty,” Virgil teases.

“Virgil!” Patton laughs, swatting at his hands and pushing past him to peer into the mirror. He stares at himself for almost a minute before whirling around and showering Virgil in kisses.

(By the time Virgil looks at himself in the mirror, almost thirty minutes later, his face is covered in shiny pale pink kiss-prints. He can’t bring himself to be upset at all; he’ll wear the marks of Patton’s love proudly any day of the week.)

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@agentblackkat @morgantoast @rainysharkfreaklover @tapdancingdalek @brutarax808 @masonjarfullofsunflowers @lovelylogans @thatcacidork @antisocialdragonkid @nic-is-here @thiaholimon @whatschooldoesntteachyou @dysfunctional-goblin @lostchoirchild @acompletemusicalnerd @monroig @coliebugs @aro-ace-fangirl @lord-of-the-wicked @sanderstalker @bootsinthesun @anonfromcanada @7-circles-of-dissonance @wowimsogoddamnoriginal @psychixx @alittlebitofeveryoneandthing @toostressedforthisbs @an-absolute-failure @faycanyons @meglooy @skruffy901 @drawingdaydreamsuniverse @rosiepupper @winterrs-child @godspeed31-26 @mariita-2006 @meglooy @matthindavick @dragonindigo245 @lovingcreatorstrawberry @dreamingintodust @soakinforsif @theloneliestplaytapus @ironfilly @sandinthetardis @lostinmyfictionaluniverses

#starshinewrites #little and broken but still good #moxiety!dad!au #birthday gift for bee!!!#wife squad!#bee tag!

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shipping-receiving · 5 years

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Fictober 2019 Day 25: “I could really eat something.”

Rating: T | Word Count: 2882 Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones Relationship: Jaime Lannister / Brienne of Tarth Tags: Alternate Universe – Office Notes: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

(read on AO3)

//////

Jaime blinks his eyes open; slips gently out of a dream. It was a nice dream. He was kissing Brienne in this dream, he thinks.

He doesn’t notice it at first—there’s nothing unfamiliar about a ceiling painted white, especially in the semi-darkness—but as he stretches his limbs, he realises he’s on a couch that isn’t his own, next to a coffee table that isn’t his own, next to a lamp that isn’t his own. He’s under a blanket that isn’t his own. He’s in a t-shirt and sweatpants that aren’t his own, but seem to fit just right, anyway. The clothes that are his own have been folded and stacked in a neat pile on the coffee table. His watch and phone sit on top.

It wasn’t all a dream then.

He reaches over to check the time. Just before six in the morning. He looks at the sky through a window that isn’t his own, sees that it’s cobalt already. He’ll need to leave soon, or he’ll be caught in traffic, and he doesn’t want to start his Monday morning caught in traffic. He doesn’t want traffic to ruin the afterglow of his Sunday night, a Sunday night filled with kisses tender and ardent. He runs the tip of his tongue over his lips.

Jaime rolls off the couch, folds the blanket neatly, leaves it there. He walks over to Brienne’s bedroom, knocks on the door. No answer, but—he’d rather not leave without telling her. He twists the doorknob as quietly as he can.

She’s still asleep, something peaceful, all her nerves in hibernation. Her limbs are outstretched, spread across almost the entirety of her bed, though it’s a bed meant for two. Jaime makes a mental note of this habit of hers, tucks it away for when it’ll eventually be relevant to him, because it will be. It may take weeks, maybe months, but it will. His bed is bigger, anyway.

“Brienne,” he whispers, leaning down and shaking one of her shoulders. She almost starts awake, not used to having someone else there to rouse her from her sleep. Her eyes meet his, and soften. He sees it in her too—the realisation that it wasn’t all a dream. Her cheeks turn a shade darker in the muted light of daybreak.

“Hey,” she whispers back, shifting herself up to lean back against the headboard. “What time is it?”

Jaime takes the liberty of sitting on the edge of her bed. “Six or so. I have to leave soon. Got to head back to my place before work. Just wanted to let you know.”

“Okay. I hope the couch was fine.” She reaches the tips of her fingers under his palm; he lifts it slightly, lets them find their way into the depression at its centre. They can do this now—eleven hours ago, it would have still been a faint hope. “Sorry I—” she stammers, “the bed—”

“Don’t, don’t worry. I told you last night, it’s fine. I slept well.” It was past midnight by the time they came up for air; they would have gone on, if the next day wasn’t a work day. He had thought about driving home—it wouldn’t have taken long at that time of night—but Brienne had tentatively offered her couch, a blanket, a change of clothes, accompanied by an apology that she couldn’t let him share her bed, not yet. Jaime had thought about how her apartment felt like a home, and agreed.

He leans in to give her a kiss goodbye—another thing that would have been a faint hope, nine hours ago—but she shields her lips with her hand. “I’ve just woken up,” she mumbles from behind her fingers. Jaime doesn’t think he’ll mind, really—it’s not like he’s brushed his teeth either—but maybe this is just a little too much intimacy, for right now. So he nods, and stands up from her bed. He’s about to say bye then, see you in three hours, when she flings her blanket off her legs.

Her legs. She’d changed last night in her bedroom, after they’d said goodnight, into what must be the shortest shorts in the world, a fact that she doesn’t seem to be at all conscious of. Miles and miles of Brienne’s bare skin—or perhaps bare is the wrong word, because the freckles that dust lightly over her cheeks form constellations across her legs too. It’s more than he’s ever seen of her, just right there. It’s his entire field of vision. He can’t speak.

Brienne just gets up from her bed—she might have said something like “Hold on,” but it turns out he can’t hear, too, when all he can see is her skin—and walks towards her bathroom. She leaves the door open, and he just stands in the doorway as she fills her cup with water, squeezes a blob of toothpaste onto her toothbrush, and starts brushing. While she’s doing so, she squats down—legs—and opens the cupboard beneath her sink, rummages in it for something.

When she stands again, she has a new toothbrush in her hand, and holds it out to him. “If you want to,” she says, matter-of-factly. She doesn’t seem to realise there’s any significance in this act. They’ve just had their first date, and now she’s offering him a toothbrush in her apartment. But it seems as if she just thinks of it as—addressing a practicality. So he doesn’t say a thing besides thanking her, and takes the toothbrush from her hand. When she’s done, she makes way for him at the sink. It’s all just on the edge of domestic, and Jaime finds his thoughts are getting very far ahead of—of whatever the status of their relationship is.

He turns to her once his own teeth are clean, the mint of Brienne’s toothpaste something subtly strange in his mouth, and sees her leaning against the door, waiting. He kisses her then, a kiss good morning, a kiss goodbye-for-now, just for the next three hours. Her arms wind around his neck. He has to go on his tiptoes, slightly—this is their first kiss standing up, he realises—and this sensation is something subtly strange too. But not unwelcome.

Jaime pulls back from her, reluctantly, and her hands move to his shoulders. He looks down at himself. “Do you… need these clothes back now?” he asks. “I can change back into my own.”

“You can wear them back home if you like,” she shrugs. “Or you can leave them in the laundry basket.”

“I’ll—I think I’ll wear them, if that’s alright. Wouldn’t mind driving back in comfort, actually, this time of the morning. I’ll give them back to you once they’re washed.”

She smiles a little at that, and he thinks she knows from how he said those words that he’s the kind of man who has the privilege of having other people do his laundry. It’s not that he doesn’t know how to use a washing machine, but—

And then Jaime has a thought.

“Hey—do you—my apartment is right by the office. It’s—if you want a lift—I’d want to leave soon, but—”

Well, maybe he should have given this thought a bit more time to percolate before verbalising it.

“Oh—I don’t—well.” Brienne reddens, but doesn’t say no. She must be thinking of her bus, and train, and shuttle, even as she must be thinking of what it means to be stepping into his apartment for the first time, so soon after he’d first stepped into hers, and slept there. They’d just had their first date, for crying out loud.

“Sorry,” he says on instinct, though he doesn’t really think he has anything to apologise for, besides perhaps destabilising her in some way. “I didn’t mean to presume—”

“Oh, don’t—it was nice of you to offer. Could you wait fifteen minutes for me to shower, at least? I can bring my clothes—and I don’t take much time to get ready—but I’d—I think it’s better if I showered here.”

“Of course. Sure.” As Brienne nods and heads to her bedroom to grab a change of clothes, Jaime tries his hardest to remember exactly what state he’d left his apartment in yesterday evening. It should be fine, he thinks. It’s a service apartment, and housekeeping was just in on Friday.

Fifteen minutes later, they step out the door, Brienne’s work clothes hanging over her arm, Jaime’s clothes from last night hanging over his. Her work bag is slung over her shoulder. Jaime saw her throw some of her makeup in there; he knows she doesn’t wear much, but it was barely anything, three tubes. She’s in the same dark jeans, and a t-shirt, and her straw blonde hair is still damp and sticking to her face in strands, the skin there pink from the steam of the shower. She locks the door, drops the keys in her bag.

