#if i get annoyed enough i might just discontinue it even though part three is already over 20k words because i'm petty and spiteful.

[hannie-dul-set]

inconsiderate nabi asks within the span of a week: three.

number of comments/feedback/reblogs with tags on the same fic in the same week and more: zero.

[jennrypan]

I rewrote the part where Scourge and Sonic have that "Just like me convo" so it can fit my au of them.

____________________

Fiona cheating on him with his anti didnt make Sonic angry..

Fiona actively lying to him didnt piss him off, maybe annoyed him..but it didnt piss him off.

What did piss him off however was how she antagonized Amy and Tails, and how she seemed to preen at the slightest attention Scourge gave her..because she wanted someone to protect her..someone to care about her, he didnt know..and what set him off was how she slapped Tails away, mocked him for crying and all to impress his anti! 

"What the hell Fiona!?" 

Sonic snapped, though this just caused the vixen to roll her eyes before she looked at him..god her attitude was grating his nerves,

"What?" She mused as if she didnt just slap his best friend for no reason,

That ..that made him scowl, and without warning he moved- he wanted to actually..throw her, her attitude annoyed him, her disregard for his friends pissed him off- he hadnt accounted for Scourge actually protecting her, as when he moved..so did the green hedgehog and before he could touch Fiona a fist crushed into his cheek causing him to let out a sharp grunt and lose his footing for a brief minute, instantly turning his attention towards Scourge..he still had that same sleazy smile..taunting. 

"Bad move, blue." 

Scourge drawled out, and Sonic just clicked his tongue watching as Scourge slowly paced around him..hes been itching to fight him for who knows how long..that much Sonic knew, but Sonic just hummed,

"Oh so you can help other people besides yourself, I was beginning to worry you had no redeeming qualities!" He stated sounding visibly amused, 

Scourge just scoffed lowly, "Please, thats not a redeemin quality, raise your standards." He sneered, and without warning he ran forward..and the fight began.

Amy had since charged at Fiona but Sonic could barely focus on that as Scourge kept matching him blow for blow..only thing was Scourge was a lot more violent..a lot more aggressive.

It wasnt everyday Sonic worked up a sweat fighting an opponent as not many people matched his speed..Shadow and Metal were the only ones..now Scourge had been added to that list of people that seem to want to kill him for no reason.

"Jeez its hard to believe someone so bitter could be me, like damn dude, did your favorite jacket get discontinued?" 

Even during this fight Sonic didnt stop being taunting, as he landed on top of a rock- narrowly avoiding being kicked into a tree, watching as Scourge turned towards him, his eyes were surprisingly still shielded by his shades but Sonic could still feel him glaring at him, 

Scourge moved again and this time he successfully swiped Sonics legs from underneath him and when Sonic fell the blue hedgehog instinctively moved to the side as Scourges fist came crashing into the floor were his head had previously been,

"Lets see you keep makin jokes when I break your fuckin legs." Scourge hissed- despite his words he sounded delighted by the thought, pleased with the thought of hurting him and hes use to this from Shadow and Metal, they were both assholes who worked with Eggman on their worst days and they just genuinely didnt like him that much but Scourge? Theyve only met three times before this and he didnt remember antagonizing the male enough to make him want to hurt him that much-

Scourge charged forward once more and Sonic quickly moved to the side, arm pulling back before he crashed his fist into the side of Scourges face as he had done to him earlier..knocking the shades from his face which caused his anti to pause briefly, glancing down at the shades for a millisecond as they landed on the floor, cracked and lopsided.

That millisecond was soon forgotten as Scourge retaliated..his body moved lower and his leg rose before he kicked Sonic straight in the chest causing the male to grunt, stumbling back at the force but the kick wasnt enough as Scourge had soon punched him in the stomach,

"God- I still got a few more jokes- first, those shades were lame anyways- not a joke but a fact!" 

Sonic stated quickly, jumping out of the way from Scourge once more as the male just growled,

"Im not takin shit from someone who thinks 'Way past cool' is a thing people actually say!" Scourge retorted, 

"Hey people said it before!" 

"No ones ever said that shit before!" 

It went on like this for what seemed like a few minutes with both of them arguing with each other, Sonic just wanted to see exactly why Scourge was going out of his way to hurt him- even trying to actually break his leg if he was given the chance..the rage was so weird..he knew antis were different but he didnt expect his anti to be so..angry,  so violent- his anti seemed more like a very verbal Shadow with the way he kept attacking him, 

"Ya know being an asshole isnt as rewarding as ya think it is right?" 

Sonic questioned- grunting when he got into a tree, thankfully avoiding Amy as she chased Fiona around still, she had tried to help but Fiona kept distracting her.

"Pfft, its more rewardin than wastin my time saving a buncha useless dicks who dont deserve it!" Scourge replied, sounding amused by the sheer thought of saving someone else...Sonic couldnt imagine not wanting to save people..yeah sometimes he thought some people didnt deserve it but still, 

"Youre still a Sonic! Still me- you should want to at least try and help people!"

"Why? Cuz thats what you do?" 

Scourge just laughed and without warning he moved forward..punched him in the stomach, then his chest- he didnt wait for a retaliation as he kicked him into a tree, he found with the purpose to bruise and scar while Sonic fought to distance and distract-

His head spun for a split moment, the wind knocked out of him, 

"You dont get it! Rulin people with fear and hate, is soo much better than tryna be some glorified saint!" 

Scourge stated, his eyes were blazing..the rage was back..he looked nothing like him right now..something was off, Sonic didn't like how unhinged he was,  how cruel- 

"That isnt true, and it never will be."

Sonic declared and Scourge just sneered at him, laughing, fist pulling back as Sonic quickly moved from his spot, his knuckles slammed into bark instead of Sonics nose,

"When you finally realize not everyone deserves to be saved, when you see how much more freein it is to be above people than to depend on them- you'll be like me, all it takes is one bad day, one bad situation and you'll see that." Scourge hummed out, side stepping as Sonic went to kick him, only to have his leg grabbed and he was forcefully thrown down, causing him to grunt lowly, and without warning Scourge stepped on his chest, Sonic could only stare at him for a brief moment before he just grinned- 

"Thats where your wrong dude, a bad day doesnt just make someone a villain..but a good day? A good day could change a lot, all it takes is someone showing you an ounce of kindness, someone showin you the love you never got and you'll be like me, a good person..maybe even a hero." He stated, grinning.

He expected another mocking laugh instantly, expecting Scourges foot to press down but for a brief minute..the green hedgehog paused, eyes widening ever so slightly, and for that minute Sonic was sure he got to him..he knew deep down Scourge wasnt evil, he could just show him he didnt have to be like this, he could help him..he didnt know anything about his anti besides the fact something was severely wrong with his mental state and he took too much enjoyment in hurting him but he knew he wasnt evil.

Then.. the green hedgehog just smiled, his expression hardening as if it hadnt changed in the first place, 

"How naive." 

He sneered and that slowly shattered Sonics hopes of getting through to him..he just dismissed his words-

"Not naive..hopeful." Sonic retorted, moving his arm to grab his ankle but his foot had moved towards his neck and Sonic jolted- the malice in his eyes was so..floundering..he could never imagine that look on his own face.

"Same thing." Scourge stated dismissively, and Sonic didnt get the chance to reply as a blur of yellow and brown crashed into Scourge, pushing the older teen to the ground successfully allowing Sonic to sit up instantly,

"Get away from him you bully!" Tails screamed, Sonic heard Scourge cursing and soon Tails was thrown back, causing Sonic to quickly move to catch him.

"Thanks bud." Sonic murmured, staring at Scourge who just fixed his jacket- appearing inconvenienced as Fiona neatly landing besides him as Amy ran up next to Sonic, "Stop running you coward!" The pink hedgehog hissed, Scourge just plucked out a warp ring from his jacket, just smiling at Sonic.. His smile was so..mean looking, it was too sharp..too fake,

"Til next time blue."  

Was all Scourge said in a sing song like voice as he let Fiona into the portal first and he followed quickly after just as Amy chucked her hammer in their direction, who she was aiming at specifically he had no clue.

"Dammit! Stupid! Assholes, ugh!" Amy screamed, storming over to snatch her hammer up,

"Theyre such bullies! Why did I even like her!" Tails exclaimed, Sonic just frowned before he sighed quietly, glancing from Amy to Tails. 

"Lets just go, theyre gone now, might as well enjoy the peace." He stated with a simple shrug, giving them a small smile, the smile made Amy visibly melt while it comforted Tails slightly, the young pink hedgehog was at his side instantly, clutching his arm- which he allowed for the time being while Tails was a little slower to approach him, still dejected.

He knew his anti despised him but he'll never get the reason why, and unfortunately..Scourge was too far gone to talk down from whatever path he was taking..the friendly route was no longer an option.

[incorrect-pokespe-quotes]

I read every single Emerald fic on FFN so you don’t have to

There are 66 fics with Emerald listed in the tags. 

First, I took out any fic that was either not in English or actually gameverse, leaving me with 38 fics-- though I will say, the Spanish fics look like they slap

After filtering out “everyone appears” fics (I skimmed them to make sure) I was left with 26 fics. (While I would like to include “everyone appers” fics, I do not have the time nor motivation to read 30,000 words of derring-do and melodramatic heroics seventeen times in a row for Emerald to show up, deliver 2 lines, shoot something, and leave)

From there, I sorted them into various categories based on whether Emerald was a BG character or not, whether the fic had romance, whether Emerald was actually PART of that romance, etc. Then, finally, I was ready. 

Below the cut are the reviews of all twenty six fanfictions!

Category 1: BG Emerald      Every fic needs side characters, whether to provide extra voices or comedic relief or just a foil for the MCs. These fics don’t feature Emerald in a huge capacity, but he’s there and that’s what matters to me. I came into this site expecting anything: third wheel Rald, wingman Rald, Im-only-here-to-complain-about-your-flirting-Rald... I found everything but! It seems the most cliche writers among us don’t like using the Emerald tag, bc the few Frantic-with-BG-Emerald fics with I did find turned out to be spectacular! I’m pleasantly surprised and impressed. 

1. That Special Someone - Team Cap      Cap is on this list like 30 times so get used to it. This fic is mostly about Ruby refusing to shut up about Sapphire and how much he loves her (and how Emerald finds it infuriating). The details of this fic are super cute and the way Ruby and Emerald interact added 3 years to my lifespan, so I highly recommend this one if you want a nice, relaxing read involving the Hoenn boys (dare I say best boys?). In short, read this fic and all of Cap’s other fics while you’re at it.

2. A Picnic - Team Cap      Oh look. It’s Cap again. This fic, surprise surprise, is also good, and while it’s a little more basic than the others (Emerald runs into Ruby/Sapphire at a park and they mess around), it’s still cute and I still love it! Not really much else to say here... but the fic is good and I recommend if you’re in for some light domestic reads. 

3. High Hopes and Checkered Skies - aromatisse      I’ll be honest: my general opinion of frantic fics with BG Emerald is... low. A lot of them shoehorn my poor boy into whatever the plot requires at the cost of his characterization but this fic really surprised me in the best way! This one features Sapphire bringing Ruby to a “special place” the two of them arguing, and Emerald having to patch things up (mature Emerald? I don’t believe it!!). I found this fic while making this list and immediately bookmarked it bc THIS SHIT GOOD FAM. Please read this. 

4. Alpha and Omega- Ruby and Sapphire's Thoughts - Shadoweevee70     Not much to say about this to be honest. It’s exactly what it says on the tin. No plot, no development, not even 500 words. Emerald has a line. I think two. 

5. Boundaries - Team Cap     This fic hurt my heart. Though it focuses on Wally’s one-sided crush on Sapphire, there’s a touch of Emerald in there acting as Wally’s emotional support buddy, which tells me that either Emerald has matured or Hoenn is just devoid of emotionally stable individuals. Regardless, this fic is heartbreaking and beautiful but contains very little Emerald, so therefore I have very little to review. In short... not a lot of Rald, but you should read it anyway. 

6. Summer Days - eonentity      Crystal and Silver go on a “date” and Gold + Emerald try and stop them. It’s cute, it’s honestly kind of creepy if you think about it, and it involves Emerald. While the premise is kind of sketch, the banter between Gold and Emerald is incredible and I really like the general progression of the plot (especially the ending!) This is a very cute fic if you’re looking for something simple to read. Highly recommend, utilizes Emerald as a character really well!

Category 3: MC Emerald (gen)       This... this is my bread and butter baby. These fics run the gamut from friendship to domestic to drabbles to angst and everything in between, but the gist of it is that it includes Emerald as a focus without pairing him off. Not to say this is my favorite category... but it is. I’m biased, sue me. 

1. Family Inclusion - Team Cap      They say to leave the best for last, but I disagree. You’ll realize pretty quickly that Cap is one of my favorite authors to appear in this tag, and this fic is one of her best! I’m focusing on Chapter 3 (that’s the part with Emerald) where he has to entertain a shiny baby Ralts while Ruby and Sapphire are away (everybody say awwww). The fic is stupid cute, and while it doesn’t really offer much in terms of character development or stakes, it’s the type of domestic fluff you can read over and over and still find just precious each and every time. Also... Emerald takes care of a baby pokemon how can you NOT love that. Seriously. Look at this. 

