Ah I keep looking at it

Ugh! It feels like there's something on my face whenever I look at it.

If it's gone the next time I look, I'm gonna freak out

Lordy, that's a big spider

This spider is in my house. I don't think I was able to fully capture how freaking huge it is with my puny camera phone. It's as big as my hand.

Here is a picture of my hand for comparison. I have pretty normal sized lady hands and it is as big as my hand, including fingers. What.

OH GOD! It's cleaning it's feet with its fangs! It's like a terrifying kitty cat.

It keeps moving! Ahh! Stay in one place, Christ!

This spider also visited me a few days ago, he was slightly less frightening.

Look at him, he's kind of adorable.

I think it's safe to say that my rein as Spider Queen is continuing. Why do they flock to me so? Damn you, Australia!

Also, this trash can appears to have become animate and is in search of freedom. I think it's looking at me...

Look at it...Look at it's face.

My internet's being really slow and I think I should go and restart the router dealy, but I'm too scared of getting murdered. Don't read that thing I linked to a few days ago about self defence! I still can't sleep and every noise frightens me.

Packing list for the paranoid - beach edition

So I'm thinking of starting a kind of weekly/fortnightly, may change depending on how lazy I am, thing. I'm quite paranoid (you may have noticed) and I'm always worried about what to bring to events and things I go to, so this is things that I'm glad I brought and things that I wish I had brought, also things that were not used. I will also put things that are related to packing and such in the tag.

Up first is beach things/beach essentials.

- Swimmers (obviously)
- Sunscreen and insect repellant, depends on where you live, but sunscreen is a must
- Bottles of water, assuming that you will be at the beach for a fairly long period of time, you will need water and getting a headache of dehydration at the beach is no fun
- Wear flowy clothes or shorts
- A hat
- A towel
- Cleanser and moisturiser, I hate that salty, sticky feeling you get after swimming in the ocean and sunscreen feels gross too, so cleansing your face before you leave will stop it from getting all up in your pores.
- Pain killers, you never know when the aforementioned headache will strike
- Girl necessities, wouldn't it suck if you got an unprepared visit AND you were at the beach?
- Flippie floppies, best beach shoes
- A sarong, or something you can wrap around yourself while you're not in the water
- Essential beauty items that you might need, eg. lip balm, moisturiser, sun burn cream (aloe vera gel), small amounts of shampoo and conditioner (incase you get stranded)

Waiting for a bus and you're really hot? Here are some tips!

Stand in the shade
Stand in the breeziest spot there is
Wear a hat
Bring a bottle of water

Bring a body spray that has mint in it
Put on a flavored lip balm - chapped lips will be even more annoying when you're really hot and the flavor will distract you for a bit
Don't keep checking your watch
Wear flowy clothes
Wear sunglasses - a tint makes everything look cooler and then you can spend your time watching people as well
Put your hands on your hips - more airflow around your arms and middle, and allows for sweat to evaporate easily
Listen to music/play a game on your phone - distraction works surprisingly well and before you know it a nice air conditioned bus will be there to pick you up
Put peppermint lotion on your legs and arms
Sit down, if it's in shade, otherwise standing is best

Sigma brushes compared to MAC

So I just got an order of Sigma brushes a few days ago and I am so ready to tell you guys how much I love them.

So a quick overview of all the Sigma brushes that I have and Sigma in general. They're awesome, really soft, don't shed much, pick up colour really easily, I'd say they're equal to MAC brushes, but with a much lower price and not as readily available, there are also some brushes that MAC doesn't have, for example: the precision brushes, which are amazing. They always send you a sample with your order, and they're not tiny little whatevers, they've sent me two travel sized E25s (over two orders) and my friend got a mini eyeshadow of each of the palettes namesake (ie. Dare, Flare and Bare eyeshadows). They frequently (I think every month) have 10% off voucher codes and are just in general an awesome company.

The brushes all dry quickly (except for the Sigmax ones which take a bit longer because they’re so dense) and keep their shape well, I haven’t found many to shed much either.