Then he holds her hand as they make their way down the stairs and to his car. Because he can do that now. It’s no longer just a faint hope.

——————————

Brienne is sitting uncomfortably on Jaime’s couch. It’s a very comfortable couch, to be quite honest, but she’s sitting uncomfortably anyway, because it’s hitting her full in the face that Jaime Lannister is rich.

She’s been to Margaery’s apartment, which she shares with Loras, and they’ve all been to Renly’s. The two Tyrells are pretty well off, as is Renly—significantly more so than she is, though all four of their positions at Lannister Corp are pretty much comparable. They have family money she doesn’t have, and their homes reflect that accordingly.

But this. It’s not an actual Lannister home, but it’s still a luxury service apartment paid for with Lannister money. Not just a service apartment—a penthouse. It looks like it was conjured out of a magazine spread, all branded minimalist furniture in black or neutral colours, and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Everything is spotless, though Jaime must have lived here for months, and he doesn’t strike her as an obsessive cleaner. He had some clothes slung over an armchair when they first got here, which he had quickly snatched and flung into his bedroom. There’s a dirty dish or two in the sink, but that’s about it.

She’s suddenly embarrassed that Jaime had to sleep on her couch.

He’s been in the bathroom for an age, which doesn’t surprise her in the least. She’s already in her work clothes, and it took her less than five minutes to apply the little makeup she wears to work. She might have to leave her t-shirt and jeans here, she realises, because her work bag is stuffed with documents this morning, and she’d rather not have to answer any questions regarding why she might have clothes spilling out of it.

Westeros News is running on his gigantic flatscreen TV, but she hasn’t absorbed any of it since she switched it on. Her brain is too preoccupied with the events of the past thirteen hours. The dinner that turned out to be a date after all. The handholding. Inviting him up to her apartment. That embarrassing collision of their foreheads—she’s glad neither of them developed any unfortunate bruises this morning, and she hopes she can laugh about that soon enough. Then, the kissing.

Gods, the kissing.

And now she’s in his apartment. Waiting for him. So they can go to work. Together.

Should they?

Hells. She didn’t think about that. What would it look like? It’s just a couple of blocks away, so they can walk from his apartment building, but what would it look like, the two of them walking into Lannister Corp together? People have only just stopped talking about the punch as it is, and the fact that she kept her job after. And surely—surely other people have noticed how he walks by her cubicle, and how she walks by his office. Have they noticed? Margaery noticed, the first week. And now they’re walking from his apartment building to the office, in full view of everyone. What would it look like?

A hand on her shoulder interrupts her thoughts. She turns to see Jaime, in his suit, hair slicked back. There’s none of the softness she saw in him earlier this morning. He fits into this apartment, looking like this.

“Brienne—are you okay?” he asks, a look of concern on his face. “I said I’m ready.”

“Yeah—sorry. I’m just. I’m thinking. You have a—it’s a nice place.”

“You already told me that,” he replies, amused. “I like yours better, anyway. I was thinking about it in the shower.”

Brienne is pretty sure Jaime has one of those fancy rain showers that she’s only heard of and never seen in person, let alone experienced. It seems like a strange place to realise that he likes her tiny apartment better. “Why would you think that?”

“Feels like a home,” he says. “Nothing here belongs to me. It’s very nice, but it isn’t mine.”

She wants to ask him if he’ll find somewhere more permanent, somewhere he can make his own. But that seems like asking him if he’ll be staying in the Stormlands, and he said himself, on Tarth, that he’s not sure if he’ll have to go back to King’s Landing at some point. It’s not a conversation she thinks they should be having just before work. Or just after their first date.

Jaime walks over to his fridge and opens it. “Gods, I could really eat something. Haven’t done any grocery shopping in a while, though. All I have is milk.” He takes out a container that looks like it has barely a cup’s worth of milk in it, shakes it helplessly, as if it would make the liquid magically multiply. When it doesn’t, he puts it back and closes the fridge. “Are you hungry? Wanna have breakfast somewhere? There’s that cafe between here and the office.”

She knows exactly which cafe he means. Everybody knows that cafe. She can’t be seen in that cafe with Jaime on a Monday morning. Besides the whole—punching thing, she doesn’t report to him for any of her projects. It wouldn’t look like they were having a work meeting over breakfast, surely. What would it look like?

“Jaime—it’s—” She digs her fingers into her thighs. “Do you think it’s a good idea for us to—to be seen together?”

He tilts his head at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean—what would people think? If they saw us together?”

“Gods, is there some company policy against this?” He asks this with vehemence, as if he’d be ready to tear that policy apart if one existed. Brienne thinks he probably could do that in the span of a day.

“I don’t think so,” Brienne answers. If there is one, Renly and Loras are definitely blatantly disregarding it. Margaery too, though her office dalliances are usually short-lived.

“You… you don’t want to be seen with me?” There’s a note of something wounded in his voice.

“No! I mean, it’s not that.” Why would he think that? If anything, I should be the one to ask him that question. “I punched you,” she exhales.

He smiles, as if remembering it fondly. “Yes, I’m aware that was something that happened.”

“Then I didn’t lose my job, because you intervened. If we’re seen together—people might think—I don’t know.” She doesn’t quite know how to put it into words, the scandal of it. Or maybe it’s more that there are so many possible interpretations she doesn’t want to consider. So she settles for: “They might connect the dots in a way that they shouldn’t.”

“Oh,” is all Jaime says.

Brienne stands up from the couch, and walks over to where he’s still standing by the fridge. “I would love to have breakfast with you. But I think—there are things we need to figure out, first.”

He nods, a little stiffly. “I’ll work something out.” Brienne has an inkling Jaime might just want to let people know, office gossip be damned. Perhaps later, she thinks, if he can’t work something out. After a few more dates. Not today.

Brienne puts her hand over his on the kitchen counter. “I guess—I can go first. Into the office I mean.” She hopes no one from work walks by Jaime’s apartment building as she leaves. Not that they’d necessarily know that he lives there, but she definitely doesn’t.

“Alright. I’ll see you in the office then.”

She’s about to turn, pick up her bag and leave—oh, her t-shirt and jeans, she hasn’t asked him about leaving them here yet—but she thinks of how he said, you don’t want to be seen with me? And it suddenly dawns on Brienne that he needs some kind of reassurance, with her. She always thought she’d be the insecure one, if she ever entered a relationship with anyone, but maybe Jaime—

So she moves in closer, lets her lips touch his. They kissed for hours yesterday night, and they kissed in the bathroom this morning, but still it feels like something new and different. There’s so much more to discover, between them—between two bodies—and for the first time in her life, she might feel anticipation about that prospect, rather than fear.

“Bye Jaime,” she breathes, when they break apart. “See you in the office.”

#fictober19 #jaime x brienne #braime #my fic #THIS IS THE SOFTEST #hope you love it #i never knew home until i found your hands

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maria82871 · 5 years

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Box 1 of Glossy Box

So as most of you know I have an addiction. Some might think it’s shopping, music, movies, food shopping... (Yes, I said it twice lol) Others might have thought it’s handsome men watching...(Well, that’s like a hobby like bird watching HAHA) But truth IS I love makeup. (shoes is the other one ;p) I love trying different looks,enjoy watching youtubers putting makeup. Getting a makeover, samples, etc. I love to look natural, to classy and depending when and where even crazy (never trashy) My love for makeup started around the age of years old. My parents bought me make it your self makeup kits. I’m talking old school early 80′s barbie style. From the time I was able to wear make (back in my days we waited until our teens) and colors were limited I always wore my “Go to colors” But these days with so many brands out there, different ways to express yourself with colors Sky’s the limits Ladies!

I have a few different subscriptions which I will be writing about. Sharing my thoughts on these beauty subscriptions. Especially if these are good for women over 40! I’m over 40 & proud of it. I’m glad to see my generation embrace our age. We aren’t like our grandmas. Even our mothers who are now grandmother’s are looking amazing with out any medical procedures. Not there is anything wrong with them. Personal I would love to get lip injections and some fillers around my eyes and forehead. But I can’t afford them. (Well explain on another blog)

Let’s get started. Glossy Box offers 5 premium beauty products every month worth over $60 dollars. I signed up for buy 3 boxes for $58 plus one free. Plus Free Shipping and Handling. I added the links on Glossy and each item I’ve tested so feel free to check them out. Also Glossy Box offer great deals. And if you are a member of Rakuten you get cash back. I’ve been waiting to see if Glossy will live up to the hype that I’ve been reading on Instagram

Glossy Box

The packaging from the shipping box to the product box I was impressed. The shipping box is black with beautiful white logo! So cute! (Yes, I will be adding pictures)

When I got to the box itself I knew that I was going to be in for a real treat... The pretty in pink box with blush pink tissue paper tie up with a black ribbon is very chic. This packaging sophisticated and chic. As you can tell I really like there packaging. I tend to save boxes for arts and crafts projects, storage and these boxes themselves (aside from all the products) is great to use as a present/ gift box (Christmas and Birthdays) ;) Let’s be honest pretension is everything! From a scale from 1-5 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, I’m giving them a 5!