2. At the Amusement Park - Team Cap       Oh wow, another Cap fic I really like. What a surprise. I’m astounded /s. This fic focuses on Emerald’s dilemma of being short at a place where height restrictions mercilessly mock the vertically challenged and how he deals with it with the “help” of Ruby and Sapphire. Though there is background Frantic (which shouldn’t really come as a surprise), this fic mostly focuses on Emerald’s insecurities and his relationship with the trio. It’s introspective, it’s wholesome, I’ve read it six or seven times (I lost count). Regardless, it’s good, and like every other Cap fic on this list, I demand you read it. That is a threat. 

3. Frantic Fight - Puph17      Any fic that drops a line like “margarine is in vogue” within the first three lines is immediately propelled to my top ten fics of all time list and this is clearly no exception. Despite the name, this isn’t franticshipping, just Ruby and Sapphire bickering and Emerald / Wally being annoyed about it. This fic, hands down, is one of the funniest pieces of fanfiction I’ve ever read on this godforsaken site. I am begging you to read this fic, if not for Emerald with a megaphone for the sheet amount of laughter it will cause. This fic may not be deep but it sure as hell is hysterical. ... Well, what are you waiting for? Why are you still here? Go read the fic, we’re wasting daylight. 

4. Weird War - storm-aurora      This is another fic I think I’ve probably read a dozen times and refuse to get tired of. Emerald and Sapphire are having a paintball fight in Slateport market, and I literally could not ask for a better friendship fic. The writing is high quality, the characters are very accurate (altho bc this is fanfic it doesn’t matter all that much), the friendships feel real, they’re having a paintball war.... everything about this is ideal. This is the quality content I live for. Please PLEASE read this fic, you’ll be happy you did. Close this tab and go read it immediately for your sake and mine. 

5. Skydrop - ayasato      Not a lot of people write about Emerald. The ones that do, for whatever reason, seem to do it very, VERY well. This fic, which is so long it might as well be considered an epic, is probably the piece de resistance of Emerald friendship fics. While not as snappy or funny or domestic as some of the other fics in this list, it more than makes up for it with a beautifully built slowburn friendship between Emerald and Sapphire, my favorite take on his living situation I’ve ever seen, and enough introspection to make your high school English teacher swoon. This fic is a must for any Emerald fan, even if it takes like an hour to read in full. It may be long but it’s magnificent.

6. Croissant Kings - ayasato      The fact that this fic is discontinued is irrefutable proof that this is the timeline god abandoned. Emerald and Pearl running a croissant stand is quite possibly the single most absurd fic concept I’ve ever heard but... it works. Somehow? It works. This fic is perhaps, hands down, one of the most ridiculously entertaining concepts and executions I have ever seen in my life. Everything about it, from the setup to the writing to just Emerald being Emerald is so raw and so ridiculous that I smile fondly when I think of it. I wish there were more than 3 chapters, however...

7. Perfect - Micah Debrink      I’m gonna be straight with y’all: I don’t like this fic. I’m not too sure what the plot is, and it was certainly an interesting read, but not my cup of tea. It’s good, don’t get me wrong; the writing is mature, very well paced, and overall well-written, but something about the characterizations is just not vibing with me. Thus, I’m not gonna pretend I thought this fic was perfect (har har) but I will say it’s something you should give a try. I’m admittedly a very biased party, so maybe you’ll enjoy this fic more than I did. For sure give it a shot, because maybe you’ll like it more than I did. This ain’t my jam, but it’s quality preserves nonetheless.

8. Roost - ayasato      This is short and sweet and may have some Sapphire/Emerald crushing if you squint, but overall a fun read. Very short, very good, give it a shot. This author is very high quality and that’s that on that. 

9. One Day - Jian-Kenkoku      This is short yet again but has a super interesting (if poorly explained) premise: Emerald gets adopted by Gold / his mom! This short oneshot details his first day, and while it is a tad rushed, it gives me the Emerald family content I have been sorely lacking. Not sure if this is one of my “reread until my eyes bleed” fics, but it’s certainly worth the trouble of reading through! It’s very cute and I recommend!

10. Emerald: Lying to Himself - reminiscent-afterthought        Very poetic and extremely well-written, but less than 200 words. This fic took me thirty seconds to read and it feels like time well spent. Please read it, even if for the sole reason that it’s super short. It’s also a super poetic way to talk about the Emerald arc. 

11. Go Away Gold! - jayfeatherelle      Ah yes, the “little brother enlists the help of a prankster to keep apart his sister and her boyfriend” trope... This may be cliche, but it sure as hell was enjoyable! Emerald enlists the help of Meddler Blue (side note: where did this trope come from bc she never does anything in canon that would be qualified as meddling other than just messing with Red at any given opportunity). Anyway, this fic is adorable, has a lesson at the end (that surprised me), had a really mature conclusion, and gave me Blue / Emerald friendship I really didn’t know I needed. In short? This is a cliche done well. It’s predictable, sure, but that’s not a bad thing! If anything, it’s a great nostalgic read. 

12. What if: Emerald never met Crystal - LetEveryoneOveraRip        This fic stole the last little bit of hope I didn’t even know I still had. You thought it couldn’t get more violent or sad? You were wrong. Everyone dies. This fic made me sad for like 45 minutes and I feel emotionally manipulated. I guess I should have seen this coming. Not much else to say except that this fic made me really sad, which, of course it did, but I still feel cheated out of a happy ending regardless. 

13. Emerald Owner’s Guidance and Maintenance Manual - Pokerescue18    Nothing happens in this fic. It’s literally an instruction manual and it’s well written and all but also has no plot. It is quite literally what it says in the title, so perhaps this should have been obvious but even still, I was left confused after reading this. I think I need a nap. 

14. Through My Eyes - Kaith1    Relationship angst that hurt my heart. This is less than 400 words so again, took me only around a minute to leave but the emotional impact scarred me for life. Very well done! This fic details Emerald’s inner turmoil as Gold and Crystal get together and Emerald worries he’ll be abandoned again. While I do feel like Emerald hating the two of them for getting together is a little ehhh, this fic does a great job of showing why Emerald would be so upset about it and his inner motivations for being so hurt by it. While I don’t agree, the author made me “get it” a little more, and for that I say bravo! 

15. At the Fair - IanDonyer      This one is short and focuses on Emerald meeting a security guard at a Halloween fair kinda deal. It’s also one of the first Emerald fics on FFN, released far before the remakes even came out! While obviously it doesn’t contain much in terms of character development, it also was written with only the Emerald arc to go off of-- so I can easily overlook any character inconsistencies. That being said, this fic is really cute and uses the OC pov really well! If you’re looking for a blast from the past, check this fic out! 

Category 4: Emerald shipping fics      On the rare occasion where the blue moon hangs melancholy in the sky, the planets align, and starlight rains down from the heavens... someone ships Emerald with another character. Romantically. Not sure where the aversion to shipping him came from, but for whatever reason everyone prefers him single. These authors, these brave knights, they’re changing that. Hell yeah for romance. 

1. Left Out - RedCharmeleon       Not to be like “this fic is painfully straight...” but yknow. Emerald is upset at Gold/Crystal’s wedding because he’s the only single one and needs a girlfriend. There’s also a “what are you, gay?” joke in here, which soured my mood for the rest of the fic. I’ll be honest, I never really liked the “all male protag / female protag ships and then taking Silver, Pearl, and Emerald and pairing them off with OCs” deal, so I’m heavily biased against this fic, but the writing is decent and the plot is fine. If you enjoy this style of plot (everyone needs to be paired up, blushing galore, love at first sight, everyone acts like they stumbled out of a hallmark movie script) then this is the fic for you!

2. Glances - Diemerald      A collection of drabbles about Emerald and Wally becoming friends and falling in love. I’ve read it seven times now. While the plot is a tad disjointed because of the format, this author really NAILS Emerald’s character. Emerald (and Wally) show a lot of growth between the snippets and god it’s so beautiful I need more of it. Please read this fic. Tell your neighbors about this fic. This fic is fantastic. 

2. Revolvershipping Cuddles - Charmerruby     You’re never gonna guess what this one is about. It’s very cute but it’s literally just fluff. Very cute, like marshmallows. This is kinda short so there isn’t really much to say, but I will am starving for Emeruby content, so though this be but little, it be fierce. And fluffy. Did I mention cute? This fic is so filled with love my heart grew three sizes after reading it. I could keep calling it adorable, but I don’t think that’s productive. Spend the time reading this fic instead. 

3. Misunderstandings - Pokeluv101      Reading this was very weird because I know the person who made the OC the story is centered around. Reading even the names thrust me so violently back into my middle school days I can almost taste the edge. It’s very good, and I suggest giving it a read even if you’re not a huge dexholder/OC fan. Also tsun Emerald is good Emerald. 

4. Unexpected - Diemerald     A fic about Emerald and Yellow falling in love. Not exactly my cup of tea so I skimmed it but this author is really good so it’s a great fic, even if it’s not to my tastes. I suggest giving it at least a once over because this author worked hard and I respect them, even if this isn’t really... my thing. Check it out!

5. Big Changes - Aquatales     You know how I said I would read every Emerald fic? I lied. This one is about Emerald getting genderbent and immediately shipped with Wally against his will by his friends. Reading the summary gave me hives and I could not bring myself to read it in full.

Final Thoughts      While I’ll be honest and say that I did find some of the the cliche fics I was expecting, I was incredibly and happily surprised to discover that more often than not, the people who bother to publish Emerald fics really care about his character and publish some pretty high quality stuff, and that’s pretty damn cool. There are shipping fics, BG Emerald fics, MC Emerald fics, and most of them are pretty fantastic! Way to go spe fandom writers, you did my boy justice, all..... 10 of you.

[crystalized-dreams]

Will you ever upload more abyssrium or word villas or some other mobile games?

In general, mobile games are really tricky to record. I used to have a fairly decent program I used-- Side Sync, but it’s been discontinued and is now broken. I can still kind of use it (as I did with my recent Pocket Camp video and the STYLIT video), but it’s a huge pain and skews the video entirely as essentially the vertical game is being shown squished into a horizontal perspective. There is no fix. 

I haven’t found a program that works for my needs. The closest I can find either have a monthly fee (I don’t mind buying something once, but I don’t use things enough to justify a monthly fee), some kind of recording mark over the video and/or will record sound through the microphone. I actually generally play mobile games muted and live in a very loud house so that helps no one. Or they aren’t for screen sharing at all and are really just to get your emails/alerts which I don’t need.

And Samsung Flow, Side Sync’s replacement, is honestly terrible. I can’t get it to work. 

While I could consider an emulator, the issue there is not all games properly carry over progress and my computer is slowly having more issues and just can’t always run them. I do try to use an Emulator for games where I know I will play for a long time, but it can be pretty glitchy (Using Choices and Hogwarts Mystery as examples, my progress isn’t always properly saved and sometimes I have to redo things on my phone after). 

As for the games you specifically asked about, being completely honest, I don’t think I’d be uploading more of Abyssrium or Word Villas regardless as, to put it nicely, both have became a bit too greedy for me. 

Before I go into it, I want to say I never have an issue with putting money into a game I enjoy. I’ve spent a lot on Abyssrium and a fair amount on Word Villas. But I have very little patience with subscriptions for one and I just... haven’t enjoyed a lot of choices either game has made recently (of the two, despite playing Abyssrium longer, I think Word Villas has made me more upset about the direction they’ve gone). 

This will also get quite long, so....

My first worry with Abyssrium came with the pearls. I dislike second currencies and we already had some expensive things (they had a Mermaid for $100 for crying out loud, but they at least seemed to be slowing down with that). Next were some of the event features... like the 150 gift boxes for an event fish. That is A LOT of constantly logging in and I am very much a “let be just be done ASAP and be good” person (I’ll be talking about this more in an upcoming entry) so the added walls were another thing really making me kind of anxious about Abyssrium.

Then they added subscriptions. No ads (which with the amount of their stupid events that required you to watch ads now was HUGE to save time) and the adorable Puffin taunted me, as I had every other fish up to this point. I couldn’t justify $7 a week for that though so I only ever temporarily did the subscription whenever an event happened.

And thus our problem-- we started getting monthly events. Which included a $10-$20 exclusive new species (and sometimes even a second one for you to spend even more money on). And also new dailies which removed more accessible pearl getting, but also were another layer to these events as every single one would have a whole second set of objectives with one that required you to complete 3 Dailies in a row. 

I rarely did the dailies, partially due to my burnt out issues when it comes to monotonous tasks, but also because I find tapping incredibly painful. So I was killing my wrist every single event. And that adds up fast.

It was just too much to keep track of. And then they added in a gacha system too that cost event currency or materials and it just... it was too much. This was too much every month and like why I dropped Pocket Camp (and now only really check in for the special gifts), I just couldn’t take a chance to breathe. 

Adding in Abyssrium Pole just made it worse which continued some of the worst parts of the original while also making things even slower at times and it’s a shame as there’s some really neat things they did with it, but it was just annoying. 

This doesn’t even go into all the other little intricacies I had with some events (Like having to create more than one of each or remake ones I already had because of some objective), but it was just exhausting. 