These are the ones I received a few days ago, I also have the F80, F82, F84 and another E25 and E55

I will be comparing the Sigma E30 to the MAC 219 to start off

Very similar brushes, the E30 has a more pointed, tapered tip than the 219, the E30's hand is a lot longer, they both feel really soft and nice, the E30 maybe a bit softer. I found that the E30 picked up colour better than the 219. It works with cream and powder product, also wet powders, and works amazingly. I think the E30 is better than the MAC 219, I still love MAC, but the Sigma brushes are cheaper and the same or better.

Sigma E25 to MAC 217

So once again, very similar brushes. I do like the MAC 217 more than the E25, the E25 is a little more scratchier than the 217 and it's bristles are not as tapered, so for what I like to use the 217 for (blending in the crease, applying a wash of colour all over the eye), I prefer the MAC one, but the E25 is still a very good brush and I still use it for the crease and everything, I would reach for the 217, maybe because of familiarity or just that it's slightly more scratchy.

Sigma E55 to MAC 252 and also the Loew-Cornell 3/8" 270 Maxine's Mop

It's hard to decide which I like the most with these three. I don't really like the 252 for a lot of things, I originally bought it for powder mineral concealer, and it was good for that, but now I use the Lancome Effacernes concealer and I use the E40 for that (more on that later), so its turned into an eyeshadow brush and I actually have two of the for some crazy reason. It doesn’t really pick up product very well, it was good for concealer because it didn’t pack on too much colour, but not so much for eyeshadow. So after that debacle, I bought the Loew-Cornell 3/8” because a lot of people said it was a good dupe for the MAC, which I think it is, just like the E55, it packs on colour really well, picks up colour easily, doesn’t shed much at all (hasn’t shed a single hair since I got it). So compared to the 252, the Sigma E55 and the Loew-Cornel 3/8” are tied, you’ll probably be able to buy the Sigma one easier if you live in Australia though.

Sigma F20 and F82 to MAC 182

So when I bought the 182 I used it for mineral foundation and powder, though I really love the brush, I now don’t really have a use for it. My current foundation brush is now the F82 round top kabuki from Sigma and I love it. It really does give an airbrushed look, doesn’t absorb any product, blends everything in beautifully. I use the Sigma F20 for powder now as well, and I really like it, compared to the 182, they feel nearly exactly the same on my skin, the 182 is a bit denser.

And just a small review of the Sigma E40 because I don't have the MAC version, but I love this brush

This is my new favourite concealer brush; it works so well with blending my concealer so that it looks natural. Love it! It’s also really fun to use…I don’t know why, it just is. Its super fluffy so it blends really nicely, hasn’t shed so far, it dries quickly and is just pretty much awesome.

I want a safe room

I just read this article on self-defense and it has thoroughly freaked me out. I never really thought about how a burglar would check if a home was empty before ransacking the place, all these times that I've gotten Mr. Stabby out and sat in a corner because I heard a noise has been good instinct! I could have been killed!

So I've decided that when I buy a house, I want one with a basement or an extra room that I can reinforce with titanium and put one of those machines that makes water from air and canned food in, for the event of someone trying to murder me/WW3/if it floods again.

I've been trying to figure out what the controllers on my air conditioner mean ever since I got it

Pssh...owners manual for an air conditioner, as if I need that, right?

Yep, I needed it. I have been guessing what the little snow flake and the sun meant for several years now.

So my options were:
Sun for summer, it's summer so I want cold air
or
Sun creates warmth, I would like more sun, please

Turns out number 2 was the one. I'm not sure how I've been operating my air conditioner until now, always confused as to whether I'm hot or I'm just freaking out about the damn nuclear control panel I have in my hand.

I will never understand temperature. 23 degrees C on cool setting is quite cold, 23 degrees C on warm setting is quite warm, what the truck? Is the number even meant to be in degrees? Because 23C in summer for us is super cold.

Okay, I'm pretty sure my air conditioner is haunted. I set it to snowflake for cold and it switched itself to the sun...what is going on?! Stuff keeps on freaking me out today. I swear I saw something move outside my window a couple of minutes ago, but there was nothing there. It feels like there's something moving in the corner of my eye...like in Doctor Who.

I watch too much sci-fi. I totally didn't go to a sci-fi convention this weekend...and I totally didn't dress as River Song or anything. Next year I'm going all out though, like super crazy order a cosplay costume from Japan and do my hair all crazy and awesome.