The pamphlets: Ladies let be honest, after 40 we know that sooner or later we are going to need reading glasses. One of my problem is, I’m just like my mother who is always losing them. lol Unlike some other beauty boxes the pamphlets have tiny print that you can’t barely read the product information with reading glass and a magnifying glass. And if my nephew is around being he’s only 10 I have to bribe him to read it for me. (Not for an all American Boy lol) Imagine my delight this pamphlet actually have normal size print. The way the print them balance out of darker and lighter shade that flows well with the pictures of items.Unlike some other beauty boxes they offer one page writing as much as they can squeezed on an 4X6 size paper. On a scale from 1-5 pamphlet is 5

OK, OK let’s get down to “Nitty Gritty” The AWESOME ITEMS!

5 full side items:

1- Morgan Taylor Professional Nail Lacquer

“Lux Be A Lady” (shade’s name) I love this color. it’s a neutral shine soft brown earthy color. It would be approved by The Queen of England for the all the Princess could wear on the list. HAHA (The Queen would hate me I love loud both bright and dark nails HAHA) It’s has a creamy texture with a full brush. Also this product doesn’t have a storng odor like some other nail polish have I was able to do one hand without having to re dip for more polish. However I suggest that 2 coats per nails will make them look like you got them done at the saloon

2- Sleek MakeUP’s: Sun Is Shining Eye shadow Palette

Has an array of back-to-basic soft nudes, subtle golds and warm peach shades, perfect for chic daytime or nighttime fun! 12 shades of mineral based higly-pigmented Long lasting trust me you don’t have to worry about touching up while at work. During the day have a matte look and before going out on blend those colors. These intense color pay-off! FYI, the price is GREAT! $12.99 which is prefect for us ladies who can’t afford $150 for eye-shadow palettes. This brand truly cares about quality

3- Emma Hardie Purifying Pink Clay Mask:

OK this is a sample size. But it goes a long way! Aside from being a little on the thick side make sure you put it one lightly. It’s works amazingly well. Putting it on makes me feel like I’m at a spa. You can feel it working. A deep botanical-rich exfoliate purify pink clay mask that: exfoliate, detoxify balance, and refine pores. Scale from 1-5 I’m give it a 4 My reason I have another clay mask that I like better. But this would be on my top 5 list of face mask for sure.

4- Invisibobble The Waver: I got the clear. Which is good for any women at any age. At first glance I thought it was going to be flimsy especially because I have very think hair. Those that knows me and knows my hair. I’ve been famous for breaking brushing while combing my hair,hair pins, barrettes, even ponytail holders! Lord have mercy! My hair is like the Hulk without being green. LMAO Well these two little hairpins was able to stay, hold my hair in place when it was 3H outside working on my garden! Scale from 1-5... 5 for sure!

5- Omorovicza Cleaning Foam: This delicately scented blue cleansing foam swiftly purifies and refreshes the skin. It’s sulphate-free. It does an Okay job on removing makeup. Not so much for eye makeup. If you have sensitive skin this product is good for you. On my scale from 1-5 I’m give it 3. I’m on the fence with it.

6- Hask Unwined Provence Rose’ Deep Condition and Brut Rose’ Deep Condition. (I loved both of them. My hair is silky smooth, soft and helps with protecting my hair from harsh chemicals from dying it. I personally liked the smell from Provence Rose a little more. Scale from 1-5 they both are getting 5. I would buy these for myself and as gifts for my girls.

Well my peeps this sums up my review of box one. I’m still testing box two. Plus I have a few other beauty items I’m excited about writing soon. I hope you all enjoy my review.s Feel me to drop me a line and share with your friends, family and so on!

Have An Amazingly Bless Day!

Maria

#over40 glossybox beauty makeup bloglife enjoyinglife reviewbeautyproducts

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usagingy · 6 years

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Send me numbers..

Wait, these are actually hella cute questions.”

Source: bambwie

— 1. Who was the last person you held hands with? A friend from uni. There’s nothing romantic between us, was just for fun.

2. Are you outgoing or shy? Shy. As. Frick.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? My niece. She’s precious!

4. Are you easy to get along with? I honestly don’t know. I guess so?

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? Pretty sure they would, yeah.

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? Usually people who are really easy to talk to and who are very kind and sweethearted (is that a word?)

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? HaHaHaHahaHAAHhahaAHAhaha!!... No

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? A good friend from high school. I just have platonic feelings for her, but I still miss her.

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Depends on how detailed the conversation is. If it’s not super detailed, then no, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable.

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? Probably the friend from high school I mentioned in #8.

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? “I was just confused” (boring, I know)

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

Nine Point Eight - Mili

Candy Store - Heathers: The Musical

Here Comes A Thought - Steven Universe

Family Party - Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

Holding Out For A Hero - Bonnie Tyler

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? If they’re really gentle with it, then yes. But when people get rough with it then I hate it.

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? I guess so, I’m not sure tbh.

15. What good thing happened this summer? This “summer” only just started, so I can’t really say much, but I hung out with my brother and his friends.

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? I can’t answer this because I’ve never kissed anyone.

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? I don’t see why it couldn’t be possible. There are a lot of planets out there, so it would make sense if at least one sustained life on it.

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? Yeah, it’s cool, yo.

19. Do you like bubble baths? Ooh, I haven’t had one in so long, I can’t remember if I do.

20. Do you like your neighbors? I don’t even know my neighbors lmao

21. What are you bad habits? I procrastinate, I take too long to get ready, I am sometimes too open, I pry a bit too much, etc, etc.

22. Where would you like to travel? Germany, I guess, they have really good chocolate.

23. Do you have trust issues? Yep, trust issues with myself.

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? Going to bed.

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? Excluding more inappropriate areas, my upper body, specifically the front part.

26. What do you do when you wake up? Sit there for a while, ponder life, check my phone if it’s not dead, then get up and do the same thing while standing up.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? I don’t really wish my skin was different, but if I had to choose one I’d say darker cuz I’m pale af.

28. Who are you most comfortable around? Hmmm, I guess I’d have to say I’m most comfortable around that one friend I mentioned in #8 again.

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? Considering I don’t have any ex’s, no, they have not.

30. Do you ever want to get married? Yepppppppp

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail? Currently it is possible; however, I’m getting my hair cut soon, so it probably won’t be long enough in a little while.

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? None of them. I’m ace.

33. Spell your name with your chin. I’m not even gonna try this right now.

34. Do you play sports? What sports? Nope, what’re sports?

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? Without TV; music is too precious.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? Several times, yo. I don’t know how to talk to people about that kind of thing.

37. What do you say during awkward silences? Usually nothing. Jk, I will often ask how someone else is doing, but it goes back to awkward silence again really quickly.

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? I’m not sure I really have a super ideal fantasy for a dream guy/girl, but I guess I’ll go for it. Generally I’m attracted to guys who are really soft and kind, usually significantly taller than me, usually with little to no facial hair, and most frequently they have dark hair and dark eyes. Generally girls that I find attractive are around my height, not usually much shorter than me. Usually they have dark hair and dark eyes, are very sweet, but also can be very assertive and driven. For anyone, I’d like to have similar interests, of course, because that makes it easier to have conversations. Also, the main reason I’m attracted to people of certain heights is just because of how it feels to hug people of those heights. (Sorry, this was a long one)

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? GAMESTOP. Just game stores in general, and also the Pokémon stores in Japan.

40. What do you want to do after high school? I’ve already graduated high school and I still don’t know what I want to do after high school. I’m going to uni, originally for computer engineering, but now for theatre and electronic media performance.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? Not everyone, I guess. I think it’s more on a case by case basis, depending on the severity of the offense.

42. If you’re being extremely quiet what does it mean? Depends. Being quiet could mean that I’m uncomfortable (usually with strangers), comfortable (usually with close friends), thinking deeply about random shiznit, or just don’t know what to say.

43. Do you smile at strangers? Depends on how I’m feeling. I usually don’t look at other people because I don’t want them to think that I’m being creepy towards them.

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? Outer space; the bottom of the ocean is terrifying.

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? Usually the need for food, but sometimes the need for cleanliness.

46. What are you paranoid about? Way too many things to list here, so I’ll list a few. Abandonment, rejection, the feeling that there is a hole in my clothes, the feeling that people are watching and judging everything I do, the feeling that I’m going to unintentionally hurt people or things, etc.

47. Have you ever been high? Nope.

48. Have you ever been drunk? Nope.

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? Not that I can think of.

