Rise and shine, morning glory. I felt like wearing my green dress today, so I thought I’d incorporate some green in my eye look, too. A color called Palm Tree from Stila’s new Stunning in Sayulita Palette provided the green.

The $14 palette (BARGAIN ALERT!) comes with four powder shadows, a powder blush and a bronzing powder, which, hello, is so light that it probably performs better as a highlighter on my tan skin.

For this look, I followed the little tutorial that comes with the palette (I appreciate when companies include these things; they’re cheap to make and great for ideas and inspiration) and then wrapped it up with Bobbi Brown’s High Shimmer Lip Glosses in Bellini on my lips.

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“Hey, baby! You’ve got to remember (got to remember)… I’m forever your curl!” It sounds like someone over at Stila HQ rocked out to this song back in the day because the name of their new lash lengthening and curling mascara is practically a titular dupe.

Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul, 1988

I LOVED that song. Nevermind Paula’s sometimes questionable singing in it or how the song sounded auto-tuned (I don’t know if it was). Gotta give the gal credit for turning lemons into lemonade.

I remember a trip back in eighth grade with my friend to Great America, one of the Six Flags amusement parks, and they had this thing that was kinda like a karaoke booth, where you could sing along to a song that they’d turn into a taped recording for you. My friend and I sang Forever Your Girl. And it was awful. It was absolutely terrible.

Thankfully, I have no idea where that tape is now. If I did, I’d probably be tempted to share it on the blog (NOOOOO!).

New for summer, Forever Your Curl joins the Stila permanent line, and I wanted to meet her mostly because of a claim Stila makes. They say it curls lashes immediately AND over time.

“Forever Your Curl Mascara contains an encapsulated raw ingredient that enhances lash-curl memory and a proprietary styling resin that dries down and holds the curl of the lashes. A film forming polymer also wraps lashes and lengthens without fibers. Plus, a patent-pending brush coats and extends each lash, from base to tip, dramatically lengthening and curling…”

–StilaCosmetics.com

Interesting concept, right? Since my lashes are naturally so dang straight that I sometimes think they have anti-curling powers, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.

But after wearing it daily for one full week, all I can say is…

Eh.

For regular, temporary lash curling, yep, I think it delivers, but it seems no more potent than that. It’s just a straight-up curling and lengthening mascara, as far as I can tell, fine for cute doe-eyed looks.

And that would have been good enough if it wasn’t for the claim: that it also curls “over time.” I suppose I haven’t used it long enough to realize long-term benefits yet (I’m impatient), but still. My lashes look just as straight as they did before.

Even as a regular mascara, it has its flaws. The brush tends to deposit more product than it should (even when I dilute/attempt to remove the visible excess), and I see smudges along my lower lash line after just a few hours.

Before

After two coats

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H-O-triple-T-HOTTT!!! with three exclamation marks at the end. That’s how hot it was in Sayulita, Mexico (outside Puerto Vallarta), the one time I was there about 10 years ago. It was August, well over 100 degrees, and it had one of those beaches straight out of a Corona commercial.

Wish we were here!

Not gonna lie: I’ve been lusting after Stila’s limited edition Stunning in Sayulita Palette ($14) mostly because of the water. It was a clear teal blue with flecks of what looked like golden glitter in it, and I remember sitting on my surfboard, looking down and watching the glitter just swirl around my ankles and feet. It was beautiful. Almost surreal.

That’s me in the middle clinging to my board for dear life

Beach dog, woof!

The colors in the palette, which comes with two powder blushes (a cheek color and a bronzing powder) and four powder eyeshadows, should play up tan skin nicely. The shadows include a peach, brown, taupe, rose and green. Considering the theme and the cutie pie surfer girl cover art, I was also kinda expecting to find at least one shimmery gold or teal, but alas, nada.

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I love surfing and like to think of myself as a water baby…but I’ve never actually done anything really cool on a surfboard. I’ve never ridden a tube or hanged (hung?) ten, and terms like “double overhead” (a wave twice as tall as the surfer riding it) fill me with far more fear than excitement.

For me, a good surf day involves simply standing up on my board (sometimes in the water) and, if I’m lucky, not colliding with anything or falling too ungracefully into the waves.

Great surf days include all of the aforementioned aspects of good surf days but happen only when I’m able to paddle out without getting my hair wet. As you can probably imagine, those days are few and far between.

I used to surf up here in the Bay Area, but not anymore (never got used to the cold). Now I wait for trips to warmer waters, like the one I hope to take this summer. This time, thanks to Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner ($22 each; available in eight colors), when I fall off my board, all arms, ankles and elbows, at least my eye makeup will look cute.

With eight bright, shimmery colors, the new line of waterproof, long-wearing liquid liners is just in time for surf days and lounging by the pool.

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