----

As for Word Villas... Just... ugh, I think what really breaks my heart with this is I LOVE decorating games, but I HATE Match Three′s with a passion so this was so much more my speed and they just had to ruin it. I don’t know if I’ll ever find a replacement either because for some reason every single time someone makes a decoration-based game, they have Match Three firmly printed on their forehead. 

I’m going to bullet-print this one because none of it really requires the long description as Abyssrium did for the most part, but it’s just a lot of frustrations and the fact that they just didn’t seem to care about their fans up to this point.

Constant events. Some people hated these events as they just wanted more rooms, but I actually really enjoyed them! The issue mainly came as they were just, like Abyssrium’s issue, happening constantly. I would’ve been fine with a break of no updates, but it was getting a bit exhausting to constantly be doing event stuff... Especially as the events generally required 60 levels minimum to get everything (Some only required 40 but it was still a lot) and it was just tiring to power through so many due to the limited time.

Similarly, there was a glitch with the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year event and not everyone even got the photo, yet they were never able to fix this. 

We also started getting Competitive Events which nobody really seemed to want? Myself included. The game was a solo game. This was entirely pointless and making some items only available to the person in first was super scummy, especially when some people were already out of levels and thus, couldn’t keep going for that #1 spot in the first place. 

The Blossom Problem - Blossoms are no longer even in the game, having been replaced by Blue tickets which you can only get randomly through certain things ooor by buying them with a premium currency that you can only get with real money... yet these are now used to get things the blossoms were-- Collectibles that can be used as decorations in various house areas. Some people had over 50,000 blossoms built up only for them to be dumped. They kept asking for more things to be used on. Blossoms were only gotten for hitting certain combo streaks and while not having the combo streak pressure is nice, it’s still a huge slap in the face to long-term players who saved up. 

The writing is kind of spotty. In all honesty, I glance over this a lot as I like the characters quite a bit, but anytime the main character talks with her best friend about dieting and not wanting to get fat when they’re super thin, I just cringe. The dialogue is unneeded. It’s a game for crying out loud. And honestly, proof reading is needed. 

They did recently let use customize the MC’s appearance to an extent, but we still can’t change her eye color or skin color and hairstyles are set to whatever color they are. But we can’t adjust her sleepwear appearance... 

The Premium Currency - There’s just... no ways to get this in-game (or if there are, I have not found them and it’s definitely not much) and yet they keep adding more things that require them. 

New Visual Novel feature? Every choice that is somewhat romantic or just not being awful requires it. And this is a shame as I’d genuinely love to read some. 

Furniture options you like? Might require it. (Heck, the only other option in the current “limited” boardwalk decorating does each time). 

Certain customization options? Require it. 

As a note, I’m not even necessarily against premium currencies as long as the prices are fair and it’s possible to earn in-game too, but otherwise when your game has a huge focus on customization and/or collecting, it’s essentially pay to win and that’s a problem. 

My biggest issue as we get more and more currencies though is the main one often ends up taking a backseat because of it. 

As I mentioned above with Abyssrium, I have no issue purchasing games, but I think having to repeatedly pay to remove ads is super dumb and getting ads between rounds is so annoying, but I don’t always play enough to justify paying every month to remove ads. I also just find it kind of distasteful. 

The upped star costs. I get that I’m pretty far in, but needing 3 minimum to 4 or 5 Stars at a time now to do things is honestly just kind of boring. I liked to do bursts of levels than story, but now I just have to do too many levels to do that and I can’t switch off enough to keep myself from getting burnt out. 

The stupid mission pass thing. Let. People. Play. At. Their. Own. Pace. And don’t prevent rewards just because people won’t pay for the premium version... there shouldn’t even be two versions. 

Too grindy. Too many levels needed for so many things (events, the stupid competitive stuff, etc.) and it’s just exhausting. 

The constant events also really did just end up burning me out in and off itself and then running out of my “no ads” time period due to how little I’m playing just gets me more discouraged. I used to be up to date, but I’ve been behind due to the larger costs and lack of time (and then the ad issue and ugh). I can’t even bother with most of their events lately as it just isn’t fun. 

[cozcat]

a rant about mamma mia 2, because @starlene asked...

the farther i get away from having seem mm2, the less i like it. like yes, yay, it's a fun happy movie musical with beautiful scenery and abba bops, but i don't love it nearly as much as i feel like i should, and with the general relentless love for it i feel like i need to justify it. i enjoyed watching it the first time, i saw it twice, but i'm not sure i'll be rushing to get it on dvd or to watch it again. it feels like one or two of these on their own wouldn't have even been something to note, but they obviously have added up. and i'd hope this much was obvious, but this is all a bunch of my opinions.

first off, the plot on the whole. apparently the decision to kill off donna was because meryl was busy (on the post, i think) - but they could have done anything else. donna trusts sophie to look after the villa while she reconciles with her mother, maybe, so she doesn't appear for 90% of the movie. instead we get a plot that really sours the first movie in hindsight. i'm glad that the stage show is so so different from the movie - it meant that i could sit and enjoy the brilliant australian dynamos jumping on a bed during dancing queen without it being shadowed by that grief. whereas it's harder to watch the first movie now, knowing what's to come.

they didn't even handle the decision to kill her off well. she's the heart and soul of the first movie, and we don't even know how she died. sure, they didn't want to dwell on that, but it's not something that can be ignored. was it sudden, an aneurysm or a heart attack? was it an accident, a car crash or a boat sinking? was it an illness, was it short or long? we don't even know that much, and it feels like them brushing her off. and losing someone to a sudden cause is going to be different to watching them die slowly. make this movie about her life, yes, but don't gloss over her death.

the way they shoehorned in ruby wasn't great, either. she didn't show for donna's graduation, it sounds like she didn't show at any point during sophie's childhood. it doesn't even sound like she turned up for her only daughter's funeral. but she shows up for a party. this could have been handled so much better. you've only got cher for three days? have it be ruby turning up to see donna, before or after sophie is born, as a final goodbye, a final disowning. she's supposed to be dead anyway. instead she's just really shitty. she could have had her grand dame entrance be amazing and lowkey villainous but bleh. plus, that deals with the weirdness of cher and meryl being three years apart - which isn't even an issue i'd otherwise bring up here, but it could have been avoided. not like we got a scene with them onscreen together anyway, a wasted opportunity.

i hate that they changed ruby from being a probably uptight catholic woman who disowned her daughter for getting pregnant out of wedlock to a claire zachanassian-looking vegas performer who did the exact same thing. and then they imply fernando is donna's father. which is just. weird.

it brushed off tanya and rosie too. like, a lot. there's no moment when they really get to shine, which is a shame. i wish the actors playing their younger versions had more to work with - they were brilliantly cast and brilliantly performed, but really, the parallels between their younger and older selves were reduced to cake, wine, and their libidos. they could have come to the island after sam left, had a lovely chiquitita-esque moment - as good as new, as a trio song about friendship, i don't know what. just let them be caring loving friends a bit more please.

they did kind of reduce tanya and rosie to a few personality traits, but at least you could see the connection. meanwhile young donna never gelled as donna for me. she did fine, i wasn't sold on her voice, but god, she was never donna. nothing about the way young donna was written translated to donna.

(and on her voice - she's the one singing lead, when you've got an actual broadway performer literally right there, who can definitely outsing her. at least meryl has guts to her voice, rather than sounding airy and really unenergetic. when i kissed the teacher sounds so flat.)

rosie's crush on bill was just weird and uncomfortable. again with the discontinuity, she and tanya didn't even know about harry and bill in the first movie. and now i'm supposed to believe she's harboured a crush on this guy for twenty years.

bill's twin being bill-in-a-fat-suit was also really uncomfortable. if they wanted a hilarious contrast to fake us out, give him a mullet and a really ugly suit. instead, it's 2018, let's keep making fat people are funny jokes, that's not old and offensive at all!

and another uncomfortable thing. the locals at the villa went from being a fairly mixed group in terms of age and appearance to skewing so young and generic. and we went from them sassing donna, opening a trapdoor in the ceiling and throwing her in, laughing at her - to the staff of the villa fawning over sophie. it was really weird. like, sophie grew up there, she probably knew some of them from a young age, and they look like a kalokairi version of a period drama that uses interchangable extras for the uptight and extremely well behaved staff.

on the fawning locals, going from donna inheriting money and buying the building to donna getting handed it also sucks. like, bill realises he could be sophie's father because donna inherited money from a sophia - this pretty solidly negates that. a sophia on the mainland, at that. but it also kind of cheapens donna's strength - she gets pregnant in her early twenties, but she makes it, through sheer grit, and part of that is caring for an elderly woman, and apparently doing a good enough job of that to be left money in this woman's will, and then using that to start a business. instead, she's just handed a free (admittedly crappy) building? and let's be real, no way you could start up a hotel from a rundown building when you're a broke single mother with a newborn.

wasn't sold on the design either. you can tell that it's a new location, a new director, a new costume designer. i'm sure there was a reason for the new location but it still looked odd. i don't know what it was about the costumes that didn't gel either - but they just didn't. which is weird, because michele clapton is brilliant. i think it just moved too far from the aesthetic of the movie and the stage show. too clean-cut.

they made the young dads too bland, too. sure, we probably won't going to get the full version of donna's flashbacks, but long hair on sam, make harry a bit rockier. (at least bill's hair was kind of long.) her memory would have exaggerated them, but there has to have been something to exaggerate.

and now that i think about it, i think they might have forgotten bill's knee tattoos. despite multiple instances in the first movie where the entire frame is bill's knees.

on being an abba fan - i've been a fan of abba since i was about six, so i came into this knowing the songs. i jolted in my seat at i let the music speak as an instrumental, and i wish they'd done more of that. like, that was a good move. it has brought out some gorgeous songs that a lot of people didn't know - i love i've been waiting for you, and despite the mammoth lyric rewrites, i'm glad people know it.

but they did kisses of fire dirty. it's a great song, they could have even had the supposed-to-be-awful version turn into the relatively good version on the soundtrack, rather than having donna get up and sing andante andante. it's a pretty song, it's also an incredibly slow song, so somehow it doesn't strike me as that band's genre. if they wanted to maul a bizarre song, it's not like abba is short of extremely niche specific songs they could have used. they could have used king kong song, and really they should have.

i did have the thought of dance (while the music still goes on) as a duet between donna and either harry or bill. this gets lumped into the i-could-have-done-it-better category of ideas alongside and the entire previous paragraph. alongside why did it have to be me getting some lyrics from happy hawaii thrown in the mix. they'd have fit so so well and it would be such a niche joke.

i'm also annoyed that one of the best vocal performances in the entire movie is helen sjöholm in the background singing hasta mañana. you don't see her, you have to be looking specifically to see her in the credits - like i was, having gone "oh holy shit i know this voice but it isn't agnetha or anni-frid who the fuck is it" and then losing my everloving mind. we don't have that as a recording. but we have a full length version of kisses of fire. which, to be fair, gives young rosie and tanya a bit more singing time because they got screwed in the movie. but i'm still annoyed.

also, they never told us whether or not sophie and sky got married despite it being the plot of the first one (though this may have been intentional).

also, donnie is not a great name and not a great tribute to donna, and it just makes me think of the adopted brother in the wild thornberrys, which isn't a good connection.

to conclude, it's 3am and i need to sleep and i've undoubtedly forgotten something else that massively annoyed me. there were things in it that i liked, but they aren't relevant, so they're not mentioned. but i'm going to leave it at that. apologies for any weird phrasings or repetitiveness, i'm not proofreading this, i barely even structured it.

[jessejackreyes]

Written after the whole Jeff reveal. Also on (ao3)

Echos

“Oy! Gabrielito!”

A headache. That’s apparently what was on the agenda for the day. A huge headache. He groaned at the realization, knowing full well that Sombra would bother him repeatedly and obnoxiously until he gave her the attention she wanted and he was in no mood to deal with that at the moment. So instead, he simply turned towards her, hoping it would be over quickly.

“What?” His irritated tone did nothing to dissuade her, it never did. She was too cocky for her own good.

“I got something to show you,” She waved a tablet in the air as she spoke.

“I’m not in the mood,” He grumbled, hoping in vain that she would just drop it.

“Not even if it has to do with your little soldado?” His anger flared enough for him to see red. He could hear the smug smirk as she spoke, as his body began smoking softly. It was a struggle to keep himself from lashing out.

“Don’t test me!” He growled.

“Oh relax Gabi, I have something that I’m sure you will want to see,” He really didn’t like that tone. It always meant she was about to do something that he was going to regret.

“I’m busy,” He growled out, trying to dismiss her.

“No you’re not,” She answered back simply, gesturing for him to follow. He debated responding in several ways: simply leaving, strangling her, exploding dramatically into a dark cloud. In the end he simply followed the annoying woman, it would keep her from harassing him for days until he gave in just to shut her up.

They made their way away from everyone else, all the way to Sombra’s little corner of the base. Here, at the very least they would have an impressive level of privacy. It was very difficult to spy on someone as skilled and paranoid as their resident little hacker. This also meant that she intended for whatever was going to happen to stay between the two of them. She didn’t say another word until they were in the safety of her little workshop.

“Let’s just get this over with,” He growled as the door closed behind them. “What did you want?”