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? Brown with yellow letters.

51. Ever wished you were someone else? Too often, yes.

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? I’d like to get rid of my envy and jealousy.

53. Favourite makeup brand? Don’t have one.

54. Favourite store? Pokémon store.

55. Favourite blog? Don’t have one.

56. Favourite colour? YELLOW

57. Favourite food? Curry rice with creamy crab croquettes.

58. Last thing you ate? Beef curry rice.

59. First thing you ate this morning? Haven’t eaten yet, but it’ll probably be Life cereal.

60. Ever won a competition? For what? Won a couple Pokémon tournaments. One made me a gym leader for a League, another got me a New 3DS XL.

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? Nope.

62. Been arrested? For what? Nope.

63. Ever been in love? Yepppp

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? And this is where I’d put the story of my first kiss. IF I HAD ONE.

65. Are you hungry right now? Yessssss

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? Considering I don’t really have many tumblr friends (I think?) I like my real friends more.

67. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook

68. Twitter or Tumblr? Tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now? Nope

70. Names of your bestfriends? Jay, Natz, Xixi, Frances, Aleigha, Kirbs, Dani, Hunter, Marissa, (the list goes on and on, I can’t decide on just a few best friends)

71. Craving something? What? Takoyaki!

72. What colour are your towels? Brown

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two (2)

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? I used to, but since ya mentioned it, I might start doing it again.

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? At least 20, question mark???

75. Favourite animal? Tie between monkeys, foxes, and rabbits.

76. What colour is your underwear? Idk, it changes everyday.

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? Depends on the quality. Usually vanilla since too much chocolate gives me a stomach ache.

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? Strawberry banana, but since it’s really uncommon I usually settle for mint chocolate chip.

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? Yellow

80. What colour pants? Blue

81. Favourite tv show? Steven Universe

82. Favourite movie? Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? I haven’t seen either, I’m trash

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? Same as above

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? Same as above above

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? Dory

87. First person you talked to today? Friend staying at my house

88. Last person you talked to today? Friend staying at my house

89. Name a person you hate? I don’t think I hate anyone, that’s a really strong word.

90. Name a person you love? Kaia (my niece)

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? Nope

92. In a fight with someone? Not right now, I think? If I am, I’ve forgotten.

93. How many sweatpants do you have? Quite a lot, but I don’t wear them.

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? Too many, probs over 15, but I only regularly wear two of them.

95. Last movie you watched? Psycho-Pass: The Movie

96. Favourite actress? Emma Watson

97. Favourite actor? Does John Mulaney count?

98. Do you tan a lot? I straight up burn, so nope

99. Have any pets? Nope

100. How are you feeling? Neutral in general

101. Do you type fast? Depending on the situation.

102. Do you regret anything from your past? Toooooo muchhh

103. Can you spell well? Sometimes

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? Lotsa old friends.

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? Yeah, not really a fan of them.

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? I think maybe once or twice? I don’t know about many people liking me.

107. Have you ever been on a horse? Yeah, but it was when I was super young so I don’t remember what it was like.

108. What should you be doing? Probably applying for scholarships.

109. Is something irritating you right now? Only my intrusive thoughts, but that’s all the time.

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? Pretty much every time I’ve liked someone, yeah.

111. Do you have trust issues? I think this was answered already, but yes.

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? The last person I cried full out in front of was my mom, but I have had a couple tears run down my face when in the dorms at uni.

113. What was your childhood nickname? Gingerbread, Gingersnaps

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? Yep yep

115. Do you play the Wii? Yesssssss

116. Are you listening to music right now? No, but I should be.

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? Hell yeah

118. Do you like Chinese food? Hell yeah!

119. Favourite book? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

120. Are you afraid of the dark? Yes, but only if I’m unfamiliar with the area.

121. Are you mean? I don’t know? Sometimes

122. Is cheating ever okay? Nope. Never. Absolutely not. If you cheat, I have big problems with you.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? I probably couldn’t lol

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? Not really? But it depends. I’d say it’s possible upon the first meeting, but not by just seeing the person. I think truly falling in love with someone purely based on their appearance is rather shallow and difficult to do.

125. Do you believe in true love? Kinda? I don’t really believe that there’s one specific person that you’re destined to be with, but I do believe that people can develop a strong enough connection with each other that it could be considered true love.

126. Are you currently bored? Somewhat, but it’s rare for me to not be somewhat bored.

127. What makes you happy? Long hugs with people I care about, snuggles, some video games and anime, having deep conversations with friends.

128. Would you change your name? I don’t know what I’d change it to, so no.

129. What your zodiac sign? Libra

130. Do you like subway? Yeah

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? If I like them back, then try to make a relationship work out I guess. If not, I try my best to let them down gently and comfort them if possible.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? I think this was answered before as well, but friend mentioned in #8.

133. Favourite lyrics right now? The entirety of Here Comes A Thought.

134. Can you count to one million? Yeah? I’m not sure what this question is supposed to mean.

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? “Yeah, I’ve done my homework *has homework on computer screen*”

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? Closed. Open feels too insecure.

137. How tall are you? 5′ 7″

138. Curly or Straight hair? Straight

139. Brunette or Blonde? Brunette(?) I don’t know what this is asking, but I find dark hair attractive.

140. Summer or Winter? Winterrrrrr. No bugs and no sunburn.

141. Night or Day? Night, it makes it feel like emotions are heightened.

142. Favourite month? Never thought about this, but I guess February.

143. Are you a vegetarian? Nah, I like chicken too much.

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? Milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is too rich and makes my stomach hurt. White chocolate has a flavor that I think does best at complimenting other things, like fruit. Individually I like milk best because it’s flavorful, but not too rich.

145. Tea or Coffee? Coffee, but only if it has a lot of sweetness mixed with the bitterness.

146. Was today a good day? Today has barely started, but it seems like it’ll be a decent day.

147. Mars or Snickers? Snickers

148. What’s your favourite quote? "My vibe is like, hey you could probably pour soup in my lap and I'll apologize to you." -- John Mulaney

149. Do you believe in ghosts? No? Idk, I don’t think about that stuff.

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? “The recommended dietary intake of potassium ranges from 500 mg to 700 mg per day for infants between 6 and 12 months.”

#ask game filled in #because I'm bored #sorry for such a long post

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forestwater87 · 7 years

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Fic Writers Week 2017 - Day 2

Day 2: The Muses - Fan art? Edits? Playlists? Draw some inspiration from the fics you love and share some new content with the fandom!

I wish I could draw, because @ciphernetics and her fic “You Have Someone That Loves You” deserves all the best fanworks, but . . .

I always did wonder how that first date must’ve gone.

David really wished his leg would stop bouncing.

It was rattling the table, rattling the dishes on the table -- rattling his last nerve, in fact. And if Lisa arrived (when Lisa arrived, he reminded himself sternly), she’d probably be annoyed if he accidentally kicked their small unsteady wooden table and spilled her dinner all over her . . .

Maybe his friends had been right, and he should’ve gotten himself a drink.

“David?”

His head jerked up, an automatic smile on his lips despite the knots his stomach was trying to tie itself into. He opened his mouth to greet her and -- “Oh.”

She didn’t look exactly like her pictures; the one taken on a hike had given her face and hair an artificial golden glow, not this cream dotted with roses skin and hair that fell -- not in a ponytail, not up like most of her Tinder pics but down to her shoulders and straight as a pin -- in a sheet of platinum, so fine he thought he might not even feel the individual strands if he fingered it. Her eyes were darker too, though maybe that was just the stark contrast of navy against features so pale. (Her eyelashes were brown and her brows were drawn in swooping arches, he could tell because Gwen had once gone on a Youtube makeup tutorial binge and dragged him along with her, but he suspected that without the makeup they might be almost invisible.)

Lisa frowned, her lips -- pink, pale pale pink like pearls his mom owned, and why was he thinking of that now? -- drawing together and down in a worried pout. “It is David, right?” She laughed nervously, tucking a strand of icy blond hair behind her ear. “You just look so much like your pictures, I figured it had to be you . . .”

Pick your jaw off the floor, Greenwood. David shook his head quickly, heeding the no-nonsense female voice that was half Gwen and half his mother. “Sorry, sorry! I just . . . wow.” Good job, genius. He swallowed and forced his leg still. “Wowzers, you’re pretty.”

And she was. So, so much prettier than he’d ever imagined would want to go out with him. Mr. Campbell was, well, Mr. Campbell, but he could believe that happened because . . . well, the evidence was pretty undeniable, but there was history there. It made sense in an odd, nebulous way. But pretty girls with good fashion and soft hair were supposed to roll their eyes at him, see him as a brother -- like Gwen. He was used to pretty girls’ eyes skimming over him and he was comfortable with it; more comfortable, oddly, than this shy smiling, foot shuffling, lip biting he was now faced with and didn’t know how to handle.

But heck, David was always one for new experiences! “It’s so nice to meet you in person!” he said, jumping to his feet and shaking her hand.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long --”

“Not at all! I like watching the fountain.” And that led seamlessly into talking about how the fountain was shaped like the falls off of Sleepy Peak Peak, and their shared love of hiking (the reason he’d swiped right, after all!), which naturally turned the conversation toward his favorite subject, Camp Campbell.

And maybe he was being a little too hopeful, but he got the sense that, watching her cock her head to the side so that her hair flowed from one shoulder to the other, that she might actually be interested in what he had to say.

Maybe he was being a little too hopeful, but it sure seemed like she might actually like him.

He hadn’t been too hopeful.

Lisa had laughed at his story about the Quartermaster and Space Kid’s helmet, had nodded with a soft cluck of pity when he told her what’d happened to poor Larry, had asked questions about Platypus and the campers and Gwen -- especially Gwen, in fact, and he realized with a pang of sympathy that the opportunities to make female friends in Sleepy Peak had to be pretty rare -- had smiled and touched his hand and when they’d settled the bill and were waiting outside the restaurant, she had bumped her shoulder against his and asked if he wanted to come back to her home for coffee.

David knew he had a tendency to be overly optimistic, but he couldn’t shake the idea that this date was going well, better than any other he’d been on.

The strongest evidence, of course, was the heavy weight of her legs thrown over his lap, one arm hooked around his neck and the other clutching at the front of his shirt, and the gentle damp heat over her mouth along his jaw.

It was hard to argue with something like that, he felt.

So it was real: Lisa liked him.

Liked him enough to pick at the knot of his bandanna and suck at the base of his throat until he had trouble keeping his eyes open and his breathing even. He hadn’t been sure what to do with his hands, but had figured settling them on her narrow waist had been a good bet. At some point in the last ten minutes they’d slid down a bit, his thumbs brushing the bony ridge of her hipbones, but she didn’t seem to mind so he tightened his grip just slightly, soaking up her impossible heat through the thin fabric of her shirt and trying to squash a wave of knee-quaking terror.

You’ve done this before, his common-sense voice reminded him. You did all this with Mr. Campbell. But this wasn’t Mr. Campbell, was the problem -- well, not a problem, not a problem at all, but her hands were smaller and more delicate and her breath smelled like coffee and strawberry lip gloss instead of gunsmoke and sweat, her breathing was higher-pitched and she was less certain, more quivery under his hands and tentative with her own. Mr. Campbell hadn’t pulled away from his neck and kissed up to his ear to whisper, “You wanna go back to my room?” with a low laugh that David had already learned was a sign of nervousness.

Everything about this was brand-new territory, and it was something he very very much wanted to keep exploring but he didn’t know the rules and the last thing he wanted was for her to think he was a creep or a filthy pervert or -- “Hhhhwhat?”

Lisa giggled again, a little louder and less self-conscious. “I mean, you’re really cute and, I dunno, I like you a lot . . .”

Oh.

Oh, wow.

Despite the fact that there was a very significant part of him that would really like to go back to her room, David sighed and let go of her waist. “It’s not that I don’t, um, want to --”

“Too soon?” she interrupted, and there was something sweet and pleading in her eyes.

“Yeah, a bit,” he said. But she seemed to want more, and the last thing he wanted was for her to think he wasn’t . . . well . . . interested. So although it was embarrassing he dropped his head and mumbled, “I’ve never . . . uh. Done that. Before.”

“Oh.” There was a moment of surprised silence. “Oh.”

David would’ve given anything in the world to know what that “oh” meant, but he was afraid to ask so he smoothed his palms down his thighs, fighting the urge to bounce his leg again and desperately hoping he hadn’t ruined his first ever successful date.

Gwen would be so disappointed.

“That’s okay, Davey.” The next thing he knew Lisa’s hands were on either side of his face, cradling his head gently as her forehead tapped against his. “I don’t mind waiting. I . . . I hope this isn’t too soon, but I think you’re worth it.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, blinking rapidly enough that he hoped she wouldn’t notice if he’d welled up a little bit. “That makes me really happy.”

“Me too.” One hand slid down to his chin, drawing a line of warm tingles along his jaw, and she tilted his face to kiss her. “But I was sorta wondering . . . would it be okay if I gave you a hickey? I don’t have to,” she added quickly, pulling away and tucking her hair behind her ear -- only for it to immediately fall forward again. “I just . . . I thought maybe it’d be hot if I, like, marked you?” Her eyes darted up to meet his, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. “So you don’t forget me before our next date?”

Like he could.

(But, well, he didn’t mind getting the reminder.)

#ficwritersweek #campcamp #camp camp #cc david #someday i hope i'll be able to read this fic without feeling a lowkey stab of jealousy at how talented netics is #but holy shit it's like poetry #forestwriting #god i feel bad writing this #it's so bad compared to the source material

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cliche-ish · 4 years

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Be comfortable in my own skin color

I was born with darker skin than most people in my country and than my culture’s beauty standard. My family and neighbors called me by the nickname “Đen”’, which means “dark skin” in a negative way and also the black color in my language. They even made up a chant that included all the worst quality possible of multiple body parts. It was something like “Bald head, protruding forehead, short nose, dark skin, slanted eyes.” Is that a haiku lol? In my culture, it is believed that you should not call a baby “cute” or “adorable” no matter if the baby is cute or not, because that can jinx it. Yup, calling a baby “cute” is believed to be all it takes to turn the baby into an ugly looking monster later... Instead, it is preferred to always call babies “ugly”. So even though I had none of those characteristics but the dark skin, that chant was my life theme song for a while. At least that was the reasoning of the people I grew up with. That chant was sung to me up until I was about as young as I can remember, maybe 4 or 5 years old. After that, the chant stopped, except for the dark skin part. The dark skin matter haunted me up to high school.

In Vietnam and most East Asian countries, people are obsessed with having fair, pale, light skin. That is THE beauty standard for Vietnamese women. Beauty salons and cosmetic spas offer a wide variety of skin whitening procedures and products. Dark skin also means ugliness. It is the last thing you want to have if you are a girl or women there. What is worse, it was deemed to be associated with lower social status. People saw my dark skin and made rash assumptions (did I see a pun?) that I was poor and not well educated, because I had to work outdoor, laborious, manual jobs as a kid to help the family. That’s the stereotype. One time I went to the dentist for a quick simple procedure. During the procedure, the dentist said my skin was so dark, I must come from Miền Tây, which is a region where many people were poor farmers back then. (Reminder, I was born and raised in a middle class family in the biggest city in Vietnam, went to the top schools, and the only work I really had to do was homework and some housework.) I felt so offended, yet couldn’t correct her because my mouth was help open by a cheek retractor.

I saw many TV ads about skin lightening lotions and cosmetic procedures. I was still a teenager, so I could only ask my Mom if she could buy me the lotions. It was a big deal, because at that time in our culture, teenage girls were usually not allowed to use any cosmetic products, like makeup, hair dye, or nail polish. So I gathered all my courage to ask her to buy me those lotions. To my surprise, my Mom agreed to buy and let me use the skin lightening products. She probably wanted the best for me. I did use them, but didn’t really see any improvement. I thought it was probably because I was an active, sporty, outdoorsy girl who was out in the tropical sun the whole time lol. So my skin was still dark, and I was teased all the time. When I was little, I was so sad. When I was a little older, I just laughed along on the outside, but came home and cried alone in the bathroom. There were days I felt so shitty and so insecure about the way I looked, wondering why I was born like this. Once I became insecure and conscious about my appearance, it spiraled and more stuff was added to the list of things I was ashamed about: my fat ass (I have a pear-shaped body), my weird jaw (I have an asymmetrical face, you know, like a normal person), my body hair (who doesn’t have that), etc. That list got expanded quickly, as my self-esteem was shrinking substantially.

I started to gain a tiny bit more confidence in high school. I saw a few women on the street rocking their tanned skin with great sense of fashion and bold choice of color, looking like they were joyfully living their lives. Even though they loook different from the many other women out there, their confidence was beaming radiantly, and so I thought I wanted to be like that one day.

But it was when I moved to the U.S. that I truly became confident about the way I look. No one in the U.S. really teased me about my dark skin any more. People even approached me and complimented on how pretty I was. That never happened! I never thought of myself as “pretty”. That was when it hit me. Back in Vietnam my tint was somewhere further towards the end of that normal distribution of skin shade spectrum. That does make me more uncommon but in no way abnormal or ugly. But when I left home and moved to the U.S., a beautifully diverse country, I got shifted to somewhere in the middle, more common area of the spectrum. My point is, the spectrum, the standard, the perception of beauty, they’re all relative and changing all the time. It’s never going to be enough if I keep on chasing these ever-changing standards. I cannot be super skinny while also have an ass. I cannot have light skin while also getting that summer hot tan look. And every body is different, so what works for you might not work for me. I can’t let a few people decide what I and all billions of women in the world should look like to get the world’s approval. What best determines my worth is how I perceive myself. I am pretty and happy when I feel pretty and happy about myself. I’m in shape. Pear’s a shape. Body hair is not abnormal. It’s there for important functions, and we’re more closely related to chimpanzee, not dolphins. 🙂 Each and every part of my body is important, functional, unique, and a part of me. I appreciate them.