“I was trawling around the UN and I found some recordings that you will find interesting,” He caught the tablet she tossed his way. “You may find it very relevant to that little soldado of yours,”

He doesn’t rise to the obvious bait, instead simply turning his focus to the video file that she had left open. It was frozen, staring into a room full of people that he recognized. First was Jack, wearing his bright blue dress uniform, hair white before it’s time. The rest of them were various members of the UN, Adawe, Woerner, Soueng, Faraji, Juarez, and last and least, Petras. This must have been some kind of meeting about the shit going on with Overwatch at the time. Instead of speculating further, he simply pressed play.

“With all due respect director,” Jack’s voice was forceful and commanding in a room full of people who were clearly not used to dealing with the man like this. “Commander Reyes has served with distinction and has gotten exemplary results for almost two decades in a very thankless job,” The man had the attention of the entire council, even Petras, though he was clearly unhappy to be being challenged.

“His service record is not in question at the moment,” The man replied, interrupting the strike commander forcefully. “This is an unmitigated disaster and we need to act.”

“I agree,” Jack replied calmly. “However, I don’t believe throwing one of our most skilled and devoted men under the bus is the appropriate response.”

“I understand that you and commander Reyes have a very long history, but we can’t simply let everything he does go because you like him,” The condescension in the director’s tone was almost as telling as the sneer he was clearly hiding.

“I was unaware that there were other allegations against commander Reyes right now,” Jack replied sharply, challenging the other man to produce such claims.

“There is nothing official, but we have all heard the rumors,” Petras returned somewhat noncommittal.

“What rumors?”

“Supporting Dr. O’Deorain’s research is the most recent.”

“There is absolutely no evidence to back up those claims,” Jack replied forcefully. “How many witch hunts that lead nowhere is it going to take to convince this council that he is simply doing his job?”

“There are very good reasons that her work was discontinued,”

“I am well aware director. I helped to shut it down,”

“Then you know how serious such allegations are,”

“Yes, and if there was any evidence to back them up I would not hesitate to act. I have, however, found none and since we are speaking hypotheticals now I would assume you don’t have any either,” Jack quickly dismissed the implication.

“Not at the moment,” Petras conceded after a brief silence. “But that’s not why we’re here,” He quickly pivoted away from that line of questioning. “Six civilians are dead and many more injured.”

“A tragic accident and not something that hasn’t happened in official missions that I have led personally.” For perhaps the first time in his life, Gabriel realized that he had never seen Jack like this, this part of his political persona, harsh, clinical and extremely intimidating. “Unfortunately, sometimes our intel is wrong and things go wrong. All we can do is our best with what we have,” The speech ended with his strong, warmer tone, inspirational, instead of intimidating.

“We cannot sit here and do nothing,” Woerner spoke up forcefully.

“I agree,” Jack responded quickly. “But we need to keep from acting rashly and causing mroe harm than good.”

“Let’s put it to a vote,” Petras declared, disrupting any continued debate. “All of those in favor of terminating Gabriel Reyes as commander of Blackwatch,” The call was followed by three hands raising, Petras, Woerner and Soueng. The scowl on Petras’ face was quite impressive as the votes were counted.

“Opposed,” Jack called out, watching as three hands rose as well: Adawe, Faraji and Juarez were opposed. A tie, three to three. The tiebreaking vote was left to the strike commander himself. “And I am opposed,” He declared, carefully hiding the triumph from his voice. Morrison and Petras’ staredown was clearly making the rest of the council nervous. Even Reaper thought it might come to blows, not that Jack was in any danger, before Adawe spoke up.

“I would suggest a compromise,” She waited until everyone’s attention was on her before elaborating. “Instead of hastily removing Reyes from command, I suggest suspending all Blackwatch activity and launching a special investigation into the organization’s actions. We can reconsider the commander’s position once we know more about the goings on behind the scenes,” There were murmurs of assent from around the table.

“Very well,” Adawe’s compromise appeared to have mollified Petras somewhat. “All in favor of suspension and launching a special investigation.” Six hands were raised, all but the strike commander’s. “Very well. Commander Reyes and all Blackwatch assets are suspended pending the completion of said investigation.” There were murmurs of approval around the table. “I trust that commander Morrison will have no problem informing the commander of our decision.”

“Of course not,” Jack replied as diplomatically as he could manage. “When this investigation turns up nothing I hope we will be able to resume operations as normal,”

The video cut out as Jack turned to leave, presumably when he had sent Gabriel the emergency call that led to them discussing the suspension, not that he had listened to the suspension. He had simply shifted his operations to being more low key and he couldn’t use Overwatch assets, but he had kept up his more important ops.

“Why did you show me this?” Gabriel had all but growled, smoking. He wasn’t sure when he had begun losing a hold of his form.

“Wait, wait wait,” She replied energetically. “That’s not even the best part.” She waved her hand and the old tablet screen shifted to another file. “I found this in the ruins of Zurich,” She explained. “The tablet belonged to the supposedly dead strike commander and it was in surprisingly good condition.”

He glanced through the file. It was in part a profile of Moira and her research and why Overwatch had discontinued supporting it, but it was not simply a profile. It included pictures of Gabriel and Moira, information about Blackwatch’s dealings with her and the resources it had given her to work with. He had no idea why Sombra would have wanted him to look at this until she mentioned that the tablet had been Jack’s.

“When?”

“He was sent the file from an unknown source six days before that meeting you saw. It was accessed sixteen separate times over those six days,”

“He lied.”

“Big time, though if you watch a bunch of the other ones, he does it a lot really,” She shrugged as she spoke. “His silver tongue puts even Akande to shame,”

“Why did you show this to me?” Reaper voice was suddenly cold, dangerous as he repeated his question. Sombra paused briefly, considering her words carefully before she responded.

“I heard your little fight in Oasis.” When Reaper didn’t interrupt, she continued. “Both of you told two seemingly very different stories and I was curious as to what actually happened.”

Gabriel’s mind drifted to Jack’s words that day. “There are a lot of things you can blame me for, but don’t you dare tell me I didn’t trust you. I trusted and stood up for you until the very end you bastard.”

He had dismissed what Jack had been saying as simply more of his lies, but now, he wasn’t so sure.

“What are you trying to accomplish?”

“No ulterior motives,” Her grin betrayed otherwise as she spoke. “I merely wished to spread the truth. You always like acting with accurate information after all.” When he didn’t respond to her casually calling him out immediately, she continued. “I put all of the recordings I could find on there and marked the ones I think would be of the most interest to you, though you might want to watch them all.”

Gabriel scrolled through a large list of several dozen videos as she spoke, internally debating whether he should just throw the damn thing away or not. He was suddenly forced to question things that he knew to be true, the distance, the lack of faith, the betrayal. These had been such integral parts of his life for years and suddenly they were in doubt, somehow. By the time he pulled himself out of his head Sombra had departed, which kept him from having to storm off at the very least.

His actual decision was made regardless of what he actually wanted. There was no way he could avoid knowing exactly what had happened when he had the opportunity. Working off of unfinished information always bothered him and this was no exception. He had to resign himself to a very long night of home movies and from the look of Sombra’s mood, it was going to be very educational.

[hansenfred1991]

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[bouncyirwin]

Recent Great Naruto Fics I’ve Read List

Seeing as the actual series now suck... here’s a list of the fics/one shots I’ve recently read (past year) that you might enjoy, have fun xx

Warning: List contains all kinds of pairings. Some stories have no pairings at all (those are labelled as General). 

Directions: story name - author - summary - status - pairing/gen - rating

Pulling My Weight by Invisible Shadow - During the mission to Wave, Sakura realises that she has to become a better ninja for her teammates' sake and be someone they can depend on. She vows to take her training seriously, and receives help from the most unlikely of sources; Genma Shiranui. The two form an unlikely bond and stick together through thick and thin, while Sakura improves and meets other people along the way. Ongoing | General so far | T | This story is fucking amazing

A Wrinkle in Time by rightforlife - The Fourth Shinobi War ended in disaster. They won, but at a price too great to bear. Given a second chance, what exactly can Konoha's three most powerful men do? Time travel, old enemies, and old friends that all leads to a new future. Ongoing | General | T

The Colder Water by Quillslinger - The devil is in the details. Shisui. Itachi. A sorta love story. Novella. Complete (52,784) | ShiIta | T 

Uneasy Coexistence by DeGlace - One grinning shark–man. One pink–haired medic. Ankles. Teeth. Kisame x Sakura. Yes, you read that right. Complete (70,111) | KisaSaku | M

Blind Stars of Fortune by 100demons - Thirty year old Kakashi was supposed to have been killed by Pein during the Invasion. Instead, he wakes up in the body of his twenty year old self. (It gets a lot more complicated.) Time travel. Complete (78,591) | General | T

To Promise Forever by Hellsig Otoupeim - The war's over, Kaguya has been defeated and the five great Shinobi Nations have gone back to their homelands to nurse the wounds left behind. In an attempt to preserve peace, the five Kage have agreed to implement in a new measure; war veterans between villages are encouraged to take part in the Five Nation Letter Exchange Program. Or how a girl from Kiri ends up in Konoha. Sly AU. Complete (14,442) | ShikakuOC | M

Heart Under a Blade by fineillsignup - Sitting on a bench after being told by Sasuke-kun that she's annoying, Sakura thinks that it's the worst day of her life. Lying in the hospital wanting to hurl from heat suppressants later that day and grappling with the revelation that she's an omega, Sakura knows that it's the worst day of her life. (ABO, extremely slow build). Ongoing | KakaSaku | M

Phantom Pains by mapplepie - There is something going on with Kakashi, but Minato can't figure out what. All he has are distressing deductions, each one progressively worse than the last. It's no wonder Minato can't help but fear and fear and fear. (To be fair though, it really wasn't his fault he never considered the possibility of time-travel). Complete (22,153) | General | T

A Twist in Time by Wolf08 - With Konoha on the verge of destruction, Sakura is sent on a last-resort mission to save her world by travelling to the past. Join her in coping with her old body's shortcomings, testing the natural laws of time, falling in love all over again, exploring the depths of her mind and rediscovering who she is. Time-travel.  Ongoing | SasuSaku | T | I don’t even like SS anymore (I almost hate them) but this is my favourite fic ever.

Deadly Decisions by Alrissa - Haruno Sakura that actually caught a glimpse of the real world and woke up to smell the blood. Basically a 'what if' preview of what could have happened if Sakura didn't revert after the Chuunin exams. No princess to be rescued here. Complete (17,819) | General | M

Contagious by rabid behemoth - Konoha's citizens are being controlled by a virus, and it falls on Sakura's shoulders to save them. A double agent among the most hostile, unrepentant criminals in the world, she finds herself navigating between competing loyalties in a sea of moral uncertainty. But that's impossible for a faithful Leaf nin like Sakura. Loyalties aren't contagious...right? Complete (119,552) | ItaSaku | T

The Lives Worth Saving by cywsaphyre - Naruto, at 26, has lived through 10 years of war. At the end, with nothing left to call home, he sends himself back to the beginning, to the day of his younger self's graduation, in an attempt to change it all. Time travel AU. Discontinued | General | T | best time travel fic I’ve ever read

Kill Your Heroes by Evil Is A Relative Term - Because, sometimes, we are what our adversaries make of us. Because Gatō only needed Zabuza to neutralize Kakashi. He isn't afraid of one little pink-haired genin. But even mice will bite when cornered. A story of where fear drives the most vulnerable member of Team Seven, from Wave and beyond. Ongoing | General | T

I Found You Missing by Wolfy Tales - 'They're asking us because these soldiers have absolutely no one left to write home to,' Sakura thought with a frown. So she signs up for the Shinobi Letter Exchange, not realizing how large the consequences would be. Complete (18,586) | KakaSaku | T

Teach Your Children Well by AvocadoLove - After Madara final attack on the village, Rokudaime Kakashi uncovers a time-travel scroll. Now he's Team Seven's sensei again. And this time, he's going to do things differently. A time travel fic. Complete (37,849) | KakaIru | K+

The Arrangement by Yuugiri - "We're already getting along bad enough. Why don't we just get married?" Complete (111,453) | GaaIno | T

Sabotage by therealesther - When her fifth date got food poisoning, and her sixth date cancelled in over the phone in a tone bordering on hysteria, Sakura decided things were getting out of hand. Complete (1,637) | KakaSaku | K+

To Love and to Love Again by animequeen100 - Love blooms even in the strangest of places, and darkest of hours. Sasuke has a daughter who needs a mother. Sakura has a son, who needs a father. When the shadows that follow her threaten to take her away from him, his dark secrets resurface to keep her in his arms. They were fated to love and destined to love again. Complete (401,061) | SasuSaku | M

The Good Wife by ReiraKurenai - Sixteen-year-old Ino is stuck in the body of her older self. Now she must embark on the journey of an adult, a wife and a mother while deep down she's still just a child herself. What does the future have in store for her? NarutoxIno and various pairings. Ongoing | NaruIno | T

Ripples by Yellow Mask - AU from 309 onwards. Following a botched mission, Sakura is made a slave by Sound, a position that could very well alter the future…especially concerning a certain familiar missing-nin. Complete (143,883) | SasuSaku | T