My appearance has changed a lot in the past few years, not because it finally adheres to new, updated beauty standards, but because I have learned to love myself, be comfortable in my own skin, and make myself prettier and healthier for me. I look up on what type of clothing fits my body shape. I cut my hair short, because short hair fits my personality and makes me feel like me. I eat right and work out to stay healthy, not because I want to get rid of my fat thighs. I appreciate and love my dark brown skin more than ever before. I look healthy, glowing, and sun-kissed without even trying, and never get sunburn. I mean, what is there to be upset about? I care less about what people think or comment on my appearance, if it is not objective or constructive. (i.e. “Why don’t you wear more makeup?” versus “I have this lipstick color that I think will fit you great.”) I spend more time enjoying life now rather than worrying over things about me that I think people think. I also realized people don’t really pay that much attention. It was just me paying too much attention and scrutinizing my own flaws. I learn to appreciate the diversity of body shape, and strike down those stereotypes or biases that being slim means healthy or being plus-size means you cannot be sexy or healthy or strong. (There is a scientific study about how body type is not a good indicator of health.) I look perfectly fine, and I will never let anyone tell me I am ugly, or not worth it, or not going to make it, because of how I look. And because of how shitty those mean comments made me feel, I promise to never let anyone treat others the same way, to say “I love your [...]. It’s pretty.” when I find something about someone pretty, and to be mindful and every time I am about comment on someone’s appearance.

There have been hopeful, progressive, and empowering changes that took place to challenge the culture based on toxic beauty standards. Several days ago I came across a news article about a decision made by Johnson & Johnson to stop selling skin-whitening creams, as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. But it is also a great win for women in these countries, as such products had been feeding the toxic culture and the media that shames women for their look.

Recently, my Mom told me about a Vietnamese woman named H’Hen Niê. She is a Vietnamese beauty pageant who was crowned Miss Universe Vietnam 2018, and she was slaying it! She was widely recognized and loved by the Vietnamese people as she smashed every single Vietnamese beauty standards for being a minority with short hair and dark skin. Models who are plus-size, wear hijabs, have skin defects or disabilities are showing up more on American brands where I shop for my clothes. Finally, there are women on covers and who represents and advocates all girls and women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and cultures. Representation matters, because you can visualize yourself there, it’s easier to get there. This is so that more young girls and women would see “There’s someone who looks like me and she’s killing it.” Hopefully, they would feel less worthless, ashamed, and insecure about their features that society should not get to judge or label, and more inspired and empowered to love themselves and be proud of who they are. We have come a long way, and we still have a long way to go and a lot to do, but I’m optimistic that we are on our right track to building a better world for many young girls and women.

Photos of kick-ass women: Left to right, H’hen Niê, Zozibini Tunzi (South African woman to be crowned Miss Universe 2019 who has been openly advocating and celebrating “black girl magic”), Halima Aden (first Muslim model to wear hijab in Sport Illustrated Swimsuit), Thando Hopa (firsl albino model to be on Vogue cover), Winnie Harlow (internationally recognized supermodel with vitiligo), Ashley Graham (plus-size model, covergirl, and TV presenter who hosts a section on the Ellen DeGeneres’s site, theellentube.com)

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manmodeactivate · 7 years

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Ultimate passing tips list for pre-t transguys (and some other tips too)

If you want to look like your average joe cis guy this list is for you, you dont have to try and look cis to be valid this is just for people that want to pass in public consistently. This is info I’ve gathered over the years and stuff I’ve learnt myself too so i thought i’d put them in one place.

This stuff works for me, i pass all the time basically even if i am perceived as a younger guy that’s fine by me.

its pretty lengthy so the topics are facial hair, hair, jaw, voice, height, hips, packing, binding, swimming, working out, foods, body language, clothes and bathrooms.

•FACIAL HAIR: shave your peach fuzz coz guys don’t have peach fuzz or…

you can make it pass for male facial hair by growing it as much as you can as a moustache and shaving the rest. You could even leave a lil at the sideburns. Once you’ve done that grab a makeup powder a bit darker than your skin tone and lightly brush on the areas with hair to darken it and tada you have facial hair. You could dye it if you have some pretty good fuzz ive done that and it works a treat the video’s here. If you go for something darker than light brown you will have to wash your face a few times to get the skin stain off.

I’ve also heard coconut oil is good for facial hair growth. If you want to give that a try get a bit and slather it on wear you want the hair and massage it in for like 5 mins and leave it or sleep with it on.

Coconut oil is a good moisturiser and can act as a shaving ‘cream’ and aftershave too.

Also shaving to make hair grow thicker and darker is bs. When the hair starts growing back because its been cut not pluck the end of that hair follicle is flat not pointed making it appear darker and thicker.

You can ghost in the areas where facial hair would be with makeup too but it may look less natural.

And keep eyebrows more natural just focus on the middle. You can darken them the same as your facial hair as men have darker, thicker eyebrows generally.

•HAIR: going tight on the sides can make your head look more square therefore more masculine.

Also keep it messy, women generally have smooth, brushed through looking hair. Get some clay or wax or whatever works for your hair type and texture and rub it in your hands till there’s no clumps. Then work it into ALL of your hair, just go crazy. Also side parting rather than something closer to the middle for short hair looks more masculine and less i want to speak to the manager.

Also square off that sideburny bit don’t keep it pointy.

Body hair is good to keep too coz most guys have a crap ton of it (leg hair, armpit hair)

•JAW: you can clench your jaw to make it more rigid and square (people keep adding not to do this for too long which is true but like common sense guys).

Also chewing gum more often to make you jaw muscles stronger can improve your jawline.

Try out contouring if you want to (I understand if you don’t)

•VOICE: I’ve seen some exercises online like humming as low as you can for 30 seconds a few times a day; stretching your neck; stretching your neck while humming; singing male parts in songs; speaking more slowly and controlled; speaking from your chest or abdomen. One or a combination or these might work for you just give them a try.

•HEIGHT: there are short cis guys so don’t worry too much.

You can wear shoes with thick heels or wear inserts. I’m not sure about any other height tips as i don’t worry about my height.

•HIPS: if you have a lot of weight around your hips that isn’t bone wear mid or high rise jeans and put them over that area with a belt on so you can cinch down the fat a lil bit. This could be dangerous so don’t do it too often or too tight.

Losing some weight can help but when it comes to bone it ain’t moving.

Ty turner said boardshorts are good too because of the wide waistband so give that a try in the summer too.

•PACKING: honestly packing isn’t a passing thing most people don’t pay attention to it but you can if you want to.

A sock in your briefs or boxers is good enough but there are packers and stps (stand to pee devices) you can buy too.

Tight briefs, a harness or a diy harness is best for packing.

To make a diy harness use a waistband from some underwear and either put a hole in them for the shaft to go through or you can attach a o ring or something similar to the waistband which will last longer.

If you have just a packer like the mr limpy or pierre you can use pouches like the joey which ensure you dont lose your dick down your leg.

If you have a freetom i made a harness out of womens underwear and it works really well. Just chop a hole in the front a few inches below the waistband and tada!!

To use an STP you just whip it out do a lil bit of a squat and put it underneath you, legs a bit spread so you dont squash the stp, point it mostly down and go. Depending on the stp this can vary and you may also have to control your flow.

I also did a review of 2 freetoms, pierre and the joey packing pouch that you can watch by clicking here.

•BINDING: DO NOT USE ACE BANDAGES OR WRAP ANYTHING ALL THE WAY AROUND YOUR BODY. Its extremely dangerous and you could break ribs and puncture organs.

Only bind with binders from trusted brands. A few that are well known are gc2b, underworks and flavnts bareskin binder. Ive used the gc2b binder and i can definitely recommend it it is extremely comfortable and the material is great.

To avoid the moob when you put on your binder put your hand under the bottom and push them either to the side or down. If you have a smaller chest you could go up but just fiddle around till it looks the best you can get it (Yes some positions are healthier than others if it causes pain don’t do it that way obviously).

You can try kt tape but only use in small amounts. From over your nipple to your armpit with only a few pieces. This method can effect skin elasticity and cause irritation. Do not use more tape than what was just recommended as you don’t want to constrict yourself.

Also sports bras are good if you can’t buy a binder or it isn’t safe to. Wear one backwards or wear two (one forwards and one backwards) if wearing one normally doesn’t do the trick.

Layers and thick jumpers and jackets can hide your chest too.

Do not buy cheap ones on ebay.

Only bind up to 8 hours and try not to exceed that. If you have to bind for longer take regular breaks but 10 hours is the absolute max.

Don’t sleep in one either as you breath differently when you sleep and you need some time to breath if you wear it everyday.

Don’t buy one smaller than your size this can can serious problems. Your size will work very well and getting a smaller size doesn’t mean it will flatten you more. Most guys have pecs anyway so a lil bump is okay.

•SWIMMING: again boardshorts with a wide waistband are great but also rashies (bather material t-shirts basically) are good too.

If you wear a sports bra (fowards or backwards. Probably don’t try wearing two as that would be constricting) or a bareskin binder you can wear an over sized rashie over the top to hide some curves (when it isnt clinging to your body) and also hide the binder or sports bra.

A wetsuit with a rashie also works well.

No one will question you wearing a rashie but if they do just say its to protect from uv rays.

You can also try binding with kt tape/sports tape with a rashie.

•WORKING OUT: strength/weight training your upper body can help make your shoulders look bigger and more masculine. Doing exercises regularly (a few times a week) for muscles like the triceps, biceps, chest and lats is a good start (i say a good start, you should also work out other body parts to ensure balance but the focus is on people just starting or people that dont do gym often and want a more masculine appearance).

Have lots of protein to help build muscle (exercise at the same time, just protein won’t do anything).

Also shedding some weight can help with curves as well as help get rid of a baby face.

Working out also boosts testosterone.

•FOODS: there are natural testosterone boosting and estrogen blocking foods you can try. These are some i found but there are others. They probably won’t do much but you can try them out if you want.

Some boosters are tuna, egg yolks, oysters, shellfish, garlic, coconut, beef and beans.

Some estrogen blockers are kale, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, whole grains, pomegranates, grapes, olive oil, spinach, onions and citrus.

•BODY LANGUAGE: be confident. This is very important.

Shoulders back, chest out.

Walk with a slightly wider stance (coz most guys have some junk down there ya know so just imagine that or buy a packer to help with that) and also sitting down with your legs slightly apart (coz again junk down there).

Try not to talk with your hands too much but if you do, do it less with your wrists and maybe more slowly and with your whole arm.

Hands in pockets is also a masculine mannerism.

•CLOTHES: wear masculine (or androgynous) clothes that are a lil oversized. T-shirts that are wider in the torso and longer are best. Tops with a standard neck opening are better than wide neck openings too as it makes your neck look thicker.

Rolling up sleeves is a good idea too coz if you have a big shirt the sleeves are going to look a bit funky. Sleeves that are fitted on your arms and show your mid upper arm give the illusion of bigger arms therefore more muscular arms. To tighten them and shorten them just roll them up a few times. This won’t look weird or suspicious either coz it’s a trend that’s happening anyway.

Patterns, dark clothes and layers are good for hiding your chest and curves too.

Muscle tank tops are good in general so wear them.

In terms of accessories a watch is great and maybe a leather or wood bead bracelet or a plain ring. Keep it minimal.

•BATHROOM: in and out just do what you’ve gotta do. Don’t look around and chat or whatever.

Keep your head down if you’re worried you don’t pass enough.

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cocoaswatches · 7 years

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Sorry, I Ain't Sorry - The Problem With Constantly Asking Us to Give Brands A Pass

"Be patient," they said.

"They will probably release more shades soon." they said.

"Give them a chance," they said.

"Stop complaining, it's just makeup." they said.

Do any of these phrases sounds familiar?

Whether you are a beauty lover who loves getting updates on every single release and collab or you are simply someone who wants their foundation to match their neck, engaging in the makeup world can be jarring, especially if you have deeper skin. More often than not, brands release complexion products that do not cater to skintones of the brown/cocoa/coffee/bronze persuasion. They promote beauty campaigns where the darkest person resembles some shade of light tan, at best.

Let's just take a look at a couple of the complexion products released in the last few months.

YSL Just released their new All Hours Foundation that includes all of two brown shades, out of a total of 22.

The Balm released a new whipped foundation formula and thought it would be a good idea to name their only deep shade "After Dark."🙃

Even MAC, one of my all time favorite brands, created lipsticks with makeup influencers and not one was a person with a deeper skintone.🤦🏾‍♀️

What many need to realize is this. Just because something has been pointed out to you in the moment, doesn't mean it's the first occurrence. And, more importantly, creating darker shades is not "more difficult" and it "doesn't cost more money," -- lack of deeper shades is directly rooted in a history of anti-blackness that has allowed light skin to become the standard in beauty. In order to break barrier and create change, we first must acknowledge that there is a problem.

While I can understand that those with super light, porcelain-like skin may also have a hard time finding complexion products, its important to acknowledge our struggles are not the same, and consequently should not be lumped together.

Because, it's not just the fact that brands often don't make foundations, or concealers in shades for us. It's the fact that we aren't included in their campaigns or invited on their trips. It's the fact that lipstick named "Flesh" in their latest collection is a pale pink. It's the fact that the few deeper shades they might carry are ashy and gray. These are all common occurrences and have been happening for decades.

So asking any person of a deeper complexion to "wait," or "be patient," is unacceptable. We all have the autonomy of choosing which brands we will and will not patronize. Constantly asking us to "give brands a chance," when they are clearly not here for us, just ain't the wave. We don't have to do anything for those who have constantly left us out of the conversation.

Now I will say, many of our favorite brands that have expanded their shade ranges in the last couple of years (whether because its trendy/profitable or because its the right thing to do, we will never know), and there's nothing wrong with being excited about that. Things DO have to change somehow. Even NARS released new shades of their ever popular Radiant Creamy Concealer and we were all jumping for joy.

In the past month alone: our favorite makeup aunty, Jackie Aina has been tapped to help Too Faced to create deeper shades in their Born This Way foundation line, Maybelline's first EVER makeup collab is with our fave beauty slay-er, Makeup Shayla, and CoverGirl just announced they will be creating a collection with colour extraordinaire PrincessBellaaa. This is all AMAZING news and is indicative that the makeup industry is changing for the better. These black women are paving the way for a more inclusive makeup world and it's beautiful to see.

Consequently, it's even more of a reason to continue to speak up and be critical: if you are trying to release products in 2017 that exclude those of us with deeper complexions, we reserve the right to cancel the brand..with no apology or explanation. And we'd appreciate it if you'd stop expecting us to do so.

This is not being "negative," or "throwing shade," its just keeping it real.

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cutiecrates · 4 years

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Cutie Reviews: NMNL Sept 19

Just a tiny update, I got my issue resolved on TokyoCatch. Apparently there’s an issue where you need to make sure your shipping info is entirely filled out, as soon as I checked that and modified it, it was fixed!

Anyway, I only won the 1 item so far, so I’m trying to decide if I want to just include a pic of it in a future review, or gather several items and then do like a... partial-review on them and the game/website.

“We hope you had a fantastic summer! This month’s beauty box has a floral theme. We hope you’ll feel like a blossoming beauty with the adorable makeup and skin care products coming in September’s box!“

(is it me or is the info kind of lackluster this month?)

Contest

This month, the prize items are a collab between Pokemon and the brand It’s Demo. Besides a makeup palette, winners could also receive eyeliner, and lipstick.

Glam Gift

For this month, the official GG winner received some special, limited edition Sanrio products featuring My Melody and Little Twin Stars. The items range from cosmetics to accessories like a hand mirror and an adorable, My Melody doll brush (which looks so cute~).

In going with our floral theme, this months Horoscope is “Which Flower matches your Star Sign?“, and this is what it says:

Aries: Honeysuckle

Taurus: Poppy

Gemini: Lavender

Cancer: White Rose

Leo: Sunflower

Virgo: Buttercup

Libra: Rose

Scorpio: Geranium

Sagittarius: Carnation

Capricorn: Pansy

Aquarius: Orchid

Pisces: Water Lily

Which one did you guys get? :3 is it a flower you like? I was very happy to have gotten Rose, because those are my favorite flowers~

We also have a page describing some flower ingredients one should try using for various reasons. Make sure to try out some natural items featuring them if any of these apply to you:

Cherry Blossoms - the extract lightens hyperpigmentation and increases skin elasticity, soothes irritated skin, and protects it from damage and signs of aging.

Camellia - Camellia oil hydrates and smooths the skin, protecting it from damages and signs of aging.

Roses - Intensely hydrate the skin, so its recommended for “mature skin“. The extract also minimizes scars, stretch marks, and wrinkles.

Chamomile - High antioxidant and moisturizing properties, especially useful against things like acne or dry skin.