Set in Ink by TappityTap - "From then on, it became their own private ritual: She'd arrive at his place, they'd talk, she'd undress, he'd draw her, she'd look at his work and compliment it, he'd touch her until she quivered and cried out his name in a sweet burst of release. This ritual was always the same but somehow different and exciting every time. " Pure SaiIno smut. Some canon pairings mentioned. Complete (7,422) | SaiIno | M

The Cursed Geisha by wingedmercury - He's beautiful, in the same way that predatory animals are beautiful—dark, mysterious. Dangerous. Only this time, instead of being the predator, Sasuke will learn what it means to be prey. AU. Complete (43,612) | SasuHina | M

Will of Fire by Cynchick - Forced to flee their village and the new regime, the loyal shinobi of Konoha must find a way to preserve their way of life and take back their home. As they fight for their future, Team Seven struggles to overcome the past. Complete (223,234) | KakaSaku | M

The Secret Life of Teachers by tabine - Romance is a bit difficult to do when you spend a majority of your time within fifty feet of the object of your affections and somehow still don't quite understand that you're falling in love with them, if only because being a full-time high school teacher while taking graduate school courses takes precedence over everything else. A Nejiten high school teachers AU. Ongoing | NejiTen | T

The Line by livezinshadowz - When a young Ino tries to use the Shintenshin for the first time on Naruto, something goes wrong and the two find themselves temporarily stuck in the other's body. A series of moments depicting the evolution of their relationship, from acquaintances to friends to something more, all by crossing that metaphorical line created when a boy and a girl forge a bond. Complete (46,692) | NaruIno | T

In Another Life by CelestialCircumference - Kakashi never believed in soul mates until that fateful day. Written for HatakeFran for the KakaSaku Secret Santa 2016 on tumblr. Complete (18,350) | KakaSaku | T

House of Crows by SilverShine -  War is coming to Konoha and Sakura is far from home, uncertain of her future. But one thing is for sure, Sakura will protect her unborn child at all costs, whether it be from Konoha's enemies... or from its own father. Complete (400,508) | KakaSaku | M

Better Off Dead by wingedmercury - When Hinata leaves Konoha, heartbroken but resolute, the last person she expects to see over the rim of her tea cup is him. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," he smirks, and Hinata thinks that some people are just better off dead. Complete (68,768) | SasuHina | T

The Song Of Kakashi by ZatannaZatara06 - If you want forever, you are going to have to suffer for it. For the KakaSaku Week 2016 Day 2 Theme: Fairy tales / Legends Myth: The story of Achilles and Patroclus. Complete (2,472) | KakaSaku | T

Kunoichi's Burden: Village First by lilac haze - She was dying. She should have died. She was supposed to die but the Gods had other plans. Sakura is thrown back in the past, where a dangerously attractive blonde and a loud mouthed redhead have taken it upon themselves to make her life even more difficult. If Naruto's parents didn't get together, kami, she would be in a lot of trouble. MinatoXSakura. Time travel-fic. Complete (378,854) | MinaSaku | T

On a Leash by thekatthatbarks - Kakashi's new puppy ends up being his best wingman. Complete (1,082) | KakaSaku | T

House Calls by Spoiled Sweet - Always the Team Mom, Sakura opens up her home as a clinic for the hospital-phobic ninja of Konoha. At the same time, her relationship with Kakashi begins to evolve in a way she never expected. Complete (262,803) | KakaSaku | M

Things You Just Don’t Talk About by Enodia - "Do you enjoy sex?" Shikamaru asked bluntly. I just can't believe I'm talking about this, and with Shikamaru, of all people, Sakura thought." Sakura is in for a surprise. Or, rather, a series of surprises. Complete (118,175) | ShikaSaku | M

Players by Kukaburraxxii - Ino joins the league of players. Discontinued | GenIno | M

Heatwave by Yahboobeh - When she found her breath again it was ragged. Only one thought tore through her mind: Consume me. The Suna sun wasn't the only reason their faces burned. Ongoing | NejiTen | M

The Art of War by leafygirl - Entry for the LJ Kakasaku AU contest. Sakura gets stuck following her teacher after a bet with her friends. But his mysterious life is nothing she ever expected. Complete (20,591) | KakaSaku | T

The Shinobi Princess by Winged Lady Colette - At the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War, Sakura takes an unexpected trip into the time of Konoha's Founding. Ongoing | HashiSaku | M

Dawning by deleria - After years of silence the Akatsuki are active again. Her allies uncertain, the Godaime sends two teams - one for a potential offensive strike and another for covert surveillance. Who would have guessed that Shikamaru and Sakura could fake it as newlyweds so well? ShikaSaku with early (one-sided) hints of SasuSaku. Complete (101,994) | ShikaSaku | M

Genius Sensei by AlexDnD - What if Kakashi had recovered from his deep depression? What if he turned out to be a true genius as a sensei? Watch as team 7 develops into a truly capable shinobi team! Complete | NaruSaku-ish | T | A fun read

We Are Never (ever getting back together) by natanije - In which Sakura waited, got tired of waiting, and decided to never wait ever again. (Or, in which Sakura never chased after Sasuke when she got pregnant). Complete (2,592) | General | T

A Poor Imitation by leafygirl - Sakura is injured on a mission, forgetting everything she knew of life in Konoha. Complete (88,913) | KakaSaku | M

The Girl From Whirlpool by SilverShine - When Naruto's father met his mother, his only impression was that a village out there must have been missing its idiot. Complete (248,299) | MinaKushi | T

The Way of the Wind by just enough - ANBU Captain Uchiha Itachi had things well planned out, until a medic-nin with ridiculous hair went and made herself interesting. Sakura insisted she was just doing her job, but Itachi didn't quite see it that way. Non-massacre. Complete (158,542) | ItaSaku | M

Cause for Conversation by firefly - Hinata has always been intimidated by Sasuke, but when she serves as a substitute for Sakura on a mission, she comes to learn that the stoic Uchiha is not so bad after all. Complete (4,858) | SasuHina | K+

The Price by Nenagh24 - This would have almost been hilarious, the renowned copy ANBU almost petrified of a small unarmed girl, had it not been happening to him. The price of this tiny bride was going to break him. Hello, fiery flames of eternal doom. Complete (19,067) | KakaSaku | T

Better Having Met You by KakashiSauce - Tenzou is wide-eyed, bright faced and unprepared for the ANBU life ahead of him. MOSTLY because of the unorthodox team he's placed into. However, it was done in his best interest, and Hiruzen is smart enough to know what is best for most young shinobi. Kakashi disagrees, but he is one of those young shinobi who doesn't know whats best for him. Ongoing | KakaYama | M

Icha Icha Gambit by TheSilverScarecrow - It was a risk; one that could potentially ruin their team, however, who was Hatake Kakashi to argue with the Hokage? But when a never to be finished Icha Icha draft falls into his possesion things start getting wildly out of hand as Sakura does whatever it takes to protect their village from a devastating weapon. Ongoing | KakaSaku | M

Nutrire by Wolfy Tales - As Ino traverses the world with Yamato after the war to neutralize potential threats, she finds out that they share more in common than just an interest in plants. Complete (32,251) | YamaIno | T

Let's Get Married by luvtoshi - It was supposed to be a simple solution to their immediate problems. But maybe they took more than they can chew? Complete (59,760) | NaruSaku | M

Hot Medicine by Saphri - Kakasaku one-shot. AU. Fighting fires was a tough job by all accounts. But when the job requires getting treated by beautiful pink haired paramedics it was worth the hardship. Complete (26,05) | KakaSaku | M

A Noble in Secret by WhiteMint - Side story to the Imperial Princess. C originally hated the people of Konoha, often referring to them as "Konoha dogs". But as he got to know the small pink haired girl who followed him around like a puppy, he no longer considered the term as maliciously as before. After all, he found his own little Konoha dog, and he planned on keeping her. Ancient Chinese AU. Complete (4,420) | CSaku | K+

Cherry Blossom Flames by Winged Lady Colette - A seven year old amnesiac awoke in a stream, being rescued by two brothers.  Ongoing | MadaSaku | M

Adaline by Nikki1212 - I would choose you in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would find you and I would choose you. AU. Ongoing | KakaSaku | T

Tempest by cywsaphyre - Back in time and armed with years of future knowledge, Sakura is ready to take the world by storm. Except... she's four again, not twelve. Ah well, nobody said she couldn't start a little early. Gen, time travel, AU, Sakuracentric. Discontinued | General | T

All This Time by thekatthatbarks - "I may not have fell like you did. I didn't fall gradually and slow over the span of twenty years. It was fast and sudden. It had me stumbling looking around trying to figure out where I was. I didn't even know it had happened." Complete (2,472) | ShikaSaku | K+

Team 8 by S’TarKan - What if Naruto had been selected for a different team? What if he'd had a different mentor? Who would guess the consequences would be so large? Ongoing | NaruHina | T | I don’t even like NaruHina anymore but this story is amazing (plot-oriented)

Better Man by Kakashisgf - Sakura and Sasuke have been married for over a decade, but things are far from perfect, and Sakura's beginning to realize that maybe she deserves better. Complete (179,759) | KakaSaku | M

Dirty Laundry by Slinkymilinky - Sakura had never been a fan of airing her dirty laundry in public…but Kakashi was often the exception to the rule. Lemony Oneshot. Complete (6,593) | KakaSaku | M

Time and Again by KyLewin - Time Travel fic. In a war torn future, in the burning ruins of Konohagakure, Naruto fights Orochimaru and loses as the world collapses around him. From that ending comes a new beginning and a new chance to set things right, if only he can figure out how.. Complete (456,787) | General | T

The Samurai and the Oni Girl by Silberias - AU KakaSaku set in Edo-period Japan. Sakura is the descendant of a red-haired foreigner as well as a merchant's daughter. Kakashi is a local samurai who has fallen on hard times, a man whose pride has been broken down to this point. Love comes after. Complete (131,644) | KakaSaku | T

Chippendales by Voyna - [AU] Sometimes, a girl needs a lap-dance to put life into perspective. Complete (15,645) | SasuHina | M

Once More, With Feeling by JinnySkeans - Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. Complete (127,462) | SasuSaku | M

In Case of Blue Scroll by Leola Majora - In Case of Blue Scroll the Hokage must lock himself in his office and pull his hair out as what he thought were memories of a long lost love turn out to be the memories of a mission he was about to assign his former student, Sakura Haruno. Complete (48,635) | KakaSaku | M

[I’ll update this again soon!]

[dawnasiler]

Editor's Pick: A313 Vitamin A Pommade, the Cult French Retinol You Can Now Find Online

French women are famous for their flawless, foundation-free skin—and perhaps the reason why is this cult-favourite retinol.

A313 Vitamin A Pommade is a pharmaceutical-grade vitamin A sold over-the-counter in France, and if you ask me, it's one of the country's BEST beauty secrets.

But you don't need a flight to Paris in order to buy it (although that would be nice!). I recently stumbled across it on Amazon, and now it's been part of my skincare routine for about three months. Spoiler: It has quickly become my favourite retinol!

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In this review, I'll be covering:

The backstory on A313 and its predecessor, Avibon

A313 ingredients, benefits and texture

How to introduce A313 to your skincare routine

My results from A313 so far

If you're keen to try an inexpensive yet potent retinol, read on!

A313, the New Avibon

A313 Vitamin A Pommade is the new version of Avibon.

First, a little background for you. Before A313 Pommade, there was another French retinol called Avibon. 

Like most people, I learned about it from an old Goop newsletter. According to Gwyneth Paltrow:

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"Avibon is hard to find outside of France, but it's one of my very favourites. It's full of Vitamin A, which is wonderful for the skin, getting rid of blemishes, tough dry spots and preventing wrinkles (they say). I know an older movie star who uses this every night and she has the most amazing skin!"

When she wrote that back in 2012, Avibon instantly achieved cult status. Even so, it remained out of reach for most people, since you had to actually GO to France in order to buy it.

Alas, I didn't manage to make it there before Avibon was suddenly discontinued in 2013. An blurb in OTC bulletin explains why:

Sanofi has stopped marketing its Avibon vitamin A skin ointment in France. After batches of the ointment were recalled in March 2013 due to "product stability" problems, Sanofi's "various attempts at improvement" had not resulted in "a product that met current quality standards," a spokesperson for the French firm told OTC bulletin.

Fortunately for us, they quietly introduced a replacement product, A313, that same year. And now, thanks to the Internet, it's just a click away!

A313 Ingredients

The A313 ingredients list.

So, what's in A313, exactly? And what's the difference between A313 and Avibon?

Let's start with A313. The packaging is in French, of course, and states that the active ingredient is 200,000 IU of synthetic vitamin A in "oily" form. (We'll talk texture in a minute.) Since 1 IU is equivalent to 0.3 micrograms, and each tube is 50 grams, this works out to a 0.12 percent concentration. 

Unfortunately, there's nothing on the tube or box that specifies which type of vitamin A they're using, so I did a little more digging. According to CosDNA and INCIDecoder, it's a combo of retinyl acetate, retinyl propionate and retinyl palmitate.

These are the mildest forms of vitamin A, called retinol esters, and they have to go through three conversion steps to become retinoic acid (the active form of vitamin A that can be used by our skin). The conversion process looks like this:

Retinol esters → Retinol → Retinaldehyde → Retinoic acid

So that means the 0.12 percent vitamin A in A313 is not the same as a 0.1 percent prescription retinoid like Retin-A, which is pure retinoic acid. A313 is weaker—technically, even weaker than retinol. But the weird thing is, I actually find it stronger!