Marigold - also good for acne and skin irritations like eczema and rosacea. Prevents premature aging and skin damage.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Green Tea Nose Pack

Our first item is this simple little nose cleaning pack from Etude House. It is filled with green tea extract that helps tighten the pores, while the patch removes dead skin and blackheads. It’s very easy to use, all you do is make your nose wet (or the patch too) and then smooth it on your nose. After 10-15 minutes you remove it, then you use some cleanser or toner, or just water if you don’t have any.

I’m not going to lie, I was dreading this item <_< Anytime I’ve seen people use nose patches or skin patches that adhere/suction to the skin, it HURTS to pull off. I’m a big wuss so I was innocent assuming this would be the same thing. Plus I don’t like green tea, and I was worried it wouldn’t even work.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

Not only does it smell amazing (it was like a... light floralish scent, but weirdly enough the pack smells like green tea), but it didn’t hurt to take off at all, and it actually helped! My nose is blackhead free and feels very smooth, I love it! My nose has felt so smooth and soft since~

I plan on buying a handful more for when I need them off of Tokyo Haul, the store website for the makers of the subscription box (they only cost about $1). I would seriously recommend these if you have a “strawberry nose” of your own.

Fleurissant Lip Glow & Rosy Lips

For this month we get 2 lovely and fun Lip products; first up is the Fleurissant Lip Glow by Glamfox. These are pretty much those really pretty jelly lipsticks/gloss with a flower in them, and they have the ability to change in shade depending on how much you apply or your current body temperature to give you natural, but noticeable color and shimmer.

In the box there was 6 possible flowers and a couple different box designs. According to my tube, I got GL04 Rose Flower.

- - - - - - -

Our next item is this adorable little rose tinted lip cream by The YEON. I was really excited to get this because I’ve seen them before on Youtube (usually for slime making) and I thought it looked cute. The color I got was S102 Rose Petal, but there are 3 colors in total we could have gotten.

(The darker product is the rose btw)

As you can see, the jelly flower product is fairly sheer but very shimmery. As I said above, you can apply it a little more -or allow your temperature to handle it- and it will darken over time. I already own a couple of these and I really like them because it gives your lips a really subtle change and kind of gives them a “healthier“ glow.

Usually these are scented (my original one smells like peach) but this one... it has a scent, but it isn’t fruity, so I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be. I still like it though, these jelly lip products are usually always good and this isn’t an exception, I’d recommend it if you never tried one before.

- - - - - -

Meanwhile, the rose is way more vibrant. As you can see in the pic, it looks red, but on the skin it’s more of a... magenta, red raspberry hue. It also has a very faint rose scent.

It’s a creamy and smooth feeling product, it doesn’t feel oily or heavy on the lips. I don’t like vibrant or dark colors on my lips because I feel like they don’t look good on me, but I did like this color, and in certain conditions (maybe spring or summer?) I feel like it could look nice. Right now I think it just highlights how pale I am.

Both of them are really nice, and it wasn’t really hard to remove them for items meant to tint the skin. My only concern is that where I used the product on my hand and wiped it off... the skin is red and blotchy looking now. So I don’t know if I had some kind of reaction (but my lips are fine) or if the skin is really dried from how much I was rubbing it.

Spring Eyelash Curler

I’ve been needing a new eyelash curler but nothing I’ve tried to replace my original pair (a hot pink one) with has come close to feeling comfortable for me, so I kept using them. I know in most cases you could say they’re all the same, but to me it didn’t feel that way. These are by the brand NOYL, and as you can see in the package there is a replacement curling piece for one the first one gets too old and hard to clean.

I know I’ve said this before, but my most favorite color is pastel/pale/baby/light pink. So seeing these in the box gave me a really good feeling, even the little clasp on them is translucent pink~

I really like these, they feel a lot like my old pair and even without any product they managed to curl my lashes so that they looked more neat, controlled. They’re not loose feeling, and the handles are curved to contour the fingers, so it feels comfortable to hold too.

Therapy Air Mask & 10 Second Morning Sheets

Our next Etude House product is a therapy air mask, a facial mask that is extremely thin and loose to fit any face shape. These are available in 4 different scents/types: Cherry Blossom (firming and brightening), Camellia (lifting and skin radiance), Damask Rose (fresh moisture), and White Flowers (moisturizing and brightening). These are also hypoallergenic, so they’re good if you have sensitivity to certain ingredients.

This smells amazingly good, the scent is a fairly light cherry blossom/sakura with a perfumey note. I really like it, I have to find something with the same scent so that I can keep it forever.

In terms of a facial mask, I’d say this was a really good one. It was super-wet and a bit sticky, and because of how thin it was it was kind of a pain to open and put on- but it was really nice once applied. My face had a wonderful cooling effect from it (especially my lip when it accidentally got some product on it). My face also feels really nice after using it.

I might have to pick up a couple of these from Japan Haul too~

- - - - - - - - -

This item is by Joteki and it is called a 10-second sheet because it saves you several “morning routine“ steps, as they are made to clean, cleanse, and moisturize your skin. Besides letting you take your morning get-ready session easier, it would also come in handy if you’re going on a trip or if you want to keep it in your purse or car because you can leave out other items, such as creams, cleansers, moisturizes.

There are 2 different sets in the box, the one I got specifically says its for oily skin. I’m not sure what the other one is, maybe dry? You get about a months worth, and they come in a really fun, colorful re-sealable package.

I have a dry skin problem so I always worry that oily skin products will dry my skin <3< but so far I haven’t had that problem. These have a scent but I can’t exactly pin-point what it is, because it doesn’t smell fruity, herbal, or flowery. Weirdly enough, the scent reminds me of liquid medicine, like the kind you might take for bad cough or to help you sleep? I like it though, whatever it is.

Anyway, I ended up trying one of these out the other morning after a shower and my face felt really nice and smooth~ I did wash my face prior to using it, so I tried again the next morning with nothing on my face and got the same result. I’m not sure if physically anything changed, but my skin feels a lot nicer.

Mascara & Mascara Top Coat

You know, I didn’t realize there was such a thing as a mascara top coat. At least I don’t believe so... apparently its just used to help seal the applied mascara to keep it on your eyelashes longer, or you can use it on its own to give your lashes a natural cute look without the mascara.

Meanwhile, this specific mascara came in a few varieties; volume, length, and point (for outer lashes). Mine says I got the volume type. It has a faint un-identifyable scent, but the top coat is a lot stronger and the smell reminds me of paint, kinda.

I’m not sure how I feel about the mascara. It has a very curvy spooly/wand and I’m not used to that. But generally it did its job and they’re darker then what they were and more... spread out and spidery. I don’t hate it but my eye feels sticky when I blink or shut it, which has never been a problem before with other mascaras. I also poked myself in the eye trying to remove the reside beneath it when I tried wiping it off, which btw did NOT come off...

Meanwhile, the top coat is really nice. It helps to keep the natural color while adding some shine and the “effect” of applied mascara, but the lashes aren’t stiff, spidery, or sticky. I would recommend this on its own or with mascara, I could see it being useful for those who aren’t familiar with mascara (or are too young for it) too.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 4.5 out of 5. I liked everything with the exception of the mascara. But not because of its quality or anything, just because it frustrated me >3< everything is really nice and felt good when I used it, I’d recommend each one. Everything was in perfect condition, most of the items are re-usable and cute.

Theme: 5 out of 5. Obviously this gives me a spring vibe, not an Autumn/Fall one, which kind of bothers me. But at the same time it makes it more interesting so I don’t frown upon that. I love flowers and a lot of natural products use them, and this box was definitely giving me flowery vibes.

Total Rank: 10 out of 10. Like August’s box this one only focused on the face, which isn’t bad because most beauty products and cosmetics are for the face- but at the same time it’s a little typical/boring. I prefer when we get mixed items (like face, nails, feet, skin, hair, etc) or a mixed theme (like one month its hair-based, one month face, one month skin). I especially wish we got more hair products because I really liked getting those from the older boxes. But the box has the cute factor I craved and the items are really fun and good quality!

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

Nose Pack - I did not expect to love this as much as I did. But it smelled great and it worked pain-free :D seriously, get this one!

Face Mask - It smells so good! I wish we got a couple of them~

Morning Sheets - If you use a lot of products in the morning I would recommend buying one of these and trying it out instead. My face has been feeling really nice since I’ve been using them these past few days

Eyelash Curler - I can get rid of my old one for sure now I think. I love it.

Mascara Top Coat - I feel like this is something you shouldn’t be smelling, but besides that I like it. I usually prefer mascara that I can visibly see, but on its own I think it’s really sweet and it definitely gave the eye softness.

Rosy Lips - It feels nice on my lips but I don’t see myself wearing this very often. Quality wise its there, but the color doesn’t look right on me.

Lip Glow - It’s very pretty and I love the packaging, but I already have one of these I like a lot more because its cute and smells yummy.

Mascara - I’ve had better, and I prefer a straight wand.

#cutie reviews #nmnl #nomakenolife #etude house #sanrio cosmetics

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