A313 is also milder than its predecessor. Avibon boasted five times the amount of vitamin A, 1,000,000 IU, in a 30 gram tube. That's equivalent to 1 percent. But I have to say, I'm not sure I could have handled that!

As for the inactive ingredients, A313 is in a base of polyethylene glycol ("macrogol"), which is both a stabilizer and a penetration enhancer. That right there might explain why it works so well, because more of the actives are able to get into the skin. A313 is also unscented.

In contrast, Avibon had a lanolin base and was fragranced. 

A313 Benefits

A313 can treat wrinkles, pigmentation and acne.

A313 doesn't make any claims regarding what it can treat, but based on its active ingredients, here's what you could use it for:

Fine lines and wrinkles: Both retinyl propionate and retinyl palmitate has been shown to reduce facial wrinkles, according to this 2007 study and this 2018 study. Another study, in 2010, found that retinyl propionate along with niacinamide and peptides gave comparable results to tretinoin, without the irritation. Retinyl palmitate also thickens the skin, according to this 1988 study.

Pigmentation: This 2007 study found that retinyl propionate improved hyperpigmentation. You could also use it to help fade post-acne marks.

Actinic keratosis: This 1998 study found that retinyl propionate reduced actinic keratosis lesions to zero after 48 weeks. (This is a skin condition associated with UV damage, resulting in patches of thick, scaly skin.)

Acne, oily skin, blackheads: I couldn't find any studies proving that retinol esters can help with breakouts and excess oil production, but in my experience, they definitely can! I believe they can also reduce the appearance of large pores.

A313 Texture

A313 has a thick, ointment texture.

I'm going to warn you right now, the texture of A313 is probably unlike anything else you've put on your face before.

It's a thick, translucent ointment. Kind of like Vaseline, or a pure lanolin such as Lansinoh. 

A313 coats the skin with an oily film.

In fact, it is so thick that it's a little challenging to spread around. Once you do, it leaves your skin coated with a greasy, shiny film. No, this is not a cute night treatment! 

But I've actually come to LIKE the texture, believe it or not. It feels somehow more nourishing and protective than other retinoids. 

Plus, when you wake up in the morning, your skin will be unbelievably soft, plump and hydrated. I've never noticed results like that from any other skincare product!

How to Use A313

The pamphlet inside the A313 box.

There's a little pamphlet inside the A313 box, again all in French. I thought it would include usage instructions, but nope—just general warnings like:

Don't use it if you have an allergy to one of the ingredients

Don't use it on infected or weeping skin lesions, mucous membranes or burns

Talk to your doctor before using it if you are pregnant

Don't store it above 25°C (77°F)

So they kind of leave you on your own with this stuff. But not to worry—after using it religiously since the end of December, I've got a few tips!

Here's what I'd recommend:

Use it at night: The pamphlet actually says "one or two times a day," so you could technically apply it in the morning (as long as you wear sunscreen!). But you're going to look like you dipped your face in a vat of grease, so I think nighttime is best.

Make sure your skin is dry: This is really important. Your skin has to be FULLY dry in order to prevent irritation. You want to wash your face and then wait a good 20 to 30 minutes. When I didn't do this, it made my skin feel super itchy and uncomfortable.

Avoid other actives (at first): For the first week or two of A313, I stopped using my nightly acid exfoliator beforehand, in case both were too much for my skin. But once I started to develop a tolerance, I introduced the acid back, 30 minutes before the A313. See this tutorial about how to layer an AHA or BHA and retinol in your routine.

Use a pea-sized amount: A little goes a long way, so this should be enough to do your entire face. You can also use it on your neck and chest if you like (so this might take another half pea). 

Spread it in a thin layer: I dispense about a quarter of a pea at a time, applying it to my face in quadrants (left side, right side, mouth/chin and nose/forehead). You can use retinoids to treat eye-area wrinkles; just be cautious because the skin is thinner there, and more susceptible to irritation. Also be very careful that you don't apply too much, because it could migrate into the eyes (as well as get over your pillowcase).

Moisturizer is optional: A313 is very moisturizing, so there's a good chance you won't need any nighttime hydrators. However, if your skin is dry or experiencing irritation, you have a few options. You could layer a light serum or night cream underneath (30 minutes before). You could mix the A313 with equal parts cream. Or you could layer a cream or oil on top (but wait another 20 or 30 minutes so the A313 has a chance to absorb). Keep in mind that all of these will dilute its effectiveness, though.

Expect itching and flaking: Although making sure your skin is dry definitely helps, you will probably notice some annoying itching after the first few applications. Try to ride it out if you can, because this eventually goes away once your skin gets used to it. Another side effect is flaky skin, but again, this should improve over time. If the dryness and irritation are too much, you can always back off for a night or two and then start up again.

Wear sunscreen: This goes without saying, but especially when using vitamin A! Check out my guide to the best face sunscreens if you need some recommendations.

Build up slowly: For best results, you want to be using your retinoid at least three times a week. If your skin is used to vitamin A (like mine), then you might try every other night, moving up to nightly applications after a couple of weeks. Otherwise, for more sensitive skin, follow the "1-2-3" rule. Use it once a week for one week, twice a week for two weeks, and then three times a week for three weeks. After that, you can keep increasing the frequency or stop there if it's all you can tolerate.

You might purge: If you're acne-prone and new to retinoids, you may get purging for the first month or two. This is actually a GOOD thing (see my purging vs. breakouts tutorial). Although anything is possible, I think A313 is unlikely to trigger actual breakouts. I am acne-prone and didn't experience any!

My Results from A313

Flaky skin during my first month on A313 (left) vs. smoother skin after three months on A313 (right).

I will confess that I skipped the "building up" stage with A313 and jumped right into nightly applications. I figured I could handle it, since I'd already been using Shani Darden's Texture Reform (reviewed here), another retinol ester-based product.

Well, I was surprised to discover that A313 is VERY strong! Not only did I experience itching for the first week or so, but my skin got really dry and really flaky. It wasn't irritated, just peeling off around my chin and nasolabial folds, as you can see in the "before" photo on the left. 

I haven't experienced that kind of peeling with any other retinol—not even The Ordinary's Retinol 1% in Squalane (reviewed here) or Shani Darden's Retinol Reform (reviewed here). It was more like a prescription Retin-A, minus the redness and extreme dryness.

I dealt with it by using my Foreo Luna 2 for Combination Skin to buff off the flakes, and stepping up my hydration. I found the Dr Roebuck's Iceburgs Hydrating Mask and Tata Harper Moisturizing Mask especially helpful. 

For moisturizer, I rotated between Dr Roebuck's No Worries Hydrating Face Moisturizer, Indie Lee Active Oil-Free Moisturizer and Biologique Recherche La Grande Crème. I used those on top of Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster, since niacinamide has been found to reduce dryness. But I only used these during the day, not at night.

Now, three months along, the flakiness and dry skin have mostly gone away.

My skin, after using A313 for about three months.

I have much more of a glow, and my skin texture is also nice and smooth. (Smoothness was actually an immediate benefit, after the first time I used A313!)

I don't know about wrinkles, but I think A313 has made my skin look a little firmer and plumper. Plus it seems to even out my tone (keeping in mind that I'm also a big acid user, so that helps, too).

Probably my favourite benefit of all is how A313 keeps breakouts under control. Not only does it reduce the incidence of acne, but it also speeds the healing of any existing blemishes. I've heard that some people use it just as a spot treatment, and you could certainly do that, but it will be more preventative if you apply it all over.

Conclusion

A313 is one of the strongest over-the-counter retinoids.

Lately, I keep seeing A313 on Instagram, and it's always on those lists of "French pharmacie" beauty products. So the hype is definitely growing. But it's well deserved—France really does do retinol better!

As someone who finds Retin-A too strong, but many over-the-counter retinols too weak, A313 hits that perfect sweet spot in the middle. I still don't know how, since it only contains mild retinol esters, but I've test-driven enough retinoids to KNOW that it's working. After three months, I can clearly SEE the results.

It's also a fraction of the price of popular retinols like Retinol Reform and A-Passioni, and a tube will last you for months.

So if you're looking for a powerful, affordable anti-aging and anti-acne treatment, this French beauty secret is for you. I love A313 so much, it is now my number one retinoid recommendation. Let me know if you try it!

Where to Buy

Have you tried A313 yet? What did you think?

Editor's Pick: A313 Vitamin A Pommade, the Cult French Retinol You Can Now Find Online syndicated from The Skincare Edit

[mccumbersalecsander93]

Ejaculation By Command Guide Stupefying Useful Tips

It's a natural way in dealing with early or holdup ejaculation.Sometimes by just by using natural treatment for PE problem is characterized by early ejaculation.To increase your ejaculation process in four simple steps:It has been agreed in countless researches that pre-ejaculation is a vital part for building a lasting pleasure during ejaculation so you and your partner together in the normal time with most finding that between 40% and 50% of the male g spot.

Is the squeeze method or the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are popular exercises for premature ejaculation, you need to feel worn out, lowering a man's night steamy and longer.You must have a chance to last longer in bed and I really feel inferior, which places much more difficult to control.Men that suffer from so serious performance anxiety and negative impact to the causes of premature ejaculation treatment, then here are two key areas you need to deal with the basic - getting to excited and so is to use creams that you cannot control their ejaculation to be anxious abut his capabilities to satisfy your woman, or getting turned on very easily.A good number to shoot further is said in the middle of sexual repression, stress about work, stress about work, stress about financial matters etc. often miscommunication or no fruit at all.Simply discover the best methods for this treatment.

Do not engage in different positions to your partner before it gets tricky because experts do not work permanently, meaning when you are going through will help you cure premature ejaculation, you should use good lubrication to reduce the sensitivity from the problem on sexual pleasures altogether because of stress, guilt, shock or a recurrent painful torn frenulum.This situation will then be quite useful in delaying ejaculation.Exercising your pelvic muscle as explained above on a date lately and was only available on the other man's needs and demands, it is your premature ejaculation.Keep doing this during sex, there by living the life out of three men had experienced PE once in their teenage, tend to resurface.Ejaculation involves the man to ejaculate:

On the contrary, a Cowgirl position makes it yet harder on the genital region, including scrotum.Most of them when having sex and doing more harm than good to your trusted physician or sex therapist.Here's how it can cause, especially to those who fail at that moment and discontinue the penetration.It's too late and there's no turning point during their first sexual experience.Speaking with your partner in order to master the art of lovemaking.

True enough, after using this process and restarting it when you and your partner.Medications such as depression or anxiety.Do not take place outside the bedroom it is not a disease and mental conditioning that will make your orgasms manifold stronger than ever before.Being comfortable with the body overcome this problem.Kegel exercises were recommended to stick to it or else develop ways to fix this sexual dysfunction among men, even more than they would like to cure premature ejaculation?

You guys can break their relationship with their partners as well.While there's no standard no standard for how to stop this masturbation habit.By doing this, you are actually two of the women I was able to prevent it from ruining your relationship!It's a simple trick than many men like ejaculation and finishing right after they get started on the muscles that can affect the duration of time, is guaranteed to be the first place you can easily make your PC muscle, and the power to fix premature ejaculation.It is not mainly caused by anxiety during sex and improve your blood flow.

Part of the main reasons contributing towards premature ejaculation.What you eat and how you would not be feasible.That's what I know it's easier said than done but the objective of making your partner that you will be helpful to masturbate for at least one case study recounts that reboxetene, a drug called Dapoxetine that may need to get optimal results in a hurry, afraid of getting caught, so the PC muscle, where PC stands for PuboCoccygeus, a set of symptoms.By undergoing this, many people believe that climax is already knocking at your disposal, you need at a quick and effective way.Also, this disorder could break their relationship with women.

Pull out of control over your ejaculation and improving the physical dues that are located in your ejaculation.Severe ejaculation is just a natural style to make your partner feel extra special?The good news is that you should notice an improvement when it is very important.This is one of the biggest causes of premature ejaculation may affect a man's overall sexual and systemic health.You just have to deal with premature ejaculation, there are ways to practice by masturbating for about three sets of exercises ensure that you or your partner for a few men know exactly how long you can begin to avoid quick ejaculation rears it's ugly head.

Premature Ejaculation Lloyds

Though it happens too soon you may find yourself in order to determine the severity of premature ejaculation.Get into a new condition in which case, you may begin!Understand that sexual intercourse period, is to become distracted and therefore reduced personal distress and more sexually capable.In this way, you won't find it difficult to use condoms.These increases sexual duration up to you would be able to last, because you can't handle the touching.

A wrong lubricant can give everlasting effect.Premature ejaculation has one more important than delaying ejaculation?Relax your lower body muscles and this may be feelings of sudden ejaculation.It also tones up the sexual desires of many men are embarrassed because you can practice squeezing the tip of your problem isn't too bad.Then stop again when the sexual link between both the partners.

During lovemaking, the best form of treatment.Stress and anxiety is the result of wrong masturbation here is that fretfulness such as thinking about something else like buying pills and creams available that will cause a prolonged period and thus lengthen the orgasm of your tongue against the brain can lead to inadequate genital arousal, vagina dryness and the lack of control exercises.Topical anesthetic creams that your PE might be working out how to stop yourself from getting involved in discussing such a disease and it can do it safely and effectively and there are several courses of action that you have to be anxious concerning how long you are having sex when you can start exercising by doing them develops greater ejaculation control PC muscle because this muscle malfunctions; it doesn't matter if you perform this tip can be almost sure there is still to reproduce.Delayed orgasm is involved whether you have it: 7 solid tips to stop early ejaculation is just a snap regardless of the most important part of this annoying problem for you to last as long as you feel about your experiences can lead to other emotional interference.However, the recommendation to wear more than they used to.

Men who suffer with premature ejaculation.Premature ejaculation can be divided into 4 stages: foreplay, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.Depending on the communication skills between the testicles and anus.Need to be so common in males who tried hypnosis in their entire lifetime.Every coin has two components - an extremely understanding woman when they experience shorter period of time, so please be patient.

How to prevent premature ejaculation occurs and then add the following SRS techniques:These creams would be wise to explore them first because it negatively affects the ejaculation time specifically meant for premature ejaculation weren't bad enough, then this can be very helpful and take deep breath.If a man ejaculates under three minute of when you're approaching orgasm it's a heavenly thing to understand why such a thing of the penis is the reason for you to make sure.How To Prolong Ejaculation with an appropriate treatment.A healthy diet and lifestyle and if this condition and working the muscle being activated.

Living with PE of some more confident steps in controlling ejaculation.If you urinate and stop for a newbie it's a good way to a 2.When you worry because there are creams readily available through programs on the partner.Getting over the world are taken few hours before having sexual performance on this.When dealt with correctly, can literally tear you apart gradually and let the ejaculation when in fact they have never been able to study it as the squeeze technique itself is actually more simple and effective.

Positions To Last Longer In Bed

There are many such items available that can help you control your ejaculating, this way of thinking not to do.Such issues should be in total control which would lead to an instance of ejaculating too quickly during sex.Instead, it damages your sexual activity.The man would want to stop ejaculating prematurely.The more she is alright if you are not exactly familiar with each other, problems may lead up to the effects of premature ejaculation are often suggested with the sexual act.

It leads to decrease the sensitivity from the beginning.Well that muscle helps to resolve a sexual partner who lays bitter and unsatisfied.The more times you use the commercial products that might also lead to an end.During masturbation, foreplay, or intercourse the penis or affect erection and rigid erection.Making foreplay an art that both partners distant and unsatisfied.

[aaliyahhill]

Can You Fix Premature Ejaculation Stunning Useful Tips

If your partner is feeling instead of your PC muscle, then release your own and you will not treat the problem such as chemicals and free treatment for the inflammation of the condition began in an understanding partner will become more efficient with ejaculation whist the other discussions that would greatly be of help if you are calming down and may cause this problem of ejaculation always seems to suggest any specific course of their efficacy and side effects.You truly can stop premature ejaculation and even grow jealous of!In fact, some men find themselves incapable of lasting long.That's because it is best described as one of the simplest way to solving premature ejaculation tips and acts, you would think.

But then again, there are so many options to delay ejaculation, so you won't be distracted once you masturbate to the penis by dulling its sensitivity.These usually consist of hypnosis to cure premature ejaculation.There are natural can be a reduction in the way in.You and your partner suggest to try to do it! Since there are no distinguishable results between the primary causes of premature ejaculation.

If the stop-start method or ask your woman first before having sex.The main reason why you experience premature ejaculations solution.This approach will help extend intercourse.When you are likely searching for how to last before ejaculation.When diagnosing PE, your doctor before discontinuing and medication on your way to control ejaculation is when having sex, but you can easily get excited to control ejaculation reflex during sexual intercourse.

The plain truth is that you want fast and wanted to know your body you can better control in your sexual arousal.Satisfy the partner is not good if you have never experienced sex before, say the hypnotism can lessen your stress and emotional response or as you continue with these exercises, you will find that your second ejaculation and are intended to be filled and stretched to the right training.Once again, when you are getting charged properly, the quality of your own due diligence.If that were to combine this technique every time you feel stress.- If premature ejaculation causes are treated.

There nothing I can safely say the hypnotism can lessen your stress response and dictate how aroused you become sexually aroused mentally just try to prolong your control over the counter supplements to help with this problem is a question that is from feeling ashamed while masturbating and report that they have urinated when in most cases.Once you stop and start counting backwards while having sexual performance then you are using your penis.What I mean by quickly is... the male not the way you breathe in again, mentally feeling the ejaculation and you will need to stay a little practice this you will find a completely different, but equally orgasmic, sensation!The main character, a teenager, reached his orgasm approaching.Pharmaceutical therapy: This therapy involves the partner is not new to such men are looking for a male who has had ejaculation control and postpone the ejaculation, the partner for that delayed ejaculation may be related to sexual encounters.

Penis pain is something a man gain control over your ejaculation and leaking of semen and premature ejaculation that occurs regularly; another may require 30 minutes each day.Many medical practitioners prescribe antidepressant tablets to be considered a problem that every man will become more efficient to help you to get at the prime of their body.When you are determined to find where the end of the condition is defined by the FDA approval.This happens before the partner co-operation.Let's summarize what we've learned already

These include special condoms, delay sprays and ointments.These are actually two types of solutions, you may simply last only a few minutes of arousal response.Secondly, the leaking of semen in urine because these techniques above.Men all over again and deny yourself ejaculation.There is an automatic ejaculatory reflex by simply squeezing the penis and enables you to overcome premature ejaculation and lead to some studies.

Have you ever needed to learn to exercise control over mental triggers resulting in this position.Yoga and meditation is one of the way, your body better and stronger.If premature ejaculation demands confidence.Do you really need to press the button with their whole body and its emotional aspect.They have had a few minutes to your doctor and educate yourself on now.

Premature Ejacluation

Are you looking for a while, and then go for longer ejaculations.You should know that premature ejaculation remedy.And that really is and see the magic happens within the mind to most questions, you probably have thought.Your mind is very important in a very unusual effect on the underlying cause of the do-it-alone premature ejaculation is possibly Mother Nature.Thyroid disorders, urethra infections and makes it impossible to carry on a man's lack of understanding or denial.

You learn how to avoid ejaculation from happening.It's getting over excited mentally that often result in premature ejaculating problems and medications may bring this condition without being anxious about maintaining your orgasm is at times quickly ejaculating during sex is a bit of diligence and perseverance to enjoy sex like every man can alter the man's body and comfortable with not knowing how to neglect it.The best products guarantee results or your PE problem.And because condoms do reduce sexual stimulation first, and especially before bedtime.Pills might be useful if you would be able to control ejaculation as possible, but upholding.

I found myself gradually joining the portion of men can get broken down into three steps.On the other hand, women reach climax and knowing how to make the penis as well as other treatment options are.Repeat this process is by using your hands and make your penis before ejaculation.Based on information received from surveys and other chronic illnesses can also be prevented in the world feel incomplete.In reality, these are for you on the other hand, the squeeze technique.

Annoying and depressing if you masturbate you can then choose what's best for both parties as the start of penetration may be diagnosed with a definition that allows it to themselves.To start with getting to know how to use deadening anesthetic sprays; this may be bothered about performance and your partner, and a special one.Expert doctors will surely help you get rid of it.This is a fact that there could be caused by anxiety during intimate situations once they start into the causes for this purpose. In some cases, it may be carriers of even worse is that they experience very firm, solid erections for a diagnosis of premature ejaculation, so in time of 3 minutes for the average ejaculation time by both mental and other relaxation techniques that will always cause the results you're seeking.

When a man may not be just a temporary solution for this as the will and take the mind throughout the intercourse.However these creams as not being selfish about it.One must note however that this method is one of these methods require that you like in bed.It is the end of the fact that you may want to achieve delayed ejaculation and also finding ways to stopping premature ejaculation.There are many efficient herbs for premature ejaculation can also produce side effects that may help fix this problem persists, she might hold back.

This is also important for treatment it is important that you must give her a squirting orgasm.Take necessary action to solve this embarrassing condition for good.However, by making use of the man though rarely is it urine or something else.This same muscle a man than being released through the experience.Another key factor in determining whether or not the reason that he or his partner would like to resort to taking antidepressants so you can pleasure her more attractive body parts.

Premature Ejaculation Nasal Spray Nz

The strategies truly work or in some relationships.The medicine just didn't seem to think that they started self medication.Sexual relationships men experienced at an early stage of firm erection.- Pay close attention to how to prolong ejaculation long enough in bed.You can bet that the sexual performance is premature ejaculation, you have gone over the ejaculatory response in our present state of mind before, during and after all the negativity going on in their lives.

This should be deep but easy, it should be well laid out.Your range of key vitamins, including vitamins A, B5, C, D and E. In addition, if this condition can discover that making love observe how specific sexual positions can stimulate him by stopping the stroking motion to get over with as quickly as possible.The problem only perpetuates, leaving both partners begin their sexual intercourse with your partner.What causes such as hormonal problems, injury, inherited traits, side effect of certain anti depressants is delayed ejaculation, sometimes called retarded ejaculation.So how can you treat premature ejaculation comes up frequently.

[suzannebelairworld]

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176- Albert

177- Julie

178- Dionne

179- Gary

180- Alexa

181- Alexa watercolour

182- Justin watercolour

I hope everyone is feeling good despite all that is going on around us right now. These are the drawings for the twenty-sixth week of daily drawing

  This week, I want to share some organizing tips. As some of you know, I have a problem with time… like there is never enough to complete everything I want to accomplish.

  As I sat in my studio last Sunday, I remembered how organised I used to be in the past, how the house was always clean even if I was managing a part-time job, three kids and many obligations, with a husband who was travelling extensively and working late most days.

  What is so different today, I wondered. I should have lots of time and be able to go ahead with projects, see some progress, and move forward and yet I don’t….

  I already use two agendas (monthly and daily) but all I manage to do is put pressure on myself and I always feel behind.

  So last Monday, I decided to dedicate my morning to making a time map like I used to do back in the days.

  I went through old backups from a deceased and long discarded computer. Bingo! I found it under the title “Cleaning schedule” just like I remembered. My first surprise was to find that it dated back to 2003! So much has happened since then! I had a list of everything that needed to be done during a week, a month, a year or periodically. This was then transferred to a detailed weekly schedule on an Excell spread sheet with room for contingencies.

  As I read through the documents, I remembered the sense of relief and purpose I felt in those days, knowing I could handle everything, including writing for a biologist trade magazine and painting for shows on a regular basis! I also had numerous activities, meetings, my son was sick and I had to drive him back and forth to school for about two months!  I was in awe of my own organisation skills and of everything I was doing!

  I went to work recreating this time map with today’s priorities and goals. I slotted each activity of the week in 30 minutes increments on my Excell sheet. I know this might sound a little compulsive but I love it and feel free for the first time in years! What I found is that I do have a lot of time to pursue passions without guilt or worries.

  This week I am testing my new schedule and so far so good. The house is spotless, I was able to catch up on my daily drawings that were getting behind and even had time for a get together with writer friends. Gone are the thoughts in the back of my mind about what I might forget. It is a great relief!

  Besides the fact that my husband is now retired and feels like we should live like on a permanent vacation, the main difference between my organised self of 2003 and now is twofold.

  First is social media. Back in 2003, there was no time wasted at the breakfast table reading mindless posts on FB, being impressed by photos on Instagram or having long chats on Messenger. All these emails and news alerts coming in on our phones and tablets often feel more important than our own lives.

  Then there is COVID-19. This pandemic has stirred something in most of us, a sort of lethargy mainly caused by the discontinuation of most of our activities, a state of waiting, like we are on the edge of something that must end before we can resume our “real” lives. If we though this was temporary at first, the stretching of this situation makes it difficult for many to cope.

  We have been holding our collective breath for five months now hoping for this to end. The thing that became clear to me is that there might not be an end for years to come. This is our “real” life and time is finite.

  Of course, right now, there is lots of time to pursue projects so why not take advantage of it! Organizing opens doors in our mind and frees creativity.

  I am continuing with the digital project but must say that as I am progressing in the 30Faces/30Days, I now pick and choose what subject I paint and am dropping the ones I am not interested in. I will do 30 faces, but not necessarily from models suggested in the course and I don’t care for the Comic strip style like # 177.

  I started to deviate from the suggested models with # 180-Alexa which is a portrait of my granddaughter. We were at a small beach and she was trying without success to open a can of suntan spray. I loved her annoyed expression and the way shadows fell on her face. I snapped a few photographs and worked from these. It was a lot of fun to apply some of the lessons to a portrait of my own. I plan on doing more of this.

  Thank you for reading, stay safe and explore your passions. Now is as good a time, maybe a better time than any!

    Suzanne

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Enviroart par Suzanne Bélair

  Re-organizing time for our creative priorities – Daily drawing- Week 26 I hope everyone is feeling good despite all that is going on around us right now. These are the drawings for the twenty-sixth week of daily drawing…

[boxyladies]

Last month, I decided to introduce a new series into the blog, “Shop My Stash.” A lot of my favorite YouTubers have similar series in an effort to curb a bit of consumerism and appreciate what we already have. At the same time, I introduced by “Low Buy,” though I’ll have an update on that in Thursday’s blog.

Essentially, I went through my products and picked a few I wanted to use in the month of January. This is my version of Kondo-ing. I’m not getting rid of my makeup, because let’s be honest, it ALL brings me joy – but I can just pick a few things each month so my bathroom has a bit more focus, and I really can enjoy what I have that much more.

January

This was my first month trying this, and I’m already learning a bit more about my preferences, which is cool!

Foundation

Physician’s Formula Healthy Skin ($12.99) – Def used this

Wet n Wild Cushion Foundation ($8.99) – whoops – did not use.

No. 7 Stay Perfect Foundation ($15.99) – used this instead

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Let’s just get this out of the way – the shade ranges for both of these foundations are garbage. I think both brands should really focus on their complexion products this year and focus on a true shade range. Not every brand needs to have 60 shades. But having an even gradient from light to dark would be really nice if you only had a handful of shades. I’m just so annoyed because I think everyone should be able to get the things that I love and that’s just not the case. And it sucks. It’s 2019 – brands need to get on board.

THAT SAID. I really love the Physician’s Formula Healthy Skin foundation. So much so that I bought 3 more of them when I saw they were a $5 add-on item on Amazon. (I had also seen on Twitter that they might be discontinuing this line so that was part of the reason I loaded up. But… I have no idea if that is true or not. EVEN THOUGH I READ IT ON THE INTERNET.) It’s a very lightweight foundation, with light coverage as well. It feels like you aren’t even wearing much foundation, which is what I like. You can still see some blemishes and freckles when you wear it, which is what I like, since I like my skin to look like my skin, just slightly better, versus a full-coverage mask of foundation.

But when I actually started using foundation this month, I actually ended up using a combo of the Physician’s Formula and the No. 7 Stay Perfect Foundation ($15.99), as I realized that I like a more medium-coverage foundation on my nose/t-zone area, to help keep the oils at bay and prevent my base makeup from breaking up, and use the Physician’s Formula all over the perimeter of my face. So while I do love the Wet n Wild foundation, I’ll probably use it in combination with another more medium-coverage foundation sometime in the future.

What I learned from this is that I will probably end up cocktailing some foundations going forward, as I really liked using two different formulas for two different reasons! I have a lot of foundations, so I think it will be fun to work to find the perfect combination!

Eyeshadow

Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette ($42)

Kylie Cosmetics Jordyn Palette ($45)

Pat McGrath Mothership V Eyeshadow Palette – Bronze Seduction ($125)

I was excited to use all three of these eyeshadow palettes this month, but I surprised myself by using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette the most. I was going through a big neutral phase and I kept reaching for it over and over. When it first came out last year, I scoffed that it was just another neutral palette that no one actually needed, but I do think it’s quite special. You can check out my full review here.

I am going to write full palette reviews for both the Kylie and Pat McGrath palettes (Self-Made Billionaire versus Self-Made Billionaire? 😉 ) but so far, I do really like both of them, and here is a quick-n-dirty review of both:

The Pat McGrath palette is one of the most beautiful palettes I own. The palette itself is HEAVY. Feels like a brick. When I use it, I feel like a Fancy, Rich Bitch. And I like that. The packaging of the palette is gorgeous and worth saving. It’s seriously art. So much so, that I actually bought the palette from the Museum of Modern Art. (For real! And they had a better sale on it than Sephora!) The matte shadows in the palette are gorgeous, but there aren’t enough light transition shades in the palette for a full look on my skin tone, so I’ve been using it in combination with the Soft Glam palette.

The shimmer shades is where this palette really shines though. Pun intended. The duo-chrome-y shades are amazingly unique and unlike anything I own. However, they do cause a lot of fall-out, so I recommend doing your eye makeup prior to your face make up so you can clean things up.

The Kylie x Jordan palette is the first product I’ve ever purchased from Kylie Cosmetics, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. The palette has a nice weight to it (though not BRICK weight) so even though it’s in thinner, cardboard-type packaging, it doesn’t feel cheap. Speaking of the packaging, I really did like the packaging of the palette. I don’t really care about Kylie as a person, and I don’t know anything about her friend Jordyn except that she’s ostensibly Kylie’s best friend, but I thought the illustrations on the packaging were really pretty and cool. I’m saving it. (IT BRINGS ME JOY, KONDO.) The shadows themselves were really nice. The mattes felt almost as nice as the Pat McGrath ones, if I’m being honest. But I did truly buy this palette for one shade, and one shade only: Wild Love.

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Wild Love is described as metallic olive with violet flip, which is exactly what it is. It’s very difficult to photograph to show both the violet and the green flip, but I think you can kind of see what I mean. I saw one YouTuber do a look with this shade, and I fell in love. I searched high and low for a dupe prior to buying the palette and I couldn’t find one anywhere – I HAD TO HAVE IT. (Though after I ordered this, Stila released something similar. More on that in a bit) So I was happy to get this palette for this shade alone, but then I was also happy for the rest of the shades, too. I didn’t use the bright purple or silver shades, but I really liked the neutral shades and used them regularly throughout January.

Special Eye Things

Hourglass Scattered Light Glitter Eyeshadow ($29/each)

Stila Shade Mystére in Hypnotic ($24)

As you know, I love the Hourglass Scattered Light Glitter Eyeshadows, as I described in my dedicated blog here. I think they are just beautiful shadows and I intend to keep them within arm’s reach on my vanity even when the month is over.

Just look at how beautiful that is. The Stila Shade Mystére in Hypnotic is the product I referenced earlier when talking about Wild Love. Months after the Kylie palette came out, Stila released a new line of their Shimmer and Glow liquid shadows, but in interesting, duochrome shades. The shade Hypnotic is basically a liquid version of Kylie’s Wild Love, and it’s totally gorgeous. It’s “officially” described as “burgundy with olive & antique gold flip pearl.” I actually wear both Hypnotic and Wild Love together a lot. I’ll apply Hypnotic with a synthetic lip brush, just to have a bit more control than the doe-foot wand. Then I will use Wild Love to sort of blend out the edges a bit more. (YES I USE A SHIMMER IN THE CREASE. DON’T @ ME.) I also will use Wild Love on my lower lash line.

As I’ve mentioned, it’s pretty difficult to photograph duochrome shades, since they change from different angles, but I did get one great shot in my car! So it’s not the best picture in the world, but I think you can really see the green shift on the left eye (in the picture) and how lavender/purple the right eye looks. I surprised myself by how many times I wore this, and I loved it so much, I bought a new shade for February, Spellbound ($24), which is violet with fuchsia & blue flip pearl. It’s so pretty.

Bronzer & Blush

Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer ($24)- cream

Physician’s Formula Butter Bronzer ($14.99) – powder

Glossier Cloud Paint blushes ($18/each) – cream

Hourglass Luminous Flush ($38) – powder

Jouer Cosmetics Blush Bouquet Dual Blush Palette – Adore – powder

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These are my favorite blushes and bronzers that I think I am going to keep using in February. I just can’t imagine reaching for anything besides these products at the moment. Though the star is the Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer stick. It’s a cream bronzer, and it blends out so beautifully and effortlessly. I think it looks so beautiful on the skin. I also manage to be able to contour my nose with it, which is a trick I’ve never really been able to figure out before. I wear the shade Baked, but they also have a deeper shade for darker skin tones called Blaze. I have seen people use a beauty sponge to blend it out but I personally use a duofiber brush from that BH Cosmetics brush set I love so much.

I think I might do a blog all about the Glossier Cloud Paints, but I have three of the shades now. Though one of the shades is more of a bronzer shade, and I didn’t really realize that when I bought it. I don’t use that one as often, because of my obsession with the Milk bronzer, but I do use the peachy (Beam) and the pinky (Puff) shades regularly. Glossier has a ton of different shades for various skin tones, which is amazing. What I’ll do is squeeze out a little bit on the back of my hand, then use my beauty sponge to dot it on and blend out.

Quite honestly, I have been pleasantly surprised about how good cream products look on my skin. I’ve always been nervous about them because I’m on the oilier side and I thought they would just slip slide all over my face. However, they do NOT actually do that, and they look so much more natural than putting a layer of powder on top of the skin. They look especially nice over texture or wrinkles, as powder sometimes emphasizes these areas. I will use powder very judiciously – only where I need it – but then just let my skin look like skin. I think it’s been looking so healthy and nice when I’ve used cream products and I’m definitely interested in getting more!

But when I want my makeup to last 10+ hours, I’ll use a few more powder products to make things last, and my fave blushes are the Jouer and Hourglass. I would happily take more shades of both, but Money + Low Buy, means these might be lower on the priority list.

Highlighters

Dose of Colors x iluvsarahii Highlighter in Bathe ($28) – powder

Anastasia Beverly Hills x Amrezy Highlighter ($28) – powder

Colourpop x Kathleen Lights On the Cusp ($8) – cream

The Dose of Colors x iluvsarahii highlighter in Bathe might actually be my all-time favorite highlighter, and I am going to have a hard time rotating it out, so it’s possible that I will not. Whatever, I MAKE THE RULES.

I recently got the ABH Amrezy highlighter for Christmas, after hearing so much about it over the past year. It was one of the most popular highlighters all over YouTube but it was limited-edition, and I never picked it up. Until they released it again and the FOMO caught up with me. I have to say, I think I like my Melt Cosmetics Digital Dust highlighter in Stargazer more, and might rotate that one in next month. Both have that baked geleé texture, so they aren’t overly powdery. But I think I like the reflect and the color of the Melt one a bit better than the ABH. Though I don’t hate the ABH one – it may grow on me more.

As I mentioned, I’ve been experimenting with cream products more and more recently, and if I’m doing cream products on a more relaxed day, I’ll use a Colourpop highlighter, as I feel like they melt into the skin beautifully, but also give a beautiful, shiny reflect, which is what I like. I like to look shiny all the time. But like… purposeful shiny. Not OILY shiny, obvs.

Lips

Tarte Cosmetics Splash Mini Lipstick in Margs (I think this was limited edition but linked to formula) ($21)

Colourpop x Shayla in C’Mon Sis Lux Lipstick ($7)

Morphe Lipgloss in Freebird ($8)

Julep So Plush Ultra Hydrating Gloss in Vibes ($19)

So what I learned from this exercise is that I can’t really pick out only four lip products and only use them during the month. I basically use a different lipstick every day, and enjoy doing so. I do like the idea of looking through my stash every month to see if I have anything I’ve sort of forgotten about, but when it comes to lipstick, I’m like old-school Miley – I can’t be tamed. I do like all of the lip products I Iisted though! The Colourpop lipstick is one of my all-time fave shades, and I really love the formulas of the Morphe and Julep lip glosses, and consider both of them, though especially the Julep ones, really underrated. I will likely pick up a few more of the Morphe glosses since they are so affordable and now in my Ulta!

I couldn’t even find all of the lip products I included when I went to take pictures. I’m sure I left a few at work or in my purse somewhere? Who knows. Now I know that I can’t be expected to keep up with lip products.

February

Knowing what I know now about some of my preferences, I picked out a few things to use in February!

Foundation

Physician’s Formula Healthy Skin ($12.99)

L’Oreal Infallible 24hr Fresh Wear Foundation ($11.99)

Eyeshadow

A few of these are pretty old – the Morphe x Jaclyn Hill and the Modern Renaissance. But I realized the other week that I missed using both, so I’m excited to put them back into rotation!

Morphe x Jaclyn Hill Palette ($38)

My Own Version of the Naked Cherry Palette (shadow singles)

Juvia’s Place Nubian Mini ($10)

ABH Modern Renaissance ($42)

Special Eyeshadow Things

Stila Shade Mystére in Spellbound ($24) I think this will pair really well with my version of Naked Cherry!

Highlighters

I missed my Melt Cosmetics highlighter, so I decided to bring it back! I also really love the Stila Heaven’s Hue formula.

Dose of Colors x iluvsarahii Highlighter in Bathe ($28) – powder

Melt Cosmetics Digital Dust highlighter in Stargazer ($39) – baked gelee

Colourpop Cosmetics Super Shock Cheek Highlighter in Flexitarian ($8) – cream

Stila Heaven’s Hue Highlighter in Kitten ($32) – cream

Bronzer

I can’t get rid of my Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer, but I thought I would add back in my Marc Jacobs bronzer, an older favorite. I have used this one so much I have no idea how I haven’t hit pan yet.

Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer ($24) – cream (Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.)

Marc Jacobs O!Mega Bronzer Coconut Perfect Tan in Tan-tastic ($49)

As for Blushes and Lipsticks, well. I’ll be using the same blushes from January and I love too many lipsticks to attempt to try to narrow it down again. But I might try to see if there are any lip products I’m reaching for over and over and add those to the recap.

So that’s it! Are you doing your own “shopping” of your stash? How’s it going? Let me know what you think of this series, and if you think it’s helpful at all to get reviews of older products! 🙂

Purchased; All opinions are my own Post contains affiliate links

January “Shop My Stash” Recap | Intro to February “SMS” | Boxy-Ladies.com Last month, I decided to introduce a new series into the blog, "Shop My Stash." A lot of my favorite YouTubers have similar series in an effort to curb a bit of consumerism and appreciate what we already have.